Get down on your knees

His lips lifted in a smirk like I knew they would, and his eyes sparkled. “You need my help?” He asked, not even bothering to hide the smugness in his tone. “Never thought I'd hear such words from your mouth, little sister.”

I bit my inner cheeks hard, fighting back my remarks. This was the reason I didn't want to meet him. I knew he would mock me. I just... I had no choice. He's the only one who can help.

I closed my eyes, inhaled while asking for strength to deal with him. “It's urgent,” I said in a small voice, beating myself up for getting into a situation that made me seek his help.

If only I'd left the city back then when I had the chance, when I was yet to establish myself, it would have been bloody okay. I wouldn't have had any need to be here, looking at him, and resisting the urge to give him my best tongue lashing. I held myself back.

“I know it is.”

I ached to wipe out that smirk on his face.

“So, will you help?” I asked, sounding impatient. I didn't think our meeting would last this long. It was the longest we had been in the same room since our parents died, without me yelling obscenities at him. He never retaliated. Each time he would watch me, with his arms folded and that damned smug expression I hate the most in the entire world, on his face.

“That depends on what you will give, stepsister.” He grinned, pushing away from the table to walk to me.

I resisted the urge to take a step back. The look in his eyes was predatory. I'd seen it once, when I was in high school, and almost got my first kiss the night of our senior year prom.

He had stormed into the classroom, looking like a vengeful angel, as he ripped Paul away from me and rained punches on him until his face was almost unrecognisable. It took a scream from me to get him to let go. After that, I had stayed clear of boys because he made me understand he would kill any who touched me.

It made little sense then, and still does now. Any man who came close to me always ended up breaking all contact with me after meeting him.

The devil. My stepbrother.

I gulped when he got closer, his grin getting more pronounced. “What do I get from this, stepsis?” He asked again when I didn't say a word. He lifted his hand to touch my hair, but I flinched, drawing a step back.

“What do you want?”

He smiled at my question, but he didn't speak a word. Instead, his eyes roamed my body, from my head to my toes, before he smirked.

“I want you on your knees.”

“What?” I blinked. “What the hell do you mean by that?”

Smirking, he leaned closer until his warm breath fanned my neck. “I want you on your knees, stepsister.”

He drew back, grinned at the shocked expression on my face, and turned his back to me.

“You can't be serious, Kaelin.”

“And how do you know I'm not?” He whirled around to look at me, that smug expression still on his face. “You want my help, don't you? Then get on your damned knees first.”

Fuck him!

I gritted my teeth too hard until it felt painful.

“Why?”

“Why?” He leaned on his table and folded his arms. “You need to show your respect, little sis.”

“But —”

“If you are not ready to do it…” He gestured to the door. “The exit is that way. See yourself out, darling.”

I clenched my fists tightly, glaring at him. If I ever liked him a bit before I stepped in here, my admiration for him was now in the negative. Kaelin was still the same douche I had always known.

He knew I had no choice. He alone could help me. If he doesn't, no one else would. To keep my head on my neck and my business afloat, I swallowed my pride and got down on my knees.

Tears pricked the sides of my eyes, but I sniffed them back, refusing to let him see me lose it. It was something he wanted, and I would be damned to give that to him.

His smile got pronounced the second my knees touched the floor. “Good.” He crossed his legs and leaned back on the table. “You look good on your knees, Lylah. That position suits you.”

Fuck you!

I badly wanted to yell at them, but I bit back the retort. One day, I vowed, I would have him on his knees, begging me. I will make him experience this humiliation and more.

“I'm on my knees,” I gritted out through clenched teeth, fighting the urge to tell him my mind. “Will you help me now?”

“Of course. What do you think of me? I will help you.”

“You don't even know what I need your help with. What if it's something you can't do?”

“Impossible.” He smirked, that look grating on my damned nerves. I got this urge to rise to my feet, march over to him and slap off that complacent look on his face.

“There's nothing I can't help you with, Lylah. Nothing.”

For a split second, his expression softened, making it seem like I was looking into the eyes of a different person, before it disappeared and that almost permanent pompous smile appeared again.

“Then, I —”

He raised his hand, stopping me before I could continue. “I know why you are here and what you need. I will help you get back at George for everything he did to you. But first, you need to sign a contract with me.”

I gaped at him. “A contract? Wasn't the deal for me to kneel, and you help?” I furrowed my brows, wondering why I needed to sign a contract when I was already on my knees.

He smirked. “That's just the first. The contract will seal the deal between us.” He drew away from the table and stepped around it. He pulled open a drawer and got a file before he walked over to me and dropped it on the floor with a pen. “Sign it,” he said.

I frowned when I read the first page, stunned to see my name written alongside his. “You knew I would come over?”

“Of course. I know everything, dear sister.”