I was always good at fixing things, maybe because I was broken from the inside and knew I couldn't be fixed. I became a lawyer to help my family, to help my brothers. I thought if I knew the ways of law and legal system, I could use it to my advantage, to protect them in any way needed. Yet, it had been more than a month and I was still fighting a battle with no end in sight. I gave up on too many things in my life, thinking I never deserved them. There was always a reason to hold myself back from being truly happy, about something or with someone. There were these little voices in my head that would make me question everything. For years, they had been silent, but ever since I learned the truth about Dad's involvement in the money laundering, they came back. ‘How could you let yourself be happy when your brothers are in trouble?’‘How could you be that selfish?’I couldn't rub my love for Kat on my brothers' faces, especially when most of them wanted her, too. It was not fair to
It had been more than a year since Caspian confessed his feelings to me, and life was finally finding a sense of normalcy. Derek was safe, though he remained permanently in hiding. The Salvatores had not only survived the disaster but had emerged stronger than before. The PR team had worked wonders in reshaping their image, and those who had attempted to bring them down for their own gain were now behind bars. The money laundering case was no longer casting shadows over their name, it was a thing of the past. The FBI cleared their name from any involvement in the money laundering—the world saw them as victims of their dad's actions. The business was doing good; Caspian joined the company, while on the other side, our relationship got pretty strong. We found a balance that allowed us to grow separately as well, because I moved into an apartment with my mom, helping her build a new life for herself. Meanwhile, Caspian remained at the mansion with his brothers. They asked me to stay,
I hated my family. And even more than that, I hated the fact that I had no other choice but to leave behind the town I grew up in and move to Washington, to live with my mom's new family. While I knew Washington would be a lot different from Texas, yet, my mind was consumed by the thought of living in a house filled with strangers. I blamed my poor state on my father, for not loving or caring about me. For calling me after years, only when he learned that I was going to live with mom's new family. I hated him for not coming to my graduation or calling me to tell me that he was proud of me. I hated him for choosing a man over me, his flesh and blood. I also blamed my mother and her habit of jumping from one man to another. However, I was also a little impressed by her, because this time, she hadn't gone after a carpenter, a chef, an author, or a musician. This time, she managed to catch a big fish. Her sixth husband was the owner of a multinational tech company and the sixth ric
“Having fun, little wolf?” The words echoed in my head. I was still puzzled by the new feeling erupting in my body when he brushed his lips against my neck. No one had ever done something like that to me before. I had no idea how to react. So, I closed my eyes and forced my brain to stop thinking and let my body move on its own. Our bodies moved in unison. He grabbed my hand, which sent shivers down my spine, and swirled me around. That's when I got to see him for the first time. He stood tall over me, with dark blonde hair and forest green eyes. He had me completely enthralled. I couldn't take my eyes away from him, and he was staring at me like I was a food item. He was simply stunning. I inspected his body, letting my hand roam over his wide shoulders, strong chest, and torso. He was gifted with a good amount of muscles that complemented his physique. I also noticed a tattoo peeking through the opening of his shirt when he moved. “What are you looking at?” he whispered in my
We kissed all the way to the hotel he was staying in, and I cherished every moment his lips were on mine. The hotel was one of the luxury ones and his suite was enormous, though I didn't get to see much because he carried me bridal style and took me into the bedroom. I saw the bed in the middle of the room and tensed up. However, he didn't take me to the bed. Instead, he tossed me onto a couch near the entrance and began unbuttoning his shirt. I quickly got rid of my dress and shoes, thanking Camilia in my head for buying me a pair of black lace lingerie and convincing me to wear it that night. I looked at him as he threw his shirt on the floor, and fell back onto the soft furniture, arching my back- just like I'd seen in a movie. It looked so sensual that I had wanted to try it ever since. He groaned as he knelt, pressing soft kisses to my stomach. One hand gripped my ass while the other played with my breasts. I had never felt anything like that before. Everything about him
Lucas was huge. "What happened? You look scared, little wolf," he said, making me raise my head to look him in the eyes. "I-I-I don't think this is going to work," I breathed out, pulling myself to sit up. "I haven't done it with anyone and you're... like this." He smirked and once again picked me up in his arms. "Don't worry, I'll be slow and careful not to hurt you." He carried me to the bed, and after placing me softly on the mattress, he climbed on top of me. Both of us were naked; no piece of fabric separated us, and I could feel his erection on my stomach. I tried looking away, but he grabbed my chin and moved my face so that we were staring into each other's eyes. He licked his lips and then slowly rubbed them against mine. The action sent electricity throughout my body, and I grabbed his arms, trying to rub my waist against him like before. He smirked and once again came down for my lips. I reached forward, but he pulled away. "I thought you didn't want this," he teased,
Three Days Later, “Miss Katherine! We’re going to be there in five.” The old chauffeur said, glancing at me through the rearview mirror. I gave him a weak smile when our eyes met, but it quickly faded as soon as he turned his attention back to the road. I sighed, trying to quell the nervous flutters in my stomach. My fingers fiddled with the hem of my shirt, and I looked out the window, trying to absorb the new environment. Washington was much greener and wetter than the dry town where I spent my teenage years. The lush trees lined both sides of the winding road, their leaves glistening under the soft drizzle that had begun to fall. The air was cool and smelled of pine, a stark contrast to the dry, sun-baked earth I was used to. I’d always dreamed of visiting a place like that, but now that I was here, all I could feel was dread. My heart pounded against my chest as the feeling of unease consumed me. I was moving in with seven stepbrothers, none of whom I had ever met, and w
“Little sister!” I thought about the word and repeated it in my head, but it never felt authentic. It was weird listening to him call me ‘little sister’ when we were not siblings. While it was true that our parents got married, I never gave much thought to that new relationship. Frankly, I didn't know if I wanted to because I wasn't blood-related to them. The whole idea of being part of a family I barely knew still felt foreign. “Yeah, that’s Katherine,” Dev replied, his tone carrying a hint of amusement. He then turned towards me and added, “And this lazy guy over here is Neel.” Neel sat up, rubbing his brown eyes before offering me a lopsided grin. “Welcome to the madhouse, Kat. Can I call you Kat?” “Y-yeah,” I said hesitantly, feeling a bit awkward under his sleepy gaze. “Relax, we’re not murderers here—well, apart from Ian.” “Neel,” Dev warned, glaring at his brother, who looked exactly like him. They had the same facial structure, height, complexion, and eye colour.
It had been more than a year since Caspian confessed his feelings to me, and life was finally finding a sense of normalcy. Derek was safe, though he remained permanently in hiding. The Salvatores had not only survived the disaster but had emerged stronger than before. The PR team had worked wonders in reshaping their image, and those who had attempted to bring them down for their own gain were now behind bars. The money laundering case was no longer casting shadows over their name, it was a thing of the past. The FBI cleared their name from any involvement in the money laundering—the world saw them as victims of their dad's actions. The business was doing good; Caspian joined the company, while on the other side, our relationship got pretty strong. We found a balance that allowed us to grow separately as well, because I moved into an apartment with my mom, helping her build a new life for herself. Meanwhile, Caspian remained at the mansion with his brothers. They asked me to stay,
I was always good at fixing things, maybe because I was broken from the inside and knew I couldn't be fixed. I became a lawyer to help my family, to help my brothers. I thought if I knew the ways of law and legal system, I could use it to my advantage, to protect them in any way needed. Yet, it had been more than a month and I was still fighting a battle with no end in sight. I gave up on too many things in my life, thinking I never deserved them. There was always a reason to hold myself back from being truly happy, about something or with someone. There were these little voices in my head that would make me question everything. For years, they had been silent, but ever since I learned the truth about Dad's involvement in the money laundering, they came back. ‘How could you let yourself be happy when your brothers are in trouble?’‘How could you be that selfish?’I couldn't rub my love for Kat on my brothers' faces, especially when most of them wanted her, too. It was not fair to
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
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 c
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
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
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
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
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