Page 100 of Heartless Stepbrother

Yet beneath the fear, beneath the pressure, something else stirred. Something small and dangerous. A sensation like the spark before a fire catches.

Control.

It flickered low in my stomach, cold and steady, the opposite of panic. For the first time since Riley had cornered my world, Ihad done something he did not know about. Something he did not permit. Something that could shift the balance, even if only by inches.

I had not escaped. I had not won anything. But I had moved. I had acted. I had refused to be still.

A plan hummed at the edges of my consciousness. It was hazy. Reckless. Sharp as broken glass. But it was there, waiting for shape and opportunity.

I curled my fingers around the phone until my knuckles whitened. It felt heavier than before, as if the device knew it carried the first stone of a war I had just declared. A silent conspiracy existed now, forged between me and a stranger hidden behind a number I didn’t know.

I was no longer merely a girl breathing fear behind a locked bathroom door.

I had taken a step toward becoming something else.

And the terrifying part was how right it felt.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

LUNA

Iwasstillstandingin the bathroom threshold when the sound came.

A sudden, sharp rap on the bedroom door.

It cracked through the silence with the force of a whip. Loud. Invasive. It echoed off marble and glass and the too high ceiling.My breath clipped short. My spine jerked straight. A jolt of cold adrenaline exploded through my veins.

I froze where I stood, mid-step, feeling my pulse slam violently beneath my skin.

Who is it?

The question twisted tight in my stomach. The air felt heavier. Thicker. As if the house itself leaned closer to listen.

For a moment, I did not move at all. The stillness wrapped around me like a shroud. I waited for another knock, or a voice, or the sound of Riley’s hand on the handle. My throat tightened at the thought of him being on the other side. Watching. Waiting.

When nothing came, I forced my limbs to move. Stiff. Mechanical. As if my body belonged to someone else and I was borrowing it to survive.

I stepped out of the bathroom’s cold sanctuary and into the larger bedroom. The opulence swallowed me whole. Plush carpets. Gilded frames. A bed too large and pristine to be real. Light fixtures that glowed like captured stars. Everything looked expensive enough to buy a future I no longer had.

My legs carried me across the room in a slow, uneven rhythm. Each step sank deep into the carpet, like the house was trying to pull me in. Absorb me. Make me forget who I had been before I crossed its threshold.

I reached the main door and hesitated just long enough for fear to whisper again. Then I pulled it open.

I braced myself for Riley.

For his height filling the frame. For the cold amusement in his gaze. For the quiet dominance that followed him like a shadow.

Instead, the person standing there was not Riley at all.

It was the one who had greeted us when we arrived. The one in the immaculate black suit that fit him like armor. His expressionwas blank, professional, carved into neutrality so perfect it almost felt artificial. A mannequin come to life.

He dipped his head in a gesture that suggested respect but felt like ritual.

“Miss Carter,” he said. His voice was smooth and even, untouched by emotion. “Dinner will be served in the main dining area in five minutes. I have been instructed to inform you.”

The word instructed chilled me more than the message itself.

Five minutes.