My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 217

Chapter 217

Underneath the shame and the anger, I realized what I was actually looking at. She was lonely. In a way that was deep and structural. Despite having a mother and a sister, she was all by herself.

No one had ever stepped up to tell her the simple truth: it wasn’t her fault.

The car rolled up the long driveway of the estate. I glanced at Gianna again. She was staring out the window. She didn’t move until the driver opened her door.

We stepped into the foyer, the family was gathered in the living area, I could hear the low murmur of voices and laughs.

Gianna didn’t stop, she kept her head down, as she walked past the living room, “Hey,” she mumbled, the word barely a breath as she passed the archway where the others sat. She didn’t look at them. She didn’t wait for a response.

“Gianna?” someone started to ask, but she was already gone. Her footsteps tapping against the marble stairs, growing fainter and fainter.

“Raphael.”

I turned. Vincenzo was standing there, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest. His dark eyes weren’t on the stairs, they were locked onto me.

He didn’t look like a brother right then. He looked like the head of the family, weighing every move I made.

“A word,” he said as he jerked his head toward the privacy of the study, “In private. Now.”

Nodding, I followed him into the room. He closed the door behind us, and turned to face me.

“What happened?” he asked, “That girl looked like she’s been crying for an hour. What did you do to her?”

“It’s progressing,” he said quietly, “It’s not staying in her hands anymore. The weakness is spreading. She’s getting tired faster, losing strength in places she used to rely on. Her core’s starting to go… and they’re seeing early signs it’s affecting her breathing.

A slow breath filled my lungs, then left just as steady, “How bad?”

“They won’t pin it down exactly,” Vincenzo replied, jaw tightening, “But it’s moving faster now. Not the slow drift it was before. Months, Raph. Maybe a year if we’re lucky. But the decline’s picking up speed.”

“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath.

Vincenzo nodded once, like he expected that reaction, “And Hazel hasn’t told her. She’s trying to hold onto this idea of a normal year for Gianna, college, the internship, everything falling into place.”

I scoffed lightly, but there was no humor in it, “That’s not going to last.”