Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother novel Chapter 235

“You’re wrong, Kasmine. He actally did. He led me on. And I don’t think what he did after that is fair, she said.

I stared at her.

And for a second, I swear I thought I hadn’t heard her right.

Kester? My Kester?

Led Claire on?

Claire stood still after those words. She looked like she was done hiding whatever had been eating her up all morning.

I stared at her, heart beginning to thump weirdly. “What do you mean he led you on?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. “Like… are you saying he flirted? What–what are you even talking about?”

She laughed under her breath, but it wasn’t funny. Not even a little. Her arms folded across her chest like she needed to physically hold herself together.

“You remember that date I told you about?” she said, not looking at me. “The one where I said the guy was cold… barely looked at

me and never called back?”

1 nodded slowly, unsure where this was going, but my pulse had started to race anyway. I remembered that date clearly. Claire had

refused to tell me who the guy was. And she had come back from it looking crushed, and I’d told her the guy sounded like an asshole not worth remembering.

“Well,” she said, turning to look at me now. “That guy was Kester.”

My ears rang.

“What?”

She nodded once, lips pressed together. “Yeah. Your brother. He asked me out. We went for drinks and dinner at that exquisite restaurant off Silvergate Avenue. I didn’t even know how to act. I thought maybe–maybe he had finally seen me and chose me.”

I could feel my legs weakening underneath me. Like someone had kicked a wall inside my chest, and I didn’t even have time to catch my breath.

“He never told me,” I whispered, mostly to myself.

Claire kept going. “He ghosted me after that night. I cried like a fool for days. But then…” She paused and pulled out her phone, flicking it open. “He started texting me again. Out of the blue. A few days later. And then he called. Asked if I was okay. Said he was sorry had been weird. That he was going through stuff. He sounded sincere, Kasmine. And I bought it. Hook, line, and sinker.”

Kester.