I Hate My Stepbrother

I met Oleg in junior school, and we clicked right away. Despite our fathers being rival mafia bosses, we never fell apart. But my feelings for Oleg changed with age. I felt frightened because I was torn between the comforts of friendship and the thrill of something more. My dad was very homophobic, so it was even more difficult to express how I felt. I was faced with wanting to be truthful but endangering our families’ fragile peace So, my feelings stayed hidden, and I was just happy to be with Oleg. Yet I couldn’t help but hope that Oleg would feel the same. Perhaps he was too scared to say anything. That hint of hope was what gave me the courage to take action. And I did but things went terribly wrong. our worlds collided and exploded. It left us with nothing but hatred and resentment between our families. If I could turn back time, I would be content with the friendship we once shared, not the hurt and anger which we now have. We parted ways with hatred in our hearts,a wound that never healed,years later,our path crossed again......

Every tear I shed feeds his ego. Every whimper, his pride. Every bruise he leaves behind, his silent claim over me. He takes me cold. Leaves me ruined. And I wait - quiet, breathless, for the next time he comes back to break me again. He thinks he has me in the palm of his hand. Thinks I’m nothing without him. A fragile wife, meek, obedient. A weakness he never needed. I let him believe it. I never tried to break the illusion. As long as I have his hands on me, As long as his shadows reach for me, That’s enough. But in the dark, daggers roam. And with every sound my heels make, they fall. He still thinks I’m glass, But he hasn’t heard me shatter.

My younger sister had sworn off marriage and children, but as we grew older, she envied me for having both a husband and son. Not only did she demand that I share my husband with her, but she even wanted my son to care for her in her old age. I scolded her for being delusional and shameless. But she held a grudge, and in front of my son, she claimed that I had cut off his chance at inheriting a fortune. He believed her. With one strike, he killed me and then declared to the world that my sister was his real mother. When I opened my eyes again, I returned to the day my sister refused to go on a blind date. This time, she happily agreed to it and even boasted to me that she planned to have many kids. "Liz Stanton, this time, I'll be the one with a husband and kids." But I had no intention of reliving the misery of marriage either.

The enemies of my adopted sister's parents mistook me for her and kidnapped me. Before the rogues killed me, they gave me three phone calls for help. If anyone was willing to give me three hundred dollars, I could live. For the first call, I dialed my father. Father didn't listen to a word I said. He immediately unleashed a torrent of curses. "Where the hell are you? Get your ass back home right now for your sister's birthday!" For the second call, I dialed my brother. My brother listened silently to my plea for help, then hung up with a cold snort. "You're never around when the pack needs you. Who's going to fall for this act now?" For the third call, I dialed my fiancé. He didn't even answer. When I called again, I'd been blocked. The rogue wolf laughed at me. "Looks like being the eldest daughter of the Ashwood family doesn't mean much, does it?" After he tortured me to death, he stuffed my body into a suitcase and threw it in the river.

“She should have run away… while I let her. She should have disappeared with all of these intense feelings that she evokes in me. She should have never come this close to me. Because Now…” Luciano’s eyes darkened and something snapped in him as he saw her tear her shirt away, exposing her to his naked, hungry eyes and before Luciano could even pull himself away, his body acted on his own, wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her closer before his mouth devoured her, “…Now, there’s no going back.” “Mine…” He growled, “You’re just mine to ruin, Noora!” “I knew I should have run away from this man whose sole purpose was to hate me, wreck me, and make me fall. But here I was standing now, for him to ruin, for him to claim his ownership. Yet, why was she feelings the things that were far away from the loathing that I have for him?” “Luciano…” Noora moaned, her fingers clutching his hair as she pulled him closer, biting her lips, “You’ll never ruin me!” ……………… Noora never asked to be caught in the ruthless games of power, deception, and vengeance, yet the moment she returned home for Lucas’s engagement, her past and fate became entangled with the one man who despised her the most—Luciano. The heir to the Richardson empire, Luciano had only ever shown her cruelty, pushing her away with his cold words and scorching glares. But beneath the hatred lay something darker, something that neither of them could deny any longer. As secrets unravel and their pasts collide, their undeniable pull toward each other threatens to destroy them both. Because in this game, love isn’t just passion—it’s possession. And neither of them is willing to lose.

In the third year the law firm was established, Claire Stone joined the firm as an assistant. From then on, my boyfriend started buying breakfast for her. My childhood friend also drove her to and from work. As for me, I became the wicked woman who bullied the newbie. The repeated disappointments made me decide to expel them from my life. So I agreed to a marriage contract with someone else, and while my boyfriend and childhood friend mocked me, I left the firm we had formed together. Later, they learned that they had been showering all their love and attention on a spy sent by a rival law firm. When they regretted their actions and asked me to go back to them, my husband sent them an invitation to our wedding.

The day I gave birth, so did Lily Jasper—the underprivileged student I had been sponsoring. But her baby didn’t survive. Afterward, my husband, Carter Scott, insisted on making Lily my son’s godmother. From that moment on, she was everywhere—always butting into my parenting. Whether I was disciplining my son or buying him clothes, Lily never missed a chance to chime in with her opinions. Years later, when my son took his college entrance exams, I helped him choose a major that matched his scores. But Lily pushed hard for him to apply to Merika State or Haven State University instead. In the end, he listened to me and got into a suitable college. Then his acceptance letter came. And everything fell apart. That day, he caused a car accident. My accident. He stepped out of the car, walked over, and kicked me a few times as I lay helpless on the ground. His face was full of disgust as he spat, “You actually thought you were my mom?” His voice was cold. “You’ve made my real mom cry over and over because of you. “You were never family. My real parents and I—we’re family. You? You were just in the way. “But it's over now. Finally...” He smiled cruelly. “We can be together—the real family.” And in that moment, I finally understood. Lily didn’t lose her baby that day. She killed my newborn son and swapped him with hers. Everything went dark. But when I opened my eyes again, I was back. Back to the day I gave birth.

"Mrs. Sterling, are you sure you're ready to end this marriage of twenty years and give up the custody?" "Yes. File it. I’m done." I said calmly through the phone as I scrubbed at a stubborn grease stain on the granite island. For twenty years, I poured my entire being into this family. I managed the households, handled the children's education , and stood by my husband's side, supporting his rise in the syndicate without complaint. But my husband Alexander brought his young adopted sister Chloe to the interview, saying, "My success today is all thanks to my adopted sister." Even my own children looked down on me, calling me common and crude housewife. They had formed an alliance with his ever-present "auntie," the woman who seemed to think she was the true lady of the house. I signed the divorce papers and walked away, leaving them to become the "perfect family" they clearly wanted. But that when the family panicked…

The impostor took his own life the day I married Cathy Jones. By the second year of our marriage, we had turned against each other completely because of him. She despised me because my return had driven Zac Lowe to his death. And I despised her for longing after the man who had stolen my name for twenty years. For a decade, we hurled the cruelest words and wished death upon each other until the earthquake came. She shielded me under her body and used her back to bear the weight of the collapsing beam to keep me alive. The ceiling fell. Blood and debris blurred together. As her life slipped away, she whispered in my ear, “If I had known he would die, I would have never brought you home. “If there’s another life, your only family should be me.” In the end, I still died in the aftershock. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day she first took me to meet my biological parents. But she suddenly changed her mind. “Harry, I was wrong! You’re not the son the Lowe family lost twenty years ago.”

Life is so unpredictable. Who could have thought that the man, Zelica Luna Guerrero’s been dreaming for, would shockingly be her supposed step brother? It just happened, as if it was really destined to meet him, Hideo Eito Takahashi, in a peculiar way. The decision of their parents made a huge impact on their lives. Is this going to create a strong bond or a massive wall between them? How could Zelica live with Hideo on just one roof? He is a nonchalant person, sobrang ilap nito at malimit kumausap ng tao. Ultimo mga kaibigan nito ay para bang napipilitan pa nitong kausapin. In an instant, his attitude towards her suddenly changed. The way he looks at her, comforting her, and being with her all the time. Pero alam niya ring mali ito dahil may fiancé ang binata dahil sa arranged marriage na plano ng ama ni Hideo. She frantically asked herself. “What the hell is going on with my life? Is the universe being with me?” But little did she know, behind his impeccable face and captivating actions, he is planning something that would certainly change her whole life. What if she falls into his trap and starts to deeply love him more than herself? In the eyes of society, it is sinful to be with him, and it is morally wrong to be with her step brother. She continued to forbid herself and resist the blazing temptation from him. Would she let herself build an indestructible wall between them or would she set aside everything and be unwavered enough to be with him?