All Chapters of My Stepbrother's Forbidden Obsession : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Cain's POV“Did you tell Mrs. Odette to stop putting sugar in the guest wing pantry?”I looked up from the stove. Roxy stood in the kitchen doorway with her arms folded tight across her chest, her hair still damp, dark strands clinging to her neck. It was one in the morning, and she looked wide awake or just furious enough that it had chased tiredness away.“I asked her to swap it for the oat milk you actually drink instead of the sugar.” I turned off the burner and faced her. “Seems practical since you hate sugar anyway.”“That’s not your call to make.”“It’s just coffee, Roxy.” I sighed. “It’s not like I’m choosing a husband for you or anything.”“It’s my coffee,” she gritted, walking deeper into the kitchen. “First, it’s coffee. Then you cut in on a dance so I have to stand there and pretend you’re not doing exactly what you’re doing. If care isn’t taken, you’d start showing up at my office too.”I arched an eyebrow. “And what exactly am I doing?”“Trying to buy my forgiveness with

Cain's POV“You’ve been in a mood for two days.”I didn’t look up from the contract I wasn’t actually reading. “I’m fine.”Marcus dropped into the chair across from my desk anyway, uninvited, propping one leg over his knee like he had nowhere else to be.I kept my eyes on the same paragraph that I was struggling to read for the fourth time, yet to no avail.“You haven’t said more than ten words at breakfast since Tuesday,” he said.“The Singapore deal is complicated,” I responded.“That’s what Dad thinks.” I finally looked up, and Marcus smiled. “But I don’t think it’s the Singapore deal.”I picked up my pen and returned to work. “It is.”“Sure.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “But Roxy hasn’t said ten words either.”My pen stopped, and Marcus noticed of course he did.“You two used to at least argue,” he continued. “Now you barely look at each other. It’s weird.”I set my pen down. “Roxy and I are step-siblings, not conjoined twins,” I let out. “The fact that we

Roxy's POV“Roxy. You need to see this.”Elewon’s voice came through the phone before I had even finished saying hello.My fingers tightened around the phone. “See what?”"The Ledger. Genevieve Voss's column went up twenty minutes ago. She wrote it.” She paused. “I’m sending you the link now. I wanted you to hear it from me before you stumbled across it yourself.”My phone buzzed, and I opened the message and clicked on the link.The headline appeared across my screen.CARRINGTON'S GOLDEN BOY: STILL THE SAME OLD BET-MAKER?My vision blurred for a second before the headline came back into focus. The room around me disappeared, and for a moment, I was eighteen again, standing among laughing strangers while the person I trusted most turned my humiliation into a show.I scrolled further, forcing myself to keep reading.The article dragged the old scandal back in detail—the bet, the footage, the months of gossip that followed. They had dug up everything that had destroyed me once and turne

Roxy's POV"Okay, this better be good. I was about to get in the shower."I smiled at the sound of Elewon’s voice. For the first time all day, I didn’t have to think before I spoke. I dropped my keys into the little ceramic bowl by my apartment door and leaned back against it, letting the familiar quiet settle over me. My apartment. My own space.The bookshelf was still crowded with manuscripts and old paperbacks. A framed certificate hung above the desk. The little dining table was still covered with the stack of notebooks I’d left behind. Here, nobody was waiting for me to smile, make small talk, or play the role of someone’s daughter."I know. Sorry.""Uh-oh. You sound weird," she said. "What happened?""Nothing happened." I walked into my bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. The sheets were still neatly arranged because I hadn’t slept here in weeks. "It's just… Richard wants Cain to announce an engagement to Celeste Hartwell, apparently. He thinks it would help the company’s im

Roxy's POV"Roxy, thank goodness you're here. Put the bag down, we don't have time."I had barely stepped through the front door, my overnight bag still hanging from my shoulder, when my mother caught my wrist and pulled me toward the stairs."Mom, what is going on?""No time. Go, go."She pushed me toward the first step before I could get another question out. The house was strangely busy. Two maids hurried past carrying fresh linens. Another was arranging flowers in the entrance hall, moving so quickly that she nearly knocked over a vase."What exactly is going on, Mom?""Celeste's parents are coming for dinner."She said it as if that explained why the entire house looked like it was preparing for a state visit.I arched an eyebrow. "Wait, so that's the reason for all this ruckus?""Yes, Roxy, that's the reason for all the ruckus." She was already pulling me down the hallway. "Shower. There's a dress on your bed. You have twenty minutes. And don't make me come back for you."I stop