Lacy couldn’t believe that Aaron dared to humiliate her in front of all of those peasants after she already degraded herself by going there to spend time with him.

She was certain that girl had a bad influence on him. He wouldn’t have done that to her if that witch didn’t have her claws in his back! She wanted to accelerate her plans but the prom was still a month away.

She wanted Aaron to be her prom date but with how angry he was…she never should have brought up his father. If Alistair Hale knew what his only son was up to, he would be severely punished but that wouldn’t help Lacy.

Aaron would know the news came from her and would likely never speak to her again.

She had to be patient. That commoner would be out of his life soon enough and Lacy was in it for the long haul.

What she couldn’t understand was how Aaron could throw away his principles for such a useless loser when he had known Lacy so much longer.

They met at the kids’ party of an important Christmas Eve function when they were thirteen and she was instantly smitten with his good looks and lofty attitude.

While the rest of the tycoons’ children wanted to play party games, Aaron sat leisurely at a table looking supremely bored with everything around him. Compared to the idiots she was usually surrounded with, a mature gentleman appealed to her.

“What do you think of the party?” she asked as she approached him. “Totally lame, right?”

He gave her a disinterested look. “You are?”

“Lacy Knighton. My father is a financial advisor on Wall Street; he has collaborated with your family’s business before.”

“I see.”

His two word answers didn’t discourage her. If anything, she saw it as a challenge. She would make this aloof prince talk.

“I haven’t seen you around before. Is this your first time coming out with your parents?”

“No. I prefer not to come to these sorts of things. Nobody takes their role seriously.”

“Their role?”

“I predict that nearly every person in this room will end up as a useless second generation playboy by the time they hit college. I’ve been training to take over my father’s position since I was born. Can any of these fools say the same?”

Lacy was shocked by his words but had to admit he had a point. Her best friend Max had no intention of going into politics. He wanted to be a racecar driver, which she thought was frivolous. Why throw your life away for a thrill?

“My mother has been training me to be a high society wife,” she said, trying to relate to him. “I’m studying diplomacy, politics, and business so I can hold up my end of a conversation at parties.”

“At least you know your place in the world. We are meant to carry on legacies, not throw away wealth that we didn’t earn. People need to act befitting of their status.”

“I agree!”

She would agree with anything he said because of how smart and cool he sounded when he talked.

Aaron didn’t say much the rest of the night but he accepted her presence sitting nearby as she tested some of her conversational topics on him.

After that, she sought him out at similar functions and convinced her father to enroll her in the high school he planned on going to.

Lacy fancied herself the closest female to him and carefully cultivated their relationship over the next three and a half years until that pebble in her shoe came along.

Keeley Hall was the simple, ill-behaved daughter of a civil engineer. She could never belong in their world. She wasn’t even that pretty! Lacy couldn’t see anything appealing about her at all.

It wasn’t uncommon for big business heirs to ‘go slumming’ and fool around with people below their station before marrying someone appropriate but she never would have thought Aaron Hale would fall under that category.

He had ideals! He understood the difference between the classes! He was supposed to be flawless! What on earth had happened?!

Max was her neighbor so they usually went home together. He approached her nervously after the last bell rang as she stewed over all of this in their usual meeting spot.

“Hey, I heard what happened. Are you alright?”

“No,” she growled. “I want that girl to vanish off the face of the earth.”

“Easy now,” he coaxed gently. “She’ll be out of your hair forever in a few weeks.”

Lacy whined, “That’s too far away! I want her gone now!”

“Our plan won’t work now,” Max said patiently as he patted her shoulder. “You’ll never have to see her again after graduation. We’ll be in Massachusetts and she’ll be here in New York. It’s a huge city. By the time we get back, the chances of running into her are almost nothing.”

“But Aaron hates me! You didn’t see him today! I…I screwed up.”

She bit her lip as tears began to form. Even with Keeley out of the way, he might not forget how she threatened him.

“What did you do?”

“I told him I’d talk to his father about how he was treating me,” she mumbled.

Max sucked in a breath. “Are you suicidal?! Nobody likes a tattletale but Aaron might actually kill you if you did that. I’ve heard his father is even colder than he is.”

“I know! I realized it was a bad idea the second the words left my mouth. His father is a double-edged sword—his greatest asset and his greatest obstacle. I’ll worry about getting him to forgive me later. Right now I want to focus on getting rid of MY obstacle. I need a prom date. You’ll do,” she sighed regretfully.

She didn’t want to go with Max but she knew it was probably her best bet since they could be each other’s alibi on prom night when they drugged Keeley.

His face lit up. “You won’t regret it, Lacy! I’ll make sure we get a limo with a full mini bar and go to the best restaurant beforehand. Seafood or Italian? Oh, what color is your dress going to be? You look good in anything but I look better in darker colors and we need to match…”

Listening to his babble, she regretted it already.