All Chapters of My Stepbrother, My Damnation : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Riven’s POV"R-Riven..."Ryker's voice came out strained and uneven, as if every syllable had to fight its way through his throat before reaching the air.I watched him from where I stood, my hand still resting on the grip of the gun tucked into my waistband.I wasn't worried, and I certainly wasn't considering helping him.The truth was that I had spent years imagining all the different ways Ryker Rykerthorne might eventually suffer.Somehow none of those fantasies had involved him collapsing onto his own study floor because his heart had finally decided it was tired of carrying the burden of his stupidity.The situation was almost disappointing. Almost.Ryker's hand reached out toward nothing in particular before falling back onto the hardwood with a dull thud.I exhaled slowly through my nose before turning away.The urge to shoot him hadn't disappeared—it was still there, curled comfortably somewhere in the back of my mind. But a heart attack had completely ruined the mood.Murder

Lina's POV The bell above the boutique door hadn't even finished chiming before Ma started acting like I'd announced a miracle. When I called her that morning and told her I wanted to shop for a dress to wear to the Mer College mixer, she reacted with enough dramatic excitement to concern a medical professional. According to her, her tomboy daughter had finally decided to join civilization after years of living like a disgruntled raccoon.I ignored the performance, but the annoying part was that she wasn’t entirely wrong. I didn't *do* shopping. Most of my wardrobe consisted of clothes that were practical, comfortable, and unlikely to attract attention. If a shirt wasn't trying to suffocate me, blind me, or make me look like an escaped chandelier, I considered it acceptable. But I had told her the exact same thing I told Olivia: *I want to start living.*So, there we were, standing inside a boutique so expensive that I was afraid to breathe too aggressively near the merchandise

Lina’s POVNikolai's presence was exactly what I needed. For the first time all night, the weight of Riven Rykerthorne’s name completely evaporated from my mind.Or, at least, that was the lie I kept aggressively telling myself while downing a glass of champagne. I was definitely not trying not to think about the bastard.We were standing near the edge of the crowded ballroom, and Nikolai was currently using his height to lean over me, casually cracking another joke at my expense."I’m serious, Liv," he was saying, looking over my head to where Olivia stood."She used to wear those oversized tactical boots to her internship. I thought she was hiding weapons in them, but no. Just a complete lack of fashion sense.""Oh my god, I knew it!" Olivia squealed, throwing her head back in a loud, dramatic laugh."She does the exact same thing at the dorms! If it doesn't look like a disgruntled raccoon wore it first, Lina won't put it on her body!""Hey!" I protested, a furious, burning blush cr

Riven’s POVI didn't know what the fuck was wrong with Lina, but God, I fucking loved it.The second the music died, Lina had ripped herself out of my arms and bolted from the ballroom like her skin was on fire. I stood there on the marble floor, my breath rattling in my chest, completely deaf to the noise around us. The MC was on the microphone droning on about the mandatory dance scores—like any of those numbers mattered when she had just shattered my entire reality on that floor.People were gushing, whispering, staring. Malakai and Graven were probably somewhere in the crowd looking for me, and I didn't give a single, flying shit about Eve.None of them existed. They were just background noise to the storm she’d started in my blood.I turned and chased after her like a fucking madman."Lina!" I roared, slamming through the heavy exit doors, my voice echoing off the concrete corridors. "Lina, get the fuck back here!"Her words were screaming in my ears, a loop that I couldn't sh

Lina’s POVEverything felt like a total illusion.My mind was a disjointed, blurred mess of overlapping images. The freezing night air, the dense scent of leather, the agonizingly distinct contrast of frozen metal against a burning, drug-induced heat, and a muffled shriek choked back into my own palm. After the climax had ripped through me, fracturing whatever sanity I had left, my brain had simply short-circuited. It felt like I had passed out right there on the seat, the darkness swallowing me whole before I could even face the reality of Nikolai rattling the car door handle.When my eyes finally fluttered open, the vehicle was gone. The parking lot was gone.I was staring up at a dark, minimalist ceiling. I was in Riven’s bed. In his penthouse. Again.But unlike the first time I had woken up in this room, trapped in his territory, I didn't scream. I didn't thrash around or act confused. The fire that had consumed my blood last night had burned down to ash. Now it left behin