One in a billion.
But that wouldn’t stop her. She opened the tube and slathered it onto her lips. Then she marched to her car, ready to drive to New York City to take on the billionaire.
The first few bars of “Let It Go” emanated from her purse and drew her newfound resolve to an abrupt halt. Pausing beside her beat-up sedan, she plucked her cell from the purse. Her older sister’s name flashed across the top of the screen above a request to FaceTime. She hit Accept, ending Frozen’s hit song. Her impromptu meeting with the billionaire could wait a minute or two.
“Kate?” Ivy said as her face filled the small box at the bottom of the screen. But her sister’s familiar face wasn’t staring back at her.
“Auntie Ivy,” her niece bellowed. “I’m Queen Elsa today. Who are you?”
Ivy caught a glimpse of the little girl’s princess costume before her niece’s face filled the screen.
“Today I’m…” Ivy bit her lower lip, tasting the berry lip balm. She had played the princess game countless times with her niece. Most days, she tossed out Belle, the bookworm. But she didn’t feel like the star of Beauty and the Beast right now.
Nothing like a call from Queen Elsa to remind me that my life isn’t a fairy tale.
Her prince wasn’t waiting at the end of her adventure. Her happy-ever-after ending featured a cure for a rare disease. The “prince” in her story provided funding, nothing more.
“Meggie?” her sister’s voice called from the background. “Who are you talking to, sweetheart? Do you have Mommy’s phone again?”
“I’m playing princess with Auntie Ivy,” Meggie said.
A second later, her sister’s face filled the frame. “Sorry. I was getting dinner in the oven and she took my phone.” Kate’s eyes widened. “Wait. You’re not in the lab.”
“I have a meeting in Manhattan,”
Her sister squinted at the screen. “You’re wearing lipstick.”
“It’s Meggie’s balm,” Ivy corrected. “My lips were dry.”
“Bull—”
“I did it,” Ivy cut in. “The test works. I’m one step closer to a cure.”
“Oh, Ivy.” Her sister looked as if she might burst into tears. “I’m so proud of you. Dad would’ve been proud, too. Please tell me you are taking the night off to celebrate in the city.”
“Not exactly.” Ivy drew a deep breath. Her sister would find out about her meeting with the billionaire, anyway. Kate’s super powers included learning all of Ivy’s secrets, whether she wanted them to be kept secret or not. “I’m going to the Burke Initiative’s Manhattan offices to ask Carter Burke for additional funding.”
“Princess Workaholic,” Kate said dryly. “Which one is she again?”
“The scientist princess,” she corrected, opening the driver’s side door. “They haven’t written her story yet.”
“Because she never leaves her lab,” Kate replied.
“I’m out tonight,” Ivy said. “Because the scientist princess finds the cure first so she can give other families a happy-ever-after ending free from a disease. Then she worries ab
out finding her prince.”
“Now that’s a fairy tale I want to read.” Her sister smiled and nodded. “Go get your funding, sis. Don’t leave until that billionaire gives you what you need.”
Ivy could smell the sweet scent on her lips as she stepped onto the gold-plated elevator at the Burke Initiative’s headquarters. She’d made it past the front desk security with no questions.
Maybe Carter Burke meets with scientists all the time.
If Ivy had a billion dollars and had invested a piece of her fortune in medical research, she would want to know how the medical experts planned to use the funds. But no such luck; her personal assets amounted to a used Subaru sedan and a savings account that would be wiped out in a heartbeat if she decided to take her dream vacation and explore Africa. Her father’s medical bills had claimed any possible inheritance. She didn’t even own her rented Westchester condo near her laboratory.
Carter Burke had billions.
And his shareholders relied on Burke Initiative to turn a profit.