Chapter 2

My phone buzzed again on the passenger seat, lighting up the dark car like some cruel alarm. I snatched it up before I could think twice. Ryan's name flashed across the screen, but I answered without planning to, my voice raw from that sound I made earlier.

"What do you want, Ryan?" I said, gripping the wheel with my free hand so tight that my knuckles hurt.

"Jasmine, thank God you picked up." His words came fast, shaky like he had practiced them. "Look, I know how this looks. But you have to let me explain. Ava and I... it was one stupid moment. The stress from the company, and the wedding planning. It did not mean anything."

"One moment?" I laughed, but it came out sharp and ugly. "I walked in on you with my sister, Ryan. My little sister. The one who always got the compliments while I got the 'you would look better if you just tried harder' talks from Mom. And now you are telling me it meant nothing?"

He sighed on the other end, that heavy sigh he used when deals went sideways at Lancaster Corp. "Baby, please. Come back so we can talk face-to-face. The wedding is in three days. We built something real here. Remember how we met? I was just a guy with a half-baked idea for a fashion line, scraping by in that tiny office. You walked in with your sketches and your vision, and you turned it into something. You designed the entire first collection's branding. Without you, Lancaster would still be nothing."

I closed my eyes, leaning harder against the steering wheel. The leather felt cold under my forehead. "Yeah, I remember. I turned down that Parsons scholarship because you said you needed me here full-time. 'We are a team, Jas,' you told me. 'My success is your success.' I believed you. I stayed up nights fixing patterns, building mood boards for free because I loved you and I believed in us."

"You did more than that," he said quickly, like he thought agreeing would fix it. "You created the whole aesthetic. Clients loved your ideas. I always said you had the eye. Come on, drive back. We can work through this. Ava feels terrible too. She texted you, right?"

"The baby," I whispered, the word sticking in my throat. "She mentioned a baby in her text. Tell me that part is a lie, Ryan. Tell me right now."

Silence stretched on his end. Then he cleared his throat. "It is real, Jas. But we can figure it out. The family needs to stay strong. Your mom already called me. She thinks we should handle this quietly for everyone's sake."

My stomach twisted. Margaret Reed, always the planner. I could hear her voice in my head already. "You are the mature one, Jasmine. Ava needs this more." I pressed my palm to my forehead, trying to push the pressure away.

"Do not bring my mom into this," I snapped. "Not right now. You stood by me when things were hard. Or at least I thought you did. Every time I shrank myself to fit what you wanted. Every time I ignored the comments about my size, about how lucky you were to 'overlook' it. I did all that because I thought you saw me… really saw me."

"I did see you," he said, softer now. "I still do. This does not erase six years. Remember the night we closed our first big wholesale deal? You stayed late reworking the samples until they were perfect. The buyer said your patterns made the collection pop. That was you, Jasmine. Not me."

Tears burned my eyes but I blinked them back hard. "And then you bought me the studio as an engagement gift. I worked in there alone until 2 a.m. tonight, finishing that dress. The one with the new neckline because you once said the old one made me look like I was hiding. I thought, finally, I am done hiding and done making myself smaller for you. And this is what I get?"

"Please," he begged. "Just come home. Or let me come to you. Where are you right now?"

I looked out at Diana's building, the windows still dark. "I am somewhere safe… away from all of you. Do not call me again tonight, Ryan. I need to think."

I hung up before he could reply. The phone dropped into my lap. My hands shook as I stared at the steering wheel. Six years of my life poured into him, into his company. I met him when he had nothing but charm and big talk. I brought the designs, the strategy, the late nights that made Lancaster Corp real. I gave up my dreams for his. And now my sister is carrying his child.

The clock on the dashboard ticked past two in the morning. I could not go back to our place. Could not face the empty studio or the bed we shared. So I stayed right there in the car with the engine off and the seat pushed back a little to give my body room. My protective styles in my hair felt too tight suddenly, like everything pressing in.

I whispered to myself, "How did I let this happen? I turned down Parsons full ride. They said my patterns had something special, but Ryan looked at me with those eyes and said, 'Stay with me, Jas. We will build an empire together.' And I did. I built his empire while shrinking mine."

Another buzz came. It was Ava this time. I ignored the call but her voicemail popped up. I hit play, holding the phone away like it might bite.

"Jas, it's me. I know you hate me right now. I deserve it. But please, we are still sisters. Mom wants us to talk as a family tomorrow. Ryan is upset. The baby... I did not plan any of this. It just happened. Call me back. Please."

I deleted it without thinking. Sisters? The word felt hollow. Ava had always been the bright one, the slim one, the one Mom paraded around. "Look at your sister, Jasmine. So graceful. You could learn from her." I heard those words my whole life. And now this.

I talked out loud again, voice cracking in the quiet car. "I helped pick the flowers for our wedding, Ava. I let you into my home, into my life… and you took him… while I worked to make his company look good."

Hours dragged like that. I replayed moments in my head, saying pieces out loud when the silence got too heavy. The time Ryan forgot my birthday but I forgave him because the new collection launch was stressful. The way I smiled through family dinners where Mom compared us openly. "Ava has that spark, Jasmine. You have... stability." Stability. Like I was furniture.

By four a.m., my neck ached from leaning forward. I shifted in the seat, rubbing my eyes. The champagne bottle on the floor caught the streetlight. I picked it up and turned it in my hands.

"We were supposed to celebrate tonight," I said to it, like it could answer. "Pop this open after I showed him the dress. Instead, I walked in on that. My sister. In my fiancé's bed."

The sky outside started to lighten just a bit, that gray before true dawn. I still could not make myself move because getting out meant facing people, facing questions, and facing the fact that everything I sacrificed might mean nothing now.

My phone lit up once more. Diana's name this time. She must have seen the missed calls or something. I answered on the second ring, relief hitting me fast.

"Diana," I said, voice thick. "I am outside your place. In the car. I... something happened."

"What?" Her voice came sharp and awake, even at this hour. "Jasmine Reed, you better not be joking. Stay right there. I am coming down."

I heard her moving on the other end, doors opening. "Do not hang up. Talk to me. What did that idiot Ryan do this time?"

I swallowed hard, staring at the building entrance. "He did not just do something. He did it with Ava. I walked in on them… tonight,” my voice cracked. “Three days before the wedding. And she is pregnant, Di. She told me in a text."

There was silence on her end for a beat, then a string of curses that would make anyone blush. "What! That snake. Both of them. Your own sister? I am putting shoes on. Do not move, you hear me? We are going to sit right here until you are ready. No going home to that mess."

"I gave up everything for him," I continued, the words pouring out now that someone listened. "The scholarship. The late nights on his collections. I designed the branding that got Lancaster noticed, and turned down opportunities because he said we were partners. And Mom... you know how she is. Always pushing Ava forward, telling me to be grateful Ryan even looked my way."

Diana's voice got closer, like she was already outside. "I know, honey. I have been telling you for years that you are the talented one. The one with the real vision. Ryan was nobody until you shaped him. And Ava? She has always been jealous of what you built. Do not let them twist this."

Headlights from a passing car swept across my face. I wiped at my eyes again. "I counted to four when I saw them. One, two, three, four. Like I needed proof it was real. Then I just left, quietly… Picked up the champagne and walked out."

The building door opened. Diana stepped out in sweats and a hoodie, her curly hair wild, eyes scanning the street until they landed on my car. She marched over, phone still to her ear.

"Unlock the door," she said into the phone, then hung up as she reached for the handle.

I clicked it open. She slid into the passenger seat, took one look at my face, and pulled me into a tight hug over the console. Her arms felt solid and real.

"You do not have to say anything else right now," she murmured against my hair. "But I am here. We will figure this out together. No more shrinking for those people. You hear me?"

I nodded against her shoulder, the first real comfort since the elevator. But inside, the questions kept spinning. What would happen when Mom called the family meeting? When everyone found out? How did my life turn into this?

The sun crept higher, painting the sky pale. I still sat there, unable to make myself leave the car. Diana stayed right beside me, holding my hand like she would not let go.

But the weight of it all pressed down harder. My sister. My fiancé. The baby on the way. Everything I built, crumbling before the wedding that would never happen.

What came next? I had no idea. And that scared me more than anything.