Chapter 238

"Shut up!" Brittany's face flushed crimson. Daisy's words were a brutal humiliation, stripping bare the carefully constructed facade Brittany had always relied on. Protected since childhood by Christina, she'd never faced such public shame.

"What?" Daisy leaned closer. "Speak up."

"I said, shut up!" Brittany leaped to her feet and slapped Daisy hard across the face.

The slap echoed through the hall. Nearby conversations ceased as heads turned. Donna, seeing her daughter struck, rose to her feet, her voice sharp. "How dare your daughter hit someone?!" she demanded of Christina.

Meanwhile, Paisley, seizing a moment while Serena slept, had slipped away to the studio. Returning, she answered a call from an unknown number. It was Christina.

"Paisley, something's happened! Get to 190 Garden Road!" Christina's voice was urgent.

"Call the police. I'm busy," Paisley snapped, hanging up. It had to be Brittany. The familiar pang of sadness hit her – her mother only remembered her when her adopted daughter was in trouble.

Another unfamiliar number flashed. Hesitantly, she answered. It wasn't Christina.

"This is the police," the voice said. Paisley's breath hitched. "Your mother's in trouble at 190 Garden Road. We need you there."

Police involvement? The road curved ahead, leading directly to Garden Road. She could ignore Christina, but not the police. "I'll be there in five minutes."

Arriving at 190 Garden Road, recognition dawned. This was Lauren's ladies' association. Lauren, during her marriage to Dominick, had always brought Marissa here, never Paisley, a constant source of Marissa's petty triumph. Now, she was here, and Christina was somehow a member? The club's membership was notoriously exclusive.

A smiling woman approached. Familiar, but…

"Diana," she said warmly. "Tim Nathaniel's mother."

Nathaniel. The image of his striking red hair and fair skin flashed in Paisley's mind. His occasional messages, mostly polite check-ins, except for that one accidental picture... and apology. She hadn't expected his mother to know her.

"Hello, Diana," Paisley replied.

Diana beamed. "We met at the Crown & Culture auction. I bid on one of your paintings – the Vanderbilts got it in the end!" She moved closer, admiring Paisley. She's even more stunning up close, Diana thought.