sen

nt has never been this qu

es glued to the tablet displaying the Tech Summit footage. Around

can't

ideo for the third time, watching the commanding woman on s

atent filings scrolling a

ice is hollow. "That's Ar

ste like ash

stares at the screen in horrif

Victoria fin

in the air like

erf

im they'd all expected her to remain af

s a waitress at that café. She asked me how to

mach churns as

year

urant, differe

ching Aria struggle through a conversation about venture ca

" Victoria had agreed, stirring her martini. "Someone

r face when they started discussing the Hart Industries

elf to the bathroom, they'

think it'll last?

a had predicted. "Leon's too ambitious t

five thousand like she was born to it

s, her voice small. "I mean, could she

s calls her 'The Genius Who Emerged from Nowhere.' TechCrunch says she's 're

Victoria rep

ordinary, too simple, too beneat

at charity lunches, she'

er drink," Ca

noon," Aman

n't c

tly. Around the restaurant, she can see other groups huddle

zing the

o completely that it feels like m

rsation?" Amanda asks suddenly,

owns. "What

ed some company, said they were doing interesting

ts Victoria l

how real business worked," Cath

ross her phone screen.

acquired by Google last year for

m Victoria's fingers, shatter

her phone in horror. "Look at

see. A business journalist is askin

ying quiet," Aria's saying, her voice steady and confident. "They needed someone willing

r being smarter tha

it like phy

"At all those dinner parties, all those galas

s sitting there listening to us explain thin

tches uncomforta

every moment when Aria had started to contribute to conversations

was intimidated b

rrounded by t

to join the investment cl

We said she wouldn't und

ligence applications..." Victoria trails off, the implications

ication from the group chat sh

Betting Pool -

ons about when "poor little Aria" would come crawling back to L

age, posted ju

er. We

die

ner handbag clutched so tightly her knuckles are

oice is carefully con

de on national televisi

r without being invited, her us

y of us," Amanda says carefu

sounds like

Any idea that while I was convincing Leon she was holding him bac

racks on th

d no fuck

y polished Elena Morrison s

voice hollow. "I convinced myself it was because he deserve

e tablet still display

I'm the ord

om, needing space to process what feel

n and sees a woman who's spent three years feeling superior

mentioned quantum computing applications for medical research and

kes Victoria'

now worth hundreds of millions of dollars. They'd laughe

hey get i

a has n

therine is scrolling through soci

'Mystery Genius Revealed as Scorned Wife.' 'The Waitress Who B

up, her

nts. Pictures of all of us dismissing her, ta

ia fee

iots. We look like the shallow, petty women who couldn't

's exactly w

where Aria's presentation has ended, replaced by analysis from te

g," Elena says suddenly. "A

braces

moment when you thought maybe we were wrong? M

ngs in the air

sometimes finished their sentences with concepts they hadn't even thought of yet. The way she'd go

lained things to her, the same way you mig

dmits quietly. "T

t we pay a

r tongue, "it was easier to believe we were bett

er phone again

Catherin

"In the comments on the Tech Summit video. They're wonderi

ains from Vi

of us saw her?" Catherine as

that follows

about Aria transforming herse

disappeared completely,

sister-in-law, not the society women who'd bet on