Chapter 4

"Nicolette, I never imagined you could be this vicious. You can't have me, so now you want to destroy Noelle and me too? I won't let you get away with it."

"Nicolette, you're the one who pushed us to do this."

I frowned at the texts, having no idea what game the two of them were playing—until early the next morning, when Noelle updated her social media.

It was a photo. There I was, standing in the doorway of an airport lounge. The door was wide open, and inside, Jeremy and Noelle were half-undressed.

Her caption read, "For years, I've lived in my sister's shadow. She forced me to live out her dreams and become whatever she wanted me to be. The only choice I ever made for myself was marrying the man I love, but she couldn't accept it.

"She's been stalking me and threatening to destroy me. All I ever wanted was to live a normal life. Why is that so hard?"

Jeremy followed right behind her with a long post of his own.

"I never wanted to make things between Nico and me public, but now that an innocent person has been dragged into this, I have to set the record straight. She and I split amicably six months ago. She's the one who refused to let go, using Noelle's career to threaten me, trying to force me to leave Noelle and take her back.

"Nico, Noelle is your own sister. I'm begging you. Let her go. And let me go, too."

At the bottom of his post, he attached a screenshot of a chat history.

I tapped on it. They were messages supposedly from me to Noelle.

"If you dare steal him from me, I'll make sure you never walk a runway again for the rest of your life.

"Since I'm the one who got you to where you are today, I can destroy you just as easily."

In fact, those messages weren't from me. I had never said anything like that to Noelle.

Yet the contact name in the screenshot was mine, and the profile picture matched mine perfectly.

It was an obvious fabrication, but not a single person was willing to believe me.

The comment section changed its tune in an instant. The internet mob that had just been bashing Noelle turned on me, their insults growing even more vicious.

As I scrolled through the toxic comments, I suddenly laughed out loud.

I had hired the best instructors for Noelle and lined up the finest resources for her.

I had handpicked every single outfit she wore on the runway.

When her legs shook with nerves before a show, I was the one kneeling on the floor, massaging them.

I had postponed my own wedding for her, again and again, for five whole years.

But she was telling the world she had spent all those years living in my shadow.

As for Jeremy, it was true I had neglected him quite a bit over the past five years. But his company would never have gotten where it was without me going drinking with clients night after night, toast after toast, until my stomach got so bad that even my doctors shook their heads.

I turned off my phone, sat on the couch, and stared out the window.

I gave Jeremy ten years of devotion, and 20 for Noelle. How utterly ridiculous.

After a long moment, I finally made up my mind and dialed my lawyer.

"Draft two statements for me. First, I'm suing Noelle and Jeremy for defamation. Second, I'm terminating all management agreements with Noelle and pulling all her resources. From now on, she's on her own."

…

After hanging up, I kept scrolling. Eight of the top ten trending topics were attacks on me.

#ControlFreakSisterGaslightsHerSibling

#TwistedPossessiveStreak

Every hashtag I tapped into had tens of thousands of comments, and every single one of them told me to drop dead.

Some users had even doxxed me, dragging my personal information out into the open.

My mind drifted back ten years, to when Noelle was 16. It was the first time she had ever walked a runway, at a school fashion show, and her legs shook so hard she could barely stay on her feet.

I cheered like a maniac from the audience, clapping until my palms burned.

When she came offstage, she threw herself into my arms and whispered, "Nico, I'm scared."

"Don't be," I reassured her. "I've got your back. Just keep moving forward."