My Stepbrother Wants Me-Chapter 117: The Hammer and The Nail

Julian’s POV

The stairs leading up to the makeshift stage felt like the steps of a scaffold. As I climbed them, following the broad, confident sweep of my father’s shoulders, the temperature seemed to rise twenty degrees.

Richard took his place behind the podium, the Sterling family crest carved into its front. He looked out over the ballroom with the effortless grace of a man who owned the very air people were breathing. Lisa was by his right, while Catherine, Gabriel and I were directed to his left.

Richard reached out, his hand landing on my shoulder as he pulled me in close. He did the same with Catherine on his other side, pinning us to him like trophies.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Richard began, his voice booming through the speakers. "Tonight is about more than just the future of our great state. It’s about the foundations that hold us together when the world tries to pull us apart."

The spotlight hit me full-on. It was blinding, a white wall of light that turned the audience into a sea of indistinct, dark silhouettes. I couldn’t see the faces, but I could feel the judgment. I kept my chin up and my expression carved.

"As many of you know," Richard continued, his tone dropping into a mock-vulnerable register, "my family has recently been the target of a vicious, coordinated attack. Falsehoods were spread, and young lives were nearly derailed by those who prefer shadows to the light of truth."

He squeezed my shoulder. It wasn’t a comforting gesture. His fingers, surprisingly strong for a man his age, dug into the trapezius muscle, finding the tension and pressing down until a dull ache began to radiate toward my neck. It was a reminder that he was the hammer and I, the nail.

"But those who seek to destroy us only succeeded in proving one thing," Richard’s voice rose, vibrating with a false conviction. "The Vaughn bond is unbreakable. When the lies were loudest, my son Julian and my beautiful daughter Catherine didn’t retreat. They stood together. They stood by me."

He looked at Catherine, then at me. I forced myself to meet his gaze, seeing the bottomless, chilling void behind his eyes. He wasn’t talking to us. He was selling us.

"I look at them now," Richard continued, his hand tightening on my shoulder until I felt a sharp pinch against the scar tissue on my back. "And I see the future. Not just of my campaign, but of a new generation of leaders who understand that loyalty isn’t just a word—it’s a blood price. It’s the commitment we make to the people we love and the legacy we protect."

The applause started small and then grew into a roar. I looked out into the void of the audience. Richard was stepping over their bodies to reach a podium, and he was using us as the ladder.

The hammer or the nail.

The phrase echoed in my mind, a mantra Richard had hammered into me since I was six years old. In this world, you either did the striking or you took the blow. Tonight, Richard was the hammer.

"And so," Richard shouted over the applause, "as we begin this evening’s auction, I want you to remember what you are bidding on. You aren’t just buying a weekend at the Vaughn estate or a dinner with the future Mayor. You are investing in the strength of a family that cannot be broken!"

He turned to me, his face inches from mine, hidden from the audience by the angle of his head. "Julian," he hissed, the warmth in his voice vanishing instantly, replaced by a jagged edge of pure command. "Don’t make me remind you to smile again. Give them the hero. Now."

His thumb pressed into a nerve in my shoulder, that made my vision swim for a second. He wanted to see if I would flinch. He wanted to see if the "troubled child" was still in me.

I didn’t flinch. I looked him dead in the eye, and slowly, I let my lips curl into a practiced, charming smile.

"That’s my boy," Richard whispered, loud enough for only me to hear.

Beside him, I saw Catherine’s profile. She was staring straight ahead, her jaw set. She was playing her part, too, her silence a shield. I could feel how exhausted she was and I badly wanted to reach for her and tell her that this was almost over, but I was pinned. We were both pinned.

The auctioneer took over, his fast-paced cadence filling the room as the bidding began. The "Vaughn Family Experience" went for a staggering six figures within minutes. To the people in this room, we were a blue-chip stock. We were safe. We were "healed."

As we finally stepped off the stage, the transition from the heat of the lights to the cool air of the ballroom felt like being plunged into ice water. Richard was immediately swarmed by donors, their hands reaching out to touch the man of the hour.

I pulled Catherine toward a dark alcove near a massive curtain. My heart was thumping against my ribs like a trapped bird.

"Julian," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Are you okay?"

"I’m not. I can’t stand it. He’s doing everything in his power to drive me fucking insane. Did you see how he buried his fingers in my shoulder? He wanted everyone to see that I belong...."

"Shhhhh. You are getting angry. We have to get out of here," she paused and peaked out the curtain, before looking back at me. "Mrs. Sterling... she told me about your mother. She said he extinguished her. Julian, look at my mom."

I followed her gaze across the room. Lisa was standing alone for a brief moment, her drink held in both hands, her eyes fixed on the floor. She looked like a statue that was slowly crumbling. The " United Vaughns" victory was written in the lines of her exhaustion.

"I know. He’s doing it again to your mom. He’s using the same script he used on all the women, we can’t stop him. It will end the same way."

"Not this time," Catherine hissed, her fingers digging into my arm. "I won’t let him do it to her. And I won’t let him do it to us."

I looked into her eyes. She was the only thing in this room that wasn’t a lie.

"The price for tonight was high," I said, looking back at my father, who was laughing with a group of billionaires. "We paid it in blood and secrets. But the next time he reaches for the hammer, Catherine... I’m going to be the one who breaks the handle."