The Stepbrother's Sin

Chapter 9 — Fun and Games

It had been days.

"Weekend. Are you occupied with anything this weekend?" Natalia asked as we walked towards our separate lectures.

"Not really. Nothing on my agenda yet.” I turned to her and said while holding two fat books in my hand.

“There’s a small party at my house. Well, a huge party, really. Just a bunch of students hanging around the house and having some drinks and stuff. So I just wanted to ask if you'd like to come? It's tomorrow night." She looked at me, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail that swayed as we walked.

It had been almost a week since the whole assignment stunt and I was feeling fine now. Cain had left me alone for the past few days so it was easier to breathe without him around me. And since that day, I haven't seen him much.

Or at all.

It was a good feeling, not to have to worry about bumping into him. But I did feel his eyes on me in the house sometimes. Or maybe it was just me, being paranoid.

“I'd love to." I nodded and looked at her. "But what's the dress code? And where do you even live? I'll have to check if Daniel can take me there or not," I added.

Natalia laughed, shaking her head. "We aren't having a formal dinner, so dress up however you'd like. My house isn't that far, you can catch the subway if Daniel's busy with something."

"I'm free," I smiled at her as we walked down the hall. "And thank you so much for the invitation."

We went into our lectures then. There were some people who still gave me odd looks and some who smiled at me, but the news of the assignment stunt had died down after a day or two.

Before the beginning of the lecture, I crashed into the same girl who had given my introduction. She gave me a quick smile and I smiled back. My eyes followed her as she sat down on a seat in the last row, and then I was back in my thoughts, wondering how she had gotten the wrong paper and why it was done on purpose.

I turned and went back up before sitting near her.

"Hey," I called out for her when Professor Blaire just began walking in. "I just wanted to ask you something."

The girl turned her gaze from her phone to me, looking at me. "Oh yeah?"

"On the first day, the paper—did you get it from me? I had written something else entirely and what you had gotten was not what I wrote," I asked in a curious voice. I'd been trying to think who it was who wrote those words, or how Cain managed to find someone from my class so easily. I wanted to know. I wanted answers.

"Oh, no," She shook her head, "Samantha gave it to me." She raised her finger at the girl who was on the lower side of the hall, the same girl who had been sitting with me on the very first day of college.

It clicked in my head instantly.

“She did?” I asked, a bit surprised.

The girl nodded, her brows furrowing. "Yeah. She had this big smile on her face when she handed it to me. I thought it was hers so I just shrugged it off," She looked ahead as Professor Blaire began talking, "But then you started to panic so I just figured out something wasn't right. So sorry that you had to go through that on the first day."

"It's not your fault." I whispered before glancing back at Professor Blaire and continuing the lecture.

It was Samantha.

There was no doubt in my mind. I already knew that Cain was involved in this, but how could he have possibly gotten someone inside to do this? He went to Crestwood College once, but he wasn't a student here anymore.

I silenced my thoughts before they went any further. It wasn't the right place to think about this.

I continued with my lectures of the day and when I was finally out, the sun was setting. Daniel, like usual, picked me up from the cafe outside of the college where I was doing a little bit of writing. He took me straight toward the apartment like I wanted tonight.

It was finally going to be the weekend. I was exhausted, way more than I should've been. With the moving, settling down, college, and Cain, my head was constantly buzzing. I needed a break, a good one and it was going to feel good to go somewhere tomorrow night, even if it was Natalie's party.

I was just so glad that she thought of inviting me.

"Daniel," I called out his name when he opened the door for me.

He had stopped right outside our apartment building, waiting for me to get inside.

"Yes, miss?" He asked in a polite voice, his gaze moving to me.

"Are you busy this weekend?" I asked, turning to him. "I mean, do you take an off on the weekend or something?"

"No. Is there somewhere you'd like to go?"

"Yes," I said, a smile on my face. "There's a party tomorrow night at Natalie's house. She's a friend and I was wondering if you could drop me and pick me up later in the night."

"Of course, Ms. Ivy." He nodded, his expression not changing.

I thanked him before heading inside and up the elevator. It was still a bit early so I had the entire apartment to myself. Mom had texted me earlier that she would be late tonight because she and Richard were having dinner with a few friends.

I changed out of my clothes and took a shower before walking out of the room and looking for the kitchen. Even after a week, it took me a few seconds to find where the kitchen was located.

Every time I did want something, Debbie would appear out of nowhere and give it to me. Literally every single time. It was like she had some sort of sixth sense. I tried to do things on my own, but she insisted, so I stopped trying.

I tip-toed on my way to the stairs so I could go into the kitchen and make my self a little something but before I could even reach the stairs, Debbie appeared.

"Is there something you want, Ms. Ivy?"

"Just Ivy," I turned around when she said that, "Please, just Ivy. And I was going to make myself a sandwich."

"Is there any specific one you'd like? I can ask the cook—"

I cut her off before she could even finish her sentence, "No. No. That's fine. I'm just going to make something really easy and I don't really need anyone's help for that. I'll be fine. Thank you so much."

She was such a sweet person, and I really didn't want to appear rude or spoiled but there was no reason for her to look after me, especially when I was an adult. I appreciated what she has done, and the other staff around the house, but I didn't need help for every single thing.

I went down two steps and then paused for a moment. Glancing back, I saw Debbie heading elsewhere into the dark hallway. My eyes trailed over to the door of the room that was shut, the room that belonged to Cain.

Was he home?

Walking back up, I went after Debbie and stopped her.

"Oh, I just wanted to know if Cain was home?" I asked, biting the insides of my cheeks. I didn't even know why I asked but some mischievous thoughts were running inside of my head.

She nodded, "Yes, Mr. Cain arrived a while earlier. He taking his mid-day nap as he prefers to call it. Is there something you want from him?"

"No, I was just wondering," I scratched the back of my neck and tilted my body back to her before asking another question. "When do you think he's going to be awake?" It was way too late to take a nap.

What does he even do?

So far, I know that he graduated a couple of years ago and even manged to get a post-grad degree last year. But after that, there was no information about what he had been doing. There were only reports and articles about him, but most of them were dated up till last year.

"He usually wakes up around eight, for dinner." She replied to me.

I nodded and then took a couple of steps back to leave before I began asking her more questions. Then, she would believe that I was snooping around for something or the other.

I headed downstairs, straight into the kitchen and once I had finished my sandwich, I came back up into my room.

It was seven in the evening when I was outside Cain's bedroom. It was like only a door away from mine. I was standing there, staring at the door while trying to think what I was going to do next.

I wanted to do something.

Something that would get me back at him, but what was I going to do?

I rushed back into my room and went into my walk-in, looking for one certain piece of cloth. My Halloween costume from last year. It was a witch costume that I had worn for some party with Eloise, and I remembered well that I packed it because it was the last time Eloise and I were going to twin together before graduating high school.

I looked around for it till I found it. The outfit was skimpy, but not the mask that came along with it.

I didn't want the outfit.

I wanted the mask.