It was my eighteenth wedding with Julian Sterling, and once again all the guests left with my adopted sister. My parents called, impatient and barely hiding it. "Seraphina's stomach is acting up again. We're taking her to the hospital. Cancel the wedding, you should be familiar with what to do." My maid of honor, my best friend since childhood, clicked her tongue at me over the phone. "You really think your wedding is more important than Seraphina's health? She nearly passed out from the pain and you didn't want us looking after her. When did you become this cruel?" And my fiancé didn't even bother to call. He just texted: Wedding's off. Discuss it next time. I rolled those words around in my head. He'd used that same line to brush me off eighteen times. A cold laugh slipped out before I could stop it, and I realized I felt nothing at all. Eighteen times. Enough. I was done begging for scraps from people who'd already made their choice. Whatever came next, I'd figure it out on my own. I picked up the microphone and walked onto the wedding stage, every inch of it draped in amethyst violets, Seraphina's favorite flowers, not mine. "I'm sorry, everyone. Today's wedding is canceled." The guests traded glances. Not a single person looked surprised. "Called it. Not one of these weddings has ever gone through. If I were Celeste, I wouldn't have shown my face." "The whole family's obsessed with the little sister. If I were Celeste I'd just let her have him and walk away. Save yourself the embarrassment and at least come out looking classy." "You don't know the half of it. She's like that girl from Just My Luck. Everything she touches turns to gold, everyone around her hits the jackpot. Every time Julian tries to call it off with her, Sterling Global's stock tanks the next day. He's tested it a few times and lost billions. That's the only reason he's still with her." I walked off the stage under their stares. I heard every word. My lips curled into something that wasn't quite a smile. This time, a stock dip was going to be the least of their problems. I changed out of the gown and drove back to the Vane estate to grab my things and leave. But the second I reached the door, a whole parade came pouring in. Seraphina at the center, everyone laughing and fussing over her like she'd just survived something heroic. The moment they saw me, every smile dropped. Julian's eyes went dark. "Celeste, you canceled and didn't even bother to give people a reason? Now they're all going to think it's because of Seraphina again. That's on you." My father scoffed and didn't bother looking at me. "You really dropped the ball this time, Celeste. Every other time you handled the PR yourself and we didn't have to think about it. Go put out a statement. Tell them you were the one being unreasonable." Jade was already pulling out her phone. "I'll get my agent to call the press. If Celeste puts out a statement now we can still fix this. Get some trolls to go after her online and nobody will be talking about Seraphina." I didn't respond to any of them. I just stood there. Okay. Fine. I'd had enough. Three days. I was giving myself three days to cut every last tie and walk away from this life for good. "Celeste, are you even listening? I'm telling you, if you don't clean this up, I can't promise when the next wedding will be." Julian stopped right in front of me, voice sharp and impatient. And then Seraphina finally opened her mouth, voice barely above a whisper. "It's all my fault. I ruined things between Julian and Celeste. I'm the one to blame." "This month still has a few good dates. Please don't push the wedding back any further." She didn't even finish before she started coughing. Julian rushed to her side and rubbed her back. "It's not your fault. Don't overthink it. Your sister can't live without me, so it doesn't matter when we get married." "Then you're the one overthinking it." Those were my first words since I'd walked in. Everyone froze. I lifted the bag in my hand. "I'm leaving." The words barely left my mouth. The next second, a sharp crack split the air. The slap echoed through the entire living room.
I tilted my head and let out a bitter laugh. My mother's hand was still shaking from the slap. "Are you done? After everything we've given you, this is what you turn into? A spoiled, ungrateful brat?" "You want to walk out? And go where? So the whole city can talk about how we're the bad guys, how we don't love you enough? When are you going to stop embarrassing this family, Celeste? God, I wish I'd never had you. Seraphina would never pull this shit." The taste of blood filled my mouth. I ran my tongue along the corner of my lip. Yes, every other time, I would have made a scene. Because I didn't understand. I didn't understand why when Seraphina broke my father's antique, they said I was the one who smashed it. I didn't understand why there was security footage and they still refused to believe I hadn't pushed Seraphina down the stairs. I didn't understand how buying flowers that happened to trigger Seraphina's allergies made me a bully. This wasn't the first time my mother had hit me. The last time was two days ago. Because Seraphina wanted to wear my wedding dress and I said no. Then she fainted on the spot. My mother shoved me and cut up the custom gown I'd waited six months for with a pair of scissors. Over Seraphina, my mother and I had become almost enemies. So yes, I used to fight back. I used to scream and demand that someone, anyone, tell me I wasn't crazy. But this time, I wasn't going to make a scene. I'd always been the lucky one in this family. The day after I was born, the Vane Empire landed a deal that pulled it back from the edge of bankruptcy and made my father the richest man in Oceana. His stage-two liver cancer went into full remission around the same time, and the doctors never could explain it. My best friend Jade was a plain, forgettable girl before she met me. After we became inseparable in grade school, she grew into the kind of beautiful that made people stare. She landed every audition, won Best Actress, and became the most bankable star in the country. And Julian. He used to be nobody. A guy hawking knockoffs at a flea market, chased off by cops and beaten up by competitors. Until the night he found me lost at a street fair and walked me home. I fell for him on the spot. After that, everything he touched turned to gold. He built his own brand, never lost a deal, and took Sterling Global public before he turned thirty. They adored me for over twenty years. Julian treated me like I was the center of his universe. And they got everything they ever wanted. Then Seraphina was brought into the Vane family. And everyone changed. My father's voice went cold. "Take all her things. Everything here belongs to this family. She doesn't walk out with a damn thing." "You want to go, Celeste? Go. But nobody's chasing after you this time. We'll hold a press conference and cut you off for good. You won't be a Vane anymore." They didn't even let me grab a change of clothes before they pushed me out the front door. Julian sighed and quietly slipped me a key. "Here. It's an apartment. You can stay there. Celeste, we're done. None of us have the energy for this anymore." "I wish I'd saved Seraphina that night instead of you." I scoffed. "Then marry her." Julian let out a long, exhausted breath. "Don't start. I said I'd marry you and I will. That's not going to change." "Seraphina is a good person. A genuinely good person. I'm not going to let you talk about her like she's something you can throw away. Don't say that again." He turned and walked back up the steps. I dropped the key on the ground and turned to leave. Seraphina rushed over and grabbed my sleeve. "Don't leave, Celeste. I'm the one who overstepped. I wanted things that were never mine to want. I don't deserve any of it." "You stay. I'll go. I'll leave the house right now." I knew exactly what she was doing. So I just stood there and let her cling to me and fake-cry. But when she realized I wasn't going to shove her away like I always did, she gasped for air and collapsed at my feet. "Seraphina!" "Call the doctor! Seraphina, my baby girl!" Everyone came running and swarmed around her. Julian's hand closed around my throat and his eyes were murderous. "You touched her? You really think I won't hit you?" Turns out when you're past the point of anger, all that's left is a laugh. I didn't even touch her. And somehow I was still the one who did. "Julian, I hope none of you ever regret this." My father's voice cracked like a whip. "Someone get her out of my sight. Lock her in the basement. I'll deal with her myself."
The basement was damp and dark. This was the second time I'd been locked down here. The first time was still fresh in my mind. I'd caught Seraphina sneaking into Julian's bedroom in the middle of the night. I found her in his bed. She cried and said it was sleepwalking brought on by childhood trauma. She didn't know why her feet had carried her to Julian's room. She just felt safe there. She didn't mean it. My parents and Julian believed every word. Julian even told her, gently, that she could come to him whenever she was scared. Back then I was at the peak of my obsession with him. I wouldn't tolerate a female assistant anywhere near his office. Apart from junior staff, no woman was allowed on the executive floor. So I slapped Seraphina across the face. And my parents locked me in this basement. Seven days. One bowl of plain rice porridge a day. They didn't let me out until the hunger broke me and I agreed to apologize. This time, they clearly had no intention of stopping at starvation. My father walked in with a cane and Julian followed behind him. "Thirty would have been fair. But Seraphina begged me to go easy on you, so I'm using the switch instead of the belt. That means fifty." Crack. The first blow raised an instant welt across my skin. He hit me a dozen times. The welts split open one by one. Every strike after that came with a numb, searing burn. I remembered them saying Seraphina had begged for the switch. It had been soaked in something. Pepper water, from the feel of it. "Apologize to your sister!" "Are you going to apologize or not?!" He never got the answer he wanted, so he just kept hitting harder. After fifty strikes, my entire back and arms were covered in open wounds. The skin had peeled back in raw strips and blood ran down my spine and dripped onto the floor. I was numb from the pain. I curled up in the corner and gasped for air. My father threw the cane on the ground and left. His last words on the way out were, "Stubborn to the bone." Julian crouched in front of me. "Seraphina sent medicine and clean clothes for you. She's never been anything but good to you, Celeste. You're her older sister. I'm about to be her brother-in-law. We should be taking care of her. Why do you always have to make her into the villain?" "Just apologize and get it over with. Stop putting everyone through this." He unfolded the clothes Seraphina had prepared for me and laid them over my back. The fabric touched my open wounds and my entire body seized like I'd been dropped into a vat of salt. I doubled over and curled into a ball. "Drama queen. Seraphina turns white every time she's in pain and you don't see her making a show of it." Julian stood up with a look of disgust and walked out. I finally managed to catch my breath. Two more days. I just had to hold on for two more days.
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