My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 94

“This right here,” he said, waving his fork in Jules’ direction like she was Exhibit A, “this is exactly why I refuse to have kids.”

“You won’t have kids,” Luca muttered dryly without even lifting his head from his plate, “because no woman trusts you alone long enough to finish dinner, let alone make a baby.”

A snort burst out of Adriano so loud he nearly choked on his drink.

“That is slander,” Dante shot back, pointing his fork at Luca like he was about to file a lawsuit. “Women trust me plenty. The amount of pussy that practically throws itself at—”

He froze mid-sentence.

Slowly. Very slowly.

His head turned toward Jules.

Jules blinked up at him with wide eyes, still chewing a piece of toast like none of this chaos had anything to do with her.

Dante cleared his throat loudly, straightening in his chair like he was suddenly a well-mannered priest.

“—Pussycats,” he corrected quickly, forcing a stiff smile that looked painful on his face, “I was talking about cats.”

Raphael let out a low, quiet chuckle into his coffee, “Yeah,” Adriano muttered, dragging the word out, “Sure you were.”

Dante ignored him completely, turning toward Madeleine like he had just remembered something extremely important.

“That reminds me,” he said brightly, way too brightly. “Maddie, how’s Flan?”

Madeleine looked up mid-bite, already suspicious, “He’s fine,” she said cautiously.

Dante nodded seriously, “You said he was sick last week,” he continued, leaning forward slightly. “Is it cancer?”

Madeleine gasped like he had just set her hair on fire, “Oh my God, Dante!” she cried, “Flan is fine! It’s not cancer!”

“Jesus Christ,” Luca muttered under his breath, finally looking up, pinching the bridge of his nose like he was seconds away from developing a permanent migraine, “Who the fuck jumps straight to cancer about a cat with a hairball?”

Dante blinked, confused, like he genuinely didn’t understand why everyone looked ready to murder him.

“What?” he demanded defensively. “People get cancer. Cats are people-adjacent.”

“Cats are not people-adjacent,” Maddie snapped, clutching her napkin dramatically to her chest like she needed emotional support.

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