Claimed by My Ex's Stepbrother
"IS IT TRUE?" Grayson's voice thundered through the room.
"Yes!" Tessa said softly. "Yes it is!"
"So you've been cheating on me, haven't you?" He spat.
Her hands trembled. "No, I swear, it's not like that."
He grabbed her arm, his grip bruising her wrist as she squealed in pain.
"Then whose baby are you carrying, huh?" His voice was ice cold.
Tessa shivered, tears blurring her vision.
"I don't know."
**********
Pregnant with the powerful Roman Blackwood's child, while engaged to his unstable stepbrother - Tessa Quinn becomes the key to a ruthless inheritance war where love has no place.
As secrets unravel and danger closes in, Tessa must protect her unborn child while trapped between love, vengeance, and men who want to own her fate.
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Chapter 6
Grayson's hand tightened around Tessa's neck. Her fingers clawed at his wrists, nails digging into his skin, but he still didn't let go.
Her eyes burned, spilling tears she couldn't stop.
"You're going to pay, Tessa," he hissed, his voice low and venomous. "You and that bastard in your belly."
"Get your hands off her!" her father barked, swinging at him.
Grayson barely flinched. He shoved her father back onto the bed so hard the rails rattled.
"Somebody-" her father's voice cracked, raw and desperate. "Somebody help! Please! Help us!"
The shout tore through the hospital walls. A door down the hall slammed open. Footsteps pounded.
Grayson's hands dropped away like he'd been caught at a crime scene.
The door swung open and two nurses rushed in-one shoving between Grayson and Tessa, the other grabbing his arm.
"Sir, you need to leave-now!"
"I'm not done with her!" Grayson roared, struggling against their hold as more staff appeared.
His voice rose into something wild and unhinged. "You hear me, Tessa? You think you can hide from me? Never!"
Tessa's knees buckled, and she caught the side of the bed for balance, the ghost of his grip still burning her throat.
Security followed, taller and broader, pinning his arms back.
"You think this is over, Tessa?" he shouted. "I'm not done with you. Just wait and see. Wait and see."
He struggled against their hold, shouting over the chaos.
"I'm not done with you, you hear me!"
Tessa flinched. Heat crawled up her throat, her pulse thundering so loud she couldn't hear the rest of his threats.
They dragged him toward the hallway, his curses echoing off the white walls until they were swallowed by distance.
She ran to her father. "Dad, are you okay?" she asked, helping him get onto the bed.
His gaze snapped to hers, chest heaving.
"Tessa... what's going on? What was Grayson talking about?"
**********
Roman sat in his dimly lit office, nursing another glass of wine.
He wasn't the kind of man to second-guess himself, but Tessa's calls gnawed at him.
He had told her not to bother him unless it concerned the baby.
Yet she had called. Twice.
He'd let the first call ring out. Declined the second. Now, staring at the phone on his desk, he wondered if he'd been too quick to shut her out.
With a quiet curse, he grabbed it and hit redial.
But it went straight to voicemail.
He tried again-same thing.
A sharp unease settled in his gut.
What if something had happened?
Checking the call location, he saw it had come from a hospital. His brows drew together.
Why the hell was she in a hospital? What was going on?
He didn't bother with another drink. He was already on his feet, grabbing his keys.
Fifteen minutes later, he was walking through the glass doors of the hospital, scanning for anyone who could answer him.
A young nurse at the desk looked up and froze.
"Tessa Quinn," Roman said without wasting time. "She was here earlier."
The nurse hesitated, then nodded. "Yes, she came in with her boyfriend. Her father is admitted here."
His brow arched in shock.
So he was right-Tessa was just a gold digger looking for a way out with her pathetic boyfriend.
"Are you sure?" Roman pressed. "Her boyfriend?"
"Yes, they've been here together too many times." The nurse nodded. "There was... an altercation earlier, but it's been handled."
Altercation.
The word hit him like a slow punch.
His mind flashed back to the bruises on her lip, the way she'd lied without hesitation when he'd asked what happened.
"Where is she now, what's her address?" Roman demanded, adjusting the collar of his coat.
"I'm sorry, sir. Hospital policy."
He leaned forward, voice dropping. "Do you know who I am? I own half this building, and your boss is a personal friend. Now, before you make me call him, answer the damn question."
Her face turned pale.
"She gave us a temporary residence the last time she checked in, so I'm not sure-"
"Just give it to me!" Roman snapped, already running out of patience.
The nurse glanced around, opened the log book, scribbled an address onto a slip of paper, and slid it across the counter.
"Please don't tell anyone I-"
"Relax," he said, pocketing it.
He was already walking out before she finished her sentence.
The night air bit at his skin as he stepped out of the hospital, but his mind wasn't on the cold. It was on that nurse's words.
Boyfriend.
What the hell did she mean by "boyfriend"? And was Tessa playing him?
Sliding into the back seat of his car, he found Davin waiting, one arm draped over the wheel.
"Everything alright, boss?"
"No." Roman shut the door hard enough to make him flinch. "Something's going on."
Davin's eyes flicked to the rearview. "Tessa?"
"Yeah." Roman handed him the folded slip of paper. "A nurse just told me she came here with her boyfriend." His jaw tightened. "And that there was an altercation."
Davin frowned. "Boyfriend? Now that doesn't sound-"
"I don't give a damn what it sounds like," Roman cut him off. "I want to know who the hell he is, and why she's lying to me."
He leaned back, gaze fixed on the narrow streets ahead.
"Drive," he ordered, voice cold. "We're going to pay Miss Quinn a visit."
Davin didn't ask another question. The engine growled to life, and the car shot forward into the dark.
**********
The living room smelled faintly of chamomile tea and ginger, the kind of calm Gina always surrounded herself with. But nothing in Tessa felt calm.
She sat curled on the edge of Gina's couch, a blanket over her legs, pretending to sip the tea she'd been handed.
Her mind was still trapped in those last minutes at the hospital-Grayson's voice, his grip, the venom in his eyes as they dragged him away.
She could still hear him.
I'm not done with you... Or that bastard you call a child.
A shiver rippled through her.
She had lied to her father, saying it was all a misunderstanding, but it wouldn't be long until he found out the truth.
"You're quiet," Gina said softly from the armchair across from her. "What's the matter?"
Tessa's lips parted... but what could she say?
That her ex had just threatened her unborn baby in the middle of a hospital? That she was terrified he'd come back?
She forced a small smile instead. "It's nothing, Gina. Just tired."
Gina pressed her lips together, unconvinced, but before she could ask anything more, a firm knock rattled the front door.
Gina stood, brushing her hands on her jeans, and went to open it.
The moment she did, her voice lifted in caution. "Who are you?"
"I'm Roman Blackwood," the voice said.
Tessa's eyes shot up in surprise. She put the cup of tea down gently, drawing in a deep breath.
"I'm here to see Tessa Quinn," Roman continued, his tone deep and serious.
Gina hesitated, glancing back toward her. "Tessa-"
Her heart skipped.
She rose slowly, every step feeling heavier than the last.
When she reached the door, her eyes locked onto his. He wasn't here to joke.
"Roman, what are you doing here?" she asked.
He tilted his head like the question insulted him, then spoke.
"We need to talk... now."
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7.8
My abusive ex was threatening a lawsuit that would destroy my father's career and wipe out my PhD. I was completely out of options.
That night, Graham, the boy from next door I hadn't seen in a decade, showed up at my apartment in the middle of a hurricane. Now a wealthy orthopedic surgeon, he offered a transactional marriage: he needed a local wife to keep his family away while he cared for his sick mother, and in return, he would make my ex disappear.
I thought it was a simple deal. But the morning after we signed the marriage license, Graham didn't just scare my ex off—he ruthlessly dismantled him. Then, Graham turned to me. His eyes were dead as he pulled out his phone, showing me a high-resolution photo of the night I illegally sold lab samples to pay off my ex's initial blackmail. He had hired a private investigator to stalk me. If that photo leaked to the FDA, I wouldn't just lose my degree; I'd go to prison.
"I needed a guarantee," he said flatly.
I was shaking with rage and terror. This wasn't a rescue. It was a hostage situation. Why did he hunt me down? Why use my darkest secret to trap me in this twisted marriage?
I couldn't live like this. I demanded an immediate divorce. But at the courthouse, the clerk dropped a bomb on us: state law required a mandatory thirty-day waiting period. Thirty days trapped with a ruthless, manipulative stranger. I had to find a way to break his leverage before the month was up.
9.2
For four years, I was the Silvercrest Pack's biggest joke—a scentless, wolfless Omega who somehow became the Alpha's Luna.
I thought I was just naturally defective, until our fourth anniversary, when I overheard my husband Adrian talking to his Beta.
"I’ve been having the kitchens slip a silver-based compound into her meals since the day I marked her."
He confessed the poison was meant to suppress my inner wolf and keep my womb permanently barren. He only married me as a power play to make his highborn mistress, Seraphina, jealous. While I wept over my empty cradle and apologized to his family for my broken body, he was using pack funds to buy her custom luxury goods, tossing me the leftover wrapping paper. When I finally confronted him about the silver and tried to leave, he flew into a feral rage. He violently smashed my head against the marble vanity, leaving me bleeding on the floor, and locked the bedroom door behind him.
I lay there in the cold, staring at the pool of my own blood. My entire life, my endless pain, and my unborn pups were nothing but a cruel, calculated joke to the man who was supposed to be my Mate.
But Adrian didn't know I wasn't just a brainless Omega.
I wiped the blood from my face, climbed down the balcony trellis into the freezing rain, and pulled out an encrypted burner phone.
"The cage is broken. Initiate Phase Two."
7.7
Rory stood on the witness stand, forced by her father into an impossible choice: secure her dying mother's medical funding, or save her innocent boyfriend.
She looked Corbin right in his trusting eyes and lied to the court, testifying that he was the one driving the car during the fatal hit-and-run, sending him to a maximum-security prison for ten years.
The betrayal destroyed him. Corbin's father died of a heart attack upon hearing the guilty verdict. Six years later, Corbin returned as a ruthless billionaire and systematically blacklisted Rory from every job in the city. He cornered her into singing at his private club, humiliating her by forcing her to drink scotch—knowing she was severely allergic—and making her throw away his promise ring just to earn a stack of cash.
"Remember this moment. This is only the beginning."
She endured his cruel revenge because she was hiding a desperate secret: she was raising his five-year-old daughter, Willa. But when Willa's congenital heart defect suddenly worsened, requiring an impossible one-million-dollar surgery, Rory realized Corbin's calculated blockade had left her completely trapped with no way to save their child.
Staring at the sterile hospital walls, the last shred of her guilt burned away, replaced by a cold, hard resolve. He had destroyed her career and backed her into a corner, but he was the only one with the money. Wiping her tears, Rory turned and headed straight for Vance Tower.
8.4
On the night before her wedding, Navia Harrison discovers her fiancé in bed with her step-sister-and worse, the two of them are already planning how to get rid of her after the marriage.
Humiliated and consumed by hatred, Navia exposes their affair during the wedding ceremony itself, destroying both families' reputations in a single move.
Then, she meets him.
Leonel Crawford - the cold and dangerously powerful head of the Crawford family. Untouchable. Ruthless. A man no woman has ever been able to keep close.
He's also her ex-fiancé's uncle.
One impulsive proposal changes everything.
"If you need a wife... marry me instead."
"Honestly... we'd make a pretty good match."
9.3
A pitiful wolfless Omega, Lana discovers that she is pregnant for her beloved fiancée and Alpha to be, Asher. He is the only man she has ever loved, but her world turns upside down when her Fiancée coldly reveals that he is getting married to her sister who is also already pregnant for him.
To make matters worse, her cruel sister and cheating Fiancé banish her from her only home!
Lana is devastated, but thankfully, her best friend Jasper, helps her runaway and hide her pregnancy from her former fiancée.
8 years later, Lana has become the mother to Asher's triplets and is engaged to be married to her best friend Jasper.
But by a cruel twist of fate, Alpha Asher suddenly changes his mind and kidnaps her!
So what is Lana supposed to do when she forced to choose between two powerful men, while also fighting off the traitors and enemies surrounding her?
9.7
Giana woke up drugged and burning with fever in a luxurious hotel suite. Standing before her was Cornel Stark, the most ruthless billionaire in New York.
Memories of her past life stabbed into her brain. In that life, her adoptive family and her fiancé Gary had stolen her inheritance and left her to die a brutal, agonizing death.
She also remembered how fighting Cornel only made him more violent. So this time, she didn't scream.
She endured his brutal punishment, escaped the moment he let his guard down, and swallowed a Plan B pill on the freezing streets.
Returning to her adoptive family's mansion, she faced the people who had destroyed her. Her fiancé and her stepsister put on masks of fake concern, secretly mocking her.
Instead of throwing a useless tantrum like before, Giana deliberately threw herself down the steep wooden stairs.
She smashed her head against the marble floor, using her own blood to shatter their plans and win back her mother's trust.
She thought she had finally taken control. She was ready to crush the people who had betrayed her and live for herself.
But she didn't understand why the billionaire she had just escaped was suddenly turning her life upside down.
When she woke up in the hospital, her room wasn't filled with her family's fake tears, but an ocean of blood-red roses.
The heavy door swung open, and Cornel Stark walked in, his gray eyes locking onto her with a dark, predatory hunger.
"Remember this feeling, Giana. Every breath you take belongs to me now."