Chapter 5

The heat of the asphalt radiated through the thin soles of Ginny's cheap heels as she crossed the parking lot. The midday sun hammered down, forcing her to narrow her eyes. She walked straight toward the black Maybach parked at the far edge of the lot.

Silas leaned against the rear passenger door, phone in hand, thumb scrolling lazily across the screen. Bored. Irritated. He heard the crunch of gravel and let out a loud, theatrical sigh, already forming the words to tell the country girl to move her ass.

He looked up. His eyes locked onto Ginny's face.

Silas's jaw went slack. His fingers forgot how to grip. The expensive smartphone slipped from his hand and hit the asphalt with a sharp crack. The screen shattered into a spiderweb of fractures.

He didn't look down. He couldn't take his eyes off the girl walking toward him. The ridiculous clown mask was gone. The face underneath was breathtaking-a cold, untouchable beauty that knotted his stomach with sudden, primal intimidation. The cheap pink dress didn't look trashy anymore. It looked like a deliberate, mocking contrast to the flawless, sculpted features it framed.

Ginny stopped two feet away. She glanced down at the shattered phone, then raised her eyes to meet his. Her gaze was flat and heavy as a tombstone.

Silas swallowed hard, his throat bobbing. He scrambled backward, nearly tripping over his own feet, and grabbed the chrome door handle. He yanked it open and bowed his head slightly.

Ginny slid into the cool leather interior.

"Drive," she said.

Silas practically dove into the driver's seat. He slammed the door, fired the engine, and pulled back onto the highway. His knuckles were bone-white on the steering wheel. Every few seconds, his eyes flicked nervously to the rearview mirror, but Ginny was just staring out the window, her face an unreadable mask.

Thirty minutes later, the Maybach turned off the main road and rolled toward the massive wrought-iron gates of the Steele estate. The gates swung open in silence. The car glided up the long, winding driveway lined with ancient oak trees, their gnarled branches interlocking overhead like the ribs of some great, slumbering beast. It pulled into the circular courtyard and stopped directly in front of a towering stone fountain.

A crowd had already gathered on the wide marble steps leading to the mansion's double doors.

A dozen maids and butlers stood in a neat, rigid line, necks craned. They had all heard the whispered gossip about the illegitimate, uneducated girl from the trailer park. They were waiting for a circus. A freak show.

Standing front and center was Coretta. She wore a pale blue, custom-tailored Chanel day dress that hugged her slender frame. Her honey-blonde hair was swept into an immaculate updo. A small, patronizing smile played on her glossed lips. She was ready to play the gracious, perfect sister welcoming the ugly duckling home.

Silas threw the car into park. He unbuckled with frantic speed, scrambled out, and jogged around to the back. He grabbed the handle and pulled the door wide, standing at rigid, terrified attention.

A pale, slender leg stepped out of the dark interior. A cheap pink heel touched the cobblestone.

Ginny stood. She rose from the car and turned to face the steps.

The patronizing smile on Coretta's face died instantly. The muscles in her cheeks twitched. Her eyes flew wide, pupils shrinking to pinpricks.

A collective gasp rippled through the line of servants. The whispers died. The silence that settled over the courtyard was absolute, broken only by the splashing water of the fountain.

Ginny stood tall. The brutal California sun hit her clean, sharp features. She looked like a queen forced into peasant rags-and the rags somehow made her look even more untouchable.

Coretta's hands dropped to her sides. Her perfectly manicured nails dug into the expensive silk of her dress. A hot, acidic wave of jealousy scorched the back of her throat. This wasn't the plan. The makeup was supposed to ruin her. She was supposed to be a joke.

The heavy oak doors swung wider.

Anjanette, Ginny's biological mother, stepped onto the porch. She was frail, her frame birdlike, leaning heavily on the arm of a senior maid. Her skin was pale and papery, her dark hair streaked with premature gray.

Anjanette looked down the steps. Her eyes locked onto Ginny.

Anjanette stopped breathing. Her thin hands began to shake violently. The face staring up at her was a mirror image of her own youth-but sharper. Stronger. Unmistakable. There was no denying the bloodline.

Tears flooded Anjanette's eyes and spilled freely down her hollow cheeks.

Ginny looked at the woman who had birthed her. In her past life, Anjanette had been too weak, too broken, to shield her from the family's cruelty. A complicated knot tightened in Ginny's chest-old resentment tangled with an undeniable biological pull she couldn't sever.

Coretta saw those tears. Panic spiked hot in her chest. She had to seize back control of the narrative. Now.

Coretta forced her stiff facial muscles into a wide, radiant smile. She practically leaped down the marble steps, arms spreading wide.

"Ginny! My sweet sister, welcome home!" Coretta cried, her voice dripping with artificial sugar.

She lunged forward, aiming to wrap her arms around Ginny's neck, to pull her into a suffocating embrace that would reassert dominance.

Ginny didn't blink. As Coretta's arms closed in, Ginny took a smooth half-step to the right and bent slightly, pretending to adjust the strap of her cheap dress.

Coretta's arms snapped shut on empty air.