Lahat ng Kabanata ng My Stepfather's Deadly Obsession: Kabanata 141 - Kabanata 150

MIGUELI held Salvatore tight, not letting go even as he trembled in my arms like something broken. His face was buried in my neck while his hot breath came out unevenly on my skin. It was clear that he was trying hard not to fall apart. He sniffled hard, clenching my shirt like I might disappear if he let go.“Shh,” I whispered, rocking us slowly. “Sal, I’m here. I’ve got you.”My voice came out better than I felt, even with the tear running hot down my cheek. I kept patting his back, holding him, like I could glue all his pieces back together with just my hands.His voice cracked when he finally spoke. “I kept calling you, Miguel… where were you?”My stomach twisted at the accusation laced with hurt. He was like a child waking up alone after a nightmare. I kissed the top of his head, then kissed his cheek too, tasting his tears.“My phone was in the car,” I said softly. “I’m so sorry, baby. I didn’t see it. I should have— I’m here now. I’m not going anywhere.”His body shook agai

SALVATORE(PRESENT DAY)I gasped awake as pain cracked through my skull. My temples throbbed like someone was driving nails into bone. I blinked against the grainy blur in my eyes.“Ah, fuck.” My head pounded the moment I moved, forcing my back to the bed.“Miguel,” I rasped. My voice came out broken in just a whisper, barely enough to cut through the silence.I turned to sit up and mistakenly knocked a glass off the nightstand. It shattered instantly, sending fragments skittering across the floor. The sound stabbed straight into my skull.At once, heavy footsteps pounded the stairs and the door flung open.“Sal!” Miguel rushed in. He was at my side before I could even focus. He gripped my shoulders tightly.“What’s wrong, Baby?” “Water,” I croaked, swallowing around the fire in my throat.He disappeared without another word. I braced my hands on the edge of the bed and looked around, willing the room to slowly come into focus.The room was wrecked. The sheets were twisted and the p

SALVATORE(Present day)“I said speak, Raphael, before I lose my fucking mind.”I pressed my palm against the cold glass of the window holding the phone tightly against my ear such that I feared it could crack any second. My reflection stared back, hollow-eyed with a clenched jaw. The scene outside was quiet, and my mind was anything but quiet. I hated tension, and I hated suspense.Raphael’s voice cracked slightly. I could tell he was trying to be careful. “I told you, it’s confusing, Sal.”“Then un-confuse it. Right now.”Raphael let it drop. “The call Matteo received… it came from Pietro’s phone.”What the fuck?I didn’t move. I didn’t blink. The announcement was frozen between us, hanging there like a blade suspended midair. My grip tightened on the phone.“What the fuck does that mean?”Raphael hesitated, then spoke more slowly. “I don’t know. That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out. It opens up a dozen new doors.”I turned from the window and walked slowly across the room. “Y

SALVATOREI held the wheel with one hand with the other gripping my phone tightly against my ear as I slowed past the red-and-white barricade of the university gate.“I’m telling you, Raph, I need to get out one of these nights,” I said, keeping my voice low even though I was alone in the car. “I need to go out, move around and see what I can find.”Raphael’s voice crackled through the speaker. “Find what, Sal? You have no trail. You will just be wandering.”“Exactly,” I muttered, sweeping my eyes across the crowd of students pouring out through the wide entrance. “But I can’t sit in that house doing nothing. I’ll lose it.”“Where would you even start?”“I don’t know yet.” I squinted. There was Miguel, standing just outside the gate, wearing that half-buttoned shirt that never failed to make me stare. My breath eased as soon as I saw him. “I gotta go,” I said. “Talk later.”“Text me if you come up with anything concrete,” Raphael replied before I ended the call.I rolled to a stop. Mi

SALVATOREWhen I opened my eyes, the room was quiet. I had waited for this. Moonlight spilt through the sheer curtains, casting silver streaks across the sheets. Miguel was on his side with his face pressed against Isabella’s tiny shoulder. Her hand was curled on his chest like she was claiming it. My chest tightened just watching them. I was leaving again, sneaking off into the dark like a thief while the people I loved slept peacefully.I pulled the covers away carefully. Isabella stirred but didn’t wake. Miguel shifted, reaching instinctively toward me, but he found only the warmth I left behind. And, thankfully, he didn’t wake up. I would have a lot of explanations to make if he did. The plan was to move fast and undetected and then get back on time.I stepped off the bed, grabbed the black hoodie hanging from the chair, and zipped it up. The balcony door clicked gently behind me.Balcony. Fence. Alley. I’d done this a thousand times before, just not lately. All those years of st