My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 658

Chapter 658

“You were,” she smiled softly, “You simply expressed it differently. You didn’t cry but you became productive. After Isabella died, you buried yourself in books. You stopped playing. You barely spoke unless someone spoke to you first. You kept trying to understand something that had no answer, as though if you thought hard enough, the pain would eventually make sense.”

She leaned back in her chair.

“Raphael, people like to imagine grief looks the same for everyone. It doesn’t,” She continued, “And Gianna… isn’t grieving one person. Five losses in two days. And every one of those losses attacked a different part of her.

I felt my jaw tighten.

Alessia noticed, “And Hazel was her safety. You keep trying to understand Gianna using logic.”

“I am.”

“I know and normally that serves you well,” she smiled sadly, “But trauma doesn’t always behave logically. It behaves protectively.”

I listened.

“It’s called emotional numbing. The brain doesn’t decide to do it. It simply does. The alternative might overwhelm the person completely.”

I thought back to Gianna standing beside Hazel’s coffin.

“I thought she wasn’t processing it.”

“Oh, she’s processing every second, trust me, but her mind is conserving energy. It has gone into survival.”

I looked at her again, “Then why… why couldn’t she reach me?”

Alessia’s expression softened, “She did.”

I frowned, “No. I was there but she wasn’t.”

“You said she climbed into your arms. She kissed you. She stayed beside you until she slept,” she squeezed my hand, “Those aren’t the actions of someone who doesn’t trust you. They’re the actions of someone whose thinking brain has stopped working properly and whose nervous system only knows one thing. Find safety.”

The words settled heavily inside me.

Alessia continued, “You weren’t speaking to Gianna’s thoughts last night. You were speaking to her survival instincts. And those instincts… still chose you.”

I looked away. For reasons I couldn’t entirely explain… That hurt. Because it also meant something else.

“I couldn’t help her.”

“You already were.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify