Chapter 2

Then I grabbed my car keys and walked straight out.

Accusations chased me out the door.

"Let her go! I'd like to see where you think you can go without this family!"

I deliberately kept the air conditioning off while I drove.

Meanwhile, Princess Cora was on the verge of heatstroke in her air-conditioned room.

She video-called me right away.

She was soaking in ice water, but her face was still bright red, sweat pouring down her. She looked like a total wreck.

"Maeve, turn on your car's AC right now!"

I smiled.

As long as she didn't know what was causing it, she couldn't pause the sensory swap.

"My dear little sister, what's got you so worried about me today?"

Cora was about to explode.

"Maeve! You think you've got much longer to strut around like this? I'm leaving for the Frostmark any minute now! When I get there, I'll make you wish you were dead!"

Rhys had finally found time to take her out to eat and go shopping today. She'd planned to enjoy a nice meal, snap some gorgeous photos, and post them all over social media to get under my skin.

Instead, she'd suddenly started panting like an overheated pug and nearly fainted.

She'd had to leave the table and slink home.

It was utterly humiliating.

I looked at her flushed face on the screen.

"Cora, aren't you worried you'll be the one begging first?"

Up ahead, a sports car cut me off and slammed on its brakes.

The sudden stop threw me forward, and my head nearly hit the steering wheel.

One look at that familiar vanity plate, and my heart sank.

Rhys got out and knocked on my window. Seeing that my door wasn't locked, he yanked it open and cranked my AC down to 64°.

"I know you grew up in the sticks and you're used to being poor, but do you really have to pinch pennies like this?"

With that, he flung a wad of cash right in my face.

"Take it, and quit playing the poor little victim.

"Cora told me she's sick because of you. If anything happens to her because of you, I won't let you off the hook."

"You care about her that much?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Obviously! She's my fiancée."

He looked at me coldly.

"You think being the real Talbot daughter makes you something special? You won't even run your AC. You're no better than a beggar!"

I laughed.

"Funny, I seem to remember that I'm your fiancée. The name on the engagement contract is Maeve Talbot, not Cora Talbot."

After our families agreed to the match, he'd used my name to take out loans from five different banks, big and small. That was the only thing that had kept his teetering family business afloat.

I was the one who'd turned him from a nobody back into the Barron heir, and now he was kicking away the ladder he'd climbed.

Rhys's expression shifted.

"But she's the only one in my heart!

"You went missing twenty years ago, and Cora spent those twenty years here being a devoted daughter in your place! She's the one who's been by my side ever since we were kids!

"As far as I'm concerned, Cora's the real Talbot heiress, and we're a perfect match. You're just some wild country girl who showed up out of nowhere. You really think you're good enough to marry me?"

My stomach churned, and I couldn't resist fanning myself with the plane ticket in my hand.

If he'd been paying attention, he would've seen the terrifying, dangerous word printed on it.

Solvarra.

But he didn't.

Instead, he shot me a look of pure contempt.

"Picking up a client at the airport?

"Running errands is all you're good for.

"From now on, you'd better be a good little workhorse for Cora. Otherwise, how's a girl who grew up in the country supposed to survive?"

After he left, I finally answered Elise's call.

"Ms. Talbot, the acquisition contract for Barron Group is ready. Just say the word, and we'll move."

I watched Rhys's confident back as he walked away, and the corners of my mouth turned up.

"I don't care how dirty it gets. Drive Barron Group into the ground. I want it worth nothing.

"Also, tell the sensory-swap research institute to speed things up. By tomorrow, I want to know how to break the swap."

Cora thought she was the only one who could control a system?

With enough money, anyone could.