My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 718

Chapter 718

Six years ago, I would’ve never dared speak to him like that.

But the girl who used to lower her head and apologize for everything…

She hadn’t walked back into this house.

He leaned back in his chair, “You came back where you belong. You’re a Toricelli, Gianna. You always have been. This is your home.”

“I have another home in Chicago, I want you to remember that!”

“No,” he answered, “Chicago was where you were being kept.”

I blinked, “What?”

“The Council saw exactly what it was. You were taken from your family. The Capones convinced you

otherwise.”

I shook my head, “No…”

“They manipulated a confused young woman who didn’t know better. I corrected that mistake. And now, they can’t get to you even if they try.”

My breathing became uneven, “Dad…”

“They don’t decide where you live. I do,” he added.

I took a step forward, “I decide where I want to live!”

Dad smiled, “The Council disagreed.”

Anger rushed through me so suddenly I could barely think, “The Capones are my family. They took care of me. They loved me,” my throat tightened, “They still have Jules. They’re part of my life. They’re my family.”

Leone finally looked up from his papers, “Not anymore.”

I slowly turned my head toward him. I looked him straight in the eyes, “I’m sorry,” my voice stayed frighteningly calm, “Was I talking to you?”

Leone blinked, “No, but-”

I cut him off, “I don’t remember asking for your opinion. I’m talking to my father.”

Leone closed his file, and he stood slowly, “Yeah, you weren’t talking to me.”

He adjusted the sleeve of his jacket before meeting my stare.

“But as Underboss of the Toricelli Syndicate, you are my responsibility.”

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Chapter 18

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I felt my jaw tighten.

“And that reminds me,” his eyes dropped to the phone still clutched in my hand, “I’ll be taking that.”

My fingers instinctively curled tighter around it, “Excuse me?”

“We’ve already prepared another phone for you.”

“I don’t want another phone,” I snapped.

“This one stays with us,” he extended his hand, waiting and I held his stare.

“Gianna,” Dad sighed softly, “Give him the phone.”

I looked back at him in disbelief, “You’re serious?”

“Yes.”

I felt something cold settle in my stomach.

Leone sighed, “According to the Council’s ruling, there will be no further contact between you and the Capone family.”

I stared at him and he continued like he was discussing tomorrow’s weather.

“No calls, no messages, no emails, no letters, no third-party communication. The Council made its position perfectly clear or else the Capones will face the consequences. They lost, Gianna. They walked out of that chamber with their heads down and their tails tucked between their legs. That’s the end of it.”

He held out his hand again.

“So,” his eyes settled on my phone, “Give it to me.”

I looked from Leone to Dad, then back again. Something inside me snapped like a thread that had been pulled too tight for far too long.

I laughed once. It didn’t sound like me, “You’ve both lost your minds.”

My grip tightened around my phone until the edges dug into my palm.

It wasn’t just a phone.

It held my mother’s voice notes.

Pictures of Jules asleep on my shoulder.

It held Raphael’s messages. The special font he had installed so words stopped blurring together. The app he had built just for my dyslexic brain. Every photo, every voice note, every stupid conversation we’d

ever had.

A hundred little pieces of a life I’d built after running from this house.

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Chapter 18

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And now they expected me to hand all of that over like it meant nothing.

My chest rose sharply, “No.”

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