Todos los capítulos de My stepbrother and his friends want me : Capítulo 91 - Capítulo 100

EMMAA day and a half after the argument, things between me, Cade, and Theo had started to feel normal again.Not completely. There were still moments when a joke fell flat or one of us went quiet for no obvious reason, but we were trying. Cade kissed my temple when he passed me in the kitchen. Theo stole my coffee and laughed when I threatened to poison his next cup. Little things. The kind that reminded me we hadn’t lost everything.Then the elevator chimed.I was curled up on the couch with a book I’d barely read a page of in the last twenty minutes. Cade lay at the other end, scrolling through his phone, while Theo sat nearby with his tablet. We all looked up at the same time.I don’t know how to explain it, but I felt him before I saw him. Maybe it was the way Cade suddenly sat up, or how Theo’s fingers stopped moving across his screen.Then the doors opened.Rhys stepped out with a bag slung over one shoulder.He looked different from the last time I’d seen him up close. The bru

EMMA I was getting pretty good at pretending Rhys being home didn’t bother me.I laughed at Cade’s stupid jokes over breakfast. Let Theo steal my coffee and complain about how boring my books were. Some evenings, I’d curl up beside Cade on the couch or rest my feet in Theo’s lap while we read. I even managed to sleep through the night more often than not.If anyone asked, I’d say I was doing better.And in some ways, I was.The problem was that every time I started to relax, I remembered what was still wrong.Rhys was home, but we barely spoke. He stayed in the office wing, and I stayed out of his way. We could spend an entire day under the same roof without looking at each other, and somehow, that felt worse than when he wasn’t here at all.Then there were the secrets.I noticed the way Cade sometimes stopped talking when I entered a room. The way Theo would exchange a look with him before answering certain questions. Neither of them was cruel about it, and they never made me feel u

EMMAThe elevator doors opened, and they walked in together. Rhys first, with Cade half a step behind him.Dust clung to their clothes, but I barely noticed. I sat on the edge of the sofa, my hands locked together in my lap, staring at Rhys as though I could force him to feel every ounce of pain I had been carrying.For weeks, I had avoided his eyes. I had swallowed my questions, bitten back my anger, and pretended that seeing him every day wasn’t slowly tearing me apart.I couldn’t do it anymore.Cade’s voice came softly from beside me. “Emma”I raised my hand. He stopped.Rhys stood a few feet away, his bag hanging from one shoulder. Confusion crossed his face, followed by something that looked painfully like hope.“I hate you, you know.”His expression changed.“Emma, I”“You’re a selfish bastard, Rhys. I hate you so much.”A laugh burst out of me. Sharp, ugly, and completely unlike anything I recognized.“I saw her ring.” I pointed toward the hallway, toward his office. “Sitting o

EMMAMy laughter sounded too loud in the otherwise silent room.I stopped briefly and looked at the three of them. None of them were laughing. Cade’s expression was carefully neutral. Theo’s was open and steady in the way it got when he had decided not to look away from something difficult. Rhys watched me with the same raw, stripped expression he had worn while he told me the rest of it no smirk, no softening, nothing that suggested a punchline was coming.A small, nervous laugh slipped out of me anyway.“You’re joking, right?” My voice came out thinner than I wanted. “Come on, Rhys. I know I said no secrets, but what is this? Are you trying to make me laugh? Because it’s not funny.” I gestured vaguely between them. “You’re a werewolf. Ha. You’re all werewolves. Wow. That’s hilarious. Please. I’m tired. I want to rest.”I turned to leave.Cade stepped into my path and caught my upper arms gently, not hard enough to force anything, firm enough that I had to stop. His voice, when it ca

EMMA “My father has disowned me. Marcelo has declared his intentions. Let them hear this clearly: I choose Emma. I will keep choosing her. And if they want to come for her, they’ll have to come through me.”Rhys’s voice filled the room through the television.I stared at the screen, watching him stand before the cameras and announce his choice to the entire community. He looked determined. Unafraid. Like a man who had finally decided what mattered enough to fight for.I switched off the television.Too late.The words still lingered in my head, and the worst part was that some foolish part of me wanted to believe they changed everything.I hated that part of me.He had chosen me publicly, yes. He had finally told the truth, but where had that choice been when I was begging him to explain himself? Where had that determination been when I was locked in a cell, listening to a recording of the man I loved telling me I was worthless?He had made his decision then, too.He had decided I wa