3
" So, to recap," Lily said, sounding calm, but not entirely apathetic, "Campbell isn't your half sister. She's mine, because my daddy's mistress, who had Campbell's daddy's baby way back when, is actually my biological mother, and that baby was me. Victoria is my great-aunt, and technically, so is Lillian, because my adoptive mama is actually Lillian's identical twin sister's daughter. The real Liv Taft was killed twenty-five years ago in what might — or might not — have been an accident, involving practically every adult I know." Lily paused. "Does that about sum things up? "
― Jennifer Lynn Barnes , Deadly Little Scandals (Debutantes, #2)
8
" You're here because you know what it's like to feel powerless. Everyone you see here has been given every privilege that money can buy, but at the end of the day, there are some privileges that money can't buy. Money doesn't keep people from telling girls who look like me to go back to the other side of the border. And no matter what your family name is, or how white your skin, I'm willing to bet that there are still people who tell you to smile, because you look so pretty when you smile." She paused, just for an instant. "we all play by rules our brothers will never even have to know.
"You want to know why we go cliff-diving and off-roading and drag you out to abandoned islands in the night?" Victoria's voice was no louder, but her delivery was suddenly crystal clear. "Because we can. Because when people say that well-behaved women rarely make history, they leave out the little tidbit that the women who do make history rarely do so alone. "
― Jennifer Lynn Barnes , Deadly Little Scandals (Debutantes, #2)
13
" So . . ." Campbell took up position next to me. "What's the plan?"
She'd kept her voice low, but I still cast a glance at Lily, who was focusing on driving the boat, and Sadie-Grace, who was "helping Lily focus," before I supplied a response. "The plan," I murmured, "is to talk to Victoria again."
I'd caught Campbell up on the conversation I'd had with Victoria Gutierrez at The Big Bang. Cam was as invested in finding Ana's baby—her half sibling—as I was. And that meant that she was just as interested in what Victoria had to say.
"I didn't actually expect you to answer my question," Campbell murmured beside me. "It was more of a courtesy question, really. You were supposed to ask what my plan was."
Having seen one of Campbell's schemes up close and personal, I was almost afraid to ask. "What's your plan?"
"Talk to Victoria." She smiled. her teeth a flash of white in the dark. "No offense, but I'm better at talking than you are."
"Me too!" Sadie-Grace appeared between us. "I'm so good at talking that sometimes, once I start, I can't even stop!"
Neither Campbell nor I had a reply for that. "
― Jennifer Lynn Barnes , Deadly Little Scandals (Debutantes, #2)
15
" I love Fourth of July. It's my favorite, isn't it, Mim? This was going to be the year I won the golf cart parade and the pie-eating contest up at the lake. William Faulkner, too"
"William Faulkner was going to win a pie-eating contest?" I asked.
Still channeling Lillian, John David gave me a look. "Don't be ridiculous, Sawyer. There is no canine pie-eating contest. William Faulkner is going to win the costume contest, which is part of the parade."
"I mean, sure," I said, nodding. "Who doesn't celebrate American independence with some kind of dog costume contest?"
"And parade." John David could not have emphasized those words more. "
― Jennifer Lynn Barnes , Deadly Little Scandals (Debutantes, #2)
19
" A split second later, Sadie-Grace literally bowled me over with a hug.
"I love college," she told me, scrambling to her feet and helping me up before resuming her aggressive hug campaign. "I'm majoring in dance and also Russian literature, and combined, Boone and I have only broken two bones!"
"Both Boone's," Campbell clarified.
"His bones are my bones," Sadie-Grace insisted. "And vice versa. Unless that's creepy? I've discovered I have a really hard time telling what's creepy, but on the bright side, I haven't been kidnapped or kidnapped anyone else this semester, so that's good. "
― Jennifer Lynn Barnes , Deadly Little Scandals (Debutantes, #2)
