My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 322

Chapter 322

Gianna

+15 8ຖກນາ

My eyes locked with his, and whatever strength had carried me across the city completely drained out of my body.

God.

The faint purple light of dawn stretched across the stone courtyard, catching against the sharp cut of his cheekbone.

My stomach twisted violently. The mark was gone now but I could still see it. I could still hear it. That horrible sound of my hand cracking across his face replayed inside my skull so loudly it made my chest ache.

My bottom lip trembled, then my chin trembled harder. I looked away first. I couldn’t bear it. My eyes dropped back to his boots as fresh tears burned down my cheeks. My fingers tightened around my ankles until they hurt, trying to stop the shaking tearing through my body.

He still hadn’t said anything, that somehow made it worse.

“I…” my voice cracked so badly the word barely came out.

I swallowed hard, but my chin kept trembling uncontrollably.

“I shouldn’t have done that.”

I squeezed my eyes shut for a second, shaking my head at myself like I physically couldn’t believe what I had done.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered again, weaker this time, “God… Raphael, I’m so sorry.”

The apology ripped something open inside my chest because now that he was standing here in front of me again, I could finally see the truth clearly without all the screaming in my head twisting it into something ugly.

He hadn’t touched me wrong.

He hadn’t threatened me.

He hadn’t tried to take anything from me.

He had just reached for me.

And I had looked at him like he was a monster.

A harsh breath left me as another tear slid down my mouth. I wiped at it quickly with the back of my hand, but more just kept coming.

“I was horrible to you,” I choked out, my voice wobbling harder with every word, “You were trying to help me and I-I said all those things and then I…” my breath hitched violently, “I hit you.”

Raphael still didn’t interrupt me. That calm silence was slowly shredding me apart.

“I am not…” I stopped, sucking in a shaky breath, “I’m not usually like that,”

The second the words left my mouth, shame immediately crashed over me again because that wasn’t even fully true, maybe I was like that. Maybe this ugly, panicked, vicious version of me had always been hiding underneath my skin.

1/2

+15 8:

My hands slowly slipped from my ankles as I pushed myself up from the freezing stone step. My knees felt weak beneath me. I almost stumbled when I stood.

Raphael’s eyes followed the movement instantly, the look on his face was unreadable and that hurt too.

I wrapped my arms tightly around myself as I stood in front of him, my shoulders shaking from the cold and humiliation.

“What I did was wrong,” I said quietly, forcing the words out even while my throat burned, “It was unfair. You didn’t deserve that.”

Another horrible wave of guilt rolled through me as my eyes flickered toward his face again.

“I used you like…” I swallowed hard. “Like somewhere to throw all my anger.”

The wind moved through, brushing strands of hair across my wet cheeks.

“You didn’t even defend yourself.”

That part twisted the knife deeper because Raphael easily could have stopped me. He was bigger than me, stronger than me but he hadn’t even tried.

My breathing turned uneven again.

“I don’t believe women get a free pass to hurt people just because they’re women,” I whispered, “I don’t believe that.”

Raphael’s jaw tightened slightly, still silent, still watching me. The trembling in my chin became almost painful

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