AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Vera flicked on the turn signal, jouncing the vehicle over a gravel path. “Here we are. Goodness gracious, look at the line.”
Finally.
Sheshushed an argument between my stepsisters, tsking as we waited. “Christ alive, look at the security at the gate. A bit much if you ask me.”
I scooted deeper into the backseats and swathed myself in black fabric. The handmade material I’d sewn blended so well with the rest of the empty trunk, I knew they wouldn’t rummage around.
“Open.” A security guard rapped the trunk window.
It popped out, creeping up at an excruciating pace. The flashlight’s intense ray impaled the fabric that cocooned me before the door slammed shut.
“All clear.Next.”
Vera threw the vehicle into park with a screech. My step-monsters evacuated the car, swapping places with a valet.
Just as I’d predicted, he parked it on a driveway furthest from the two-acre property’s entrance on Dark Prince Road. He joined a golf cart packed with other valets, hitching a ride back to the main road.
As soon as the headlights faded, I crawled from the trunk to the driver’s seat and cracked the door open.
The Sun terrarium glared down at me, lit up from end to end with blinding floodlights, daring me to trespass. Even a few hundred feet away, it cast a menacing shadow across the trimmed lawn.
I tiptoed on a bollard-lit path to the main house, crouching between rows of luxury vehicles when a valet cruised by in a Lotus Evija.
Reggie would kill me once she saw the state of her dress. Cool sweat made the satin cling to my flesh. I’d torn the slit several inches higher while squatting in the trunk.
Another thing I’d discovered during my research: this party marked the official inauguration of Zachary Sun’s bride hunt.
Quite literally.
I had no doubt the prospective brides in attendance intended to goHunger Gameson each other’s asses until one victor remained standing.
If the DMV rumor mill was to be believed, Zachary Sun—to appease his fed up, desperate-for-grandchildren mother—would begrudgingly select a single candidate to date by midnight.
They were all lovely in different ways. Tall and short. Curvy and slim. With their silky gowns and silkier manners.
Daughters of Singaporean billionaires and former Salvadoran oligarchs. Of Korean chaebols and Hollywood producers.
But they all shared one thing in common…
They wanted to be the next Mrs. Sun.
I ducked my head, hoping to blend with the crowd as I shouldered past ballgowns and tuxes.
I excelled at being invisible, a skill I’d honed by preschool. Mainly to save myself the abuse Vera and Things 1 and 2hurled at me whenever they had a bad day.
The château towered over me in commanding splendor—stretches of pale French limestone, imperial columns, and polished gardens that rivaled Versailles.
I swallowed the lump clawing my throat and flowed inside, carried by the volume of eager bodies. Curved grand staircases flanked the foyer.
My eyes crawled up the one leading to my target.
Zachary Sun’s office.
Suited guards blocked the bottom, hands clasped at their fronts, Bluetooths tucked in their ears.
In the corner, my stepfamily laughed too loudly at something men in designer suits said.
Vera clutched an hors d’oeuvre to her chest, attempting a frown past a barricade of Botox. She’d aged like milk in a sauna and flaunted a sour personality to match it.
