Chapter 483
Raphael’s fingers twitched against his sides. He took a slow, painful step toward me, his face almost remorseful
“I know…” he said, “I know what it feels like. I lost my mother too, Gianna.”
A dark, vicious snap happened inside my head. The grief twisted into something purely venomous, and I wanted to rip away his calm, logical peace until he was bleeding on the floor just like me.
“No, you don’t,” I spat, “Don’t stand there and compare the two. It is not the same thing, Raphael. Not even close
I took a sharp step closer, looking up into his face.
“You told me yourself, remember? You sat beside me and told me that when your mother died, you didn’t cry. You just stood there and watched them bury her.”
Raphael violently flinched. The color completely drained from his face, leaving him looking like a ghost.
“That clearly shows what you are,” I sneered, “It shows you didn’t love her. You couldn’t. Because you are physically incapable of feeling love, Raphael. You don’t understand a single thing I am saying right now, and you never, ever will. Because that is just how you are built.”
I let out a harsh, ugly laugh, leaning into his space..
“What kind of child doesn’t cry when their loving mother dies? What kind of normal person just stands there with a straight face while their family screams? A freak. A cold, unfeeling freak like you.”
The exact second the last syllable left my lips, the ugly rush of adrenaline vanished. A cold, sickening realization hit me square in the stomach.
I saw the immediate change in his eyes, the sudden, deep shatter behind his dark pupils, the way his jaw went completely slack before tightening into a rigid line of absolute agony.
It was the most human expression I had ever seen on his face. He looked like I had just reached into his chest with my bare hands and ripped his lungs out.
A sudden, sickening wave of horror crashed over me. My stomach dropped into a cold, dark pit.
Oh God. The realization hit me instantly, making my skin go completely flush with shame
I had taken the deepest, most vulnerable secret he had ever trusted me with, the hidden defect he hated about himself, and used it to mutilate him.

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