My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 409

Chapter 409

“I’m not dragging somebody into a marriage just because society thinks I should want one. That’s why this works.”

Her eyebrows pulled together faintly. “This?”

“Us.”

She went very still.

“From the beginning, you knew exactly what you wanted. You made rules. Clear ones. No emotional bullshit. No overlapping with other people. No pretending this was something it isn’t.”

Her throat moved once, “You remember all that?”

“Obviously.”

A faint, bitter laugh escaped her. Of course I remembered. I remembered everything about her.

Every rule.

Every expression.

Every habit.

The exact food she craved after sex.

The way she looks for sharp corners to hurt herself when she’s anxious.

I remembered all of it.

“I like that about you,” I said honestly, “You know what you can handle. Most people don’t and it works perfectly for people like us.”

She stared at me strangely after that, “People like us?”

“Yeah.”

Her eyebrows pulled tighter together, “What exactly does that mean?”

“It means I can’t love anybody. And you,” I continued evenly, “are already in love with someone else.”

Gianna slowly looked up at me and I stared at her, waiting for her to say something but she just stood there looking at me. I opened my mouth again, wanting to know why she kept looking at me like this.

Then one of the monitors pinged sharply. My attention snapped toward the sound instantly. A red notification flashed across the lower security screen.

Two-vehicles entering the private gate.

I leaned forward automatically, fingers flying over the keyboard. The live camera feed pulled up immediately.

Black SUV.

Second black SUV behind it.

Fuck.

“Shit,” I muttered under my breath.

Gianna blinked, still visibly shaken, “What?”

Because if Vincenzo knew I was fucking our stepsister in the woods behind one of our private compounds, he wouldn’t be calmly walking through the front gate. He’d already be kicking my teeth in.

Another ping hit the monitors.

Access door opening.

They were inside.

I grabbed Gianna gently by the arm and pulled her toward the back corner of the control room.

Behind the main monitors was a narrow side section separated by dark tinted glass and server walls. You could see directly into the control room from there through the one-way panel, but from the outside it looked completely

black.

Nobody could see in unless the internal lights were switched on.

I pushed the hidden panel open. “In there.”

Gianna looked toward the dark space nervously. “Raphael-”

“Go. I’ve got you.”

She hesitated for half a second before slipping inside.

I leaned closer before shutting the panel, lowering my voice one last time, “No matter what happens,” I said, stay quiet.”

Her green eyes locked onto mine through the darkness then I slid the panel shut fully just as the main door opened.