CLAIMED BY HER HYBRID STEPBROTHER

ONE: MAEVE WINTERS It started with an open relationship. One day, my boyfriend of three years suddenly demanded that we make our relationship an open one. According to him, we should go out and explore other people. It was healthy. A lot of couples do it. It was necessary so we wouldn't get bored of each other especially since we already lived together. I couldn't say no, and I didn't exactly say yes, either. I knew it was wrong, and I didn't want any part in it, but Johnson liked it. I knew it'd make him happy, and I wanted to make him happy. He was the first person ever truly to love me. He was the first person to treat me like I had flowers in my hair and stars in my eyes. He was the first person to make love to me. He was the first person to keep the light on while he worshipped my body. Apart from my mom, he was the first person I could call home. He gave me so much, and if looking away while he slept with other girls was the only way I could make him happy, then so be it. Sometimes, I'd console myself by going to bars and clubs when he was out on dates with other girls, but I always ended up drinking alone and leaving alone while I watched other girls attract lots of guys. It's not like I'd gone with or slept with any man that wasn't Johnson. But I just wanted that validation that I was desirable, too. They always look away from me. Heck, most of them hardly even noticed me. Johnson was the first guy to see something in me and treat me with reverence. Leaving him would mean going back to point zero, and I couldn't afford that. So I sucked it all up while hoping that he'd leave the other girls and pay attention to only me again. But I guess I was wrong because as I left the bank, all I could feel was a sinking dread in my stomach. It rumbled my stomach so much that the brunch I ate rose in my throat. It couldn't be, I thought to myself as I stared at the paper in my hand. The statement of account couldn't be real. I couldn't possibly have just $35 in my account, and that's all I have to my name. Maybe it was a mix-up, or maybe Johnson withdrew the money for something important. But nothing could be important for him to withdraw my life savings of over $25k without telling me. It was our life savings, but I contributed almost $20k while he contributed less than $5k. I understood, though. He was the breadwinner, sending nearly 60% of his salary to his family back home. I didn't have anybody to send money to. Mom was my only family, and my life savings were probably what she splurged on impulsive shopping. I had worked for three years to save up that much, and I recently left my job to open a Cafe and Confectionery with Johnson, but now, that life savings was gone. We just finished drafting our business plan and proposal, so it was impossible for him to withdraw the money for that. I forced myself to remain calm on the bus. I was probably overthinking this. He must have a tangible explanation for the withdrawal. I dialed his number for the umpteenth time, but it went to voicemail again. And again and again. Until I got to the apartment building and ran up the stairs to our unit, I momentarily forgot the passcode because my brain was frozen. When the door finally unlocked, I stepped in, and the first thing I felt was a sense of doom. The living room was quiet, a bit too quiet until I heard it. “She won't be back until evening,” Johnson’s voice drifted out from our bedroom, “and by the time she's back, I'd be long gone.” My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach as I tiptoed to the entrance of our room. It was slightly open, and I could see him packing his clothes into a suitcase with his phone pressed against his ear with his raised left shoulder. What the hell? What's going on? “The last three years were hell. It was really torturous, pretending to love her, pretending to want her when she looks like that, when her body looks like that.” I slammed my palm over my mouth to stop the scream that bubbled up my throat. What? The back of my eyes burned, and tears pooled in my eyes. This was a nightmare. I was hearing wrong. This couldn't be real. “You know I approached her because she's the stepdaughter of Alpha Thorne and the owner of the Thorne Empire, thinking I could milk some real wealth off her, but you won't believe she hardly has a relationship with that family. According to her, she wants to build her stupid confectionery business by herself.” he mimicked my voice in his last statement, and my heart shattered. It felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to my heart and was repeatedly hitting it. It hurt so much that I had to grab my left chest. It hurt so much I couldn't breathe. “So I'm leaving with this 20k. It's better than nothing. Yeah, talk to you later.” He hung up, pocketed his phone, zipped the suitcase, and turned towards the entrance. His eyes met mine. I expected to see remorse, panic, or something else in his eyes besides this coldness. And calm eerieness. “Johnson,” I croaked out, and my voice sounded so broken it hurt even me to hear it. I staggered inside the room. “I take it that you overheard the call.” He looked away from me to place another half-empty suitcase on the bed and walked around the room gathering what was left of his personal items. That was when I noticed that he had packed all his things—every single one. “Yes, but that's a lie, isn't it? You don't mean anything you said.” “But I do.” He stopped to look at me, and his disgust almost pushed me to the floor. “What?” “Come on, Maeve, you really don't think I was with you because I loved you? I mean, look at you, look at me.” “But Johnson…” My feet moved forward, and he held his hand to stop me. “No. No theatrics, please. My flight leaves in exactly an hour. I'm already running late.” “So you're… You're breaking up with me?” An irritated look crossed his face. “Don't be a dunce. This is not a breakup because we were never in a relationship. It was all fake. I approached you because you are the stepdaughter of the billionaire Alpha Thorne, but what did I get? Nothing other than a sob story of how you want to build your business without the help of a family that's willing to give you millions!” He shouted the last part, his hands flaring around, and his eyes blaring daggers at me. He was heaving now with nostril flaring. I was in disbelief. My head was blank, and I could only stare at him while waiting for someone to wake me up from this nightmare. “I wasted the last three years with you only to get 16k dollars? For the stepdaughter of a man who is that wealthy, you're really a mistake.” “That $16k is my hard-earned money,” I found myself saying, “You could have deceived me, but it's my money and I'm not going to allow you to steal it.” He half-looked at me like I had grown two heads, and half-looked at me like I was doing a comic show. “Well, why don't you stop me then?” He grabbed his bags and started pulling them out of the room. I grabbed his hands. “This isn't right, Johnson. We love each other, you love me. We have our future planned out. Our confectionery and Cafe and our future kids. Our…” “Only a foolish man would love you and plan a future with you. No man will look at you twice, Maeve.” “Johnson…” I couldn't stop the tears that fell down my face, but his look of irritation only grew. He dragged my hands off his hand and pushed me back with so much force I stumbled to the floor. I remained on the floor until he walked away, and then I closed the door after him. I remained there till everywhere became dark. I remained there till morning I remained in the house until the water stopped flowing and the electricity ran out. Every single one of my memories with Johnson replayed itself in my head like a loop. He was supposed to be my forever, my everything. He was supposed to be the man I'd marry. I remained there until there was nothing to eat or drink in the house again, and then the landlord banged on the door and demanded the rent. I remained there until I couldn't anymore. That was when I called Mom, and when I told her I had lost my job and relationship, she replied that I should come back home.