True Heiress vs. Fake Queen Bee Episode 17

📖 The Story Continues

True Heiress vs. Fake Queen Bee — Episode 17

The restroom door had opened only because another student wanted to see the commotion. She stopped at the sight of McKenna kneeling beside a toilet with one arm trapped inside and immediately retreated. Laughter raced through the hallway before any explanation could follow. Candice’s carefully staged scandal had transformed into one of her own.

“If you come for me again, it’ll be your heads in the toilet next time,” Hailey warned. She had no intention of carrying out the threat, but Candice and Gail looked shaken enough to believe it. The balance between them had changed; Hailey was no longer an isolated target who absorbed every attack.

McKenna yelled at everyone to stop talking and help free her hand. Hailey told her not to force it, while CeCe grimaced at the water dripping down her arm. “McKenna, stop. That’s gross,” CeCe said as the trapped girl tried to reach deeper for the phone. McKenna shouted that her hand was stuck.

Luke found a custodian rather than allowing the crowd to worsen the situation. With soap, patience, and several humiliating minutes, McKenna’s wrist finally came free. The phone did not survive. Candice stared at the dark screen as if it contained the ruins of her social empire.

Hailey returned to the locker room and discovered the clothes Candice had planted were damp and stained from the floor. She used a private number to request a fresh outfit from home, asking that her father not be informed. The last thing she needed was Frank arriving with security and exposing everything before she chose the moment.

Dedra arrived at school carrying a garment bag. She addressed Hailey formally as Miss Hailey and handed over the requested clothes, careful not to look too curious about the towel, Luke’s jacket, or the bruises visible beneath it. Hailey thanked her and asked her not to tell Frank.

“Yes, Miss Hailey,” Dedra agreed. The request gave her the opening she had been searching for all day. If Hailey was already keeping one incident from her father, perhaps another small favor would not seem suspicious. Guilt made Dedra’s palms damp around the garment bag handle.

She hesitated rather than leaving. Hailey noticed and asked whether something was wrong. Dedra said she did not mean to bother her, but her daughter was celebrating a birthday. The words immediately reminded Hailey of Candice’s castle party, though she did not yet connect the two.

Dedra explained that her daughter’s only wish was to hold the celebration at the castle. She made it sound like a small family gathering, omitting the classmates, false identity, and plan to present the residence as her own. All she needed, Dedra said, was the temporary passcode.

Hailey was surprised to learn Dedra had a daughter. Despite years of service, the older woman kept her private life separate from work. Hailey remembered birthdays after her mother’s death, when empty rooms made the castle feel more like a museum than a home. Denying another girl a happy memory seemed unnecessarily cold.

“Of course,” Hailey said. She offered to text the code and notify security that Dedra would have limited guest access that evening. Relief flooded the maid’s face so intensely that Hailey briefly wondered whether the favor carried more weight than Dedra admitted. Then Dedra thanked her, and the doubt passed.

Hailey sent a temporary code from her phone. It would open the public entrance and main entertaining rooms but not the private family wing. She did not mention that every use would be logged. If Candice somehow obtained it, Hailey would know exactly who had enabled the party.

Dedra looked at the message and felt shame tighten her throat. Hailey had responded with immediate kindness, trusting her without interrogation. The deception now felt worse than risking a rule violation because it exploited the generosity Candice so often mocked. Dedra almost confessed.

Before she could speak, her daughter’s desperate voice echoed in memory: *I deserve this.* Dedra feared that exposing the lie would end Candice’s future and sever whatever remained between them. Maternal panic won again. She thanked Hailey and turned toward the exit.

“Seriously, you saved me,” Hailey called, referring to the clothes. Dedra paused with her back turned. The gratitude struck harder than anger would have. She forced herself to nod and continued walking before guilt made the truth escape.

In the privacy of the hall, Dedra sent Candice the access instructions. She warned that the code was temporary, the private rooms were forbidden, and every guest had to respect the property. Candice replied with a celebratory message and ignored the restrictions. To her, access meant ownership for as long as anyone was watching.

Dedra stared at the screen and whispered that she had not wanted to lie to Miss Hailey. She had told herself the favor would protect her daughter from humiliation, yet every rescue allowed Candice to build a more dangerous deception. The maid knew she could lose her job. What frightened her more was the belief that refusing might cost her daughter.

Hailey changed into the fresh clothes and returned Luke’s jacket. He asked whether she was all right and offered to tell school administrators what had happened. Hailey thanked him but said the administration had already chosen whom to believe. She would handle Candice herself.

CeCe waited outside and fell into step beside her. Hailey told her about Dedra’s birthday request, mentioning the castle without revealing that it belonged to her. CeCe thought the coincidence strange: two birthday celebrations in the same castle on the same night. The observation stopped Hailey mid-stride.

The pieces aligned—Candice’s sudden confidence, an employee with a daughter, and the request for a passcode made hours before the party. Hailey turned toward the doors through which Dedra had disappeared. She still lacked confirmation, but suspicion had finally acquired a name. If Candice Mathis was Dedra’s daughter, the fake heiress was about to walk into Hailey’s home using kindness obtained through another lie.