Lahat ng Kabanata ng Bound by Sin: The Heir & His Stepmother: Kabanata 101 - Kabanata 110

Waking up late, by my standards, was something I hadn’t experienced in years. Normally, the first alert from my systems would drag me out of bed before six in the morning, my fingers flying over the keyboards even before my eyes were fully open. Today, the sun was already high when consciousness decided to return to my body.And what a body.Every muscle ached. Not from fatigue—although the fatigue was there, heavy and deep—but from a different kind of use. Intense. Animal. I shifted in bed, feeling the absence of the warmth that had accompanied me through the night. Her scent was still on the pillow. Flowers. Something sweet. Something that left me dizzy even after hours.Anya was no longer there. But her marks were. Bites on my shoulder. Scratches on my back. An immediate erection stirred, and I had to ignore it with sheer willpower because if I started thinking about what happened the night before, I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed.I got up with a groan. My right leg was numb—p

The dinner was simple—pasta with tomato sauce and grated cheese, because it was what August would eat without complaining. We ate at the kitchen table, the three of us together, like a normal family. As if there weren’t a Cassius out there, with his men and his weapons, searching every city for us.“Dad,” August said, fork suspended in the air. “After we dyed our hair, do I still look like me?”“You do. Just with lighter hair.”“And Mommy?”“Mommy looks like Mommy. With different hair.”“And you?”“I look like me.”He looked at me for a moment.“You look younger.”Aurora laughed.“It’s the brown hair. It takes a few years off.”“He doesn’t need to look younger. He needs to look more alive.”Silence fell over the table. August, oblivious to the depth of his own phrase, went back to twirling the pasta on his fork.…Later, when August was already in bed and the house was quiet, Aurora picked up the phone. The number wasn’t saved in the contacts—she typed it from memory, as if it were a

Paraty was more beautiful than the pictures in the magazine.The jet landed at a private airport on the outskirts of the city, and a black car was waiting for us. Tristan helped August down—the boy was more awake now, his eyes wide at the green mountains, the blue sky, the hot and humid air coming through the open windows.“Mommy, where are we?” he asked, his voice small and amazed.“In Brazil, my love.”“Is it far?” he wanted to know.“Very far.”“Are we going to stay here?”“We are.”He smiled—that gap-toothed smile—and nestled into Tristan’s lap.The car traveled along winding roads lined with Atlantic forest, the tall trees forming a green tunnel over us. The sea appeared from time to time, turquoise blue, shining under the afternoon sun.Green islands dotted the horizon, and imposing mountains rose in the background, covered in mist.“It’s beautiful,” I whispered, more to myself than to anyone.“It is,” Tristan agreed, his voice low.The car passed through a stone gate, and a hou

August was already in his room, wrapped in his dinosaur sheets, the T-Rex stuffed animal hugged against his chest. Matilda said goodnight with a smile, closing the door behind her with a soft click.The master bedroom was empty.For a moment I thought she was in the bathroom. But the bathroom was empty too, the lights off, the towels neatly folded.I went to the veranda. She was there.Aurora was leaning against the glass railing, her short hair swaying in the sea breeze. She wore a light white dress that shimmered under the moonlight. Her arms were crossed over her chest, her eyes fixed on the dark horizon.I approached slowly, my steps silent on the wooden floor. She didn’t turn around. She didn’t need to. She knew it was me.“It’s beautiful,” she said, her voice low, almost a whisper. “The sea at night. It looks like an endless sheet.”I hugged her from behind, wrapping my arms around her waist, resting my chin on her shoulder.“You’re more beautiful.”“Liar.”“Truth.”She laughed—

We spent the last few hours in a frantic rush, me, Anya, and Luca, transferring what we could from Cassius’s accounts to ours. Our fingers flew over the keyboards, our eyes burned with exhaustion, but we couldn’t stop. Every cent diverted was another nail in the coffin of the Delyon empire.Each document saved was one more piece of evidence against the monster.Gregor helped with what I allowed, which wasn’t much. He was sitting in a corner of the room, working on a laptop I had prepared myself — no access to the main network, no connection to our systems, no chance to screw up. I didn’t trust him. Not completely.Maybe I never would. But he was useful, and in our line of work, usefulness was worth more than loyalty.“Rapha, the Swiss accounts are giving an error,” Anya called, her eyes fixed on the screen in front of her. “It’s asking for two-factor authentication.”“Use the token I gave you.”“I already did. It doesn’t work.”I stood up, went over to her, and leaned over the keyboard