Chapter One

I was nineteen when Vincent first touched me, and I’ve never forgiven myself for letting him.I’d just finished my first semester of college with nineteen credits, two all-nighters a week, and a newfound ability to drink black coffee without flinching. The drive home had been long, rain-slicked highways and holiday traffic crawling north. By the time I pulled into the driveway, every muscle ached, and all I wanted was silence, a shower, and my own bed.But the house felt different the moment I stepped inside. It was a bit too quiet.My parents were away at a weekend conference in the city, some banking retreat Dad couldn’t skip. Laura had texted earlier, “crashing early. Thesis kicked my ass. Vincent’s coming over to help me finish edits. Don’t wait up, baby sis.”I wasn’t even planning to.I dropped my duffel in the foyer, kicked off my wet boots, and headed upstairs. The hallway was dark except for the faint glow under Laura’s door, probably her desk lamp. She’d always been the resp

Baca selengkapnya

Chapter Two

I didn’t sleep that night.Every time I closed my eyes, I felt his mouth on me again, the slow drag of his tongue, the way his fingers had curled inside me, the low growl of satisfaction when I came apart. My body still hummed with it, traitorous and alive in a way it had never been before.By morning, I was a wreck so I stayed in my room as long as I could, pretending to unpack, scrolling mindlessly through my phone... just anything to avoid going downstairs. But the loud rumble in my stomach forced me out.The kitchen smelled like coffee and bacon. Laura was at the island in her old college sweatshirt, hair piled on top of her head, laptop open. Vincent sat beside her, one arm draped casually over the back of her chair, scrolling through something on his tablet.They looked perfect together... Happy. My stomach twisted.“Morning, sleepyhead,” Laura said without looking up. “There’s coffee.”Vincent’s eyes lifted to mine. Just a calm glance like last night had been a dream.I poured

Baca selengkapnya

Chapter Three

Three years.That’s how long I let Vincent ruin me, one stolen moment at a time.It didn’t stay confined to our family home for long. Once we crossed that line, the hunger grew teeth. We became experts at lies, small ones at first, then bigger, more elaborate. He’d tell Laura he had a late client meeting. I’d say I was studying at the library or crashing at a friend’s. We’d meet in places that felt safe because they were anonymous, like cheap motels on the edge of town, his car in deserted parking lots, once even the back room of a bar during a weekday afternoon when no one was looking.Every encounter left me higher and lower than the last.The first year was raw need... we couldn’t get enough. He’d show up at my off-campus apartment with takeout as an excuse, and we’d devour each other instead of the food. He’d push me onto the kitchen counter, scatter my notebooks, hike my skirt up and take me hard and fast while I bit his shoulder to stay quiet. My roommate was usually in class, b

Baca selengkapnya

Chapter Four

My fingers hover over the knob and I feel his heat radiating through the wood, like the door itself is alive and waiting. I turn it slowly, slip inside, and ease it shut behind me without a sound.Vincent was standing in the middle of the small room, sleeves rolled to his elbows, top two buttons of his shirt undone. The overhead light is off, only the vanity bulbs glow, throwing shadows under his jaw and along the sharp edge of his collarbone. He looks like he’s been waiting an eternity and five seconds at once, with the same calm, ravenous hunger in his eyes.“You came,” he says, voice low and rough.“I said I would.”He takes one step forward and his mouth crashes into mine before I can speak, before guilt can catch up. The kiss is hard and desperate, tasting faintly of the scotch he must have finished downstairs after everyone went to bed. My hands slide up his chest, fingers twisting into his shirt, pulling him closer even as my brain screams to stop.He backs me against the sink,

Baca selengkapnya

Chapter Five

He backed me against the sink and I felt the cold edge of the marble dig into the small of my back, a sharp contrast against the heat of him pressed flush to my front. His mouth was still moving against mine, unhurried now, like he'd already decided how this would end and wasn't in any rush to get there.I pulled back first.“Vincent.” My voice came out steadier than I felt.He kept his hands on my waist. “Don’t.”“Don’t what?”“Don’t think. Not yet.” His forehead dropped to mine, eyes closed, chest rising and falling. “Just give me a minute.”I should have stepped back. Instead, I stood there breathing him in — cedar and warm skin and a faint trace of scotch — my hands still pressed flat against his chest like I was deciding whether to push or pull.The problem was I never knew which one I wanted to do. That had always been the problem.Three years of this had taught me that the moment I started thinking was the moment everything fell apart. So I let myself have one more second of no

Baca selengkapnya

Chapter Six

I didn’t sleep.I lay on top of the covers in my childhood bedroom and watched the ceiling change colour as the hours passed, the deep blue of midnight, the pale grey before dawn, the first thin stripe of gold that meant morning had arrived whether I wanted it to or not.At six-fifteen, I gave up and went to the kitchen.My mother was already there.She was standing at the counter in her dressing gown, both hands wrapped around a mug of tea, looking out the window at the garden the way she’d done every morning of my childhood. The bougainvillea along the back fence was going wild again. She’d been threatening to cut it back for three years.She looked up when I came in. “You look terrible.”“Good morning, Mama.”“Sit. I’ll make you something.”I sat at the kitchen table, the same chair I’d always claimed as mine, and watched her move around the space with the efficiency of a woman who had cooked in this kitchen for thirty years. She put a pan on the burner without asking what I wanted

Baca selengkapnya

Semua Bab The Sins Of My Brother in law : Bab 1 - Bab 6

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six