Step Secretary

I lost the man who had raised me since my own mother had died when I was six. It was a vicious blow, and one I don’t think I would have ever recovered from had it not been for Jacob.

I hadn’t expected my new older brother—stepbrother, really—to come to my rescue. I hadn’t expected anything from him at all. For the first few years we lived together in his mother’s expensive home, Sarah made it clear he was her baby, her pride and joy, the one and only child she would ever love. I figured he would have reaped the benefits from that and ignored what it did to me, but to my surprise, Jacob began to protest right around the time he turned fifteen. The boy who had hardly said two words to me in years began to speak on my behalf, always to his mother’s horror, and soon he was inviting me to enjoy all the riches his mother had brought to the table.

When Jacob got some fancy new gift, he asked me to come play with it. When Jacob got to go to some swanky party or sold-out concert, he brought me along at his side. When Jacob got to take his mother’s AmEx card to the mall, he insisted I come along so that he’d know what clothes to buy me.

Those moments with Jacob were the only happy ones I had living in that house with his mother and my enabling father. When he moved out at eighteen, I was completely devastated, even though I understood his reasons. By that time, he’d pretty much burned his bridges with his mother. He needed a less toxic environment to spend his life in.

Luckily for him, his grandfather had left him a sum of money to be paid out on his eighteenth birthday. He showed me the bank account once. I’d never seen so many zeroes in my life. Two and a half billion dollars! As a result, Jacob was now independently wealthy, which meant he hardly had to worry about finding a place to stay.

Seven years later, here I was, nineteen and finally freeing myself of the same chains Jacob had shrugged off years before me. It felt good, but also a little scary, mainly because I didn’t have the same kind of safety net that Jacob did. I wasn’t a billionaire.

The other reason I had misgivings were because of my dad. I loved him more than anything in the world, but I couldn’t stick around with him the way things were. I knew he was afraid to be alone, but that didn’t mean I had to stay and let Sarah make me miserable. Besides, she hadn’t seemed too upset when I’d said I was leaving.

“Come on,” Jacob said, interrupting my conflicting thoughts, “let’s go inside. I’ve got your room all ready for you. I hope you like it.”

“I’m sure I will,” I assured him with a smile, looking up at the massive luxury apartment building my stepbrother called home.

I was happy we didn’t have to walk up any stairs to get to our floor. Jacob had a penthouse near the very top, and the elevator ride was long enough as it was. We didn’t say much to one another at that point, but I knew he would want to talk soon. After all, we’d hardly spoken to each other since Jacob had moved out. Sarah had pretty much forbade it, dismissing Jacob as a “lost cause.” I wasn’t even allowed to say his name in her house.

When the elevator doors finally opened, I found myself staring at what looked like, for all intents and purposes, an outdoor entryway. There were potted plants in the short hall leading up to a set of wooden double doors with a short awning over them, and the dim light gave it the illusion of sundown.

“That’s… really cool,” I said, smiling giddily. I’d never seen such a setup.

“I know. It’s part of what sold me on the place,” Jacob said, stepping out of the elevator and unlocking the door. “It really makes me feel like I’m the only tenant here, you know?”

I nodded. I’d never lived in anything but houses before. Sometimes they were run down and small, but at least they were houses… I had no idea what it’d be like to have your neighbors on the other side of the wall from you, or to live without a backyard to run and play in.

I couldn’t imagine that Jacob would have very much room in an apartment, either. To me, apartments always conjured images of cramped spaces with crappy fixtures and decades-old appliances. So when Jacob opened up the doors to his penthouse, I was in complete shock at what I saw on the other side.

His apartment was even more spacious than his mother’s house had been. I gazed in awe at our surroundings, each blink of my eyes revealing splendors more intriguing than the last. This was nothing at all like an apartment, with its glimmering hardwood floors, patio complete with a Jacuzzi, and enough room for a whole family to live in. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“Jacob,” I breathed, “do you actually have the whole floor to yourself?”

He chuckled. “I do. I wanted something that seemed like an actual house, but was close to downtown. And here I am, right in the heart of it, with this place.” He smiled at me. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you like, you know. It’s not like I’m running out of room here, or anything.”

“I can see that!” I laughed, still marveling at the vastness of his home. “Holy shit. This was not what I was expecting.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he replied, grinning as he took my suitcase and began walking toward a hallway. “Come on. I’ll show you to your room.”

I followed him, but couldn’t stop staring at how glamorous his penthouse was. When he’d moved, Sarah had told me he’d ended up in some pathetic apartment, as though he’d had to sacrifice the stability and expansiveness of a home by escaping her wrath. What I saw now confirmed for me that she was only bitter he’d turned on her, and that I was much better off living with him than I was under her rule.

I practically skipped down the hall, grinning like an idiot as my stepbrother led me to my room. It was even bigger than the one I’d had back at home, although that had barely been larger than a closet. Sarah had seen to it that I got the space meant for a live-in maid. As old as the house was, it might have even been slave quarters at some point… It was her way of letting me know what the pecking order was.

“Feel free to decorate it,” he told me, setting down my things on the queen-sized bed. “Seriously, I don’t mind. Anything you need, just let me know.”

I nodded, trying not to beam too brightly, but I knew my happiness was written all over my face. “Thank you so much, Jacob. This means the world to me, but… I couldn’t possibly ask you to spend your money on decorations...”

“It’s cool,” he answered, wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug. “I remember what it was like. I want you to treat this place as your home now, Amber. I want you to feel like you can make it your own. Besides, I’ve been trying to spend my money for years but every time I check the account, it keeps getting bigger. Compound interest on top of the stocks Granddad left me…”

Then he paused, looking down at me. His blue eyes were glazed with regret and concern. “I… I don’t think I ever apologized to you. You know, for my mom.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I told him, and I meant it. Her sins were her own. I never held Jacob responsible for any of it, and I’d always hoped he knew that.

But he shook his head at me and gave me a squeeze. “She’ll never do it on her own, and somebody has to say it. It makes sense for it to be me.”

“Jacob…” I began again, but the look on his face silenced me. He was determined, and I knew once he put his mind to something, there was no stopping him.

“I’m sorry for what she did to you,” he told me, rubbing my arms as he stared into my eyes. “Hell, sometimes, I’m sorry we ever even came into your lives. If we hadn’t, you and your father would probably have ended up a lot happier.”

That stung a little. Sarah was awful, sure, but I never imagined life without Jacob in it.

But then he smiled faintly and added: “I know it’s selfish of me, but even with all the hell she put you through, I’m still glad you’re my sister. I just wish we’d… met a different way.”

My heart warmed, but I was still a little confused. What did that mean—a different way? And why did he look so sad when he said it?

For the moment, I shrugged it off an

d squeezed his arms too, smiling as I felt the bulge of his biceps beneath his shirt.

“I’m glad I’m your sister, too,” I told him. “I’ve never regretted that for one second. I swear. And if I hadn’t had you there all those years, I… I don’t know what I would have done,” I settled on at last.

It was true. Sarah had made my life an absolute nightmare, and sometimes, I thought about taking the radical way out. But I could have never done that to Jacob. It would have destroyed him.

He smiled and embraced me again, pressing me tight to his hard, broad chest. I closed my eyes, drinking in his scent. There was something about his touch, his smell that made me feel so safe, so at home—complete, even. No other man had ever made me feel that way. I was starting to wonder if one ever would.

Eventually we parted, and Jacob ran a hand through his hair, laughing softly. “Well, I’m glad we’ve got that out. Wouldn’t want this to become too mushy, right?”

“Right,” I said, smiling broadly. “Hey, you know what would be cool?”

He raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”