Stepbrother's Lust: A Forbidden Mafia Romance

Reagan’s POV

I was sitting in my room, half-reading through a report on my phone when Rose’s voice drifted through the wall. I ignored it at first. She’d been on the phone for a while, and whatever conversation she was having wasn’t my business. Then I heard her laugh.

"And I swear, Sierra, there was this weird man talking to one of Devon’s men."

My thumb stopped scrolling.

I stared at the screen for a second before continuing, pretending I hadn’t heard anything.

Rose kept talking. "I don’t know who he was. I’ve never seen him before."

I still didn’t care.

"And then he looked directly at me."

My thumb stopped again.

"He looked at you how?" Sierra asked.

Rose went quiet for a moment before answering in the deepest, most ridiculous voice she could manage, "I know you."

Sierra burst out laughing. Rose laughed too but I didn’t.

I sat up slowly, my attention completely gone from the report.

"He didn’t actually say that," Rose added between laughs. "I’m just saying that’s what his face looked like."

"What kind of face?"

"Like..." She paused. "Like he knew exactly who I was."

My expression hardened.

I got up from the chair and moved closer to the wall, listening without bothering to pretend I wasn’t anymore.

"Maybe I’m overthinking it," Rose continued, "but I don’t know. I’ve just felt weird since I came here."

"Weird how?" Sierra asked.

"I don’t know. It’s like everyone is hiding something."

My jaw tightened.

"Your mom?"

"No. I mean... everyone. Even Reagan."

My eyebrows drew together.

"What about Reagan?"

Rose sighed. "He’s been acting strange. I mean stranger than usual."

"He keeps looking at me."

Sierra laughed. "Maybe he likes you."

She paused for a beat before answering, sounding a bit flustered, "Can you drop this already.", She said whisper screaming.

I almost rolled my eyes.

"And besides, it feels like he’s trying to monitor my every move or something."

I stared at the wall.

She wasn’t entirely wrong.

"And yesterday I asked him why he kept staring at me, and he literally ignored me."

"That’s rude."

"Exactly!."

I heard Rose shift around the room.

"I don’t know. Something’s just off."

I was about to step away when she continued.

"And then there’s what happened when Mom and I went for her fitting."

I stopped.

She began explaining what she’d seen. The car parked near the store. The way her mother had gone pale for a second. The slight tremble in her fingers when she called My old man. How her mother had insisted it was nothing.

I closed my eyes briefly.

So she had noticed.

I already knew about the car. I’d seen the photographs.

But hearing Rose describe her mother’s reaction confirmed something I’d already suspected.

She hadn’t imagined it.

"Mom tried to tell me it was nothing," Rose said. "But she looked scared."

My jaw tightened.

"And then, Sierra, there’s more."

Her voice became more animated.

"When we were driving back, some dude looked at me through the window."

I went completely still.

"He could’ve just been a normal passerby, you know? But it felt weird."

She paused.

"It feels like a lot of people have been giving me weird looks lately."

There was a brief silence.

Then Sierra said, "Of course, bitch. You’re hot. Who wouldn’t look at that apple-bottom ass?"

I stared at the wall.

Rose groaned. "Sierra, get serious for once."

"I’m serious."

"You’re impossible."

I almost sighed.

These two were discussing potential surveillance like it was gossip.

But underneath my irritation, something else had settled in.

The car.

The man on the road.

Rose had noticed all of them.

And she had no idea what any of it meant.

I was about to leave when she spoke again.

"And there was an unfamiliar man at the estate."

I opened the door.

Rose looked up from where she sat.

"Reagan?"

I crossed the room without answering.

"What man?"

She blinked. "What?"

I reached her and pulled her to her feet by the shoulders.

"What man?"

Her phone was still against her ear.

Sierra’s voice came through the speaker.

"Who’s that? Is that Reagan, Rose?"

I ignored her.

Rose stared at me. "What the fuck are you doing?"

Sierra laughed.

"Damn, you weren’t lying. He really does shout at you like that?"

Rose tried pulling away. "Reagan, let go of me."

Sierra continued, "Now get this, you motherfuck—"

I took the phone from Rose’s hand and ended the call.

Silence fell.

Rose stared at the phone in my hand before looking back at me.

"What the fuck? How dare you just hang up on her?"

I held the phone out to her.

"What man?"

She snatched it from me.

"What?"

"The man you saw."

She threw one hand into the air. "Are you serious right now?"

"What kind of huge fucking house is this if it can’t afford basic privacy?"

I didn’t react.

"Rose."

"You’re unbelievable."

"How did he look like?"

She rolled her eyes, but I could see the irritation building. "I don’t know."

My grip tightened around her shoulders.

"Think."

She winced.

The change was immediate.

The attitude disappeared from her face as her eyes widened.

I felt her body stiffen beneath my hands.

She was afraid.

Of me.

I loosened my grip, though I didn’t let go completely.

"What man?"

She swallowed. "I... Couldn’t see his face."

"Height?"

"I don’t know."

"You’re sure?"

She nodded quickly. "Yes."

"What guard was he talking to?"

"I don’t know." She rushed to continue, "He was so far away i couldn’t see him."

I watched her.

Her fingers were trembling now, and the anger that had been there moments ago had completely disappeared. Her eyes were beginning to look glassy.

"Is that all?"

She nodded rapidly.

"Yes."

"Nothing else happened?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Nobody approached you?"

"No."

"Nobody spoke to you?"

"No."

I finally released her.

She immediately stepped back, rubbing her shoulders.

Only then did I notice the red marks my fingers had left behind.

My expression tightened.

Fuck.

I hadn’t meant to hurt her.

I looked at her again.

She was still watching me cautiously, like she wasn’t sure whether I was going to start shouting again.

Some of the anger drained out of me.

At least she hadn’t been harmed.

That should’ve been enough.

So why the hell was I still angry?

I looked away.

What had gotten into me?

My old man had given me a task. Keep an eye on her. That was it.

I didn’t need to react like someone had put a gun to her head. I didn’t need to feel my blood boil because some stranger had looked at her through a car window.

And I definitely didn’t need to barge into her room and grab her like she’d done something wrong.

Yet the second I’d heard about the car, I’d stopped thinking.

The second she’d mentioned the man at the estate, I’d wanted to know who he was.

And when she’d said someone had looked at her on the road, all I’d been able to think about was whether she’d been approached.

I didn’t understand why.

I hated that I didn’t understand it.

Rose shifted beside me.

I looked at her again.

She was still rubbing one shoulder.

Something resembling guilt stirred in my chest.

It irritated me.

Tsk

I turned toward the door.

"Reagan..."

I stopped but didn’t look back.

"What?"

She hesitated.

Then, quietly, "Why?."

I didn’t answer. instead, I walked out and slammed the door behind me.

I stood in the hallway for a moment, staring at nothing.

My hands curled into fists.

It wasn’t my fault.

I wasn’t worried about her.

I was doing my job.

That was all.

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