My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 608

Chapter 608

I memorized every word, nodding.

“Make sure, there is no alcohol, no driving, no strenuous exercise. No situations where she could hit her head again.”

He tapped the folder.

“If she vomits repeatedly. If she becomes difficult to wake. If one pupil becomes larger than the other. If she becomes confused or starts speaking nonsense… bring her back immediately.”

“I understand.”

“The first forty-eight hours are the most important.”

He looked through the glass toward Gianna’s room.

“Someone needs to stay with her.”

“I will.”

“Keep conversations short, keep visitors limited, and no stress.”

That one almost made me laugh, nothing about our lives allowed for that.

Twenty minutes later, I carried her out of the hospital. She had woken long enough to answer the nurses’ questions, then she fell asleep again before we reached the elevator.

One of our black armored SUVS waited beneath the covered entrance. The driver opened the rear door before I reached him. I climbed inside without setting Gianna down.

Instead, I sat against the leather seat and kept her resting across me, supporting the back of her head with one hand exactly the way the doctor had shown me.

The driver pulled away from the hospital, streetlights drifted across the windows. My attention stayed on her.

The swelling around her temple had become more obvious. The fresh white bandage wrapped around her head disappeared beneath her hair.

There was dried blood near her ear. I brushed it away with my thumb. Her breathing stayed slow and even. I counted each rise of her chest without thinking.

One.

Two.

Three.

My fingers rested lightly against the inside of her wrist. Her pulse was strong. Every few minutes I checked again, the rhythm never changed.

I found myself staring at her face longer than I intended.

She looked smaller asleep, fragile. The image from the basement forced itself back into my mind.

Her hands bound, her mouth gagged, blood in her hair.

Looking at me…

A thought entered my mind with such clarity it surprised even me.

If she had died tonight…

There would have been very little left of me worth keeping alive.

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