Chapter 1

The air in the rented hall was thick with cheap beer and sweat.

Billy-Joe, my "brother," was on stage, grinning like a fool, an NFL cap perched on his head.

Fifteen years.

Fifteen years I' d worked, scrubbing floors, waiting tables, anything to get him here.

I dropped out of community college for this. For him.

My own dreams, packed away like old clothes.

Then I saw them.

Across the room, by the cheap champagne fountain.

Earl and Sue-Ellen.

My "parents."

The ones who supposedly died in that West Virginia mine collapse all those years ago.

They looked prosperous, healthy, not like ghosts at all.

They were fawning over a girl, Tiffany, dripping in jewels, her laughter sharp and cruel.

My blood went cold.

I pushed through the crowd.

"Mom? Dad?"

Their smiles froze.

Sue-Ellen clutched her pearls. "Well, look what the cat dragged in."

Earl sneered. "Maya. Didn't expect to see you."

"You were dead," I whispered, my voice shaking.

"Business decision," Earl said, waving a dismissive hand. "Turns out, being dead was quite profitable for a while."

Tiffany looked me up and down, her lip curled. "So this is the charity case?"

"She was useful," Sue-Ellen said, her eyes like chips of ice. "Raised Billy-Joe for us. Did a fine job, I suppose, for someone like her."

"Billy-Joe?" I was confused. "He's your son."

Earl laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. "Our son? Honey, you were the swap. Tiffany here is Governor Harrison's real daughter. We just... facilitated a better life for our actual child."

He meant Tiffany. Their former employer's daughter.

"You were swapped at birth, dear," Sue-Ellen cooed, enjoying my shock. "We needed someone to look after Billy-Joe while we got Tiffany settled. You were perfect."

Fifteen years of sacrifice, for their biological son, while their biological daughter lived in luxury.

"And now?" I asked, my heart a stone in my chest.

"Now," Earl said, his eyes narrowing, "you're a loose end."

He nodded.

Two large men stepped out from the shadows behind him.

"She knows too much," Earl told them.

Pain exploded in my head.

Darkness.