My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 424

Chapter 424

“I am not overreacting, Raphael,” I replied softly. I didn’t raise my voice. I didn’t snap. I just let the cold truth of my words hang in the space between us, “My mind is completely made up. I’ve been thinking about it the entire drive hotne. I kept replaying everything. The hiding. The lying. Sneaking around corners. Pretending nothing was happening whenever somebody walked into a room. And the more I thought about it, the clearer it became.”

The ache in my chest stretched wider with every word.

“For the first time in months, I think it’s actually clear,” then I said the part that hurt the most, “I don’t want anything to do with you anymore, Raphael.”

His jaw clenched tightly, the muscles along his neck hardening as he stared at me. He looked like he was trying to find the lie in my face, trying to find the emotion he could use to dismiss what I was saying. But there was nothing for him to grab onto. I was just tired.

“You’re forgetting one thing,” he said, his voice dropping into that cold, professional tone he used when he was running his empire, “You still work for me.”

“For exactly four more weeks,” I countered quietly, matching his tone, “Our six-month contract expires next month. I checked the dates yesterday. I will show up to the office, I will do my data work, and I will be a perfect employee for thirty more days. You will be my boss, and only my boss. Nothing else.”

“And after the month is up?” he asked, his eyes tracking the rise and fall of my chest.

“After that, I am completely done. I won’t work for you anymore. I graduate at the end of the term, so the internship hours are already locked in. The university won’t have any issues with me leaving the firm,” I reached over, my fingers wrapping around the cold metal of the seatbelt latch. I pressed the button, and the click resounded in the quiet car, “I’m serious about every word I said, Raphael.”

I didn’t look back as I stepped out of the car, my bare feet hitting the smooth garage floor. The chill traveled straight up my legs. I gripped the hem of his oversized shirt, pulling the fabric tighter around my thighs, just trying to feel small. Trying to feel invisible.

Slowly, against every single survival instinct I had left, I turned around to look at him through the open passenger door.

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