Chapter 159
Untitled
Rivals learned of her true heritage. They try so hard to suck up to her family and other aristocracy families to up their status. Mothers try so hard to get their daughters to marry the barons and ambassadors. It's also the debut of new jewelry pieces of white diamonds and pieces with rubies and new shipment of fine wine from her vineyard
The whispers started low, mere currents in the elaborate tapestry of Fifth Avenue society, but they quickly coalesced into a relentless, suffocating roar. The revelation of her true lineage—the undeniable, ancient pedigree that underpinned her flamboyant American success—had struck the established order like a perfectly aimed, silent projectile. Those who had once dismissed her as merely ‘new money,’ a gaudy splash of illicit liquor fortunes, now realized they had been attempting to snub royalty in disguise.
The frantic recalibration began immediately. Mothers, whose daughters had previously sniffed at the slightest suggestion of association, suddenly found themselves maneuvering their charges into the orbits of the family’s cousins, distant relations, and business partners. The emphasis shifted overnight from established American industrial wealth to the intoxicating allure of inherited, untainted aristocracy—the kind steeped in centuries of untouchable history, now conveniently re-anchored in the most fashionable district of New York.
“Darling, you simply must find a way to attend the Willoughby luncheon next week,” Mrs. Sterling hissed to her daughter, Clarissa, adjusting a suffocating string of pale pearls. “They are inviting one of the distant cousins—the one connected to the Baroness Vane’s line, you understand? And you, Clarissa, with your command of Italian, can surely engage him on the finer points of early Renaissance sculpture.” Clarissa, whose command of Italian was gleaned mostly from poorly subtitled European films, managed only a tight, practiced smile. Her true anxiety lay in the fact that the heroine’s own daughter was now engaged to a Duke, a title that seemed to make all lesser baronies and ambassadorships look suddenly dusty.
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