Page 53 of Rivals
Let Gabriella think what she wanted. Soon enough, Daphne and Nina were going to take her down.
“It’s time,” Daphne murmured, coming to tap Nina on the arm.
Everyone was crowded into the massive tent, waiting for the DJ to finish, squealing in excitement as they tried to guess the identity of the much-hyped surprise performer.
“Now?” Nina glanced uncertainly at the stage, then at Gabriella, who was surrounded by a fawning circle of admirers.
“The only place to vacation on the Riviera is Antibes,obviously,” Gabriella was saying. Her posse nodded as solemnly as if she were telling them the secret to eternal happiness—and to them, she probably was. Gabriella went on: “The hotel has this rope swing that goes out over the Mediterranean. If you rent out the whole hotel, like Daddy will do for my wedding someday, then you can go off the rope swing naked.” She winked suggestively.
One of her followers giggled. “You think you’ll get married on the Riviera?”
Gabriella glanced at the prince. “I suppose it depends who I marry, doesn’t it?”
This time, Daphne didn’t bother hiding her eye roll.
They were all out on the dance floor; Jefferson was a few feet away, jumping up and down in that delighted, unrestrained way of his. He always seemed so happy in this setting, as if a dance floor was somewhere he could disappear into the crowd and become any old anonymous person, rather than a prince.
Daphne nodded at Nina. “Gabriella is going to be out here soaking in the attention until the guest performer goeson. Now is our best chance to get into her room and look around!”
Nina relented. “Fine. Let’s do it.”
They headed into the house, acting like any other young women going to the bathroom together. Luckily, the bored-looking butler who saw them just gave them a polite nod. He had no idea that Nina and Daphne were the least likely pairing of anyone at this party.
They were natural enemies, yet somehow here they were: engaged in a temporary truce, workingtogether.
If Daphne hadn’t had so much to worry about, she would have found the situation funny.
They didn’t actually know which room was Gabriella’s, but Daphne had been in enough of these old houses to guess the layout: the master suite should overlook the backyard, which meant that Gabriella and her brother were at the opposite end of the hall.
She tried one door, revealing a dark, masculine-looking room, and shut it again. The next opened to a space that could only be Gabriella’s, with a canopied princess bed and hand-painted wallpaper. A bookcase sat against one wall, its shelves cluttered with zero books but plenty of framed photos, aromatherapy candles, and a porcelain bust of Gabriella. Even Daphne, who was inordinately vain, couldn’t imagine commissioning a sculpture of her own face.
She paused in the doorway, glancing at Nina. “You stay out here. Anyone asks, you can say you got lost looking for the bathroom. If someone is about to come in, cough. That’ll be our warning sign.”
“What if I actually have to cough?”
“Don’t.” Daphne stepped inside, shutting the door behindher.
She beelined for the desk, where she pulled a flash drive from her pocket. A few clicks later, she’d downloaded thecontents of Gabriella’s computer. She withdrew the flash drive from the laptop, pressing it eagerly into her palm. She’d sort through it at home.
Daphne began searching through desk drawers, finding tickets to old music festivals, heart-eye sunglasses, and a collection of fountain pens from hotels around the world—a pink one from the Beverly Hills Hotel, a white one from the Ritz in Paris. Daphne was amused at the thought that someone as wealthy as Gabriella would steal pens whenever she stayed in a nice hotel. Maybe it was a klepto thing. Maybe she squirreled them away as proof that she’d actually been to all these expensive faraway places.
A quick search of the bathroom revealed nothing except an entire storefront’s worth of beauty products. Seriously, how many moisturizers and toners did Gabriella need? She only had one face. Daphne was bending down, lifting the bed skirt to check under the bed, when she heard Nina dissolve into a coughing fit.
“What are you doing up here?” It was unmistakably Gabriella’s voice.
Panicked, Daphne jumped to her feet and began scanning the room for hiding spots.
“I got lost looking for the bathroom,” Nina was saying, but Gabriella cut her off.
“You liar, the bathrooms are downstairs. You’re obviously here to snoop!” There was a shuffling sound. “I’m calling security to throw you out.”
“Yes, I was snooping!” Nina cried out. “You caught me!”
What was Nina doing? Daphne hurried to conceal herself behind the curtains that lined the floor-to-ceiling windows. Nina was talking faster now, her words a frantic rush. “I just—I’ve never been in a house like this before,” Nina simpered. “You have so many beautiful things. I just wanted to see your bedroom. I wanted to know what it’s like to live like this.”
Gabriella barked out a laugh. “You’re pathetic. You act like you’re moremoralthan me because you don’t have any money, but you wish you were rich, just like everyone else.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” Nina said hastily.
