Broken Princess (Criminal Heirs, #1)

Chapter 6 - Vanessa

She stared at me with wide eyes, just like everyone else did when they first saw me.

Her expression was a mix of hope and disbelief as if she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.

But then she seemed to remember where she was, and her chubby cheeks flushed bright red with embarrassment. She quickly averted her gaze, and I could tell she was struggling to find the right words to say.

"Um-I'm so so so sorry! I wasn't breaking into your room, okay I kinda was but everyone was talking about Vanessa De Luca having arrived and I just wanted to see it for myself if you were real. And I thought everyone was lying. And Xavier never said a word, and the thing is..." She trailed off, realizing that she was rambling, and her face turned an even brighter shade of red, if that was possible.

I raised an eyebrow at her explanation, but couldn't help but feel a twinge of amusement at her flustered state. 

"It's alright," I said with a small smile. "I understand. But next time, just knock or something, okay?"

The girl nodded quickly, her eyes wide with relief. "Yes, of course! I'm so sorry again."

I waved a hand dismissively, "It's fine. Just make sure you don't startle me like that again."

"Yeah," she muttered, her cheeks flushing pink, "Sorry." Her eyes flicked up to meet mine, and she quickly added, "I'm Celeste, by the way."

"I'm Vanessa, but I think you knew that already," I smirked, taking in Celeste's appearance.

She seemed...different.

She stood out among the others, not just because of her unexpected presence in my room, but also because she seemed refreshingly different from the usual elite crowd.

Her hair wasn't perfectly styled, and her body didn't have the typical model-like proportions that I was used to seeing in this world. Despite that, she was undeniably beautiful in her own way.

She seemed to relax a little at my friendly response, and we stood there in an awkward silence for a moment.

Finally, she spoke up again. "So...you're really here. In this mansion, I mean. I can hardly believe it."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

She hesitated, biting her lip nervously. "Well, you know...the De Lucas are well the De Lucas. Everyone talks about them, you know? And then you show up out of nowhere, and it's like...wow."

I resisted the urge to rub my arms. I wasn't used to people talking about me about something... positive. Was my presence even good?

But of course, Celeste was just as curious as everyone else. After all, it's not every day a random girl appears out of nowhere, especially one who happens to be the daughter of billionaires.

"Yeah, I guess it's kind of a big change for me too," I admitted, trying to sound nonchalant.

Yeah, my aunt was murdered, I think people would classify that as a pretty damn big change.

She nodded, looking thoughtful. "I can imagine. It must be really different from...wherever you were before."

I didn't know what to say to that. How could I explain to her that I had spent the last few years spending my life under the control of a real life demon? That I had never known what it was like to have a real family, or a home to call my own?

Instead, I just shrugged. "Yeah, it's definitely different. But who are you? Like are you a student or...?" I let my question trail off.

Was this person also a relative of mine? It was becoming hard to keep track.