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

“།

I whispered with trembling

sending a deathly chill down

tilted his head slightly, studying me like I was something fragile. Like something

home, Kasmine."

Chapter 56

Chapter 50.

KESTER.

completely.

I was paralyzed by the

that fucking asshole; her eyes closed, totally lost in it. And I just stood there, watching Helpless. So

against my ribs, but it wasn't anger that

pain, something that ripped through me, shattering

anger rising, boiling under my skin, the

Anything But most of all, I wanted to break her-to make her see

only fueled my anger. I didn't want to hurt her.... I didn't want to. I had to keep my

"Hmm?" I took slow strides

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

She was shaking.

tremble in her hands. Her pupils were blown wide, panic

Good

She was scared.

I liked that

meant she understood-finally

was never going to let it

me to settle. The

with him it had dragged me so deep into

sure I

1 lifted my hand.

stopped me for a

never hurt her before... Would

body thought I

mind flooded with guilt, thought I

fingers against her cheek. Soft. Gentle.

Chapter 50

She was burning up

fear and guilt. I could feel her pulse hammering

fucking hot it felt like she

leaned in, just a fraction, so that she could hear the quiet, deathly control

voice.

paused, letting my thumb drag lazily across her

quieter, so she had no choice but

Freshen up.

She wasn't breathing

I smirked at that.

"And

anymore, but she was frozen. I leaned even

to her ear, when you're done..." I murmured,

closing that door before

KASMINE.

the

What was he planning?

reached for our secret phone and ran into the bathroom, calling Jake for the

shaking so badly I could barely grip the phone.

over the place. I was dying Had Kester harmed him already? I hope not. Otherwise, I

pressing the phone so tight against my ear

own pulse thrumming through my skull.

my phone fall from my hands. I panicked, picking it up immediately. I looked for the best possible

called. His voice was calm. Too calm. The kind

walking toward the bathroom as if he knew I was

watching me through some magic means or

somewhere-anywhere-to hide the phone. Under the sink? No, it's too open. We

were getting

Shit

only had

in my towel, unraveling it in a desperate motion. The phone disappeared into the thick folds of

behind the door just

The door burst open.

was

Chapter 50

Naked.

a split second, everything

landed on me. His gaze dragged down my body, slow, dark,

ticked in his

He stepped forward.

I stepped back.

shock of