Page 99 of Heartless Stepbrother

Are you sure?

This is dangerous.

He will destroy you if he finds out.

But then came the memory of his eyes. That cold, claiming stare that stripped me bare. The heat of his presence behind thedoor. The unspoken truth that he could take everything from me because he already believed he owned it.

He crossed the line first.

I only followed.

Before caution could form another warning, I pressed Send.

The message vanished from my screen, swallowed by the digital quiet. It felt like I had thrown a stone into a dark lake, waiting for the ripples to return and show me what I had awakened.

I stood there in the locked bathroom, my heart beating like a frantic fist against my ribs, knowing I had just started a war.

And knowing I could not afford to lose.

Something cold and sharp slid through me. It cut through the haze of adrenaline and left a strange, crystalline clarity in its wake. My heart was still thundering, but my mind quieted in a way that terrified me. I felt like someone else. Someone capable. Someone made of steel.

Cleanup.

Erase.

Hide everything.

The words echoed like orders in a covert operation. I obeyed without hesitation, because anything less meant destruction. Riley was not a boy who allowed secrets. He was the kind who mined them, polished them, and used them until they cut.

He had already rifled through my things before. He had not even bothered to disguise it. If he suspected even a fragment of what I had just done, he would not ask questions. He would simply take what he believed he was owed.

I could not leave a trail. Not even a ghost of one.

My hands steadied with a precision that felt foreign. I moved through the messaging app, navigating back to the thread with the unknown number. The messages stared back at me. Mydemand. Their invitation. The earlier reckless contact. Every line felt like a noose around my throat.

I pressed my finger against the screen until a small menu bloomed open.

Delete Conversation.

My stomach twisted so tightly it felt as if something inside me had knotted itself into a fist. But my thumb did not tremble. My breathing did not stutter. The fear sharpened me instead of freezing me.

The device asked me a final question.

Are you sure you want to delete this entire conversation?

Yes.

I tapped it, and in an instant the thread evaporated. Pure white swallowed every word, every risk, every confession. When the inbox returned, the space where that number had once existed was empty. Blank. Innocent.

As if nothing had ever happened.

Maybe I should change my passcode…

But he would find out. And that would only make him more suspicious that I had something to hide.

No. I would leave my phone like this. At least for now.

My body felt coiled, every nerve pulled tight. Anxiety did not vanish. It reorganized itself. It settled into something sharper, something precise, the same tension I imagined soldiers felt before stepping into enemy territory. Every tick of the clock on the wall throbbed like the beat of a war drum. I could almost feel its pulse beneath my skin.