My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 320

Chapter 320

I was busy staring at the peeling wallpaper, when Morgan and Bri walked out of the tiny kitchen. The rest of the girls instantly shifted, stepping back to form a small circle around me, their faces forcing themselves to brighten into soft smiles.

In Morgan’s hands was a tiny, slightly lopsided vanilla cake and right in the center sat a single, small pink candle.

“Happy birthday to you,” they started to sing, their voices lifting together in the cramped front room.

“Happy birthday to you… happy birthday dear Gianna…. happy birthday to you.”

I froze. The words inside my head stopped bouncing, locking completely in place as a heavy wave of shock washed over me. I stared at the little burning candle, my mouth falling open in a small, breathless gasp.

My birthday.

With everything that had happened, my mind had completely fractured. I had completely forgotten my own life.

“Make a wish, G,” Tasha whispered gently, nudging my elbow.

I looked at the five girls standing around me in this tiny, run-down house. They had just lost their home. They had been forced into hiding in the poorest part of the city. They had absolutely nothing left, yet they had still found a way to buy a tiny cake and a single candle just to make me smile.

The hot tears kept pouring down my face, but this time, it wasn’t just from the heartbreak. It was from the weight of how much they loved me.

Please, I prayed to whatever was listening in the dark. Give me a way to save them. Give me a way to buy back the Rose Garden, to pay off Cole, and to get Mama D and these girls out of this horrible place.

And I wished that Raphael would forgive me…

I leaned forward, my chest aching, and blew out the tiny flame.

“Yay!” Bri cheered, clapping her hands as Morgan set the tiny, lopsided cake down on a chipped wooden coffee table.

“Okay, look, we know it’s not much,” Emma said, stepping forward with her hands tucked behind her back. A nervous, excited smile broke across her face. “But we all chipped in. Every single one of us. Even Mama D.”

She pulled her hands out from behind her back and held out a small, rectangular box wrapped in a piece of crumpled pink tissue paper.

I looked down at the box, my brow furrowing as the shape started to line up in my head. It was a phone.

My heart did a painful flip.

“No,” I said immediately, taking a step back and shaking my head so hard my hair flew across my face. I pushed Emma’s hands away. “No, guys, absolutely not. I can’t take that.”

“Gianna, shut up and take the box,” Tasha groaned, rolling her eyes, but her voice was soft.

“I’m serious!” I cried, “You guys just sold the Rose Garden! You’re living in a house with cracked windows and peeling walls, and you spent your money on a phone for me? You need that money for Cole! You need it to buy food, to pay rent, to stay safe! Take it back and get your money back right now.”

“Hey! Stop it,” Jas scolded, stepping in front of Emma and grabbing the box, shoving it forcefully right against my

+15 BOS

chest. She glared at me, but her eyes were sparkling with love. “Do you think we’re stupid? We know we’re broke, Gianna. But you’ve been using that old, cracked phone for two years before you lost it.”

“We wanted you to have something nice,” Morgan added quietly from beside the coffee table. “After everything you did for us. Something that actually works. Something that belongs completely to you.”

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