My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 471

Chapter 471

Gianna leaned into my hand, giving me that look again.

I didn’t understand it. I wanted to.

“What?” I said, “Why are you looking at me like that, Mess?”

“I thought we had a date planned, Little Mess,”

“A date?” We can’t date, Raphael. Remember? We have a cold contract. We are a secret transaction behind closed doors.”

“And I didn’t want anybody looking at you that way.”

“Because I’m your stepsister.”

“Because you’re under my protection.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“That was definitely not nothing.”

“I just forgot who I was talking to for a second.”

“Don’t.”

“I didn’t say anything wrong.”

“You seriously don’t get it, Raphael?”

“Then explain it to me because I’m obviously missing something.”

“You talk about me like I’m different from everyone else… but you never say why.”

“I care about you.”

“Yeah,” she said quietly, “Like family.”

“I don’t understand what you want me to say.”

“That’s the problem.”

“We’re step siblings sleeping together in secret,” she snapped, “That’s not exactly healthy behavior, Raphael.”

“We already established it’s fucked up.”

“That was before.”

“Before what?”

“Before it started… Forget it.”

“No. Finish that sentence.”

“There you go again with the practical thing.”

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

“You really believe that.”

“I don’t want you as a stepbrother. I don’t want you as my family. I don’t want the platonic version of you, and I don’t want the version of you that looks out for me. I just want it over.”

“Gianna, you’re not making any sense. We can’t just pretend we don’t know each other.”

“Yes, we can. You will ignore me, and I will ignore you. When we pass each other in the hallways, we look away. When we sit at the dinner table with our parents, we don’t speak. For you, I do not exist anymore. And for me, you are completely gone.”

“And… Please don’t mention Leone to her either. She was never exactly his biggest fan.”

“Based on everything you’ve told us, I’d say you’re not exactly a member of his fan club either.”

“I’m not…”

“Raphael,” Dr. Walker pulled me out of my thoughts, “I asked you a question. What happens if she doesn’t feel the same way?”

I looked at him.

For the first time all night, I didn’t overthink it, I didn’t analyze it, I didn’t try to solve it like a problem.

A strange calm settled over me, “She does.”

I had spent months missing what was right in front of me but I wasn’t missing it now.

The realization settled into my chest with a strange sense of peace.

She loved me.

The same way I loved her.

The difference was that she’d figured it out long before I had.