Stepbrother UnSEALed by Nicole Snow Page A

you dare play coy with me, little missy. I've had years of practice dealing with my son's bullshit, and you're not half the liar he is.”
    Evie stomps up, wild eyed, and gets in my face. My instinct is to slap her, but honestly, I'm too freaked out.
    It's like having a lioness rush you, a full on psychopath letting down her guard.
    Stumbling backwards, I crash against the wall, right as she reaches up and grabs my face. “Are you two fucking? Is that why he keeps coming home? It can't be for me. He doesn't give a shit about his own poor mother.”
    “Christ, no!” That's it.
    Fumbling, I manage to get my hand up, and slam it across Evie's cheek so hard I'm surprised her head isn't spinning.
    She staggers back a couple paces, feeling the burn on her cheek with one hand.
    “What the hell is wrong with you!?” I shout, so loud the servants downstairs can probably hear it. “He's just my stepbrother. Nothing happened between us, and nothing ever will. I just wanted to know him, feel him out about my thesis. It's not like there's some kind of crazy crush going on here.”
    Okay, that last part was a lie, but I don't care. When you're dealing with lunatics, anything is on the table to keep them in line, and right now Evie has that vacant, scary look in her eyes.
    I wonder if she's back on drugs. If all the weird crap I've read about in the tabloids, the stuff that caused her career to fly off the rails forever, is true.
    “We'll just see about that,” she snaps. Then her hand flies up and she aims a shaky finger at me. “I'm watching you, Cordelia. I'm not going to let you kids screw this up. I've worked too hard to get where I'm at, and I'm so fucking close to having it all fixed.”
    The door bangs open gently against the wall. Dad looks in on us, an awkward smile on his face.
    Great timing. He's missed the whole twisted blowout, and I'm too gobsmacked by what just happened to tell him his new wife is a psychopath on the spot.
    “Delia! I hope we didn't ruin any parties you had planned with the early return.”
    I force a smile and shake my head. Evie shoots me one more look like a scolded cat, and then slips past us without saying a word. Dad rubs her shoulder on her way out, before she throws him off, then he comes in and sits on my bed.
    “How's the big project going? You need any help?”
    I roll my eyes. Dad used to help me with my homework when I was little, cutting in all the private tutors he hired. They probably had the easiest jobs in the world with my father's micromanagement.
    He still hasn't given up the old habit. I have a feeling I'll be sixteen forever in his eyes, even though I'm about to graduate college and get an adult job – if I can get my honors degree locked down. And right now, that's looking like a big if.
    “I'm working through it,” I lie, trying to forget the crap that's just happened. “Did you really cut things short for business? Or is there another reason?”
    I sit down on the bed next to him, laying one hand on his shoulder. He looks so tense, and there's a dark, sad shadow under his eyes too. Honestly, I haven't seen him look like this since all the shakeups in the airlines after 9-11, when I was just a little girl.
    Hell, maybe not since mom walked out.
    I know it's her. I want to scream at Evie all over again, ask her why she's such a bitch, anything to stop her before she breaks my poor dad's heart all over again. I don't think he'll survive another breakup.
    “It's for Evie's sake. Travel can be...very taxing on her,” he says softly, before turning to face me and giving me a huge, business-like smile. “Hey, I've got a few company passes for Las Vegas next weekend. Interested? Maybe a little fun will help you get your creative juices going.”
    Vegas. I've only been there a few times, and never as a grown woman, willing and able to let loose and go crazy.
    “You know, I think I'll take you up on that. Maybe I'll see if Marnie wants to come along so I have somebody to go