I missed a flight to the most important conference of my career. Desperate, I asked to borrow my parents’ car—but they looked at me with pure contempt. “Your sister needs it for a spa day. That’s more important.” I even dropped to my knees, begging. My father answered with a slap. “You’re so troublesome. Why can’t you be like your sister?” I left with blood on my lip and said nothing. Two days later, my mother called in panic: “Why aren’t the bills being paid?”

My father, Arthur, sighed heavily, clearly annoyed by the interruption. He muted the TV. “So? Rent a car.”

“I tried,” I pleaded, feeling a cold sweat breaking out on the back of my neck. “Every rental agency in a fifty-mile radius is completely sold out because of the grounded flights. Everyone had the same idea. Please. I need to borrow one of your cars. Just for forty-eight hours. I’ll fill the tank, I’ll pay for a full detailing when I get back.”

Arthur frowned, glancing out the window at the rain. “I need the SUV tomorrow for my golf club luncheon, Maya. I can’t be taking Ubers like a college student.”

“Then let me take the BMW,” I said, turning to look at the keys resting on the entryway table. The BMW was technically in my father’s name, but Chloe treated it as her personal chariot.

Chloe stopped filing her nails. She looked up, her expression immediately twisting into an exaggerated, dramatic pout.

“Um, absolutely not,” Chloe scoffed, as if I had just asked to borrow a kidney. “I have my appointment at the Lotus Spa tomorrow morning. It’s been booked for three weeks.”

“Chloe, please,” I begged, the panic rising to my throat. I actually felt my knees buckle slightly, dropping me to the cold hardwood floor in front of the sofa. “This isn’t just a regular meeting. This is the Director promotion. It changes my entire career trajectory. You can take an Uber to the spa. I will literally pay for your premium black car service both ways.”

“No,” Chloe whined, kicking her legs like a petulant toddler. “The spa is in the mountains! I’m not riding in some stranger’s car for an hour! I’m under a lot of stress right now, Maya, you know that. I need a mental health day. My chakras are completely misaligned.”

I stared at my twenty-four-year-old sister. She didn’t have a job. She hadn’t finished college. Her entire existence consisted of brunches, shopping, and complaining about how ‘exhausting’ her social life was.

“Your chakras?” I choked out, tears of absolute frustration welling up in my eyes. “I am going to lose my career over a massage!”