My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 697

Choptar 50%

Chapter 697

Raphael

+15 Benus

Claire cut through the tape on another box with a small knife while Maddie knelt beside a second stack, already sorting everything into neat piles.

I dropped to one knee in front of the first box and pulled the lid away. There were clothes, neatly folded sweaters, scarves, and winter gloves. The faint smell of lavender still clung to the fabric.

I searched every pocket, every seam before reaching for the next box. Photo albums, birthday cards, school drawings.

Claire looked up, “Anything?”

I shook my head once.

She opened another album. Maddie worked through a small suitcase filled with old notebooks, “They’re blank,” she murmured after flipping through several pages.

I reached for another box. Everything passed through my hands, but nothing, not a single sentence about Giovanni, not one photograph, not one letter.

Then I grabbed another box, old electronics, camcorders, chargers, three USB drives.

My attention sharpened. I picked up the smallest drive before pulling the adapter from my pocket.

Claire looked over, “You think that’s it?”

“I don’t know.”

The adapter clicked into my phone, a second later the storage opened. Videos, only videos. I opened the first one and the screen lit up.

Hazel laughed behind the camera, “Gianna, slow down!”

Gianna, probably seventeen, ran through a garden with flowers clutched in both hands. Jules chased after her on unsteady little legs.

Hazel laughed again, “There they are, my beautiful babies.”

The video ended.

I opened another, Christmas. Hazel sat on the floor helping Jules tear wrapping paper while Gianna carefully folded every piece into a neat pile beside her.

Another video.

A ballet practice.

This recording was older. Gianna couldn’t have been more than seven. Hazel stood behind the camera, cheering for her with pride.

My attention wasn’t on the dancing for long but on Gianna’s hands, both of them were wrapped in white medical

tape

1/3

+15 Bonus

I paused the video, rewound it, then played it again. The tape covered several of her fingers and part of both palms.

My eyes stayed fixed on her hands.

The video ended, I looked through everything, a birthday, a picnic. Jules asleep across Hazel’s lap while Gianna quietly tried read beside them, while Hazel helped her through it.

There were memories, and that one video with injured hands wasn’t enough proof. The recordings showed ordinary days. A mother who adored her daughters. Two girls growing up together. The kind of life Hazel had fought so hard to build.

Claire sighed behind me, “I’ve gone through everything in this pile.”

Maddie closed another storage box, “So have I.”

Neither of them had found anything. Neither had I. I removed the USB and plugged in the second one, but just more home videos, years of them.

I leaned back against one of the storage shelves. For the first time in hours, I closed my eyes.

The silence pressed against my ears. I had spent the entire night chasing ghosts. Every answer dissolved the moment I reached for it. My fingers rubbed slowly across my forehead.

Think.

There had to be something.

Hazel had been careful, she wouldn’t simply give up, she wouldn’t stop protecting Gianna.

So where had she hidden it?

Unless, my eyes opened… unless she’d hidden it somewhere no one would ever think to search. Somewhere else, maybe a safety deposit box, a lawyer, a trusted friend.

I stood.

“So?” Claire asked quietly.

I looked around the attic, picked up the last USB and slipped it into my pocket, “Maybe, we’re looking in the wrong place.”

Neither Claire nor Maddie spoke. I looked toward the attic window. Somewhere downstairs, Gianna was waking up. And we are supposed to leave for Sicily in an hour.

The thought settled heavily in my chest. I couldn’t explain the feeling. I rarely could. It wasn’t panic. It wasn’t anger. It wasn’t fear.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify