All Chapters of Fake Fiancée To My Bully Stepbrother : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

41 Chapters

Chapter 28 – Cracks In the Team (Part 1)

POV:ElenaThe drive to the arena felt longer than it actually was.Jace hadn't spoken since hanging up the phone, and I had learned enough about him to know the silence wasn't accidental. Whenever he was trying to keep his temper under control, he became unnervingly quiet. His grip on the steering wheel tightened, his jaw set, and he focused so intensely on the road that it was as though everything else ceased to exist.I recognized every one of those signs now.Earlier in the semester, I would have mistaken his silence for indifference. Now I know better."Coach sounded worried," I said, hoping to break the tension before it swallowed the entire car. "He was." "Do you think it's really that serious?" "If he called an emergency meeting, then yes." His answer was clipped, but not dismissive. I took it as a small victory.When we reached the athletics complex, the parking lot was already overflowing. Several players were jogging toward the entrance, while two assistant coaches stood out

Chapter 28 – Cracks In the Team (Part 2)

POV:ElenaI didn't say anything about Ryan.Not yet. Maybe I was overthinking what I'd seen. Maybe the envelope contained nothing more than paperwork. Coach had forgotten to hand out. Jumping to conclusions wouldn't help anyone, least of all Jace.Still, the image stayed with me as we walked toward the parking lot. Ryan's uneasy expression. The man in the dark suit. The quick exchange. The way Ryan had looked over his shoulder before slipping the envelope into his backpack.It didn't feel ordinary."Elena?" I looked up. Jace had stopped beside the SUV, studying me. "You've gone quiet." "So have you." He unlocked the doors but didn't get in immediately. "My head's a mess." "I can tell." He gave me a tired smile. "Is it that obvious?" "Only to someone who's been paying attention." That earned a soft huff of laughter. "I walked right into that one." "You did."For a moment, the tension eased. Then his phone buzzed again. He glanced at the screen, read the message, and his expression hard

Chapter 29 – The First Blow (Part 1)

POV: ElenaThe next morning began with rain.A steady drizzle coated the campus in gray, leaving puddles scattered across the walkways and sending students hurrying from one building to another beneath umbrellas. Normally, I enjoyed rainy mornings. They made the university feel quieter. Today, they only made everything feel heavier.I had barely settled into my first lecture when my phone vibrated.Jace: Coach wants to see me before practice.I stared at the message for a moment before replying.Me: Did you tell him?Three dots appeared almost immediately.Jace: Yeah.Nothing else. No explanation. No reassurance. Just yeah. The simplicity of the reply told me everything I needed to know. He was worried.By the time my afternoon class ended, the rain had eased into a light mist. I found Jace waiting outside the humanities building, one shoulder resting against his SUV. His hood was pulled over his head, and his hands were buried in the pockets of his jacket. He looked exhausted. "How d

Chapter 29 – The First Blow(Part 2)

POV: ElenaBy the time my last lecture ended, I had convinced myself I could make it through the rest of the day without thinking about the post again. That illusion lasted exactly thirty seconds.The moment I stepped into the hallway, I caught two girls glancing at me before lowering their voices. One of them held up her phone, and although I couldn't hear what she was saying, I recognised my own face on the screen. I looked away and kept walking. It was amazing how quickly strangers could decide who you were. Some believed every word they read online. Others didn't care whether it was true. The story was entertaining, and that was enough."Elena", I stopped.Camille was standing near the staircase, immaculate as always, her designer handbag hanging neatly from her shoulder. She smiled when our eyes met, though there was nothing warm about the expression."I was hoping I'd run into you." "I wasn't hoping for the same thing." Her smile widened slightly. "I imagine today hasn't been ea

Chapter 30 – Breaking Point (Part 1)

POV: ElenaBy the time I got to the athletics complex that afternoon, the basketball team was already deep in practice.The second I stepped inside, all those familiar sounds hit me at once basketballs pounding the floor, guys sprinting up and down the court, sneakers squeaking like crazy on every cut. Coach Mercer’s voice kept booming over everything, yelling whenever someone blew a play or lost their focus.I slipped quietly into the bleachers with my backpack, hoping not to distract anyone. Jace had texted earlier that practice might run late and told me to wait if I didn't mind.I didn't.The arena looked different when it wasn't packed with screaming fans. There were no flashing cameras or announcers. No music blasting through the speakers. Just athletes pushing themselves to exhaustion under the watchful eyes of coaches who seemed to notice every mistake.Coach Mercer blew his whistle."Again!"A collective groan rippled through the team. "You think the teams we're facing next m

Chapter 30 – Breaking Point (Part 2)

POV: ElenaBy the time Jace emerged from the locker room, the arena had almost emptied.Most of the players had already left, laughing as though they hadn't spent the last two hours pushing themselves to their limits. Jace walked towards me with his gym bag slung over one shoulder, and if I hadn't watched the entire practice, I might have believed nothing had happened."Sorry to keep you waiting," he said, offering me a tired smile. "I had a textbook with me." "Did you actually study?" "Not as much as I intended." He laughed softly and reached for the keys in his pocket. "Come on. I'll take you home."The walk to the parking lot was short, but it was long enough for me to notice what he was trying so hard to hide. Whenever he thought I wasn't looking, he shifted his weight to his left leg. His stride was almost normal, but there was the slightest hesitation every time his right foot touched the ground. He was limping. Not dramatically. Just enough to tell me his ankle hurt far more th

Chapter 31 – Fault Lines (Part 1)

POV:ElenaThe smell of polished hardwood and sweat had become strangely familiar.Only a week ago, I would have avoided the athletics complex unless I absolutely had to be there. Now I found myself climbing the same concrete steps to the bleachers almost every other afternoon, balancing my backpack on one shoulder and a stack of physiology notes in my arms.I blamed Jace. More specifically, I blamed the promise he'd made to drive me home after practice. It was easier to wait at the arena than make the trip back to the Calloway estate on my own. At least, that was what I kept telling myself.Practice had already started by the time I slipped inside. Coach Mercer's whistle echoed through the gym as players ran through defensive drills with relentless precision. He stalked the sidelines with his arms folded, barking corrections whenever someone missed a rotation or hesitated for even a second."No shortcuts!" he shouted. "Championship teams don't survive on talent alone. The players imm

Chapter 31 – Fault Lines (Part 2)

POV: ElenaBy the time the office door finally opened, I had reread the same paragraph in my physiology textbook at least four times without absorbing a single sentence.I looked up as Coach Mercer stepped out first. His expression was unreadable. Jace followed a moment later, his gym bag slung over one shoulder. The confidence he usually carried after practice was still there, but something about him seemed quieter. More thoughtful.Coach caught sight of me waiting in the bleachers. "I hope we didn't keep you too long, Miss Hart." "Not at all, Coach." He nodded politely before turning back to Jace. "Remember what I said." "I will."Coach held his gaze for another second before walking away. I watched him disappear into his office again.As Jace climbed the bleachers toward me, I searched his face for some clue about what had happened. "What was that about?" He picked up my backpack before I could. "Let's head to the car." "Jace." "I'll tell you." It wasn't a refusal. It was a delay. I

Chapter 32 – False Trails

POV: ElenaThe anonymous message stayed with me long after I locked my phone.YOU'RE LOOKING AT THE WRONG PLAYER. Five words. They should have been easy to ignore. Anyone could have sent them. It could have been another attempt to frighten me, another game played by the person who had left the bridal veil on our doorstep and lured me to the greenhouse. Yet something about the message felt different. It didn't threaten me. It corrected me. I had barely slept because of it.The next morning, I sat near the window in my physiology lecture, my notebook open but my attention drifting elsewhere. Dr. Hassan was explaining the regulation of blood pressure, his voice carrying evenly through the classroom, but the words blurred together. Instead, I found myself scrolling through the anonymous campus gossip account. Every post. Every comment. Every timestamp. I worked backward, ignoring the insults aimed at me and focusing on the posts about the basketball team. One mentioned a closed-door stra

Chapter 33 – Pressure Point (Part 1)

POV: ElenaBy Thursday afternoon, the basketball team no longer looked like a team.From my seat high in the bleachers, I watched practice unfold with the uneasy feeling that something fundamental had changed. The drills were the same. Coach Mercer's whistle still echoed through the arena every few minutes, and the players still moved with the speed and precision that had made them one of the best programmes in the conference.But the atmosphere was different. There were fewer laughs between drills. Conversations ended the moment someone else approached. Players who had once slapped each other on the back after a successful play now simply nodded and jogged to the next position. Coach noticed it too.He let the team finish a defensive rotation before blowing his whistle so sharply that everyone froze."Centre court. Now." The players gathered around him, breathing heavily. Coach folded his arms, his expression harder than usual. "I'm only going to say this once. " The gym fell silent.

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