Puck Me Harder: A Stepbrother Romance [BL]

Noah’s POV

Micah didn’t resist. He let me guide him forward, his small body practically pressing against my side as we walked past the long lines of armed guards and my loyal old butler. Micah’s head was spinning, his eyes scanning every inch of the spotless, luxurious interior in absolute bewilderment.

He didn’t understand how a house that looked completely gutted by fire on the outside could be a state-of-the-art fortress on the inside.

Sixteen years ago, this very estate was burned to a crisp by Bernard. The fire destroyed everything on the surface, leaving behind only blackened stone and charred frames. The city declared it an abandoned, cursed wasteland, a haunted ruin that no normal citizen dared to approach.

That public terror was my greatest weapon. This place was my parents’ house. After my butler reconnected with me, I spent years secretly buying back the deed and spending millions to completely restore and upgrade the entire interior into a high-tech underground stronghold. I kept the exterior completely burnt, ruined, and rotting on purpose. That way, Bernard and his syndicate would never suspect in a million years that his dead victim’s son was building a war command center right inside the very grave Bernard had created.

We were halfway down the main corridor when heavy, rapid footsteps echoed against the polished marble floor.

"Master! We’ve gotten a solid lead on Plan Mayor," an operative reported quickly. "They’ve abducted a student from the university campus today. Someone named Sunny..."

The moment the operative uttered that name, Micah’s entire body jerked violently.

"Sunny?!" Micah shrieked, his voice laced with pure, unadulterated panic. "Where is she?! She was kidnapped and—"

In panic, Micah lunged forward, his hands reaching out as if he were about to grab my operative by the lapels to shake answers out of him.

Before his hands could touch the soldier, I stepped smoothly into his path. I extended my arm, placing my palm firmly against Micah’s chest to physically block him, gently but unyieldingly pushing him back behind my shoulder. I wasn’t going to let him touch anyone else, nor was I going to let him lose control in front of my subordinates.

I turned my cold gaze onto the operative. "Thank you. You may leave."

The operative bowed instantly. "Yes, Master," he said, turning on his heel and vanishing down the hallway at a rapid pace.

Micah’s eyes followed the soldier until he disappeared around the corner. I could feel the intense heat radiating off Micah’s body, his breath coming in ragged, terrified gasps as he tried to piece everything together in his head.

So the missing girl he and Raven were crying about in the parking lot earlier turned out to be the exact target Bernard and his criminal team kidnapped today.

A dark, thrilling satisfaction bubbled up deep within my throat. This was turning out to be so much fun. Everything was converging at the exact same time. Bernard was making his big moves, completely unaware that his stolen target was going to be the very catalyst that brought his entire criminal empire crashing down around his ears.

Micah whipped around to face me, his face pale and his eyes wide with an intense storm of confusion, fear, and betrayal.

"Noah, you have to tell me what’s happening!" he shouted, his voice cracking under the overwhelming weight of panic. "How does that person know about Sunny? What is..."

He cut himself off mid-sentence, slamming both of his hands into his hair and tugging violently on the locks as if trying to keep his head from exploding.

"What is happening?!" he cried out, trembling so hard he could barely keep his feet planted on the floor.

I stepped closer, reaching up to gently grasp both of his wrists. I pulled his hands away from his hair, holding them securely in my warm grip.

"Calm down, Micah," I whispered softly, keeping my voice as soothing and steady as a heartbeat. "I’m going to show you everything."

Holding his hand tightly in mine, I turned and led him down the private staircase at the end of the hall, heading deep into the basement level of the mansion. We walked down a soundproofed corridor until we reached a set of massive, reinforced steel doors.

I pressed my hand against the bio-scanner, and the heavy doors slid open smoothly with a quiet pneumatic hiss.

I guided Micah inside. The room was shrouded in pitch-black darkness, the cool air smelling faintly of copper, and fresh print paper. Micah froze right beside me, his fingers tightening around mine.

I stepped slightly ahead of him and raised my hands, clapping twice.

CLAP. CLAP.

A series of sharp electrical clicks echoed across the ceiling, and instantly, dozens of bright overhead spotlights flooded the massive room with crisp white light.

The entire central war room sprang to life.

Spanning across the massive, thirty-foot central display wall in front of us was a towering, intricate criminal investigation grid. It was packed with thousands of pinned items—financial transaction logs, encrypted syndicate communication transcripts, tactical map layouts, stolen weapon manifests, and detailed profiles on every major crime boss operating in the city.

And right in the absolute center of the giant grid, pinned under a bright red circle with dozens of red threads connecting to every single piece of evidence on the wall, was a massive, high-definition photograph of Bernard.

Micah’s breath hitched violently in his throat. He froze entirely, his wide, bloodshot eyes fixed on the massive wall in absolute, paralyzed horror.

He took a slow, agonizing step forward, his hand slipping from mine as his gaze locked onto the photograph of the man who had raised him, the man who had tormented him for his entire life.

"This is..." Micah whispered, his voice shaking. "This is father..."

I stepped up directly behind him, closing the distance between us until his back was pressed against my chest. I wrapped my hand firmly around his waist, grounding him against me as I leaned down, resting my chin lightly against his shoulder so my voice brushed right against his ear.

"Let’s start from the start, shall we?"