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Home / Romance / The Scandalous Step Siblings: First Enemies, Then Lovers / Chapter 161 - Chapter 170

All Chapters of The Scandalous Step Siblings: First Enemies, Then Lovers : Chapter 161 - Chapter 170

174 Chapters

161

Anya The sound of the glass shattering was like a thousand crystal bells screaming at once. It wasn't the dull thud you hear in the movies; it was sharp, surgical, and terrifying. I felt the rush of freezing mountain air hit my face a second before Kai’s weight slammed into me, driving the air out of my lungs as we tumbled toward the floor."Don't move!" he hissed against my ear. His voice was a jagged edge, sharp with a protective fury I’d never heard from him before.I was pressed into the old rug, the smell of dust and cedar suddenly overshadowed by the acrid scent of gunpowder and cold wind. My heart wasn't just beating; it was thudding against my ribs like a trapped animal trying to break free. Another shot rang out—a dull thwip followed by the splintering of wood. The bullet buried itself in the headrest of the rocking chair where I’d been sitting just seconds ago.I looked at the chair. A jagged, splintered hole had opened right where my skull would have been. If I hadn't stoo

162

The tires screamed as Kai pushed the SUV up the steep, icy hill. He didn't simply drive this time again, he fought the mountain. Every time the back of the car slid toward the edge of the cliff, I felt my stomach drop into my shoes. One tiny slip on a patch of ice and we would be gone. We wouldn't be a news story anymore. We would just be a pile of broken metal at the bottom of a dark canyon."They’re getting closer," I said, my voice shaking. I looked in the side mirror. The headlights behind us were bright and steady. They didn't care about the snow or the freezing wind. They were coming for the man sitting next to me, and they were coming for the truth I had hidden in my pocket."The road gets narrow up ahead," Kai said. He slammed the gear shift and the car jumped forward. He looked calm, but his jaw was tight and his knuckles were white on the steering wheel. "If I can get us past that ridge, they won't be able to drive beside us. It’s too tight for two cars. They'll have to stay

163

Ethan stood there like a shadow against the white snow, looking perfectly calm. He was wearing a long, expensive overcoat that looked like it belonged in a city office, not on a freezing mountain. Not a single hair was out of place, even though the wind was screaming around us. He wasn't holding a gun, but he didn't need one. He had all the power, and he knew it. Behind him, the cliff dropped off into a black hole, and the silence of the mountain felt like a heavy, cold blanket over my head."You really thought a small cabin and a few computer files would be enough to stop me?" Ethan asked. His voice was smooth and slow, almost like a father talking to a child. "I built the North Star, Anya. I created the world Kai lives in. Did you really think I wouldn't build the exits, too?"I squeezed the silver thumb drive in my hand. The metal was so cold it felt like it was burning my skin. My heart was jumping like a scared bird trapped in my chest. I looked past him, trying to see the flat a

164

AnyaThe backseat of the whistleblower’s beat-up sedan smelled like wet upholstery, old cigarettes, and a faint hint of peppermint that made my stomach turn. It was a real step down from the leather-scented luxury of a kidnapping vehicle, but I wasn't in a position to leave a bad review. My ankle was throbbing in three different time signatures, and my shoulder felt like it had been chewed on by a mountain lion. Every time we hit a bump, the pain flared up, bright and hot, reminding me that I was very much made of breakable parts."Can you drive any faster?" I hissed, clutching the thumb drive so hard the metal was starting to leave a permanent dent in my palm. "Or is this the scenic route where we wait for the helicopter to turn us into a roadside attraction? Because I’m not really in the mood for a tour."The man—I think his name was Miller, which was a very boring name for someone involved in a conspiracy—didn't look at me. He kept his eyes fixed on the narrow strip of road that wa

165

Anya's POVThe world didn’t just end again, it tilted.It wasn't some poetic metaphor for my life falling apart. It was actual, screeching physics. The metal floor of the relay station—the same floor I’d been standing on while I tried to play God with a radio frequency—groaned like a dying whale. Then, it leaned thirty degrees to the left. For a heartbeat, my stomach stayed at the top of the tower while my boots began a desperate, screeching slide toward the edge of the platform. Below us, the quarry looked like a hungry black mouth, yawning wide, waiting for the punchline of a very long, very expensive, very bad joke.I slammed my shoulder against a support beam, the cold galvanized steel biting through my jacket. My fingers scrabbled for purchase, my nails digging into the grit on the metal. I looked at Marcus Stone. He was clinging to a control console with the desperation of a man who realized his golden parachute was made of lead. His knuckles were white, his eyes were dinner pla

166

AnyaI looked up from the snow. The sky was still a bruised purple, but the rhythmic thrum-thrum-thrum of a helicopter was returning. Ethan Vance was circling back. Of course he was. He was the director who couldn't leave the set until he was sure the leading lady was dead. He wanted to see the wreckage. He wanted to look down from his mechanical throne and make sure the "final note" was silent.But as I lay there, shivering and broken, I saw something else.A pair of headlights appeared at the bottom of the quarry road, tiny twin stars cutting through the dark. Then another pair. Then six more. They weren't the sleek, black SUVs of Ethan’s private security. They were white and blue, flashing with a frantic, rhythmic intensity. Local police. State troopers. The actual cavalry.And right in the middle of the convoy was a van with a massive satellite dish bolted to the top. A news crew. My people. Sort of.I let out a wet, painful laugh that turned into a cough. The broadcast had worked

167

Anya's pov The back of a police van is not a place for a lady, but since I’d spent the last few weeks being a fugitive, a prisoner, and a mountain-climbing stunt double for a snuff film, I figured I’d lost my "lady" status somewhere around the Nebraska state line. If there was a finishing school for critics who blow up federal property, I’d probably be the valedictorian.The walls here were cold, sweat-slicked metal that smelled of old rust and damp apprehension. The floor was a slab of reinforced steel that didn’t give an inch, telegraphing every bump in the road directly into my bruised tailbone. The only light in this rolling metal coffin came from the small, barred window in the back door, flickering with the strobing, hypnotic rhythm of the sirens. Blue, red, blue, red. It was like being trapped inside a very small, very loud disco designed specifically for people who had made a series of spectacularly bad life choices."You okay back there, Miller?" the driver yelled. I could h

168

The doors of the van were flung open, and the world became a strobe-light assault of flashbulbs and screaming questions. "Anya! Over here!" "Is it true, Kai?" "Did Ethan Vance kill his father?"Officers with grim faces and heavy hands grabbed my arms, pulling me out into the frigid night air. I saw Marcus Stone being led into a separate side entrance, his face buried behind the lapels of his ruined jacket, the ultimate fixer finally broken. Further down, near a line of black sedans, I saw Ethan Vance. He was surrounded by a wall of men in tailored suits, his lawyers acting like a human shield. He looked at me across the chaos, and for the first time since I’d known him, the arrogance was gone. There was a raw, naked fear in his eyes. He knew."Anya Miller!" a reporter shrieked, shoving a microphone toward my face. "Was it worth the prison time? Is the Archive real?"I didn't give them a quote. I didn't give them the satisfaction of a soundbite. I just looked at Kai as they led him towa

169

Anya’s POVThe yellowed sheet music sat on the stainless steel table like a ticking bomb. Thomas Vance—the man who was supposed to be a memory, the father Ethan had supposedly buried along with his conscience had vanished back into the shadows of the precinct, leaving me with a map to a grave I didn't want to dig.I stared at the coordinates. They weren't just numbers; they were a rhythm. Julian Rhodes had hidden the location in a time signature that only someone obsessed with his technical flaws would recognize. It was a 5/4 beat, shifted and stretched."Miller, time's up," the guard grunted, his hand hovering over his holster."I need that phone call," I said, my voice cold. I didn't look up. I just memorized the ink on the page. "And I need it now, or the next review I write is going to be about the security lapses in this intake center. I’ve already counted four broken cameras and a guard who’s sleeping in block C."The guard blinked, his posture stiffening. "One call. Make it qui

170

Anya’s POVThe world didn't just explode; it tore itself apart. I felt the ground vanish beneath my boots, replaced by a sliding, treacherous slurry of shale and ice. I wasn't running anymore; I was falling into the throat of the mountain.The red flare Ethan had dropped vanished under a ton of falling debris, but the fire had already done its work. The primer cord had snapped like a whip, triggering the secondary charges Ethan’s crew had rigged to the entrance. The timber frame of the mining shaft disintegrated, sending a cloud of splinters and dust into the air that tasted like sulfur and old death."Anya!" Kai’s voice was a distant, desperate shred of sound in the chaos.I couldn't answer. I hit a flat shelf of rock and rolled, my shoulder screaming as it took the brunt of the impact. I didn't stop until I slammed into a wall of cold, damp stone. For a long, terrifying minute, the only thing I could hear was the heavy thud-thud-thud of boulders settling above me and the frantic ha

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