The Wrong Bride

The first installment in Catharina Maura's Windsor series follows Raven Du Pont, the world's highest-paid supermodel and an award-winning fashion designer, who has been secretly in love with billionaire media mogul Ares Windsor for years. Ares is engaged to Raven's older sister, Hannah Du Pont, a famous actress. The engagement is part of an arranged marriage between the Windsor and Du Pont families, designed to merge Windsor Media with the Du Ponts' movie production company, Dreamessence. The arrangement was originally meant to pair Ares with Raven, but it changed after Raven introduced Hannah to Ares at a party, and he became captivated by her instead. Raven's best friend, Sierra Windsor, Ares's younger sister, is the only person who knows about Raven's feelings.

Raven's pain is compounded by her parents' lifelong favoritism toward Hannah. Raven was conceived specifically to provide a bone marrow transplant for Hannah, who had a serious childhood illness, and her parents have never stopped treating Hannah as the priority. Despite being dismissed by her mother and overlooked by her family, Raven continues helping plan the wedding, designing Hannah's gown, and accompanying Ares to buy gifts for Hannah. Meanwhile, Ares grows increasingly frustrated with Hannah, who refuses to publicly acknowledge their relationship and repeatedly cancels plans. He begins noticing Raven differently, secretly using his media empire to promote her fashion brand, blacklisting a director who harassed her, and arranging covert bodyguards for her protection.

One night, after Raven and Sierra drink heavily, Ares picks them up. In her intoxicated state, Raven makes her desire for him explicit. Ares, deeply tempted but bound to Hannah, rejects her, telling her he will never want her. The lie devastates Raven, and he holds her as she cries herself to sleep. Ares is also tormented by a recurring dream in which he makes love to Raven on the night of Sierra's 21st birthday party, a dream he does not yet realize is a fragmented memory of real events.

Hannah visits Ares at his office and tells him she cannot marry him. She cites the Windsor family's strict marriage rules, particularly the requirement that spouses not spend more than three consecutive nights apart during the first three years, insisting her acting career cannot accommodate such restrictions. Ares's brothers reveal they never thought Hannah was right for him. Grandma Anne, the powerful Windsor matriarch, announces that the wedding will proceed with Raven as the bride, explaining that Raven was always her original choice. Raven's father privately tells her that refusing will mean financial ruin for the family. Raven begs Hannah to reconsider, but Hannah dismisses the threat and flies to St. Tropez.

On the wedding day, Hannah does not appear despite Raven's dozens of calls. Raven's mother helps her into the dress she designed for Hannah, offering a rare apology for years of favoritism. Raven walks down the aisle, and Ares greets her with a smile and a promise to give her his all. Their kiss at the altar is more passionate than either intended. In a limousine afterward, Grandma Anne outlines the marriage rules: no more than three nights apart, a shared bed, three years before a penalty-free divorce, mutual fidelity, and an honest effort.

The early days of marriage are strained. Ares avoids Raven, struggling with guilt over his growing attraction to her. Raven discovers Hannah's belongings throughout the house and tells Ares she refuses to live in her sister's shadow. When Hannah arrives the morning after the wedding, she throws herself into Ares's arms and declares she will wait three years for him. After Hannah leaves, Raven demands Ares's fidelity, and he agrees. Ares meets Hannah for dinner and tells her their relationship is over.

Over the following weeks, Ares and Raven gradually grow closer. A turning point comes when Raven breaks down crying after a harsh phone call from her mother. She asks Ares for a hug, and he holds her, delivering an impassioned speech about her worth and promising there is no one else on his mind. They begin sleeping in each other's arms nightly. Physical intimacy escalates, and they eventually consummate the marriage after Ares admits he lied when he told her he would never want her. They visit a master goldsmith to select new wedding rings and exchange them in a private ceremony at home with personal vows. Ares promises he will never let her go.

Four weeks after the wedding, they publicly announce their marriage on social media. Hannah confronts them furiously. At Hannah's movie premiere, Hannah deliberately reminisces about intimate memories with Ares within Raven's earshot. Ares throws her out and tells Raven he is in love with her; she says it back. He later ends things with Hannah for good, confirming he has moved on. The couple visits Raven's parents for her father's 60th birthday, where tensions with Hannah explode. Raven finally admits she has been in love with Ares since before Hannah entered the picture. Hannah declares she will never forgive Raven and will never give up on Ares.

The crisis deepens when Hannah arrives at the Windsor estate announcing she is five months pregnant and claiming the baby is Ares's. Grandma Anne insists Hannah stay in their home. Raven is devastated but tells Ares she will raise the child with him. Grandma privately offers Raven a way out: a divorce with half of Windsor Media.

Hannah moves in and begins a campaign of subtle torment. Ares reveals a painful truth: On the night of Sierra's 21st birthday, Raven was the woman he slept with, not Hannah. Though Ares had already become captivated by Hannah at the party, Hannah deepened the deception by sneaking into his bed after Raven left and pretending to be the woman he had been with. When confronted, Hannah shows no remorse. She then leaks the story of her relationship with Ares to the press, framing Raven as a home wrecker. The articles go viral, Raven's social media fills with harassment and death threats, and modeling contracts are canceled. Raven has a panic attack and tells Ares she cannot continue living this way. She packs a suitcase and asks for one week to think, retreating to the home of her close friends Alanna and Silas Sinclair, a security firm owner who has long protected Raven. Sierra and the other Windsor siblings rally around her.

Ares broadcasts a message on all Windsor-owned media channels defending Raven and begging the public to stop the harassment. He buys the gossip outlets that published the stories and takes down servers hosting the content. On the seventh day, he arrives at the Sinclairs' building by helicopter. He tells Raven he has cut all direct communication with Hannah and created a professional team to manage any co-parenting. Raven tells him she chooses him and would rather endure hardship with him than live without him.

Back home, Ares confronts Hannah with the results of a prenatal paternity test he secretly arranged: The baby is not his. When Hannah refuses to apologize, Ares releases information exposing her affairs and blacklists her from the entertainment industry. Raven's mother visits demanding Raven help manage Hannah's crisis, showing no concern for her younger daughter. Raven refuses and cuts off her mother's access to their home.

Ares flies Raven to the cabin where Sierra's 21st birthday was held, the site of their real first kiss. Surrounded by hundreds of flowers, he kneels and proposes with a ring he commissioned months earlier, inspired by one Raven once admired. He asks her to have a wedding that is entirely theirs. Raven accepts.

In the epilogue, Raven walks her final professional fashion show, which also marks her brand's debut runway event. The entire Windsor family attends, along with Raven's father and her closest friends. Ares's brother Luca arrives with Valentina, announcing they have eloped, setting up the next book in the series. Ares watches from the front row, certain that Raven is everything he never knew he needed.