My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 735

Chapter 735

I nodded slowly, “I know.”

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“No,” he shook his head once, “I don’t think you understand how pissed I really am,” he leaned back farther into the chair, one forearm resting against the armrest, “I’m pissed you left. I’m pissed you walked into Giovanni Toricelli’s house.”

He rubbed a tired hand across his face again, not seeming to care about the blood still smeared along

his cheek.

His eyes found mine again, “I don’t get to stop loving you because you made a decision I hate.”

“I…” My throat closed around the words.

He continued before I could answer, “What I don’t understand…” he said, “…is why. What is so important in that house? What could your father-the man Hazel clearly despised-possibly have that makes you think it’s worth leaving me?”

I looked down at the phone. I couldn’t tell him because I already knew what would happen. The second Raphael found out why I came here…

He’d come for me.

He wouldn’t care about the Council.

He wouldn’t care about Daddy.

He’d drag me out of this house himself if he had to and he’d call me an idiot for thinking I had to fix myself first.

He’d tell me I was enough.

He always did.

But that wasn’t the point.

He deserved more than someone who was barely holding herself together. He deserved someone who could stand beside him instead of always leaning on him.

I wanted to become that person, not because he’d asked me to. He never had. I wanted it because every time I looked at him. I saw someone who carried everyone else’s weight without ever asking for help.

For once…

I wanted to become someone who could carry a little of his.

For once, I wanted people to look at us and stop wondering why a man like Raphael chose someone like me. I wanted them to look at me and think, She deserves to stand beside him. Not because I became

someone else… but because I finally became someone worthy in my own eyes.

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Raphael’s voice pulled me back, “Gianna.”

I lifted my head.

“Don’t even think about lying to me.”

My fingers curled tighter around the edge of the blanket.

“I know there’s something you’re not telling me,” his eyes never left mine, “You don’t trust me with it.”

“No,” the answer came out too quickly, “I do trust you.”

“Then tell me.”

I couldn’t, not because I was afraid of him but because I was afraid he’d stop me before I had the chance to become the woman I wanted to be.

“I can’t,” I whispered.

Raphael closed his eyes for a brief second.

When he opened them again, there was frustration there. And underneath it… worry, “So that’s it. You’d rather carry this alone than let me carry it with you.”

I bit the inside of my cheek so hard it hurt, because he had no idea, the only reason I was carrying it alone, was because I was trying, in the most broken way possible…

To become someone strong enough to carry him, too.

My throat tightened, “I love you.”

The words slipped out so quietly I almost didn’t hear them myself. The hard look on Raphael didn’t soften.

He simply looked at me for another long moment before speaking, “Do you have any idea what I’m risking just by answering this call? The Council didn’t give us a warning, Gianna. They drew a line. We’re not supposed to call each other. We’re not supposed to meet. We’re not supposed to exchange messages. They don’t even want us looking in each other’s direction again.”

Every sentence made me shrink into myself.

“You asked your father for help. He took you away from us,” his jaw tightened, “And now every second I stay on this call…” he looked toward something off-screen before returning to me, “I’m putting my family in danger.”

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