My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 607

Chapter 607

Vincenzo watched them carefully, “You wanted this?”

“No.”

“You wanted to spend your nights around men like Cole?”

“No.”

“You wanted debt collectors, guns, blood, and basements?”

All three shook their heads harder, “No…”

“No, sir…”

“We never wanted this…”

For a long moment, Vincenzo simply looked at them, then he stood, “Dante, the cash.”

Without asking another question, Dante walked toward one of the steel cases stacked beside the desk. He unclipped the locks, lifted the lid and inside sat tightly wrapped bricks of cash. He picked up several bundles and carried them across the room.

Vincenzo accepted them without counting and he crouched again. This time he placed the stacks carefully onto the concrete in front of Morgan. The girls stared at the money as though it weren’t real but none of them reached for it.

Vincenzo rested his forearms loosely across his knees, “I have rules. I don’t lay hands on innocent women and I don’t harm children.”

He glanced at Morgan again.

“Eighteen doesn’t make you grown. It only makes the law stop caring. My business was never with the three of you, it began…” He looked down at Denise, “…and ends with her.”

“We’re sorry,” Morgan whispered, she wiped at her face with the back of her hand, only smearing the tears farther across her cheeks, “We never wanted Gianna to get hurt. She was always good to us.”

Vincenzo regarded them without expression, “Apologies don’t change what happened but they tell me you understand what happened. Some people earn mercy. Some people throw it away. Tonight… Denise threw hers away.”

He nudged the money forward with two fingers.

“Take it.”

The girls looked at one another, still frozen.

“Find decent work, rent a home, build a life that doesn’t end with men pointing guns at you. I’m trying to give you a second chance, but don’t mistake that for kindness. You didn’t see this basement.”

“We didn’t…” the girls nodded immediately.

Then Vincenzo pointed toward Denise without looking, “You never knew that woman. If anyone asks… there was no Denise Walker. There was no Cole and there were no Capones. You forget every face you saw tonight.”

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