Introduction

Eighteen days after giving up on Brendan Maynard, Jayde Rosario cut off her waist-length hair and called her father, announcing her decision to move to California and attend UC Berkeley. Her father, surprised, asked about the sudden change, reminding her how she' d always insisted on staying with Brendan. Jayde forced a laugh, revealing the painful truth: Brendan was getting married, and she, his stepsister, could no longer cling to him. That night, she tried to tell Brendan about her college acceptance, but his fiancée, Chloie Ellis, interrupted with a bubbly call, and Brendan' s tender words to Chloie twisted a knife in Jayde' s heart. She remembered how his tenderness used to be hers alone, how he had protected her, and how she had poured out her heart to him in a diary and a love letter, only for him to explode, tearing the letter and yelling, "I'm your brother!" He had stormed out, leaving her to painstakingly tape the shredded pieces back together. Her love, however, didn't die, not even when he brought Chloie home and told her to call her "sister-in-law." Now, she understood. She had to put that fire out herself. She had to dig Brendan out of her heart.

My phone glowed in the dark, showing the smiling face of Ethan Reed, the man I' d loved for years. Next to him, Tiffany Chen leaned close, radiating triumph. The caption below demanded "100 likes and we' re done!" The count was stuck at 99. My thumb hovered, then pressed. 99 became 100. It was over, just like he wanted. But then, Mark, his best friend and messenger, called. "Sarah? What the hell did you just do? Ethan is just messing around, he doesn' t mean it." I told him I was busy, packing for college abroad on a scholarship. He muffled a curse, and I hung up. The fight that led to this was orchestrated by Tiffany. She had "accidentally" ruined my university application designs, then cried to Ethan, who, of course, believed her. He accused me of jealousy, of being "needy." And then, his favorite threat: "Maybe we should just break up." I was silent, not with weakness, but with a leaden weight in my chest. He stormed out, slamming the door. That night, alone, I found his tablet. A voice memo to Mark played his casual, cruel voice: "Sarah is getting on my last nerve...I'm gonna have to put her back in her place. Maybe another public breakup threat? That always gets her crying and begging." I had been a fool, shrinking myself to fit his world. But hearing his utter contempt, it wasn't just pain-it was clarity. The fight was over. I had lost. But in that loss, I found myself.

The acceptance letter from Atheria Art Academy was heavy in my hands, promising a future I' d dreamed of with my childhood friends, Jake and Noah. We all got in, scholarships secured. But then, Jake' s smile faltered. He and Noah dropped a bombshell: they weren' t going to Atheria; they were choosing community college, all for the new girl, Emily, who' d appeared just months ago. "It' s because of Emily," Jake stated, his voice filled with a righteousness that grated on my nerves. "She needs us. She' s going to Northwood, so we' re going with her." I wanted to scream, to shake them, but then shimmering, golden letters appeared before my eyes, a phantom message only I could see: "If the supporting character continues to hinder, the male leads will design to lose her scholarship documents. She will then fall down the stairs while looking for them, resulting in permanent leg paralysis, spending the rest of her life in a wheelchair." More words appeared: "She deserves it! Anyone who obstructs the plot will face consequences!" The world spun. Supporting character? Male leads? This was a cheap novel come to life, and I was slated for paralysis. My blood ran cold, the words I was about to say dying on my lips. They weren't just making a stupid choice; they were agents of a predetermined, horrifying destiny. My family had given them everything, treated them like sons, and this was their repayment? Becoming pawns who would see me crippled? No. I refused. I choked down the bitter taste of betrayal and forced a calm over my face. "If you' ve made up your minds, then go to community college." They looked surprised, then relieved, completely missing the quiet fury in my eyes. They thought they were choosing a different path. They had no idea they had just chosen to walk off a cliff.

⚠️ Reader Advisory: This story contains steamy scenes, mature language, and forbidden romance. Recommended for readers 18+ who enjoy emotionally intense and sexually charged love stories with depth. ~ "I'm going to turn every dirty page you've ever read into your reality, Teyana." And Jeremy Carter did. ~ It started with a simple party dare and ended with my legs wrapped around the ever-addictive Jeremy Carter's waist. I never thought the boy who never noticed the nerdy me in high school, the emotionally unavailable biker god I'd secretly fantasized about, would become my stepbrother. Or that I would find a naked painting of myself hidden in his closet - painted by his own twisted hands. Jeremy is inked sin, raw dominance, and a filthy mouth. I was just the quiet, virgin bookworm, that took solace in dark romance novels... until he dragged me into his dangerous world of racing, rage, and ruin. I should run. I should regret it. But when a man like Jeremy Carter kisses you, there's no coming back. But what happened when family, friends, and even the campus tried to pull us apart? This is the story of how I got ruined by the one man I might never have... and how I let him.

My future was a single, glowing line on a computer screen, a nearly perfect SAT score promising MIT and a clear path to my AI dreams. The world felt bright, simple, and entirely within my grasp. Then the doorbell rang. It was Jake, my childhood best friend, looking disheveled and heartbroken, muttering that he had "bombed" his scores and was "not getting in anywhere that matters." He begged me, citing our childhood promises, to abandon my Ivy League ambitions and go to the state university with him. But as he laid on the act, my laptop pinged. A tagged photo on Emily Chen's Instagram showed Jake triumphantly celebrating his 1450 SAT score, directly contradicting his tearful performance. He was accepted to CIT, a top tech school, and had obviously lied to manipulate me. The performance was flawless, the lies seamless. My voice was quiet, dead. "You got a 1450." His face froze, the grief replaced by panic, then anger. He tried to grab my laptop, shouting that I was ruining everything. Just then, an email from our school confirmed his score. My friendship with Jake, twelve years in the making, was dead. Suddenly, a new email popped up. This one from Emily. Attached were encrypted files: chat logs, emails, audio recordings. Their plan wasn't just to steal my AI. They were planning a hostile takeover of Alex Turner's company, Eos Dynamics, using my work as the weapon, framining him for corporate espionage. The sheer audacity of their continued deceit, even after all I knew, left me seething. They wanted to play games? I'd play.

The email glowed on my screen, a full scholarship to MIT. A surge of pure joy, a feeling so unfamiliar it almost hurt. This was my ticket out, the thing that would finally make them see me. But when I ran downstairs, laptop clutched like a holy relic, my family was gathered around my younger brother, Caleb, celebrating his acceptance to a local community college. Their banner read, "Congratulations Caleb!" "I got in," I said, my voice softer now. "MIT. With a full scholarship." My father glanced at my screen, then back at Caleb, admiring a new, expensive watch. "That's nice, Ethan," he said, flat and dismissive. "But we're a little busy right now. It's Caleb's big day." My sister scoffed, "Always trying to steal the spotlight, aren't you?" Later, my printed acceptance letter and plane ticket for orientation were torn to unrecognizable pieces in the trash. It wasn't an accident. It was a message. My mother waved it off, "It's just paper. Stop being so dramatic." "Dramatic?" My voice rose, shaking. "This was my ticket to MIT! You destroyed it!" My father boomed, "Don't you raise your voice! You are upsetting your brother on his special night." Caleb smirked from behind him, admiring his new watch, a symbol of his victory. A cold clarity washed over me. It had always been like this. My one tangible hope of escape lay in the garbage. They hadn't just thrown away paper; they had thrown away my future, showing me my dreams meant less than protecting Caleb from his inadequacy. I was a stranger in my own home, a perpetual villain in their narrative. Was I too ambitious, too smart? Was my very existence an inconvenience? My throat ached with a dry sob. I felt like those scraps-torn, discarded, worthless in their eyes.