My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 473

Chapter 473

When I glanced up again, for the strangest moment, it almost looked like he wanted to say something… something important, something impossible but neither of us spoke.

Because the entire family sat around us.

Because reality still existed.

Because some things were too complicated to fit into words. So we just sat there, looking at each other across the table…

Close enough to see, far enough to lose.

I had just managed to convince myself to look down at my plate and focus on something as simple as scrambled eggs when Vincenzo’s voice cut cleanly across the table.

“Raphael.”

Raphael looked up from his coffee. Vincenzo sat at the head of the table, perfectly put together as always, not a wrinkle in his suit, not a hair out of place.

“Did you speak to Dante about the paperwork?”

Then Dante looked up from his phone, “The what?”

Vincenzo slowly turned toward him, “The paperwork.”

Dante blinked, “What paperwork? I was supposed to know about paperwork?”

Across the table, Raphael exhaled slowly. And something about that tiny breath made me look up, “I forgot.”

Vincenzo stared at Raphael and Raphael stared back.

I nearly dropped my fork because Raphael Capone forgetting something was like the sun forgetting to rise.

Dante looked between them, then pointed at Raphael, “Wait. You forgot?”

Raphael’s jaw tightened.

Dante looked genuinely fascinated, “You?”

Nobody answered him.

Dante slowly looked around the table, “Oh my fucking God. The apocalypse is finally happening.”

Across from him, Adriano slapped the table, “I knew it.”

“Knew what?” Claire asked.

Adriano pointed dramatically toward Raphael, “The robot is malfunctioning.”

Silvio wheezed, “The software is corrupted.”

Dante grinned, “The hardware is failing.”

“The machine spirit has abandoned the vessel,” Adriano laughed.

Luca nodded seriously, “We should probably unplug him and plug him back in.”  

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify