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My fingers clasp the top of the crystal tumbler, twisting it around as my mind wanders, replaying the events of the night, unable to decide which put me in the mood for violence. Though it’s easy to realize they all revolve around two women. My father’s narcissistic, abusive bitch of a wife and the sweet girl I am still not convinced came from her.
Girl…That’s rich. She hasn’t been a girl in a long time, and if I let myself admit it, I haven’t thought of her as one in a long time either. But the minute I admit she is anything but the tiny thing I found crying in this very room ten years ago is the minute Ihad to admit something far more twisted and forbidden. Though denying it has proven futile. Even distance and time haven’t cleansed me of the illicit desires that have invaded my mind since the moment she pressed her lips to mine.
I want my stepsister.
I want to dirty up her pretty. Turn her innocent wicked. Make the good girl a filthy little slut.
And that, friends, is why I stayed away because who the fuck thinks like that? Casey is everything right with the world. She deserves to be treated like a princess, and my depraved mind can only think of her on her knees, choking on my cock.
She’s my goddamn stepsister. Eight years my junior stepsister.
If that’s not forbidden and off-limits, I don’t know what is.
Something my little brother may need a reminder of. I thought he knew the rules. That I’d made myself clear over the years. Because Casey is just as off-limits for him. No, that’s not true. She’smoreoff-limits for him because if I can’t have her, I’ll be damned if he can.
I roll my neck around my shoulders, trying to alleviate the tension that builds by the second. Four years ago, when her soft lips met mine, everything I thought and felt about her changed. If I thought for a second, however, that distance would change the sudden shift in how I saw her, I was badly mistaken. Each time I saw her over the next two years, the desire I felt for her increased until it came to a nasty, jealous head.
Don’t worry. I didn’t do anything stupid, but I made an ass out of myself and almost crossed a line I wouldn’t be able to uncross. It was only by sheer will that common sense prevailed. She thinks I was being a protective older brother. If she only knew the thoughts I’ve had about her over the years, she wouldneveraccuse me of acting like herbrotheragain.
Bright lights illuminate the dark, and I blink as my eyes adjust to the sudden change. My father appears in the doorway, eyes tired, shoulders sagging, as he heads straight for the wet bar to the left, somehow not noticing me sitting twenty feet away. He pours himself a glass of Scotch, downing the tumbler in one go, then sets the glass down, propping both hands on the bar, and exhales.
“What’s the sigh about, Dad?”
His head pops up, and his back turns to steel. He slowly pushes himself upright and turns toward me. When his dark eyes meet my matching ones, they are clouded with defeat. “Graham, I’m glad you’re home, son, though I’ll admit the timing is curious.” The timing is more than curious, and I plan to get to the bottom of it soon, but it will wait. When I don’t respond, another heavy breath escapes him. “I’m not in the mood, Graham. I just came in here for a drink before I go check on the baby.”
The baby. That is another thing altogether, and I want answers. Taking care of Casey was one thing, but I can’t understand why in the hell my father cares for the result of his wife’s indiscretions.
But first things first…
“I’m not an expert on parenting, but shouldn’t checking on an infant come first.” His expression is unamused, so I cut to the chase. “Fine.” I stand from the navy wingback and walk toward the bar, grabbing the decanter to refill my glass, then turn to him with my glass pointed his way. “I just wanted you to know that I do not care what she did or didn’t do. I’m not giving you a penny to post her bail or hire an attorney.”
I tip my glass to my lips and stare at him over the rim. It’s sad how much my father has aged. He looks much older than his fifty-four years, and the only person to blame is himself. Butgrief changed him, and a succubus has been trying to finish him off since she set her hooks into him.
“I didn’t expect you to, Graham. I will use the money from the label sale.”
“And go through what little you have left? She bankrupted you years ago, and you’re going to let her have that, too?” I grind out, trying hard to keep my calm. “The business that Mom’s grandfather started. That your father purchased. The business that was supposed to bemine. You’re just going to throw it all away on her? When are you going to open your damn eyes and see she is nothing but a gold-digging, manipulative whore?”
“Watch your mouth.” His dark eyes flash with anger as he scolds, forgetting I’m not a child. I wasn’t a child when he married the bitch.
“I call them as I see them. You know, speak the truth? Remember what it was like when you acknowledged what was right in front of you? Saw things for what they are? You’re the one who taught me, after all.”
The moment of fight leaves him, and he drags a weary hand over his tired face. “She is fragile. That place will break her.”
The glass in my hand flies across the room, crashing against the fireplace and shattering into a million pieces. Much like thatfragile womanhas done to her own daughter time and again. “She’s not Mom.” I explode, my fist clenching, wanting to shake some sense into the man who looks like my father, but is so far from the man who raised me I barely recognize him. “She played on your grief like a pro. She’s a damn con woman who saw you a mile away and has used every moment she can to gaslight you. She’s as fragile as fucking bulletproof glass. As goddamn transparent, too. Except to you, it seems. And I guess her fucking ex-husband since he was dumb enough to marryher, too. Not to mention letting her anywhere near Casey.” Dad flinches, and I know why. I’m being unfair to Liam and not placing nearly enough responsibility on my dad’s shoulders. Or my own. Because Krista had Dad’s money and power and Liam by the balls. It’s why I kept Casey’s secrets when I wanted to tell her dad everything I knew, which I’ve always suspected wasn’t as much as what was happening.
I step away from my dad, lacing my fingers behind my neck and pulling hard. My head falls back between my shoulders as I stare at the stained-glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling. “You were almost free, Dad. What the hell happened?”
I look over my shoulder and see the guilt in his eyes. Along with pain and… Anger? He shakes his head, his lids closing as his nostrils flare. “Circumstances change, son. She had no one and a new baby. What was I supposed to do?”
Call CPS to get the kid?“Let her figure it out with the baby’s father.” I close the distance between us, dropping my hands to my dad’s shoulders. Our dark eyes meet, and I tell him the real reason I’m here. “I want her out. I don’t care where she goes, though I’d prefer it’s as far away from Casey as fucking possible. But she’s gone.”
I get another flash of the man who raised me. The proud, unrelenting, yet fair man who never backed down from a challenge. “That is not your decision to make. This ismyhome.”
I drop my hands and step back. My head bobs as I rock back on my heels and shove my hands in my pockets. “And it always will be, but my name is on the deed. I want her out.”
“No. We can’t. I won’t put her or her child out.”
“Casey is not a child, and she is better off without that woman tearing her apart. As far as that baby goes, as I stated earlier, let its father take care of it. It would be better off than allowingKrista to destroy another human being’s spirit.”
