All Chapters of My Stepbrothers’ Plus-sized Obsession : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

MELANIEHow do I know she’s about to piss me the fuck off? Easy. Her voice is dipped in absolute frost despite the Pennywise-like smile on her face. Right now, she has an uncanny resemblance to the cursed clown. Penelope seems to notice it as well, because shrinks instantly against my side. She can completely feel the coldness radiating off this beautiful, terrifying stranger. She peeks out from beside me, her little fingers nervously twisting the hem of her plain shirt. This is the first time she is meeting her grandmother, and the fairy-tale image in her head is rapidly crashing into reality.“Hi… Hi, Grandma,” Penelope whispers. She offers a tiny, hesitant wave, her big beautiful eyes wide with shy hope.Evangeline casually picks up her cloth napkin, shakes it out, and rests it on her lap.“Grandma?” She scoffs. “Oh wow, I didn’t see that coming,” Evangeline murmurs to Lucas. Her words are designed to slice right through me. They always have been, and I have a feeling they

VALENTIN ALISTAIR When I find Evangeline, she is in the greenhouse garden. I stand silently in the arched glass doorway and simply watch her. How quickly did she manage to shed her pristine designer dress and slip into a canvas gardening apron, denim suspenders, and a wide-brimmed straw hat? She hums a quiet, classical tune, picking up ripe tomatoes from the green vine and placing them gently into a woven basket resting on her hip. This is one of the many things that drove my father absolutely crazy about her. “She grows her own vegetables, can you imagine?! She’s an angel, this one.” Yeah, right. She is so angelic that she managed to crawl perfectly into a married man’s bed without a second thought. “Are you going to speak, or are you going to keep staring at me?” Evangeline’s voice cuts sharply through the humid air of the greenhouse. I watch her rise to her full height, taking note of the dark soil carefully rubbed onto the knuckles of her expensive gard

MELANIE Guests of honor, what does that even mean?I grab the phone from the bed and stare at it, my wide eyes reading through the bold font on the screen. “In an interview with Pearl magazine, Evangeline Alistair states that the ceremony, although for her stepson and his lovely bride-to-be…” I hear Cassian scoff, but I continue. “...will be held in honor of her daughter and granddaughter who have both returned healthy and happy after several years out of the city. She says it will also be to celebrate her daughter’s escape from an abusive man and marriage, and show that while love is something to be celebrated, it is important for women to be strong enough to back down when situations become toxic. The billionaire and business mogul praised…”I can’t do this shit anymore. “Is she fucking serious? When did she even do all this? And Pearl magazine? Hasn’t she been in this house all day?” I lament, looking to the Alistair brothers for a response. Xavier shrugs, but I see the cautio

MELANIE “We will take it.”Cassian’s voice cuts through the thick, heavy air of the boutique. He doesn't look at a price tag. He doesn't even blink. He just stares at me in the mirror with a look so intensely possessive it makes my knees weak.Just like that, the battle lines are drawn.The next twenty-four hours blur into a chaotic, anxiety-inducing frenzy. While the massive estate downstairs is transformed into a high-society battleground for the party, I am safely tucked away in my bedroom. The brothers made sure an elite glam squad arrived early in the afternoon to pluck, pin, and paint me until I barely recognize my own reflection.When the sun finally sets the next day, the muffled sounds of a live string quartet and hundreds of chattering elites drift up through my floorboards.“Mummy?”I turn away from my vanity mirror. Penelope stands in the doorway wearing a beautiful, fluffy white tulle dress that Maria helped her into. Her little hands fly up to cover her mouth, her brown

MELANIEShe's done it. She's really done it now.I have taken absolutely everything Evangeline Alistair has given to me.I have swallowed her insults, accepted her disgust, and blamed myself for everything that has ever gone wrong between us.But she has crossed a line now. I have had enough.If she claims she doesn't have a daughter, then I do not have a mother either, and that is the way things will have to be.I slowly lower my trembling hand from my burning cheek.The metallic taste of blood sits heavy on my tongue.I square my shoulders, staring directly into the cold, empty eyes of the woman who gave birth to me.The fear is completely gone.I open my mouth, entirely prepared to unleash twenty-four years of suppressed rage and give her a really solid piece of my mind, when a frantic blur of colors bursts through the open doorway."Mummy!"My head whips in the direction of the frantic cry.Penelope crashes directly into my legs.She throws her small arms around my thighs, burying