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I tightened my arms around my knees, mentally sifting through months of research.
My plan was bulletproof.
Go in. Take back what’s mine. Slip out unnoticed, cloaked by the night and a designer gown I’d commandeered from Reggie.
It wasn’t my first hustle, and it wouldn’t be my last.
I’d been a survivor since birth. From the moment my no-show egg donor placed me in a Costco cardboard box outside Dad’s door with the note:
All yours.
Should’ve answered my calls, asshole.
An abortion doesn’t cost as much as a kid.
— Tammy
By that time, Dad had already married Vera after a whirlwind romance. According to Tabby, Vera urged Dad to “get rid of the thing.”
How can you even know she’s truly yours?she huffed throughout mychildhood, knowing full well I heard her.
But I didn’t need a DNA test.
Mother Nature vouched for me.
I shared Dad’s arctic-blue eyes. The golden hair that curled in thick waves, framing our faces and ears. The same delicate bone structure, long-limbed body, and even the same beauty spot just under our right eyes.
Vera sighed. “It’s a shame Romeo Costa is off the market.”
“As if we ever had a chance.”
Reggie yawned. “As if wewanteda chance. I heard he’s a sociopath.”
“Really?” Tabby’s hair swung over the headrest. “I heard he donated a new maternity ward to Johns Hopkins as soon as his wife got pregnant.”
“Probably because they’ll need to bulldoze the entrance to wheel her in on delivery day. My facial girl told me Dallas Costa ate her way through half the bottom layer of a three-tiered cake at the White House dinner yesterday, and the entire thing collapsed on some oil baron.”
Things 1 and 2 disintegrated into a fit of giggles.
“Does anyone else smell bleach?” Reggie sniffed. “I swear, the scent of Farrow clings to my nostrils these days. You have to kick her out, Mom. She stinks up the whole place.”
“And where would I put her, exactly?” Vera cranked the A/C up to max. “We need the rent money for all the shitholes your father left behind. People are already starting to talk. When I signed the lease on this car, I didn’t even opt for the AMG.” She paused. “I suppose we could stuff her in the pool house…”
“Not the pool house.” Tabby jerked forward, by the way the entire vehicle bounced. “I’m converting it into a second closet.”
I couldn’t believe I intended to plow through hundreds of people as self-obsessed and superficial as my stepsisters for the next hour.
But I had no choice.
Zachary Sun possessed something of mine.
The jade pendant should’ve never ended up inside the sprawling Sun château. Naturally, this had the telltale fingerprints of Vera’s greed all over it.
When Dad passed, she’d auctioned off his belongings, biding her time until the insurance money kicked in. Apparently, Zach Sun bid three times higher than the closest offer.
Now this spoiled billionaire possessed the only memory I had left of Dad.
Not for long.
