The Consortium Heir: My Stepsisters are obsessed with me

Chapter 5: The Stark Daughters

Anthony stayed frozen at the entrance, the room in front of him not quite registering.

Step-sisters. The word still felt strange, like he wasn't sure what it actually meant.

His mind was still trying to catch up, which was probably why he completely failed to notice the small blur of motion that detached itself from the sofa and came rushing at him.

Before he could react, a pair of arms wrapped tight around him from behind, and Anthony nearly jumped out of his skin. He looked back, startled, to find the blonde girl hugging him with a bright smile on her face.

She had round cheeks, bright brown eyes, and a ponytail that bounced with pure contained energy, like the rest of her was barely holding in a fireworks show.

She beamed up at him. "Are you my new big brother?"

Anthony froze. "...What?"

"Are you?"

"Um." He opened his mouth, then closed it.

His brain stalled out completely, because technically he wasn't her brother, at least not yet. Not until the DNA test came back, and only if it came back positive.

"I..." He looked completely lost.

Before Anthony could come up with an answer, Sophie stepped in.

"Isabella." Her voice cut in, cool as ever. "He is not your brother yet. And it's time for us to leave."

Anthony blinked. "What? Wait — you're leaving me here?"

"Yes. I have to take Isabella to her training." She adjusted her glasses.

"Yeah, I could— I can come with you."

"You could not." She was already steering the girl toward the door with one hand.

"You're just going to leave me alone?"

"Yes." The answer came so plainly that he didn't know how to respond.

"Oh, and before I forget." She reached toward him, and he stepped back on instinct. "What are you doing?"

She ignored the question and plucked a strand of hair from his head.

"Ouch!" He jumped back, hand flying to his scalp. "What was that for?!"

She tucked it into a small white container and held it up. "The DNA test."

He stared at it. Right. Of course — the thing that would decide whether his entire life was about to change.

She turned to go. "I'll see you in a few hours."

"Bye, new big brother!" Isabella called, waving at him with a wholehearted, hundred-watt smile.

Anthony raised a hand awkwardly. "Bye."

He watched the two of them go, then slowly turned back to the remaining women.

The living room was already emptier.

Almost immediately, the dark-haired one scrolling her phone swung her legs off the armrest and looked him over with a face cold enough to freeze the room.

"So this is who everyone is making such a fuss about." She rolled her eyes, stood up, and walked out without another word.

Anthony blinked. "Did she just—" He didn't even finish the thought. The one in oversized hoodie was already gone too; he hadn't even seen her leave.

That left one.

She was leaning against the wall near the window, wine glass in hand, completely at ease, watching him with something between amusement and interest.

Her dress was simple black silk, but simple was doing a lot of heavy lifting; it clung in ways that made the chandelier light do unprofessional things, and the way she crossed one leg over the other suggested she knew exactly what the light was doing.

She was smiling at him, but it wasn’t a hello smile – no – more a cat that caught the mouse and is considering dessert smile.

"Oh, boy," Anthony muttered.

She pushed off the wall and crossed the room toward him — unhurried, fluid, hips rolling with every step like she'd learned the walk specifically to ruin men.

"Don't worry. They're just shy," she said, stopping directly in front of him. Close. Noticeably close.

Anthony looked down at her. She looked up at him. The black silk plunged low enough that when she tilted her head, the neckline shifted and gave him a full, clear view of the soft curve of her breasts.

He didn't mean to look. He looked anyway. She watched him look — and her smile deepened like he'd just confirmed something for her.

The way she was looking at him was not the way you looked at your stepbrother. He was almost certain of that. Ninety percent. Eighty.

"I'm not." She smiled.

There was something in the way she said it — like the sentence was deliberately left unfinished, carrying more weight than the words alone.

He cleared his throat. "I'm Anthony."

"Sonia." She held out her hand, and he shook it.

"Sonia. Right. Yes. Hi." Anthony stuttered, his brain fully out of the building.

"Interesting." She held onto his hand with both of hers, warm and deliberate, and didn't let go. "You're as good-looking as I imagined."

Anthony's confusion went from "lost" to "cartography error." Was she flirting? Was she allowed to flirt? Was this a test? Were the other sisters or Mr. Stark himself watching through a camera somewhere?

"I— thanks? You— also. Very. Yes." He struggled to form a sentence.

"But your clothes, though." She released his hand and tilted her head, and her smile gained a slightly apologetic edge.

He looked down and only then remembered — he'd been wearing the same clothes since before his mother collapsed, still damp from the rain, dirty, wrinkled.

He looked like a disaster. Honestly, he was surprised Sophie had managed to sit next to him in the car without saying anything.

"Don't worry about it. I'm going to fix you up really good." Her smile turned playful.

"Come with me," Sonia said, already turning. "Let's go shopping."

"What? No— shopping? I don't have money." He said it on pure reflex.

Sonia just stared at him for a moment, then laughed — not unkindly, more like she genuinely found the answer funny.

"Anthony." She stepped closer. "You still haven't understood."

She reached into her bag and pulled out a black card, holding it up between two fingers.

Anthony had never seen one in person, but he knew exactly what it was. It was an unlimited card that never got declined because there was nothing to decline it against.

Her smile curled, slow and dangerous as she pressed the card on his chest with her fingers dragging it, and her breath at his ear.

"Relax, Anthony." She whispered against his neck “Money is the least of the things I'm going to introduce you to."