My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 342

Chapter 342

The words hit me like a bucket of ice water. My entire body went perfectly stiff. My fingers froze around the chocolate bars, my heart suddenly hammering against my ribs. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I just stared at the counter, my mind completely locking up with fear.

The man standing next to me let out a mean, loud laugh, “Yeah? Let’s see how she likes it.”

Before I could even process the words, the man came forward. He took the glowing, red-hot tip of his lit cigarette and pressed it brutally right against the side of my left breast.

The heat hissed instantly against the thin black fabric of my shirt, melting the cloth away in a fraction of a second. The red-hot ember sank straight into my bare skin. A sharp, agonizing flash of pure pain exploded through my chest, burning deep into my flesh.

The pain finally broke my paralysis. I let out a sharp, choked gasp, stumbling backward so hard that my boots skidded against the dirty linoleum floor. I dropped the chocolate bars, the candy clattering loudly across the floor

I didn’t grab the chips. I didn’t grab the slushies. I turned around and sprinted toward the entrance, my hands trembling violently as I pushed the glass doors open, the little bell chiming wildly behind me.

I burst out into the cool morning air, completely terrified. My chest was burning like fire, and my lungs felt like they were completely collapsing. I couldn’t get any oxygen in. I was hyperventilating, taking short, frantic breaths as I ran blindly back toward the motorcycle, my eyes wide with pure panic.

I couldn’t breathe. My lungs felt small, tight, and completely empty. Every time I tried to suck in air, my throat locked up. I staggered over the rough ground toward the motorcycle, my legs shaking so badly I could barely keep my balance.

But I wasn’t just in the gas station parking lot anymore. The smell of the burn and the sharp sting on my breast dragged me backward, pulling me deep into the dark corners of my own mind.

Suddenly, the bright morning sky disappeared. In my head, I was back in that cold room from my childhood. The white walls. The heavy smell of burns. I could see the doctor standing over me, his face completely blank as he held the small, glowing metal tool in his hand.

“You need to focus, Gianna,” the doctor’s voice echoed loudly inside my head, ringing in my ears, “Your mind is too slow. The pain will wake your brain up. It will help you concentrate.”

The ringing grew louder, turning into a dizzying buzz that made my head spin. Another voice broke through the noise, loud and angry. It was my father. I could hear him slamming his hand down on the wooden desk in his study, his eyes glaring down at me while I cried over my textbooks.

“You are so fucking stupid!” my father’s voice shouted inside my mind, making me flinch out in the real world as I took another shaky step toward Raphael, “You are dumb! Read it again! Understand it! You have to be something, Gianna! You are nothing right now!”

I let out a loud, pathetic sob, tears finally bursting from my eyes and streaming down my cold cheeks. I gripped my head with both hands, trying to block out the noise, but the doctor’s voice came back, lower and more terrifying this time.

“The regular treatments aren’t working anymore, Gianna, your body is used to it. You have a really high tolerance for pain,” the doctor whispered in my memory, the sound of his latex gloves snapping together making my skin crawl, “Your father says you are still failing. From now on, I am going to target your sensitive parts. We need to make sure your full brain wakes up. Don’t move.”

1/2

Chapter 34.

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