Lahat ng Kabanata ng Dear Ex-husband, My Stepbrother is Your Replacement.: Kabanata 151 - Kabanata 160

ASTRIDThe world has been holding its breath for weeks, and mine along with it. Every beep of a monitor, every hushed conversation between doctors, every time Silvan’s face would twist in pain he tried to hide—it all carved another fissure in my heart. He looked so small in that hospital bed, this man who usually took up all the space in any room. The mighty Silvan Montessori, brought low not by a rival or a business deal, but by his own love.So when Dr. Evans finally, finally stands before me in the waiting room, a genuine smile touching his tired eyes, the air rushes back into my lungs so fast I get dizzy.“He’s out of danger, Astrid,” he says, and my knees buckle. I have to grab the back of a plastic chair to stay upright. “The amyloidosis flare is under control. His body is just… tired. He needs rest. Real rest. You can take him home.”Home. The word has never sounded so beautiful.Getting him back to his penthouse apartment is a military operation. Aunt Elena has already transf

MARCUSThe air in the bunker is thick and hot, tasting like someone left a handful of pennies on a frying pan. Fifteen of us are crammed in here, sweating and hating the same two people.Marcus stands in the middle, a slash of anger with a scar down his face to prove it. Silvan gave him that. "We need to hit them hard," he says, his voice like gravel. "Where they feel safest."Lena, who lost her company to one of Silvan's buyouts, slams her fist against the rusty wall. "His apartment. We hit where he sleeps. Where he thinks he's untouchable. I want him to bleed.”My gut twists. I think of the photos I saw earlier — Silvan and Astrid on their balcony, her laughing, him with his arm around her. The one place he looks like a man instead of a monster.The prick does not deserve to be happy. "Too many civilians," I say, my voice rough. "Kids live in that building."Marcus turns his cold eyes on me. "Since when did you grow a conscience, Kael?"I shut my mouth. Now isn't the time.Jax, a k

ASTRIDMy back hits the smooth surface of the dresser as Silvan thrusts his hips against mine. The thick swell of his cock brushes my thigh and I sink my teeth into my bottom lip to hide my desperate, needy moan.“Let it out, Angel.” He rasps, shoving his face into my neck, sending shockwaves down my spine. “I want to hear you. Let me hear you.”My eyes slam shut as I weave shaky fingers through his hair. Silvan encloses his hot mouth around my nipple and they harden into stiff buds through the light fabric. He pinches my other nipple with his free hand, teasing me, bringing me to the edge.Arousal gathers in my most intimate parts, hot and heavy, and I clench my thighs together to ease the ache. “S-silvan, please…”“What do you want, baby?” He rasps, his soft, velvety voice sending tendrils of heat straight to my core. “Anything you want is yours…”My back arches as his fingers slide down my naked abdomen. He cups my heated sex and I bite my lips, stifling a loud moan.“Mmm, so hot…

ASTRIDI don’t know which news broke my heart the hardest — the fact that Silvan has suffered nightmares since he was a teenager or that he developed insomnia because most nights, he was too scared to fall asleep. “Are you sure you don’t want anything?” I ask when he kisses my cheeks for the umpteetnth time.I offered to get him something to calm his raging heartbeat. Water, juice… anything. However, Silvan clung to me like he was scared to let go, begging me not to leave his side. I almost burst into ugly tears right there, but I swallowed thickly and let him suffocate me against his chest instead.“No, please don’t move.” He sounds so… vulnerable. So unlike the dominant, ruthless billionaire I had gotten used to seeing, it makes my heart crack.I turn in his arms, settling comfortably with my front firmly plastered against his.“Do you remember what you dreamed about?”His face clouds with a dark emotion that disappears before I can properly analyze it. Goosebumps sheet my skin.

SILVANThe sky is a gloomy grey, just the perfect weather to complement my foul mood. I finally managed to get Hayley to stop crying a while ago, but that didn’t last because right now, she’s on her knees, her fingers buried in the dirt and her forehead pressed against the wet tombstone, crying her eyes out all over again.Something hard and painful lodged itself in my throat when I received her call early this morning, and it has refused to go away.It wasn’t this bad last year, her breakdown. She cried a few tears and was moody for a few hours, but she got over it quickly. But it’s different this year. I can swear Hayley got spooked by something. She’s broken. Completely shattered.A suspicious pressure builds behind my eyes and I lower my head, blinking rapidly to keep it at bay. I loved Toby like he was mine. Hell, at some point, people thought he was my son. I would’ve given anything to bring him back, anything at all.That horrible night, two years ago, taught me that I wasn’t