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MANSION

Penulis: Asmodeus
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2024-10-07 23:11:01

The car ride to the mansion was quiet, the three of us sitting with our own thoughts. Simon hummed to himself as he drove. Lucas was scrolling through his phone, but Caspian was the one who caught my attention.

He seemed withdrawn, almost like he was lost in thought, and every now and then, I’d catch him glancing my way, his brow furrowed, but he’d quickly look away if our eyes met. I wasn’t sure what to make of it.

As we drove through the massive iron gates, to enter the property, Simon gave a quick nod to one of the guards.

“The security’s new here,” he informed me, a small smile tugging at his lips. “After Harry had a little fight with one of the guards, he had your dad fire the entire company.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Harry fired an entire security team over a fight with one guard?”

Simon chuckled, though there was a hint of discomfort in it. “He does things like that often. Had the whole mansion redecorated too, almost everything changed to fit his… vision.”

"Almost everyt
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  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    NIGHT GARDEN

    Dinner in the mansion was quieter than I’d expected, a steady, almost awkward calm settling over the table. Margaret had prepared a beautiful spread of roasted vegetables, grilled fish, and bowls of mashed potatoes that looked almost too fluffy to be real.The clink of silverware against plates filled the silence, and I focused on slicing into my food to keep from looking too much at anyone else. My mind kept drifting back to my dad, lying alone in a hospital room. Alone, except for Harry.After a while, Margaret’s warm voice broke through the quiet. “Harry mentioned he’d be staying at the hospital tonight,” she said, finishing off a final pour of wine before setting the bottle down. “He asked me to tell you, so that you won't worry about Robert for the night.”I felt a knot tighten in my stomach, my appetite instantly evaporating. “Why does he need to stay the night? It’s not like…” I trailed off, biting my lip to keep from saying too much. I glanced around the table, knowing my re

    Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-08
  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    BACK

    I woke up with a groan, feeling like I’d barely slept. The unfamiliar weight of the London morning settled over me, pressing down even more heavily than the first day in Spring Falls. I rubbed my eyes, blinking at the light peeking through the heavy curtains, and reached for my phone on the nightstand. A few missed calls from Mom flashed on the screen, each missed call only adding to the unease churning in my stomach. I knew she wanted to check in, probably just to make sure I was fine, but right now, I didn’t want to talk. I tossed the phone aside and dragged myself out of bed. The bathroom was sprawling, with high ceilings and intricate tiles that must have cost a fortune. However, it all felt hollow to the memories I had of the place. The house echoed with a silence that reminded me of our family, when we were happy, when my parents loved each other, or at least pretended to love each other. I pushed that thought away and turned on the shower, letting the water steam up the

    Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-09
  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    STAYING

    I blinked at him in disbelief. “You’re leaving already? But I thought you’d be around for at least a few more days.”Lucas shrugged, his smile fading slightly. “Plans changed. Dad called, we need to take care of some business stuff in Washington. Besides, we didn’t want to overstay our welcome, especially with all the… drama.” He glanced at Margaret, who was now quietly sipping her coffee, a knowing look on her face. “Sorry for the poor choice of word.” “Right,” I said slowly, trying to process this sudden shift. “And here I was thinking I’d get to spend more time with you two.”“It won't be long,” Lucas assured me, trying to lighten the mood. “Your dad will be out of hospital in a few days. You can fly back after that.” My heart sank a little at the thought of leaving dad so soon, but I told him that I leave when he is out of hospital. “Yeah, I remember,” I replied, though the excitement didn’t quite reach my voice.Margaret sensed the shift and jumped in. “You boys should stay fo

    Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-10
  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    FAMILY

    As I walked down the hospital corridor, a sense of determination steadied my nerves. I didn’t want the visit to be one where I felt pushed aside by Harry’s constant presence, his critical gaze always lingering, silently disapproving. I was determined to see dad on my own terms. Carrying the bag of food I and Margaret had carefully prepared, I focused on keeping my smile bright and my emotions in check.As I approached dad’s room, however, my hope wavered. Through the small window in the door, I could see Harry seated by his bedside, leaning forward, speaking with him in that familiar, smug tone. And the moment he saw me walk in, his eyes darkened, and his face soured, the easy warmth he’d worn melting into a look of irritation.“Hey, sweetheart!” Dad greeted me with a wide smile, one that softened the lines of age on his face. For him, I pushed away the anger brewing inside my heart and plastered on my best happy face as I walked further into the room. But Harry’s gaze was relentles

    Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-11
  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    PARALLEL

    The drive back from the hospital blurred together in a tapestry of passing cars and shops, the city an indifferent witness to my tangled emotions. I’d always craved peace, a quiet kind of calm that I could never seem to hold onto when Harry was around. Even as the familiar streets drifted by, I felt a distance growing—between me, the life I’d known, and the perfect family I had dreamt about for years. Leaving dad behind had been even harder than I’d imagined. But staying? Staying had felt impossible.Weirdly, the thoughts I started to have on my way back mirrored the ones from almost a decade ago when I was leaving London. The parallels in my thoughts were too obvious to forget or ignore. That day confirmed that dad was never going to leave Harry, no matter what he did. By the time Simon pulled up to the mansion, exhaustion draped over me like a shroud. The house was quiet, almost too quiet, as I unlocked the door and stepped inside. The usual comfort of my room, the familiar scen

    Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-12
  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    KING AND GREY

    The next morning, I made my way downstairs, dreading every step I took because I could hear my grandma from the living room, yelling at Margaret because the tea was too hot. I didn't get enough time to think about leaving because I woke up to a text from Simon saying they decided to come earlier and he was on his way to pick them up from the airport. By the time I brushed my teeth and took a bath, they were home. I had no other choice but to face them. As I reached the living room, I spotted my grandparents seated stiffly on the couch, sipping tea in silence, their faces set in the usual stern expressions they wore like armour. Margaret was by the window, hands folded in front of her, watching the scene unfold with the air of someone hoping to keep peace but knowing it was a lost cause. “Good morning, Katherine,” my grandmother said crisply, glancing at her watch before giving me a long, disapproving look as I entered the room. “We were beginning to think you’d never join u

    Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-14
  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    GINGER

    Two days had passed since I landed in the States, and my mind was still spinning from the whirlwind of changes surrounding me. Thoughts of my dad floated through my mind like leaves caught in a gentle breeze. The brothers tried to talk to me about it, but I shut them down nicely, telling them that I didn't want to talk about it. Lucas was the only one who insisted I tell him what happened multiple times, but stopped when he realised I wasn't ready to share it yet. For the most part of it ,things were back to normal. We are together while discussing some random topics. Dev was extra kind and warm, always taking care of me, while Caspian once again started to put distance between us. I tried talking to him, but it didn't work. He always had something important to be taken care of when I tried to talk to him. Others noticed that and told me not to think about it much because it was common for him to act like that sometimes. They told me that he would be back to his normal self i

    Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-15
  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    STALL

    “I just wanted to come close to you.” His voice echoed in my ears, low and unexpected. For a moment, I thought he might be joking, but his warmth against my back told a different story. Even after he slid the bridle off the horse, he remained close, his chest pressed against me. I closed my eyes, breathing deeply, trying to steady the rush of emotions heating my skin and the fire burning in my chest. ‘I like Lucas,’ I reminded myself firmly, but as his hands moved slowly, settling on my waist, that reminder began to blur. The thoughts of Lucas drifted away, replaced by an undeniable pull toward the man behind me. I hesitated, letting the silence between us thicken. My fingers fumbled with the stall door, securing it. I watched it for a while, not responding to his hand on my waist. Harry waited behind me, not forcing me, giving me a choice. His touch lingered at the edge of tension, and I could feel the unspoken question at his fingertips: Will you let this happen? He wanted m

    Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-16

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  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    MY LITTLE WOLF

    The sky was cloudless, the bright light of the moon covered the Salvatore property. We just had dinner, and it wasn't like the regular Salvatore family dinner. It hasn't been so ever since we returned to the mansion. Lucas was in Chicago, meeting with some of the investors whereas Caspian had himself locked in his room. Mom was back in Texas, and the twins went to their grandparents (mother's parents). We were all scattered, and the frustration over the situation was torturing us. The news about the Salvatores reached my dad in London and he had been calling and texting me constantly. He wanted me to leave them and come back to London. I almost laughed when he suggested that, but I controlled myself and told him that I would pay a visit soon.He wasn't satisfied with the answer, so I reminded him that I was an adult and he couldn't force me to leave. That shut him up for the moment, and I hung up the phone soon after. He had been texting me ever since, apologizing and asking me if

  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    BITTERSWEET

    The Salvatore mansion didn't feel like home anymore.As I walked through the mansion once again, I felt the same way I did the first time—cold and out of place. The strange environment loomed around me, and with each step I took inside, I sensed a profound emptiness, the lingering ghosts of everything that had happened. Perhaps we changed while we were in the safe house, or maybe it was the mansion that had endured too much destruction in a very short period of time. The mansion was still recovering from the nightmares, and the gloom was maybe its way of narrating the pain. Not long ago secrets had been unraveled, trusts were shattered between the family members, and blood was spilled in the very entrance hall I was standing inside. In just a month, it was just a house again—not a home like it used to be. The brothers felt the changes, too; it was apparent on their faces. They could hear the silence everywhere inside the house, and the winds of winter that seemed to fill every corn

  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    WALKED AWAY

    Caspian barely slept in a week and it was showing. None of us really got any sleep, but it was a little different with Caspian. The lack of sleep wasn't the only reason for the permanent exhaustion in his eyes like us, it was the weight of everything he was letting press down on him—crushing him, consuming his thoughts. It had been a whole week since the news about Derek's involvement in the money laundering was aired all across the country. Everything had only gotten worse after that. The Salvatore name was plastered across every news outlet—big or small. Everyone had their own take on the case, be it the editors of the Washington Post or The New York Times, anchors from CNN or Fox News, and even the social media influencers who were reporting the controversy in the hope of getting views and likes.In no time it became one of the biggest scandals in recent times. And Caspian being the oldest, took it all upon himself. Although we knew it was the politicians and businessmen whose

  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    GOOD MAN

    The main purpose of us getting a safe house was to be safe, but the FBI made it feel anything but safe for us. The air inside the house felt suffocating to me, thick with an unspoken fear that we all felt, but none of us dared to voice. In the last three days, the FBI has visited us five times. The first day they took statements from us and collected evidence—the standard protocol—nothing more than that. We thought it was all, but Caspian warned us that it was just the beginning, and just like he said, they came back once again. This time they took our individual statements and cross-examined us. Since we were already prepared with our answers, nothing felt out of the ordinary. However, I noticed the way some of the officers were looking at us. They knew we were hiding something, but they had no proof. Caspian made sure that everything in the house was how it was supposed to be after Derek left. It was their sixth visit that day. The FBI agents sat across from us in the living ro

  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    CASPIAN'S POV: Part 8

    They weren’t kissing, but they were about to, I was sure of that. Matthew called just a few seconds ago, to update on the situation. It wasn't looking good for us and we needed to plan our next move. I went into the room Dev was staying to call them both so that we could discuss the problem and try to come up with a solution together. However, I didn't expect to catch them just as they were about to kiss. I saw the way Dev hesitated and pulled away from Kat when I pushed the door open, the way Kat looked utterly lost as if she didn’t know how to process what had just happened between them. I was heartbroken by that but hid my feelings because it wasn't the right time to have that conversation. Instead, I focused on my brother and noticed the slight flush on his face. His fingers were twitching at his sides like he was debating whether to reach for her again or not. And Kat… she was frozen. It looked like she hadn’t yet decided if what happened was a mistake or not.And for a secon

  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    DEV'S POV: Part 1

    Kat was never mine to fall for, to hold, to kiss, or to even dream about. She was in love with Caspian even if she didn't realize it herself, or was too afraid to accept the truth. Everyone in the house knew it, and I tried to convince myself the same thing a thousand times, that she wasn’t mine to love, that she had never been mine. The moments that we shared together were the prize for the good deeds I'd done in my life. There couldn't be any other reason for someone as beautiful as her to be interested in someone like me. Someone who is predictable, obsessed with things that don't matter, and lacks any social skills. I had nothing to offer her and I knew I was just another fool caught in her gravity, nothing more. It wasn't her fault or mine, it's just the universe forcing the likes of me to orbit around her. Each one of us was attracted by her warmth and kindness at first but couldn't break free after because leaving her meant spending eons in darkness. In her heart, there ha

  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    RISKY BUT FLAWLESS

    Silence filled the room as Lucas finally exhaled and nodded in agreement with Caspian. “I don’t like this plan,” he admitted truthfully, rubbing his temples. I knew it was a hard decision for him because he did blame Derek for the things that were happening to the family. And neither of us could disagree with him. We knew he was right, but the actual issue was Derek's safety. “But… I don’t want Dad in prison with Alaric either. You are right, Alaric would make friends inside if he didn't already have one.”“Not just Alaric, the politicians and businessmen whose names are on the list would also try to have Dad killed,” Harry added, scratching his head. “You know the legal system of our country, one can pay to get anything done. We have to find a solution for them too.”“True, they are going to be troublesome in the future,” Neel agreed with Harry, bringing another pressing matter in front of our eyes. They made many new enemies in order to get rid of Alaric from their lives. “We have

  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    FAKE PASSPORT

    By the time we arrived at the safe house, exhaustion and anxiety had settled deep into my bones. The thing we dreaded for so long finally happened and there was no taking it back. Mom confessed, Matthew showed the cops a file about money laundering and fake charities and officially lodged a complaint against Alaric. We did everything we could have done, there wasn't anything else in our hand. It was now on the cops and Matthew to move things forward. All we could do was wait for the things to unfold and hope they would go how we wanted them, and not in the opposite direction. The drive from the police station had been quiet, aside from Caspian’s occasional instructions about what needed to be done next. It was the same old thing, but I knew he was terrified and needed to say it, so I played along and kept nodding my head whenever he looked at me. My mom was in the back seat, staring out of the window, lost in her own thoughts after everything that had transpired that morning. Even

  • My 7 Deadly Stepbrothers    SERGEANT GRAYSON

    Before I could wrap my head around it all, the car stopped and we were in the parking lot of the police station. It was nothing like I expected. The inside was sterile, buzzing with incoherent movement. Officers moved briskly through the halls with a serious expression on their faces. Not a smile or light-hearted conversations like they showed in those TV shows. Phones rang in the background, and the permanent smell of coffee and printer ink lingered in the air.We approached the front desk, where a uniformed officer looked up at us. She was middle-aged, and her dark brown hair was tied in a tight bun. Her eyes flicked over the three of us before settling on my mom.“Can I help you?” she asked, trying not to come off as intermediating, seeing the fear in mom's eyes. “I-I need to speak with Sergeant Grayson,” she was able to speak out. “It’s about Derek Salvatore’s case. It's important and quite urgent.”The officer’s eyes sharpened slightly, but she nodded her head. “Do you have an

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