My Stepfather, My Ruin

20

Roxy

I forced a sweet smile back at her. She thought she was the only one who could act. If she could lie to my face without blinking, so could I.

“Let’s go down now,” she said excitedly. “Everyone is waiting for you.”

She held my hand down the grand staircase. My eyes found Evander, and something in my chest lifted. He looked good in his black suit, hair styled, and I still remembered the scent on him.

“Evander.” I slipped my hand free of my mother’s. “You look amazing.”

“You look breathtaking, Roxy.”

“Can we leave now?” Dorian’s voice cut in. I hadn’t noticed him standing there.

I got in the car, and Evander slid in beside me. I expected Dorian to say something, but he didn’t, though his look said plenty.

He was hard to read most days, but ever since Mary told me how he’d treated his son, I’d been trying harder to understand him, if only to protect Evander from whatever came next.

Our driver, David, pulled onto the main road. I knew he reported everything back to Dorian, so nothing said out loud in that car was safe.

I typed a message instead. My mother came to my room earlier about the shares.

Evander’s phone buzzed, and he typed back instantly: Tell me everything.

I gave him the short version. Don’t worry. I’m going to pretend to agree with her for now.

Are you sure? He asked.

Trust me. I’ll transfer the shares straight back to you once it’s done. I told you, I don’t want your family’s money. I want to build my own life.

You never stop surprising me. Those shares are worth a fortune.

I don’t care about the money. My face went warm as I typed the next line. I only care about you.

I care about you too. Once all this is settled, I’m going to marry you.

My pulse jumped reading it. I warned you not to say that again. We’re legally siblings now.

Not by blood. And we were together long before our parents ever met. I was your first, Roxy. I’ll be your last too.

My face was burning by the time David called from the front seat. “We’ve arrived, Miss.”

Evander got out first and held the door for me.

“Evander!” a voice called.

We turned. Simon, Andrew, and Scott were walking toward us. His old friends, the ones I used to warn him to stay away from.

I used to think they only kept him around for what he was worth to them. Seeing them now, that warning felt like it belonged to someone else’s life.

“You look amazing, Roxy,” Andrew said, grinning.

“You know Roxy?” Dorian’s voice, cold, right behind us.

“Mr. Sinclair.” They straightened up fast. “She was our junior at university.”

Dorian looked between them, eyes narrowed. He didn’t buy it, not fully, but he let it go.

I wondered why he cared so much about digging into my past. If he knew Evander and I used to date, would he leave my mother? Would he let us be together?

I didn’t actually know what I wanted the answer to be. Some nights I thought I did. Tonight, standing this close to both of them, I wasn’t sure of anything.

“Let’s go in,” he said.

Evander held my hand tight as we walked into the hall. I took my seat with the rest of the graduating class, proud, top of my class with honors.

Dorian was called up to give the keynote.

“I am so proud of my daughter,” he said into the microphone, his voice filling the room.

After the praise came the real announcement: that he was gifting me a large share of Sinclair Enterprises as a graduation present. The room applauded.

I kept the smile on my face and took the document from him. It didn’t matter, I reminded myself. The second it was legally mine, I could sign it over to whoever I wanted.

I found Evander in the crowd. He smiled back, soft, but I could see the hurt underneath it. He hid it well. Not well enough.

I wanted to cross the room right then and tell him again that none of this was permanent, that the shares would be his the second I could sign them over. I stayed there instead and let the applause carry me somewhere I didn’t want to be.

After the ceremony, the party started. Evander and I were talking when a group of men came over.

“You were brilliant up there, Miss.” One of them held out a glass, flirting. “Miller. Heir to the Miller Group.”

I’d only ever seen people like this on TV. A year ago, I would have laughed if someone told me I’d end up surrounded by men worth this much money.

Evander stepped in front of me, noticing my discomfort. “Can’t you see she doesn’t want to talk to you? Get lost.”

“Young Master Evander, we were just—”

“I said get lost.”

Across the room, I felt eyes on me. Dorian was watching me while he talked to someone else.

“Roxy.” Evander’s voice pulled me back.

“Yes?”

“Drink this.” He handed me a glass of cold juice. “It’ll help you relax.”

“Thank you,” I said, taking the glass and drinking it all in one go.

For a little while, it almost felt normal, him beside me, the party loud around us, nothing between us but a glass of juice and whatever we still were to each other. I let myself have that, even knowing it couldn’t last the whole night.

We kept talking until a sharp voice cut through the noise.

“Well, well. Who would have thought the little scholarship b***h you used to sleep with in college would end up as your stepsister? What a small world!”

Jessica. Something in me went hot and tight. She was the reason I’d misjudged him for years.

“Shut your mouth, Jessica,” Evander snapped.

“Are you seriously—”

Before she could make a scene, he clapped a hand over her mouth and pulled her by the arm. “Come with me.” He looked back at me. “Wait here, Roxy. I’m handling her, once and for all.”

I wanted to go with him and say my piece too, but he waved me off.

A few minutes after he left, my head started to spin. The room doubled. The lights and the crowd blurred into one smear of color.

Something was wrong with me.

“Miss?” A waiter stepped up beside me. I squinted, but couldn’t get his face to hold still. “You don’t look well. Let me take you somewhere to sit down.”

I wanted to tell him to get away from me, to ask where he thought he was taking me, but my muscles wouldn’t listen. My legs felt like they belonged to someone else.

“Almost there, Miss. Just hold on.”

His voice came through thick, like it was traveling through water to reach me.

“Where the hell are you taking her?” A voice, furious, echoed down the hall. “Get your hands off her.”

I heard a scuffle, but I couldn’t see through the blur to tell what was happening. Heat was moving through me now, fast, everywhere, like my whole body had caught fire from the inside.

Then arms were around me, lifting me and holding me against a chest.

“You’re safe now.”

A few seconds later, or maybe longer, I couldn’t tell, my back hit something soft. A bed.

“I’m calling a doctor.” The voice above me, tight with worry.

“No.” I grabbed for his hand, desperate. “I want you. Please don’t call anyone.”

“Roxy, you’re not yourself right now.” He was looking down at me. “Do you even know who you’re talking to?”

I knew. It was him. It had always been him.

“Yes,” I said, and pulled his hand closer, pressing my burning skin against his. “I want you. Please don’t push me away.”