Tasting
Chapter 97

97-Forbidden Affair With My Stepbrothers

Nora:

“What is it?” Nash asked curiously. Lord Atwood pulled his hand out, revealing a small bottle with something b**dy inside.

“Ah!” I gasped, stepping away from the brothers, my hands flying to my mouth. Lord Atwood straightened his back as he stood up, his eyes fixed on the bottle.

“That is the sample,” Silas smiled, sighing in relief and lunging at his father to s**h the bottle out of his hands. For a moment, it didn’t even seem like he care that I had stolen it. He was more relieved that the bottle had n found.

“I don’t know why this was here.” stuttered, and his attention shifted to me.

“Well, it was here,” Silas groaned, shaking his head in disbelief at me. “We let you stay here, and you do this?” he exclaimed, prompting Nash to step forward and stand beside him.

“Why was it here, Nora?” Nash’s harsh gaze felt like a trap I needed to escape before they took any action against me.

“I don’t know, honestly. Why would I steal it just to hide it under the closet?” I questioned, unsure of my own motives.

“Maybe you wanted him to get in trouble,” Nash frowned, scratching the back of his neck as he pondered possible reasons for my actions.

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“I don’t know… It seems like… you wanted me to get caught by the council for not taking care of it,” Silas interrupted, deepening his glare and grunting at me. “And dad is definitely silent because his favorite child doesn’t seem so perfect anymore,” Silas continued, redirecting his father’s attention to us.

“Are you sure you didn’t keep it here?” Lord Atwood, after seeming lost for some time, gathered all his courage and strength to step between us and clefend me once more. I couldn’t believe it. How could someone trust someone so much? It was as if he didn’t even want to believe anything against me. But why?

“Dad is right. Maybe the thing was placed here to somehow trap her,” Ryker stepped up, standing in front of me with his father. “I can think of that being the very reason it was here,” Cain did the same and stood on the ot side of his father, forming a wall in

front of me.

“Okay!” Silas scoffed, laughing suddenly as if he couldn’t believe that nobody was believing him. “So you all think I placed it here to get her in trouble?” Silas asked.

“I don’t know. This has happened before,” I yelled from behind them as they began to s*r a**way so I could be in view.

“Oh really? Did you see me come to your bedroom? I lost this thing in the last few days, so did you see me come here in those few days?” Silas questioned, and I hesitated to answer.

I wasn’t in the bedroom last night. It struck me hard because I couldn’t be certain if he had come to my room and maybe placed it here.

“I” I bit my bottom lip, but Ryker stepped up to answer for me.

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“We are not saying you did it. Maybe somebody else did it to cause a rift between our family,” he continued to defend me, but the passion in his eyes seemed to be missing. I could tell he was trying too hard to replace answers for these questions himself but still managing a way to defend me.

“Just say it, you think I did it. But wouldn’t she have known if I had come to her room?” Silas groaned, asking him the same question again.

“No, she wouldn’t,” Ryker finally raised his voice, turning heads. to him. Cain shared a glance with me as he realized why I was unable to answer that question. He finally recalled that we spent the night in his bedroom in his studio.

“She left the mansion with me for a few hours. It could have been placed there during “Ryker explained, and I began to breathe once again. That was a good one. He didn’t have to tell anyone about me and Cain but also got to defend me.

“Oh really? Then why don’t we check the footage of last night. and see if I came here to leave this thing here? Or maybe from the night before because if anyone placed it here, they did it in these two days,” Silas stated, making everyone go silent before Nash nodded his head in agreement.

“Sure,” Nash said.

“I think that will help clean her reputation,” Lord Atwood seemed to be on board as well, but the silent ones were Cain, Ryker, and I. I didn’t know there was a camera in the hallway. And then I turned to look at Cain and Ryker. It appeared as if they had forgotten about it as well.

If they checked the footage of the last two days, they would replace

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so many bizarre interactions between Ryker, Cain, me, and even Natalya. The fact that she came running almost naked to my bedroom from Cain’s studio would make it seem even more

wrong.

And then the fact that Cain came to my bedroom… Oh my lord! And my little flirtatious moment with Ryker in the hallway. My head spun around, my throat turned dry.

“There is no need for it–we know she wouldn’t do that,” Ryker jumped in, almost as if he realized it would get very messy if we were found in a state like that.

“Why not? I want to know, and I’m ready to watch the footage. because I know d**n well didn’t come to her bedroom,” Silas, who seemed frustrated and angry that nobody had been believing him even after th

imple was found in my bedroom,

wasn’t letting this go because he had seen the hesitation on my face.

Which also made me wonder if he was telling the truth. He didn’t place it here. Then who did?

“Fine. If that’s the case, Ryker and I will see the footage and tell you what we found,” Cain was aware that Ryker knew I was his mate, so he probably thought his brother wouldn’t be shocked to see Cain coming in and out of my bedroom. But it did seem to bother Ryker because, well, he didn’t want Cain to know he had been flirting with me as well.

This mess got messier, and Silas was not backing down.