My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 372

Chapter 372

“…Thank you,” I mumbled.

Claire Immediately squealed in victory, “Yes!”

Maddie practically bounced in her seat next, “Okay, our turn. So,” she said excitedly, “a little birdie told me somebody loves to dance. So, I did some research.”

“A lot of research,” Adriano muttered darkly.

Maddie ignored him then she slid a thick cream-colored folder across the table toward me.

Confused, I opened it and stopped breathing. Inside were printed schedules, training plans, travel arrangements, and contracts. My eyes scanned the elegant gold lettering at the top of the page. The name hit me so hard my vision blurred.

I looked up at Maddie in complete shock, “You hired him?”

Maddie bit her lip excitedly, “He’s one of the best ballet coaches in the world. He trained principal dancers for the Royal Ballet and Paris Opera.”

I couldn’t even process the words.

“He’s flying here privately twice a week starting tomorrow only for you,” Maddie continued quickly, “And if he thinks you’re ready…”

Her smile widened slowly.

“There’s a showcase in three months in New York.”

The entire room disappeared around me. I looked back down at the papers with shaking hands.

Three months.

A real performance.

A real stage.

My chest hurt so badly I could barely breathe, “I-” No words came out.

Maddie’s voice softened immediately, “You just deserve the chance to love something without anybody ruining it for you.”

I pressed my lips together hard because suddenly crying in front of everyone felt dangerously possible.

And across the table, I felt Raphael watching me the entire time.

“Okay, my turn before somebody starts crying again,” Silvio said smoothly as he adjusted the sleeves of his dark sweater.

Dante snorted, “That somebody is definitely gonna be her.”

“I am literally not crying,” I muttered, even though my eyes still burned from Maddie’s gift.

Silvio reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and slid a slim black envelope across the table toward me.

I stared at it suspiciously, “Why does that look expensive?” I asked quietly.

I looked up just in time for him to toss something small directly at my face. I yelped and barely caught it.

“What the hell?!” I gasped.

Dante looked deeply pleased with himself. I looked down at the object in my hands. Then immediately started laughing.

It was a pink taser.

A glittery pink taser covered in tiny rhinestones.

My jaw dropped, “Dante.”

He leaned back proudly in his chair. “It has your initials engraved on the side.”

I turned it over. Sure enough, G.T.

Right beneath a tiny carved skull. A shocked laugh escaped me, “You gave me a weapon bedazzled like a teenage girl’s phone case.”

“It’s called personality.”

Adriano grabbed it from my hands to inspect it. “Jesus Christ, Dante.”

“What?” Dante defended. “Now she can electrocute people in style.”

The second he said electrocute, I noticed Raphael’s eyes flick toward me immediately, “For creeps,” he said quietly, “Not… Anything else.”