LOGINFor Gabriel, the nightmare didn't start with a scream. It started with a wedding announcement. The news was a death sentence. My pious mother was marrying the wealthiest man in the city, but the Miller fortune didn't matter to me. What mattered was the monster I would now have to call family. Derek Miller. My campus bully, the guy who spent years making my life a living hell was about to become my step brother. And the most shameful secret of all? I was deathly attracted to him. I thought I could survive it. I had Bradley, the boyfriend I had supported for five years, the guy who promised me the world. But he lied. I didn't get the world. I got a gut wrenching betrayal. I walked into a luxury apartment to find the only person I trusted being ruined by my bully. Derek didn't look away. He pinned me with a gaze of satisfied rage, claiming my boyfriend just to prove he could. Now, I am trapped in the Miller family tree with a step brother who loathes me. Between the holy lies of our parents and a shared bathroom that has become a hunting ground, I am drowning. Derek uses my stolen sketchbook and a leather belt to remind me I am nothing but a toy, his favorite plaything. I was desperate for a shoulder to lean on. I thought I had finally found a savior in a gentle stranger who pulled me from the wreckage of a rainy night. But as the masks slip, I am realizing the truth. I thought Derek was the monster, but my knight in shining armor may be the actual devil.
View MoreGabriel's POV The knock stopped.I stood there, frozen, my hands pressed against the wood of the door like I was trying to push the sound away. The house felt huge and empty all of a sudden. I heard footsteps walking closer, slow deliberate. They were familiar footsteps, exactly Derek's pace."Dad? What are you doing at the front of my room?"I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding. My knees felt like jelly. I just needed to get out. I needed to go downstairs, find a corner, and just... exist without having a panic attack. They should just leave the hallway pleaseeee."Oh," Mr. Miller’s voice sounded weirdly tight. "I thought you were in there. Let me go downstairs now."Footsteps faded. I waited a second, then two, then five. My heart was still hammering, like a bird hitting a window. I straightened my tie in the reflection of the glass. My hair was a mess. My face looked pale, like I was about to faint. I forced a smile fake, ugly, whatever and unlocked the door.I swun
Gabriel's POV I stared at my phone screen until my eyes burned. Refresh. Nothing. Refresh again. Still nothing. The video was gone. The group chats were quiet. Like it never happened. Like I never got dragged across that club floor or had someone’s boot against my ribs. I should have felt relieved. Instead, I just felt sick. Derek hadn't deleted it because he cared about my feelings or because he was sorry. He deleted it because the Miller name couldn't have a stain on it. I was just the stain he needed to wash out. The truth should have been out. Everybody knew I was being bullied and almost murdered by Connor but no one was saying the actual truth of what happened. I tossed the phone onto my desk and crawled into bed, my ribs still aching with every breath. I wanted to just turn my brain off. But of course, that didn’t happen. The door creaked open. Derek. I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt. Couldn’t he just leave me alone for five minutes? "How do you do, brother?" he said.
Gabriel's POVThe car ride back was a funeral procession for my pride. Brandon had stormed out, slamming the door so hard I thought the glass would spiderweb, and now it was just the hum of the engine and the sound of Derek’s breathing.Brandon had been a fool, of course. He thought he could pull the boyfriend card on a guy who didn't even see people as human, let alone equals."So, you are just going to keep me quiet, huh?" Brandon had spat, his voice trembling with a mix of rage and genuine hurt. "You did what with this... this ugly duckling? You dragged him into our life and now you are acting like I am the one out of line?"Derek hadn't even flicked an eye toward him. He just tightened his grip on the leather steering wheel until his knuckles looked like they were going to pierce through his skin."He is your stepbrother, dammit!" Brandon shrieked, hitting the dashboard. "This is insane, Derek. You can cheat on me with anyone but I mean your step brother, really?"Derek’s voice w
Gabriel's POVThe dinner table felt like a pressure cooker that was about to blow. My mother was still on the floor, her hands trembling as she tried to fix her hair, her face a blotchy, frantic mess.Derek's dad didn’t even look down at her. He just poured more wine, his eyes fixed on my mum with a terrifying kind of amusement."What is the problem, Sarah?" Mr Miller asked, his voice calm, almost bored. "I thought I told you months ago, my son likes men. Did you think I was joking?"My mother’s face turned a shade of gray that made me think she was actually going to be sick.She looked at him, then at the guy who was still standing there like he owned the place. She opened her mouth to scream, but then her gaze flickered toward the expensive wine, the crystal, the sheer scale of the power sitting at this table.Her spine snapped straight. She stood up, dusting off her skirt with shaking hands. "Oh... oh, don't mind me. I was just joking. A little... a little family humor, you know?






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