LOGINShare
Chapter 7
publish date:
2026-08-07 20:27:54Aurora’s POV
I stood in front of the full-length mirror in my bedroom, tugging at the hem of my oversized sweater. No matter how much I pulled, it couldn’t hide the curves I’d hated my entire life the camp had been a disaster, but at least I was finally home. “Aurora! Come downstairs!” my mother’s sharp voice echoed from the living room. I sighed and headed down mom was sitting on the couch, perfectly dressed as always slim figure, styled hair, and that critical look in her eyes that never failed to make me feel small, she’s so pretty that people often wonder how I’m her daughter, It’s okay I sometimes think it too. She glanced up as I entered and immediately frowned. “Still wearing those baggy clothes? Honestly, Aurora, you’d look so much better if you lost some weight. No wonder you didn’t get a boyfriend at that camp. Boys don’t want girls who hide in tents.” Her words landed like a punch to the gut. I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to disappear into myself. “Mom, please not today.” She waved a hand dismissively. “I’m only saying this because I care. You’re twenty years old now you need to start taking care of yourself, have you tried that new diet I sent you? The one with the meal replacements?” I bit the inside of my cheek. This was nothing new my mother had been body-shaming me for as long as I could remember. Nothing I did was ever good enough I was never thin enough, pretty enough, or outgoing enough. “I’ve been busy with college and the camp,” I muttered. Mom sighed dramatically. “Busy eating, more like it.” She stood up and walked over, eyeing me up and down. “You have such a beautiful face, Aurora. It’s a shame it’s wasted on that body. If you just tried harder…” “Mom,” I cut her off, my voice tight. “What did you want to tell me?” Her expression suddenly changed. A bright, almost giddy smile spread across her lips. She clasped her hands together like an excited teenager. “Sit,” she said, patting the cushion next to her. I sat down slowly, already bracing myself. Conversations with my mother rarely ended well for me. “I’ve been seeing someone,” she began, her eyes sparkling. “For a few months now. He’s… wonderful, Aurora. Truly wonderful.” I blinked. “You’re dating?” “I’m more than dating.” She reached out and took my hands. “He proposed last weekend. I said yes.” The words hit me harder than I expected. “You’re getting married?” “Yes.” She laughed softly, almost giddy. “His name is Dominic Zane. He’s a businessman very successful. He owns several companies, and his family is… well, let’s just say we won’t have to worry about money ever again.” Zane. The name stirred something faint in the back of my mind, like a half-forgotten song. I frowned slightly, trying to place it, but nothing clear came. “Zane…” I repeated quietly. “It sounds familiar, but I can’t remember why.” My mother waved it off. “You’ve probably seen the name on billboards or something. They’re a very well-known family in the city. Dominic is the head of Zane Enterprises. They’re extremely wealthy, Aurora. We’re talking private jets, a huge mansion, the kind of life I never thought I’d have again.” I felt a complicated mixed feelings at that, while a new family might sounds okay and quite thrilling, I’m not exactly excited for it and a wealthy family at that? Rich people are just superficial and arrogant and they don’t care about anyone else. They’re also players and never love genuinely, my mom looks so happy I fear she’ll get her heart broken. I stared at her. For years it had just been the two of us, scraping by, listening to her complain about bills and my weight and how hard life was, now she was talking about mansions and private jets like it was already our reality. “What’s he like?” I asked carefully. “Charming, kind. He treats me like I’m precious.” Her voice softened. “And he has a son around your age. From what Dominic says, he’s very accomplished. Works high up in the company already, you’ll have a stepbrother.” “A stepbrother,” I murmured. “Yes. And Dominic already mentioned that there might be a place for you at the company. An entry-level position. You wouldn’t have to struggle the way I did.” She looked at me with something that almost resembled pride. “This could change everything for us, Aurora.” I looked down at our joined hands. For the first time in a long time, my mother wasn’t criticizing my body or my clothes or my quiet personality. She was talking about a future that included me a future that sounded almost… hopeful. “Do you love him?” I asked quietly. She hesitated for only a second. “I think I could. He’s good to me. That’s more than I’ve had in years.” I nodded slowly part of me wanted was suspicious, part of me wanted to ask a hundred questions. But another part the tired, hopeful part wanted to believe that maybe things were finally turning around. “I’m happy for you,” I said, and I meant it. My mother smiled and pulled me into a rare hug. “Everything is going to be better now. You’ll see we’re going to have a real family again.” That night, I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, the name “Zane” still floating around my mind. It felt familiar, like something I should remember, but the memory refused to surface. Instead, I let myself imagine what life might look like in a big house with people who didn’t look at me with disappointment. Hoping that this Dominic would be kind. Maybe his son would be decent. Maybe I would finally stop feeling like I was too much and not enough at the same time. For the first time in months, I fell asleep with a small, cautious smile on my face. I had no idea that the name I couldn’t quite place was about to turn my entire world upside down.
Latest chapter
MY STEPBROTHER’S CURVY TEMPTATION Return
AuroraThe mansion felt different the moment we stepped through the door.It was subtle at first the extra set of keys on the console table, the soft click of another lamp left on in the front sitting room, the faint trace of Elena’s perfume in the air. Then I heard voices deeper inside the house, and my body understood before my mind finished arranging the implications.Prescott stopped beside me. His hand, which had been low at my back as we entered, fell away at once.“They’re home,” he said under his breath.Before I could answer, Dominic appeared in the archway to the living room, still in travel clothes, phone in one hand, expression carved into hard practicality. Elena was behind him, elegant even in exhaustion, her gaze moving from Prescott to me with the quick assessment of a woman who noticed atmosphere as easily as facts.“You’re back earlier than expected,” Prescott said.“We had to be,” Dominic rep
MY STEPBROTHER’S CURVY TEMPTATION Retaliation
AuroraThe backlash arrived before noon.It did not come as a single dramatic blow. It came the way all of their moves came almost predictable through channels, implications, and people who enjoyed watching a polished reputation catch fire. By the time I reached my desk on Monday, two separate messages had already asked whether the Zane-Hale relationship was “under review,” and a third, from a mid-level operations manager who never spoke to me unless he needed something, offered a sympathetic smile that made my skin crawl.Prescott’s strike had landed.And Marcus was no longer interested in soft delays.Through the glass, Prescott was already on a call, jacket on, expression carved into cold focus. He had warned me the response would come harder. Still, seeing the building absorb the news so quickly made my pulse tighten. Preferred-partner removals did not remain private. They traveled.Lena stopped at my des
MY STEPBROTHER’S CURVY TEMPTATION Visible cost
PrescottBy Friday morning, the soft delay was no longer the point.Marcus had used the three o’clock call to test whether I would stay quiet and had named Aurora carefully, waited for an attack and ended the line when he realized he would not get it. That told me enough. He still believed the damage could remain deniable, he still thought this was a private feud dressed in commercial language.So I did something different. Composed, but not emotional. At 8:40 a.m., I sent the formal notice that removed the Hale Group from the preferred-partner track on the west-side logistics package and transferred interim control to an independent third-party operator already cleared by legal. Effective immediately. No joint review. No continued soft timeline. The package would move without them until a full compliance and intent assessment was completed.I copied both legal teams. I copied procurement. I copied Domini
MY STEPBROTHER’S CURVY TEMPTATION The Cost
PrescottI did not wait for Marcus to make the next move.Waiting had given him the shape of a concerned friend, Mia the shape of unfinished history, and Zoe the shape of loyalty until the message logs proved otherwise. Aurora had closed one door the night before. This morning I intended to close another.I arrived before the floor filled. The forwarded note sat in a secured folder, three lines long and more expensive than Marcus had calculated.I called Hale’s office at eight. Marcus answered himself. Men who were still pretending innocence usually let an assistant take the first ring.“Prescott.” His voice was already braced. “Early for you.”“I’m pulling the joint review on the west-side logistics package. Effective today.”A pause. “On what grounds?”“A delay has been sitting on your side of the chain for nine days with no technical reason. I’m done funding the pause.”“That’s aggressive.”“No it’s not,
MY STEPBROTHER’S CURVY TEMPTATION Alignment
AuroraCutting Zoe off did not make me feel lighter right away.It made me feel clean.There was a difference. Lightness would have meant relief without residue what I felt instead was the hard clarity of a door finally shut necessary, permanent, and still aching around the edges. By the time Prescott and I sat down in the living room that evening, the confrontation had settled into something more useful than shock.Anger. Resolve. A refusal to keep absorbing damage politely.Prescott watched me over the rim of his glass, sleeves rolled up, attention fully locked on my face. “You’re quieter than I expected.”“I’m thinking.”“About her?”“About the fact that I spent weeks handing my uncertainty to someone who was counting it.” I drew my legs up onto the couch and wrapped my hands around my knees. “I don’t want to do that anymore. Not with her or with anyone.”His eyes warmed with something fierce and approving. “Good.”
MY STEPBROTHER’S CURVY TEMPTATION No more access
AuroraI did not text Zoe.I went to see her in person.If I gave her the shield of a phone screen, she would soften everything. She would ask if I was all right, turn her betrayal into concern, and leave me arguing with a version of her that no longer existed. I wanted the truth in the open air, face to face, where she could not edit her voice into kindness.We met at the same café where she had first begun stitching herself back into my life. That felt deliberate on my part. I wanted the confrontation to happen inside the same setting where her performance had worked so well. When I arrived, she was already there, two cups on the table, soft expression ready.“Hey,” she said, smiling. “I was starting to worry. You’ve been quiet.”I sat down without taking the drink. “I know about Mia.”Her smile held for half a second too long. “What about her?”“And Marcus.” I kept my voice level. “All three of you, I saw t
You May Also Like
Two Can Play
Rosa Kane2.3M viewsMommy, Where Is Daddy? The Forsaken Daughter's Return
LiLhyz3.4M viewsHer Accidental Billionaire Husband
Lexusstar writes693.1K viewsRevenge of the Hideous Lady
Moonlight974.9K viewsThe General's Contract Bride
FLEGRA 137 viewsMarried To My Sexy Ruthless Enemy
Maxwell chuks 91 viewsHis Forbiden Bride
Seenja70 viewsToo Late To Love Me
Notyourregularwriter165 views
