Her Stepbrother’s Desire, Her husband’s Obsession
“Get away from me,” Aria said, her voice unsteady.
Aston didn’t move away. No, he leaned in, the blade she held against his neck piercing through just enough to draw a thin line of red.
He smiled.
“Careful, my lady,” he murmured. “Your hands are shaking.”
Her grip tightened on the hilt.
“Now look at him,” Aston continued softly. “Look at your son… and tell me whose eyes he has.”
There was absolute silence.
“Your stepbrother’s?” His smile sharpened. “Or the man that claimed you that night?”
~
Five years ago, all Aria wanted was for her stepbrother, Liam, to say “take my hand” and defend her. Instead she woke up in his bed; drugged, disgraced, and left to carry the blame and the label of a ‘whore’.
Now she’s back with a child, but to regain her reputation, she has to marry Aston Beaumont, a ghost with a million layers, a murderer, and the man about to betray her grandfather.
It should have been simple.
Save her grandfather. Restore her reputation. Then leave. That is, until her stepbrother returns, not with guilt or shame, but with obsession, dangerously wanting her back like he never let her go.
And the more he pushes, the more dangerous Aston becomes.
Because Aston Beaumont doesn’t chase.
He takes.
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Chapter: Chapter 52The next day, Aria stood in the foyer, the sun from the golden curtains shimmering off her skin, putting her in an even better mood, something she didn’t think was even remotely possible.She played with her signature ring while holding on tightly to her phone, willing her feet to just fucking move.She’d stared at Liam’s post for a week too long, the comments so vivid she could practically hear the voices calling her a whore, an attacker, a scandal.She needed a counter strike.And the one she knew was petty enough to work required her entering the ground.She had slept like a baby the previous night, waking up perfectly rested for the first time in a decade. Why? Because she had gotten severely kissed by the man she was supposed to hate, Aston Beaumont.And that kind of luck out, she got to see him and her baby together, Asher fitting into the crook of Aston’s arm like he was meant to be there. Aria pinched her eyes again.She looked calm on the outside but her heart was doing back
Last Updated: 2026-04-27
Chapter: Chapter 51“You’ll let me call you daddy again”“I didn’t say you weren’t allowed to before though”, Aston cocked his head to the side. It seemed like that wasn’t a satisfactory answer. The boy stood still, resolutely looking at him.Aston liked the kid.He was a smart little shit.He was also from Aria. He liked everything from Aria.“You can call me daddy again.”The boy nodded like a soldier and raised his hands, signaling for Aston to carry him.Now that Aston thought about it, he hadn’t ever lifted the boy. He hooked his hands under Asher’s arms and carried him first to his chest.He smelled soft and pure. Like a freshly bathed child should. He could smell hints of whatever floral thing he always smelled on Aria around the middle of Asher’s head and he gave in to temptation and sniffed.“Ugh. You’re also weird like mommy,” Asher said, leaning his sleepy head on Aston’s chest.Aston subconsciously held on to his little head, moving to sit on the seat he couldn’t reach, with Asher in his lap
Last Updated: 2026-04-27
Chapter: Chapter 50The cold water was supposed to have reset his brain. He had exorcised the feeling out of his body with his own hands. But seeing the curve of her bare thighs and the way the light caught the damp ends of her hair made his throat go bone-dry.He'd spent years training his body to endure torture, but apparently, he'd never trained it for Aria Griffin in loungewear."You should be in something warmer," he said, his voice a gruff raspy thing that had him awkwardly clearing his throat right after.Aria nearly jumped out of her skin. She spun around, a wooden spoon held like a weapon. "God, Aston! Do you have to teleport everywhere?""You just came out of freezing water," he said, stepping into the kitchen and heading for the liquor cabinet with a stiff, detached gait. He didn't look at her. If he looked at her legs again, he was going to lose his mind. He felt like he was walking with the same arm and leg forward. He felt exposed. "If you catch pneumonia and die, I have to explain to Arth
Last Updated: 2026-04-27
Chapter: Chapter 49The water Aston had been sprayed with was a physical assault, in recompense for his assault on Aria, but it wasn’t enough.Aston didn’t feel punished enough.He stood under the spray of his shower, his forehead pressed against the cold tiles, his body shivering. He didn’t use hot water.He didn’t deserve it.His skin was still humming, a low simmering vibration in his groin and his teeth.He was dousing himself in water as cold as he wished his heart was, but the rounds his blood was doing under his skin kept him sufficiently warm.Every time he blinked all he could see was her, her blown out eyes, her swollen lips, his marks on her body. His marks. He had done that.His unworthy hands had touched and squeezed and prodded and his lizard brain wanted more, so much more.Aston Beaumont was a man of restraint. For as long as he could remember, he had always been unflappable in his restraint.Not with Aria.Damnit.Not with Aria.The poison hadn’t made him want her, it had only stripped
Last Updated: 2026-04-26
Chapter: Chapter 48“Drown you? I was saving you!” Her brows furrowed automatically as she combated him, her entire body still fully aware of their closeness, still fully aware of how they had been tightly pressed against each other not even a minute ago.“I thought we were partners, so you wanted me dead? First with fire, now with water?,” he asked. Aria opened her mouth, ready to defend herself when she heard the note of amusement in his tone.Oh.“Maybe if you had stayed dead with the fire I wouldn’t need to simulate flooding you,” she fired back, folding her arms. Aston’s lips quirked up and he ran a hand through his matted hair, his movements jerky and unnatural. He leaned down and before Aria could blink, she was in a hug.Aston was hugging her? His face had buried into her neck again and she could feel his faint tremors. The water had been impossibly cold.“Thank you for saving me, my lady”, he said against her neck, the heat from his breath still enough to warm her. “You’re welcome. For a reaso
Last Updated: 2026-04-26
Chapter: Chapter 47He peppered kisses down her neck and it overturned her stomach, making her eyes flutter closed.She forced them open as his kisses trailed up her jaw and to her ears. There was a sound stuck in her throat but she swallowed it. Her eyes darted around the basement. The one below them where he’d been beating up Zaphen was dark and harsh, but this one was clean and less harshly illuminated. It was the room for the climate control systems of the villa.There was a thick, insulated pipe at the far corner of the room, and Aria had visited this basement in search of where Aston could be several times, and she knew that one in particular led to the cold sprays of the garden sprinklers.That was it!Shock!She would — her thoughts were interrupted as Aston claimed her lips again, this time not in a frantic kiss but in a series of lazy kisses that affected her psyche even more than the faster, rougher ones. “Mm, Aston”, a kiss. “Look—” a kiss. “Look at me,” another kiss.To his credit he did
Last Updated: 2026-04-26
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