My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 412

Chapter 412

My jaw tightened instantly, “No.”

Vincenzo’s eyes flicked to mine and the room changed temperature immediately.

Adriano cursed quietly under his breath, “Okay, bad tone. Very bad tone.”

“She saw nothing,” I said flatly.

“She heard enough.”

“She’s not a threat.”

“And you know that how?” Vincenzo shot back. “Because your dick told you?”

Vincenzo took another step toward me. Blood stained the front of his shirt so heavily it almost looked black now.

“You know what buries empires?” Vincenzo asked softly. “Cunt.”

Adriano muttered, “Jesus Christ.”

“One slick little bitch gets her claws into a man, spreads her legs, whispers in his ear, and suddenly bosses who used to own cities start thinking with their dick instead of their brain.” Vincenzo stalked closer, “You remember Alessandro Costello?”

Of course I did.

Everybody did.

One of the smartest men in New York. A tech ghost. Built half the surveillance systems the east coast still used then he got obsessed with the wrong woman.

And the woman turned out to be federal.

The Feds ripped through his family like wildfire after that.

Adriano dragged a tired hand down his face, “Alright, maybe let’s not compare every woman on earth to a federal agent right now-”

Vincenzo ignored him completely, eyes still locked on me.

“You think I’m stupid enough to sit here while my brother hides some stray pussy inside the safest room in this compound?” his voice dropped lower, “I’m not Costello. I’d put a bullet through your skull before I let some cunt destroy this family because my brother got hard and forgot who the fuck he belongs to.”

“She’s handled,” I said evenly.

The second the words left my mouth, Adriano physically recoiled again. I looked at him briefly and he was staring at me with pure horror.

“That,” Adriano said slowly, rubbing a hand over his face, was the worst possible thing you could’ve said to him.”

Vincenzo’s expression went completely blank, “Handled,” he repeated softly.

I already knew where his brain went with that word.

This was not the version of him she knew.

She knew the calm, caring man who kissed Claire’s forehead at dinner and spoke softly to women like they were something precious. The older brother who kept his voice low around the family and acted like the devil in him had manners.

This was the real Don Vincenzo Capone.

Blood on his hands. Rage in his eyes. Speaking the way men like us actually spoke when there were no women around, no family dinners forcing civility down our throats.

The part digging under my skin wasn’t him insulting me. Vincenzo had been ripping pieces out of me with his mouth since I was old enough to hold a gun. That was nothing new.

It was knowing she was hearing him like this for the first time.

Hearing the ugliness underneath the loving older brother.

To me, this was normal.

To Gianna…

This was probably the first real look behind the curtain,

The first time hearing what Capone men sounded like when nobody we cared about was supposed to be listening.

Vincenzo stepped closer until he was right in front of me, “She comes out now,” he said quietly, “Or I drag her out myself.”