Chapter 66: Invasion of Privacy
"My life is over!" Emmeline Hawthorne wailed into her pillows, her hair in a disheveled mess as big fat tears streamed down her cheeks. Her dressing, normally impeccable, was now creased and wrinkled, but she paid it no mind, choosing to stifle her face back into her pillows as though she was hiding from the world.
Annalise’s heart ached for her only daughter. Her precious princess didn’t deserve such a future.
"I want to die!" Emmeline screamed into her pillows. "I don’t want to live anymore!"
"No, darling, don’t be foolish!" Annalise quickly said, enveloping her daughter in a hug. "It will all blow over soon, just you see!"
"It will not!" Emmeline shrieked, raising her head to glare at her mother through tear-stricken eyes. "I’m ruined! How can I live knowing that everyone has seen my nudes?!"
"Technically, you aren’t really nude in them―" Annalise said. The entire family had read the article put out by Lady Vanity and saw the resulting photos― her straddling Matteo in nothing but her underwear, the both of them tangled in his bedsheets, her bra, half-falling off her shoulders to reveal a swell of creamy breast.
If they were from a weaker family, Annalise was sure that her phone would be blowing up with all sorts of obscene offers from movie directors.
As a mother, she was appalled. However, Annalise did not survive in society by caving to the first sign of trouble. The waves were stormy, but Annalise could see the silver lining. She would make sure her daughter rode the wave to success.
"Shut up! Shut up! You don’t know anything!" Emmeline yelled furiously, interrupting her.
"You be quiet! You’re the one that doesn’t know anything!" Annalise drew herself to her full height, tired of her daughter’s dramatics. She had been wailing for the better part of an hour, and Annalise needed her beauty sleep. "I’ve raised you better than this, Emmeline Hawthorne. Now snap out of that pitying funk and get your act together!"
Her daughter paused, then she meekly raised her head, stunned by the vehemence in her voice. "Mom?"