He borrowed money to make it real.
And that property in my mother’s name? It wasn’t a trap. It was the location for my future restaurant. A surprise. A gift.
In one moment, I went from hero to villain.
I’ll never forget my mother’s face. Not angry. Not shocked. Just… broken. Not because of him. Because of me.
I had humiliated a good man on the happiest day of her life.
The aftermath was cold. Distant. Deserved. My mother pulled away. And Aaron—the man I tried to destroy—was the one who forgave me.
It took years to heal.
Now, I stand in the restaurant he built for me. Every day is a reminder of how wrong I was.
I thought I was protecting my mother.
But the truth?
She needed protection from me.
