TWELVE HOURS EARLIER

I woke up to my phone exploding with messages.

6:47 AM. Saturday morning. The day of Sophia's wedding.

I grabbed my phone, squinting at the screen in the early light filtering through my Brooklyn apartment windows.

Jessica: Morning! Ready to watch your sister become a billionaire's wife? 😏

Jessica: Also I'm bringing a flask to this thing. You're welcome.

Jessica: Just kidding love, I might not be able to come.

Mom: Eve, please be at the estate by 9 AM sharp. Don't be late.

Sophia: WHERE ARE MY SHOES??? The Louboutins. Red soles. Box should be in my closet. FIND THEM.

No "good morning." No "how are you." Just demands.

Classic Sophia.

I rolled out of bed, my body already tense with the knowledge of what today would bring. Hours of watching my beautiful, perfect sister marry Damon Sterling. Hours of smiling while people who barely knew I existed celebrated the union of the year.

Hours of being invisible.

I showered quickly, pulled my hair into a simple twist, did minimal makeup. The bridesmaid dress was hanging on my closet door, pale blue, simple, designed to make sure no one looked at anyone except the bride.

Perfect for me. I'd spent twenty-four years making sure no one looked at me.

My phone rang. Mom.

"Eve? Where are you? You need to be here NOW. Sophia's having a crisis about her hair and she needs you to..."

"I'm on my way," I interrupted. "I'll be there in two hours."

"Make it ninety minutes. And bring those shoes she texted you about."

She hung up before I could respond.

I looked at myself in the mirror. Dark hair, brown eyes, average height, average build. Everything about me was average. Forgettable.

Everything Sophia wasn't.

My sister was a force of nature, blonde, tall, stunning, with the kind of charisma that made people gravitate toward her like moths to a flame. She'd been dating Damon Sterling on-and-off for three years. Three years of dramatic fights and passionate reconciliations that played out across Manhattan's social scene.

I'd watched from the shadows, like always. Seen them at family dinners where Damon barely registered my existence. Been at the engagement party six months ago where he'd shaken my hand with polite disinterest and immediately forgotten me.

"Eve, right?" he'd said, like he wasn't sure.

"Right," I'd confirmed.

That was the extent of our relationship.

And today, I'd watch him marry my sister.

I grabbed the shoes from where I'd picked them up yesterday...because of course Sophia couldn't be bothered to get her own wedding shoes, and headed out.

The Sterling estate in the Hamptons was like something out of a magazine.

Rolling lawns, white tents, five hundred chairs arranged in perfect rows facing an altar decorated with white roses. Crystal chandeliers hanging from the pavilion ceiling. A string quartet warming up. Catering trucks lined up like an army preparing for battle.

It was perfect.

It was also complete chaos.

"EVE!" My mother appeared the second I stepped out of my car. "Finally! Sophia is having a meltdown. The makeup artist made her eyes 'too smoky' apparently. Get up there and calm her down before she fires everyone."

"Good morning to you too, Mom," I muttered.

She was already walking away, phone pressed to her ear, dealing with some crisis about the seating arrangements.

I grabbed Sophia's shoes and headed inside the mansion, following signs to the bridal suite. I could hear my sister before I saw her.

"This is WRONG! Everything is WRONG! I look like a raccoon!"

I pushed open the door to find Sophia standing in front of a mirror in her robe, surrounded by a glam squad looking terrified. Her hair was half-done, makeup artists hovering with brushes like they were afraid to approach.

"Sophia," I said calmly. "I have your shoes."

She whirled around. "About time! Where have you been? I've been texting you for HOURS."

"You texted me forty-five minutes ago."

"Same thing!" She grabbed the shoebox from me and immediately opened it, inspecting the shoes like they might have been damaged in transit. "Thank God. At least something is going right today."

I looked at her, really looked at her. My sister was beautiful. Objectively, undeniably beautiful. But right now, she looked... off. Tense. Her hands were shaking slightly as she held the shoes.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly.

"I'm FINE." She set down the shoes and turned back to the mirror. "I'm just getting married to a man who treats me like a business acquisition in front of five hundred people. Why wouldn't I be fine?"

The makeup artists exchanged glances. This was above their pay grade.

"Everyone out," I said. "Give us a minute."

They practically ran for the door.

Once we were alone, I approached carefully. "Sophia. If you're having doubts..."

"I'm not having doubts." But her voice was too high. Too brittle. "This is what we planned. What Mom and Dad arranged. The merger, the wedding, the whole thing."

"That doesn't mean you have to go through with it if you don't want to."

She laughed, sharp and bitter. "Of course I have to go through with it. Do you know what happens to the family business if I don't? Dad loses everything. Mom's social standing evaporates. We become a joke."

"But do you love him?"

The question hung in the air.

Sophia's eyes met mine in the mirror. For just a second, I saw something real break through her perfectly maintained facade. Something scared.

"I don't know," she whispered. "I've been with him for three years and I still don't know. He's cold, Eve. Like ice. I've tried everything to make him feel something real for me and he just... doesn't. I know he loves me, but I feel like just another acquisition. Another trophy for his collection."

"Then don't marry him."

"It's too late." She turned away from the mirror. "Five hundred guests are here. The contracts are signed. The stock announcements have been made. There's no backing out now."

Her phone rang. She grabbed it, looked at the screen, and her whole face changed.

"I need to take this," she said, her voice suddenly strange. "Alone. Can you...just give me ten minutes? Please?"

"Sophia...

"Ten minutes, Eve. Please."

Something in her voice made me nervous. But I nodded and left, closing the door behind me.

I went downstairs to deal with a vendor issue—the flower delivery was missing half the white roses for the ceremony. It took nearly an hour to sort out, tracking down the florist, reorganizing arrangements, making sure everything looked perfect.

By the time I got back upstairs, I'd been gone longer than I meant to.

I knocked on the bridal suite door. "Sophia? The flowers are sorted. We need to get you into your dress. Ceremony starts in two hours."

No answer.

"Sophia?"

I opened the door.

The room was empty.

The wedding dress still hung on its hanger. Makeup was half-done. But Sophia was gone.

My heart started pounding. "Sophia?"

I checked the bathroom. Empty.

The balcony. Empty.

She wasn't here.

That's when I saw it.

An envelope on the vanity, "Mom & Dad" written across it in Sophia's handwriting.

My hands were shaking as I picked it up. I shouldn't open it. I knew I shouldn't.

But I did.

Mom and Dad,

I can't do this.

Alessandro Moretti called last night. He wants me for the lead role in his new film...THE lead role. The one I've been dreaming about for years. This is my chance to be a real star, not just some society wife married to a cold man who treats me like a business acquisition.

I'm going to Italy. The film shoots in three days.

I know the timing is terrible, but I can't sacrifice my dreams for a loveless marriage. I spent three years trying to make Damon feel something real for me, and all I got was ice. I won't spend the rest of my life frozen out.

Tell everyone I'm sorry. Tell Damon he'll be better off without me. He can find someone who'll actually be satisfied playing the perfect, silent Mrs. Sterling.

I'm taking the first flight out. By the time you read this, I'll be gone.

-Sophia

The note fell from my hands.

She was gone.

Sophia had run away.

Two hours before her wedding.

Two hours before the ceremony that was supposed to save our family business.

Two hours before five hundred guests expected to see her marry Damon Sterling.

"Oh my God." My voice came out as a whisper. "Oh my God, oh my God..."