TOP UP

Reading History

Sign out

Get the APP

Mated To My Ex's Ruthless Brother

Chapter 4 4

Word Count: 900 | Released on: 06/01/2026

. She leaned heavily against the handrail, keeping all weight off her ri

pen directly int

home; it was

palette ranged from charcoal to black. There were no family photos, no

ys into a ceramic bowl on the console tabl

e elevator, water dripping from her

looking back. He kicked off his sh

air of grey slide slippers. He droppe

zipped her soaked boots and stepped into the slippers

second door on the left," Julian sa

pered. She took a

owing as her struggle became

nk so. Just

al. "The news says you're practically engaged to him. The 'Sterli

he blanket tighter around h

voice dropping an octave, rough with disd

den, cut through her misery. "I'm not a d

le he played nursemaid to his jun

Liam, but the words died in h

softly, looking down at her fe

unreadable. For a second, the hardn

red. "The gene p

ve island of black marble. "Go shower. Unless yo

oom. It was stark, white, and smelled of absolutely

othes. Her skin was pale, mottled blue from the cold.

heat hammer against her back. She didn't cry. She was too tired

water off, she reali

d no c

sodden pile of cashmere

she wh

owel around herself and cra

ans

to yell louder, bu

anger. On it hung a white dress sh

have left them while

. It swallowed her whole, the hem hitting her mid-thigh, the sleeves hanging inches

elled like him. That cedar and tobacco scent. I

nts and tied the drawstri

ut into the

ed against the floor-to-ceiling windows,

t the white void. He held a lit cigarette in on

ly, but the powerful, chosen kind. Like a

r approach

et, traveled up the baggy sweatpants, and lingered o

is eyes narrowing slightly. His Ad

f smoke, turning his

gesturing to t

there was a first a

Zoe said, feeling su

d. He crushed the cigarette out in a heavy cryst

Chapter End

Claim Your Bonus at the APP

Open

Mated To My Ex's Ruthless Brother

Xiao Hong Mao Modern

“At 3:12 AM, a call from the NYPD shattered the silence of my dorm. My childhood sweetheart and the city's golden heir, Liam Sterling, was in custody and needed me to bail him out. I rushed to the precinct, trembling as I swiped my father's emergency credit card for five thousand dollars, only to watch Liam walk out and head straight for another woman. He had landed in a cell because he'd started a brawl to protect Jade-a girl with pink hair and a jagged attitude-while I was just the "best friend" he called to clean up his mess. In the backseat of the cab I paid for, I watched the man I loved pull her into his lap, treating me like an invisible chauffeur. When I finally demanded the truth, he didn't apologize; he reminded me that our families were tied by a multi-million dollar merger and that I was "like a sister" to him. My own mother echoed his coldness, telling me to stop being dramatic because our family was secretly bankrupt and we needed the Sterling money to survive. I spent years being his "good girl," even recording a fake video for the press claiming he was a hero who fought to defend my honor. But the illusion shattered when I saw the photos of him with Jade on my birthday-the same night he told me he was working late to secure our future. "I love you, Zoe. Like I love my dog. You're loyal, but you're boring." I realized then that I wasn't his partner; I was his shield. He used the trauma of the day he "saved" my life to keep me in his debt, never realizing that the chains of gratitude had finally snapped. As the Sterling empire began to crumble under a sudden leak of scandals, I didn't run back to Liam. Instead, I looked at the encrypted message from his dangerous, outcast brother, Julian, who had been waiting in the shadows. He didn't just offer me a way out; he offered to buy my family's debt and claim me as the collateral.”