Freya's POV
On the way to the studio, my mind was filled with the image of my wedding dress. I could almost feel the texture of the ivory silk and imagine the afternoon light streaming through my studio window catching each delicate stitch. I had poured years of love into every thread, perfecting each detail, each pearl, each whisper of lace. Tomorrow, I would walk down the aisle to Jasper.
My phone buzzed. Belinda's name flashed on the screen.
"Freya, where's your wedding dress? Jasper just came and took it from the office."
My hand froze. "What?"
"He said you asked him to pick it up. But I thought you were keeping it here until your wedding?"
Cold dread settled in my stomach. "I never asked him to take it."
"Should I call him? He left a while ago."
I hung up and immediately dialed Jasper's number. My fingers trembled as I waited for him to answer.
"Freya." His voice sounded strange. Distant.
"Jasper, why did you take my dress?"
Silence stretched between us. Too long. Too heavy.
"Jasper, answer me."
"Freya, we need to talk."
My heart hammered against my ribs. "About what? We're legally married! The wedding is just around the corner!"
"That's what I need to tell you. There won't be a wedding."
The words hit me like ice water. "What do you mean there won't be a wedding?"
"I can't marry you, Freya. I'm sorry."
I sank into my chair. The studio suddenly felt suffocating. "You can't be serious."
"I'm marrying Lila instead."
The world tilted. Lila. My half-sister. The one who'd spent her entire life trying to steal everything I had.
"Lila is dying, Freya. She has terminal cancer. This is her last wish."
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. "Her last wish is to marry my fiancé?"
"She's always loved me. You know that."
"And my dress?"
"She wanted to wear it. She said it would mean everything to her."
Hot rage flooded my veins. My dress. My wedding. My life.
"All these years, Jasper. All these years I've been with you."
"I know. And I'm grateful for everything you've done for me."
Grateful. As if I were some charity case.
"Your blood type is special. I've been donating blood for you for years until you fully recovered."
"Freya, please understand. Lila doesn't have much time left."
"So you're throwing away everything for someone who has months to live?"
"It's not like that."
"Then what is it like? Explain it to me."
He was quiet again. I could hear hospital sounds in the background. Machines beeping. Lila's mother, Cecilia, talking to someone.
The same Cecilia who destroyed my family. The mistress who broke up my parents' marriage.
Memories crashed over me. Dad choosing his new family over us. Mom wasting away from heartbreak. Grandpa dying from stress after Dad stole everything.
They took everything from us once. Now they were doing it again.
"I'll compensate you," Jasper said finally. "I'll give you fifty percent of Evening•Banquet Couture."
Our company. The fashion brand we built together. He thought he could buy me off with half of what was already mine.
"Fifty percent?"
"It's fair, considering we started it together."
Fair. Nothing about this was fair.
"I need time to think."
I hung up before he could respond.
I sat in the silence of my studio. Years of love. Years of sacrifice. Years of giving him everything I had.
And for what? So he could hand it all to Lila on a silver platter.
The same Lila who whispered poison in my ear growing up. Who convinced Dad I was ungrateful when I asked for basic necessities. Who smiled sweetly while she destroyed everything I cared about.
She was dying, but even from her deathbed, she wanted to take the last good thing in my life.
I thought about my mother. How she died believing love was enough. How she trusted the wrong man and lost everything.
I thought about Grandpa. How he worked his entire life to build something for our family, only to watch Dad steal it all.
They died broken. Destroyed by people who took advantage of their kindness.
I wouldn't make the same mistake.
I picked up my phone and called Jasper back.
"Freya? Have you thought about it?"
"I have."
"And?"
I stood up and walked to the window. The city spread out below me. Full of people who would step on you if you let them.
"If you transfer the entire company to me, I'll give up my place as the bride.""What did you say?"
His shock was palpable through the phone. I could picture his face, that same expression he wore whenever I challenged him on anything important.
"You heard me, Jasper. The entire company. Not fifty percent. All of it."
"Freya, that's unreasonable. We built Evening•Banquet Couture together."
"Did we?" I laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Let me remind you of something. When we started the company, who designed every single piece? Who worked endless days while you networked at parties?"
"You're being emotional."
"Am I? When you were sick for so long, who kept the business running? Who sacrificed her own health donating blood so you could live?"
Silence.
"When your family questioned my background, who proved herself over and over again? "
"Freya, I appreciate everything you've done, but—"
"Appreciation?" The word tasted bitter. "You appreciate me like you'd appreciate a loyal employee."
"That's not true."
"Isn't it? You're giving my wedding dress to another woman. You're marrying my sister on what was supposed to be our wedding day. Tell me how that shows anything but appreciation for my service."
I could hear Lila's voice in the background, weak but demanding attention. Always demanding attention.
"She's asking for you," Jasper said quietly.
"Lila can go to hell."
"Freya, she's dying."
"We're all dying, Jasper. Some of us just do it with more dignity."
I walked back to my dress form where tomorrow's dream had hung just hours ago. Now it was empty. Like everything else in my life.
"You want to know what I think this is really about?" I continued. "Lila can't bear the thought of me having something she doesn't. Even dying, she has to win. And you're letting her."
"It's not a competition."
"Everything has been a competition with Lila since we were children. When Dad bought her a car, she crashed it because mine was newer. When I got into design school, she suddenly wanted to be a fashion designer too. When I started dating you, she developed that convenient crush."
"She was just a kid then."
"She was a teenager. Old enough to know exactly what she was doing."
I remembered that summer clearly. Lila following Jasper and me everywhere. Wearing my clothes. Copying my hairstyle. Making herself indispensable when Jasper had his first serious episode with his blood disorder.
"Do you know what she told me when we were young?" I asked.
"Freya—"
"She said she would take everything that mattered to me. Every friend, every opportunity, every man I ever loved. I thought she was just being a bratty teenager."
"She's changed."
"People like Lila don't change. They just get better at manipulation."
"Freya! She is your sister! Lila is genuinely sick."
"I'm not disputing that. What I'm disputing is her motives."
I sat down at my design table, looking at the sketches scattered across its surface. Months of work. Years of building something beautiful with someone I trusted.
He calls Lila my sister, but to me, she isn't. He doesn't get it. Her mother is the homewrecker who tore my family apart.
There's no way I'd ever consider them family.
"Tell me something, Jasper. When did you decide to marry her? Before or after the doctor told you about my rare blood type compatibility?"
Another long silence.
"I see. So you knew that losing me meant losing your personal blood bank."
"That's cruel, Freya."
"What's cruel is pretending this is about love when it's about convenience. Lila gets her dying wish, and you get a marriage that makes everyone happy except the woman who actually saved your life."
"I never meant for it to happen this way."
"But it did happen this way. And now you have to decide what that's worth to you."
I could hear machines beeping more frantically in the background. Lila was probably having another episode. Right on cue.
"Freya, I have to go. Lila needs me."
"She always needs you when we're having important conversations."
"Please think about this reasonably. Fifty percent is generous."
"Reasonable?" I stood up, pacing across my studio. "You want reasonable? Here's reasonable: I gave you years of my life. I gave you my blood, literally. I gave you my creativity, my business connections, my family recipes that made our restaurant partnerships successful."
"I know, and I'm grateful—"
"Stop saying you're grateful!" The words exploded out of me. "I don't want your gratitude. I want what I earned."
"Even if I agreed, the lawyers would never—"
"The lawyers will do whatever you tell them to do. Your family owns half the law firms in this city."
"This isn't about the money for you, is it?"
Finally. A moment of actual insight.
"No, Jasper. It's not about the money. It's about the principle. If you're going to betray me, if you're going to choose Lila over everything we built together, then you're going to pay the full price for that choice."
"And if I refuse?"
I smiled for the first time since this conversation started. It wasn't a pleasant smile.
"Then I'll see you at the wedding. And I promise you, it will be a day no one in this city ever forgets."
"Freya, you wouldn't."
"Try me."
"If you transfer the entire company to me, I'll give up my place as the bride."