LOGINShare
HAS TO STOP
publish date:
2026-07-03 23:19:50
Latest chapter
I AM MY STEPBROTHER'S OBSESSION RICHARD'S DEBT DEEPENS
NYRA'S POV Richard came home late again, keys hitting the counter harder than they needed to, and I heard it from the kitchen where I was pretending to care about the pasta I was making, some habit of domestic normalcy I couldn't seem to let go of even now. The water had gone cloudy from too much salt. The sauce clung to the wooden spoon in thick, sticky threads. I kept stirring anyway, because if I stopped moving I would have to feel the full weight of the day still sitting under my skin. "Hey," he said, dropping his bag by the door. He looked wrong somehow, tie already loose, color gone out of his face in a way that had nothing to do with tiredness. The kitchen light caught the shine of sweat at his temples. His shoulders sat higher than usual, like he was bracing for something that had already happened. "Hey. Dinner's almost ready." "Not hungry." He went straight for the liquor cabinet instead, poured something amber two fingers deep, drank half of it standing at the counter be
I AM MY STEPBROTHER'S OBSESSION NYRA'S JEALOUSY
NYRA'S POVI heard it in the break room, of all places, two of the junior associates by the coffee machine not bothering to lower their voices because they didn't know I was in the next aisle over, restocking printer paper for no reason except that I needed a task that didn't involve thinking."...I'm telling you, it's basically decided. My cousin works at Cole Foundation, she said Vanessa's already talked to a planner.""No way. Sterling? He seems way too closed off for that.""That's what everyone says, but apparently the families have been circling it for years. Something about the supply chain deal too, so it's not just romance, it's strategic. My cousin said the announcement's just waiting on the right moment. George's health, probably. They don't want it to look tacky.""God, imagine being that rich. Marrying for a supply chain."They laughed, easy, moved on to something about the vending machine being out of the good chips, and I stood frozen behind the shelf with a ream of pap
I AM MY STEPBROTHER'S OBSESSION THE ARRANGEMENT
George called Luca into a private lunch two days later, and I only knew about it because Clara mentioned it in passing while restocking the coffee. Offhand, like it was nothing. “Big lunch with his dad today. Country club. Whole production.” It shouldn’t have made my stomach drop the way it did. But I’d learned enough by now to know that nothing in this family happened without a reason attached, and country club lunches with George didn’t get scheduled for small talk. Luca came back from it two hours later. Jaw tight. Tie loosened like he’d been fighting the knot the whole drive back. He went straight into his office without stopping at my desk the way he usually did. I gave him twenty minutes before I followed, coffee in hand as an excuse, and found him standing at the window with his hands braced against the sill. Shoulders set in a way I recognized from the plane, from the storm, from every moment he was holding something back by pure force. “That bad?” I asked, setting the coff
I AM MY STEPBROTHER'S OBSESSION VANESSA INTRODUCED
She came in on a Wednesday, no appointment on the calendar, which should have been my first warning, because nobody walked onto this floor without Clara knowing about it three days in advance. I heard her before I saw her...the particular click of heels that meant money, unhurried, confident, the kind of walk that assumes doors open themselves. When I looked up from my desk, she was already past Clara’s station, Clara trailing a half-step behind with the look of a woman who’d tried to stop something and failed. “You must be Nyra.” Vanessa Cole was exactly what my mother’s voice had promised and somehow worse for being real. Tall. Composed. Dressed in something the color of good coffee that probably cost more than my monthly salary. Hair pulled back in a way that looked effortless and definitely wasn’t. She smiled at me, warm on the surface, and underneath it I felt the same assessment Marcus Webb had given me at dinner, quick and thorough and finished before I’d said a single word.
I AM MY STEPBROTHER'S OBSESSION FAMILY DINNER
Mom’s texts had gotten more frequent since I started working for Luca. Little check-ins dressed up as nothing...how’s the new job, come by soon, miss your face. I’d been dodging most of them with excuses that weren’t quite lies, just not the whole truth either. Sunday dinner finally caught up with me. There’s only so many times you can say you’re busy before your own mother starts hearing it as something else. Richard begged off. Said the Webb thing again. It had started to feel less like an excuse and more like a whole second life he was living somewhere I wasn’t invited. I drove over alone, and some small, guilty part of me was relieved about that before I’d even parked. Luca’s car was already in the drive when I pulled up. Just seeing it there made something low in my stomach tighten. Heat. Memory. The shape of his hand on mine on the tarmac still lived under my skin like a brand. Mom answered the door with flour still on her hands, pulling me into a hug that smelled like garlic
I AM MY STEPBROTHER'S OBSESSION RICHARD'S ASSOCIATES
Richard asked me to come to dinner with “the Webb guy” on a Tuesday. He said it casual over breakfast, like he was asking me to pick up milk. But something about the way he wouldn’t quite look at me while he said it made my stomach turn before I even had a name for the feeling. “Why do I need to be there?” “He asked about you.” Richard poured his coffee. Still didn’t meet my eyes. “Wants to meet the wife. It’s a whole thing with guys like him, you know. Family. Appearances. Just be nice. It’s one dinner.” Guys like him. I filed that phrase away and didn’t like the shape of it one bit. The restaurant was the kind of place that didn’t put prices on the menu. Dim lighting. A maître d’ who knew Richard’s name in a way that told me he’d been here more than once lately. More than our budget should have allowed for in months. Marcus Webb was already at the table when we arrived. My first thought, unfair maybe but immediate, was that he looked like a man who’d spent a great deal of money
You may also like
One Night Stand
Favor V April1.0M viewsChasing My Pregnant Wife
Night Revelations947.2K viewsA Ruling Passion: Mr Tremont's Priceless Little Bride
Lemon Flavored Cat1.5M viewsThe President's Accidental Wife
Blue Fruity1.1M viewsThe Hockey Captain's Forbidden Girl
Omah31 views365 Days with Him
Livinus Chima78 viewsCatch Me If You Can: The Devil of Verona
Buddy50 viewsStranger in my Bed
Grace Eso67 views
