My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 92

"Are you hurting yourself?" she whispered, her voice breaking into a sob, "Gianna, look at me. Are you doing this to yourself?"

I paled even more, my stomach twisting into a knot, "No! Mom, no, it's not like that! It's just ballet. I’ve been practicing by myself, I promise. I just got carried away."

I watched her hands tremble as she held my feet. She looked so small on the floor, so fragile. I didn't know why she was stumbling, or why her grip was weak, but the sight of her like that made the secrets I was keeping feel a thousand times heavier.

A broken sob pulled from her chest, and then she did something that made my heart stop. She leaned down and pressed her lips to the top of my foot, her tears hot and wet against my skin.

"Please," she choked out. She kissed the bandages again, "Please, Gianna. Just tell me the truth. Tell me you’re not doing this to yourself. Tell me you aren't hurting your own body."

I stared down at the top of her head, my breath coming in short, panicked stabs that felt like they were ripping my chest open. I wanted to pull away, to hide the mess of my life from her, but I was frozen.

Everything my mother did for me, every sacrifice, every cent she poured into those expensive therapies flashed through my mind like a movie I couldn't stop. She had spent years trying to fix my brain, trying to give me the tools to stand on my own two feet. And if she found out the truth? If she realized that I was still struggling just to keep my head above water? It would break her.

I wanted so badly to be the one taking care of her for once. I wanted to be the strong one, the person she and Jules could actually depend on. I wanted to tell her she didn't have to worry anymore, that I had everything under control.

But my condition was a wall I couldn't climb. As long as I was "incapable" in her eyes, she would never truly trust me to look after the family. She would always look at me and see a girl who needed a hand to hold. She would always think we needed a man like Salvatore or his sons to keep us safe.

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