Lavender:I had not been able to sleep that whole night, and then the next day, when I checked his profile, I saw he had posted those pictures with a special caption.“When there is someone very special behind the lens, you feel special too.”My heart pounded hard, my eyes stuck on the caption. And the comments were even more fun to read.One user wrote,“Can someone please zoom into his eyes to see the reflection of this special someone? I’m dying of jealousy out here.”Another wrote,“She must be the reason he decided to work out so late at night ;p”There were many such comments, and I kept reading every single one of them. And then he responded to one of the comments.Someone wrote,“Look how he is smiling. I’m a gymnast, and let me tell you something—if a man is smiling for someone while working out, that person must be very special.”To which Easton replied,“My mystery girl is in talks?”I smiled and put my phone down, hugging my pillow. If the people of Brisa saw me, they woul
Lavender:After having breakfast alone in my room, I recalled Easton’s words again and couldn’t help but worry about his one statement.“He has someone he is interested in.”I picked up my phone and typed an email again.Levi: You didn’t tell me who that special one is?And his response came almost immediately.E-Tron: You will find out soon. What’s the rush?I bit my tongue, feeling suddenly sad.E-Tron: You have a boyfriend anyway. Go spend time with him, while I go spend time with my special someone.As soon as I read that text, tears started to form in my eyes.He was someone I wouldn’t share with anyone. Everyone else at the manor had left for the picnic, Igor had left with his friends, and Nikon, as usual, was out and about—probably even killing innocent people.So when there was a knock on the door to my bedroom, I knew who it could be.I placed the tray away and slowly got up from the bed, a confused look on my face.I answered the door to the world’s most handsome man standin
Lavender:It had been two minutes since he had started sucking my boob, and I had not gotten over the shock of it. It felt very weird in the beginning. I mean, I felt shy. But then, I wanted him to never stop. That shyness and awkwardness seemed to waver away with every passing second.He was sucking on my breast like he was getting something out of it. His lips were perfectly wrapped around my nipple, not even allowing them to breathe. He then continued to suck on only my tits before pulling away."I think we should not do that," I uttered, sitting in front of him with my breast out."Why is that?" he asked, gently pulling my tit out, and I squeaked."Because---our relationship," I mumbled shyly, looking down when he kept playing with my nipple between his fingers."So what? We are bonding. I'll stop if you want me to," his voice remained husky as he stretched his hand back."But if you want to continue, expose your other breast for me," he whispered as he leaned over to my lips.I b
Lavender:My family had returned. They looked happy. But I was too. After what happened between me and Easton, I was over the moon.I couldn’t stop smiling even when no one said anything nice to me.We were dining together and my sisters were gushing over the scenery from the picnic.“Daddy, can my friend come over sometime?” Sabrina said to Mister Volkov, making him smile in surprise at the fact that she was calling him her father.“Sure, they can come whenever they want. It is your house—” Mister Volkov suddenly stopped when Nikon placed his spoon down.It was done so politely, but somehow it made everyone turn to look at him.“But of course, ask for your brother’s permission first,” Mister Volkov corrected himself.“It’s okay. As long as they don’t walk around poking their noses in everyone’s business—especially mine and my brother’s,” Nikon warned her, grabbing his spoon again.He was usually quiet all the time.And just when I thought I hadn’t been under his scrutiny for a while,
Igor:It wasn’t new for my brother to humiliate me. But this time, it was worse because it was for someone like Lavender.Since when did my brother start feeling so bad for a bastard child?I rushed back to my room and grabbed a bottle of wine from my bar. That’s when my friends started blowing up my phone.“I’m not coming,” I hissed at them.“But why not? We’ve planned everything. The ferry is ready, our cars are ready to go—why are you changing your mind now? Don’t tell me you’re having cold feet. Are you scared of losing?” As they laughed, I clenched my jaw secretly.They had no clue that it wasn’t funny to me.I had been mistreated so much that now no one took me seriously.“Fear of losing, my brother? There’s no way Igor would be afraid of losing,” I didn’t know Nikon would come to my room. If I had known, I would have closed the door.But now he was standing in the doorway with his arms folded over his chest.“Brother Nikon—but he’s saying he isn’t coming,” my friend must have g
Lavender:I had finished my dinner and went back to my room, planning to change and rest. Thankfully, Nikon had taken the right stance, or else I don’t even want to imagine being at the island with that psycho.I was about to grab my wig and the black backdrop when a loud banging on the door almost knocked the world from under my feet. It was aggressive, like someone was in an emergency. I jumped off the bed and reached the door, worried that someone got sick or hurt.Or maybe some emergency had arrived.But the minute I opened the door and saw Nikon standing outside my room, I knew it wasn’t anything like what I had thought.“Grab your aid kit, you’re going with Igor,” Nikon stormed in, his presence wild and threatening. Behind him was Igor, who only leaned to the side, supporting his body with the wall.“Huh? But—but you said—” I started panicking almost instantly. Going to an island where there is no one else but my psycho stepbrother and his friends, who were probably just as craz
Lavender:“Let me go,” I started kicking and screaming when a hand grabbed me. It was Igor.“Shut up before I smack the teeth out of your mouth,” he screamed as he grabbed me by both my arms and shook me awake.“I will not allow you or your friends to touch me,” I screamed in his face, and he gave me a blank expression.“We are not going to. Do you think you’re that important for us to spend the precious time we’ve planned for weeks convincing you to have sex with us?” he hissed back, and my protesting started to fade away. “That jerk was making a joke.”“Well, it wasn’t funny because it happens to women all the time—” Finally, I teared up.It was my worst fear, and hearing his friend think it was a funny joke broke me down. There were some girls with some of the guys, and even they laughed about it.At least some of them did.“Yeah, it’s not funny. I call him an asshole for a reason. Nobody is touching you, so don’t worry,” he then let me go while promising no one would touch me.I d
Lavender:All the cars started leaving, one after another. Loud engines, bright lights, dust in the air. I just sat on the chair and watched them go. It was like they couldn’t wait to race. Then I saw it.One car didn’t move.It stayed in the same place while the others drove away. That felt strange. I looked at it again. The windows were dark, but I could see someone inside.He was looking at me.I didn’t know who he was, but I knew he wasn’t just sitting there. He was staring. At me. Not moving, not blinking. Just watching.My stomach felt tight. Like something was wrong. Really wrong.I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. My eyes stayed on the car. My body didn’t move. I felt cold even though the night wasn’t that cold.Why was he still there?Why was he watching me?I started recalling who had sat down in that one particular car. His form was not recognizable because of the tinted windows, until all the cars had passed me and disappeared. Then, he slowly rolled the window down.T
Lavender:I had been crying for the last two hours. Ever since we came home, things had gone downhill fast.Everyone yelled at me. By everyone, I mean my mother, Sabrina, and even Mister Volkov. He kept raising his hand, showing me that he could slap me if he lost his temper.Normani was comforted by them, while I was treated like something dirty. Not even once did they ask me if what Normani said was true.The first slap Normani gave me had left me biting my tongue, bleeding in my mouth. I tried to tell them she was lying.But there was no proof that it was her idea to go out.The maids who had been cleaning the house earlier said they saw me ask Nikon for permission to go out.And then it all turned into a complete mess. I was questioned about why I lied—why I said I was going to the library but ended up at the club.Normani, through her hiccupping tears, claimed that I had dragged her along and made her wait outside while I went in. She said she heard some noise and came in to chec
Lavender:“I had a feeling he would allow you,” said Normani. Had she not been listening, I would have lied to her and told her Nikon didn’t allow me. But now I was caught with her. We left around 6 p.m., and something just didn’t feel right to me.“I can carry this gift for you,” I said to her as we stepped into the car. Mister Volkov had gifted my mother a car and a driver.This was the first time I was sitting in my mom’s car. My mother must have known Normani was taking her car.“No need,” Normani replied, keeping the gift in her lap. She wore a very plain and dull-colored dress.However, her makeup was all glittery and in a completely different tone than her dress.Well, what do I know about fashion?With that, I pushed away the thoughts of concern. But I did notice that the gift box was much lighter than it looked.I couldn’t focus on all that for too long since my worries shifted when I was taken to the club instead of the library.“I’m not going inside with you,” I warned her
Lavender:“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, a faint smirk tugging at her lips that made me clench my fists in frustration.“You know what I’m talking about. Christine isn’t Levi,” I hissed, stomping my foot in annoyance.She tilted her head slightly, pretending to think it through, and then nodded slowly. “So… does that mean you’ve been having an affair with your stepbrother? Or should I say—you tricked your stepbrother into a forbidden relationship?”The way she worded it shook my confidence. I knew this whole stepbrother thing would come back to haunt me.“You know it’s considered disgusting—but if it’s Christine, nobody will care. And it’s not like you can prove to Easton that it was you,” she flashed a smile before sighing and lowering her feet from the table.“Now, if you’re done complaining, can we get to business?” she asked in a bored tone, like my pain didn’t matter.“So—I want to sneak out of the house tonight. But my stepbrothers—you know how they are—they
Lavender:I had been really bothered by everything. I tried looking for ways to open my Skype account, but it was gone. Not just gone—deleted. Either Christine or Normani did it. It hurt to think they had gone through my laptop, stolen my identity, and logged me out of my apps.Thankfully, the Cherry app was something I usually kept hidden on my laptop, and I only entered the password and username when I needed to use it. But it didn’t matter now.They knew about my secret and had used it against me to shut me up.Just thinking about Christine stealing my identity was painful. But then I comforted myself with the thought that Easton would end up playing her too. She’d get her karma—because she had no idea what a liar that man really is.There’s no way he’d treat her any better.“What is it?” Nikon asked when I knocked on his office door and stood outside, waiting for him to let me in.The trip I wanted to go on felt more important now than ever. I needed to get away from everyone for
Christina:“She’s always keeping to herself,” Normani rolled her eyes when mentioning Lavender. She didn’t have to say it out loud for me to know she disliked her. But it wasn’t only her and her sister who didn’t like her. I had hated Lavender since the day I met her.I was fifteen at the time when I first became friends with Normani. I liked having two idiots walk around me and carry my bags. And luckily for me, Normani and Sabrina fit that role perfectly. But then they had this stepsister, Lavender, who acted like she was better than us.I once heard Lavender warn her sisters that I was using them. I realized in that moment why I couldn’t bring myself to feel sorry for that little brat.Everybody hated her for a reason.“And you know what—our model brother pays so much attention to her,” Normani said, as if things weren’t already annoying with Lavender in the picture. Now I was being told that there was a handsome and popular guy who actually cared about her.“She must have told him
Lavender:“So, Lavender! How’s your study going?” Christine started yapping, and as expected, her attention toward me brought smirks to their faces.My mother looked tired, while my stepsisters looked amused, like they were waiting for a show.“Good,” I replied, quickly looking down.“Umm, Easton—you’re a model. I know you,” she giggled, catching his attention next. Easton looked up from his food and briefly stared at her.“Good,” Easton replied, bowing his head down right away.“By the way, big brother, I heard you announced your relationship to the world?”It was Sabrina, the always-quiet yet creepy one, speaking up after a while. She didn’t talk much, but whenever she did, I always wondered what made her break her silence.I clenched my fingers around the fork tightly, side-eyeing Easton, who raised his head and exchanged a glance with his brothers.“Not yet,” Easton replied.“But we saw the post,” Igor teased him. His father looked pleased for whatever reason—maybe it was the firs
Lavender:“I feed you such good food. I bet you haven’t had fruits like this before. And this is how you massage me?” my mother snapped, kicking me before putting her foot back in my lap.I was in pain because of the blood transfusion, but she didn’t care.She had made me sit in her room for two hours now. My arm hurt so much for some reason.“I actually gave blood today,” I said. I didn’t have to remind her—she already knew.“So? You give blood all the time. Don’t make excuses,” she hissed.I sighed and started massaging her foot again. Mister Volkov wasn’t around yet, so she was making me stay in her room.I’d heard he was having a meeting with his sons.I just wanted him to come back to his room so I could go back to mine.Finally, when my hands couldn’t keep going, Mister Volkov’s voice echoed from the hallway. My mother sat up like she’d been caught with another man and snatched the oil out of my hands.She grabbed my hand and stretched it out, quickly pouring oil on it. It was h
Lavender:I woke up in my attic, worried and confused about how I got there, until I opened my eyes and saw Nikon sitting on the chair with a book in his hand.I sat up and swallowed hard.“Glad you’re awake,” he said, not looking too bothered as he kept reading the book.I had bought that book for myself.It was my damn course book that he was reading like it was some novel.“You passed out on the road,” he said casually. “I brought you here. Now thank me so I can leave.”The demands he made with a straight face were always strange.He was so full of himself.All of them were.“Thanks,” I said, steadying myself.“Hmm, you don’t have to. It was the right thing to do.” With that, he shut the book and gave me a fake closed-lip smile while I stared at his face in disbelief.“Now, what was it that I saw last night?” he asked, crossing one leg over the other.“I was out on a walk when your brother offered me a ride, but I said no,” I lied. I couldn’t tell him I’d been having something clos
Lavender:Thankfully, he didn’t make me stay to answer his question.I mean, he didn’t have to. He literally told me he’d question me later.Did he see the whole interaction or just the part where Easton was driving behind me?It was the next day—a new morning, and definitely a new beginning for me.Another person I thought cared about me was gone.I was now completely alone.But I guess there are some perks to being lonely—you can’t get hurt.“You look a little pale.”The nurse, a middle-aged woman with kind green eyes, studied my face while preparing me for the blood transfusion.“That’s just my complexion,” I lied, smiling through tired, empty eyes.Her concern wasn’t wrong—I hadn’t eaten that morning since I had to catch a bus early for college and then head straight here for my appointment.My mom had been blowing up my phone, reminding me not to miss this transfusion.I hadn’t fully healed from my fall and the previous transfusion—but who was going to tell her that?And now that