One Night With The Wrong Brother

Chapter 4 No.4

Word Count: 731 | Released on: 22/01/2026

anything that

clothes onto the bed with disdain. "Zara, Zara, H&M... G

the doorframe. She felt a knot of anxiety tightening in her sto

as old, from her life before, but the silk was real. "We

lipstick. Katherine took it. The

from the living room. "The

ing blasted, smelling of fake pine. Kylie sat

on?" Beth asked, leaning forward.

yes still glued to h

herine asked. The knot in

ylie said vaguely. "You guys w

ow. "Is this the mystery m

just... talking. But h

anta Monica Boulevard blurred past. Los Angeles was

a chaotic swarm of flashing lights. Papar

on her hip, chin tilted. A few cameras flashed, but the photogr

, tossing her hair. "Ug

nt was a lush, open-air garden, teeming with beautiful people. The

ker," Kylie to

ace. Katherine sat down, trying to make herself small. S

er," Kylie announced, not loo

A cocktail cost as much as her

ce lit up. She stood up, waving h

e turned

left h

man in a black t-shirt and dark jeans. He didn't look at the cameras. He didn't look at

was

His face had lost the last traces of boyishness, replaced by ha

outh. She wanted to slide unde

was t

om. They swept over the c

landed on

anded

d imperceptibly. The boredom vanished, replaced by a

e wall came down. His exp

as he approached. She wrapped her arm

there, stiff, his hands in his poc

Rougher. It sent a shiver down Katherine

d, clinging to his arm like a tro

her, the man she had spent four years hiding from, w

Chapter End

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One Night With The Wrong Brother

Tangye Wanzi Modern

“I thought I was waking up in the arms of Arthur, the man I loved. But as the morning light hit the Hamptons estate, the man buttoning his cuffs by the window turned around with eyes like chips of ice. It was Augustus Riddle, Arthur's cruel younger brother, and I had just spent the night whispering confessions of love into the wrong man's ear. The night I thought was a beautiful beginning turned into a devastating nightmare. Instead of comfort, Gus treated me like a stain on his expensive carpet, scribbling a check for "services rendered" before shoving me into a dark service corridor to hide my existence from his brother. "How much does it cost to buy your silence?" He sneered, before leaving me barefoot in a torrential downpour while he drove away in a luxury Cadillac. Four years later, I am a struggling actress in Los Angeles, working double shifts as a barista just to keep the lights on. My life was finally stable until my roommate dragged me to a high-end dinner to meet her new "influential" boyfriend. The man sitting at the table, looking more arrogant and lethal than ever, was Augustus. He spent the entire night humiliating me, calling me a pathetic amateur and a social climber in front of my only friends. When I fled into the rain and collapsed on the sidewalk, skinning my knee until I bled, he watched from his car. He saw me clutching a plastic baggie containing the taped-together pieces of that four-year-old check-the only proof of my shame. He looked at me like roadkill, rolled up his window, and drove off into the dark. I couldn't understand why he was doing this. Why did he hate me enough to crush me, yet remember that I couldn't handle the smell of cigarette smoke? Why did he leave me bleeding in the street, only to send expensive medical supplies and coffee to my door the very next morning? "I'm moving out." I told my roommates, realizing that Gus Riddle didn't just want to destroy me; he wanted to haunt me. I grabbed my suitcase and walked out with eighty dollars to my name, finally ready to disappear into the city before he could burn the rest of my life to the ground.”