Bullied By My Alpha Stepbrother

Chapter 57

Hardin

I was on edge when I woke up today. Scratch that, I was always on edge everyday and there was something that always seemed to trigger it without fail.

Sometimes, it was remembering that Camila had fallen sick with an illness that I was sure was a perfect replica of the one my mother had. Other times, it was the pressure to find a mate. This time, however, it was what I was looking at from a distance right now.

It was at the lacrosse field, in a secluded part that wasn’t easily seen except you were a lacrosse player that wanted to do funny shit without getting caught like receiving head from your girlfriend.

I had forgotten the case to my airpods somewhere around here and that was the only reason why now I could see Lorenzo and Jasmine talking.

I was too far away from them to hear what they were both saying but the sight alone was enough to piss me off immediately.

Jasmine always said and acted like she didn’t like Lorenzo so why was she standing there in that corner with him?

Whenever I called him her boyfriend, she was always so quick to deny it. Was it because she was afraid that I would ruin it for her if I found out?

Well she was right. Because I was surely going to march over there and cause a scene. I had just taken a couple of steps towards them before I realized that I had misread the entire situation.

On a closer look, it did not look like Jasmine was even happy to be there at all. It looked like it was quite the opposite. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there but was trying her best to hide it as they spoke and Lorenzo, the clueless idiot just kept smiling and moving closer to her as he spoke.

It didn’t matter that I still was skeptical of whether I wanted Jasmine and her mother to still be a part of my family but I knew that this one time, I was wrong. I had misread the situation. And the good thing to do, the best thing to do actually in this situation was the one thing that I was good at.

Being an asshole and crashing the party. So with a frown that covered my face, I walked over to where they were standing. Jasmine saw me first and I was surprised to see that she looked relieved instead of upset at my presence. That was when I realized that my first thought about the situation was very wrong. She was truly very uncomfortable and wanted to get out of that situation as soon as possible.

Lorenzo turned to look at me and the smile that he had been wearing on his face dropped momentarily when he saw me before it went back up like it did not disappear at all. I didn’t know why he always wanted to act like he was a sparkling prince but that was his business. My business now was to get Jasmine out of here.

“Let’s go home, Jasmine. I don’t have all day.” I said curtly, making sure that my tone was gentle but not soft and left no room for any form of argument.

To my utmost surprise, however, Jasmine nodded immediately and quickly walked over to where I was, quickly turning around to wave at Lorenzo.

“Bye, Lorenzo” she said and walked away faster than I imagined. When I turned around, he looked even as surprised as I was but when he frowned at me, I realized that he had really thought that I had come here to force Jasmine away from him.

Fighting the urge to tell him that Jasmine wanted nothing but to flee from him because I knew that he would not believe me, I settled for a smirk that I knew would piss him off.

“Yeah, bye, Lorenzo” I quipped and when he gave me a deep frown, I grinned at him, showing him my middle finger and walked over to start the car.

The journey back home was very quiet and even though I was very curious about what she must have been talking about with Lorenzo, I decided to give her the liberty to speak first if she wanted.

Especially because right now as I drove us back to the house, she had a conflicting look on her face like she was struggling to tell me something. It made me wonder what it could be.

But by the time we got home, she braved a smile as we got out of the car and finally spoke when we were climbing the stairs to our rooms.

“Thank you. For what you did back there. I know that it may not mean anything to you. But thank you for coming to get me. I’m going to see my mum now, so…” She trailed off and climbed up the stairs, her hips swaying in that ridiculous skirt that I had seen a lot of boys eyeing in school today.

She didn’t know how beautiful she was. I hated that I couldn’t even call her ugly to make myself feel better about always bullying her.

Without thinking, I grabbed her arm and when her eyes widened, I cleared my throat.

“Can I come with you? To see your mum?” I asked and she nodded, looking pleasantly surprised.

I didn’t think she realized that she held my hand and started walking towards her mother’s bedroom and I did not know why I said nothing.

Maybe it was because it had been so long since anyone held my hand. I had always done a good job of driving people away.

But by the time we were about to enter, she realized it herself and her face turned red in embarrassment.

“Sorry.” She whispered and turned the room door open, entering before I could answer.

There was a maid sitting beside the bed and Camila was resting against the headrest, a pillow between her and the bed as she ate from the fruit bowl in front of her, listening to what the maid was saying with rapt attention.This is from NôvelDrama.Org.

The maid saw us first and she quickly rose to her feet and bowed, causing Camila to turn around and look at us and the way her face brightened in an innocent smile made my heart tighten in my chest because it reminded me of how my mother used to smile whenever she saw me, even when she was sick.

“I’ll excuse you” The maid said and Camila nodded, giving her a fond smile.

“Come back soon. I’d love to hear the end of the story.”

The maid blushed and hurried out of the room and Jasmine rushed to the side of her mother, bending down to give her a kiss on her cheek and taking the seat that the maid was on.

“Hello, Hardin.” Camila said and when she gestured for me to come closer, I walked towards her awkwardly and took her outstretched hand.

“Your father would be very proud of you, sweet boy. Thank you again for saving my life.” She said and I nodded, watching how she touched her daughter’s face affectionately.

The moment looked really private so I excused myself, swallowing the jealousy that had sprouted in my chest and headed to my bedroom to change when I saw my aunt sneaking into her bedroom.

Wondering what that was about, I was about to knock on her room door when my eyes widened and I remembered the prisoner in the dungeon.

It could not be what I was thinking, was it?

Quickly showering and changing, I went downstairs to the dungeon and the moment I arrived there, my eyes widened in shock because the prisoner was there but he was unconscious.

Rushing to open the dungeon, I reached to check his pulse and realized that he wasn’t unconscious. He was dead.

And laying beside him on the ground was a plate of half eaten food. I put two and two together and came to a shocking realization that he had been poisoned.

The last time I had spoken to the prisoner, he had no reason to have killed himself. So it meant only one thing.

That he had been murdered.

And as I stepped out of the dungeon, my hands tight with rage, I had to face the truth that was staring me right in the face.

I had to admit that everything was connected and that it pointed to one person. All the proof pointed to my Aunt Lisa as the enemy and it was only a matter of time before she made another move.

Was I going to stop her? Or was I going to look away because she was my mother’s sister? Her identical twin for that matter?

What was I going to do?

This situation just got a whole lot harder and I worried that I would not be able to stop her before it was too late.