Then Sophie reached for her juice.

Her elbow nudged a passing server’s tray. One glass tipped—then another—and suddenly, red wine spilled across the hem of Natalie’s white dress.

The music stopped.

Natalie looked down and shrieked.

“My dress!”

Every head turned.

I stood so quickly my chair scraped loudly against the floor. “Natalie, I’m so sorry—it was an accident.”

I reached for a napkin, but she yanked the fabric away.

“Don’t touch me.”

Sophie froze, then burst into tears.

My father, Richard, stormed over, his face dark with fury.

“I told them not to invite you,” he snapped. “You ruin everything.”

Before I could react, his hands were on my shoulders.

And then he shoved.

Hard.

I stumbled backward into the decorative fountain, Sophie clutched tightly in my arms. The cold water hit like a shockwave. She cried into my neck as I struggled to stand, soaked and shaking.

When I looked up—

No one moved.

Not my mother. Not my father. Not Natalie.

Some guests were laughing.

Then Ethan raised his glass and smirked.

“This,” he announced, “is why you don’t invite people like that to events like this.”

That was it.

I climbed out of the fountain, Sophie trembling in my arms, and faced them all.