All Chapters of One Night With My Brother’s Worst Enemy : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

46 Chapters

The New Normal

Vienna woke to sunlight and the weight of Ezra's arm across her waist.The new apartment was still unfamiliar. The ceilings were too high. The windows were too wide. The bed was too soft. But the man beside her was the same. Warm and solid and hers. She turned her head on the pillow and watched him sleep. His dark hair was messy. His jaw was shadowed with stubble. His lips were slightly parted. He looked younger like this. Softer. Nothing like the cold, commanding CEO who had bought her at an auction and changed her life forever.She reached up and touched the collar at her throat. The white gold was cool against her fingers. The small diamond caught the morning light. Ezra had given it to her in Spain, and she had not taken it off since. Not in the shower. Not in bed. Not even when Silas had looked at it with knowing eyes and asked if she was sure.She was sure.Ezra stirred. His arm tightened around her waist. His eyes opened slowly, dark and hazy with sleep."You are staring," he m

What Elena Knows

The email arrived at 7:13 on a Tuesday morning. Vienna was sitting at the kitchen counter, drinking coffee and reviewing the first ten chapters of her manuscript. She had written forty seven pages. Forty seven pages about the auction, the mask, the collar, the way Ezra had looked at her like she was the only woman in the world. She was not sure if it was good. She was not sure if anyone would ever read it. But writing it made her feel alive in a way she had not felt since Spain. The apartment was quiet. Silas was still asleep in his guest room, recovering from the long flight home. Ezra was in the shower, the water running in the master bathroom. Vienna had the morning to herself, and she was using it well. Her phone buzzed. A new message. The sender was a name she did not recognize. Elena Vance. Vienna's blood went cold. She stared at the screen. Elena. Ezra's ex-wife. The woman who had tried to destroy him. The woman who had been following her for months. She opened the emai

A Stranger in the crowd

The next few days were quiet. Too quiet.Vienna woke each morning, made coffee, and wrote. The manuscript was growing. She had passed sixty pages. The words came easier now, flowing from her fingers like water from a tap. She wrote about the auction in vivid detail. The mask. The collar. The way Ezra's voice had sounded in the dark, low and commanding and full of promise. She wrote about Silas too. His illness. His anger. The slow, painful process of watching her brother die and then watching him come back to life. She wrote about Elena. The café. The warning. Ezra did not ask to read it. He said he would wait until she was ready. He said he trusted her to tell the story the right way. That trust meant more than he knew. --- On Thursday, Vienna went to the grocery store. It was a small thing. Ordinary. The kind of errand she had done a hundred times before. But nothing felt ordinary anymore. Every face on the street seemed to watch her. Every shadow seemed to hide something.

The Photograph

The security team found the photograph three days later.Vienna was in her writing room, staring at a blank page, when Ezra appeared in the doorway. His face was pale. His jaw was tight. He was holding a white envelope in his hand, and his knuckles were white around the edges. "What is that?" she asked. "I need you to come with me." "Ezra. What is it?" He did not answer. He just held out his hand. Vienna took it. She let him lead her to the living room, where Silas was already sitting on the couch, his face just as pale as Ezra's. The security team stood by the door, their expressions grim. "What is going on?" Vienna asked. Ezra handed her the envelope. She opened it. Inside was a photograph. A color photograph, printed on glossy paper. It showed her and Ezra in the grocery store parking lot, his arm around her, his face bent toward hers. The angle was wrong. The lighting was wrong. It looked like it had been taken from a distance, through a telephoto lens. Vienna's blood ran

Good Girl,Bad Timing

The lawyers were expensive.Vienna sat in the corner of Ezra's office, watching him pace back and forth while two men in thousand dollar suits discussed legal strategy. She understood some of it. Harassment. Stalking. Invasion of privacy. Restraining orders. The words blurred together, heavy and serious.Ezra's lawyer, a sharp-faced man named Harrison, set down his pen. "We have enough evidence for a restraining order, Mr. Vance. The photographs, the note, the payment trail. But a restraining order is just a piece of paper. It will not stop her if she is determined to hurt you." "Then what will?" "Public exposure. If we go to the press, if we make her actions known, she will lose any remaining credibility. Her father will distance himself. The board will cut ties. She will be left with nothing." Ezra stopped pacing. "Do it." "Ezra." Vienna stood. "Are you sure?" "I am sure." He crossed the room and took her hands. "She has been threatening us for months. Following us. Taking phot

The Ex-Wife’s Game

The restraining order was served on a Tuesday. Vienna watched from the window of the apartment as two uniformed officers approached Elena's car in the parking lot of her father's building. She could not see Elena's face from this distance, but she imagined the shock. The fury. The cold calculation that would follow. Ezra stood beside her, his hand on her shoulder. "It is done," he said. "Is it ever really done with someone like her?" Ezra was quiet for a moment. "No. Probably not. But it is a start." Vienna turned away from the window. "What happens now?" "Now we wait. She will either back down or escalate. Either way, we will be ready." She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe that the restraining order would be enough. But something in her gut told her that Elena was not done. Not yet. Not ever. --- Three days later, Vienna's phone buzzed with an unknown number. She stared at the screen. Her heart began to pound. She almost ignored it. But something made her answe

Bruises from the Past

The weeks after Elena's revelation were strange. Vienna moved through them like a ghost. She woke up. She made coffee. She sat in her writing room and stared at the blank page. She ate when Silas reminded her. She slept when Ezra held her. But she was not really there. Not all of her. Part of her was still in that café, watching Elena smile as she handed over the medical records. Part of her was still on that bench, reading her father's name and feeling her world tilt. Part of her was still twelve years old, watching her father die and not understanding why. Ezra gave her space. He did not push. He did not demand. He just waited, patient and steady, the way he had always waited. Silas was less patient. "You cannot hide forever," he said one afternoon, sitting on the edge of her bed. "I am not hiding." "You are. You have not written in weeks. You have not left the apartment. You have not even looked at Ezra without flinching." Vienna flinched at that. "I am not flinching." "Y

Daddy’s Penthouse

The penthouse felt different now.Vienna stood by the floor to ceiling windows, looking out at the river, and tried to pinpoint when everything had changed. The apartment was the same. The furniture was the same. The view was the same. But she was not the same. She had walked into this penthouse as a stranger, desperate and broken and hungry for something she could not name. She had walked out as something else. Loved. Whole. Herself. Ezra came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "What are you thinking about?" he asked. "I am thinking about the first time I came here. How scared I was. How I thought I was making the biggest mistake of my life." "And now?" She turned in his arms. "Now I know it was the best decision I ever made." He kissed her. Soft and slow and full of promise. "I love you," he said. "I love you too, Daddy." His eyes darkened. "Say that again." "Daddy." "Again." "Daddy. Daddy. Daddy." He lifted her onto the kitchen counter. His hands grip

The Voicemail That Changed Everything

The voicemail arrived at 2:47 in the morning. Vienna was asleep, tangled in Ezra's arms, when her phone buzzed on the nightstand. She ignored it. It buzzed again. And again. She reached for it blindly, still half asleep, and pressed it to her ear. "Vienna Cross, this is Elena Vance. I know it is late. I know you do not want to hear from me. But I need you to listen. I need you to understand." Vienna sat up. Her heart began to pound. "I know I have done terrible things. I know I have hurt you. I know I have tried to destroy your relationship with Ezra. But I am done. I am done fighting. I am done running. I just want to be free of all of this." Elena's voice cracked. "I am leaving the country. Tonight. I am never coming back. And before I go, I need you to know the truth. The whole truth. About your father. About Ezra. About the board." Vienna's hands were shaking. "There is a file. Hidden in the wall of my father's study. Behind the painting of the sailboat. It contains everyt

On My Knees in the Dark

The night after the trial, Vienna could not sleep.She lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, while Ezra slept beside her. His arm was heavy across her waist. His breath was warm against her neck. He looked peaceful in a way she had not seen in months.But her mind would not stop racing.The verdicts. The confessions. The justice that had finally been served. It was over. It was finally over. But she did not feel the relief she had expected. She felt empty. Hollow. Like she had been holding her breath for fifteen years and did not know how to exhale. She slipped out of bed and walked to the living room. The city was dark. The river was black. The moon was hidden behind clouds. Vienna stood by the window and watched the world sleep. She heard footsteps behind her. Ezra appeared in the doorway. His hair was messy. His eyes were sleepy. He was wearing nothing but gray sweatpants. "Could not sleep?" he asked. "No." "Me neither." He crossed the room and stood beside her. His ha

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