Stepbrother's Allure: At His Mercy

Those intense grey eyes

APRIL

After that incident at the bar, one I wanted to lock up in a coffin and bury six feet underground, life resumed.

I had work, and thinking about that drop-dead gorgeous man I f****d wouldn't help me… Occasionally, I thought about my damned ex. I would be a liar if I said I never thought about him, but I didn't let it last. He wasn't worth it.

“You need to get ready for a shoot,” Melinda called out to me. “We have 20 minutes to prepare you for it.”

“Twenty minutes?” I glanced up from the movie I was streaming. “No one told me about a shoot. Weren't we supposed to put off all work until the current CEO arrives?”

I didn't want to think about it, knew what it meant. With the arrival of the new CEO, they would drop most of the workers, and I feared I might be one of them.

I was yet to make a debut as an idol and only got magazine gigs. I brought in the least money in the company and knew they might drop me for it, but I kept on trying to be optimistic even though my life had been in shambles for a week now.

First with the cheating boyfriend, then the one-night stand with that stranger that turned out to be such a gentleman, and now this. It was as if fate was working extra hours just to rub my misfortune on my face.

“Which is more reasons for you to take up as many gigs as the magazine will give until the CEO arrives,” Melinda said, looking as sad as I did.

As my manager, she was also at risk of being sacked. She only kept her position this long because the former owner of the company was a family friend. With the new owner and everything happening, we both knew we were just a foot away from the exit.

I let out a sigh and dropped my phone on the couch. “Let's get this done with, then.” It didn't matter how little the money it would bring would be. Anything to help keep me afloat until I know what to do with my life would be appreciated.

Melinda smiled sadly, reaching out to touch my shoulder. “Don't think too much about this. We will figure it out together, okay?”

I nodded, mirroring her sad smile. We both knew there wouldn't be much we could do if we were let out. Melinda, just like me, had average looks, dirty blonde hair, brown eyes and a face full of freckles. We were the wallflowers of the company, left because they wanted to meet the employees' quota and because of her connections.

“Come on now, don't give me that look.” She pinched my cheeks, grinning. “We will figure something out, okay?”

I nodded, forced a smile, and turned. “Let's get this done with, shall we?”

….

I got more gigs than I would have normally. Since it was backstage work — the company wasn't aware of it — the pay wasn't that much. They knew we were working behind the company and couldn't risk getting exposed, so they took that as an advantage to rip us off.

Well, all in all, we made some cool cash, enough to keep our banks from turning red, at least until we find more jobs.

I had just finished getting dressed after the last shoot when my phone buzzed with a call. Fishing it out from the pocket of my blazer, my frown turned to a smile when I saw the caller's ID. I quickly answered it, placing the phone to my ear as I hurried to the exit.

“Hello, mum?”

“Darling!” Her cheerful voice came from the other end. “How are you feeling?”

“Great,” I lied through my teeth. “How's work? Finished already?” I checked the time on my wristwatch.

“Yeah, I had a day shift.”

“Oh.”

Mum's a nurse, while Dad was a doctor before his untimely demise. They got together when they were working in Toronto, and were married for 20 years before the accident that took his life.

We left Canada shortly after that, since Mum was reminded of him in every corner of the city. We moved to New York City after that, and have been here for 10 years. Mum returned to work 5 years ago, and so far, she hasn't spoken about Dad unless it's the day of his anniversary.

“What are you doing after work?” She continued, obviously about to tell me something.

“Nothing much. A soak in my bath and a quick dinner then —”

“Come over for dinner, then. There's someone I need you to meet.”

I paused in my steps. “Who's that?”

“The man I've been telling you about. Roderick. He wants to meet you.”

Oh, Roderick. The man my mum had been going out with for months now. At first, I thought he would be like the other men she had dated in the past, wouldn't last a month and would cause my mum more heartbreak, but he proved me wrong.

Even though I'd never met him since I was too busy to do so, I knew, from the little things I heard from my mum about him, that he was a good man.

“Baby girl?”

I blinked, realising I had gone silent. “I will be there for dinner. Let me wrap everything up here. Do I need to bring anything?”

“Just yourself. It's enough.”

“Okay. Bye mum. Love you.”

“Love you more.”

I disconnected and put the phone back in my pocket, stretching. Melinda left earlier than expected for a family emergency, and there wasn't much to do over at the company, not with everyone on edge about the new CEO.

With nothing else to do, I left, took a drive around the city, to kill time before I drove straight home. Just like my mum asked, I got nothing, not like I had that much money to spend. I just asked so she wouldn't know I was in a tight spot. Keeping her out of my current business was my plan, so she wouldn't have to worry.

When I got home and parked my car, I noticed two other new cars in our driveway, ones I'd never seen before. They screamed luxury. I'd never been a car fanatic, but I know expensive cars when I see them.

Could it be….

I looked towards the house. Mum never told me what Roderick does, not like I asked. Well, I will have to find out when I meet him.

I had just taken a step towards the front porch when the front door opened, and a familiar man stepped out of the house. He lifted his eyes towards me, stealing my breath when I recognised those intense grey eyes.