Page 80 of Heartless Stepbrother

Then, with a slight pressure of his fingers at my waist, he walked me forward.

The movement jolted me. I stumbled, barely, but enough that his hand slid from my hip to the small of my back. His palm burned through the thin fabric covering me.

“Careful, Luna,” he murmured.

I hated the way my name sounded in his voice, low, warm, knowing. Like he was learning how to use it against me.

I tried to step out of his touch.

He didn’t let me.

My phone buzzed again.

I tensed.

Riley felt it.

“Answer them,” he said.

The driver opened the rear door for us. The SUV’s interior was cool and shadowed, the leather seats pristine. It smelled faintly of eucalyptus and something sharp, maybe the driver’s cologne.

I hesitated.

Riley didn’t.

His hand pressed lightly between my shoulder blades, not rough but unmistakably commanding, guiding me into the back seat. I slid across the leather. He followed, closing the door behind him. The sound was soft but final, like a lock turning.

The driver loaded our suitcases, then got into the front seat and pulled away from the tarmac, merging onto the private airport exit road. The Bay Area skyline hovered pale and distant, the Santa Cruz Mountains a hazy blue smudge beyond it.

Riley sat beside me but the distance was deceptive; his thigh brushed mine with every turn the car made. The space felt smaller with him inside it, compressed, heated, dangerous.

My phone buzzed again.

Chiara:LULU WHAT IS HAPPENINGGGG

Sienna:Tell us everything rn or I’m coming to your house myself.

Riley’s voice broke the tense silence.

“Read it.”

“No.” My voice was too thin. “They’re being… dramatic.”

“They’re being your friends,” he corrected. “And I asked you to read it.”

I stared straight ahead at the headrest, pulse thudding in my throat. “I don’t—“

“Read it.” His fingers brushed a strand of hair off my shoulder. A deceptively gentle touch.

The SUV slowed at a light near the airport exit. The car idled quietly. The world outside kept moving, traffic, palm trees, planes, but inside the SUV everything felt still, airless.

“They’re asking what’s going on.” I swallowed hard and whispered, “They want me to answer their questions.”

Riley read the panic on my face instantly. “Don’t even think about ignoring them.”

“I wasn’t going to,” I lied.

“You were.” His voice dipped low, quiet enough that the driver wouldn’t hear, sharp enough that I couldn’t pretend I misunderstood. “Answer.”