All Chapters of The Scandalous Step Siblings: First Enemies, Then Lovers : Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

ANYA’S POVThe sun coming into the penthouse was just cruel because it was this bright, freezing white light that made the fancy marble counters look like rows of gravestones. I hadn’t slept for even a single second, and I’d spent the whole night in the shower trying to scrub the smell of Ethan’s office off my skin, but I still felt gross, like there was this dirty film over me that just wouldn't wash away no matter how hard I tried.I sat at the kitchen island with my hands shaking around a mug of tea that had been cold for hours, and I just stared at a tiny breadcrumb on the counter. I focused on its weird, jagged shape because I knew that if I looked up and saw my own face in the mirror, I’d totally lose it and shatter into pieces.Then the elevator dinged, and my heart dropped because I knew it was Ethan.He stepped out looking way too perfect in a navy suit, and his tie was so straight and tight that it felt like a threat. He didn't look like a guy who had spent the night lurking

Anya’s POVMy heart wasn't just beating; it was slamming against my ribs like a frantic animal and I couldn't pull my eyes away from that red icon on my screen. User: E. Cole has joined the session. He was watching the files download and he was watching my cursor hover over those Swiss clinic records, which meant he was seeing me dismantle the massive lie he’d spent years constructing right in front of his face.I didn't wait for him to come find me, but instead, I slammed the laptop shut with a crack that sounded like a bone breaking in the quiet alcove. I shoved it into my bag and bolted, my boots thudding against the concrete floor as I ducked into the maze of the O2’s backstage.The hallways felt narrower than they had five minutes ago, and every shadow cast by the stacks of amplifiers and rolls of gaffer tape looked like Ethan waiting to step out and snatch the bag from my shoulder. I was breathing in ragged stabs that made my chest ache, and I could feel the sweat cooling on my

Anya’s POVThe morning sun at the private estate didn't feel like a beginning; it felt like a spotlight in an interrogation room. I had spent the night in a state of hyper-awareness, listening to the house breathe. Every groan of the floorboards, every hum of the central heating, sounded like Ethan’s footsteps. My skin still felt sensitized from where Kai had touched me—a phantom heat that made the silk of my nightgown feel like sandpaper.I dressed with shaking hands, choosing a high-necked sweater and slacks, a literal suit of armor. I needed to hide the flush on my neck, the evidence of a rebellion that had occurred in the dark.When I entered the dining room, the scene was a tableau of domestic horror. The table was set with white linen, silver carafes of coffee, and a spread of fruit that looked too perfect to be real. Ethan was already there, seated at the head of the table, reading a physical newspaper. The rustle of the pages was the only sound in the cavernous room."Sit, Anya

Anya’s POV“To my office now.”My phone pinged with that short, cold message from Ethan and honestly, I felt like my heart was going to beat right out of my chest because I was still vibrating from the "discovery" I’d made in the library. I walked down the hall and the air in the mansion felt different, almost like it was cheering for me, and I felt so powerful because I was convinced that I finally had the leverage I needed to destroy him. I pushed open the doors to his office and stood before his desk, but the room felt stagnant and smelled like old paper and that sharp, metallic tang of a trap finally snapping shut, though I was too blinded by hope to notice it yet."She’s alive," I repeated, and my voice sounded high and thin and totally like a stranger's, but I kept pushing through the fear because I needed him to know I wasn't scared anymore. "I saw the logs, Ethan, and I saw the video of the clinic in Switzerland, so you can stop the lies right now because I know you’ve been hi

Anya's POV I sat on the edge of my bed and stared at the perfectly white wall of my room until the edges blurred into static, and honestly, the silence was louder than any of Ethan’s threats.Ethan didn't just break my heart, he performed a public autopsy on my soul and then had the nerve to laugh because I didn't like the results. My mother wasn't in some fancy clinic in Switzerland, and she wasn't waiting for me to save her, because she wasn't anywhere at all. She was still just a memory and a ghost I’d tried to exhume with a laptop and a prayer, and the worst part was that I’d handed Ethan the "Get Out of Payout Free" card on a silver platter.I was officially the world's most overqualified and unpaid servant, and I could practically hear the interest on my dignity accruing.A soft, frantic knock at my door pulled me back from the abyss, and I didn’t even have to guess who it was because there was only one other person in this house who smelled like expensive cigarettes and impendi