Chapter 3

Melvin froze, then shot up like a cat with its tail stepped on.

"You— how dare you slander me out of thin air!"

"What kidney deficiency? I just didn't sleep well last night, that's all!"

His guard was fully up, his voice going shrill enough to crack.

"Daisy Sanchez, you've been the real heiress for all of what, a few days, and already you've got the nerve to humiliate me like this?"

At the next table, Melvin's parents went cold too, slamming their glasses down onto the table.

"Morgan, what exactly is your daughter playing at?"

My parents rushed to smooth things over, shooting me look after look, my father's voice low. "You're always so sensible. What's gotten into you today?"

I stayed calm, taking my time to explain.

"Do you go out drinking a lot, taking on business over dinners, keeping your days and nights turned upside down?"

"Low energy during the day, listless, along with poor appetite, dark urine, thirst, and a bitter taste on your lips?"

"That's a textbook sign your kidneys are in trouble."

Melvin swallowed hard, his face going pale.

The more I talked, the more I got into it. Occupational habit kicked in and I simply couldn't stop, launching into a full lecture on wellness and holistic health.

From preventing high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol all the way to nourishing yin and boosting yang.

I made it clear and easy to follow, and the aunts and uncles hung on every word.

Even Melvin stopped playing the smooth young charmer and quietly pulled out his phone to take notes.

Watching all this, Joel could barely hold himself together, and Maya was so furious she looked ready to fall apart.

She thought I wasn't playing fair.

Weren't the real and fake heiresses supposed to yank each other's hair, trade slaps, plant stolen goods, then shove the other one down a staircase or something?

Ruthless scheming and manipulation of human nature—that was the main theme.

Everyone else is bringing their acting chops, and you go and run a little wellness class?

This wasn't right at all. Something had gone seriously wrong with this world.

And just like that, at the family recognition banquet, I became the darling of the elite circle.

Peter, Chad, and the other fishing enthusiasts sat up straight, asking me what bait worked best for which fish and when.

Every move they made was as devout as grade-schoolers who'd found the author of a cheat code.

The aunts went full fangirl, elbowing my mother clean out of the way.

It got her scolding them, "Even kidnappers aren't this brazen! This is my daughter! Go have your own if you want one!"

Seeing which way things were going, Maya and Joel didn't dare stir up any more trouble, hiding off to the side, muttering who knew what.

And right in the middle of my beaming, of really soaking in that taste of stardom, a single text message scared the soul right out of me.

"Your bank account ending in… has completed an incoming transfer."

That long string of zeros after the amount made my head spin.

The name of the sender yanked my memory back to a few days earlier, when Maya came asking me to deliver documents. She'd said,

"Sis, you're the only one at home with nothing to do. You've got to help out with something."

"This purchase contract is already drawn up. Just go sign it on behalf of Sanchez Group."

I'd taken a curious look at the contract and nearly missed a heartbeat, refusing over and over.

"No way. The biggest thing I've ever presided over is the flag-raising ceremony on the school field every Monday."

"A two-hundred-million contract? I wouldn't dare put my name on that!"

But she'd shoved it at me impatiently.

"Mom and Dad and our brother are all busy lately, and I've got to step out for a while. You're the only living soul left at home."

"Don't worry, the company lawyer will go with you!"

There was no way out of it, so I gritted my teeth and took the job. At least it all went smoothly.

I'd honestly forgotten the whole thing. I never imagined the other side would quietly wire me twenty million!

Didn't that nail me for taking kickbacks?!

I clutched my phone, forcing myself to look composed, but inside my chest my heart was already pounding like a war drum.

This was bad. I'd been set up.