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: Five Years Between FootstepsTwo hours later, I walked into the office in black heels, sunglasses perched on my head, and a second coffee that should’ve had a medical license. Madison Avenue was sunny in the way that made everyone look more successful than their mental health.The limestone facade of our building reflected the sunlight, the small brass letters spelling MOGUEL ATELIER gleaming beside the door, not loud, just expensive enough to make people feel guilty touching the handle.The moment the elevator opened on the second floor, I was greeted by the pop of a cork.“I’m not dead yet,” I said.“Not yet,” Danielle replied from the middle of the workspace, holding a bottle of champagne. “But if you pass out, we already have drinks.”My entire team was gathered around the long table. Carla from florals had an iPad in her hand. Miles from logistics already had three spreadsheets open and looked happy in a deeply concerning way. Nora from client relations was smiling too widely, a clear sign she had already st
Last Updated: 2026-08-06
Chapter: Four Years of Blue EyesFIVE YEARS LATERFive years ago, I ran away from Lake Como. Now I was standing in the kitchen with a spatula in one hand, threatening a four-year-old with strawberry-scented soap.Life had evolved gracefully.“Abigail Isadora Moguel,” I called, flipping a piece of French toast in the pan. “If you’re not in the bathroom in ten seconds, I’m going to bathe you herself.”A laugh came from the living room.“Abby, don’t run with that!” Then Hannah’s breathless voice.“I’m not running!” Abigail shouted back. “I’m escaping!”An important legal distinction, apparently.Something pink streaked past the kitchen doorway. Very fast, very round, and almost naked except for flamingo-print underwear, one purple sock, a plastic crown, and a cape made from a hand towel Hannah had tied around her neck because no government was powerful enough to stop domestic crime before seven in the morning.Hannah ran after her with a toothbrush in hand. “She bit me,” she reported.“I didnt!” Abigail argued from behi
Last Updated: 2026-08-06
Chapter: Before the Rain, There Was FireThe night became careful hands, a mouth that wasn’t, broken breaths in embarrassing places, and my name leaving Zach’s mouth in a way that was deeply disrespectful to common sense. At first, he went slowly because he knew it was my first time. Infuriatingly slowly. He gave me time to pull away, to get angry, to curse, to bite his shoulder when my body didn’t know where to put that much feeling.“Easy,” he murmured once when I sucked in a breath at the sting spreading through my thighs.All that came out of me was a broken breath.Then... once I had gotten used to it... the night turned into something hot, messy, and completely without manners. A pillow fell. The whiskey glass got knocked onto the carpet. The Barolo stayed intact on the table like an aristocratic witness choosing not to interfere. Zach kissed me until Lorenzo became a name I only noticed because I had stopped remembering it. Disgusting, really... the fact that my body could betray the entire drama of my life that quick
Last Updated: 2026-08-06
Chapter: The Devil at the Balcony DoorI had no idea how my feet carried me upstairs. Honestly.One second, I was still in the back corridor of the villa, clutching a bottle of Barolo like a woman who had just lost her fiancé and received alcohol as legal compensation.The next, I was climbing the curved stone staircase toward the east wing, passing portraits of Bandini ancestors who all looked like they had once ordered poor people off their lawns.I wanted to laugh at that.The sounds of the party drifted up from below. Music. Laughter. Glasses. The names of important families being called in warm, expensive voices. Everyone else was still living in the same night. I was the only one who had been dragged somewhere else, somewhere cold and foggy and filled with Lorenzo’s words circling like flies over rotten fruit.“Sad, really.”“She’s too dependent.”“She’ll walk down the aisle, look at me, cry, and everyone will call it romantic.”My hand tightened around the banister.I used to think pain came like a knife. Sharp, qui
Last Updated: 2026-08-06
Chapter: Sad, ReallyMy stomach felt like it was being pulled from the inside.Because once, a few hours ago, maybe even a few minutes ago, I would have defended that. I would have stood in front of anyone and said, yes, I love him, of course I do, I’m marrying him, I chose him.Now....“She’s still young,” Lorenzo continued. “She has a big family, a big ego, and an even bigger mouth, but when she’s truly afraid? She comes back to me.”“Don’t say that,” Camilla whispered.“Why? It’s true.” Lorenzo’s voice softened in a way that made me sick. “You know about the man who used to follow her around campus?”I froze.“The stalker?” Camilla asked.“Yeah. After that, I became... her center. Her little safe place.” He said it with amusement, like I were a kitten he had once found in the rain and who could no longer survive without a bowl of milk from his hand. “She always feels safe when I’m with her. It’s sad, really.”Sad.That one word went deeper than his lips on Camilla’s mouth. Deeper than the lie in his me
Last Updated: 2026-08-06
Chapter: Wide Enough to Ruin a LifeI tilted my head. “Do you always give your blessing by making everyone want to throw a drink in your face?”“Not everyone.” Zach glanced at Celeste. “Some people just want to throw the glass.”“That was one time.” Celeste laughed again, brighter this time.“Two,” Zach said.“That was because you said women would be happier if they stopped believing men could be fixed.”“I was saving your generation.”I looked at him. “So you’re a misogynist with a charity program?”“Aubrey,” Lorenzo muttered.But Zach smiled instead, actually smiled this time, and damn it, his whole face changed. The coldness didn’t disappear. It only shifted, like a blade catching the light.“No,” he said. “I’m just realistic.”“That’s usually the word men use when they want to sound smart after saying something lazy.”Zach lowered his glass, his eyes flicking briefly to my lips before returning to mine. Rude and incredibly quick.“I’m starting to understand why Lorenzo kept you hidden,” he said.Lorenzo stiffened. “
Last Updated: 2026-08-06
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