The Wrong Brother, The Right Mistake
Five years ago, I ran away from my wedding in Lake Como after discovering that Lorenzo Bandini, the man I trusted with my life, had betrayed me.
Before sunrise, I made one reckless choice with his older brother.
Zachary Bandini is arrogant, dangerous, and far too observant. I left his room the next morning and disappeared before either Bandini brother could ruin what remained of me.
I never told Zach that our single night together followed me home.
Now I own one of Manhattan’s most exclusive wedding-planning companies, and my four-year-old daughter, Abigail, is the only part of my life I refuse to risk. She has my attitude, my talent for creating chaos, and Zach’s face.
Keeping her hidden has worked for five years.
Then I accept the biggest wedding contract of my career and walk into the first meeting to find Zach beside the bride.
Her fiancé.
Zach thinks I vanished because I regretted him.
He has no idea I left carrying the one thing that could connect us forever.
I can survive his attention. I can ignore the way he still makes anger feel dangerously close to desire. I can plan his wedding, smile at his fiancée, and keep every secret exactly where it belongs.
But Abigail is curious, fearless, and impossible to control.
And Zach has never been a man who stops looking once he knows something is being hidden from him.
So what happens when the man I have spent five years avoiding finally looks into my daughter’s eyes and sees himself?
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Chapter: a little philanthropy, a lot of denialFifteen minutes later, we moved on to the second installation.Zach didn’t follow. I knew because I wasn’t looking. I definitely did not check the reflection in the large framed glass to my left to make sure he was still talking to two investors near the donor table. Didn’t do that.I was appreciating the art.A huge white canvas with three black lines that, according to the catalog, represented “institutional loneliness.” It cost a hundred and eighty thousand dollars. I felt lonely just reading that.“Papa wants this one?” Adam asked.“He is not paying a hundred and eighty thousand dollars for three lines.”“He once bought a dining table from Italy because Mama said the old one made roast chicken look sad.”“That’s different.”“How?”“That’s marriage.”Adam nodded. “Right. The most expensive institution.”Laughter sounded behind us.I didn’t turn around.“Aubrey.”I turned and found Elaine Harper, the foundation chair, approaching with open arms. We kissed cheeks, talked about Papa,
Last Updated: 2026-09-17
Chapter: black tie, bad timingAfter kissing someone else’s fiancé in the hallway of a private club, I made a very healthy decision.Zachary Bandini was never allowed to be alone with me again.Not at the townhouse.Not in a car.Not in a hallway.Not in any room with a door, walls, dim lighting, or enough oxygen for the man to breathe.If we had a meeting, Aurora would be there. If Aurora was late, Danielle would be there. If Danielle suddenly died, we would reschedule.Perfectly reasonable.Friday night, Papa asked me to represent the Moguel family at the Maravilla Foundation’s annual charity art auction because he had to fly to Miami for hotel business, and Mama went with him because, according to her, letting Papa choose his own tie for an investor dinner qualified as domestic neglect.So I went as the good eldest daughter and as a member of one of the sponsoring families.As a woman who was absolutely not thinking about how, two nights earlier, her hands had been gripping Zach’s shirt in a hallway while his mo
Last Updated: 2026-09-16
Chapter: the man i should have forgottenI kept walking. “Don’t.”“I haven’t done anything.”“That’s what people usually say right before they do something.”I tried to walk past him.Zach shifted slightly away from the wall.“What do you want?” I hissed, annoyed, and kept moving.“That guy was too young.”I stopped again and turned to look at him. “What?”“The one on the dance floor.”Now I really stared at him.From this close, the details were worse. His black hair was slightly messy in front. There was a faint shadow along his jaw because the night had gone on long enough. His dark shirt was open one button at the neck, and his face had the infuriating calm of a man who had just criticized another potential guy without possessing a single ounce of authority to do it.I let out a small laugh because the alternative was committing a felony. “He’s twenty-nine.”“Too young.”“You’re thirty.”“Exactly.”“Bandini math is apparently very creative.”Zach didn’t smile.I crossed my arms. “At least he’s single.”That hit something
Last Updated: 2026-09-12
Chapter: the view from a very bad decisionI froze.For one second, my body stopped performing several basic functions when my eyes met Zach’s from across the room.There was plenty of distance between us. A bar, two groups of people, one velvet sofa, several bodies moving to the music, and enough overpriced alcohol to fund a school. Still, he found me as if the room were empty.Zach stood at the edge of the private lounge in an unbuttoned black suit, a black shirt underneath, and a short glass of something amber in one hand.The low lighting cut across half his face, sharpening his jaw, his nose, and the mouth I knew far too well for something that was supposed to have been one bad decision five years ago.He was even more unreasonable in person.Too tall. Too calm. Too handsome in a way that didn’t ask for attention and got it anyway. Two women near the bar had already looked at him more than once, and Zach seemed about as interested in that as he was in the room temperature.Then the corner of his mouth lifted, and he rais
Last Updated: 2026-09-12
Chapter: not my groom, not my problem“Language,” I hissed.“I’m talking to a woman whose daughter said shit after hearing a plumber drop a wrench,” Dianna shot back.“That happened once.”“She used it correctly in context.”“Which made it worse.”“Zachary Bandini is the groom?” Ivy was already looking at me with the expression she usually wore when someone’s MRI came back much worse than expected.I nodded.“For Aurora Vale.”“Yes.”Dianna covered her mouth with one hand and then, of course, started laughing.I stared at her.“Sorry,” she said quickly, though she was very clearly not sorry. “I know this isn’t funny. But the universe really does hate you creatively.”“Thank you.”Ivy still wasn’t laughing. “Has he seen Abby?”“Not yet.”“Does he know?”“No.”“Suspect anything?”I grabbed the champagne bottle and poured myself another glass. “Not as far as I know.”Dianna stopped laughing. Apparently, that was the sentence that finally killed the mood. She looked at me more seriously. “Aubrey.”“I know.”“Abby has his face
Last Updated: 2026-09-12
Chapter: girls’ nightThe next few days passed in a blur of calendar invites, venue packets, fitting updates, security revisions, two conference calls that should have been emails, and Zachary Bandini showing up in my life with increasing frequency like a subscription charge I didn’t remember agreeing to.Sometimes his name appeared on my schedule.Sometimes his actual body appeared with it.Both were equally terrifying.So when Abigail did something Friday night that almost never happened without medical intervention, which was fall asleep before eight-thirty, I should have taken the opportunity to have a long shower, open my laptop, and enjoy forty uninterrupted minutes of life without a small child yelling that her blanket “didn’t have good energy.”Instead, a little after nine, I was standing in front of my bedroom mirror wearing a black mini dress that hadn’t left my closet in months while Dianna sat at the edge of my bed criticizing my earrings. “The long ones.”“I don’t want the long ones.” I huffe
Last Updated: 2026-09-12
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