Chapter 33

• “Vanessa, Ava is your junior. What do you think about her being cast as Daya Will?”
• The reporter’s voice cut through the noise like a knife, too smooth, too pointed. A setup, clearly. A chance to paint me as unworthy using Vanessa’s charm as the brush.
• I didn’t look at her. I didn’t have to. I already knew the expression she’d wear serene, benevolent, that carefully measured sweetness she’d perfected over years of stepping on others while pretending to lift them up.