Getting Back At My Ex With His Billionaire Step Brother

Zara froze. That voice was familiar, it sounded too familiar... No, it couldn't be. She had to be mistaken. Her breath hitched in her throat. It couldn't be Elena's, her best friend's voice. As she stepped closer to the door, she could hear her heart pounding. Then she heard it again. The laughter from Jayden's room was unmistakably playful and intimate.

The laughter stopped Zara on her track, her hands trembled by her side. She didn't want to hear more, yet she couldn't stop moving closer to the door.

"I can't wait for you to break up with her so we can be together at last." a voice purred laced with a familiar sickening sweetness.

" Haha, she'll get the biggest shock on her birthday. It's gonna be epic " came Jayden's voice.

"I can't wait to have you to myself for real, Jayden."

" Honestly, she was never my type, she's all skin and bones. Like a walking skeleton" Jayden said, his voice dripping with disdain.

" Soon you will be all mine Jayden, all mine."

The handle was cold beneath her trembling fingers. Zara's chest tightened. Heart racing, she shoved the door open in a desperate motion and the door hit the wall with a deafening bang.

Inside they were wrapped around each other Elena coiled around Jayden's arms like she belonged there.

Jayden's first words? " Huh, I thought I locked the door." he said, his voice dripping with indifference and casual annoyance.

Jayden's nonchalant attitude was like a colder, harder slap to Zara's face than any physical blow. The words hit her with a chill spreading through her veins, colder than the rain soaked air outside.

Elena's head snapped towards her with a smirk playing on her face before it vanished widening her eyes in a perfect mask of shock " Ohh Zara, it's not what you think." She said with a perfect imitation of a damsel in distress. A tear even escaped her eyes then a sharp ugly chuckle escaped her lips, a loud clear sound devoid of guilt that it chilled zara to the bone.

That was it no expression of guilt, no explanations, nothing but cold brutal mockery.

Zara's world shattered into a million pieces, she couldn't even scream. Her mouth opened but no word came out of it. Tears blurred her vision as she ran down the stairs; her glasses slipped off mid-run, but she didn't stop. She ran out of the mansion, past the shocked staff, out the gates, and into the pouring rain. Thunder rumbled rain soaked through her clothes plastering them on her skin, her make up streamed down her cheeks. Her once wavy curls were now tangled, but Zara didn't care. She kept running blindly, breathlessly, until headlights flashed behind her.

She didn't know how long she had been running. Her legs ached, and her lungs burned with every gasping breath but she didn't stop running. Her mind raced faster than her feet, replaying the scene all over again.

She thought about those times Jayden had held her hands, looked into her eyes, and still lied to her effortlessly. Everything was a lie Jayden cheated on her, and not just with anyone, but with her childhood friend and best friend, Elena.

Every smile, every laugh, it was all fake. Every TikTok challenge, every public declaration of love they even had a fan page dedicated to them on tiktok, on Instagram, the Zayden couple were everywhere.

Every flower, every gift he even wrote a book about her, telling her how much he loved her. Every moment they shared was a deception all along.

Zara and Jayden were the internet's cute couple, cute TikTok videos, romantic vacations, matching outfits. Every moment they shared was watched by millions of fans, they trended daily. Everyone adored the Zayden couple. Millions of Likes, thousands of comments, edits of them dancing in slow mo under the sunset.The Zayden couple had had everyone screaming couples goals. Zara had loved him blindly in front of the whole world and the humiliation she just faced was just as loud

Zara Lane, a twenty-three year-old hot supermodel, and the tall, charismatic, and heartbreakingly handsome twenty- five year-old Jayden Beanet, the son of the chairman of Forbes Groups, a billion-dollar empire in the country. They were a perfect picture, a perfect love story. Rumor had it they met in high school and dated all through their college days a total of six years.

Zara and Jayden had been together for only two years; their second-year anniversary was supposed to be next week, on Zara's birthday. And all of this was coming to an end because of a door she never should have opened.

She never saw the betrayal coming not from Jayden, her boyfriend, and definitely not from her best friend Elena. Jayden had claimed he was on a family trip, or so he said, and Elena too had said she was drowning in office work.

Everything had seemed normal until earlier that morning. Zara had received an anonymous call urging her to check on her boyfriend and best friend: "What if Jayden isn't who you think he is?" At first, she brushed it off, but her gut wouldn't let her rest. The caller hadn't said much, but the tone was laced with urgency.

She had gone to Elena's place first and found it empty. Confused, her concern shifted into a knot of dread as she had made her way to the Beanet mansion, Jayden's family home.

The rain had started as she approached the mansion, the mansion was lit but not with the usual welcoming glow. Inside, the staff looked surprised to see her. Miss Zara barely responded, her heels clicking on the marble floor as she made her way to Jayden's room, only to be welcomed by an unwelcoming sight.

Zara felt humiliated, broken, but most of all, she felt stupid. For not seeing the signs there must have been signs but she had chosen not to pay attention. Jayden's occasional family trip clashing with Elena's business trip, Elena knowing things about Jayden that she didn't even know, Elena's occasional remark, "You know Jayden won't like that." It was so obvious, and it now felt less than a coincidence she had ignored all the signs. She had been blinded by her trust and love.

Zara stood in the pouring rain, drenched and shaking, her chest heaving from a mix of cold and heartbreak. The icy downpour soaked through her clothes and mascara stinging in her eyes. The streetlights flickering as the black car pulled up beside her, its engine a low rumble in the pouring rain. The door opened, and a tall, quiet, and calm figure stepped out of the car, holding a dark coat and an umbrella. Without uttering a word, he gently wrapped it around her shoulders. His touch was gentle, careful like he might break apart if he moved too quickly.She didn't look up, she didn't resist she just let the coat wrap around her its soft warmth was a stark contrast to the cold she felt inside her gaze was fixed at some distant point, her mind was numb, but something about his presence felt safe. She let him guide her to the sleek black car. The rain tapped soft rhymes on the window as he drove. She didn't ask where they were going, she didn't even ask who he was.

When the car stopped in front of her house, she blinked and he knew where she lived. Still, she didn't speak, she stepped out, the coat still clinging to her shoulders and her heels clicking softly on the pavements. As he turned to leave, she finally found her voice and whispered for the first time in a while, "Who are you? Why did you come?"

He paused but didn't look back, then said softly, "Because I couldn't let you face that kind of pain alone... Not when I was right there "

That night, Zara lay in bed with the coat still wrapped around her. She could inhale the scent of rain and unfamiliar cologne that clung to the coat. She didn't sleep; she couldn't sleep. The betrayal repeatedly played in her mind Elena's voice, Jayden's laughter, which she could still hear echoing in her head.

Zara didn't sleep that night. She couldn't sleep. She kept tossing and turning in her bed, tangled in her sheets like her thoughts unsettled, sharp, and relentless. Her pillow was damp not from rain but from a river of silent tears.

The stranger's coat still clung to her like it belonged there, like it understood the heartbreak it was wrapped around. The scent of it, a quiet mix of expensive masculine cologne and rain, lingered like a presence, oddly comforting although unfamiliar. She wasn't sure why she hasn't taken off the coat. Maybe it was the weight of it the physical manifestation of her emotional burden. Maybe because it was the only thing that felt real at the moment in her world that had already turned upside down.

Her father wasn't home. He had traveled to visit her sick aunt, his only living sibling. The timing felt like a cruel joke to Zara. A twist of fate that left her feeling abandoned and alone she was a daddy's girl. Her dad was her backbone, her cheer leader and his absence that night creates an ache in her heart that she couldn't shake.

He would have stayed if she knew she told herself but fare was cruel and was always taking people away when she needed them the most.

Zara was an only child. Her mother had disappeared when she was just five, she had vanished without a trace. And since then, it had just been her and her dad, a team of two. He had raised her with a fierce, unwavering love and he had refused to take a second wife despite the whispers and rumors involving his wife's disappearance about her leaving with another man because he could barely afford to fend for his family.

Zara sat up in bed, her fingers absentmindedly trailing along the hem of the stranger's coat, trying to focus on something anything to distract from the betrayal she could still feel burning in her chest. But her mind was too crowded, too loud with memories and heartbreak and confusion.

Eventually, she picked up her phone. Her screen lit up like fireworks immediately. Casting a sudden harsh glow over her tears stained face in the dark room.

She already had five hundred and twenty-six notifications. Her name was trending everywhere but not for anything she deserved. Her heart sank. The hashtags were brutal.

#Zara The Snake

#Elena And Jayden Forever

#Karma Is Real

#The Fall Of the Zayden's Couple

Zara felt a wave of nausea wash over her, she didn't know how to respond, as this was her first time receiving so much hate on the internet. Her hands trembled as she scrolled, each post like a dagger hitting her chest. She eventually clicked one of the posts her account had been tagged in and watched the video load slowly before it played.

It was a clipped video that had been edited to perfection. Elena was sobbing dramatically into Jayden's chest, mascara running like she had practiced the scene a hundred times already.

"She betrayed me," Elena whimpered, her voice breaking as she spoke.

"My own best friend betrayed me with the man I love." Elena continued drying her face with a tissue.

Zara's heart froze. Jayden wrapped his arms around Elena, like a knight shielding his broken princess. He looked into the camera with a carefully crafted heartbreak in his eyes. "

Elena has always been my first choice," he said, as he stroked Elena's hair slowly. "We dated all through high school. Even in college. We were still together." He sighed dramatically, then quickly added, "Zara has always been jealous of what we had. She tried to come between us, not once, not twice."

Zara's stomach twisted.

Elena sniffled again, picking up where he left off. Her voice breaking has she leaned into Jayden's chest "Zara had threatened to kill herself if I didn't give Jayden to her."

Her voice cracked. "She was so manipulative... I was so scared."

Zara's breath caught. Her vision blurred with tears. Each word was like a knife to her chest, twisting and turning, causing more pain at each turn. The tears came hot and fast as it streak silently down her cheeks.

Then Jayden voice came again calm and steady like he was reading a damm script "She told me Elena was cheating. She even made a deep fake video of Elena with another guy. She planned everything. Zara is a manupulative..."

Zara's phone nearly slipped from her hand.

What?!

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She stared at the screen, her face drained of color. Her lips parted in disbelief.

They had made up lies so vile, so precise,that the world had no choice but to believe them. And the internet? It never waited for the truth. The internet was always ready to devour whatever story was juiciest.

The internet was a beast, a monster that devoured truth and Zara was its latest victim.

She was the villain now.

And the worst part?

They were winning

As she stared blankly at her screen, wave after wave of hate kept pouring in. She opened her DM requests ,half hoping there would be someone defending her. But all she saw were walls of venom. There were hundreds of messages and notifications, each one a new insult, adding more salt to her injury.

Some were cruel in a mocking tone, like they were entertained by her pain.

"Karma is a bitch, right?

"You finally showed your true colors."

"Desperate much?"

Others were colder, meaner, and they were all sent from faceless trolls and fake accounts hiding behind cartoon icons and bold usernames.

"You deserved this, Zara."

"Elena deserves better, you backstabbing bitch."

"Always knew you were fake, Zara."

"Clout-chasing snake."

Zara's chest tightened like it was folding itself. She felt her throat burn, a lump rising with nowhere to go. She tried to swallow it down, tried to breathe, to stay still, to not fall apart. But the tears came anyway, hot, silent, and endless, streaming down her cheeks like a river and worsening her already puffy eye .

She clutched the phone so hard till her knuckles started turning white. Her vision blurred, the words on the screen smearing into one ugly, endless blur of judgmental comments. She felt like screaming, like ripping her hair out, but all she could do was cry. Why did they have to go so far when she was the wronged one here? She had never felt so alone, so exposed, so misunderstood.

"Why did you call her?!"

Leo's voice cracked through the room like thunder. He paced around the length of his office restlessly, his fists clenched, jaw tight.

"I told you not to call her, Fred!"

"Leo listen to me." Fred stayed seated, calm but tense. "Just calm down. It was for your own good, I swear. I had your best interest in mind."

Leo spun on him, eyes flashing "My best interest?" He scoffed,the sound sharp and without a trace of humour, "Don't insult my intelligence."

Fred ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated now. "Would you just hear me out, Leo?"

"You know I can't bear to see her in pain," Leo snapped, cutting him off. His voice dropped, but the emotion in it rose. "You know that. You know what she means to me."

"And I can't bear to see you in pain either, Leo!" Fred stood now, his voice rising to match his friend's. "You were hurting, man. Drowning in it. What was I supposed to do just watch?! Pretend like your silence wasn't killing you?"

Leo's expression crumbled, his shoulders slumped as he shook his head in denial. "And now what? Am I supposed to be happy?, is this supposed to be happiness? " he whispered. "Do I look happy to you now Fred?"

Fred's tone softened. "No... but at least the truth is out. She knows, Leo. You've been hiding for so long hiding everything even after finding out the truth for the last eight months . Maybe this is what you both needed."

Leo dropped onto the edge of the couch, his face buried in his hands, breathing hard.

Fred took a step closer. "You've been protecting her from the truth like she's fragile. But this?" He gestured toward the chaos that had unfolded. "This is the only way to save her. Save you. She deserves to know what's really been going on."

"If she'd been in the right hands," Fred added, voice low, "maybe none of this would've happened."

Leo didn't speak. But the storm in his eyes said it all.

He hadn't just lost control. He had almost lost her.

And that terrified him more than anything else.

"You, of all people, should know just how terrible Jayden really is," Fred said, his voice quiet but firm. "And if nothing else, at least now she sees her best friend for who she truly is."

Leo's jaw tightened. He didn't respond.

Fred took a step closer. "Leo, listen. I know you're hurting. Because the one girl you've loved your whole life she ended up in the hands of your stepbrother. I can't imagine what that feels like. But she would've found out eventually. You just didn't want it to be this way."

Leo's eyes remained fixed on the ground, but the muscle twitching in his jaw betrayed his emotion.

Fred sighed and picked up his phone. "I'm heading to bed. I'll leave you to process this... just don't be too hard on yourself."

He turned toward the hallway, pausing at the door.

"Thank you, Fred," Leo murmured, his voice soft and broken at the same time. "Goodnight."

Fred nodded. "Goodnight, Leo."

The room fell silent again, except for the faint hum of the ceiling fan. Leo remained seated, alone with the weight of his thoughts:

Leo lost his father when he was just ten years old. A billionaire businessman, his father had left behind not only an empire but a void no amount of money could ever fill.

His mother, grieving and vulnerable,had remarried two years later. Her new husband was a charming widower, polished, well-spoken, and the kind of man who smiled too easily. In public, he treated Leo like a son. Gentle words. Warm gestures. The perfect stepfather.

But behind closed doors, it was a different story.

Leo learned early how to read the room, how to anticipate a switch in tone, how to hold his breath in his own home. His stepfather's kindness was an act, a mask worn expertly for his mother's sake. And Leo, too young to fight back, too loyal to hurt his mother kept it all to himself.

He grew up in silence, surrounded by wealth, yet starving for warmth. Every smile he wore was calculated.

All his step father's pretense died with his mother.

After her passing, Leo saw the full extent of the game his stepfather had been playing. The man didn't even wait for the funeral dust to settle before revealing his true intentions.

Leo and Jayden had once been inseparable brothers not by blood, but by choice. They shared secrets, dreams, even birthday cakes. Their bond fractured the moment Leo's stepfather tried to gain guardianship after his mother's death. But her final act of love was denying that request. She had known, somehow, that her husband's ambitions stretched far beyond the fatherly duties he played, he was a business man first.

Leo's biological father, James Wellington, had built Astra Group from the ground up a global powerhouse and the number one company in the country. In his will, James had made it clear the company would go to Leo once he turned twenty.

Just two months before his birthday, Leo's mother passed away. Her refusal to hand over legal guardianship blocked his stepfather from accessing Astra Group and that sealed Leo's fate as a target.

Instead of grieving in peace, Leo was thrust into boardrooms, headlines, and power plays. But he rose above it. At just twenty, Leo became the youngest CEO in the country .

Yet, nothing about it felt like a victory. Not when Jayden, his own stepbrother, had chosen sides. Not when betrayal lived in the very house that once felt like home.

And certainly not when the one girl who could've been his peace ended up falling for his brother Jayden.

The first time Leo saw Zara, it was during their senior year high school dance.

She walked in wearing a simple, lilac dress that shimmered beneath the gymnasium lights, her laughter echoing as she entered with her friends. Her curls bounced with each step, and her smile bright and effortless cut through the noise around him like a song only he could hear.

Leo froze.

He was standing by the punch table, adjusting his glasses, awkward in his too-big suit and quietly counting down the minutes until he could go home. He was the typical nerd: sharp, quiet, book-smart, and painfully shy. Since his father's death, he'd built emotional walls so high, even he couldn't climb them.

He didn't know her name then. Only that she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. A soft glow seems to follow her and at that moment, staring at Zara, something cracked.

He couldn't approach her. Not with his sweaty palms and a voice that always caught in his throat. So, he watched from afar, mesmerized and enchanted by her beauty . And when the lights dimmed and the slow songs began, he whispered to his stepbrother Jayden, "I think I've seen the girl I want to spend the rest of my life with."

Jayden, the ever-confident golden boy, smirked. "Point her out."

"There," Leo said, heart racing. "The one in lilac." He whispered, his gaze fixed on her "She's beautiful, right?"

Jayden nodded slowly, then clapped him on the back. "She is. Don't worry, I'll talk to her for you."

Jayden had always been the older, cooler brother. He was two years older than him , tall, charming, the golden boy who never seemed to try too hard yet always got what he wanted. Growing up, Leo had looked up to him. Jayden taught him how to ride a bike, helped him cheat through video games, even defended him from bullies once or twice.

But after Leo's mother died, Jayden changed.

Jayden had started spending more time with his father, Leo stepfather. It felt like betrayal. And when Leo asked about Zara again five months after the dance, Jayden just gave him a half-hearted smile.

"I was caught up in college work," he said with a dismissive shrug. "Didn't have time."

Leo nodded, but something in his chest twisted. That was when the distance between them truly began.

He should've seen the signs then Jayden missing family dinners, echoing his father's cruel opinions, brushing off their shared childhood memories like dust.

Instead, he had done the one thing Leo never imagined two years later, not just ignoring the request, but going behind his back to pursue her himself.