My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 380

Raphael turned and walked over to the office door. But right before he opened it, he stopped. He stood there for a quiet moment, his back to me, before he slowly turned around to look at me one last time. He looked unusually hesitant, his broad shoulders shifting as he cleared his throat.

“Do you…” he started, his voice uncharacteristically soft and uncertain. He rubbed the back of his neck, struggling to find the words, “Do you… would you like a.. a therapist, Gianna?”

The word felt like a splash of freezing water straight to my face.

I didn’t let my expression change. I kept my face perfectly still, my jaw locked tight so he couldn’t see the sudden panic crashing through me. But inside, my chest shrank until it felt totally hollow.

A dark wave of shame washed over my mind.

A therapist.

I didn’t want him to look at me and see a fragile, damaged thing. I didn’t want him to think I was a lunatic who couldn’t handle her own dark thoughts.

While I had been sitting here falling completely in love with his strength, he was looking at me like I was a sad patient who needed to be handled with kid gloves.

I swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth, forcing a cold laugh past my lips as I leaned back against the seat.

“Why would I need a therapist, Raphael?” I asked, as I picked up the white tablet, pretending to look at the screen just so I wouldn’t have to meet his dark eyes, “Do you think I’m losing my mind?”

Raphael slowly lifted his broad shoulder in a casual shrug, “It’s not a bad thing, Gianna,” he said, “Going to talk to someone… it doesn’t mean you’re crazy. It just means you have a lot of heavy things inside your head, and it could help you with a lot of those things. It could give you a safe place to put the mess.’

Mess.

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