Hot For My New Stepbrother

Aurelia

In twenty years of living, I'd learned exactly what my life could and couldn't throw at me.

But my mother remarrying was never on that list.

Her marrying my bully's father? That felt less like fate and more like a cruel joke with teeth.

"No, Mum. You can't do this." My voice cracked before I could stop it. I stood there, my palms sweating, with my heart racing like it wanted to claw its way out of my chest.

"We're fine. We've always been fine. If this is about me, if you think I need some kind of father figure, then stop. I don't."

I hated the way I sounded. Desperate and small.

But the image in my head wouldn't leave me alone.

Chase Hunter.

Living with him, breathing the same air, sharing walls and one roof with him. The thought lodged between my ribs like a blade.

Chase wasn't just a bad memory from college, he was my worst one. A senior who had taken one look at me and decided I was his personal stress relief.

Every hallway, every lecture hall, every chance encounter had come with that same sharp smile, that same predatory calm, like he knew he could do whatever he wanted and get away with it.

Because he could.

Chase Hunter was rich. Untouchably rich. His father was one of the wealthiest men in the state, and money wrapped around that family like armor.

My mother's eyes hardened, the warmth draining out of them as she crossed her arms. "Who said I'm doing this because of you?"

The words hit harder than I expected.

"I'm doing this because of us," she continued, her tone sharp, practical and final. "We need stability. We need money. And Darlington Hunter has plenty of it." She paused, then added, cool and unflinching, "Think about what that kind of access can do for us."

I stared at her, my chest tight, a sinking feeling spreading through me.

My mother wasn't choosing love, she was choosing survival.

And in the process, she was tying my life to the one person I'd spent years trying to escape.

"Just because you want to live like the Real Housewives of New York doesn't mean you get to ruin my life, Mum! You can't-"

The slap came out of nowhere.

One second I was talking, the next her palm cracked against my cheek with a sharp, hollow sound. I didn't even see it coming.

My head snapped to the side. Pain bloomed hot and immediate in my cheek, and I tasted blood where my teeth sank into my tongue.

I swallowed hard, forcing the sob back down, refusing to give her the satisfaction of seeing me break.

The room rang with silence.

Her voice was like ice. "You don't have any say in this, Aurelia."

I slowly turned my head back, my cheek burning, my chest tight.

"Darlington has already proposed," she continued, each word precise and merciless. "And tomorrow, we're moving into his