Lavender:I had been rereading his text over and over.I was honestly shocked to see him using his spare time to text me.I looked up and saw him running a hand through his hair, ruining the gelled style, and shaking his leg as he held up his phone.He was thinking about me?All those fan girls standing around, hoping for a glance—and he was texting me?Me: Yeah, how are you? I heard you’ve got a new ad coming up. Where are you?I bit my bottom lip, realizing I was in a completely different space with Easton than all the other girls around me.They were trying their hardest to get his attention… and he was busy texting me.E-Tron: Yeah! I’m at Island Brisa. So what does your boyfriend look like?I frowned. Why was he so focused on my boyfriend?I glanced at him again—he rolled his eyes while reading my message.Me: He’s handsome. Tall and broad. Even sexy.I didn’t know what I was doing. I should’ve stepped back when I had the chance. This was crossing lines—lines I knew I wasn’t supp
Nikon:"Igor! Where were you last night?" I demanded the truth from my naive and clueless brother. Igor had done nothing in his life for me or Dad to be proud of.He hadn't achieved anything so far. No matter how hard we tried to help him stay on track, he always strayed. And in the worst way possible. Sometimes I wondered if he thought he could waste his life away while we earned and paid for his luxurious lifestyle."I was with my friends," he replied, taking off his shirt and putting a cigarette in his mouth. But before he could light it, I snatched it from his hands."Don't you dare smoke in front of me," I warned him, standing in his room and looking around at the mess he called his space.Igor threw himself on the couch, arms spread wide on the backrest and a smirk on his lips, but no shame in his eyes."Why do you always have to welcome me like this when I get home after a night out? I deserve some alone time, what's wrong with that?" He looked so carelessly ignorant that I cou
Lavender:"Never mind, I didn’t mean to ask you that question," I shook my head and turned to leave when he answered me."No!" I stopped when I heard his response."I'm not working for my brother. But I can't leave him either. I’ll just have to live the rest of my life pretending I don’t know what he really does," I watched him place his hands on his waist, lifting his jacket slightly unintentionally."Oh," I didn’t know what to say next. His answer eased something in me, made my heart feel a little lighter."Now, you look fine. I heard what happened at my house. I guess I only found out when I heard the gunshot—I had a feeling something was wrong. It must’ve been traumatizing for you," he said, his accent smooth, his cheeks slightly pink, his lips soft and his gaze fixed on me. It made my heart stir more than I wanted to admit.I glanced around and noticed some women peeking from behind the guards into the street, shocked that Easton was talking to a regular girl. Not just any girl—b
Lavender:“Do you even know what kind of man he is?” I was whispering to my uncle. I mean, my uncle wasn’t the best man either, but at least he was a known devil. This demon in front of me—I haven’t even figured out all the ways he could torture me yet.“The man who gave me so much money that we two can live peacefully and comfortably for a whole month without even working,” my uncle grinned, before his tone changed, “but of course, I’ll still be needing that money you pay on your mother’s behalf.”He walked away while I stayed standing in my spot, hissing and kicking the ground. After I calmed myself down, I went back into my room and stood next to the bed.“This is a girl’s bed,” I said, gulping a lot because I was biting my tongue to stop myself from cussing.“Hmm, go sleep on the couch. You’re tiny enough to fit anywhere,” he mumbled with his face buried in the pillow.I groaned silently and walked over to my desk. I had to use my laptop because I had some pending work. And withou
Lavender:“Shame—on you,” I stuttered, stepping back from him until my back hit the wall.“Shame? What is that? I might’ve heard of that word, but the memory of it fades away when I see someone worth forgetting it for,” his voice turned husky as he leaned closer, his arm resting on the wall behind me.I suddenly felt so awkward. He shouldn’t be standing so close to me.“I’m your stepsister. Should you really be talking to me like that?” I hissed—or at least tried to sound confident—but my knees were shaking.“Let’s just say—” he leaned in close to my ear and whispered, “maybe I am a sister fucker.”My whole body felt the heat from his words, and my lips parted to scold him, but no sound came out.However, I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me blush from embarrassment.“Too bad, I’m not intrigued,” I said, pushing him away—but I felt weird after touching his muscular chest.“Of course a four-eyed monster like you knows she’s not worth chasing after,” he snapped now t
Lavender:"I didn't know you had a boyfriend," he clicked his tongue, trying to look disappointed."One would think a sister would think twice or at least ask her brother's permission to date someone, but no!" he sighed dramatically."He is not my boyfriend, and I don't need anyone's permission to do anything in my life. Now if you go back to the room—I’ll make breakfast for you later," I kept my tone all worked up until the last part, when my voice turned low and my energy dropped."Oh, now you want to make breakfast for me? Seems like the not-so-boyfriend is really special. Why are you hiding him from me?" he said, smirking and raising his eyebrow."Just please—" It came out the way I hoped it wouldn’t. I couldn’t let him meet Mathew and mess with him.“Fine,” he finally agreed and walked away. But his body language seemed so cocky, like he had caught me in some kind of illegal affair.After he was gone, I slowly opened the door and stepped out. Mathew looked happy to see me. His br
Lavender:“Why are you looking at me like that? Thinking about calling the cops on me?” Igor jumped on the bed, one leg bent and his knee up as he moved it sideways, holding his phone in his hand.“You’re not staying here anymore,” I decided, while he only cocked his head to mock me.“I’m serious. I’m calling your brother and telling him what you’re doing here,” I warned him, and only then did his smirk fade.But his words sent chills down my spine.“What makes you think he doesn’t know? Haven’t you seen how he acts when someone crosses him?”“Mathew crossed you? You don’t even know him, and he’s never even met you. The only reason you hurt him was because you wanted to hurt me,” I didn’t mean it literally, but of course I felt bad for what he did to Mathew.“Ohhhh, so you’re hurt because he’s hurt,” Igor pouted. “Such a sad love story. Like Romeo and Juliet,” he taunted.“Not now. I’m done with this. If I ever gave answers to Nikon, I’ll definitely never do the same for you. So leave
Nikon:After I was done with the whole day’s work, I finally had some “me time.” Sitting in my armchair and looking outside the window, I poured myself a shot of vodka. I deserve some peace.But my choice of comfort and peace meant reading or getting information on my enemies. In my hand was a small, vintage-style, red-covered diary. It had slipped out of the bags when the maids were packing them.I opened the diary and read the first sentence: “Today was a weird day. Uncle Ron made me take an extra shift even after I had returned from transferring blood.”I sighed as I realized Lavender was talking about giving blood to my fiancé.I kept reading and realized how hectic her life was—or how she made it to be.“My mom slapped me today because Normani didn’t like the fact that I looked better than her in the old dress that I bought myself. I didn’t even waste a good money on it. But they were angry that I was spending my money on my comfort, which isn’t true. I don’t do that. They know,
Lavender:I went straight to my room and changed into my PJs to lie down in bed. We had arrived earlier than we had planned.It was 2 AM, and I was restless. I knew I had to confront Easton about his comments on me.However, deep down, I had a feeling Igor was lying just to cause tension between me and his brother.Levi: Hey :) I heard you had your stepsisters over at the shooting location the other night. There were talks about them.That was a long guess. He knew I did his PR work and made speeches for him, so it was obvious that somehow words had reached my ears. However, what he didn’t know was that it wasn’t my line of work. I didn’t work for anyone, and I had no connections with paparazzi or anyone like that.Thankfully, his message arrived soon, or I would have kept staring at my phone. But the context of his text didn’t help with my anxiety.E-Tron: Oh! I guess I know what you're talking about. Yeah, she was being so "pick-me" there. One of them. She ruined it so much, acting
Lavender:"Take this, it will help your body warm up," Igor grunted when I didn't accept the coffee he was offering me. He had taken me back to the cruise that had been waiting for him. He had a cruise for himself later. He was probably not planning on returning with his friends.The race was still ongoing, and Valerie had to stay behind to take care of Raymond.It’s not that she was supporting him, but they had to leave one person behind with Raymond.I finally accepted the coffee cup, and he sat down with me."Earlier, when you talked about your brother... What did you mean? I mean, Easton is very respectful towards me," I uttered softly, trying not to raise his suspicions more than I already had."Easton and respectful? He has many women in and out of his life. I don’t think he has time to be respectful towards them. And if he is, that means he isn’t done using their bodies for fun. I’m not claiming my brother uses anyone. Usually, women just throw themselves at him without any dem
Lavender:My body was under so much stress, but I didn’t stop fighting. I would scratch his whole body if I had to. As I pulled his hair, his hold over me started to loosen. That’s when his grip tightened around my neck in an attempt to choke me until I passed out.Coughs erupted from my mouth, my throat closing as he choked me from behind with his arm wrapped around my neck, my chin tightly pressed against his arm.I was trying my best to stand up from the ground, but at this point, I was beginning to realize it wouldn't be possible for me.However, as the world started to fade around me, I felt sudden relief. The weight of his body on my back was no longer forcing me down. I rolled over to get away from him, and while lying flat on my back, coughing, I saw someone get on top of him and start beating him to a pulp.It took me a few seconds to finally see clearly and catch my breath. It was Igor, punching his friend wildly.“Let him go, you’re going to kill him,” Valerie kept shouting
Igor:"Wooooo! We are definitely going to win!" Valerie giggled, sticking her tongue out at the passing cars.Her fingers were covered in rings, bracelets stacked up, and big earrings dangled from her ears. She was all set and ready for the race.This would mark us as the best among the racers."What do you think? If I open this window now, will my top come off?" she asked, clicking her tongue and spreading her legs to sit more comfortably."You call this a top? It's a bra, ma'am," I teased, and she laughed loudly. She had gone out with me to buy this outfit and jewelry for the special night.Whenever she needed something, she'd ask me to take her shopping. She never made me pay, even when I always insisted. She’d say she just wanted my opinion. But honestly, I didn’t know what to say to her. Everything she picked out looked good on her."Do you think this skirt are too short?" she asked, pouting, her arm stretching out, hand in my hair, running her fingers through it."No! It suits t
Lavender:All the cars started leaving, one after another. Loud engines, bright lights, dust in the air. I just sat on the chair and watched them go. It was like they couldn’t wait to race. Then I saw it.One car didn’t move.It stayed in the same place while the others drove away. That felt strange. I looked at it again. The windows were dark, but I could see someone inside.He was looking at me.I didn’t know who he was, but I knew he wasn’t just sitting there. He was staring. At me. Not moving, not blinking. Just watching.My stomach felt tight. Like something was wrong. Really wrong.I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. My eyes stayed on the car. My body didn’t move. I felt cold even though the night wasn’t that cold.Why was he still there?Why was he watching me?I started recalling who had sat down in that one particular car. His form was not recognizable because of the tinted windows, until all the cars had passed me and disappeared. Then, he slowly rolled the window down.T
Lavender:“Let me go,” I started kicking and screaming when a hand grabbed me. It was Igor.“Shut up before I smack the teeth out of your mouth,” he screamed as he grabbed me by both my arms and shook me awake.“I will not allow you or your friends to touch me,” I screamed in his face, and he gave me a blank expression.“We are not going to. Do you think you’re that important for us to spend the precious time we’ve planned for weeks convincing you to have sex with us?” he hissed back, and my protesting started to fade away. “That jerk was making a joke.”“Well, it wasn’t funny because it happens to women all the time—” Finally, I teared up.It was my worst fear, and hearing his friend think it was a funny joke broke me down. There were some girls with some of the guys, and even they laughed about it.At least some of them did.“Yeah, it’s not funny. I call him an asshole for a reason. Nobody is touching you, so don’t worry,” he then let me go while promising no one would touch me.I d
Lavender:I had finished my dinner and went back to my room, planning to change and rest. Thankfully, Nikon had taken the right stance, or else I don’t even want to imagine being at the island with that psycho.I was about to grab my wig and the black backdrop when a loud banging on the door almost knocked the world from under my feet. It was aggressive, like someone was in an emergency. I jumped off the bed and reached the door, worried that someone got sick or hurt.Or maybe some emergency had arrived.But the minute I opened the door and saw Nikon standing outside my room, I knew it wasn’t anything like what I had thought.“Grab your aid kit, you’re going with Igor,” Nikon stormed in, his presence wild and threatening. Behind him was Igor, who only leaned to the side, supporting his body with the wall.“Huh? But—but you said—” I started panicking almost instantly. Going to an island where there is no one else but my psycho stepbrother and his friends, who were probably just as craz
Igor:It wasn’t new for my brother to humiliate me. But this time, it was worse because it was for someone like Lavender.Since when did my brother start feeling so bad for a bastard child?I rushed back to my room and grabbed a bottle of wine from my bar. That’s when my friends started blowing up my phone.“I’m not coming,” I hissed at them.“But why not? We’ve planned everything. The ferry is ready, our cars are ready to go—why are you changing your mind now? Don’t tell me you’re having cold feet. Are you scared of losing?” As they laughed, I clenched my jaw secretly.They had no clue that it wasn’t funny to me.I had been mistreated so much that now no one took me seriously.“Fear of losing, my brother? There’s no way Igor would be afraid of losing,” I didn’t know Nikon would come to my room. If I had known, I would have closed the door.But now he was standing in the doorway with his arms folded over his chest.“Brother Nikon—but he’s saying he isn’t coming,” my friend must have g
Lavender:My family had returned. They looked happy. But I was too. After what happened between me and Easton, I was over the moon.I couldn’t stop smiling even when no one said anything nice to me.We were dining together and my sisters were gushing over the scenery from the picnic.“Daddy, can my friend come over sometime?” Sabrina said to Mister Volkov, making him smile in surprise at the fact that she was calling him her father.“Sure, they can come whenever they want. It is your house—” Mister Volkov suddenly stopped when Nikon placed his spoon down.It was done so politely, but somehow it made everyone turn to look at him.“But of course, ask for your brother’s permission first,” Mister Volkov corrected himself.“It’s okay. As long as they don’t walk around poking their noses in everyone’s business—especially mine and my brother’s,” Nikon warned her, grabbing his spoon again.He was usually quiet all the time.And just when I thought I hadn’t been under his scrutiny for a while,