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 7
Tessa moved to the door slowly, buying herself seconds she didn't have. Roman stood in a dark coat, his presence filling the narrow porch. His eyes swept over her, unreadable, sharp enough to strip her bare.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, keeping her tone flat.
"We need to talk... now."
"Yeah? About what?" She folded her arms. "I thought we agreed that until the baby-"
"I noticed your calls," he blurted out.
She blinked, stunned by his sudden change in tone. "It was a mistake."
"Twice is too much for a mistake."
His gaze dropped to her arm-the one she kept folded against her body.
"What's the problem?" he asked.
"Nothing."
"Don't lie to me." His voice cut through the air like steel. He pulled her closer, tugging up her sleeves, his eyes darkening at the bruises.
"Who did this to you?" he demanded.
"It's nothing," she shrugged.
"Would you stop with the damn lies?" he snapped. "Just stop it."
"What do you want, Roman?" she asked, pulling away from him.
He drew in a deep breath. "I paid the hospital a little visit. I know about your sick father... and the altercation with your boyfriend you didn't think was worth mentioning. Now, I'm giving you a chance to tell me what's going on."
Tessa shifted her weight, keeping her eyes on the ground.
"You will look at me when I am talking to you," Roman said sharply.
The command made her spine stiffen. She forced herself to meet his eyes.
"Nothing is going on," she sniffed. "And I appreciate your concern, but it's not your business."
His jaw tightened. "Not my business? You're carrying my child. Or should I start wondering if it's even mine?"
Her breath caught. "How dare you?"
Roman scoffed. "You call me when I ask you not to. You hide things. You let me hear about you from strangers-what the hell am I supposed to think?" he barked.
"I know you don't know me, but the least you can do is trust me," she shot back. "But clearly, that's asking too much."
He took a step forward, closing the distance. "Trust goes both ways, Tessa. You don't want to talk? Fine. But don't expect me to stand by while you-"
"While I what? Keep certain things to myself?" Her voice rose, heat flooding her cheeks. "You don't own me, Roman. And you sure as hell don't get to control me."
"Don't raise your voice when you're talking to me," Roman scolded.
"But you're raising your voice at me!" she shouted back.
For a second, neither of them moved.
"Yes, I did have a boyfriend," she admitted finally. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about that, but it's hard to explain that to you without you thinking I'm a lying whore."
"You're damn right," he said, his voice low and cutting. "Because this isn't something you just drop in my lap and expect me to accept. Not without answers. Not when you're-"
"Screw you, Roman," she cut in.
"Tessa-"
"I'm done with this discussion. Have a good night." She stomped her feet and stepped back into the house, slamming the door.
Her breath was loud and shaky as she stood with her back against the wall.
Gina's brows lifted. "Who was that?"
"My baby's father." Tessa let out a frustrated sigh.
Her eyes widened. "And what did he want?"
"To remind me who he is," Tessa muttered, walking past her without another word.
Roman's POV
Roman's jaw tightened as he watched Tessa step into the house. The bruise on her arm burned into his memory. Whoever had touched her would regret it.
She was carrying what was his. So who the hell would dare lay a finger on her?
And how dare she walk away from him?
He didn't know her well enough yet, but he knew she wasn't weak. She was the kind of woman who'd bite down on her pain before she let anyone see her bleed. That only made him want to rip the truth out of her more.
His boots crunched against the gravel, every step away from her door feeling wrong. His hands itched to go back, pound on it, and make her talk.
But she'd slammed a wall between them tonight.
Fine.
But walls could be broken.
He turned away and yanked open his car door. Sliding into the seat, the slam echoed through the night.
"She's hiding something," he said flatly.
Davin's eyes flicked toward him. "What do you think it is?"
"I don't know," Roman bit out, "but it seems like everything she says is a damn lie."
"So what do you want to do now?"
He didn't hesitate. "Find out everything about her. I don't care how deep you have to dig. Her name, background, who she talks to, and when she breathes. I want to know everything."
Davin gave a short nod. "Consider it done, sir."
"Good." Roman breathed. "Now get me the hell out of this place."
Roman's POV
Morning came and Roman had been pacing for ten damn minutes.
The coffee on the table was untouched, the laptop open but useless. He couldn't focus on a single damn thing because every time his mind cleared, Tessa's face slipped back in. That bruise. That look in her eyes when she lied to him like it cost her nothing.
He hated that it got to him.
She was hiding something, and he wasn't the type to wait around and hope the truth landed on his doorstep.
The door opened and Davin stepped in, a blue file in one hand, a small device in the other.
"I hope you've got something for me," Roman said, his voice irritated by the long wait.
"I've got everything."
"So, what is it? Tell me everything," Roman demanded impatiently.
"Here's what I got," Davin started. "Tessa Quinn. Age twenty-four. College dropout."
Roman raised his brows. Dropout?
"Engaged once," Davin continued. "And, boss... you're gonna want to see this."
Roman took the file, flipping through pages-birth records, addresses, a hospital report.
"Any info on the sperm mix-up?" he asked as he skimmed through the file, but Davin's voice cut in, sharper now.
"Forget the paperwork for a second. Watch this."
He slid the small device into the laptop on the desk, the screen flickering to life. The security footage was grainy and muted. It was a hospital corridor.
Roman saw Tessa. Being dragged by the arm, her face pale. And then, a conflict in a room. A man closing in on her, causing havoc, his jaw tight, yelling words Roman couldn't hear but didn't need to before he understood.
The man turned just in time for the camera to catch his face, and Davin paused the video.
Roman's eyes widened in shock. He sat up straight, his eyes drying out from not blinking.
It looked like-
And just like that, his blood turned to ice. His heart dropped, and his words failed him.
Grayson.
Grayson fucking Thorne.
Roman's breath stopped. He picked up the file, flipping through it with lightning speed until he stopped at the end.
It was him-a picture of him and Tessa wrapped up in each other's arms.
"What the fuck is this?" Roman muttered.
The name in the file was one thing, but seeing him there, on that camera-towering over her, grabbing her-was something else entirely.
He leaned forward, every muscle in his body coiled tight.
"That's Grayson," Roman said to Davin, barely believing his own words. "That's my fucking brother."
His voice dropped, deadly quiet.
"And if this is true, then this is a fucking mess."
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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."