Now She Burns in My Place

Right now, the ground temperature in Solvarra is 118°F. I bought a plane ticket behind my family's back and flew there. Everyone thought I'd lost my mind. What they didn't know was that the fake heiress, Cora Talbot, had used a system to bind us together in a sensory swap. In my last life, she was terrified I'd steal the good life she'd enjoyed for twenty years. So she went swimming in an ice lake in the dead of winter and seduced my fiancé. Meanwhile, I froze at home until my organs failed. I begged her through my tears, but my fiancé said I was talking nonsense. Even my parents decided I was a hopeless liar. In the end, I froze to death inside a fully heated mansion. This time, I headed straight for the most expensive luxury hotel in Solvarra. But I refused to set foot in my room. Instead, I lay on the floor by the pool, baking in the direct sun. This time, it's her turn to beg me. Chapter 1 My flight was booked. Departure was in two hours. This time, I was going to make them pay! At that very moment, Cora Talbot was picking out swimsuits. She'd already invited Rhys Barron to an ice lake in the Frostmark, determined to steal the groom out from under me and ruin my wedding. A message popped up on my phone. It was Rhys. "Mae, I've got a business trip out of town coming up, so I can't make it to your dress fitting. "Don't be mad. I'll bring you back a present." I let out a cold laugh. He was obviously heading to the Frostmark to ogle a pretty girl in a swimsuit, but he had to call it a business trip. Why bother? "What a coincidence. I can't make the fitting either." I picked up my car keys and that plane ticket to Solvarra, a smile curling my lips. "I'm going sunbathing." Mom stopped me on my way out. "Mae, your sister's craving your ribs and lemon-butter salmon today. Don't go out. Stay home and get everything ready." I followed her gaze. Every ingredient was already laid out. All that was missing was me at the stove. In my last life, Cora had deliberately put in colored contacts while I was cooking and "accidentally" jabbed her own eye. Instantly, I couldn't open my eyes, and a pan of sizzling oil came crashing down on me. She paused the sensory swap just in time. My legs—legs I'd danced ballet on for ten years—nearly had to be amputated. Just thinking about it turned my whole body cold. "Can't the housekeeper make it?" Dad, who'd been reading the paper in the living room, flared up instantly. He threw the newspaper down and stormed over to lecture me. "Maeve! "Cora's lived a good life in this house for twenty years. You think she's short one meal? She wants your cooking because she wants to get close to you! "Do you know how many times Cora has cried behind our backs, trying so hard to accept you? She's terrified we'll stop loving her now that you're home! "If Cora wants your cooking, you cook it, no arguments! So what if you're our biological daughter? In my house, the good daughter is the one who knows how to behave!" I looked at him and fell silent. So that was how they saw me. I was their own flesh and blood, the one who'd struggled out in the world for twenty years. And just because I'd protected myself instead of cooking for the girl they'd raised in my place, I wasn't even good enough to be called a good daughter. The last bit of warmth in my heart vanished for good. "Then just treat me like an outsider." I'd simply take my resources and clients with me. The moment I said it, Dad completely lost it and raised his hand to hit me. But his hand froze in midair, trembling nonstop. Mom tensed up instantly. "Are you crazy? Even if you don't care about hurting her, think about Cora!" Every drop of blood in my body ran cold. So they'd known all along. In my last life, Cora had gone swimming in an ice lake at -22°F while I froze inside a heated house until my organs began to fail. I threw away every shred of dignity and begged them to take me to the hospital. They said I was putting on an act. They even filmed me and sent the video to Cora to cheer her up. Just then, a message came in from my assistant, Elise. "The hotel in Solvarra and the armed security team are all set. Your flight lands at 3 p.m. Ground temperatures there are forecast to hit 127°F." I gave my parents one last look. Chapter 2 Then I grabbed my car keys and walked straight out. Accusations chased me out the door. "Let her go! I'd like to see where you think you can go without this family!" I deliberately kept the air conditioning off while I drove. Meanwhile, Princess Cora was on the verge of heatstroke in her air-conditioned room. She video-called me right away. She was soaking in ice water, but her face was still bright red, sweat pouring down her. She looked like a total wreck. "Maeve, turn on your car's AC right now!" I smiled. As long as she didn't know what was causing it, she couldn't pause the sensory swap. "My dear little sister, what's got you so worried about me today?" Cora was about to explode. "Maeve! You think you've got much longer to strut around like this? I'm leaving for the Frostmark any minute now! When I get there, I'll make you wish you were dead!" Rhys had finally found time to take her out to eat and go shopping today. She'd planned to enjoy a nice meal, snap some gorgeous photos, and post them all over social media to get under my skin. Instead, she'd suddenly started panting like an overheated pug and nearly fainted. She'd had to leave the table and slink home. It was utterly humiliating. I looked at her flushed face on the screen. "Cora, aren't you worried you'll be the one begging first?" Up ahead, a sports car cut me off and slammed on its brakes. The sudden stop threw me forward, and my head nearly hit the steering wheel. One look at that familiar vanity plate, and my heart sank. Rhys got out and knocked on my window. Seeing that my door wasn't locked, he yanked it open and cranked my AC down to 64°. "I know you grew up in the sticks and you're used to being poor, but do you really have to pinch pennies like this?" With that, he flung a wad of cash right in my face. "Take it, and quit playing the poor little victim. "Cora told me she's sick because of you. If anything happens to her because of you, I won't let you off the hook." "You care about her that much?" I raised an eyebrow. "Obviously! She's my fiancée." He looked at me coldly. "You think being the real Talbot daughter makes you something special? You won't even run your AC. You're no better than a beggar!" I laughed. "Funny, I seem to remember that I'm your fiancée. The name on the engagement contract is Maeve Talbot, not Cora Talbot." After our families agreed to the match, he'd used my name to take out loans from five different banks, big and small. That was the only thing that had kept his teetering family business afloat. I was the one who'd turned him from a nobody back into the Barron heir, and now he was kicking away the ladder he'd climbed. Rhys's expression shifted. "But she's the only one in my heart! "You went missing twenty years ago, and Cora spent those twenty years here being a devoted daughter in your place! She's the one who's been by my side ever since we were kids! "As far as I'm concerned, Cora's the real Talbot heiress, and we're a perfect match. You're just some wild country girl who showed up out of nowhere. You really think you're good enough to marry me?" My stomach churned, and I couldn't resist fanning myself with the plane ticket in my hand. If he'd been paying attention, he would've seen the terrifying, dangerous word printed on it. Solvarra. But he didn't. Instead, he shot me a look of pure contempt. "Picking up a client at the airport? "Running errands is all you're good for. "From now on, you'd better be a good little workhorse for Cora. Otherwise, how's a girl who grew up in the country supposed to survive?" After he left, I finally answered Elise's call. "Ms. Talbot, the acquisition contract for Barron Group is ready. Just say the word, and we'll move." I watched Rhys's confident back as he walked away, and the corners of my mouth turned up. "I don't care how dirty it gets. Drive Barron Group into the ground. I want it worth nothing. "Also, tell the sensory-swap research institute to speed things up. By tomorrow, I want to know how to break the swap." Cora thought she was the only one who could control a system? With enough money, anyone could. Chapter 3 A second before I boarded, Cora posted an update. In the photo, Mom, Dad, and Rhys were all clustered around her. They looked like the picture of a happy family. They'd made a point of cropping me out. It was supposed to be a family portrait, yet there wasn't so much as the corner of their biological daughter's sleeve left in it. Her ticket to the Frostmark for the next day was sitting on the table. "Off to the Frostmark tomorrow with the love of my life! I can't wait!" Everyone had liked it and piled into the comments. "You look so happy, Cora." "Mr. and Mrs. Talbot adore you, and Rhys spoils you rotten. What a perfect life!" "Why isn't Maeve in the picture? Is the country bumpkin too embarrassed to show her face?" That was the only comment Cora replied to. "Sigh. I guess she just couldn't adjust to such a comfortable life, so she ran away from home." In an instant, everyone was mocking me. I let out a cold laugh. Then I turned off my phone and went to sleep. The heat in Solvarra was even more vicious than I'd imagined. The moment I stepped off the plane, a thick, sour stench of hot tar and exhaust hit me. The asphalt under my feet had gone soft, and my high heels sank in with every step. While my security team stared in shock, I took off my shoes and strolled barefoot across the ground without a care in the world. In my last life, Cora had been in the Frostmark, and I'd been at home. She swam in the ice lake in a bikini and rolled around in the snow, carefree and reckless, all over Rhys like they were on their honeymoon. But that -22°F coldness seeped all the way into my bones. I wore three down jackets and wrapped myself in two thick comforters, curled up on the bed with my teeth chattering and my skin mottled blue and purple. The floor heating was cranked up to 104°F. It didn't help. I begged Cora over and over. "Please, can you just get out of the water? I can't take it anymore... I'm going to freeze to death... "I'm so cold. I can't feel my fingers anymore. "Cora, I'm begging you. I'll do anything you want. Just please stay out of the ice lake." That last message took me five whole minutes to type. My hands had frozen stiff. Every key I pressed felt like snapping a bone. She was too busy cooing in Rhys's arms to pay me any attention. It wasn't until I'd collapsed on the floor, my tears frozen into slivers of ice on my cheeks, that Cora finally replied. "No way! I'm not done having fun yet!" Before I even reached the hotel, Cora's calls started coming in, one after another, like a death knell. When I picked up, her voice was so hoarse I could barely recognize it. She sounded like a drowning woman thrashing for air. "You're in Solvarra, aren't you? "I'm... begging you... come back..." The corners of my mouth curved up as I savored the sight of her sweat-soaked hair and her miserable expression. "No way. I'm not done having fun yet." Suddenly, I heard something heavy hit the floor on her end. "Cora! Cora, what's wrong? Don't scare me like this! "Why are your hands so hot? Somebody call a doctor! Get her to the hospital! "Maeve! Get back home right now, or I'll bring people over there and drag you back myself!" I hung up. I took a deep breath and lay down on the scorching tiles by the pool, letting the hot wind fill my lungs. But right then, I didn't feel the heat at all. I just felt refreshed and clearheaded. Elise called again with an update. "Ms. Talbot, the sensory-swap cancellation plan is only 0.1% away from activation!" "Good. Push it even faster." I couldn't stay here long. I had to get moving. I knew Mom and Dad would bring people to come after me, but I hadn't expected them to do it like this. That night, police sirens wailed across the Solvarran sky. Mom and Dad had reported to the authorities that I'd fled the country with a fortune in company money. The police tracked down my current location and contacted the Solvarran police. What they found out was shocking. "Ms. Talbot has even paid to buy guns abroad. She has people guarding her around the clock." Chapter 4 To the police, that all but proved I'd run off with the money, and they threw everything they had into arranging to go abroad and bring me in. Seeing that, Mom and Dad kept laying on the sob story. "See? If she weren't running off with the money, why would she need guns? She's guilty, plain and simple! "Please, you have to help us bring our daughter back! The future of Talbot Holdings is in your hands!" Only one veteran officer gave them a long, hard look. "But we've checked, and there's no money missing from Talbot Holdings' books. "Besides, buying a gun is legal over there. She could just be protecting herself. "You two wouldn't be using the police to settle a private family matter, would you?" Mom and Dad exchanged a look. They shook their heads over and over and even swore they weren't. Even though it was obviously a false report, the police got ready and went all in on the case. In her hospital bed, a weak and battered Cora still refused to give up. She was wrapped in bandages from head to toe, and ugly burns covered her everywhere. "I'm going to the Frostmark! "Mom, Dad, she did this to me on purpose. You have to stand up for me! "I've always tried so hard to get on her good side. Why does Maeve hate me so much..." Mom's eyes instantly welled up, her heart breaking for Cora. "Don't you worry. I'll drag her back home even if I have to tie her up!" Dad slammed his fist on the table. "How dare she! Backwater places breed nothing but trouble. We never should've brought her home. We should've left her out in those hills to rot!" Rhys's face was grim. "Cora, you're not well right now. Going to the Frostmark is just asking for trouble. Why don't we go with your mom and dad to Solvarra and find Maeve instead? I'll make sure you get your payback. "You know what? Maeve's been paying top scientists a fortune to secretly research a way to cancel the sensory swap. "But I found her lab, and I've already sent people over to destroy everything they've done. "With things where they are, the priority is bringing her back." Cora was a little reluctant, but what he said made sense. "Maeve, I won't let you get away with this!" At that moment, she felt completely sure of herself. After all, everyone was on her side. That huge mansion was full of photos documenting her life from the day she was born, keepsake baby teeth, and every award she'd ever won in school. But I, the biological daughter they'd lost for twenty years, couldn't even get the most basic apology. A family like this wasn't worth missing anymore. With everything ready, they made a big show of it, descending on my hotel with police from home and from Solvarra. Cora made a point of wearing a tank top and a micro-miniskirt, and she smugly texted me. "This 118-degree heat can't burn me, but you're going to find out exactly what it feels like to have your skin scorched." I scoffed. Had they forgotten that the heat wasn't the only danger? A pampered family flashing its wealth in a country they knew nothing about made an easy target. And so, their grand manhunt against me began. Mom, Dad, and the police carefully surrounded my luxury suite. Meanwhile, Cora was lounging in her skimpy outfit by the Ambrose River, soaking up the sun. Everyone thought I was finished. Elise called me, overjoyed. "Ms. Talbot! The sensory swap has been successfully canceled! "You're free!" At that very moment, I was eating steak in Everglen, where it felt like spring all year round. And Rhys and Dad got calls at the same time. "Barron Group's been bought out completely—for two hundred dollars! And the people who went to make trouble at Maeve's lab were all beaten half to death!" "The shareholders are pulling out, and our partners have all bailed! Talbot Holdings is finished!" "Mr. Barron! Mr. Talbot! You have to come home now!" Then Cora's screams for help exploded in their ears like a thunderclap.