The Second Life of a Discarded Heiress novel Chapter 261

For a thousand bucks, Clifford finally caved.

When it was over, he left the classroom with his fists clenched so tight his knuckles ached. He rushed all the way to the north side of town, combing the entire block, only to realize there wasn’t a single coffee shop in sight.

Fury surged inside him. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to tear those guys apart. The thought hit him so hard his face went pale.

He remembered—back then, he used to pull stunts just like this on Citrine.

—

Senior year brought an avalanche of worksheets and practice exams. To help everyone prep for the SAT, the school added an extra evening study hall for seniors.

With the test looming, students spent every waking moment hunched over their books—if they weren’t eating or sleeping, they were doing practice problems. Under that relentless pressure, only Citrine managed to stay completely unfazed. She even flat-out refused to attend the extra study session.

The school always made exceptions for their top students, so she became the only senior excused from the additional study hall.

Word spread quickly throughout Primus Academy. Some people whispered behind her back, calling her arrogant and predicting she’d fall behind on the next exam.

But when the first round of monthly tests came back, Citrine shut them all up with her scores.

Someone sighed, “Geniuses really are different. Even skipping a class every day doesn’t slow her down—she still comes out on top.”

After that, the criticism vanished. No one questioned Citrine’s decision to skip the evening session.

Friday night meant another Carmichael family dinner.

Ever since Manley’s last attempt to challenge The Carmichael Group, he hadn’t set foot in the old house. Citrine didn’t expect to see him there that evening—it caught her off guard.

When Manley spotted Citrine, he looked away, clearly uneasy.

“You really mean that?” Manley couldn’t help but feel moved by her words.

“Of course,” Citrine said with a warm smile.

She paused, then added, “I think Raymond feels the same way.”

Right then, Raymond came down the stairs, catching the tail end of their conversation. He smiled faintly and spoke up, “Citrine’s right.” That’s my daughter, he thought with a swell of pride—she always understood him.

Manley was stunned to hear Raymond chime in. He hadn’t expected him to agree, and for a second he was at a loss for words.

The brothers had always been rivals. Sitting down and actually talking things through had never been their style. Remembering their recent conflict, Manley suddenly didn’t know how to face him.

Citrine took in the awkward silence between them and stood up, a plan forming in her mind. “I’ll go check if dinner’s ready.”