Lahat ng Kabanata ng Ravaged By My Cold-Hearted Stepbrothers : Kabanata 131 - Kabanata 140

BrandonThe house was dark when we pulled into the driveway, most of the windows black except for a single light glowing in the living room. It was past eleven and everyone should have been asleep by now, but I could see a silhouette moving behind the curtains.Someone was awake and waiting.Jackson and I walked in through the front door in silence. The drive back from the hospital had been quiet, both of us processing what had happened. The way Rhea had looked when she saw her mother in that hospital bed. The guilt was written all over her face. The way she had dismissed us afterward, as if she could not stand to have us near her.I knew that guilt. Carried some version of it myself. We were the reason she was unreachable when her mother needed her.The living room light spilled into the hallway as we entered. I had hoped whoever was awake would be upstairs by now, that we could slip past unnoticed.No such luck.Danica sat on the couch with her arms crossed, still fully dressed desp

RheaI stood at the kitchen counter chopping vegetables for lunch, the sound of the knife against the cutting board was the only noise in the quiet house. My mother was upstairs resting, finally home from the hospital and tucked into her own bed where she belonged.I had barely slept last night. Even after we got home from the hospital this morning, I could not shake the image of her looking so small and fragile in that hospital bed. Could not stop thinking about how I had almost missed being there because I was stupid.The guilt sat heavily in my chest, making it hard to breathe properly.I focused on the task in front of me. Carrots. Celery. Onions. Simple and repetitive. Something I could control when everything else felt like it was spiraling.“Making lunch? That’s sweet of you.”I looked up to see Danica walking into the kitchen. She wore a soft smile that did not quite reach her eyes.“Just helping out,” I said, returning my attention to the vegetables.“How’s Margrate doing? Th

Brandon’s POVJackson walked beside me, neither of us speaking. We hadn’t needed to discuss what we were going to do. When we found out what Anthony had done to Elowen, the decision made itself. I had never in my life wanted to destroy another person the way I did in that moment when I saw Elowen crying. Not because she was perfect, not because she didn’t drive me insane on a good day, but because she was mine to protect, and he had walked into that role with a plan. He had looked at my sister and seen a tool.I pushed through the double doors and the sounds of the gym swallowed us whole. The squeak of sneakers on hardwood, the rhythmic bounce of balls, casual laughter bouncing off the high ceiling. A few heads turned when we walked in.Anthony was near the far end of the court, in the middle of saying something to two of the other guys on the team. He saw us the moment we crossed half court.He lifted his chin and smiled. “Hey, Sterling.” He said it like a greeting between friends.

Rhea The pressure built so fast it terrified me, coiling tight in my belly and then snapping like a live wire. I came hard. A broken cry ripped out of my throat as my whole body seized. Wet heat gushed between us and splashed onto the locker room floor in messy bursts, soaking the bunched fabric of Brandon’s joggers around his knees. The slick sound of it and the sudden flood made my face burn even as pleasure kept crashing through me in waves. Brandon grunted low in satisfaction, his hips stuttering for a second like he couldn’t help it. “That’s right,” he rasped against my ear, his voice thick with dark pride. “I like it when you do that for me.” He didn’t slow down. He didn’t give me a second to breathe. If anything, he fucked me harder, almost as if every brutal thrust was punishment for something neither of us could name. My arms gave out first. I collapsed forward onto my elbows with my cheek pressed to the cold metal floor, my ass still high because he wouldn’t let me drop.

Rhea I looked at him across the table. At his open, honest face and the way he was holding himself very still the way people do when they’re preparing for something to land. I thought about what it would mean to say it out loud, to actually form the words in a sentence directed at another human being who wasn’t Jackson or Brandon. I thought about the promise I had extracted from him without quite meaning to, the way he had said I just want you, the way he had always meant every word he said. “I need to know something first,” I said. “Okay.” “If I tell you something, something real, something I haven’t told anyone outside of it, I need to know it stays here. Not because I’m asking you to protect me, but because I need to trust that you can hear it and still look at me like a person when I’m done.” Nick held my gaze without flinching. “Rhea. It’s me. When have I ever not?” He was right. He had never once. And that was exactly why I had chosen this coffee shop and this a