My Stepbrother Wants Me-Chapter 101: Kiera Saves The Day

Julian’s POV

The tension in the room was killing me, coupled with Gabriel’s furious breathing and the knowledge that at any second, the ringing of Catherine’s phone would betray her presence. I watched Gabriel’s thumb hover over the phone screen, ready to expose our lie.

The ringing tone finally came but it wasn’t from the balcony. Instead, it erupted from my bedside table. My phone was the one ringing.

I stared at it, for a while, wondering if that was really my phone or Catherine’s. I regained myself and lunged for the phone, seizing it before the second ring could sound. An unknown number was calling.

"Who is it?" Gabriel demanded, his voice still holding suspicion, as his eyes fixed on me. "Go on. Pick it up!"

I flipped the screen and answered instantly, putting the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

The voice that answered was unmistakably feminine, and weirdly familiar. "Catherine?"

Gabriel chimed in. "Put the call on a loudspeaker."

I gave him a hard stare before doing as he asked.

"Julian? Thank God! Did you see it? Did you see the picture?" The voice was frantic, breathless, and it sounded exactly like Catherine.

My brain locked up. What? Catherine was two feet away from me, hiding in the corner of my balcony. How was she on the phone, sounding panicked, and calling from an unknown number?

"I can’t believe he did this! He’s trying to ruin me!" the voice continued, claiming to be Catherine.

My mind raced. This was impossible. Unless...

Gabriel, leaning in close, heard enough to recognize the voice. Before I could process anything, Gabriel snatched the phone from my hand.

"Catherine? Where are you right now?" he demanded, his tone aggressive, the fury briefly returning.

The voice on the line sounded genuinely startled. "Gabriel? You are with Julian? I saw your call and I am aware it’s because of that picture." She sounded exactly like someone caught off guard. "I’m with Kiera. We just stepped out to grab some things, and that’s when I saw the message! Collins is behind this and it’s a lie. He’s chosen to lie and shame me publicly because I refused to sleep with him! He’s trying to disgrace me!"

Gabriel’s face, which had been contorted with rage, slowly softened into disbelief, then relief. He listened intently as whoever was speaking, explained the situation further.

"He sent me a message right before he put that photo up," she insisted. "He told me he was going to take me down because I wouldn’t give him what he wanted. He’s completely unhinged!"

I immediately seized the opportunity. I took the phone back from Gabriel, ensuring I put on the right show.

"Unbelievable!" I thundered into the phone, playing the part of the outraged, innocent party. "I can’t believe that bastard has dragged both of us into his sick fantasies. He is going to regret involving me in this. I promise you, I’m going to make him pay for this."

I maintained the pretense of boiling anger, making it clear I was focusing entirely on Collins’s public humiliation of me.

Gabriel watched me, I noticed his shoulders slumping. The air went out of his sails completely. The proof he thought he had was now being explained away as a pathetic attempt at revenge by a spurned creep.

"I... I am so ashamed right now," Gabriel murmured, shaking his head. "I never imagined that sick fuck could stoop this low. That he would try to frame you two like this just because Catherine rejected him." He reached out, touching my shoulder in a gesture of sudden, sincere regret. "Catherine, listen to me. Julian and I will handle this. We are going to make him take down this photo and issue a public apology before this garbage spreads any further. Don’t worry about this, okay?"

"Thank you, Gabriel," she said gratefully on the phone. "I knew you would believe me."

I ended the call immediately, still feigning the angry look.

Gabriel turned to leave, his face drawn with embarrassment and relief.

"Wait," I said, stopping him at the door. I had to finish this. I couldn’t let him walk away with only half an apology. "Are you not going to apologize for wrongly accusing me? And for throwing a punch to my face?" I touched my jaw lightly.

He stopped, turning slowly. He looked deeply chagrined. "Yeah, I am sorry. That was a serious overreaction. But when I saw that photo, I didn’t know what to think."

He trailed off, then looked at me, a strange, intense expression settling on his face. "I am relieved, Julian. More relieved than I can even explain, knowing that this isn’t true."

His voice was too emotional, the relief too profound for a simple brotherly concern about a PR disaster.

"Why?" I asked, meeting his gaze directly. "Why are you so worked up over it, Gabriel? You didn’t even care to confirm with me first. Is Catherine that important to you?"

He looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. "I don’t understand the question."

I repeated it, clarifying the underlying meaning. "Why did you feel the need to fight for Catherine? Why were you so personally invested in her not being caught in this scandal with me?"

He looked away, running a hand through his hair. The answer, when it came, was simple, but it felt strangely out of place, too clinical for the level of anger he’d displayed.

"She’s my sister, Julian," he said, avoiding my eyes. "It’s my right to protect her. And she’s already been through enough drama with Lucy and Sasha. I wasn’t going to let you add to her problems."

That was all he gave me. It was the correct, appropriate answer, but the raw, unbridled fury he’d shown moments earlier suggested something much deeper than mere fraternal protection. I didn’t press him further, not yet.

He nodded once. "I’ll come back later, and we can start working on how to make Collins regret messing with us."

"Yeah. Sure," I agreed.

He left the room, closing the door behind him. I listened intently, waiting until I heard the heavy thud of his bedroom door closing down the hall. Only then, once I was absolutely certain he was far, far gone, did I rush to the balcony.

I slid the glass door open quickly and stepped out.

"Catherine?" I whispered. She looked up at me, her eyes wide, a shaky relief flooding her face. "Kiera," she breathed. "I owe her my life."

I nodded, utterly speechless, pulling her off the floor and into my arms, holding her tightly. We finally pulled apart and I led her back into my room.

"How?" I finally managed, holding her face in my hands. "How did she manage that?"

Catherine blinked, her relief giving way to a sly, triumphant look. She understood immediately that I was referring to the phone call; the perfectly timed, perfectly impersonated alibi.

"That’s Kiera for you," she confirmed in a low murmur. "I have absolutely no idea how she managed to pull that off. It was insane, Julian. She sounded exactly like me."

The puzzle snapped together. Kiera must have found a way to perfectly imitate Catherine’s voice, or perhaps she was using some kind of voice changer app.

But I wasn’t done with the logistics. My analytical mind was still stuck on the details that would have ruined us.

"But how did she know?" I pressed. "She was supposedly out getting things. And how did her phone not ring when Gabriel called you a second ago? If he was calling your number, the noise would have given you away."

Catherine paused, her eyes shifting away from mine as she seemed to recall the frantic moments before Gabriel burst in.

"The phone didn’t ring because I silenced the notification sound the second I ran out to the balcony," she explained. "I was texting her. Kiera sent me a message right after I hid, asking about the released photo. The notification sound could have been heard by Gabriel, so I shut it off."

She continued, while still panicking. "I quickly replied, explaining in a few frantic texts what was happening, I told her Gabriel was currently in your room because of the photo, while I was stuck hiding on the balcony because he suspected we were together."

I stared at her, amazed by her quick thinking at that moment.

"Wow. The two of you actually make a great pair."

Catherine let out a genuine, quiet laugh, shaking her head. "Yes. I’ve literally never met anyone as smart as Kiera. She just told me not to worry. She said she would help out, but she needed one thing: your number. So I gave her your cell number. I didn’t expect her to come up with such a masterpiece, Julian. I just figured she’d text you a warning or something, but that? She called, pretended to be me, and created a perfect alibi by blaming Collins for everything and making it seem as though that picture is fake."