Ruined By Him: My Stepbrother's Obsession

Chapter 2

Edeline

A silent scream tore through me.

No. No. No—this wasn't happening.

I thought my day had already hit rock bottom but guess I was wrong. Of all the awful, sour things that could've happened, my middle school bully not only had to show up out of the f*****g blue… but also be related to me?

It was official.

I had the worst luck known to man.

Standing face-to-face with what used to be the biggest nightmare of my life, all I could do was think back to those days. Painful memories I swore to never recall all rushing back without my consent—Auric tugging at my hair in the hallway, pouring glue on my seat as a joke, the body shaming, the names. And that was only the beginning. An entire year of verbal and physical abuse that had taken even longer to forget.

My eyes landed on Auric’s still smirking face and I felt the anger rush back all at once. How could he smile after everything he did to me?

“What?” He stepped forward, leaning into my ear. “Cat got your tongue?”

“Hold on,” Lydia’s voice cut in before I could respond, surprise written all over her face. “Do you two know each other?” She looked between us, but I was too busy burning holes into Auric’s face to respond.

Auric pulled back, sliding a hand through his damp hair, his grin widening.

What I’d give to slap the smugness right off his face.

“We went to the same middle school,” he said, his voice carrying that easy, high confidence—the kind that made it seem like he could steal anyone’s spotlight and get away with it. “Shouldn’t you know that, Lydia? Being Edeline’s mother and all.”

I watched Lydia's face flush with embarrassment. As much as I hated the situation—and Auric’s guts—there was something satisfying about seeing her on the spot.

“Oh, of course.” Lydia laughed awkwardly, fanning her face with one manicured hand. “Your poor mother and her memory. I must have forgotten to take my vitamins this morning. Right, you two went to the same middle school—silly me.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

Of course that was her go-to. She knew nothing about me or the life I’d lived—not the sad or happy, the big, or the small—so I didn’t appreciate her lying through her teeth.

“And Auric, honey, please put on a shirt, will you? You’re going to catch a cold.” And just like that, she changed the subject.

She moved over to him, but Auric didn’t give her the time of day. His focus stayed fixed on me—those deep blue eyes watching, waiting, trying to look past my barriers. But like hell I’d let him. I wasn’t that same little girl he used to bully.

“Auric, listen to your mother and put on a shirt,” Alex demanded. “You have a sister at home now, so you need to be decent.”

The word hit different coming from Alex’s mouth

Sister.

I nearly laughed. The audacity of this man, standing in his pristine suit in his pristine mansion, tossing that word around like it meant something. Like we hadn’t met sixty seconds ago and I hadn’t just buried my actual family. Auric’s jaw ticked. It was obvious he didn’t appreciate being bossed around by his father, but he didn’t argue. He just turned and headed for the staircase.

And that’s when I saw it.

Sprawling across the entire width of his back—a fallen angel. It wasn't just some rough outline; it was a figure rendered in black ink so detailed and so intricate it looked like it had been pressed into his skin one stroke at a time. The way the light hit the muscular curve of his spine made the angel's face look almost alive, its expression haunting. It was beautiful—the last thing I expected from someone like Auric. I’d always known him as a bad boy, the type parents warned their kids about. I’d never considered him someone who cared about the art of self-expression.

I quickly pushed the thought away. It didn’t matter. None of it did. In two months, I’d be eighteen. Legal. Free. And then this whole nightmare arrangement would be something of the past. I’d move out and forget all of it.

I could survive until then.

Probably.

When Auric came back downstairs, he’d thrown on a plain black long-sleeve that did absolutely nothing to make him look any less obnoxious. Or undeniably attractive.

We moved to the living room which was just as grand and luxurious. Floor-to-ceiling windows and expensive draperies. I took a seat on the long, outstretched couch. Lydia sat next to me, and Auric sat across from us, his arms crossed. Alex immediately launched into the kind of introductions that belonged at some corporate dinner—stiff, rehearsed, and punctuated with one too many smiles.

“Edeline, I want you to feel completely at home here. Anything you need, anything at all, you just let me or your mother know.”

“I’m fine,” I said, but he wasn’t having any of it.

“Well, just in case there’s something—”

“I said I’m fine.”

The smile didn’t leave his face, but something behind his eyes shifted. Lydia jumped in just in time, going on about dinner later, how amazing the chef was, and a dish she’d apparently had prepared just for tonight. I tuned most of it out, giving bland responses when needed, keeping my face neutral enough to pass but cold enough to make it clear I wasn’t interested in performing any form of warmth I didn’t feel.

Auric barely said a word through any of it, he just sat there, watching me the same way he had at the door. Like I was a puzzle he didn’t know how to put together.

After ‘family time’ was over, Lydia called over a maid. “This is Penelope, and she’ll be showing you to your room.”

The maid bowed her head slightly and gestured toward the staircase.

“Right this way.”

“Make yourself at home, honey,” Lydia said with that pretentious sweet tone of hers. “I’ll come fetch you later.”

I didn’t respond. I simply sighed and trailed behind the maid as we climbed the stairs. We moved down a massive hallway lined with art; breathtaking pieces that probably belonged in a gallery.

When we finally turned the corner at the end of the hall, the maid pushed open a door.

“Your room, miss.”

It was enormous. A bed so large it took up half the room. Windows overlooking the estate, a vanity, walk-in closet, and a door that most likely led to the bathroom. It was designed in cozy shades of brown and cream, but as expected, it felt cold and void. It felt nothing like my old bedroom, and something about that left a gaping hole in my chest. No matter how grand, this place wasn’t home.

And my dad was gone.

“Thank you,” I managed. Penelope smiled and closed the door behind her.

I stood in the middle of the room for a long moment. I didn’t sit or explore. I just stood there and let the silence press against me until it became unbearable, then I grabbed my phone and dialed.

Nina picked up on the second ring.

“Edel. Oh my God, how are you? How’s the house? Are you okay? Tell me everything.”

Something in my chest eased up at the sound of her voice. I dropped onto the edge of the bed, pulling my knees to my chest.

“Where do I even start?”

“From the top,” she said firmly. “I have nowhere to be.”

So I told her. All of it. My mother materializing out of nowhere at my father’s graveside after eight years of silence, like some horrible magic trick. The ring on her finger, the husband I hadn’t known existed, the house that looked less like a home and more like a display in a magazine. And then— Auric.

Nina went quiet for a second. “Auric. As in Auric Gilbert? Middle school Auric? The one who—”

“Yes.”

“Edel.”

“I know.”

“He’s your stepbrother now?”

“I know, Nina.”

She exhaled long and slow. “Okay. Okay, let’s not panic and think about this rationally. People change. That was years ago. He was a kid—”

“He was a menace!”

“Kids are menaces. It doesn’t always stick.”

I pressed the back of my head against the headboard. “You didn’t see the way he looked at me, Nina. It was like I’d been dragged back in time to that helpless little girl. It was pure torture. Now I have to see that face every single day."

“It does sound like torture,” she sighed. “But no matter how it seems, he can’t bully you anymore.”

She wasn’t wrong.

“In two months, you’ll be eighteen and if it gets too bad, you leave. You come crash with me, we can figure it out. But for now, just survive it. Okay? Just get through each day at a time.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“You’re the strongest person I know.”

“Don’t get sappy on me.”

She laughed, and it helped more than I wanted to admit.

We talked for a while longer—nothing serious, just her filling me in on the mundane details of her week, letting me exist somewhere normal for a little while.

By the time we hung up, the room felt a little less empty. Then my phone buzzed, and my heart leaped inside my chest. It was Tyler Mason. The guy I’d had a crush on like forever.

Tyler: Hey. Heard you moved. New place treating you okay?

“Still figuring that out.” I texted back, “it’s just a lot… everything is changing so quickly.”

Tyler: I get what you mean. If it makes you feel any better, you’ll still have us at school. That doesn’t change.

Something settled in me at that. Small, but real.

School. Familiar faces. The one part of my life that hadn’t been uprooted completely. I held onto that thought like an anchor and I was holding onto it for dear life.

Whatever this place was, or this new arrangement meant—school was still mine.

And even Auric Gilbert couldn’t ruin that.