All Chapters of The Scandalous Step Siblings: First Enemies, Then Lovers : Chapter 101 - Chapter 110

Anya’s POVThe tour bus smelled like stale coffee and Ethan’s ego. We were crossing the South Carolina line, the tires humming a low, monotonous drone that made my teeth ache. I sat at the tiny galley table, staring at a spreadsheet of catering costs like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. In reality, my laptop was quietly decrypting the files I’d swiped from Ethan’s jacket.“You’ve been staring at the price of kale for twenty minutes, Anya,” Kai’s voice rasped behind me. “Either you’re planning a salad revolution or you’re losing your mind.”I didn’t turn. The floorboards creaked as he shifted. He was restless, post-rehearsal adrenaline twisting into a raw, jittery energy.“It’s called budgeting, Kai,” I snapped, closing the tab as a red progress bar blinked at the bottom. “A concept you’d understand if you didn’t treat money like it fell out of the sky and into your silk pockets.”“It does fall out of the sky,” he muttered, sliding onto the bench across from me. He look

ANYA’S POVThe bus smelled like burned coffee and the kind of stale tension that settles in when too many secrets are trapped in a small space. Charleston’s humidity had followed us inside, thick and stubborn, clinging to the leather seats and sticking to my skin until I felt like I was wearing the weather. I sat at the small galley table with the glow of my laptop screen bleeding into the dark, reflecting in the window glass and highlighting the exhaustion I could no longer hide. The files I had swiped from Ethan’s jacket were halfway decrypted, a crawling blue bar on the screen moving in agonizing slow motion, but it was not enough because we needed the whole truth before we could strike.Kai was slumped across from me, his elbows heavy on the table and his fingers tapping out a frantic, irregular rhythm that did not belong to any song I knew. His eyes were different tonight, sharp and startlingly alive, burning with a clarity that made my pulse jump with both terror and a strange,

The atmosphere in Asheville was crisp and thinned by the altitude, a sharp contrast to the swampy heat we’d left behind in Charleston. The bus parked in the shadows of a massive stone arena that looked like it had been carved directly out of the mountainside. I stood by the door, watching the local crew haul in the lighting rigs. My lungs felt tight, but for the first time in weeks, it wasn't from the humidity. It was the crushing weight of the "recovery" interview Ethan had scheduled for ten o'clock sharp."You look like you're heading to a hanging, Anya," Ethan said, stepping up behind me. He was perfectly tailored as always, his silver hair catching the morning light. "Smile. We’re in the mountains. Fresh air, fresh start. That’s the angle.""I'm just focusing on the talking points, Ethan," I said, my voice as dry as the mountain pines. "The 'emotional tribute' to his father went over well with the blogs, but the mainstream outlets are calling it a breakdown. We have to pivot.""We

ANYA’S POVThe tension on this bus had been a physical weight for weeks. It was like a giant rubber band stretched to the limit, just waiting for the lights to go out so it could finally snap and hit someone. As we pulled into the gravel lot of some middle-of-nowhere rest stop near St. Louis, the silence was so thick I could practically taste it.Ethan was finally gone. He’d been summoned to some emergency meeting to answer for why Kai was actually acting like a human being on stage lately. Lila was locked in the front cabin, probably hiding under a pile of medical paperwork to avoid the weird vibes in the galley.I sat at the small table, the blue light of my laptop making me look like a ghost against the wall. I’d done it—the surveillance cameras were looped. For the next ten minutes, the security monitors would show a fake video of an empty hallway and a sleeping star.Then the door to the back suite slid open.Kai didn't walk out with his usual "pop star" grace. He moved like a ma

Anya’s POVThe morning light didn't crawl into the bus; it slapped against the tinted windows with a harsh, clinical glare that made my eyes ache. I was back at the galley table, my spine stiff and my fingers flying over the keys to bury the logs of the camera loop. My skin still felt sensitized, the ghost of Kai’s touch lingering like a physical brand under my button down shirt. Every time the bus hit a bump, I felt a jolt of panic. We had crossed the line, and the air in the cabin felt charged with the static of our secret.The hiss of the air brakes signaled we were pulling into a high end rest stop near the Missouri border. I looked at the clock. It was barely seven. Ethan wasn't supposed to be back from his meeting for another three hours. I stood up, stretching my cramped limbs, and headed toward the back suite to make sure Kai was awake and, more importantly, looking like the miserable, isolated star the world expected him to be.I didn't even get to the door before the front l