Chapter 3

The very afternoon the SATs ended, my parents packed their trunks.

They whisked Seraphina away on a month-long celebratory vacation to the French Riviera.

They completely forgot I existed, leaving me utterly alone in the sprawling New York estate.

I wasn't sad.

I was relieved.

The moment their private jet cleared the airspace, I pulled out a burner phone.

I dialed a highly classified number I had memorized by heart.

"Dr. Sinclair, it's Rhea."

"I solved the quantum matrix problem you gave me."

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line.

"Rhea, your algorithm just saved us years of R&D budget."

"MIT owes you a massive favor."

Within hours, a blacked-out SUV arrived to take me to a top-secret MIT lab in Boston.

For an entire month, Dr. Sinclair and I worked side-by-side to finalize the calculations.

I didn't re-emerge until the day the SAT scores were scheduled to be released.

It was the night of the Vanderbilt family's annual "Ivy League Banquet."

Dr. Sinclair personally arranged a specialized convoy and bodyguards to escort me back to Manhattan.

When I pushed open the double doors of the banquet hall, the room was already packed.

My parents and Seraphina had returned from Europe, glowing with fake tans and arrogance.

They were surrounded by Upper East Side elites and Wall Street executives.

Everyone was showering them with endless flattery.

But this grand party wasn't just to celebrate the end of high school.

Grandma Augusta had made a very public promise.

Whoever secured the better test score and university acceptance tonight would inherit the family's massive trust fund.

Tonight was a coronation to choose the next ruler of the Vanderbilt empire.

I ignored the whispering crowd and walked straight toward the head table.

Grandma Augusta sat there, her posture rigid and commanding.

She reached out and grasped my hand firmly.

"Are you confident, Rhea?"

I looked into her sharp, discerning eyes.

"I promise, I won't let you down tonight."

In my past life, Seraphina's stolen score had completely shattered her faith in me.

After I was banished, Grandma Augusta suffered a fatal heart attack just days later.

I tightened my grip on her hand.

I swore to myself that tragedy would never happen again.

Before Augusta could reply, the sharp clack of designer heels interrupted us.

Seraphina marched over, her face twisted in a mask of fake concern.

"Grandma Augusta, it breaks my heart to say this."

"But Rhea spent her entire prep month doing drugs in a Brooklyn rave."

She pulled out her phone and projected a photo onto the massive screens around the hall.

It was a picture of me passed out on a worn leather sofa in the VIP garage.

Richard slammed his champagne flute onto the table.

"Seraphina is a guaranteed 1580, and you probably won't even break an 800!"

"You are going to spend the rest of your life living like a parasite off your sister's charity!"

The surrounding executives immediately started chiming in.

"I saw her at the club myself, stumbling around the DJ booth."

"What an absolute waste of the Vanderbilt bloodline."

The entire hall erupted in mocking laughter.

I stood perfectly still, letting their insults wash over me.

I let out a cold, dismissive scoff.

"The College Board portal hasn't even opened yet."

"Aren't you a little too eager to kiss your new master's boots?"

I turned my icy gaze to my dad.

"Careful picking sides, Richard."

His face flushed purple with absolute rage.

He pulled the keys to a brand-new Pagani out of his pocket and slammed them onto the table.

"If you actually get a better score than Seraphina, this car is yours."

I looked at the keys and laughed out loud.

"A Pagani?"

"If you really want to bet on the ultimate heir of the Vanderbilt family, put your real money where your mouth is."

"Bet all your equity and Grandma Augusta's trust fund."

The crowd gasped.

Eleanor and Seraphina immediately leaned in, whispering in his ear to egg him on.

"She's bluffing, Richard, destroy her."

Richard puffed out his chest and raised his voice for the entire hall to hear.

"Fine!"

"I will give my entire personal fortune and the inheritance claim to whichever daughter scores higher tonight!"

Right as the words left his mouth, a chime echoed through the hall.

The College Board system was officially online.

Seraphina immediately stepped forward with a confident, victorious smile.

"Let's see just how accurate my predictions are."

She walked up to the main laptop connected to the giant projector screens.

She elegantly typed in her login credentials.

A second later, her final SAT score flashed across the massive screens.