Nikon:I stayed in my car, watching them drag and throw her into the other vehicle.I have never met someone who found out who I was and still disobeyed me.This new sister of mine had successfully gotten under my skin in just two days.First, she was nasty enough to leave a bag full of sex toys, with one turned on and out in the open. And then she had the nerve to refuse me.“Hello,” I answered the call, now on my way to the dinner venue.“Did you get rid of her?” Igor asked, clearly interested in the matter.I didn’t want him involved because I knew he would be careless. Igor didn’t understand the weight of our lifestyle. We had to stay low-key, but he sometimes did things just to scare people off.“Don’t worry. She’ll be taken care of for the night,” I said. “And next time she dares raise her head against me, I’ll cut it off.”It was pretty clear she had bruised my ego when she refused to hand over the documents.“What about the documents? We need those,” Igor muttered. “I’m still
Lavender:They had thrown me in the car and covered my eyes. The blindfold, along with all the other restraints, made me feel lifeless. On top of that, they had headphones over my head with loud metallic music playing.I didn’t like loud noises—they triggered me. But I had to remind myself that I was in a situation where I couldn’t get any anxiety medicine or even a breath of fresh air.I was probably going to die tonight. That car ride was strange. I felt the car moving, but other than that, I had no idea what was happening or where I was being taken.I felt myself being carried again, and this time, I was thrown into something hard and cold. The moment they took the blindfold off, I realized where I was.I was lying in a tiny boat. My heart started skipping beat after beat, wondering what would happen next.Would I die from starvation here?My hands, feet, and mouth were still tied. I couldn’t do much except lie there, trying not to move too much and flip the boat over. I kept stari
Lavender:"Sir, if you need anything, let me know," I said in a calm voice, while the sound of waves still echoed in my ears.I wasn't able to sleep last night. Lying down with my head on the pillow didn’t help with the noise I could feel deep in my ears while lying on the boat.I didn’t stay behind for breakfast with "family."I didn’t complain to my mother either. She wouldn’t listen, and besides, Mr. Volkov had been glued to her like they’d been married for years."No, I just want you out of here so I can rest," the old man hissed, coughing as he waved me off.I gave him a nod, my smile still on my face, and walked out. My hands were folded under my stomach and my uniform was neatly pressed.Once I stepped out of his fancy bedroom, I sighed and dropped the fake smile."They should’ve let the old one stay behind," I heard a man in a suit say on his phone as he walked past me toward the room. I realized he was talking about me."The young one’s got such a tight ass on her."My body f
Lavender:"When he’s alone but there are too many caretakers around, that’s when you inject him with this. Use gloves, don’t touch anything, and don’t be seen around him that day. If you can, have someone else hold the needle for fingerprints. He’ll die slowly,” Nikon explained again, trying to teach me how to become like them.I listened quietly, keeping calm and not lashing out before the time was right.Once they were done talking, they waited for me to respond. Igor leaned his back against the wall while Nikon narrowed his eyes at me.“No!” I said, and noticed Nikon’s eyebrow raise.“There’s no way I’m killing anyone,” I stated, loudly and clearly.The look on their faces terrified me, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill someone.“There you go, such an ungrateful brat,” Igor muttered under his breath, tapping his phone against his palm.Nikon’s lips pressed into a thin line before he sighed. “You know, she’s killed someone before. But now she wants to act all empathetic.”Nikon’
Lavender:"Help! Somebody, please help me!" I screamed while running away from it. However, soon I realized it had caught up to me, so I stopped and turned around to swing my arm. With that, I tossed the coyote a little further away to get a head start.I began to run like crazy, not knowing the woods at all.The cold wind was blocking my nose. And since I woke up in such a panic, I felt like half of my brain was still asleep.I don't know how long I ran, but I stopped to catch my breath when I saw the woods end. Before me was a giant road. It felt like victory. Wheezing like a desperate kitten, I ran toward the road. The moon had cast such a light upon it that the atmosphere made it even scarier.But it wasn't long before my senses picked up on the vibe, and my sight landed on a car parked in the middle of the road, horizontally, with a man in a black suit standing in front of it.He leaned casually against the car, one hand in his pocket, and the other holding a cigar.It was none o
Lavender:I stood behind the couches, keeping my spine straight as the brothers sat down. My eyes briefly moved to Easton, who wore a gray shirt, his hair messy, and his handsomeness filling the living room. I had to shake myself out of such thoughts and looked around to make sure nobody had seen me watching him.Then my eyes landed on Nikon, who had a weird, distasteful look on his face. A very mild smirk appeared on his lips. He seemed almost proud of himself. And then there was Igor, least interested, with his leg over the other, shaking it nonchalantly.Mister Volkob sat right next to my mother, holding her hand happily. And then there were my sisters, who had no clue why they were sitting in the living room. But I knew what was going on.Soon, the news was going to play on the TV. The rich family was supposed to sign off a piece of their expensive land for charity. However, there was a twist. A twist created by Nikon.The grandfather was going to be announced dead today, which wo
Nikon:When I watched her stand behind the couch and stare at the TV, I felt like I could burn her alive. The anger I felt toward a woman for the first time like that was unimaginable. I don’t think I can ever hate another woman so much.Lavender!She was nothing like her name.This girl was so meticulously cunning that she had me fooled. She must have switched the poison with medicine. And she made sure she didn’t deny it because then I would have gotten it done through other means.That irked me, and I lost control. Easton didn’t care; he was too busy with his phone. But Igor had warned me about being wary of this girl. She was not as timid and naive; she was fragile, yes! But fierce.That’s when I had to teach her a lesson. I grabbed her by the hair, put my hands on a woman for the first time, and dragged her away to the attic. But she didn’t apologize or beg for my forgiveness.She was so defiant that she looked me in the eye and said what nobody—not even my family—could ever dare
Lavender:That fall took a lot from me. I found myself in the hospital bed with multiple injuries and crutches.“Mom,” my lips forced a smile at the sight of her beside my bed. Every inch of my body hurt when I tried to move, but I had to show her my smile to let her know how happy I was to see her next to me.“Mom—,” I said her name again, and she finally noticed me. She lifted her head from her phone and scoffed, almost rolling her eyes.“I’m so glad you woke up,” she said coldly. Maybe I was high on pain meds, but I expected her to be all dramatic about me waking up.I thought she would come rushing in, trying to kiss my forehead while her eyes filled with tears.“Lavender, what am I going to do with you?” she sighed, shaking her head in disbelief. The way she acted confused me. Was she not happy that I woke up?The fact that I had to pay so much attention to my mother’s expressions just to figure out if she cared enough made me feel sorry for myself sometimes.“Eh! I’m not dead?”
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