Todos os capítulos de Stolen By My Stepbrother, the Underworld King: Capítulo 51 - Capítulo 59

(Elias’s POV)“Seven berths,” Lau says again. “From eleven. That is our final position.”“It’s your opening position.” I don’t look up from my phone. “Two minutes ago it was nine.”Halden Pacific has five men on their side of the table and a sovereign fund in the room behind them, and every one of them has been watching me for forty minutes waiting to see if I’ll flinch about the Hargrove story. Part three airs Sunday. Two insurers have already pulled coverage on three of our vessels, and a bank in Zurich is calling the whole fleet “headline risk.” So I’m not flinching. I’m texting.Me: Did you eat?Lorei: yes mom 🙄Lorei: sandwich. real one. with a pickleMe: Which pickle?Lorei: THE pickle“Mr. Walker.” Lau clears his throat. “Is something amusing?”What? “No.”“You are smiling.”“I’m calculating.” I put the phone face down. “Nine berths, or we reroute the Piraeus feeder through Colombo, and you explain to your fund why your terminal runs at sixty percent in Q1. I’m not asking you

(Lorei’s POV)I step on the rooftop lounge, and it's freezing. I realize I’m standing on it barefoot in a camisole and shorts, and my feet already hurt, and I don’t care, because it’s the only place in this house where nobody can hear me. I had tossed off the dress somewhere as I was coming to the roof. “I hate him.”I say it out loud to the string lights nobody ever turns on. It comes out so thin, like biting into something and finding it empty. I try again.“I fucking HATE him.”Nothing. My teeth are chattering. A tear runs off my chin and lands on my collarbone, right where I put the perfume, and it’s the perfume that does it. I can smell it. I stood in front of a mirror and thought about whether to wear a bra. For him. Two days ago I was so happy I danced in the car.Why would a person do that for someone they hate?My legs give out and I sit down hard on the cold edge of the wicker chair.Oh.Oh no.No, no, no, no.I put both hands over my face, because it’s right there in my he

(Lorei’s POV)“Okay, but you can’t just say ‘pickle’ like it’s a personality,” Elias says, eyes on the road. “There are different types.”“There’s only one type, and it’s the type that goes on a sandwich.”“That’s three types. Dill, bread-and-butter, and the sweet gherkin.”“How do you know that?”“I read the jar.” His mouth twitches. “Marisol bought four after you said ‘the pickle.’ I wanted to know which one I was dealing with.”I laugh so hard I have to put my forehead on the cold window. It’s been two days since the roof, and we’ve been careful in a stiff, polite way, like two people carrying a full pot of soup across a room. He drives me to work. I tell him a pun. He pretends not to laugh. Last night he said “I’m doing it” out loud, standing in my doorway, about a conversation with Briggs, and I said “Thank you for telling me,” and we both stood there like it was the weirdest thing either of us had ever done. It’s working. It’s slow and awkward and it’s working. Even though we st

(Lorei’s POV)“Wait, back up. Teo gave her a ring pop?”“A blue one.” Marisol is perched on the end of my bed with her shoes off and her feet tucked under her, holding a mug she’s stopped drinking from. “He took it out of his pocket in the kitchen, in front of the whole staff, and got down on one knee.”“Oh my god.”“Anita screamed. She dropped a tray of croissants.”“Is that a yes?”“She said ‘it’s not even a real ring,’ and he said ‘it’s a real promise,’ and she cried, and now he’s wearing the wrapper on a chain around his neck.” Marisol lowers her voice. “Briggs saw it, he pretended he didn’t. But his ears were red. I could see he was fuming.”I’m laughing so hard I have to hold the pillow over my stomach. It’s day three of Elias insisting I need to rest after the Fisher saga, and I’ve been in this bed so long I can name every crack in the ceiling. I’ve had soup, toast, crackers, three kinds of tea, and a hot water bottle someone put in my hands without a word. Everything is soft a

(Lorei’s POV)I’m staring at the weekly report spreadsheet, I’ve read the same row six times and I still don’t know what it says. Vendor report. Boring columns. Boring numbers. Read the stupid column, Lorei!My head is banging. Like, actually banging. It starts behind my left eye and shoots down my neck. It’s so hot I want to rip it off and stick it in the fridge. Through the glass wall, I can see Briggs outside my door, standing there like a statue. He’s been there since Monday. I wanted to fight it, but then I remembered that just last week we were tailed. Can’t risk it.Briggs catches me looking and gives me a tiny nod.I rub my temples. Nothing. Fuck this. I’m going home.I call Elias before I can change my mind. He picks up on the first ring. “Yes?”“Hi. Um. I think I’m going to head home.”“It’s two-fifteen.”“I know. I don’t feel good. It’s just my head. And my stomach, it’s rumbling. aAnd I didn’t eat anything new. It’s just… I can’t even explain it.”He pauses. Then suddenly