All Chapters of My Stepfather's Deadly Obsession: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

SALVATORE“Now we know how they always stayed a step ahead of us.”John nodded in agreement.The wreckage floated in broken clumps near the riverbank. It was like a graveyard of shattered circuits and melted plastic.John, Karl, and I stood motionless on the deck, our legs planted wide for balance. We were close enough to the shore to see the full extent of the damage we had caused. Bits of the enemy’s surveillance tech—tiny transmitters, hidden motion detectors, and compact signal boosters—now floated in useless clumps. It wasn’t enough to win the war, not even close, but it was a blow struck cleanly and it mattered. After so many months of playing defence, tonight felt like a beginning.“Let’s head back.” The words were simple but full of everything I didn’t say: the relief, the anger, the determination. They’d been keeping tabs on everything that moved in our axis. Too bad we just got their bots destroyed.We got to the docks in no time, gathered everything we came with and start

MIGUELI tapped the side of the bed, expecting to feel Salvatore’s warmth, but I felt nothing.I sat up, frowning, my heart sinking as I blinked the sleep from my eyes. He was gone. My eyes landed on a note on the pillow. His handwriting was scrawled across the paper like he was in a rush: ‘Got a lot to do, had to set out early. I’ll call you soon, baby.’This was the same shit he'd done before letting me go almost an entire day without speaking to him, only that the other time he'd given the stupid farewell to my fucking face. I grabbed my phone and dialled his line. My heart raced with the hope of hearing his voice, but there was no answer. I tried again, gripping the phone harder, but this time it went straight to voicemail. He had a lot of explaining to do.I plopped downstairs and my eyes landed on Emily in the living room, sitting on the couch, arranging her hair with one hand.The cast on her other arm was gone and she looked bright with a look of excitement I didn’t share

MIGUELWhat in the actual fuck?Shock rooted me to the doorway, my breath catching like a blade in my throat. Salvatore’s lips were on Karl’s. Their bodies were too close, locked in an intimacy that wasn’t mine. My heart slammed against my ribs, echoing louder than my thoughts. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t blink. My eyes burned, cemented to the scene I was never meant to see.Salvatore. My Salvatore. The man who whispered in the dark that he loved me. The man who had dissected me like a lab experiment. Kissing Karl?I couldn’t breathe.I should have just stayed at home. I didn’t have to see this.This was what he always kept himself busy with.I took a step forward, my legs trembling under the weight of everything I wanted to say that couldn’t leave my lips.Salvatore’s lips were still wet with moisture from Karl’s. It made me… fucking mad!!!“Miguel,” Salvatore breathed like my name was a lifeline.My body moved faster than my mind. My hand shot out and cracked across Karl’s face. “

KARLThe job wasn’t nearly as brutal as they made it out to be. Moving crates, stacking boxes, and pretending to care. It was all mechanical. The hard part wasn’t the labour, it was the act. Every day, I pulled on the same mask: Karl, the dependable guy. A boy with a quiet smile, a solid work ethic, no opinions, no complications. A man who blended in just enough to be forgotten.But that wasn’t me, not really.I slipped into the back corner of the warehouse, where the shadows bled into the cracks of the cinderblock walls and the air smelled like old oil and rusted steel. The buzz of forklifts and clanging metal softened to a low murmur. This was where the real work happened. The person who made the architectural structure of the warehouse did a really good job. Apart from the fact that it had lots of hidden areas, it allowed the public just enough to see the lies put out, but not enough to see too much. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the burner phone. The cheap phone was p

MIGUELPaul helped me load my duffel bag into the trunk of his car without saying much. There wasn’t much to say anyway. The early afternoon sun warmed the pavement, and the quiet between us was comfortable. He glanced at me once before sliding into the driver’s seat, waiting until I was buckled before starting the engine.He started driving, but the hesitation was obvious in him.“Are you sure this is what you want?” he asked again for what seemed like the nth time.I nodded and watched the buildings blur past. “Yeah. I need a reset.”Paul kept one hand on the wheel, the other tapping lightly against his thigh. “John seems decent. I still don’t know him, though.”“He’s credible,” I said. “He’s not like Salvatore. He listens.”Paul snorted. “That alone puts him ahead.”We fell into silence again. The roads stretched out, the houses thinning as we left the city behind. By the time we reached the outskirts of town, we were surrounded by open fields and the occasional worn-down shop or