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Home / Romance / Craving the wrong brother : His obsession / Kabanata 11 - Kabanata 20

Lahat ng Kabanata ng Craving the wrong brother : His obsession : Kabanata 11 - Kabanata 20

99 Kabanata

011

~YVONNE POV~I stood in front of my closet for twenty minutes that morning, staring at the blue wrap dress. It was still in the garment bag.Still had the tags on.I had told myself I wouldn't wear any of them to work. That would be crossing a line. These dresses were for Liam's lessons. Not for real life.But I couldn't stop thinking about what he would say.'Confidence isn't something you feel. It's something you perform.' I pulled the dress out of the bag.Put it on, and looked at myself in the mirror.I looked different. Not just the dress. Something about the way I was standing. Shoulders back. Chin up.I looked like someone Arthur might notice.The office lobby was packed when I walked in. I kept my head down, weaving through the crowd toward the elevators like I always did.But then someone whistled, it was low and appreciative.I looked up.A guy from accounting was staring at me. Not the way men usually looked past me. Actually looking. Seeing me.My face burned. I ducked int

012

~LIAM (THIRD POV)~Liam stood in his penthouse, shirtless, wearing nothing but gray sweatpants. A cigarette burned between the fingers of his left hand. A glass of whiskey sat in his right.He stared at his phone, at the text message he had just sent.'I am busy.'Just two words, cold and Dismissive. He hadn't expected her to text him.These past few days had been torture. Seeing her in those dresses at the boutique had done something to him that no woman had ever done.Underneath all those cheap, shapeless clothes, Yvonne Baldort had a body any man would kill for.Average chest. Hourglass shape. Five-five with slim-thick curves that moved like water when she walked. Doll eyes. Black silk hair that fell perfectly down her back.Now he understood why Arthur kept her around.She wasn't his status. His mother would never let Arthur keep someone like Yvonne—not permanently.Victoria Klein had a sixth sense for dirt, and no amount of money could make you clean in her eyes once she decided

013

~LIAM (THIRD POV)~Liam walked across the bar.The floor was sticky. The music was too loud—some country song he didn't recognize. A few heads turned when he entered, women mostly, eyes remaining on his face, his build, the expensive watch on his wrist that didn't belong in a place like this.He ignored them.His eyes were on Yvonne.She hadn't noticed him yet. She was slumped over the bar, her black hair falling forward like a curtain, one hand wrapped around a glass of something amber.Whiskey, probably. The blue dress was wrinkled, the wrap coming loose at her waist.She looked small and broken. He stopped next to her, he did not sit, he just stood there, hands in his pockets, waiting.Finally, she looked up.Her eyes were red-rimmed. Mascara stained under her lashes. She blinked at him like she wasn't sure he was real."You came," she said, her voice thick, sluggish."You look like hell."She laughed. It came out bitter, broken. "Thanks. That's exactly what I needed to hear." Liam

014

~YVONNE POV~I woke up with a headache that felt like someone was taking a hammer to my skull.Slowly and Deliberately with cruel purpose.I groaned and rolled over, squinting against the sunlight streaming through my apartment window. The room spins. My stomach wobbled.Where was I? I blinked and looked around.My apartment. My bed. My cheap IKEA furniture and the pile of laundry I had been meaning to fold for three days.I was home.But how? I sat up too fast. The room spun. I grabbed my head, waiting for the nausea to pass.Think, Yvonne. Think.I remembered the bar. Rosie's. The sticky floor. The whiskey that burned going down. I remembered crying. A lot of crying.I remembered—Arthur. His office. His hands on me and me pushing him away.God, I had ruined everything. But after that? After the bar?Nothing. A blank space where memories should be.Panic clawed up my throat.I looked down at myself. I was still wearing the blue dress from yesterday, wrinkled and smelling like smoke a

015

~YVONNE POV~I sat there on my bed in my wrinkled dress, mascara-stained and hungover, and cried until my stomach cramped.Then I ran to the bathroom and threw up. I forced myself up. Splashed cold water on my face. Looked at myself in the mirror.I looked like death.Red eyes. Pale skin. Mascara smudged down my cheeks like war paint. I forced myself to smile.Arthur was trying to move past what happened in his office. That was good. He wanted to see me. That was good. He didn't mention Holly. That was good.This was progress. I just needed to think positive. I forced the smile wider. It didn't reach my eyes.My phone buzzed.I walked back to the bedroom, wiping my face with a towel.A text from Liam.Liam: 'Wine bar. Wicker Park. 2 PM. Don't be late.'No. Absolutely not. I couldn't face him. Not after those texts. Not after that voicemail.I typed quickly.Me: 'I'm sick. Can we reschedule?' His response came immediately.Liam: 'No. This is part of the lesson.'I stared at the screen

016

~YVONNE POV~The bar wasn't what I expected.It was nice, too nice for Liam, honestly. Soft lighting, wood paneling, and jazz playing low in the background.The kind of place you would take someone on a real date.The kind of place where couples held hands across candlelit tables and laughed at inside jokes. Not the kind of place you would take your brother's girlfriend to teach her how to seduce him.Liam walked ahead of me, weaving through tables until he found one in the corner. It was private and Intimate. Then he did something that made me freeze.He pulled out my chair.I stared at him.He raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to sit, or should I just stand here holding this chair all day?""I...." I scrambled to sit down, nearly tripping over my own feet. "Thank you."He took the seat next to me, not across from me. Next to me.Close enough that I could smell his cologne. Close enough that our knees almost touched under the table.I swallowed hard. Looked around the bar, anywhere b

017

~LIAM THIRD POV~The brunette was still talking."...and I know this place in River North. Really private. Great cocktails. We could....."Liam wasn't listening.His eyes were on the door. The one Yvonne had walked out of three minutes ago.He could still see her face. The way she had looked at him when he told her to make him proud. The hurt in her eyes before she had turned away.He told himself it didn't matter. She was a tool. A means to an end. Nothing more. But his chest felt tight."So what do you say?" The brunette leaned closer, her hand on his arm. "Want to get out of here?"His phone buzzed. Thank God. He pulled it out. Freddy's name on the screen."I have to take this," he said, standing abruptly.The brunette blinked. "Oh. Okay. I can wait.....""Don't bother." He walked away without looking back.Liam answered the call as he pushed through the bar's front door."Freddy.""Mr. Klein." Freddy's voice was as cold and professional as always. "Your father has agreed to see yo

018

~YVONNE’S POV~I stood outside Arthur's penthouse door, smoothing down the black dress I had changed into three times before leaving my apartment.It was too short, too tight, and too desperate. But it was what he had asked for. Something sexy.I took a breath and forced a smile. This was progress. He had asked me over. He wanted to spend time with me. That meant something.Right?I raised my hand to knock, and the door opened. Arthur stood there, smiling, and next to him—Holly.My stomach dropped so fast I thought I might be sick.They were both smiling. Arthur's smile faded the second he saw me. Holly own didn't. Hers sharpened and turned into something smug."Yvonne," Arthur said, like he had forgotten I was coming. "You're here."I couldn't speak, I couldn't move.Holly was wearing a pencil skirt and a silk blouse. Professional. Put-together. Like she had come from the office. At eight o'clock at night."Thanks for bringing those files over, Holly," Arthur said, turning to her. "A

019

~YVONNE POV ~The quietness of the penthouse was louder than any alarm clock.I woke up reaching for him. My hand moved over the cold, soft sheets on Arthur's bed, but there was just empty space. I blinked as the morning light came through the thin curtains, and it hurt my eyes.He was gone. Again.There was no note on the nightstand. No glass of water left out for me. Only the mark of his head on the pillow and the smell of his pricey aftershave, which was starting to go away.I sat up, pulling the sheet tight against my chest. The shame didn't just pass by; it stuck to me like a second skin. It felt heavy and hard to breathe.I had stayed.After everything—after the red lace panties in the cushions, after the half-hearted lies, after the way he had touched me like I was a desperate afterthought—I had stayed.I was pathetic.And I knew it. I sat there in his expensive sheets, in his empty bed, and I hated myself. Hated that I had let him touch me. Hated that I had moaned for him whil

020

~YVONNE POV~He didn't wait to see if I obeyed. He just walked toward a set of double doors on the far side of the room.I took my bag and ran after him, my shoes making noise on the smooth floors.We entered a library. It was the only room I had seen so far that felt like it had a pulse.The walls had many books, thousands of them. In the middle of the room was a dark velvet couch that sat four people. Right in front of it was a tall wooden stool.It looked like an interrogation setup.Liam walked over to the couch and sat down. He lay back with his long legs stretched out and his arms on the soft couch. He looked like a king sitting on a throne, watching a common person.He pointed a long finger at the stool."Sit."I hesitated. The stool was high. If I sat there, I would be raised up. My legs would be... everywhere."Liam, I—""Sit down, Yvonne," he said, his voice dropping. "We don't have all night."I swallowed hard and walked over to the stool. I perched on the edge, trying to c

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