Lahat ng Kabanata ng Forbidden Love: Claimed By My Stepbrother: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 5

I stood in front of the door to room 217 and knocked twice. No answer.Inside my jacket pocket, my phone buzzed softly. Mom’s text message was still open on the screen, the letters burning like needles.We’re leaving for Miami tonight. You have to come.I had come to this men's dorm for only one reason: to tell Daniel that I was moving to Miami. The guy I had been dating for a year—the kind of man who always knew how to calm me down and made me forget, at least for a while, the boy from my past.The door in front of me remained closed. For some reason, an uneasy feeling churned in my chest. Finally, I punched in the PIN code I had memorized by heart.Click.I pushed the door open and froze instantly. Sitting on the shoe rack was a pair of white sneakers with blue ribbons. Shoes I knew all too well.I was the one who had bought them as a birthday gift for Elena a few months ago.No. It has to be a coincidence.But from behind Daniel’s slightly ajar bedroom door, the muffled sounds of a

The next morning, the Miami sunlight pierced through the thin curtains of my bedroom. I woke up with swollen eyes and a heavy head.The phone screen on the nightstand lit up repeatedly. Daniel. Daniel. Elena. Daniel. I flipped the phone face down.The house was already quiet. Mom and Robert had left early to handle paperwork for their marriage. I went down to the kitchen for a glass of water, hoping the cold liquid would soothe my frayed nerves that had been on edge since last night.“Morning, Sister.”Luca was leaning near the kitchen doorway holding a cup of black coffee, his white dress shirt rolled up to his elbows. Hearing that word made my stomach turn.“Don’t call me that.”“Why? Isn’t that what we are now? My father and your mother. We’re family, Ave.”“Only on paper. I’ve never considered you family.”He set his cup down with a sharp clink and stepped closer. “You think you can just ignore me after five years? You ended everything in a matter of seconds and vanished without a

“You really think that's what happened,” he whispered.“I believe what I saw.”“And you never thought it wasn't real?” He stepped closer. His jaw worked, as though there were something he desperately wanted to say and something else holding him back. “Forget it. It seems even my explanation wouldn't make you believe it.”That sentence should have made me feel triumphant. But instead, my chest felt heavy, as though pressed down by a weight.I waited for the anger that usually followed. None came.There was only Luca, standing beneath the dim light with his shoulders slightly slumped, like someone who had carried something alone for far too long.“I'm sorry for hurting you so badly five years ago.” The words slipped out of nowhere.“Luca—”His thumb lifted, pausing briefly in the air as if asking for permission. I didn't react, remaining frozen in place.He gently wiped the tears from my cheek.The touch was warm and hesitant. It was as though he feared making me uncomfortable, yet this