Chapter 2

I tried to get up and walk out. Ryan grabbed my wrist and hauled me onto the stage.

"Apologize to Lily."

Dad got to his feet. "No apology, and we're not coming to that wedding."

Mom nodded. Ryan smirked. "Imagine their faces when the bride's whole family is a no-show. Go ahead. Try us."

I was the one bleeding. And they were holding my own wedding hostage.

They knew Ethan and I had been together seven years. They knew how badly I wanted that day.

I used to text them all the time. Little stuff. My day. The wedding plans.

Every time, one of them would type a single period. That's it. Just a dot.

For years I told myself it was nothing. Some people just text like that.

It wasn't nothing. They just didn't care.

So I didn't even get a say in the food at my own wedding. Because none of it was mine. Not the wedding. Not me.

I had nothing left in me to fight with. I looked at Lily. "I'm sorry."

Blood dripped from my forehead onto the floor.

Mom didn't even look at me. "Lily didn't hear that."

Ethan let out a breath. "Amber, you shouldn't have said it. Just apologize. Stop making it a thing."

So I said it again. And again.

A hundred times. My throat was raw and tasted like pennies. Only then did Lily smile.

She grabbed a cup of yogurt off the tray and dumped it right over my head. "Eat, Amber!"

It ran down my neck, cold and sticky.

Mom wiped my forehead and sighed. "You're both my daughters. I'm just trying to be fair."

My chest locked up. I couldn't pull in a breath. I was down on one knee.

Ryan didn't even look up from his phone. "Lily's still crying. Should she say it again?"

He nudged me with his shoe. "Get up. You're not fooling anybody."

Then the room went black.

I woke up to a hospital ceiling.

Ethan was in the chair beside me. "Amber. Hey. You okay?"

Then, quieter: "Lily was crying so hard. Everyone just… forgot about your yogurt allergy."

Nobody forgot. Nobody believed me. They all thought I was throwing a tantrum.

One of the caterers screamed it. "Her throat. Something's wrong with her throat."

That's when Ethan saw my lips turning blue.

Ryan walked in holding a bag of fruit. He set it on the table. "You should've told somebody about that allergy."

I had. A hundred times.

My parents dumped me on Nana when I was little. Lily got sick first, so I got shipped off. Nana raised me until I was seven.

Any time my parents came around and started favoring Lily in front of her, Nana chased them out of the house with a broom. Every time.

Then Nana died. She held my hand that last night. "Nobody's gonna protect you now, sweetheart. So be good. Just be good."

So I was good. Fifteen years of good. Best-behaved kid on the block.

And not one person in that house ever listened to me.

I looked at Ethan.

"Ethan. The wedding is off."

He blinked. "You're mad at me? I've been handling your sister this whole time. For you."

Ryan frowned. "You're calling off the wedding over this? Who's that supposed to scare?"

Ethan wiped my cheek with his thumb. His voice went soft.

"You're exhausted. That's all this is."

"After the wedding, I'll take you somewhere. Just us. No Lily. Yeah?"

I glanced at his phone on the blanket. A flight search was open on the screen. He'd really been looking.

Something in my chest let go. I opened my mouth to answer.

Then his phone rang. Lily. Doing that little cry of hers.

"Ethan? Where are you?"

I always figured Ethan just had a cold face. Like he couldn't help it.

But everything softened. His voice turned to honey.

"Hey, Lily. I'm coming. I'll be right there."

He looked at me. Like nothing happened.

"I gotta run. You rest."

"They pushed the wedding back two weeks. You're in no shape to be there anyway."

Ryan nodded. "Yeah. Lily can walk your part. Just rest."

Something bitter climbed up my throat.

I picked up my phone and called my old boss.

"You said you needed someone in London. I'll take it."

If my family only had one part for me, I was done reading their lines.

Time to write my own.