Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother

I didn't know whether to cry harder or hold him tighter.

So, I did both.

I leaned in and kissed his forehead, right in the center, like sealing a promise and

an assurance there. I held his face in my palms and whispered, "I see you, Kester. I've always seen you."

His eyes fluttered shut like those words hurt and healed him, at the same time.

"I don't remember that day, admitted, my voice shaking. "But if I had known what you were going through... if I had known what that house was like for you... God, I would have climbed that window just to sit beside you."

His breath hitched.

"I would have stayed until you didn't feel so alone."

His arms came around me again, tighter this time, like I'd said something sacred. We stayed like that for a while, just holding each other as if time could be rewound if we pressed close enough.

But there was more I needed to say.

Things that mattered just as deeply.

I pulled back slightly, just enough to meet his gaze. "Kester... what you went through, the things you buried so deep for so long... they've shaped the way you feel. The way you love. The way you hold onto people like they might vanish."

He tensed.

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I felt the way his arms stiffened around me like I was about to slip from his grasp.

I cupped his face again, "And it's not your fault. None of it is. But you need to finish your therapy, Kester."

He said nothing.

His silence was so loud it rang in my ears.

I watched him carefully, and I felt the fear ripple under his skin. And for the first time, I realized what terrified him wasn't the past -it was the idea that even trying to fix it could cost him the one good thing he had now.noveldrama

Me.

"I'm not saying this to hurt you," I said softly. "I'm saying it because love you. Because I want us to work. And I want you to be

free. Truly free."

Still nothing.

But his throat bobbed like he was holding back more than just tears.

I pressed my forehead to his, my voice barely more than a breath. "If you truly love me, Kester... if you want us to last... then I need you to get the help you need. Not just for me. For you. For our baby.

His breath stuttered. I felt it... I felt him breaking.

He was cracking in places no one had ever dared to touch.

"I'm scared," he whispered at last. It was so quiet I almost missed it. I don't know how to do this without you. I'm scared that if I start, if I open that door, I'll lo you anyway. That you'll see how broken I really am and change your mind."

My chest clenched.

I kissed the corner of his mouth, trembling against him. "Then let me walk through it with you."

He closed his eyes, and another tear slid down. That tear was different from the others that flowed earlier. It was a tear of surrender.

"I'm not going anywhere,” I said. "But I need you to fight for yourself too. Let the people who love you show up for you. Let me love all of you-even the parts you've been hiding from."

He stared at me like was light in a room he didn't believe could ever be bright again.

Slowly and painfully, he nodded,

And just like that, I felt that moment where something shifted inside him. And it meant a lot to me.