My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 27

Gianna

━⊰ ❦ ⊱━

My eyes felt like someone had rubbed sand into the sockets. I tried to blink, but my lids were heavy and stuck together. Everything was too bright. The light coming through the gaps in the curtains felt like a needle stabbing straight into my brain.

My mouth was a desert. It was bone-dry, and there was a bitter, metallic taste coating my tongue that made me want to gag. My head wasn't just aching, it was thumping. A slow, rhythmic boom-boom-boom that matched the frantic beating of my heart.

I felt hollow like someone had scooped out my insides and replaced them with cold lead. My muscles were weak, and my skin felt sensitive, as if the air itself was too sharp to touch.

I shifted my legs, and the fabric of the sheets felt wrong.

This wasn't my bed.

I froze. The memories of the night before started to leak back in like black ink. The forest. The masks. The high, cruel laughter of those girls. I remembered the pink ribbon. I remembered the blue pill hitting the back of my throat.

I remembered running.

Dirt scraping under my nails. Branches tearing at my arms. The feeling of something wrapping around my ankles and dragging me down. The panic. The screaming stuck in my throat.

And then… him.

Raphael.

The memory of his hands grabbing me made heat rush across my skin in a wave that felt wrong and confusing. He had lifted me like I weighed nothing, like I wasn’t even a person. Just something lying on the ground that needed to be picked up and moved.

He dragged me out of that nightmare.

But this—this life—this house—this world—this nightmare—was his.

This was his world. This was the life they lived, a world of blood, drugs, and games where people hunted each other like animals. The horror of it pressed against my ribs until it felt hard to breathe.

These people were insane.

I immediately sat up, my head spinning so fast the whole room tilted. I had to grab the edge of the mattress, my fingers digging into the silk to keep from falling onto the floor.

And then I saw him.

Raphael sat in a wide armchair across the room like he had been there the whole time. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. His chest was bare, wide and solid, covered in dark tattoos that curled over his shoulders and down his arms. Gray sweatpants hung low on his hips, careless and loose.

But it wasn’t his body that stopped my breath.

It was what was wrapped around him.

A massive python, thick as a tree branch and easily fifteen to twenty feet long, was coiled around him. Its scales were dark and shimmering, a pattern of brown and gold that looked... so scary.

The snake's head was resting near Raphael’s collarbone, its flicking tongue tasting the air. Raphael didn't look at me. His eyes were fixed on the floor, his large hand moving in a slow stroke down the length of the snake’s body.

He was petting it, his fingers sliding over the cold scales as if the creature were a common house cat.

I stopped breathing. I stayed perfectly still, my fingers digging into the silk sheets. The horror of the night before crashed into me all over again. The hunt, the drugs, the fear... it was all still there, trapped in my chest.

And now I was here.

In his room.

In his bed.

I looked at the python, watching the way its heavy body shifted against Raphael's skin. It was terrifying.

He looked like a king of some dark, forgotten world, sitting there with a killer draped over his shoulders.

I wanted to run. I wanted to scream. But my throat was too tight, and my legs felt like water. I just stared at him, my eyes wide, my heart slamming against my ribs.

He knew I was awake. I could tell by the way his hand paused on the snake’s back but he didn't look up. He just kept sitting there waiting for me to say something I didn't have the words for.

I felt like I was in a nightmare that wouldn't end.

Finally, he lifted his head. Sunlight reflected perfectly into those brown eyes and it made them look like golden honey.

"Good morning, stepsister," he said.

His voice was nonchalant, like we were sitting at a breakfast table. I swallowed hard, the sound of it loud in the quiet room. I couldn't find my words. I couldn't even find my breath.

Raphael turned his attention back to the massive creature draped over his bare shoulders. He reached up, his thumb gently rubbing the top of the snake’s diamond-shaped head.

"Say hello to Medusa," he muttered, his voice softening in a way that made my skin crawl. It was a sweet tone, the kind you’d use for a puppy, but he was using it for a twenty-foot killer, "She’s been waiting for you to wake up. Haven't you, girl?"

The python—Medusa—flicked her dark, forked tongue out near his ear. Raphael let out a dry chuckle and leaned his head back, letting the weight of her body shift against his tan skin. He looked so comfortable, his fingers playing with her scales as if they were silk.

"She’s a beauty, isn't she?" he asked, though he didn't wait for me to answer. He began to coil a section of her thick body around his forearm, watching the muscles ripple, "You know, Gianna, people think snakes are just mean. But they’re actually very... efficient."

He leaned forward just an inch, his eyes locking onto mine.

"Did you know a python like Medusa doesn't just bite?" he asked, "She doesn't have to. She wraps herself around you. And every time you take a breath out, she squeezes just a little bit tighter. She waits. She’s patient. She listens to your heartbeat through your skin, and she doesn't stop pressing until that heart just... stops. No air, no blood, just a quiet, slow end."

He smiled then, and lifted Medusa’s head, holding her up so she was eye-level with him. He tapped her snout playfully, his movements gentle while my entire body shook.

"She can feel how fast your heart is going right now, Gianna," he said, looking back at me, "She likes the vibration. It makes her hungry."

I pulled the covers up to my nose, my eyes darting between his chest and the shimmering scales of the snake. He looked so in place, sitting there with a killer draped over his heart, babying it while I felt like I was dying inside.

He didn’t stay in the chair. He stood up with that predator draped over his skin. The massive weight of the python moved, her heavy coils tightening slightly around his bicep to keep her balance as he moved.

He started walking toward the bed.

My heart felt like it was going to burst through my ribs. I pressed my back against the headboard, my fingers digging so hard into the mattress that my nails began to ache. I wanted to disappear into the wall.

"Stay still," he murmured, "She doesn't like sudden movements. It makes her think something is trying to get away."

He stopped at the edge of the bed. Raphael reached up and stroked the underside of the snake's jaw, right where the pale scales met the dark pattern of her throat.

"She hasn't eaten in three weeks," he said, his voice casual, as if he were talking about the weather, "A girl like Medusa doesn't need to eat every day. She's patient. She waits until she finds something big enough to be worth the effort. Something she can really wrap herself around."

He leaned in closer, I could see the way his muscles rippled under his skin, and I could see the way the snake’s body mirrored his movements.

"Last time, I gave her a whole goat," he continued, his eyes never leaving mine. "I watched her do it. She just locked her teeth in, threw those coils around it, and squeezed until the bones started to pop. It sounded like dry sticks snapping in the woods. And then... she just swallowed it whole. It took her days to digest. She just laid there, basking in the sun."

I felt the air leave my lungs. A sob caught in my throat, but I forced it down, my eyes wide and stinging. My whole body was trembling so hard the bed began to shake.

"Why... why are you telling me this?" I choked out, "Why are you saying these things to me?"

I looked at him, pleading with my eyes for him to stop, to move away, to take that nightmare out of the room. He leaned over the bed, bringing his face—and the snake’s head—closer and closer to mine.

"Because you need to understand how things work in this house, Gianna," he whispered.

The snake’s head swayed, moving in a hypnotic circle just inches from my face.

"And because you need to be very, very quiet," he said, "Last night was a mess. A loud, ugly mess. And in this house, when things get messy, someone usually ends up like that goat I told you about."

I swallowed hard, the metallic taste of the drug still stinging my throat.

"I want you to give me your word that what happened last night stays between us," he rasped, a cruel smile pulling at his lips, "If a single word about last night reaches Claire, or Madeleine, or especially my Aunt Alessia... then things are going to get very uncomfortable for you."

He shifted his weight, and the snake shifted with him, its coils rippling across the bed now.

"Alessia is downstairs right now," he whispered, leaning so close I could feel the heat radiating off his bare chest, "I want to hear you say it. Tell me you won't breathe a word to anyone about what happened last night, not even my brothers. Because if you do, I’ll stop feeding Medusa goats. I'll just let her have you instead."

The snake’s head turned.

It turned straight toward me, like it had heard something only it understood. Its dark eyes locked onto mine. The forked tongue slid out again between us.

My breath hitched hard in my throat.

My hands clenched tighter around the blanket until the fabric twisted into my fists. I tried to sit still like he told me to, but my body didn’t listen. Fear crawled under my skin, making every nerve feel raw.

“See?” Raphael murmured softly, “She’s curious.”

Curious.

That word made my stomach twist violently. My lips parted, but nothing came out at first.

The snake leaned forward another inch.

Its tongue flicked again, closer this time. Close enough that I swore I could feel the faint brush of air against my cheek. My lungs locked tight, refusing to pull in enough oxygen. My chest hurt from holding my breath.

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