The notification chimes began before sunrise—short, sharp, relentless. By the time Julia reached for her phone, the screen was already flooded with alerts. Headlines screamed from every angle. The single photo—her mother and Richard Hughes seated stiffly at the same dinner table—had detonated across the internet like a lit match dropped into dry brush.
Her pulse throbbed in her throat. “Forbidden Dinner — Two Worlds Collide.”
Another headline scrolled past: “The Gold-Digger’s Mother Meets the Fallen Heir’s Father.”
Her stomach twisted.
She hurried down the hall to where her mother sat at the kitchen table, a teacup trembling between her fingers despite the calm smile she attempted. “Mom,” Julia breathed, dropping into the chair beside her, “you shouldn’t read any of this.”
“I’m fine,”
