My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 621

Chapter 621

Gianna

I&T

Warmth.

That was the first thing I noticed, not the headache, not the dull ache behind my eyes.

Just… warmth.

Something soft rested beneath my cheek. A familiar scent wrapped around me, gentle and comforting. Lavender. The same lotion Mom had used for as long as I could remember.

My body refused to move right away. I stayed where I was, my eyes still closed, listening.

A quiet machine hummed somewhere nearby. Another let out a slow beep.

I took a careful breath, even that made my head throb. The pain wasn’t sharp anymore. It was deep like a bruise inside my skull.

Slowly, I opened my eyes.

The ceiling melted together with the morning light spilling through the curtains. I blinked twice, and the room slowly came into focus.

Mom’s bedroom.

For a second I couldn’t remember why I was here, then I felt something lightly resting against my shoulder.

An arm… carefully draped around me.

I turned my head, mom was already awake. She was looking at me, the smallest smile curved across her lips.

It wasn’t a big smile anymore.

ALS had taken too much from her face for that.

But her eyes… her eyes still smiled exactly the same. They always had.

“Morning…” she whispered.

Her voice came out rough, barely louder than the machines around us.

My throat tightened, the word almost broke me, “Mom…”

The oxygen tubing rested beneath her nose. Dark circles sat beneath her eyes. She looked even smaller than yesterday.

Her fingers twitched against my shoulder, she couldn’t lift her hand anymore, not properly. Instead, she slowly brushed the tips of her fingers against my arm. It still made my eyes sting.

“You…” she whispered slowly, stopping to catch her breath. “…slept… on me…”

I frowned, “I did?”

She gave the tiniest nod, “You… cried.”

My heart dropped. Fragments of last night flashed through my mind.

The hallway.

A tear slid down my cheek. I closed my eyes. For just a few seconds… I let myself pretend everything was normal.

That I wasn’t injured, that Mom wasn’t sick, that nobody had died, that nobody was missing. That the world outside this room didn’t exist.

Just me.

And her.

A quiet cough pulled my attention toward the other side of the room.

I looked up.

Salvatore was asleep on the couch, still wearing yesterday’s clothes, one arm hung over the edge. A blanket had slipped halfway onto the floor sometime during the night.

He looked uncomfortable, like he hadn’t slept much at all. An untouched cup of coffee rested on the table beside him. The dark surface inside had long since gone cold.

I watched him for only a second, then… last night came rushing back.

“You end this.”

My stomach clenched.

“Stay away from Raphael.”

I lowered my eyes before I even realized I was doing it.

“What exactly do you think people call a woman who sleeps with her stepbrother behind her mother’s back? A whore.”