Chapter 3 - The Golden Child’s Wedding
Five years earlier, Mira had worked eighty hours a week at a boutique tech firm, saving every single dollar to launch her architectural design studio.
She had called her parents six months in advance to invite them to her grand studio opening in downtown Chicago. It was the biggest night of her professional life—the culmination of years of sleepless nights and financial sacrifice.
Her mother had answered the phone with a distracted, dismissive sigh.
"Mira, sweetie, we can't make it," her mother had said casually. "Your sister Chloe is having her dress fitting for her third engagement party that weekend. We have to be there to support her."
"Mom, I've worked three years for this," Mira had pleaded gently, her throat tight. "It's just one night. You promised you'd come."
"Chloe needs us more right now, Mira. You've always been independent," her father had chimed in from the background. "You don't need hand-holding. Chloe is fragile."
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That night, Mira had sat alone in her newly opened, empty studio space, watching her sister post photos on social media of their parents showering Chloe with expensive designer gifts paid for by their family savings account.
👉 What did Chloe do to Mira’s design portfolio that nearly destroyed her entire career before it began?
