Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother

Chapter 49

apter 49

KASMINE

The night had turned against me.

The moment my eyes met Kester's through that window, everything inside me turned to ice.

His dead, hollow eyes bare into me, stripping me bare. His expression had been deathly still, like a ghost. Like a nightmare made real.

Then, in the next breath, he was gone.

I had stopped immediately, my heart slamming against my ribs, my body cold despite the heat of Jake's hands tangling in my hair, guiding me forward, completely unaware of what I had just seen.

And the fact that I didn't even know if it was just my imagination or if it was even real added to my panic.

I didn't give Jake the expected release he might have looked forward to. I had taken him high up to the sky and let him fall to the ground just like that. But, typical Jake... He was not even offended. Not even a flicker of frustration crossed his face when I pulled away, when I all but collapsed back onto the bed, shaking when I gave him something I'd consider half a release. Instead, he was grateful I even offered to help him.

I dreaded returning home.

If that was Kester I had seen there, then it was better I killed myself than let him kill me himself because he'd

tely kill me. I made Jake lock all the doors in his house and made him promise me he wouldn't answer the door If anyone came knocking.

I hadn't gone out with any of the cars at home. I went in a taxi. The same way I returned. I made the taxi drop me off a few blocks away while I walked down to the house. I didn't want to attract attention from Kester if he wasn't the one at Jake's place after all.

The closer I got to the house, the more the dread curled around my ribs, squeezing. My palms were slick, my throat dry.

I knocked gently on the gate, and the guard opened it without asking questions. The atmosphere inside the house was too still.

I closed the front door behind me as quietly as I could, barely daring to breathe. My heart hammered so violently that I swore it would give me away.

Please, let him be asleep.

The whole place was dark, save for the dimly lit sleeping lights that were on. I slowly stepped toward the stairs, resisting the urge to bolt up them two at a time. My legs felt weak-like they might give out at any moment-but I forced myself forward.

By the time I reached the top, my chest was so tight I could barely pull in the air.

Kester's door stood just a few feet away.

1 hesitated

My fingers curled into fists at my sides as I leaned in, pressing my ear against the wood.

Nothing.

No sound. No movement.

Chapter 49

The silence should have comforted me, but instead, it sent fresh wave of unease through me.

'He's asleep,' I told myself. Or maybe... maybe he wasn't even at Jake's place to begin with. Perhaps I really did imagine it.

I straightened, swallowing against the tightness in my throat. 'Just get to your room. Lock the door. Don't think Just sleep.' I kept chanting to myself.

The hallway was empty, but it felt as if eyes were crawling over me.

I walked on numb legs to my bedroom dont, my fingers shaking as I turned the knob and slipped inside.

The darkness swallowed me.

1 exhaled quietly, pressing my back against the door for just a second before turning to lock it. My skin prickled, my instincts screaming at me that something was off, but Ignored it.

I needed to breathe. I needed to calm down.

But the moment I turned around-

The lights flickered on.

And I almost died.

A sharp, startled gasp ripped from my throat as I stumbled back against the door,

my entire body locking up in pure, paralyzing terror.

Because there, sitting in the chair by my window, was the one person I had prayed not to see tonight.

Kester.

My stomach plummeted.

He sat with one leg crossed over the other, his hands folded neatly in his lap.

He didn't move. He didn't blink. His intense eyes were fixed on me, unreadable, gleaming under the glow of the bedside light he just switched on.

My breath came in quick, shallow bursts. I couldn't move. I couldn't even think.

run, but my

“།

I whispered with

deathly

head slightly, studying me like I was something fragile. Like something he was deciding what

home, Kasmine."

Chapter 56

Chapter 50.

KESTER.

had lost my mind completely. The first

I was paralyzed by the sight of her-her mouth, so fucking cager, swallowing him whole like

herself to that fucking asshole; her eyes closed, totally lost in it. And I

but it wasn't anger that hit

raw, gut-wrenching pain, something that ripped through me,

could feel the anger rising, boiling under my skin,

break her-to make her see that she couldn't do this.

her frozen in place as she saw me only fueled my anger. I didn't want to hurt

I could muster before standing up, "Hmm?" I took slow strides toward her,

thought for one second that I was going to hit her or do anything harmful to her, then she was

She was shaking.

in her hands. Her pupils were blown wide, panic spreading like cracks through the ice, but she didn't move.

Good

She was scared.

I liked that

meant something. Because it meant she understood-finally fucking understood that what she had done wasn't something I

was never going to let it

me to settle. The fury,

with him it had dragged

I could

1 lifted my hand.

it stopped

had never hurt her before... Would never

her body

flooded with guilt, thought

against her cheek. Soft. Gentle. The way

Chapter 50

She was burning up

fever of fear and guilt. I could feel her pulse hammering under

hot it felt like she

in, just a fraction, so that she

voice.

I paused, letting my

so she had no choice but to

Freshen up.

She wasn't breathing

I smirked at that.

"And

wasn't even touching her anymore, but she was

close to her ear, when you're done..."

think about closing that door before

KASMINE.

death. Kester issued the

What was he planning?

secret phone and ran into the bathroom, calling Jake for the tenth time after

hands were shaking so badly I could barely

dying Had Kester harmed him already? I hope not. Otherwise, I

tried dialing one more time, pressing the phone so tight

my own pulse thrumming through my skull.

I panicked, picking it up immediately. I looked for the best possible place to hide it, but there was

called. His voice was calm. Too calm.

was walking toward the bathroom

I was tempted to think that Kester was watching me through some magic means or something... He always seemed to know what I was doing

frantically, searching for somewhere-anywhere-to hide the phone. Under the sink? No, it's too open. We cabinet? Too obvious. The fucking bathtub? No

were getting

Shit

had one

yanked at the knot in my towel, unraveling it in a desperate motion. The

the door

The door burst open.

I was standing

Chapter 50

Naked.

split second, everything

gaze dragged down my body, slow, dark,

muscle ticked

He stepped forward.

I stepped back.

the shock of it making me shudder.