I seduced my stepbrother. He’d shame me relentlessly in bed, but the hand gripping my thigh would only tighten. And after every time, Julian would never forget to add, "You're just a toy for me to get off on. Know your place." I'd always nod in agreement. Later, when I aced my college entrance exams, I defied him and enrolled in a university a thousand miles from home. Julian called to demand an explanation. "The pressure of retaking the exams was too much," I said, my voice sincere. "It's better to release the tension than to let it build up. You understand that, right?" "Joanna!" he roared. "Are you fucking telling me you used me as a vibrator?!" 01 "You're just as pathetic as your mother." "One seduced my dad, the other plays hard to get with me." Julian’s abs were taut, each muscle defined like chiseled stone. Here we go again. I adjusted my breathing and rolled my eyes. It was always the same few lines in bed. He never got tired of saying them, but I was sick of hearing them. I mumbled a half-hearted "uh-huh," ignoring the insults. They weren't really insults, though. Every word he said was true. I bit my lip, tightening around him, and heard his breath hitch above me. "Fuck! If you've got a problem, say something! Are you just going to play dead every time?" I had no intention of making a sound. The most he ever got out of me was a muffled grunt. He'd been complaining about it for a while. "Can you stop with the dead-fish face?" I didn't answer, just shifted my position. His breathing grew more ragged. "Don't you fucking turn your back on me!" I cursed him silently, my face impassive. When it was over, he pulled on his clothes. "You're just a toy for me to get off on. Know your place." My whole body was buzzing with a pleasant exhaustion. My mind was hazy. "Yeah, I know," I slurred. His response was the slam of the door. 02 Julian is my stepbrother. Last year, my mother met his father, Richard Chen. While I was cramming for my senior year exams, she was plotting her way into a wealthy family. After a year of our combined efforts, I missed my dream university by a hair, and she successfully became a trophy wife. So I started my second round of senior year—a "gap year" of intense studying. She started her own project: securing her position with a child. We both had bright futures ahead of us. That was a lie. She didn't give a damn about me. I was just the consequence of her teenage mistake. 03 I learned to read people from a young age. After moving into the Chen mansion, I quickly realized the true center of power was this eighteen-year-old stepbrother of mine. Even the man of the house, Richard, had to tiptoe around him. I did some digging and found out Richard had married into the family. No wonder he'd waited ten years after his wife's death to remarry. What goes around comes around. I had sworn I would never follow in my mother's footsteps, but our paths were turning out to be eerily similar. Just like Julian said. I played the innocent, helpless girl for him. A classic move, but it worked. A newly-unleashed virgin, he was quickly hooked. And I started to reap the benefits. For one, this whole thing was surprisingly relaxing. After being completely drained, I could finally sleep without the nightmares. And I got to attend a top-tier tutoring program that cost a fortune per session. Of course, the tutors weren't for me. They were for Julian, who was also a senior now. I was just a tag-along. But I was still satisfied. "Is it really that serious?" Julian sneered, looking down at me. "Acting like you're dying just to get into college." It was. It was very serious. I had no money and no father. The only way I could carve out a future for myself was through these exams. I couldn't afford to be as nonchalant about life as he was. But I couldn't say that. I smiled sweetly and, right under the tutor's nose, snuggled into Julian's arms. "I just want to be worthy of you," I purred. A flash of disgust crossed his eyes, but he couldn't say anything harsh in front of the teacher. He didn't even push me away. He just shot me a glare and went back to his phone. I moved off his lap and gave the tutor a look of pure, unadulterated thirst for knowledge. No teacher can resist a dedicated student. The tutor, who had previously treated me like air, started to see me as a person. It wasn't until the tutor left that Julian's true, malicious nature revealed itself. He stood over me, arms crossed, a mocking smirk on his face. His eyes were full of playful cruelty. "Joanna, have you forgotten something? What we're doing… it's incest." My body was stiff, my brain sluggish from hours of studying. "We're not blood-related," I blurted out. "And besides, you've never worn a condom." The smirk froze on his face. He stared at me for a long moment before finally saying, "Joanna, you're a real slut." I didn't know if I was a slut or not. But I knew he was into it. The Chen family was strict, which had fostered a nature in him that was polished on the outside and rotten on the inside. The more taboo something was, the more it drew him in. His dirty talk in bed was just his two brain cells fighting each other. One kneeling at the altar of desire, the other chaining itself to the high tower of morality. Basically, he wanted to have his cake and eat it too. Pathetic. 04 People are always striving for more. I wasn't the only one with ideas about Julian. He was too dazzling. Family, looks, power. A true prince. In a high school full of average guys, he shone even brighter. "Julian, I… I like you!" I had just come from the office after checking my mock exam scores and saw them on the stairwell landing—the school's most beautiful girl and Julian. I had stumbled right into her confession. The setting sun painted her cheeks a rosy red as she stammered out her feelings for him. It was a picture of pure, innocent love. Before the smile on my own face had a chance to fade, Julian looked up and saw me. I immediately wiped the smile off my face and stepped between them, placing myself protectively in front of him. "Can I help you?" I asked the girl. She froze, her fingers nervously clutching a letter. "Julian, this is for you. Please read it." I waved her off with a smile. "Julian doesn't accept confession letters." As far as I knew, he had received countless advances since he started high school, and he had rejected every single one. After I got my hooks into him, I'd made sure no other female got within a ten-foot radius. He got at least a hundred love letters a month, and his response was always a polite, gentle refusal. The perfect gentleman. I expected him to do the same this time. But then, he smiled. "Okay. I'll be sure to read it carefully." I whipped my head around to look at him, and met his teasing gaze. The girl's eyes lit up, sparkling and beautiful. In that moment, it felt like every beautiful word in the world could be used to describe her. I stared for a few seconds, a sense of crisis washing over me. Julian's eyes followed her until she disappeared around the corner. I bit my lip. "Is she that pretty?" I asked. He turned his gaze on me, his eyes slowly raking over my body, lingering on my waist and chest. He didn't say a word, but it felt like he had stripped me bare. He let out a short, sharp breath. "She's the campus queen. Of course she's pretty." He lifted the pink envelope to his nose and inhaled deeply. Then he waved it in front of my face. A cool, gentle scent with an addictive, woody amber base. He smiled. "Dior Sauvage. A little more sophisticated than your cheap floral perfume, don't you think?" 05 That night, I snuck into his room. He had just gotten out of the shower. A set of math competition problems lay on his desk. He frowned the moment he saw me. "Joanna, I told you, not in the house." Deep down, he was repulsed by our illicit relationship. We never crossed the line of step-siblings at home. We'd go to a hotel when he needed it. Back at the Chen mansion, we were just… cordial. But the girl from today had really gotten to me. I slowly untied my bathrobe, revealing a slutty sailor costume underneath. In the silent room, I heard his breath catch. He didn't tell me to leave. I knew I was showing him something new. The rich boy had probably never seen an outfit that consisted of just a few scraps of fabric. I walked over to his desk, sat on top of his exam papers, and stared at him. "I'm not wearing anything underneath," I said, my first words of the night. Julian was on fire tonight. But I was happy to oblige. My homeroom teacher had told me my mock exam scores were excellent, that I had a real shot at the top university. The weight that had been crushing me for months had suddenly lifted. I needed a release. In the heat of the moment, a sound escaped my lips—half pain, half pleasure. Julian froze. A bead of sweat trickled down his temple. He looked wild, and sexy. He smirked. "What's gotten into you today? Feeling jealous?" I shook my head. "You're leaving for the competition in two days. I'll miss you." His face instantly went cold. He leaned in and bit my earlobe, hard. "Don't," he growled, each word a separate, sharp jab, "make me sick." But his movements only became more urgent, more forceful. Bruises bloomed on my hips from his fingers.
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