All Chapters of In Bed With My Step-uncle : Chapter 281 - Chapter 290

I could hear the distant sound of moving vehicles outside the window, but inside, everything felt still, like time was paused. Xander’s hand rested lightly on the small of my back as we stood in the hallway, but the quiet between us felt charged with something unspoken."Elias," Xander said softly, his voice low but filled with a kind of certainty I didn’t feel. "You can’t keep doing this, you can’t keep running from yourself."I nodded slowly, but the words felt empty. I had been running for so long, from my family, from the life they had planned for me, from the marriage I didn’t want. But now, standing here with Xander, I was faced with the truth: I was running from myself too.I turned, looking back into the room we had just left. The phone still sat on the bed, vibrating silently as messages piled up, one after the other. My father’s demands, my mother’s calls, all of it, pushing me to fulfill a role I had never wanted.But there was Xander, standing in front of me, offering me s

I stood in front of the full-length mirror, staring at my reflection. The face that looked back at me was familiar, but at the same time, I barely recognized it. The tired eyes, the clenched jaw, the weight of so many decisions pressing down on me. I had spent my whole life trying to meet other people’s expectations. Now, I was faced with a reality where the only expectation that mattered was mine.I ran a hand through my hair, trying to steady myself. I was no longer the son my father wanted me to be. I wasn’t the man I had been a week ago. But the fear of what came next still gnawed at me, threatening to pull me back into the life I was trying to escape.I glanced at the phone on the nightstand. There were more messages, more calls. My father’s name, over and over. But I couldn’t bring myself to check them. I couldn’t face it, not yet.Xander’s presence in the doorway snapped me out of my thoughts. He stood there, leaning casually against the frame, his eyes searching mine, waiting

The days seemed to blur together now, but in the best possible way. I had expected to wake up every morning drowning in guilt, in doubt, or in the shadows of the life I was trying to leave behind. Instead, each morning felt a little more like freedom. The weight was still there, yes, but it was lighter now, less suffocating.It had been a week since I deleted my father’s messages. A week since I made the decision to stop living for other people. And though the world around me hadn’t stopped spinning, something inside me had shifted. I didn’t feel like I was being dragged by the current anymore.Xander and I spent more time together, and the more I was around him, the more I realized how much I had been suffocating myself. He didn’t just accept me as I was; he saw me, the real me, and pushed me to embrace what was underneath all the armor I’d spent so many years building.And it wasn’t just Xander. It was the quiet mornings when I woke up to my own thoughts without the weight of expect

The world felt different, lighter, somehow. I had just walked out of my father’s company, an empire I’d been groomed to inherit and I didn’t feel a rush of regret or fear like I thought I would. Instead, it was as though the burden that had weighed down my every step for years had suddenly been lifted.The air outside felt colder, sharper, but I welcomed it. The last few weeks had been a whirlwind of decisions, of change, of doing things I never thought I’d be brave enough to do. But standing there, in the middle of the city, with nothing but the future stretching out before me, I realized that I had never felt more alive.I had spent so many years thinking I had to be a certain way. Thinking I had to live up to someone else’s expectations. But for the first time in my life, I was free. I didn’t have to answer to anyone. I didn’t have to justify my choices.I could just... be.I pulled my coat tighter around me as I made my way down the street, my phone buzzing in my pocket. I pulled

The sound of my phone vibrating on the nightstand broke the silence in the room. I had just fallen into a deep sleep, the kind where everything feels weightless, and you forget about the world outside. But now, the harsh vibrating of my phone reminded me that, as much as I wanted to leave everything behind, the past wasn’t done with me yet.I groaned, reaching for the phone. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the name on the screen: Father.It had been a few days since I’d left the company and cut ties with my family, and I hadn’t heard from them since. I had almost convinced myself that maybe, just maybe, they’d respect my decision. But now, with the phone pressed to my ear, I realized that wasn’t going to happen."Elias," my father’s voice came through the line, cold and steady. "I need you to come to the office, now."I sat up in bed, the calm of the night evaporating. "I’m not coming back, Dad. I told you that already.""You don’t have a choice," he said, his tone sharp, no warmth