My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 371

Chapter 371

He had been the first person in this family to say it to me.

The realization settled somewhere painfully soft inside me. And God, that stupid little fact made me happier than it should have.

Raphael leaned casually against the chair across from me, completely calm despite Claire looking ready to attack him with a butter knife.

“Right,” Raphael muttered, “Happy birthday, Gianna. How old are you again?”

Before I could answer, Adriano lifted his coffee cup without looking up from his plate, “Old enough to start making catastrophically bad decisions,” he muttered.

Claire rolled her eyes, “That applies to literally everyone at this table.’

Adriano finally glanced up then, his dark gaze sliding lazily toward Raphael for half a second before landing on me.

“Some people,” he added smoothly, “just happen to make theirs look more illegal than others.”

My stomach dropped instantly. Heat flooded straight into my face. Raphael’s expression didn’t change at all, but I saw the tiny twitch near the corner of his mouth.

I cleared my throat way too fast, “Twenty-two.”

Claire narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Adriano, “Why are you smirking like that?”

Adriano took another calm sip of coffee. “No reason.”

Maddie looked at her husband accusingly, “You are being weird.”

“I’m always weird, sweetheart.”

Maddie shook her head before suddenly clapping her hands together loudly, “Okay! Present time.”

Claire straightened in her chair so fast she nearly knocked over her orange juice, “Yes!”

Pure dread instantly settled in my stomach.

Absolutely not.

“No,” I blurted out immediately, shaking my head hard, “Nobody should’ve bought me anything.”

Claire rolled her eyes dramatically, “Too late.”

“I’m serious,” I said quickly, already feeling uneasy, “I don’t… really do well with gifts.”

The words sounded awkward coming out because it wasn’t really about the gifts themselves. It was the feeling underneath them.

The feeling of taking something I hadn’t earned.

Life had taught me that everything came with conditions. Everything had to be deserved. Worked for. Paid back somehow. Nothing was simply given because someone cared. So every time somebody handed me something nice, guilt crawled up my throat instead of gratitude.

“I don’t need anything,” I muttered more quietly, curling my fingers tightly together beneath the table, “Really.”

Claire practically vibrated in her chair. “Ours first.”

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