I wasn't asleep that night.

Six years ago, my stepbrother Sebastian kissed me in the dark and then disappeared from my life. He thought I was sleeping. He thought he was a monster.

He was wrong about both.

Now I'm back, and I've discovered his secret—a hidden gallery filled with six years' worth of paintings. All of me. Every canvas screaming the truth he's been too afraid to speak.

Sebastian thinks he's been protecting me from his forbidden desires. But I've been counting the days too, planning my return, ready to shatter every wall between us.

The Kiss That Crossed the Line

Iris
The silence after last night's fight hung over the house like a storm cloud.
Elena tried her usual morning cheerfulness, but Sebastian ignored breakfast and disappeared upstairs with his coffee. I could hear aggressive brushstrokes from above—that frantic rhythm that made my skin crawl.
At s...

Chapter 5