My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 160

Chapter 160

Chapter 160

Gianna

+15 Banus

I let my body go limp, then tight, then limp again. I closed my eyes and let the bass of the music fill the hollow spaces in my chest where my heart used to be.

Because at this moment, I felt nothing.

Up. Twist. Slide.

My mind kept flickering, like a broken lightbulb. One second I was here, the next I was back in the bathtub, the water stinging my nose. I pushed the memory down. I had to focus.

I have to save her. I have to bring Morgan back before Cole ruins what is left of her.

I wondered where she was right now. Was she in a room like this? Was she looking at the ceiling, trying to count the cracks to stay sane? Whatever I had to do tonight, whatever parts of me I had to sell, it couldn’t be worse than what Cole was doing to her.

I swung into a high arc, my legs pointing toward the ceiling. The world was upside down. It looked better that way.

A heavy shadow moved at the edge of the stage.

I didn’t stop, but my skin went cold. A man in a dark suit was standing there. He leaned over and said something to the guard at the steps.

Brianna, who was on the pole next to mine, slowed down. She leaned toward the man, “She charges a lot for private sessions. You can’t just take her,” she snapped.

The man didn’t even look at Bri. He kept his eyes on me, like I was a piece of luggage he had been told to collect.

“Money is not the issue,” the man said. His voice was deep and flat, “He wants her. Now.”

He..My stomach did a slow, sick flip. I didn’t know who ‘He’ was. My heartbeat fastened, a frantic thud-thud-thud against my ribs. It could be Dante… or it could be him. What if… what if he recognized me?

No. He can’t. He won’t. I didn’t look like myself at all. I was a stranger.

I was wearing layers of heavy makeup that felt like a second skin. I had in colored contacts that hid my real eyes. I had the silver wig and a lace mask that covered almost everything. As long as I kept my distance, as long as I didn’t speak, maybe he wouldn’t notice.

But what if he still did?

I didn’t even know what would happen if someone here recognized me. The letters of the alphabet started to dance and tangle in my head-D-E-A-D. Yeah, that’s what going to happen.

I swallowed, stepped down the stage and let the man lead me. My legs felt like they were made of glass. I followed the man’s broad back through the crowd. We passed people in masks, people laughing, people doing things that made me want to close my eyes and never open them again.

I felt like I was walking through a dream where I didn’t have any feet. I was just floating, being pulled toward a dark corner of the room.

We stopped in front of a large, velvet booth.

1/2

Chapter 160

+15 Banus

The man in the suit pushed me toward the booth. I kept my head down, watching the way the silver hair of my wig fell over my shoulders.

I was trying to focus on my breathe, then, I looked up.

The world stopped. The music, the screaming guests, the smell of alcohol, it all went dead. My heart didn’t just thud, it hit my ribs like a fist.

Raphael was sitting there.

But it wasn’t Raphael the businessman in a fancy suit.

It wasn’t even Raphael the mobster I saw when he was around his brothers.

It was the Raphael that only comes out at night. The predator.

And right now, he looked like a nightmare that had come to life in the woods. He wore a black shirt that was so tight it showed every muscle of his chest and shoulders. His arms were huge, covered in veins and tattoos. His tactical boots were covered in wet, brown mud.

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