Part 1The Billionaire's "One That Got Away": My Fiancé is His Brother

I was the unattainable first love of a Manhattan elite.

When we reunited at my engagement dinner, I found out the man I was marrying was actually his brother.

I forced a calm smile and greeted him, "Carter. It’s been a while."

"I’m about to be your sister-in-law."

Under the watchful eyes of everyone in the room, Carter dropped his cigarette and strode right up to me.

"Sister-in-law?"

He leaned in slightly, his lips brushing my ear. "Do you think becoming my sister-in-law wipes our slate clean?"

* * *

My engagement dinner with Nolan Davis was meant to be an intimate affair. We only invited our parents and a few important relatives from both sides. We planned to finalize the wedding details over a nice meal.

If everything went according to plan, we would go to City Hall to get our marriage license this afternoon, hold the ceremony later, and officially become a family.

It was all happening so fast that I felt a little dazed.

Nolan, my soon-to-be husband, sat beside me, meticulously peeling shrimp for me. When our relatives teased him for spoiling his future wife, his ears turned red and he just offered a soft chuckle.

He placed the peeled shrimp in a small bowl, casually pushed it in front of me, and even mixed a dipping sauce for me.

In that moment, just like many times before, I felt so lucky to have met a man as good as him.

I was just about to dip a shrimp into the sauce when the private dining room doors were violently shoved open from the outside.

Every eye in the room darted toward the door, including mine.

But the moment I saw who had walked in, I froze. A second later, I calmly averted my gaze and turned my head away.

I heard Nolan’s father speak up. "Carter? What are you doing here?"

My first thought was sheer confusion. Why did Mr. Sterling know Carter? Nolan’s family was well-off, sure, but compared to the Sterling family—an old-money dynasty that practically owned the city—they were miles apart. They shouldn't even run in the same circles.

"My son is getting engaged. How could I not be here? Right, Dad?"

Carter placed a heavy, venomous emphasis on the word "Dad."

I couldn't help but look up at Mr. Sterling. Looking closely, the two men actually did share a resemblance.

He was Carter's father? Then that made Nolan... Carter’s brother?

After all these years, my life had come full circle, only for me to become my first love's sister-in-law?

It was absurd.

While I was still drowning in this unacceptable reality, Mr. Sterling let out an awkward, nervous laugh. He quickly flagged down a waiter to add another chair. "Right, right, right. You should be here."

He was clearly terrified of Carter. The tone and posture he used to speak to him were painfully cautious.

"Let me introduce everyone. This is my youngest son, Carter."

The waiter brought a chair, and Mr. Sterling patted the back of it, waving him over. "Carter, come sit."

But Carter was exactly the same as he was years ago. He didn't give a damn about saving face for anyone.

He stood rooted to the spot, his sharp gaze sweeping the room before locking dead onto me.

With an unreadable emotion flashing in his eyes, Carter lifted his chin in my direction. "Aren't you going to introduce us?"

My stomach dropped.

Mr. Sterling opened his mouth to speak, but the man sitting quietly beside me suddenly stood up.

Nolan placed a hand on my shoulder, looked at Carter, and said slowly, "Carter, this is my fiancée, Vivian Hayes."

I didn't know if I was imagining it, but there was a faint trace of provocation in Nolan’s tone.