Chapter 6

Diana closed the apartment door behind us and dropped her keys on the table with a loud clink. "Sit down, Jasmine. I will make tea. You look like you need it after that text. Public announcement? Already? They did not waste any time."

I sank onto her couch, the one with the colorful throw pillows she collected over the years. My phone felt heavy in my hand. "Read it again. 'Public announcement coming soon by Ryan and Ava.' From an unknown number. Probably one of Mom's friends or someone from Ryan's company. They are really doing this."

Diana filled the kettle and set it on the stove, moving around her small kitchen like she needed to keep busy. "Hand me your phone. I will manage it for a bit. You do not need to scroll through the mess right now. Tell me what you are thinking. All of it."

I passed the phone over and rubbed my temples. "I am thinking how six years just got erased like it never happened. Last night I walked in on them. This morning the family meeting where Mom told me to step aside graciously. Now this. An announcement. On social media and in the business press because Lancaster Corp has that profile. My name will not be in it. Like I was never there."

The kettle whistled. Diana poured two mugs and brought them over, sitting close beside me. "Here. Drink. Ryan and Ava's engagement. They are spinning it clean. But people know. Your friends from design school, and clients you worked with will all see it."

My phone buzzed in her hand. Then again. And again. Diana's eyes narrowed as she looked at the screen. "It is out. Ryan posted it on his personal page. Lancaster Corp shared it too. Look at this."

She held the phone so I could see. The post showed a photo of Ryan and Ava, smiling close together. The caption read, "Excited to share that Ava and I are engaged. New chapter, new beginnings. Thank you for all the support as Lancaster Corp grows." Comments poured in fast underneath.

I leaned in, reading some out loud. "Wait, didn't he date her sister Jasmine? What happened there?" Another one. "Ava is glowing. So happy for them." Someone I knew from a past client tagged me in the comments. "Jasmine Reed, is this real? You two were together forever."

Diana scrolled faster. "More coming in. 'Wait, the sister? This is messy.' Not mean exactly, but careless. Like they are watching a show. Your name is nowhere in the official post, but everyone who knew you both is tagging you now."

I took the phone back, my hands steady this time but my stomach twisting. "Look at this one. From a girl we went to school with. 'Jasmine always talked about their wedding plans. What changed?' Another. 'Ryan upgraded? Ava looks good on his arm.' They are not even being cruel on purpose. Just talking like my six years were nothing."

"Delete the app for now," Diana said, reaching for it. "I will handle the replies. Or ignore them. You do not owe anyone an explanation. This is the first wave of public humiliation. Not from strangers hating you, but from people who knew the story acting like it is gossip."

I gave her the phone and picked up my tea, the warmth spreading through my fingers. "I built that company with him, Di. Designed the branding for the first collection. Stayed late reworking patterns so the clothes sold. Turned down Parsons because he said we were a team. Now the announcement makes it sound like Ava was always the one. Mom probably pushed for this speed. 'Handle it quietly but publicly so people move on.'"

Diana typed something quick then set the phone aside. "I replied to a few. Polite but firm. 'Jasmine is focusing on her designs. Wish them well.' Not that they deserve it. Ava at twenty four, jumping into this with your ex. Your mom always favored her. The shining star. Slim, pretty in that way that fits the pictures. While she told you to shrink."

"Yeah," I said, sipping the tea. "In the meeting, she said Ava has the look for company events. I have stability. Meaning I clean up messes. Ryan stood there by the window, not looking at anyone. Weak. Charming on the outside but could not own what he did. He mumbled sorry to the floor. Ava said she did not plan it, hand on her stomach the whole time."

Diana shook her head. "And Dennis said nothing. Your dad just sat there. Complicit. The whole family dynamic. Margaret has been architecting your diminishment for years. 'You would be so pretty if.' 'Ryan is lucky to overlook your size.' 'Men like him do not usually...' I heard her say versions of that at dinners. You smiled through it because you love hard."

"I did," I admitted, setting the mug down. "Loved Ryan completely. Forgave the small things. Worked in the studio he bought me as a gift. Four hundred hours on that dress. Redesigned the neckline boldly because I was done hiding. Then I walked in with champagne and heard the music. Followed it. Saw them. Counted to four. Left quietly. Now this announcement. People tagging me like it is entertainment."

More buzzes came from the phone. Diana checked. "Local business press picked it up. 'Ryan Lancaster of Lancaster Corp announces engagement to Ava Reed.' Your last name is there but not connected to you really. Comments under the article. 'Wasn't he with the older sister? The designer?' 'Drama in the Reed family.' Careless cruelty. Not hate, just people talking without thinking how it lands."

I stood up and paced a little in her living room. "I feel it landing. Humiliation. Not the loud kind. The quiet kind where your life gets rewritten and everyone watches. My warm brown skin, my curves, my natural hair. All the things Mom said made me hard to love. Ava fits the picture better. That is what they think."

Diana came over and stopped my pacing with a hand on my arm. "Stop that. You are the brilliant pattern maker. The fashion designer who sees what others miss. Your work made Lancaster what it is. Clients asked for your input. You created the aesthetic identity. Ryan had you. Not the other way around."

"I know that in my head," I said, turning to her. "But my heart? It hurts. Six years of Sacrifices. The family meeting where Mom demanded I step aside for the baby. Now the announcement erases me publicly. Diana, what do people think of me now? The ex who got replaced by her sister?"

"They think what they want," she replied, her voice firm. "But the ones who matter know you. I know you. The girl from design school who cried over a bad critique in the bathroom and still came back stronger. You have always been the extraordinary one. They made you forget with their small cruelties."

My phone kept lighting up in her hand. She silenced it. "More tags. A former colleague. 'Jasmine, you okay? Saw the news.' Another. 'Wait, sister swap? Wild.' Not malicious. Just careless. Like rubbernecking a crash."

I sat back down, pulling my knees up as much as I could on the couch. "I told Mom in the meeting I needed the key to the studio. She tried to keep talking. But I left. Now I wonder if they changed the locks already. Everything I built there. Mood boards. Patterns. Client files. Signed away in some agreement I did not read closely enough. Thought it was a formality."

"We will get your things," Diana promised. "Tomorrow maybe. But today you rest here. No more scrolling. The announcement is out. The first wave of comments hitting. But you are decided, remember? Not broken. Something more dangerous."

I nodded, but the buzz in my chest would not settle. "Dangerous how? I feel the rage under the calm. Hands shook in the car earlier. Still feel decided. But the public likes this? People who knew us both were casually commenting, and it made the humiliation spread."

Diana sat beside me again. "Let it spread. You will rise above it. Your designs. Your vision. That capsule collection we talked about. Plus sized women celebrated, not hidden. That is your voice. Not this mess."

We talked for hours like that. Tea refilled. Phone on silent but still lighting up occasionally. Diana reading some comments out loud and shutting them down. Me voicing the hurts from the family meeting. The way Ava would not answer my question. Ryan's weak sorry. Mom's demand.

By evening the announcement had spread more. Local press linking it to Lancaster Corp growth. "New leadership energy with the engagement." My name tagged here and there. "What about Jasmine?" "Sister? Awkward."

Diana ordered food and made me eat. "You need strength for whatever comes next. They are moving fast. Wedding she was not invited to. But you are not disappearing."

I picked at the food, the decided feeling mixing with the ache. "The wedding that was supposed to be mine in three days. Now theirs. Public. What will Mom say next? How will they spin it at the company?"

The night wore on with more talk. Diana sharing stories from school to make me laugh a little. Me remembering the good parts I built before the betrayal. But the comments kept coming in waves. Careless. Public. Humiliating in that quiet way.

I finally set my plate aside. "I need to go to the studio tomorrow. Get what is mine before they lock me out completely."

Diana agreed. "We will. But tonight, you are safe here."

Still, as I lay on the couch later, phone dark but mind loud, the announcement replayed in my head. Ryan and Ava. Tagged. Commented on. My life reduced to gossip. The rage sat there, decided and waiting.

What would happen when I showed up at the studio? Would Ryan's assistant turn me away? Would the IP agreement they made me sign hold everything hostage?

The questions would not let me sleep easily. The public humiliation had started. And it felt like just the beginning.