My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 490

Chapter 490

I kept moving, my shoulder scraping against the wall as I limped down the endless corridor. His words meant nothing to me. They were just empty, noisy static.

“From this day onwards,” I whispered, as I stopped walking for a split second, pressing my back against the wall to catch my breath, and turned my head slowly to look him dead in the eye. My split lip bled down my/chin, “From this exact moment… I am entirely on my own.”

Leone stopped, his chest heaving, his face pale and completely broken as he stared at the hatred in my eyes,” Gianna, don’t say that. You have me. I’m right here.”

“I have no one,” I bit out, and then let out a bitter laugh, “I will never have anyone in this house. I am completely alone in this world. My father doesn’t care if I break, my mother is gone, and you… you are a liar.”

Fresh tears burned my eyes, but I wiped them away violently with my sleeve, refusing to show him any more weakness.

“I’m done waiting for someone else to save me,” I whispered, my voice raw from crying. “I handed you every fragile piece of myself. My trust. My faith. My future. I put all of it in your hands because I believed you would protect it.”

I looked down at my shaking fingers before lifting my eyes back to his.

“And you crushed it. It isn’t cracked, Leone. It isn’t damaged. It’s gone. You broke something inside me so completely that I don’t think I’ll ever know how to put it back together.”

I slowly lifted my trembling hands between us, staring at the blood running over my knuckles.

“Do you see this?”

I looked straight into his eyes, letting every ounce of my disappointment settle over him.

“I will never trust another man for as long as I live, not my father, not the Syndicate,” I leaned in until only inches separated us, “…and never, ever you.”

Leone looked like I had just shot him straight through the heart. His mouth opened slightly, but no sound came out, his eyes wide and completely hollow as the reality of my words settled into his bones.

He had wanted to keep me safe by keeping me trapped, but he had ended up destroying the only part of me that had ever looked at him with kindness.

I didn’t wait for him to process the blow. I turned away, gripping the wall with my forearm, and continued down the long, freezing hallway toward my bedroom, leaving him standing completely alone behind me.