Chapter 2

"You're talking to me about breach penalties?" Sebastian stared at me.

I glanced at him but didn't respond.

Because I didn't need to.

Of the guests present, at least twenty were businesspeople. They were already whispering among themselves.

They knew better than I did how big the Dulles family's real estate empire was.

Thirty percent, calculated by market value, was enough to build half a new city.

Rudy snatched the marriage certificate and flipped to clause seven. Her face turned white inch by inch.

"Did you add this clause?" Her voice went shrill.

"I'm just someone marrying in. How would I have the authority to modify the marriage certificate?"

I tilted my head slightly.

"This was written when both families signed the agreement. Both seals are on it. If Rudy wants to investigate, ask who in your family reviewed it."

Rudy turned to look at a middle-aged man beside her.

The man flipped through documents and said quietly: "This was signed between Maximiliano when he was alive and the Taylor family. I wasn't present at the time."

Maximiliano—Sebastian's grandfather, the late head of the Dulles family.

Sebastian's fist clenched and unclenched.

"Take her to the back." He didn't look at me, his voice very low.

"We'll discuss this after the wedding ends."

Two security guards in black suits approached. I didn't resist.

I knew that forcing the issue on Dulles family territory would be meaningless.

I'd already shown the cards I needed to. The rest was a matter of time.

I was taken to a lounge behind the banquet hall. The door locked from the outside.

On the table sat an unopened bottle of water and an untouched plate of pastries.

I unwrapped a candy and put it in my mouth. Too sweet, sweet to the point of bitterness.

My phone vibrated. A FaceTime invitation on WhatsApp from Swift.

I hesitated for two seconds, then answered.

On the screen, Swift sat in her bedroom, hair falling over her shoulders, smiling at the camera.

"Russell, thanks for your hard work."

"How does it feel being locked up? Does that room have air conditioning? Sebastian hates the cold, the Dulles family always keeps the heat on high."

"You called just to ask if I'm cold?"

"Of course not." She tilted her head. "I wanted to tell you personally that everything today was arranged by me from beginning to end."

I said nothing.

She continued: "Dad originally wanted to write Swift on the marriage certificate.

But you know, Maximiliano insisted on specifying the eldest daughter before he died. Dad had no choice, so he wrote eldest daughter of the Taylor family."

"But he told Mom that I would still be the one getting married."

"Now guess whose idea it was to have you play the bride first, knowing you'd naturally be rejected by the Dulles family at the wedding?"

My throat tightened.

She smiled and leaned closer to the camera: "Mine."

"Swift."

"Don't be angry, Russell." She waved her hand dismissively.

"You know Sebastian only has eyes for me. Even if you cling there with the marriage certificate, he'll never touch you.

Eventually you'll live alone in that huge Dulles mansion with no one to talk to. How is that different from house arrest?"

"Rather than that, why not sign the papers and step aside? You back down, I marry in, everyone's happy."

"When you say step aside, do you mean you step aside or me?"

"You step aside for me, of course." She said it as if it were obvious.

"Russell, you grew up away from home. The Taylor family's resources, connections, business—I've been managing all of it these years.

Marrying into the Dulles family is what I deserve."

She raised her left hand to adjust her hair.

The string of emerald green jade beads on her wrist flashed across the camera.

I recognized it. That was the last thing my mother kept.

Dad said that jade bracelet was left to my mother by my maternal grandmother. Mom said before she passed that it should go to her eldest daughter.

"Swift, that bracelet on your wrist belonged to my mother."

She looked down at her wrist and smiled.

"This? Dad gave it to me. He said there's no eldest daughter in the family, I'm the oldest."

"His exact words were there's no eldest daughter in the family?"

"Yeah," she said, tilting her head. "In his heart, you don't count anymore."

"Happy, Russell? This is my welcome gift to you.

Everything your mother left is with me now. If you don't believe me, come home someday and look around. There's nothing left."

My hands were trembling slightly, but I didn't hang up.

"Swift, the things you told Sebastian about your childhood—were those your experiences, or mine?"

The smile on the screen froze for a beat.

"What do you mean?"

"I left the Taylor house with my grandmother when I was six and grew up in Los Angeles. You told Sebastian you lived in Los Angeles as a child, didn't you?"

She didn't answer.

"You even showed him childhood photos from Los Angeles. Two little braids, wearing a red dress, standing at the pier."

"The person in that photo was me."

Swift on the video was silent for two seconds. Then she laughed.

"Yes, those photos were yours. So what? Sebastian likes the story behind the photos, not your face."

"And that story is mine now."

"Russell, even standing in front of him with the marriage certificate, do you think he sees you, or the shadow of someone else in his mind?"