In Love With My Evil Stepbrother

Chapter 84: A Patient Predator

Eason’s POV

I wake up in her bed the next morning.

The first thing I look for is her. Luckily, she is still sleeping soundly besides me, her face bathed in the golden morning sunlight.

She’s like an angel.

I let out a long sign, feeling relieved. I don’t remember how many nights that I dreamed about her sleeping in my arms and woke up to find that everything was only in my head.

It almost crushed me.

I went through the darkest period time in my life three years ago when she left me. I couldn’t cope with the fact that the love of my life was gone, and everything was my fault. So I fled back to New York from Miami and locked myself up in the apartment. I wanted to rot in that dark room, so that I didn’t need to face the reality.

I drank myself to sleep but just kept being woken up by nightmares. So I drank more, forcing myself to sleep. It’s like a vicious circle. My life had fallen into a dark, endless pit.

I remember one time I drank an entire bottle of vodka and passed out on the bathroom floor. If my bodyguard didn’t find me in time, I’d be dead already. I was taken into the emergency room because of alcohol poisoning and couldn’t get out of the hospital bed for a whole week.

My dad flew from Boston to New York to check on me. He sat beside my bed staring at me, but I didn’t want to face him. I had no interest in talking to anyone, except Natalia.

“So are you acting like this because of her?” asked him sternly. “Do you think she would be happy seeing you like this?”

I stare at the ceiling, ignoring him. Truth to be told, I blamed him too. If he had given us a little bit of support, maybe she wouldn’t have left.

left! Because you couldn’t take the responsibility as a man and you disappointed her!”

me a fucking lecture? He didn’t want us to be together in the first place! Isn’t this exactly what he wants?!

I clench my teeth and hiss. The excessive alcohol had burned my throat. So my

left you. But you have a long life ahead of you son, and you are still in your twentieth. Lots of things can happen in the future. What if she come back one day and see you like this? Do you think she will still love an alcoholic?”

if we meet again in the future and she finds me as this filthy and scruffy man covered in wine and vomit? She already has so many pursuers, if I keep letting alcohol destroy my body like this, I’ll be out of

hate him, his muscular

Fuck.

are a smart kid. You will figure this out,” my dad said that

back. A year later, I got into

up my mind not to take over the family business. This way, I took orders from no one. I would be fully in charge of my own life, including

meant that she was only four hours away from me. It was killing me. All I wanted to do was to rush back to her side and drag her into my arms,

Natalia and take pictures of her, which would surely piss her off if she ever finds out. Her photo was the only thing that kept me going for the past two

some progress. My company was on the right track, and I had gotten rid of my

was ready to meet

…But how?

like a perfect coincidence. Luckily, the private detective told me that she was working at a restaurant, a great place for bumping into someone. And to better sell it, I even brought a date. A fake date, of course. I lost interest on

shaking under the table. She looked wonderful, more sophisticated and mature. I had seen her face thousands of times in the photo, but nothing compared to her standing in front of me

But fortunately, she didn’t push me away. Apparently, she believed that we had both moved on. So I kept my patience, playing the role as her big brother and gradually eased her guard

looked at her, I could still detect the

loved me! But be the one taking the first step. It had to be

was running out, my mother called and told me that she wanted to introduce my marriage partner to me. Funny. Did

then I realized that this could become my gentle nudge to Natalia. So I eagerly agreed to

knew I was being manipulative again, a trait that Natalia hated the most. But this is who I am. I planned ahead