My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 436

Chapter 436

Gianna | Age 16

The butterflies in my stomach would not settle down.

I stood in front of the mirror for the third time, smoothing my shaking hands over the fabric of my dress. Then I checked my hair. Then I smoothed the dress again. I knew I looked completely ridiculous, but I couldn’t stop the wide, breathless smile from stretching across my face.

Today.

Today was finally the day.

I pressed my palm hard against my chest, feeling the wild, rapid thumping of my heart. Just a few more hours. Just one more car ride, one more meeting at the diner, one final handoff, and then my entire life would change forever.

Mom would have the evidence. She would have the recordings, the hard proof, the weapon we needed to break these chains. Six long months of secret recordings, all captured on the tiny device hidden deep inside the stuffing of that little brown teddy bear.

Every horrible thing he had ever done to me was on that tape. Every booming scream. Every cruel word. Every single piece of my suffering.

I wasn’t carrying it past the front gates myself. That would have been stupid. My father had armed guards stationed at every single exit of the estate, and his men searched everything I owned. They checked every bag, every pocket. So, three days ago, I had given the bear to Leone.

Léone kept my secrets. Nobody in this house ever questioned him. Nobody searched his car or went through his things. The guards would never think to look there.

A happy smile pulled at my lips as I imagined it. He probably had the bear tucked away somewhere perfectly safe already. When we arrived at the diner, he would hand it back to me, and I would place it right into Mom’s hands.

And then… freedom.

The word felt strange and heavy inside my head. Freedom.

I grabbed my small purse from the bed and hurried out of my room. My bare feet practically floated down the long hallway. For the first time in years, the weight on my shoulders was gone, I felt light, hopeful, and truly happy. I even skipped the last two steps of the grand staircase, a small laugh bubbling in my throat.

Then, I froze.

The entire world stopped spinning, and slowly, the smile vanished from my face. My stomach dropped so fast and so hard it felt like I had just been pushed off a high cliff into the dark.

Three men were standing right in the middle of the spacious living room.

My father.

Leone.

And Leone’s father.

The words hit me. I stared at him, my mind spinning. I couldn’t understand the words. I couldn’t make them fit together with the boy I thought I knew.

“What?” I breathed.

My father suddenly let out a loud laugh. The sound was ugly, and mean, echoing off the high ceilings of the room, “What?” he barked, his lip curling into a cruel sneer. “You want to know what happened, Gianna?”

His face twisted with a sudden rage. The thick veins in his neck stood out, throbbing wildly, and his grip tightened around the teddy bear until the seams groaned, “You stupid little girl.”

My entire body flinched at the harshness of his tone.

“You think you’re smarter than me?” he roared, stepping forward. The sheer force of his booming voice seemed to shake the very walls of the house, “You think I wouldn’t find out what you were doing under my own roof?”

“Daddy-”

“Shut up!”

I jumped violently, the tears instantly flooding my eyes and spilling over my cheeks.

My father raised his arm, pointing the brown bear directly at my face, “You were going to hand this over to that manipulative, crazy bitch?”