Chapter 3

When I get home, the house is in an uproar. Ethan and Andrew Scott, the VP's son, have brought a wailing Stella back. My cousin, Matthew Jones, who works on the House Oversight Committee, is also there, looking concerned.

The first person to confront me is our housekeeper, Mrs. Gable. She has worked for us for twenty years, but Stella' s "we're all equal" talk has clearly gone to her head.

"Miss Jocelyn, how could you be so cruel to your own sister?" she scolds, her hands on her hips. "She was only speaking her mind!"

In my past life, I would have been mortified. I would have apologized.

This time, I slap her.

The sound echoes in the grand foyer. Everyone freezes. Mrs. Gable stares at me, her hand on her cheek, her eyes wide with shock.

"You forget your place," I say, my voice dangerously low. "You are staff. You do not speak to me that way."

I turn my gaze to Stella. "And you. You preach about equality, but you dock the staff's pay for being two minutes late. You charge them for breaking a single dish. My parents have never done that. You talk about 'eating the rich,' but you are the cruelest one in this house to those 'beneath' you."

Matthew steps forward, his face flushed with anger. "Jocelyn, that's enough! You're acting like a tyrant!"

"She's out of control," Ethan adds, putting a protective arm around Stella. "We need to do something. Maybe she needs to stay in her room until she calms down."

They start to move toward me, three men ready to confine me for the crime of defending my family's honor.

Just then, the front door opens.

Senator Maria Clarkson rolls into the foyer in her wheelchair, flanked by two serious-looking aides. The atmosphere changes instantly. The air crackles with her power.

"Gentlemen," she says, her voice like ice. "I suggest you step away from my new aide."