Chapter 1
Emma's POV.
I lounged on the couch in the living room of our family home, flipping through channels on the TV, but nothing held my attention.
My name is Emma, twenty eight, and I had moved back in a few months ago after my job went remote, needing a break from city rent.
The house was big, old, with creaky floors and that familiar smell of wood polish my stepmom always used before she passed last year.
Now it was just me and my three stepbrothers, all older than me by a few years. Dad had remarried when I was a teen, bringing them into my life, and we had always been close, like real siblings, but lately, things felt different.
Ryan, the oldest at thirty five, was the serious one, tall with broad shoulders from his construction job, dark hair always messy, and those green
