e May

exist on any public map. The air smelled of old paper, leather, and secrets. This was my f

ce of Darcie Mayo from the digital world. New phone, new number, cash for ever

ushed them down. This was not a time for mourning. This was a time for war. I had learned a long time ago, in a house th

drive. It contained everything I had quietly ga

worst. The clue about their tax shelters hadn't been stolen in a sophisticated hack; I'd found it months ago,

power. To face Gwendolyn, I needed more than a threat. I needed

ell family's private historical archives. My eidetic memory, a gift I'd honed in my cryptography classes, served

ooking for the foundation. The ancient, forg

and business charters, I found it. Tucked away in a fol

catch. *The 1920 Maxwel

other's na

ript detailed a pact made a century ago, an alliance forged by our two families to survive the econom

es about stock options and board seats, until one

ced the words

st son) is found to be of compromised character or otherwise unfit to lead, the betrothed female of the Mayo line shall have the right to p

ird time. *Another... of undis

with a wild, surging excitement. I had f

eing a pawn in their game to the one w