LOGINShare
THE ARRANGEMENT
publish date:
2026-08-07 22:54:28
Latest chapter
I AM MY STEPBROTHER'S OBSESSION WITH ME
NYRA’S POV Richard picked me up like he said he would, and dropped me off the next morning like he said he would, and by the third day of it I had started to understand that this was not really about worry at all. It was a leash. A polite, gentle, well-dressed leash, but a leash all the same. Soft voice in the car. Hand on mine at the curb. Texts at eleven and at two and at four, just checking in, hope the day’s going okay. Every one of them a small reminder that he knew where I was supposed to be, and when, and how long it should take me to get from one door to the next. I did not have the energy left to fight it outright. So I did what I had gotten so good at doing lately. I found the gaps. The gap that week was a Thursday. Richard had a call with Feldman that ran long, some new wrinkle in the fraud referral that had him distracted and short with me over dinner. When he said he needed to swing by the lawyer’s office again after, alone, I told him I would just take a cab home wh
I AM MY STEPBROTHER'S OBSESSION SOMETHING TO STAND ON
NYRA’S POV Clara found me in the break room on a Monday, and I knew immediately from the set of her shoulders that this was not going to be the gentle, careful version of the conversation we had had weeks ago. “Sit down a second,” she said, closing the door behind her. Something in her voice left no real room to say no. I sat. She pulled the other chair around to face me directly instead of standing at a comfortable distance the way she had before, and studied my face a long moment. Her expression was unreadable in a way that made my stomach drop. “I’m not going to pretend I don’t see it anymore,” she said finally. “The sick days. The sleeves. The way you’ve started flinching when someone reaches past you too fast, even just to grab a stapler. I gave you weeks, Nyra. I told you I wouldn’t push, and I meant that, and I’ve kept my word. But I watched you wince this morning putting your bag on your own shoulder, and I’m done pretending I don’t understand exactly what that means.” “C
I AM MY STEPBROTHER'S OBSESSION ONLY ME
NYRA’S POVRichard picked me up like he said he would, and dropped me off the next morning like he said he would, and by the third day of it I had started to understand that this was not really about worry at all.It was a leash.A polite, gentle, well-dressed leash, but a leash all the same. Soft voice in the car. Hand on mine at the curb. Texts at eleven and at two and at four, just checking in, hope the day’s going okay. Every one of them a small reminder that he knew where I was supposed to be, and when, and how long it should take me to get from one door to the next. I did not have the energy left to fight it outright. So I did what I had gotten so good at doing lately.I found the gaps.The gap that week was a Thursday. Richard had a call with Feldman that ran long, some new wrinkle in the fraud referral that had him distracted and short with me over dinner. When he said he needed to swing by the lawyer’s office again after, alone, I told him I would just take a cab home wheneve
I AM MY STEPBROTHER'S OBSESSION ONE MESS AT A TIME
RICHARD’S POVShe didn’t come home.I sat up most of the night on the couch, phone in my hand, watching the screen for a text that never came, rehearsing apologies I wasn’t sure I’d even get the chance to give. By two in the morning I’d convinced myself something had happened to her. That maybe I’d actually done something worse than I remembered doing. The whole night was already blurring at the edges in that particular way where shame starts editing memory before you’ve even finished living it.By four, I knew where she was. I didn’t need her to tell me. There was only one place she’d go.The irony sat in my mouth like metal. I had spent months building a case against her in my head. Late nights. Soft answers. His name too easy on her tongue. And the whole time I had my own nights I never accounted for. A woman from the industry circuit. Hotel bars after conferences. A number saved under a supplier’s name. I had told myself it didn’t count the same way. That men under pressure did wh
I AM MY STEPBROTHER'S OBSESSION STOLEN HOURS
NYRA’S POV I did not go home. I sat in the garage under the office building with the engine off until the lot emptied around me, until the security guard’s second pass made me feel watched, until the only place left that did not belong to Richard was the one place I kept telling myself I should not go. My face still ached under the makeup. My wrist throbbed when I turned the wheel too far. Every time I thought about the driveway, the lit windows, the apology text I had deleted without answering, my hands went cold on the steering wheel. I could not do another night of locked doors and careful breathing through the wall. I texted Luca from the dark car. Nyra: Can I come over. Three dots. Then nothing. Then: Luca: Yes. Always. I stared at the words until they blurred. Always. Like it was simple. Like I was not still wearing a ring and a layer of concealer thick enough to lie under office lights. His building was quieter than ours. Different side of the city. No shared driveway.
I AM MY STEPBROTHER'S OBSESSION CONCEALING IT FROM LUCA
NYRA’S POV I stood in front of the bathroom mirror at six in the morning with a face that looked nothing like the one I needed to walk into that office wearing. The bruise along my cheekbone had bloomed overnight into something darker than I expected. Purple shading into a sick yellow-green at the edges. My wrist, when I turned it carefully under the light, showed a matching set of finger-shaped marks I would have to keep covered for at least another week. I stood there a long time just looking at myself. At the wreckage of a face that still had to go sit across a desk from Luca in four hours and give a convincing performance of nothing being wrong. I had slept maybe two hours, curled on the guest bed with the door locked. Richard’s apologies had gone quiet sometime after midnight, when he finally gave up and went to bed himself. I had not spoken to him again. I waited until I heard his breathing even out through the wall, then crept to my own room to shower, moving carefully, cata
You May Also Like
The CEO's Ex-Wife Is A Famous Doctor
LiLhyz4.1M viewsOn My Professor's Bed
Xee write886.5K viewsOnce a Doormat, Now Untouchable
Lean1.5M viewsHer Graceful War Song
Summer's Blaze980.7K viewsREBORN BEFORE THE APOCALYPSE: MY EX BEGS FOR MERCY
Sunflower114 viewsThe Wife He Betrayed Became His Ruin
Ifee87 viewsThe Billionaire’s Unsigned Clause: Secretly Married My Boss
C.ELLICA231 viewsTHE BILLIONAIRE WHO WATCHED ME DIE(ENGLISH)
Batino136 views
