Chapter 1Budget Barbie: The Repo Life of a Fake Heiress

The day the real heiress came back, I got the boot.

My foster parents insisted I needed to taste the bitterness their biological daughter had suffered for twenty years.

Ha, you call this bitterness?

For a corporate drone like me, this isn’t a tragedy; it’s just a lifestyle recession.

Turning a losing hand into a winning one? That’s my specialty.

* * *

Midnight.

New York City.

Pouring rain.

I stood outside the Sterling family villa. Aside from the designer clothes on my back, the only thing I had left was my phone, which was practically glued to my hand anyway.

The real heiress had been home for less than two hours, and I was already on the pavement.

Lydia Sterling said she’d eaten dirt for twenty-two years, so I should taste what it’s like to be destitute.

The heavy iron gates slammed shut.

The cold rain slapped my face indiscriminately.