Todos os capítulos de Bound by Sin: My Stepbrother’s Obsession: Capítulo 51 - Capítulo 60

AndreThe door is already open, I don’t remember opening it.One second I’m standing in the hallway, dripping wet, my pulse still racing from the pool and from the sound I know I heard, and the next I’m staring into Sage’s bedroom like I have crossed some invisible line I can’t step back over.She is standing near the bed and she is holding a baby.My brain refuses to process it at first. It latches onto the wrong details the way the lamp casts a soft glow across the room, the familiar dresser against the wall, the way Sage’s hair is pulled back loosely like she’s done it a hundred times today.Then the baby moves which makes it more real. A soft sound escapes him, something between a sigh and a whimper, and Sage immediately tightens her hold, rocking him instinctively.My chest locks.The world narrows until there is nothing but her arms and what’s in them.She looks up and freezes when she sees me.“What are you doing home?” she asks quickly.Her voice is sharp, defensive. Guarded.

SageLater that night, the house is finally quiet enough for me to have some me time. It’s the kind of quiet that only comes when everyone has settled into their corners, when the noise of the day has burned itself out and left behind a low, steady hum. Theo is asleep upstairs, tucked safely into the crib like the small miracle he is, his breathing soft and rhythmic over the baby monitor. I check it twice before I let myself relax, the familiar anxiety easing only when I see his tiny chest rise and fall.I’m curled up on one end of the couch, a blanket draped over my legs, a movie playing that I have already missed the first twenty minutes of because my mind keeps drifting. The light from the TV flickers across the living room walls, painting everything in shifting blues and golds. It should feel comforting.Instead, my thoughts keep circling back to Andre.To the way he said thank God.To the way he looked at Theo like he was something fragile and fascinating and terrifying all at

SageThe pool is impossibly still.The water reflects the sky like a mirror, blue layered over blue, calm in a way my chest refuses to be. My feet skim the surface, toes barely touching, sending out small ripples that disappear almost as soon as they form. Maya sits beside me, knees pulled up, her mug of tea cradled between both hands. She hasn’t said a word since I told her there was something between Andre and me.She is waiting.I can feel it in the way her body is angled toward me, in the way she hasn’t filled the silence with jokes or commentary like she normally would. For once, Maya is still. Present.And that somehow makes this harder.I inhale slowly, the air feeling too thick in my lungs.“Before I say anything,” I start, my voice quieter than I intend, “you need to promise me something.”She turns fully now. “Anything.”“You can’t tell anyone about what I am about to tell you,” I say. “Not Tony. Not your mom. Not your future therapist. No one.”Her expression sobers instan

SageA week passes, and it goes on quick too. And somehow, without me noticing the exact moment it happens, life starts to settle into something that almost feels normal.Andre doesn’t come by the house. He doesn’t text. He doesn’t call. At first, I notice the absence like a bruise tender, constantly prodded by my own thoughts. Then slowly, the ache dulls. Or maybe I just learn how to live around it.It becomes just me, Maya, and Theo.Mornings start early now. Theo decides when the sun rises, not the other way around. I learn the sound of his cries the way other people learn music hungry, tired, overstimulated, lonely. I learn how to function on broken sleep and lukewarm coffee. I learn that love can be exhausting and still be the best thing I have ever known.Maya slips into the rhythm easily. She takes over diaper duty without complaint, sings nonsense songs off-key, talks to Theo like he understands every word. Sometimes I catch her staring at him with something soft and reveren

AndreThe TV is on, but I couldn’t tell you what’s playing.Something loud. Something mindless. The kind of show you put on when you don’t actually want to think, when silence feels too honest and noise is the only thing keeping your thoughts from spiraling completely out of control.I’m stretched out on the couch, one arm draped over my eyes, the glow from the screen flickering uselessly against the walls. My phone sits face down on the coffee table. I haven’t checked it in hours. I don’t want to.My mind keeps drifting back to the hospital, to Sage. To the way she held Theo like the world could fall apart and she’d still keep him safe. To the weight of that tiny body in my arms earlier, the way it felt right. Too right.I squeeze my eyes shut trying to get the memory out of my head. Ella’s heels click sharply against the floor as she storms inside, the sound echoing through the house like gunshots. I lower my arm and turn my head just in time to see her toss her purse onto the en