Chapter 1

I pushed open the door to Ryan's penthouse, the key cool in my palm from two Christmases ago. "Ryan? Surprise, babe. I finished it."

The ivory silk charmeuse dress draped over my arm felt like victory after four hundred hours of work. I had stayed up until 2 a.m. alone in the studio he bought me, cutting and stitching every piece myself—three days until our wedding. I carried a bottle of champagne in my other hand and the new sketch in my bag, the one with the bold, sweeping neckline I drew at midnight.

"I am done making myself smaller," I had whispered to the empty studio while I worked on it. Now I said it again under my breath as I stepped inside. "Ryan, you home? I brought something you need to see."

Soft music played from deeper in the apartment, slow and private, the kind he liked when he unwound. I smiled. Perfect timing. He had been so busy with Lancaster Corp lately, and I wanted this to feel special. I followed the sound down the hall, my heart picking up speed.

"Ryan?" I called again, louder this time. "I redesigned the neckline like we talked about. Remember when you said the first one made me look like I was hiding? Well, this one does not hide anything. It celebrates."

There was no answer, but the music grew clearer. I paused at the bedroom door, adjusting the dress on my arm so the fabric would not wrinkle. The champagne bottle felt slippery in my grip from nerves and excitement. This was it. Our life together, finally clicking into place.

Then I heard his voice, low and urgent. "Ava, don't. The door."

My hand froze on the knob. Ava? My sister?

I pushed the door open anyway. The champagne slipped from my fingers and hit the floor with a dull thud. It did not shatter, it just rolled slowly across the marble, coming to rest right against the bedroom doorframe like some cruel punctuation mark.

There they were, Ryan and Ava, on the bed with her legs wrapped around him, his hands on her waist, and clothes half off. My sister. Twenty-four years old, the family favorite, always shining where I tried so hard not to take up too much space.

I stood there and counted. One. Two. Three. Four. Four seconds of my brain forcing the image to sink in. Six years with Ryan. All the late nights I spent designing for his company. All the times I turned down opportunities so I could support him. The engagement ring on my finger suddenly felt heavy.

"Ava?" My voice came out flat, almost calm. "Ryan, what is this?"

Ryan jerked up, eyes wide. "Jasmine. Wait. This is not... Ava, get off."

Ava scrambled for the sheet, her face flushed. "Jas, please. It just happened. We did not plan."

"You did not plan?" I repeated. The words tasted wrong in my mouth. I looked at my sister, the one our mom always praised. "Did you plan it when you came to my engagement dinner? When you helped me pick flowers for the wedding? When you smiled at me across the table like we were still close?"

Ryan stood up, pulling on his pants fast. "Baby, listen. I love you. This was a mistake. Ava has been around a lot lately and things got complicated."

"Complicated?" I laughed, but it sounded broken. "I finished the dress tonight. The one you said would be perfect for our day. I cried a little in the studio because I thought we were finally getting it right. And you are here with my sister?"

Ava would not meet my eyes. "I am sorry, Jas. I really am. You know how Mom always said you needed someone steady, and Ryan and I just connected on another level."

"Connected." I bent down and picked up the champagne bottle. It felt solid in my hand, real when everything else did not. "You connected while I was working late so his company could look good? While I skipped that Parsons scholarship because he needed me here?"

Ryan stepped closer, hands out like he was calming a scared animal. "Jasmine, please, we can fix this. The wedding is in three days. Think about the family. Think about what people will say."

"Family?" I backed up a step. "You mean the family that always told me I should be grateful that someone like you overlooked my size? That I should shrink so you could shine?"

I turned away before either of them could say more. My legs moved on their own, carrying me back through the living room. The music still played, mocking me now. I did not slam the door, I just closed it quietly, like that could somehow keep the last six years from spilling out.

The elevator waited at the end of the hall. I pressed the button and stepped inside when it dinged open. As the doors closed, the weight of it all hit me. Six years. The studio. The sacrifices. The way I had convinced myself his small gestures meant big love.

Between the 34th floor and the ground, I tipped my head back against the cold wall and a sound tore out of me. Not crying exactly. Not screaming. Something raw in between, something that had been building for years under all the careful smiles and "I understand" I gave everyone.

The elevator opened to the lobby. I walked out into the night, the dress still over my arm and the champagne bottle swinging by my side. The city lights blurred a little, but I kept walking. My phone buzzed in my bag. I knew it was probably Ryan, Ava, or Mom, already spinning this somehow.

I did not answer, I just kept moving, one foot in front of the other, the cool air hitting my face. What now? Where do someone go when everything they built turned out to be built on lies?

My car sat where I parked it earlier, full of hope. I climbed in and locked the doors. My hands would not stop shaking as I gripped the wheel. The dress I had made for four hundred hours lay on the passenger seat like evidence and I had three days until a wedding that would never happen.

I pulled out my phone and stared at Diana's name. My best friend. The only one who never let me disappear. My thumb hovered over her contact, but I could not press call yet… Not while the image of them together still burned behind my eyes.

"Ryan Lancaster," I whispered to the empty car. "After everything."

The engine started with a low rumble and I drove without thinking, heading toward Diana's apartment because home did not feel safe anymore. Tears finally came, hot and angry, but I wiped them fast. I would not break down here. Not in the open.

What would Mom say when she found out? Margaret Reed, who always compared me to Ava. "You would be so pretty if..." "Ryan is lucky to overlook..." Those words echoed in my head now, sharper than before.

I parked outside Diana's building and sat there, staring at the dark windows. The clock on the dashboard said it was past midnight. I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact that I had come here to surprise my fiancé and instead walked in on my sister. My own sister naked in bed with my fiancée.

My phone lit up again. Ryan's name this time. I let it ring until it stopped. Then it buzzed with a text.

"Jasmine, please call me. We need to talk. This does not have to ruin everything."

I read it twice. Ruin everything? It already had.

Another text came right after. This one from Ava. "I did not mean for you to see that. Can we please meet and talk like adults? The baby needs a family."

Baby? My stomach dropped. No... What baby?

I dropped the phone like it burned me. The champagne bottle sat on the floor of the car where I had tossed it. I picked it up and held it tight, the glass cool against my skin.

Everything I thought I knew, everything I worked for, shattered in one night. And I had no idea how to put myself back together. Or if I even wanted to.

The night stretched on, quietly except for my own ragged breathing. Diana's building loomed ahead, but I could not make myself get out yet. Not until I figured out how to say the words out loud.

My sister. My fiancé. Three days before the wedding.

How do you even start over from that?

I leaned my head against the steering wheel and let the next sound escape, that same broken thing from the elevator and this time I did not stop it.