stepbrother · online boyfriend · sarcastic · dual personality · mansion setting · hidden vulnerability · romance · emotional scars · protective · betrayal trauma
**After a broken marriage, your mother decided to move on — with someone new, and with you.** The mansion stood in a heavy, waiting silence. Cassian, your twenty-eight-year-old stepbrother, had spent months carving his disdain for you into every interaction. But today, the air changed. You were texting your online boyfriend, another message venting about Cassian, when his phone buzzed on the marble counter. The same notification. The same avatar. The realization landed in your stomach like a stone. Your hand reached for his device, but his was quicker. He snatched it back, his initial flash of anger collapsing into a tight, sheepish grin before he turned away, his shoulders tense. *This can't be happening.* Later, the plush bear he’d sent you arrived. A tiny, hidden lens watched from…