Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother

KASMINE.

Kasmine... baby, step away from him," Kester said, letting Jake's still-beating heart fall from his hand with

a sickening wet thud onto the gravel.

Was he being serious?

He just killed Jake, ripped out his heart with his bare hand, and stood there like nothing had happened.

Like this was just another inconvenience he had taken care of for me.

The world tilted sideways. My ears rang. My skin felt too tight for my bones.

The last few moments with Jake replayed in my head, looping like a cruel punishment being dished out by the Moon Goddess or by Dreagor himself.

Maybe I shouldn't have agreed to see him today.

Maybe I should have just remained in the car without running off the way I did.

Or... I should have just calmed down when he asked me to and listened to him.

Maybe... Maybe...

No.

My hands began to shake. My chest squeezed painfully tight.

All Jake ever wanted... all he asked for... was for me to love him back. And when I couldn't, when I told him the truth, maybe I should've said it differently. All he needed was for me to calmly explain to him why I couldn't love him. I should've seen how broken he already was.

He didn't deserve to die.

If I had acted or reacted differently, Jake would have still been alive. We would have heard or seen Kester coming. I would have been able to stop Kester from killing him.

Tears blurred everything. Jake's body was a still shape against the gravel, the blood around him soaking into the earth.

"Baby..." Kester called again, stepping closer to me.

"Don't..." I held out my hand, palm trembling, warding him off. Don't you dare come near me." I choked. He froze mid-step, "Baby, he was going to..."

"Just stop it, Kester!" I yelled at him, "How many more people will you kill just because of me? How many re?!"

I dropped to my knees beside Jake's body, sobs catching in my throat. I placed a trembling hand on his chest, or what was left of it, pressing down as if I could stop the bleeding. As if I could rewind time. As if I could bring him back.

His skin was still warm.

"He didn't deserve this." My voice barely came out, choked and broken. "Why, Kester? Why?!"noveldrama

The agony splintered through my body like lightning. It left nothing whole Inside me.

Jake is the bad guy, Kasmine. And we need to get out of here now. It's not safe. He's working with... Kester tried to speak. "He never ran out of lies. His excuses. His rehearsed lines, always conveniently timed to justify his violence. I didn't want

to hear them anymore. I was done.

"Stop!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, "You are nothing but an obsessed lair! I hate you, Kester! I hate you!" I was enraged. And for once, I didn't care what it did to him. Let it destroy him. Let it unravel whatever twisted fantasy he'd built around me. Because he destroyed something real tonight.

And I would never forgive him for it.

"Just when I was still trying to deal with what you did to Blaine then you go ahead to do this?" I let out a sharp, bitter

scoff and shook my head.

"How did you even find me, huh?" I looked up at him, my chest rising and falling. "How, Kester?"

He didn't say a word.

"Kester!" I snapped, surging to my feet. "How did you find me?!

"Your necklace, baby. I put a tracker in it," he explained as if it was the most normal and obvious thing in the world.

My stomach twisted. I scoffed, shaking my head slowly as the words gradually settled in like a shroud.

"You..." My voice trembled. "You put a tracker in something you gave me. Something you told me was just

a gift."

"I didn't kill Blaine," he said quickly, shifting the conversation like he always did. "Jake works for Nagel Vale. He's been working with him all along. He never loved you, baby. You were just a pawn to him."

And for a moment... a fleeting, fractured heartbeat... I almost believed him. Except...

"Nagel is dead, Kester," I said softly, looking at him unbelievably as more tears streaked down my cheek. "What other lies do you have?"

He stepped forward. "Let's just get out of here. We'll talk about this at home. Nagel probably knows you're here already. They might be coming. I need to keep you safe."

"Safe?" I repeated, stunned. My laugh cracked on the way out. "So this is what that looks like? Obsession disguised as protection?"

I reached for the chain at my neck. It felt like fire in my hands. With a sharp tug, I ripped the necklace off and threw it at

his feet.

ny years now, You "So, this is how

you've been keeping track of my life, huh? I've never had a shred of privacy for s dug a hole in the wall, watched me every day and night...” I scoffed as the realization was beginning to look so ugly to my imagination.

"You tracked my phones, laptops, everything... And you had the effrontery to also track my whereabouts?

Kester, your obsession isn't love. It's control. And it's unhealthy, and I can't deal with it anymore."

I barely had time to catch my breath when Kester's expression shapped into something wild and dangerous. "We don't have time for all this drama, Kasmine," he snapped, “Let's go. Now."

He took a step toward me, his entire muscles tense like he was ready to lunge.

"Don't you dare," I warned, pointing a shaky finger at him. "If you come any closer, I swear..."

He wasn't listening. He moved really

fast and lunged at me. But before

his hand could reach me, a blinding light exploded across my face. It was like a burst of pure white brilliance, sharp enough to sear through my vision like lightning. I

stumbled back, gasping.

I looked up to see Kester's-body freeze mid-motion.

"Fuck," was all he muttered before his knees buckled and his body slammed to the gravel beside Jake's.

My mind scrambled to make sense of what was happening, but then I felt a small,

sharp sting, barely a prick, at the side of my neck.

I slapped at it instinctively, but my hand moved way too slowly as the world

blurred around the edges.

My legs weakened under me, and I swayed.

And then... nothing.

There was no sound, no thought, and no more pain.

Just black, swallowing me whole.

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