The Secret Diamond Sisters. Michelle Madow

the interior walls, and Savannah looked over her shoulder to smile at her reflection.

      “I guess you’re claiming this room?” Courtney asked from the doorway.

      Savannah sank deeper into the pillows, enjoying the feeling of the silk against her skin. “I found it first,” she declared, staring dreamily up at the ceiling. A crystal chandelier hung in the center, the lights sparkling everywhere, and Savannah felt like a modern princess. Still, she checked to see if Courtney looked upset. Savannah wanted to keep this room—and she had a feeling her sisters would let her—but she didn’t want Courtney to be unhappy about it. Most people didn’t know when Courtney was mad, since she didn’t scream or lose her temper, but Savannah could always tell because she got withdrawn and more polite than usual.

      “I don’t mind,” Courtney assured her, and Savannah could tell by her genuine tone that she honestly wasn’t upset. “I don’t have enough stuff to fill one of the other rooms up, let alone this one. And each room has a private bathroom.”

      “Private bathrooms?” Savannah’s eyes widened. “Finally! Now I won’t get yelled at to hurry up in the morning.”

      “I never yell at you,” Courtney said.

      “Peyton does,” Savannah said, thinking of how Peyton banged on the door of the shared bathroom in their apartment and screamed at her to get out when she wasn’t halfway done getting ready. “But now she won’t have to.”

      Peyton joined Courtney in the doorway. “I only yell because you use my makeup,” she said, leaning against the wall and snapping her gum. “Not that it matters, since I plan on getting out of here as soon as I can, but you can have this room. None of us need this much space. We won’t have enough stuff to fill the smaller rooms, let alone this one.”

      Savannah ignored Peyton’s comment about “getting out of here”—it was just Peyton being stubborn, and Grandma had made it clear they had to stay with their father until Mom was better. She felt guilty for rushing to claim the master bedroom knowing her sisters would have given it to her if she’d asked, but the doorbell rang before she could apologize.

      She sat up quickly, the world blurring. Was it Adrian? His note said he wouldn’t be done with his meeting until they finished unpacking, but maybe the meeting hadn’t taken as long as he’d expected. Her stomach flipped, and she looked at her sisters in panic. Could they be about to meet their father? Was she ready to meet her father? She had no idea what she was supposed to do, or what she should say. She wished more than anything her mom or grandma were there to help.

      “We should get that.” Courtney’s face paled, her voice so calm that Savannah knew she must be freaking out inside. At least the three of them had each other. They would get through this together.

      “What joy,” Peyton huffed, and rolled her eyes. “We get to meet the jerk who screwed us—and Mom—over for our whole lives. This will be enlightening.” Her sarcasm made it clear she thought it would be anything but.

      “We should at least listen to what he has to say,” Savannah said, standing up and straightening her shirt. Her body tingled with nerves to the point that she felt like her blood was about to burst out of her skin. Needing to do something with her hands, she ran them through her hair to brush out the tangles. She could do this. Satisfied with her reflection, she marched past her sisters and pulled the front door open.

      Standing in front of her was the hot guy she’d seen at the gym. His dark brown hair was messed up in a sexy “just finished working out” way, his black T-shirt clung to his defined abs and his tanned skin glowed as if he spent every day lounging around a pool.

      Savannah’s arm dropped to her side, and she stared up at him, speechless. What was he doing here? She’d never had a superhot guy show up at her doorstep. She had no idea what to say to him. If Evie were here, she would come up with something perfect. But she would also take the attention away from Savannah. The tough part about having Evie as a best friend was that they always liked the same guys. And then the guys liked Evie more than Savannah, so Savannah got stuck with the second choice.

      This move to Vegas might be the perfect chance to break away from Evie’s shadow. Could Savannah become a different—improved—version of herself just from wanting to?

      She wouldn’t know if she didn’t try.

      “Who are you?” Peyton narrowed her eyes at the guy and snapped her gum. Of course she had to steal the attention by talking to the hot guy first.

      “Damien Sanders,” he replied, barely looking at Peyton before turning back to Savannah. Her heart jumped—maybe all wasn’t lost. “I live on the floor below yours, and noticed you walking by while I was working out in the gym. I didn’t know if you knew anyone here yet, so I figured I would stop over and introduce myself.”

      Wow. Not only was he hot, but he was supernice, too.

      “No, we don’t know anyone here yet,” Savannah answered, her words coming out faster than she intended. Evie said she always knew when Savannah was nervous because she turned into a talking chipmunk. She took a breath and forced herself to slow down. “Except for you now. We just got here today—we moved here to stay with our dad for a while. I’m Savannah.”

      Damien leaned lazily against the door frame. “So you’re the infamous Diamond sisters?”

      “Infamous?” Savannah asked. “I’m one of the Diamond sisters, but I didn’t know we were infamous.”

      “I’m kidding.” He laughed. “There’s just been some talk about you three, and everyone’s been curious to meet you.”

      “Oh, okay.” Savannah knew Adrian Diamond was well-known, but she hadn’t realized that meant people would talk about her and her sisters, too. “Who’s everyone?”

      “Just some of us who go to the Goodman School,” he said. “A few of us live here and in nearby condos. Your dad made a donation for the school’s new sports center, and the talk is you’ll be attending in the fall.”

      Savannah had hoped her mom would get better before the end of summer so she wouldn’t have to start her sophomore year with total strangers. She bit her lower lip, trying to figure out how to reply in a way that wouldn’t make her sound clueless. “We haven’t talked with our dad about school yet.”

      Well, they hadn’t talked to their dad at all yet, but Damien didn’t have to know that. And Savannah hadn’t realized that donations—or any payments—were necessary to go to school. At Fairfield High, new kids just signed up on their first day.

      “Too bad,” Damien said. “You’ll have to let me know when you find out. But you’ll be at the Fourth of July party at Myst tonight, right?”

      “Yes.” Savannah breathed a sigh of relief at the mention of something she knew a little bit about. That was the place Adrian had mentioned in his note. “Have you been there before?”

      “Been there before...” He repeated her question, lingering on every syllable. “Of course I’ve been there before. It’s the hottest new club on the Strip. And it’s the best, just like everything else at the Diamond.”

      “Then I can’t wait to check it out tonight,” she said, proud of how cool and collected she sounded. Maybe just being in Vegas would shape her into the Savannah Diamond she dreamed of becoming. Perhaps a talent agent would discover her, and then her dreams of being a pop star would come true.

      “You’ll have fun.” He sounded confident, like it was impossible for her to not enjoy herself. “A bunch of us are going to dinner before the party. You three should come.”

      “We can’t.” Peyton crossed her arms and glared at Damien, as if he were doing something to seriously piss her off. What was her problem?

      Damien ignored her and turned back to Savannah.

      “We already have dinner plans with our dad,” Savannah explained, the word dad feeling alien coming from her lips.