Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

KASMINE.

I dropped to my knees beside the bed, staring at the pile of my belongings with a mix of horror and confusion. My mind raced, searching for an explanation, but there was none. None that made sense.

Kester... my brother... had kept all these things. He'd taken them.

I felt sick. My chest tightened, and the room seemed to spin around me.

My hands were still trembling when I noticed a book. It had fallen out of the box, landing near my feet. The leather-bound cover was worn, its edges frayed as though it had been handled countless times. A diary.

I stared at it for what felt like an eternity, my pulse hammering in my ears. Fear clawed at my insides, twisting and tightening until I felt like I couldn't breathe. I didn't want to pick it up. Whatever was inside that diary, I knew it wouldn't make anything better. It would make it

worse. So much worse.

But I couldn't leave it untouched. Not after everything I'd already uncovered.

My fingers hesitated before finally reaching for it. Slowly, I opened it to the first page.

My name stared back at me, written in Kester's familiar handwriting.

MINE.

the next page, my fingers trembling so hard

she wore today. She looked so perfect in it. I couldn't help myself.

I

closed as my breathing grew ragged. My hands clenched the diary so tightly that my knuckles

No, this couldn't be

But it was.

my eyes open and turned another page. This time, there was a crude drawing-of me. My face, my

stops when she laughs, and I

1/3

Chapter 16

+25 Bonus

no longer recognize. But how do I touch the sun without burning

know it. But how can something that feels so real, so consuming, be wrong? I can't stop thinking about her. The way her hair falls, the way she looks at me without

the years went by, whatever sick

darker.

but watch her when she's asleep. I know it's wrong, but I can't stop myself from peeping through the hole I had carved on my wall. The way her chest rises and falls with each breath, the softness of her lips as they part-Selene, I ache to kiss them, to taste that sweet innocence before she knows what I'm capable of. My hand itches to reach out, to touch her skin, feel the warmth of her, but I won't. Not yet. I won't ruin her,

her. She moans under my touch, and I can't stop myself from wanting more. I want to hear her beg for me, want me like I want her. I can't wait for that moment when I take her,

us alone, locked in a room where nothing but our hunger for each other matters. She doesn't know it, but I've seen her naked in my mind more times than I can count. I wonder what it would feel like to trace my fingers along the lines of her body, to kiss every inch of her until she's shaking. I want to see her break, watch her fall apart in my