All Chapters of My Stepbrother My Ruin: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The car sped through the countryside, leaving the estate behind.Brianna sat in the passenger seat, watching fields and small villages blur past. Dawson drove in silence, eyes on the road, jaw tight. He hadn't spoken since they left.Her phone sat in her lap like a bomb.Eric's last message glowed on the screen. Lake Como is beautiful this time of year, little wolf. I'll bring flowers.Somehow, he knew. Before they even packed a bag. Before Dawson told anyone. Eric already knew."How?" she asked finally.Dawson didn't answer."How does he know where we're going? We just decided ten minutes ago."Still nothing.Brianna turned in her seat to face him. "Dawson. Talk to me."His hands tightened on the wheel. "I'm thinking.""About what?""About who told him.""You think someone's leaking information?""I know someone is." He glanced at her. "The question is who."They drove another twenty minutes in silence. The landscape changed. Hills. Trees. The sparkle of water in the distance.Lake C

Two days passed.Brianna spent them in a fog. Eating without tasting. Sleeping without resting. Waiting for news that never came.Dawson made calls. Sent people. Tracked leads that went nowhere. Eric had vanished with Eloise, and no one could find them.The photo haunted her. Her mother tied to that chair. The letter in her lap. Eric's smile behind her.Come get her, little wolf. Alone.She couldn't go alone. Dawson wouldn't let her. And even if she tried, she had no idea where to go.So she waited. And the waiting was its own kind of torture.On the third morning, she couldn't sit still anymore.She needed to move. Needed to feel something other than fear.The estate had a gym in the east wing. She'd seen it once during the tour that first day. Treadmills. Weights. Space to breathe.She changed into old workout clothes and made her way there.The gym was empty when she arrived. Just mirrors and machines and soft lighting. She stepped onto a treadmill and started walking. Then jogging

The warehouse lights still blazed behind them as Dawson pulled Brianna through the side door.She stumbled, caught herself, kept moving. Her ears rang. Her hands shook. The gun was still in her grip, heavy and wrong."Drop it," Dawson said.She looked down at the weapon like she'd forgotten she was holding it. Let it fall to the ground.Dawson grabbed it, tucked it into his waistband, and kept pulling her toward the car.Behind them, shouting. Eric's men, regrouping. But no one followed.They reached the SUV. Dawson pushed her into the passenger seat, ran around to the driver's side, and tore out of there before she could buckle her belt.The warehouse shrank in the side mirror. Then disappeared.Brianna stared ahead, breathing hard."Is she—""In the back."Brianna spun around.Eloise lay across the back seat, eyes closed, chest rising and falling. Alive. Bruised and dirty, but alive.Brianna's throat closed up."She's unconscious," Dawson said. "They drugged her. She'll wake up in a

The next morning, Brianna arrived at the office before anyone else.She wanted to beat the whispers. Beat the stares. Just have an hour of peace before the circus started.The twentieth floor was dark and empty. Her desk waited in the corner, exactly as she'd left it. She dropped her bag, turned on her laptop, and got to work.Marco had emailed her more files overnight. Old records. Years of them. A note attached: See what else you can find.She opened the first file and dove in.By eight o'clock, the office started filling up.People filtered in with coffee and sleepy greetings. A few glanced her way. Most ignored her. She preferred that.By nine, Dawson walked past her desk without stopping. Just a nod. Just acknowledgment. It felt like enough.She kept working.The files were dense. Financial statements from three years ago. Shipping logs. Expense reports. Most of it was clean. Routine. Boring.But somewhere in the middle of the second year, something caught her eye.A payment. Lar

Brianna followed Dawson out of his office and into the chaos of the twentieth floor.People everywhere. Phones ringing. Conversations overlapping. The normal noise of a company that didn't know its foundations were cracking.Dawson walked fast. She matched his pace."Where are we going?""Meeting. Third floor. You're sitting in.""I haven't eaten.""Eat later."They took the stairs. Dawson didn't slow down. Brianna's legs burned by the time they reached the third floor.The conference room was glass walls and long tables. Ten people already seated. Suits. Serious faces. They looked up when Dawson walked in.And they looked even harder when Brianna sat down next to him."This is my Shadow Assistant," Dawson said flatly. "She stays. She hears everything. Any objections?"Silence."Good. Let's start."The meeting lasted two hours.Legal updates. Financial reports. Shipping logistics. Brianna took notes, watched faces, listened for anything useful.Most of it was boring.But one thing sto