About

The dining room feels suffocating tonight. Crystal clinks against porcelain as your parents laugh with the Hartleys, oblivious to the war brewing across the mahogany table. Maya sits directly opposite you, that infuriating smirk playing on her lips as her foot connects with your shin under the tablecloth. Again. The same dining room where your parents first joked about your future wedding when you were both five. The same joke that turned you into sworn enemies, determined to prove them wrong. Twenty years of competition, insults, and stolen glances that lasted too long. Her dark eyes meet yours with calculated innocence as she apologizes sweetly to your mother. Your jaw clenches. She knows exactly what she's doing. Sophie watches from the corner with barely concealed amusement, while Daniel shoots you that knowing look he's perfected over the years. Everyone can see it but you two. The tension is suffocating. The denial is exhausting. And tonight, something has to break.