My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 19

Gianna

━⊰ ❦ ⊱━

The room was too big. It was too quiet, and it smelled too much like expensive flowers and floor wax. I lay in the middle of the massive bed, feeling like a speck of dust in this giant, cold mansion. I pulled the silk sheets up to my chin, but they didn't feel warm.

They just felt empty.

I let out a shaky breath, and then the first sob broke through. I pressed my face into the pillow to muffle the sound. I hated myself for it. I hated how small I felt. I sniffled, my nose running, my eyes burning from the salt of my own tears.

I was supposed to be the strong one. I was the one who was going to get us out of here. But right now, with the moonlight hitting the floor, I just felt like that empty, stupid girl the voice talked about.

Stop it. Stop being so pathetic.

I pushed myself off the bed. My feet hit the cold floor, and I walked toward the walk-in closet. It was bigger than my old bedroom.

I reached the top shelf, under the sweater and pulled it out.

It was just a long, heavy wooden stick. To anyone else, it was just wood. To me, it was the only thing that kept me determined to be better. It was what I used when I was too slow, when I couldn't get the words right, when I needed to remember that I had to be better.

It was my punishment and my teacher.

I held it in both hands, feeling the smooth, hard grain of the wood. I walked over to the full-length mirror and looked at myself. My eyes were red and puffy. My hair was a mess. I looked exactly like what the voice said, a joke. A useless thing that couldn't even spell a ten-letter word.

I raised the stick, my heart hammering. I looked at my reflection and felt a wave of pure, hot anger.

“Why are you like this, Gianna? Why can't you just be normal?”

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