Lahat ng Kabanata ng Sleeping With My Billionaire Step-Brother: Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 40

Rafael:The imported Italian marble beneath my feet felt colder than usual as I paced the length of my penthouse living room. Four AM had turned into five, then six, and sleep remained as elusive as smoke. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Fiona's face. Heard her voice whispering my name through the phone. Felt the phantom touch of her skin under my fingertips.The memory of our interrupted conversation burned through my veins like acid. Eighteen minutes of pure torture that had ended with a dead line and seventeen unanswered callbacks.I grabbed my phone from the coffee table and dialed her number again. The call went straight to voicemail, just like the previous attempts."Fuck this." I hurled the device across the room, watching it bounce off the leather armchair and clatter to the floor.The silence that followed was deafening. No Marcus making sarcastic comments about my emotional instability. No friendly banter to distract me from the fact that I had royally screwed up the most

Rafeal;Her breathing settled into the soft rhythm of deep sleep, warm puffs of air against my chest as she lay sprawled across me. I stayed perfectly still, afraid that even the slightest movement might wake her and shatter this moment I had been craving for weeks.Moonlight filtered through windows, casting silver shadows across her bare skin. She had fallen asleep exactly where she had collapsed after our bodies had finally separated, one leg thrown over mine, her arm draped across my torso like she was claiming ownership even in unconsciousness.I should cover her. The air conditioning was running, and goosebumps had started to rise along her shoulders and arms. But I couldn't bring myself to disturb the view that was making my pulse quicken all over again.Her hair fanned across my chest in dark waves, still messy from my hands. The curve of her spine created a perfect arc from her neck to the swell of her ass, and I could see the faint red marks my fingers had left on her hips w

Rafael:The door slammed shut behind me with such force that the artwork on the hallway walls trembled. I stood there like an idiot, staring at my own bedroom door, wondering how the hell I had managed to get kicked out of my own house by a woman wrapped in a bedsheet.My chest felt hollow. Empty. Like someone had reached inside and yanked out everything that mattered.She was right about everything. Every single word she had thrown at me was true, and that made it hurt ten times worse.I walked down the hallway to my spare bedroom, each step feeling like I was walking through quicksand. My hands shook as I turned the doorknob. The room was pristine, untouched, exactly how the interior designer had left it two years ago when I bought this place.Cold. Impersonal. Everything my life had become without Fiona in it.I grabbed my phone and dialed Marcus before I could lose my nerve."Jesus Christ, it's barely seven in the morning," Marcus answered, his voice thick with sleep. "This better

Fiona:"Hello?" I said who the owner of the number was."Is this Fiona?"The voice was male, older, unfamiliar. My heart hammered against my ribs. "Who is this?""My name is Dr. Jude. I'm calling from St. Mary's General Hospital. I have a patient here who had your number listed as her emergency contact."The world tilted. "What patient?""She goes by the name Zoe. She was brought in early this morning after being found at a fire scene. She's been asking for you."I couldn't breathe. The air in Rafael's bedroom felt thin, like I was drowning in it. "She's alive?""She's alive, but her condition is critical. You need to come immediately.""I'll be right there." I was already moving, grabbing clothes from Rafael's closet, pulling on jeans that were too long for me. "What happened to her? How did you find her?""A search and rescue team found her under debris this morning. She's suffered severe smoke inhalation and partial burns, but that's not our primary concern right now.""What is you

Fiona:"Fiona, darling, you must be exhausted." Carmela's voice floated from the kitchen as I stepped through the back door, where I had left Rafael, her forced warmth hitting me like a slap I didn't want to acknowledge.The smell of roasted chicken and garlic filled the air, rich and calculated in a way that made my chest tighten. She had cooked. She had prepared what she probably thought was some peace offering like we were family instead of strangers living in the same house."I made dinner. Roasted chicken with herbs." Carmela appeared in the doorway, wiping her hands on a dish towel, her face arranged in that careful expression of hope she always wore around me. "I thought you might be hungry after such a difficult day."Difficult day. As if she had any idea what my day had actually been like. As if she knew about Zoe fighting for her life in a hospital bed or the impossible choice Robert had forced me to make."I'm not hungry.""Of course you are. You've gotten too thin. I can s