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Home / Romance / The Scandalous Step Siblings: First Enemies, Then Lovers / Chapter 111 - Chapter 120

All Chapters of The Scandalous Step Siblings: First Enemies, Then Lovers : Chapter 111 - Chapter 120

120 Chapters

111

Anya’s POVThe St. Louis arena was a concrete cavern that smelled of ozone and expensive floor wax. I sat in the production office, my fingers blurring over the keys as I ran the audit Ethan had demanded, but my mind was stuck in the quiet hum of the bus. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt the phantom weight of Kai’s hands. The air in the office was cold, but I was burning up from the inside out. I had to scrub the logs. I had to make sure the gap in the security footage from three in the morning looked like a routine server reset and not a ten minute window for a revolution."The engagement numbers are peaking in the Midwest, Anya," Ethan said, leaning against the doorframe. He had been hovering all morning, a shark circling a scent he couldn't quite pinpoint. "The Charleston clip is viral. People are calling it the 'Raw Rhodes' era. The label is terrified, but the ticket resellers are ecstatic. It’s a delicate balance.""The balance is fine, Ethan," I said, not looking up. "The dat

112

Anya’s POVThe roar of the St. Louis crowd was a physical force, a wall of sound that vibrated through the floorboards of the arena and settled deep in my marrow. Behind the soundboard, the array of faders and glowing buttons felt like the cockpit of a falling plane. I had my headset on, the plastic digging into my temples, listening to the frantic chatter of the stage hands and the cold, measured breathing of Ethan in my ear."He’s at the bench, Anya," Ethan’s voice crackled through the comms. "He’s pale, but he’s upright. Keep the reverb high. If his hands start to lag, I want the pre-recorded atmospheric track to swell. No one hears a missed note tonight. Do you understand?""I understand," I said, my voice as mechanical as the hardware in front of me.On the monitors, I saw Kai. He looked like a ghost under the harsh blue wash of the spotlights. He was sitting at the Steinway, his back unnervingly straight, his hands resting on the keys like they were made of lead. The IV had clea

113

ANYAThe bus was moving away from St. Louis and into the dark and honestly it felt less like a luxury tour vehicle and more like a very expensive coffin on wheels. The "Honest Show" had been over for three hours but the mess it left behind was still vibrating through the air like a bad radio signal. I sat at the small galley table with my fingers wrapped around a cup of coffee that had gone cold twenty minutes ago and watched the blue glow of the TV in the lounge because every news channel was obsessed with Kai’s face. They kept playing that one clip over and over where his voice cracked and he looked like his soul was leaving his body and the headlines underneath were calling it the "Death of the North Star" which was a bit dramatic even for cable news."Turn it off before I lose my mind," Ethan snapped from the doorway and he looked like he’d been dragged through a hedge backward.His expensive suit was a mess and his tie was gone and his eyes were bloodshot with a kind of rage that

114

Anya’s POVThe Kansas City skyline loomed like a jagged set of teeth against the grey dawn of the plains. The bus pulled into the docking bay of a venue that felt more like a prison than a theater. Ethan had stayed true to his word. The back suite remained a fortress of silence. Every time I tried to catch a glimpse of the hallway, a security guard named Miller—a man with the personality of a brick wall—stepped into my path with a look that said he was just waiting for an excuse to use his zip ties.I was stuck in the front lounge, surrounded by stacks of fan mail that felt like a mockery of everything we were going through. Thousands of letters from people who loved a man they didn't know, a man who was currently being chemically erased twenty feet away from me."Anya, the meet and greet starts in an hour," Ethan said, emerging from his cabin. He looked refreshed, a sharp contrast to the hollowed-out wreck I felt like. "We have fifty VIPs who paid a thousand dollars each to see the m

115

ANYA’S POVThe road to Omaha was basically just a long, depressing straight line of nothing. Outside the bus window, it was all dark asphalt and these creepy, dying cornfields that made it feel like we were on a spaceship drifting through a total void. I was sitting in the galley, trying to look bored, but my heart was hammering against my ribs because the new satellite bridge was humming right above my head in the ceiling panels. Every time Miller or Ethan walked past, I felt this massive jolt of adrenaline that made my fingers actually itch. I was a total ghost in the machine now, watching their every move through the very cameras they thought were theirs."We’re two hours out," Ethan said, suddenly stepping into the galley and making me jump. He hovered over my shoulder, squinting at my screen, but I was ready—all he saw was a super boring spreadsheet of t-shirt and poster sales. "The Omaha venue is a heritage site. Lots of fancy wood, amazing acoustics, and seriously tight securit

116

The intermission at the Omaha Heritage Center was a sea of clinking champagne glasses and hushed, respectful murmurs. To the audience, the first half of the show had been a triumph of "recovery." Kai had played with a technical perfection that was almost eerie, his face a mask of serene focus that made the donors weep with relief.Ethan was currently in the VIP lounge, holding court with a group of local investors, his chest puffed out like a peacock. He thought he had successfully buried the "St. Louis Incident" under a layer of Omaha velvet.I was back in the windowless production office, the door locked from the inside. The junior PA had been sent on a coffee run that I knew would take at least twenty minutes. I had my laptop open, the PROJECT_REVENGE network glowing on the screen."Time for the intermission entertainment," I whispered to the empty room.Through the satellite bridge, I had managed to pull a recording of a phone call Ethan had taken three hours earlier while he was

117

Anya's POV The Nebraska panhandle was nothing but a flat, black ocean of silence. Outside the heavy windows of the tour bus, the wind howled across the plains, slamming against the frame until the whole vehicle shuddered. It felt like we were the only living things left in a world that had gone cold and dark. Inside the lounge, the air was even worse—it was thick, stale, and tasted like copper.Ethan hadn’t slept. I could tell by the way he moved—jagged, twitchy, like a man vibrating on a frequency of pure, desperate fury. He was pacing the narrow aisle, his footsteps heavy and rhythmic against the laminate flooring. His eyes were bloodshot, rimmed with a raw redness that made him look less like a high-powered manager and more like a predator backed into a corner.In his hand, he gripped the satellite bridge. He’d found it."I’m going to ask one more time," Ethan said. His voice wasn't loud. It was a low, dangerous crawl that set my teeth on edge.He stopped directly over Lila. She w

118

ANYA"If I wanted a lecture on morality, I would’ve stayed in Sunday school, Anya. I certainly wouldn't have hired a girl whose biggest career achievement was getting blacklisted by every major label in the tri-state area."Ethan didn’t even bother to look at me when he said it. He remained perched in the driver’s jump seat of the tour bus, his spine as rigid and unforgiving as a tombstone. His eyes were locked on the black ribbon of the desert road, tracking the high beams like he was searching for a reason to hit something. The sickly green glow from the dashboard bled upward, carving out the sharp, arrogant line of his jaw and making his skin look like cold marble. He looked like a man who had never been told no in his entire life—and he clearly didn't plan on letting a "failed critic" start now."He’s a human being, Ethan. Not a vintage piano you can just retune and polish because you don't like the way the strings are vibrating," I snapped. My throat felt like I’d swallowed a han

119

ANYA’S POVThe gravel dug into my palms like a thousand tiny shards of broken glass, stinging and sharp, but I didn't make a sound as I stayed as low to the ground as I possibly could. My heart was thundering against my ribs, a wild and frantic rhythm that felt loud enough for the whole world to hear. Just a few yards away, the driver was still standing at the front of the bus, a dark and jagged shape silhouetted against the huge, empty horizon of the desert. He was humming some mindless little tune to himself, completely oblivious to the fact that his "cargo" had just crawled out of the emergency hatch and was currently shivering in the dirt.I didn't try to run for the fence because I knew there was no way I’d make it. Instead, I stayed in the dark and crawled toward the shadows of the building. It wasn't some high-tech facility or a fancy lab; it was just a sad, abandoned roadside motel that looked like it hadn't seen a guest in twenty years. Ethan must have rented it for cash to k

120

ANYA’SThe van smelled like old copper and stale coffee, a cold and metallic box that rattled with every jagged mile Lila put between us and that crumbling motel. I sat on the hard floor and braced my body against the vibrating wheel well, cradling Kai’s head in my lap while the world outside blurred into a dark streak of pines. He was shaking again, the violent heat of his fever finally breaking only to leave him clammy and shivering against the bitter mountain air that whistled through the gaps in the door."How much further, Lila?" I called out, my voice sounding like a dry rasp that barely carried over the mechanical scream of the engine."There’s a cabin about twenty miles up the pass," Lila shouted back without turning around, her hands gripped tight on the wheel as she pushed the van higher into the clouds. "My uncle used to hunt up here and it’s completely off the grid with no power and no phones, which means Ethan won't be able to find us or track a signal tonight.""He’s goi

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