My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 715

Chapter 715

Raphael.

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The name never reached my lips. My thoughts scattered before I could hold onto them.

Dad held me closer, “Go to sleep, my darling,” his hand never stopped moving through my hair, “Daddy’s got you.”

The last thing I saw was the Sicilian coastline passing beyond the window.

Then everything dissolved into darkness.

Raphael

No one spoke after the jet left the ground. The engines hummed beneath my feet, I sat beside the window, staring out at the endless stretch of clouds.

My hands were empty. They weren’t wrapped around Gianna. I could still feel the warmth of her fingers. The softness of her hair. The way she’d looked at me before those doors closed between us.

I failed.

The thought repeated over and over until it became the only thing I could hear.

Across from me, Vincenzo sat alone. His elbows rested on his knees, his hands clasped loosely together. His head was lowered. He hadn’t moved since we took off.

I had never seen him like this. He had stood in front of the four most powerful men in our world and lost,

not because he wasn’t prepared, not because he wasn’t intelligent enough, but because the council law had been against him from the beginning.

Gianna wasn’t our blood, we had no claim over her.

I watched him in silence. He carried this family every single day. He made impossible decisions so the rest of us never had to. He protected us. He even fought for Gianna like she had been born a Capone.

And what had he received for it?

Failure.

Vincenzo Capone had lost.

The guilt settled deep inside my chest because I knew exactly where part of that loss belonged.

With me.

If I had never fallen in love with Gianna… if I had never told her not to sign the adoption papers… Hazel’s

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Chapter 715

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plan might have been completed months ago.

Gianna would have been legally ours, not by blood, but by law. The Council would have had far less room to strip her away from us.

Instead…

I had asked her not to do it again and again. Vincenzo hadn’t failed because he lacked the ability to win.

He lost because of choices I had made.

Because I loved her.

Jules was curled tightly against Claire’s chest, crying so hard her whole body shook.

Claire rubbed slow circles over her back, “It’s okay, my love.”

“It doesn’t feel okay,” Jules cried.

Maddie moved beside them, brushing damp hair away from Jules’s face, “You’ve still got us.”

Jules shook her head so hard her hair flew everywhere, “No! Everyone leaves me!” another sob tore out of her, “My dad died. My mom died. Now Gianna’s gone too!” she buried her face against Claire’s shoulder, “I don’t have anybody.”

Claire hugged her tighter, “You do. We’re here. And we’re not going anywhere.”

Maddie knelt in front of her, she gently wiped the tears from Jules’s cheeks, “You are stuck with us. For a very, very long time.”

“No…” she sobbed, her words breaking apart, “Everyone always leaves me. Mom’s gone… Gianna’s gone… I make everyone leave,” Another sob tore out of her, “I don’t want anyone else…” she cried. “I just want my sister back.”

The words reached somewhere inside me I didn’t know still existed, “Jules.”

She looked over through blurry eyes.

I held out my hand, “Come here.”

She hesitated for only a second before climbing off Claire’s lap. The moment she reached me, I lifted her into mine. She curled against my chest automatically. I wrapped one arm around her small body. My other hand rested carefully against the back of her head.

I wasn’t good at comforting people, especially children.

I never had been.

But this, this much I could do.

“I want Gianna, please, bring her back,” she sobbed.

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Chapter 715

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