Chapter 3Back In My Own Body

The chat wasn't lying. My older sister, Harper, was cut from the same cloth as that system host.

Passionate, outgoing, and wildly charismatic. No matter where she stood, she effortlessly stole the room. We shared the same mother, but our personalities were night and day.

I grew up entirely in Harper's shadow. I wore her hand-me-down dresses, ate the snacks she discarded, and used the pens she threw away. I was the ugly duckling constantly used to highlight the swan. Being treated as invisible for two decades had molded me into a deeply insecure ghost of a person.

I was used to walking with my shoulders hunched, hiding behind her, trying to blend into the wallpaper. I didn't speak up, I didn't stand out, and I was too terrified to even look people in the eye when saying hello.

The day the Sinclair family patriarch came to propose an alliance, my parents were over the moon. The old man didn't specify which granddaughter he wanted, but everyone knew the unspoken truth. The Sinclairs absolutely wanted the radiant, perfect Harper.

That night, Harper dressed to the nines for a dinner with the Sinclair family. She came home pale as a sheet, throwing herself into our mother's arms, sobbing hysterically.

"Mom, everyone says Nick is a literal psychopath! When he loses it, he beats people half to death. He knew I was there today and didn't even show his face. I bet they had him locked up in the basement! I'm not doing it, Mom. I'd rather die than marry a freak!"

Harper threw tantrums for three straight days. My mother cried tears of heartbreak for her golden child. Finally, she hardened her heart and turned her sights on me.

The very next day, without a single word of warning, they announced Harper was already engaged to someone else. Then, they shoved me into the black luxury car sent by the Sinclair family.

I curled into a tight ball in the backseat, shivering violently. My head was filled with the vicious rumors I had overheard. People said Nick was a flesh-eating monster. They said he was a ruthless psycho who turned on his own blood.

Looking at my pathetic reflection in the tinted window, I mentally prepared myself for a hundred different ways to die. Boiling water thrown in my face, getting slapped around, being mocked for not being Harper, or just getting kicked out onto the curb.

Whatever. I had been treated like a stray dog my whole life. Getting cursed out one more time wouldn't kill me.

But when Nick finally saw me, he didn't even lift an eyebrow. He just gave a curt nod.

"Anyone works," he threw out the words with zero emotion. He slid a signet ring off his pinky finger and tossed it into a drawer.