My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 476

Chapter 476

And suddenly I understood why everyone had been acting strange.

Why Salvatore looked at her the way he did.

Why Vincenzo insisted on taking her to the doctor himself.

Why Claire checked on her constantly.

Why everyone seemed careful around her.

God.

God.

God.

My stomach lurched.

Mom’s voice broke, “Every day that passes…. is one less day. One less day with you. One less day with Jules and one less day with this family.”

Then suddenly a chair scraped violently against the floor. Jules was already running.

Tears streaming down her face, “No! No!”

She launched herself at Mom, practically climbing into her lap. Her arms wrapping around her mother’s neck so tightly it looked painful.

“No, Mommy.”

Mom immediately wrapped her arms around her, holding her close, holding her like she never wanted to let go.

Jules buried her face against her shoulder, “No, no, no. Mommy, don’t say that.”

Mom started crying harder. So did Claire. Maddie turned away completely.

Jules clung tighter, “So we’ll fix it. We’ll get doctors. The best doctors. Papa Sal said he has lots of money. We’ll buy better doctors,” her little hands grabbed mom’s face, “We’ll buy all of them. We’ll fix it.”

Mom broke completely, pulling Jules against her chest, crying into her hair. Meanwhile I stood there frozen unable to move, unable to think, unable to process.

Because suddenly every strange thing from the last few months made sense, every conversation, every look, every moment. My mother’s words kept echoing inside my head.

ALS.

ALS.

ALS.

Every single person at this table knew, every single one, except me, except Jules.

My eyes moved around the room slowly.

Claire.

Maddie.

Vincenzo.

Adriano.

Salvatore.

Raphael.

All of them.

I stared at her, then laughed again, “That’s funny. After every lecture I’ve gotten about honesty from you.”

Maddie’s eyes filled with tears, “That’s not fair.”

“No? Because I remember being told family doesn’t keep secrets. I remember being told family tells each other the truth. Apparently that rule didn’t apply to me.”

“Gianna,” Maddie whispered.

I shook my head, then my gaze landed on Raphael. The second our eyes met, pieces started falling into place.

All those afternoons, all those times, every single moment. The way he’d suddenly tell me to go home. The way he’d insist I take days off. The way he’d practically force me to spend time with Mom. The way he’d tell me work could wait.

I stared at him, “You knew.”

His jaw tightened. I stood there waiting for him to deny it but he didn’t and the anger inside me exploded, “That’s why you kept telling me to go home early, insisting I take days off to spend time with my mom. Every single time. You knew she was dying.”

His expression barely changed but something moved behind his eyes.

“You sat there and watched me complain about deadlines. You listened to me talk about assignments. You listened to me plan for next year. And you knew.”

Finally Raphael spoke, “Your mother asked us not to tell you.”

I wanted to scream instead I looked away because somehow hearing him say it hurt more. My gaze snapped toward my mother, tears streamed down her face.

“Baby-”

“You don’t get to call me that right now.”

The words left my mouth before I could think. Pain flashed across her face instantly and guilt hit me but then anger hit harder.

“How could you not tell me?”

My mother’s hands trembled, “Because I wanted you to live.”