My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 318

Chapter 318

Gianna

147

15 Bar

I snuck out of the house in the middle of the night, using the hidden passage Silvio had shown me.

And then I walked and walked until my legs throbbed. The guilt inside my chest pressed down on my lungs until I could barely breathe.

What had I done?

The memory of the loud smack echoed in my ears over and over again. I could still feel the burn in my palm from where I had hit his cheek. The look of total shock in Raphael’s eyes flashed behind my eyelids every time I blinked. He hadn’t been trying to take advantage of me. He had just been trying to hold me together while I broke. And I had treated him like a monster.

A strange, hollow ache throbbed in the center of my chest. I missed him. It was a stupid, terrifying feeling, but I wanted him next to me. I wanted the sound of his breathing to drown out the screaming in my head.

Without my tools, the itch under my skin was growing louder. My thighs felt like they were burning, begging for the blue current to make the noise stop. My fingers twitched against my pockets, empty and useless. The urge to hurt myself flared up so hot it made my vision blur. I needed a distraction. I needed a safe place.

I kept walking until I finally reached the street where the Rose Garden stood,

A small, breathless smile started to spread across my face as I turned the corner, my eyes searching for the familiar front door. I just wanted Mama D to hold me. I wanted my friends to laugh and tell me everything was going to be okay.

But the smile completely vanished from my lips.

I stopped dead in my tracks, my sneakers scraping against the pavement. The heavy fabric banners that usually hung from the brick walls, the ones with the pretty pink roses, were gone. The bright, welcoming lights over the entrance were dark. The large sign over the door had been ripped down, leaving only ugly, gray adhesive marks on the brick.

Everything to do with the Rose Garden was just… gone.

“No,” I whispered, my voice sounding tiny in the empty street.

I rushed forward, my hands hitting the glass of the front door. I pressed my face against the cool pane, trying to see inside. The beautiful lobby with the soft couches and the flower vases was completely empty. There was nothing but bare floors, exposed wires hanging from the ceiling, and a few cardboard boxes stacked in a corner.

Two men in dirty work overalls were moving a wooden desk across the bare floor inside.

Panic slammed into my chest. Where was Mama D? Where were my friends? Had Cole done this?

I grabbed the metal door handle and rattled it frantically, the loud metal clanging echoing down the street. “Mama D!” I choked out, my tears finally spilling over. “Please! Is anyone there?!”

The lock clicked, and one of the workers pushed the door open a few inches, wiping sweat from his forehead with a dirty rag. He looked at my wild eyes, my wet cheeks, and my shaking hands.

“Hey, kid, calm down,” he said, “The center is closed. They moved out three days ago.”

1/2

15 Be

“Moved?” I gasped, “Moved where? Where is the lady who runs it? Denise?”

The worker blinked, looking at me closer. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of white paper. “Wait. Are you Gianna?”

I nodded fast, my heart stopping. “Yes. Yes, I’m Gianna.”

“The lady left this for you,” he said, shoving the paper into my hand. “She said if a girl with brown hair and big green eyes came looking, I was supposed to give her this address. Said it was the new spot.”

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