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Chapter 33 – Pressure Point (Part 1)

Autor: C.N KOELLE
last update Data de publicação: 2026-07-30 03:32:42

POV: Elena

By Thursday afternoon, the basketball team no longer looked like a team.

From my seat high in the bleachers, I watched practice unfold with the uneasy feeling that something fundamental had changed. The drills were the same. Coach Mercer's whistle still echoed through the arena every few minutes, and the players still moved with the speed and precision that had made them one of the best programmes in the conference.

But the atmosphere was different. There were fewer laughs between dr
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  • Fake Fiancée To My Bully Stepbrother    Chapter 33 – Pressure Point (Part 2)

    POV: ElenaThe drive home was unusually quiet. Normally, one of us would have found something to argue about before we reached the main road. Jace would complain about a reckless driver. I'd tell him he drove too fast. He'd deny it. I'd roll my eyes, and somehow we'd end up laughing by the time we pulled into the estate.Today, neither of us seemed interested in filling the silence.My mind kept drifting back to Ryan and the envelope. I had told myself not to jump to conclusions anymore. The anonymous text had proved how easy it was to look in the wrong direction. Still, I couldn't ignore what I'd seen."You're thinking again," Jace said, glancing at me briefly before returning his eyes to the road. "I didn't realize it was that obvious." "It becomes obvious when you keep staring out the window." I hesitated. "I saw something after practice." His expression sharpened immediately."What?""Ryan." He sighed quietly."Elena...""I know what you're going to say." "Do you?" "Coach told you

  • Fake Fiancée To My Bully Stepbrother    Chapter 33 – Pressure Point (Part 1)

    POV: ElenaBy Thursday afternoon, the basketball team no longer looked like a team.From my seat high in the bleachers, I watched practice unfold with the uneasy feeling that something fundamental had changed. The drills were the same. Coach Mercer's whistle still echoed through the arena every few minutes, and the players still moved with the speed and precision that had made them one of the best programmes in the conference.But the atmosphere was different. There were fewer laughs between drills. Conversations ended the moment someone else approached. Players who had once slapped each other on the back after a successful play now simply nodded and jogged to the next position. Coach noticed it too.He let the team finish a defensive rotation before blowing his whistle so sharply that everyone froze."Centre court. Now." The players gathered around him, breathing heavily. Coach folded his arms, his expression harder than usual. "I'm only going to say this once. " The gym fell silent.

  • Fake Fiancée To My Bully Stepbrother    Chapter 32 – False Trails

    POV: ElenaThe anonymous message stayed with me long after I locked my phone.YOU'RE LOOKING AT THE WRONG PLAYER. Five words. They should have been easy to ignore. Anyone could have sent them. It could have been another attempt to frighten me, another game played by the person who had left the bridal veil on our doorstep and lured me to the greenhouse. Yet something about the message felt different. It didn't threaten me. It corrected me. I had barely slept because of it.The next morning, I sat near the window in my physiology lecture, my notebook open but my attention drifting elsewhere. Dr. Hassan was explaining the regulation of blood pressure, his voice carrying evenly through the classroom, but the words blurred together. Instead, I found myself scrolling through the anonymous campus gossip account. Every post. Every comment. Every timestamp. I worked backward, ignoring the insults aimed at me and focusing on the posts about the basketball team. One mentioned a closed-door stra

  • Fake Fiancée To My Bully Stepbrother    Chapter 31 – Fault Lines (Part 2)

    POV: ElenaBy the time the office door finally opened, I had reread the same paragraph in my physiology textbook at least four times without absorbing a single sentence.I looked up as Coach Mercer stepped out first. His expression was unreadable. Jace followed a moment later, his gym bag slung over one shoulder. The confidence he usually carried after practice was still there, but something about him seemed quieter. More thoughtful.Coach caught sight of me waiting in the bleachers. "I hope we didn't keep you too long, Miss Hart." "Not at all, Coach." He nodded politely before turning back to Jace. "Remember what I said." "I will."Coach held his gaze for another second before walking away. I watched him disappear into his office again.As Jace climbed the bleachers toward me, I searched his face for some clue about what had happened. "What was that about?" He picked up my backpack before I could. "Let's head to the car." "Jace." "I'll tell you." It wasn't a refusal. It was a delay. I

  • Fake Fiancée To My Bully Stepbrother    Chapter 31 – Fault Lines (Part 1)

    POV:ElenaThe smell of polished hardwood and sweat had become strangely familiar.Only a week ago, I would have avoided the athletics complex unless I absolutely had to be there. Now I found myself climbing the same concrete steps to the bleachers almost every other afternoon, balancing my backpack on one shoulder and a stack of physiology notes in my arms.I blamed Jace. More specifically, I blamed the promise he'd made to drive me home after practice. It was easier to wait at the arena than make the trip back to the Calloway estate on my own. At least, that was what I kept telling myself.Practice had already started by the time I slipped inside. Coach Mercer's whistle echoed through the gym as players ran through defensive drills with relentless precision. He stalked the sidelines with his arms folded, barking corrections whenever someone missed a rotation or hesitated for even a second."No shortcuts!" he shouted. "Championship teams don't survive on talent alone. The players imm

  • Fake Fiancée To My Bully Stepbrother    Chapter 30 – Breaking Point (Part 2)

    POV: ElenaBy the time Jace emerged from the locker room, the arena had almost emptied.Most of the players had already left, laughing as though they hadn't spent the last two hours pushing themselves to their limits. Jace walked towards me with his gym bag slung over one shoulder, and if I hadn't watched the entire practice, I might have believed nothing had happened."Sorry to keep you waiting," he said, offering me a tired smile. "I had a textbook with me." "Did you actually study?" "Not as much as I intended." He laughed softly and reached for the keys in his pocket. "Come on. I'll take you home."The walk to the parking lot was short, but it was long enough for me to notice what he was trying so hard to hide. Whenever he thought I wasn't looking, he shifted his weight to his left leg. His stride was almost normal, but there was the slightest hesitation every time his right foot touched the ground. He was limping. Not dramatically. Just enough to tell me his ankle hurt far more th

  • Fake Fiancée To My Bully Stepbrother    Chapter 3 – The Uninvited Guest

    POV: ElenaBy eleven o'clock the next night, my bedroom felt less like a sanctuary and more like a vibrating cage.Thud. Thud. Thud.The heavy, aggressive bass from the sound system downstairs rattled the vintage glass panes of my private balcony. It had been going on for hours. What had started as

  • Fake Fiancée To My Bully Stepbrother    Chapter 2 – High Status, Low Profile

    POV: ElenaThe sharp, echoing crack seemed to vibrate through the entire house, but neither of us moved.Water seeped into the pristine white tiles, carrying tiny, jagged shards right to the edge of his bare toes. Jace didn't even flinch. He just lowered the juice carton from his lips, his eyes tra

  • Fake Fiancée To My Bully Stepbrother    Chapter 1 – The Shadow In the Kitchen

    POV: ElenaThe blast of thick, humid air hit me the second I stepped off the jet bridge, but it wasn't nearly as suffocating as the voice vibrating against my eardrum."Elena? Are you off yet? Tell me you’re off the plane," my mother’s voice rushed through the line, accompanied by the distinct, cli

  • Fake Fiancée To My Bully Stepbrother    Chapter 11 – His World

    POV: ElenaBy Wednesday afternoon, I had successfully avoided Jace for almost two days.It wasn't simple. Living under the same roof made avoidance nearly impossible, but I had managed it by leaving for class early, staying on campus late, and taking advantage of the fact that basketball seemed to

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