My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 566

Chapter 566

I slowly slipped both of my arms around his waist and leaned against him, resting my cheek over his heart. The steady beat beneath my ear somehow made everything feel a little easier to say.

When I looked back up at him, his brows drew together immediately.

His hand came up without him even thinking about it, his thumb brushing beneath my eye as another tear escaped.

“So when you ask me about Leone…” I said quietly, “you’re asking the wrong question because the girl who loved Leone, she didn’t even know what love was.”

My fingers tightened slightly against his back, brushing over the raised marks my nails had left on his skin a few hours ago.

“She thought love meant holding on so tightly that you forgot about yourself. She thought love meant accepting whatever someone gave you because you were scared they’d stop choosing you. She thought love was something you had to earn.”

A small smile found my lips.

“Then you loved me,” I felt his heartbeat stumble beneath my cheek, “And you changed every single thing I believed. You showed me that love is patient, safe, and it can stay. It doesn’t disappear the first time someone gets scared or makes a mistake.”

I reached up and cupped his face.

“So no…” I smiled through my tears, “You and Leone aren’t even part of the same story,” I held his face a little tighter, “So if you’re asking whether there’s still a place in my heart for him… There isn’t. There hasn’t been for a very long time.”

I moved closer until our foreheads were almost touching. Then I kissed him softly. My lips lingered against his for a moment before I gently caught his lower lip between mine, giving it the smallest tug before letting him go.

When I looked back into his eyes, my smile had softened, “My heart found its home,” I whispered, “It found you and I would lose everything before I’d willingly lose what we have.”

His eyes moved slowly over my face, studying every tiny change in my expression as if he were checking each word against the truth.

Then he asked, his voice calm enough to make the question even worse, “So… If removing Leone from the equation wouldn’t hurt you then you wouldn’t object if I killed him.”

The words landed so quietly they almost didn’t register.

Something cold settled in my stomach.

Raphael’s voice stayed level, “Three hours later, every one of my brothers received the same video. He had found, Ciro, he restrained him, tortured him, then he sent it to us.”

It felt suddenly everything had turned upside down, “What?”

“He wanted us to watch, Gianna. He wanted us angry. And then he walked into that restaurant. He wanted us to see him. He wanted us to understand that he could reach our family wherever he wanted. And he wanted us to understand that he knew exactly where you were.”

Silence settled between us. Rapahel shook his head, the look in his eyes was riddled with darkness.

“He crossed a line that doesn’t exist in my world, Gianna. He laid hands on one of my men. He challenged my family and he deliberately inserted himself into a dinner where you were present,” a slow breath left him, “He made it personal.”

His thumb brushed absently over my side.

“So before I dealt with it,” his gaze searched mine, “I needed to know whether removing him from this world would also hurt you.”