My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 193

Chapter 193

Raphael

Dad and Hazel were gone. It was almost pathetic the way he followed her, moving like a lost puppy on a short leash.

He worshiped the very ground Hazel walked on, and it was starting to cloud his judgment. He was so busy trying to protect his precious, fragile wife that he was turning this house into a cage for everyone else.

He was ready to go to war just because she didn’t want her daughter to have a life of her own.

The moment they were out of earshot, I turned toward Vincenzo. He stood there with his hands in his pockets, his face as still as a statue. He didn’t look shocked. He didn’t even look surprised by the bomb Gianna had just / dropped.

“Don Giovanni Toricelli?” I stated, “Are you serious right now? We’ve been living with a Toricelli under our roof this whole time?”

I felt a surge of anger. I had been close to her-closer than anyone- and I had no idea she was the daughter of the Philadelphia Syndicate. I hated being kept in the dark. It made me feel like a fool, and I don’t do well with being a fool.

Vincenzo cut me a cold look, “It’s not our business, Raphael. Dad is handling it. That’s all you need to know.”

“No,” Adriano snapped, stepping forward, “That’s not good enough. If we’re harboring the daughter of a Don, we need to fucking know about it. We’re the ones who have to deal with the fallout if Philly decides to show up at our gates with a death wish.”

“We aren’t ‘harboring’ her,” Vincenzo said, “Toricelli knows better than to step foot in Chicago without an invitation. He knows the cost. Besides, the man doesn’t want her. There hasn’t been a word between Gianna and

her father in years.”

I could still feel the phantom heat of Gianna’s skin against mine from earlier, and the thought of her mother’s hand striking her face was playing on a loop in my head.

“Why did you stop me?” I demanded, my voice vibrating with a level of pissed-off I couldn’t hide, “Every time I tried to dig into their past, you shut me down. You told me to leave it alone.”

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