《The Playboy Stepbrother's Rules》全部章節：第 81 章 - 第 90 章

Alex packed one bag.Not everything—enough for a week without looking like a raid on his own room. Laptop. Chargers. Clothes. The module notes he still needed to finish. The key to 3B sat on the desk while he worked, then went back into his pocket next to the house key he would not be using for the front door again that night.Troy had moved his own things in stages since Friday: a jacket that never came back, a work bag that stayed in the car, a small case already in the boot under a tarp. Nothing dramatic enough for Silas to count. Everything deliberate enough to matter.At dinner the performance held for the last time.Silas talked about a delayed shipment. Bridget passed dishes with steady hands and eyes that flicked to Alex’s face once too often. Troy answered when spoken to. Alex said he had a late library block and might lose track of time. Silas reminded him to answer if the house line rang. Alex said he would.He wouldn’t be there to hear it.After the plates, Bridget found h

The first hit was a declined card.Alex stood at the corner shop with a bottle of water and a bag of rice and watched the reader flash red twice. The cashier’s face stayed polite. Alex tried a second card that still routed through a joint household buffer Silas had set up years ago for “emergencies and fees.” Red again.“I’ll come back,” Alex said, and walked out with his hands empty and his pulse loud in his ears.By the time he reached 3B, Troy had already seen the banking app notification on the laptop—two household-linked transfers held, one student payment portal showing a verification freeze. Nothing dramatic enough for a courtroom. Enough to say *I can reach you*.Troy looked up from the screen. “He moved.”“Corner shop wouldn’t take either card.” Alex shut the door harder than he meant to. “Portal’s asking for a parent verification I don’t have.”Troy pulled a different card from his wallet and set it on the counter. “Use mine for the shop. Food and transit sit on me until we

The email arrived at 9:14 the next morning.Silas’s name in the sender line. Subject: *Household and enrolment matters.* No greeting that pretended warmth. A short list, formatted like a memo: household buffers remain restricted while Alex resided outside the family home with Troy Morrison; health cover to be separated effective end of month—forms attached; university billing and emergency contacts should be updated by Alex directly, with a note that parental verification flags would not be cleared by the household; further discussion of family contact could occur through Bridget for the time being.Alex read it twice at the counter in 3B. Troy read it over his shoulder and said nothing until Alex locked the screen.“He’s doing it in writing,” Troy said.“So it looks like policy.” Alex set the phone down. “Not a tantrum.”“Both can be true.” Troy poured coffee. “We do the forms. We call the registrar. We don’t answer the memo like it’s a verdict you have to overturn before you’re allo

Morning in 3B started without an alarm set by someone else.Alex woke to light on the ceiling and Troy already half-dressed at the foot of the bed, scrolling through work mail with the kind of frown that belonged to schedules, not fathers. For a few seconds Alex only watched him—damp hair, shirt open, the unmarked quiet of a room that did not require staggered exits.Troy noticed and raised an eyebrow. “You’re staring.”“I’m adjusting,” Alex said, voice rough with sleep. “No different floors.”“No different floors.” Troy tossed the phone onto the chair and leaned over him, bracing a hand beside Alex’s head. “Library block later?”“Module due at five. I can do it from here.”“Good. I’m on site until three.” Troy kissed him once, brief and unhurried, then again when Alex’s fingers hooked in his shirt and kept him there. When he pulled back, his mouth had softened. “There’s coffee. Don’t survive on guilt. Bridget already took her share of the hard conversation.”Alex almost smiled. “You’

Bridget had emptied a corner of Alex’s old wardrobe in advance.“I didn’t want you spending the whole hour deciding,” she said, already moving. “Coat. Jumpers. The shoes you actually wear. Box under the bed—I didn’t open it.”Alex set the duffel on the mattress and worked. The room looked like a museum of a person who had left twice—once in anger, once in a plan. Desk drawers held spare chargers, a cracked USB, seminar printouts with someone else’s highlighting. He took what was his and left what had only ever been temporary.Bridget folded with the efficiency of nerves. “He’s been in the study since noon. Door closed. I told him if he turns this into a cross-examination I’ll end the hour myself.”“You won’t have to.” Alex slid Nathan’s letters into the box without reading the envelopes. The handwriting on the top one still made his stomach dip. “I didn’t come to win a point. I came for my things.”They worked in silence for a stretch. Footsteps did not come from downstairs. The house