Chapter 2Paternity Prank Gone Deadly Wrong

The week evaporated, and the day of the party arrived, mirroring my past life perfectly.

Well, almost perfectly.

This time, I had upgraded the venue. The floral arrangements were taller, the guest list was twice as long, and the champagne was flowing freely. I wanted an audience.

The moment Diane walked into the ballroom, her mouth was already moving.

"Lord, you'd think she gave birth to the heir of the British throne," she muttered loudly to my father, eyeing the ice sculpture. "It’s just a girl. When your brother had his son, did you throw a party this big? No."

She snatched a flute of champagne from a passing waiter. "Even if Nathan makes good money, this is gross negligence. Your brother is drowning in his mortgage, Harper. If you have this kind of cash laying around, you should be helping family first."

Nathan’s jaw tightened, a muscle feathering near his ear, but he swallowed his anger for my sake.

My in-laws, Tom and Carol, who had been bouncing Mia on their knees, immediately lost their smiles.

I had swallowed this exact rhetoric my entire life. I was the daughter, the burden, the one destined to be married off, while my brother Derek was the golden child, the investment. I was so used to Diane's relentless chipping away at my self-worth that I usually just stayed quiet.

But I had already died once. The fear of making a scene was buried with my first life.

I planted my feet, squared my shoulders, and pointed a finger directly at her. My voice carried over the light jazz playing in the background. "Excuse me? Because I married well, I’m suddenly obligated to fund your son’s life? Where does that leave Derek and his wife? Should they call me their sister, or their sugar mama?"

It was the first time in twenty-eight years I had ever raised my voice at her. Diane physically recoiled, her eyes widening in genuine shock.

It took her a full ten seconds to recover. "Oh, calm down, Harper. I was just joking." She offered a tight, condescending laugh. "Besides, everyone knows boys carry the family legacy. A daughter is nice, but she's just a guest in the house. A girl alone doesn't mean much."

I didn't back down. I stepped closer, my voice ringing out clearly. "She might not mean much to you, Diane, but to my husband and his parents, she is everything. You spent your whole life acting like being a woman is a curse. Don't you dare project your internalized misogyny onto my daughter. She is a queen in this family."

The room went dead silent.

That did it. I hit the exposed nerve. Diane’s face flushed a violent, mottled red.

Forgetting about the time-capsule ceremony entirely, she dropped the facade. "You have a lot of nerve acting high and mighty!" she shrieked, her voice cracking like a whip across the elegant room. "Nathan and his parents treat you like royalty, and how do you repay them? By sleeping around with God knows who, and making Nathan raise a bastard!"

"You ungrateful little tramp!"