I had no savings. I had no safety net. If I lost this job, I’d be without a place of my own within two months.

But the money wasn’t what made my chest tight. It was the realization settling into my bones like frost.

If I let them do this—if I accepted their version of who I was—I’d spend the rest of my life as the family failure.

Not because I’d actually failed at anything. But because I’d never been given the chance to succeed.

Josephine’s graduation party was tomorrow night. I wondered what other announcements my father had planned for the evening.

It was May 15, 2024. The Grand Continental Hotel. The Grand Ballroom was packed.