Page 55 of Heartless Stepbrother

“Stop,” I whispered, the word strangled. “Please.”

The shift was immediate.

His smirk didn’t disappear, but something in his posture loosened. Not kindness.

Not remorse.

Restraint.

He stepped back.

Just an inch.

But it was enough. The water slid between us like a gasp of cold air, separating my skin from his, letting shock and humiliation hit me in one crushing wave.

I recoiled as if burned, covering my chest with an arm as I scrambled backward through the water, breath shaking.

Riley didn’t chase me.

He didn’t apologize either.

He simply lifted my bikini top again, letting it drip from his fingers.

“Whenever you’re ready, princess.” Soft. Dangerous. “You know where to find me.”

I fled from him, the water trembling around me, the night too loud in my ears, my heartbeat a frantic, mortifying anthem.

And behind me, his quiet laugh followed like a warm, velvety hand at my spine.

Like a promise.

A threat.

A warning.

I didn’t swim so much as escape.

The water felt thicker now, clinging to my skin like a second shame as I pushed toward the nearest ladder. Every small sound seemed magnified. The soft slosh of my movements, the faint tremor of my breath, the distant throb of music drifting from the resort bar. All of it echoed inside me, too loud, too raw. My arm stayed glued across my chest, fingers locked so tight my knuckles ached.

My legs trembled when they found the pool steps.

I climbed out slowly, carefully, trying to be silent even though every drip of water from my skin felt like a shout. The night air hit me like a slap, cool and merciless on my exposed skin. Goosebumps raced across my torso, not from the temperature but from the dizzying intensity of what had just happened.

I didn’t look back.

I couldn’t.

But I felt him behind me.

His stare.

His awareness.

His victory.

The resort grounds stretched in long, polished pathways of pale stone, lit by soft torches and buried lamps that cast warm pools of light on the ground. I had never felt more visible. More bare. Every inch of me felt exposed, shaken open, rearranged.

I kept my head down and moved fast, hugging the shadows, pressing into the palm-lined edges of the path.