My Stepbrother Wants Me-Chapter 127: Worried

Catherine’s POV

"She’s gone," I whispered, the words feeling like shards of glass in my throat. "Julian, Richard let her leave? Something is wrong somewhere. You have to find out what Richard discussed with her."

Julian didn’t move. His jaw was set so tight I thought I could hear his teeth grinding. "It’s a waste of time, Catherine. Richard doesn’t ’discuss’ things. I think he’s made a deal with her or something of that sort and he certainly isn’t going to tell me the terms of the deal."

"You don’t know that," I argued in a hushed tone, stepping closer to him. I hated the way my hands were trembling, so I tucked them into the pockets of my slacks. "He’s on a high right now. If you go to him now, while he’s still feeling smug, he might spill the tea."

Julian finally looked at me with hos dark eyes. "Listen to me. I know him well, Catherine. He’ll tell me to go play with my books and leave the grown-up business to him."

"Don’t conclude before you’ve even tried," I pleaded. I reached out, my fingers brushing his sleeve. "We can’t afford to be in the dark. Not with Lucy. If Richard has her on his side, we’re finished. Just... try. For me?"

He stared at me for a long beat, the internal battle playing out across his features. I could see the trauma of a decade fighting against the desperate need to survive.

"Planning a coup? Or just a quiet little murder?"

The voice came from behind us. We both jumped, spinning around to see Gabriel leaning against the banister of the grand staircase. He looked disheveled, his tie was undone, and he was watching us with an unnerving amount of clarity.

"Gabriel," I breathed, trying to steady my heart. "You startled us."

"I tend to do that when people are huddled in corners whispering like Victorian conspirators," he said, pushing off the railing and walking toward us. He stopped a few feet away, his gaze moving between Julian and me. "You two look like you’re plotting to overthrow the kingdom. It’s about Lucy, right?"

The bluntness of his question caught me off guard. I opened my mouth to deny it. "No, we were just—"

"I’m going to see him," Julian interrupted, his voice flat. He gave me a short, sharp nod, his decision finally made. "I’m going to meet Richard."

Gabriel blocked his path, a small smirk playing on his lips. "And let me guess. You’re going to ask him exactly what he and our lovely ’guest’ talked about during their little private tête-à-tête?"

Julian’s eyes narrowed. "Yes. Any other brilliant insights, Gabriel?"

Gabriel chuckled, though there was no humor in the sound. He looked at both of us, and for a second, the mask of the lazy, hard-partying brother slipped. "I knew it. Look, you guys should stop leaving me out of whatever plans you’re making. Seriously."

I frowned, confused by the sudden shift in his tone. "Gabriel, we aren’t—"

"I’m serious," he insisted, stepping closer, his voice dropping. "I know I’m usually the one passed out in the guest room or avoiding the ’family’ dinners, but I’m not blind. I know what Richard is. I know what he does to people. If you’re building a wall against him, I’m willing to stand on your side of it. I’m willing to support you. Just... stop treating me like I’m part of the furniture."

Julian reached out and tapped Gabriel’s shoulder, a rare gesture of brotherly solidarity. "Thanks, Gabe. But there’s really nothing we’re ’planning.’ Not yet, anyway. We were just curious why Lucy crashed the conference and why Richard let her off so easily without a single threat. It doesn’t fit his patterns."

Gabriel accepted the answer with a slow nod, though I could tell he didn’t entirely believe it. "Fair enough. He’s in the study. He’s currently nursing a twenty-year-old scotch and looking at the polling numbers. He’s in a good mood, which usually means someone else is about to have a very bad day."

Julian didn’t waste another second. He walked past Gabriel and headed toward the back of the house, his footsteps heavy and deliberate. I watched him go, a cold pit forming in my stomach. I knew what it cost him to walk into that room voluntarily.

"He’s just going to talk to his dad, he’ll be okay, Catherine," Gabriel said, drawing my attention back to him.

I turned to find him studying me. "I hope so," I whispered.

"How are you doing?" he asked suddenly. "I realize I haven’t really... I haven’t asked about your welfare lately. After everything that happened with Sasha and Collins at the club. I should have been there. I should have checked in."

I felt a faint smile touch my lips. "I understand, Gabriel. You don’t have to apologize. You have a lot of friends, a lot of people vying for your attention. It’s normal not to remember I exist most of the time."

I meant it as a lighthearted observation, a way to let him off the hook but the effect on him was fast.

Gabriel flinched as if I’d slapped him. He stepped closer , his expression turning intensely focused. "Don’t talk like that, Catherine. Don’t ever say that."

I blinked, startled by the sudden heat in his voice. "I didn’t mean—"

"You think you’re just some background character in this house?" he asked, his voice low with an emotion I couldn’t quite name. "You’re not. You’re always on my mind, Catherine. Every time things get loud or ugly in this family, I find myself looking for where you are, making sure you’re... making sure you’re okay."

A strange, prickling sensation ran down my spine. The way he was looking at me, his eyes searching mine with a desperate kind of hunger, felt wrong. It felt intimate in a way that made the air between us turn thick and uncomfortable. My breath hitched, and I took a instinctively half-step back, my mind racing through a dozen different interpretations of what he’d just said. Always on his mind?

For a split second, I saw a flash of something in his gaze that looked dangerously like the way Julian looked at me.

Then, Gabriel seemed to realize how his words had landed. He blinked, the intensity fading as he cleared his throat and looked away, his hand coming up to rub the back of his neck.

"Because you’re family," he added quickly, his voice regaining its casual, breezy tone. "And in this house, family is the only thing that keeps the monsters at bay. Even the screw-up brothers have to look out for their sisters, right?"

The weirdness that had been coiling in my chest vanished at once. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and forced a small laugh. "Right. Family. I appreciate that, Gabriel. Really."

He gave me a lopsided, boyish grin that felt much more like the Gabriel I knew. "Good. Now, I’m going to go find where the help hid the rest of that scotch. If Julian comes out of that study with his head still attached, let me know. I’ll be in the lounge."