My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 459

Chapter 459

Instead, he just stared at me.

Adriano had gone strangely quiet too but he wasn’t staring at me or Vincenzo, he was looking at the man standing behind me.

Vincenzo finally exhaled, “If you want to move out,” he said evenly, “then we do it properly.”

Hope immediately flickered inside my chest, “Okay.”

His eyes narrowed, “Don’t get excited yet.”

The hope died instantly.

Vincenzo pushed away from the desk, “You want independence?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“You want your own place?”

“Yes.”

“You want to start building a life outside the estate?”

I nodded.

His jaw flexed, “Fine.”

My eyebrows shot up. Fine? Just like that? I glanced toward Adriano but he was still looking at Raphael.

Vincenzo gave me a nod, “You can move out.”

I blinked, “What?”

“You heard me.”

For a second I thought I might actually cry from relief.

“After you sign the papers.”

My smile vanished, “What papers?”

“The adoption papers.”

The room went silent.

“…what?”

“You will live outside my protection while still being under my protection.”

I frowned, “Why would I need to sign adoption papers to move into an apartment?”

“Because if you leave this estate,” he said calmly, “I want legal authority.”

I blinked, “Authority?”

“Yes.”

“I’m twenty-two.”

“And?”

“You already treat me like family.”

Something that made no sense.

Love and Raphael didn’t belong in the same sentence.

So signing the papers wouldn’t actually change anything. Because there had never been a future there to begin with.

Still…

My chest ached anyway.

Because some foolish part of me had apparently been holding onto a door that had never been open.

And this felt like watching it lock forever.

“You’re my first friend…”

“For once, I want to be free with you.”

“You are safe whenever I am around you, Gianna. Never doubt that, not for a single second.”

“Because I’m your stepsister.”

“No, because you’re under my protection.”

“You’re family… That means people around you get screened differently. Situations around you get handled differently.”

“I don’t want marriage. I don’t need a wife. I don’t need romance. I don’t need whatever fantasy everybody else keeps chasing.”

“And I’m not ruining some poor woman’s life because my family wants wedding photos.”

“I know exactly what kind of man I am. I work eighteen hours a day. I disappear for weeks sometimes. I treat most human interaction like business negotiations. I don’t do emotional reassurance. I don’t even notice half the feelings women expect me to notice. I’m not dragging somebody into a marriage just because society thinks I should want one. That’s why this works.”