My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 631

Chapter 631

If I wasn’t there… nobody would’ve needed saving, nobody would’ve died. I squeezed my eyes shut.

No.

Don’t do this.

Don’t start blaming yourself again, if you blame yourself, you’ll end up harming yourself and you promised mom to never do it again.

I forced myself to breathe. When I opened my eyes again, they drifted across the parking lot.

Raphael.

He was exactly where he’d promised he’d be, standing beside the car, watching us from a distance. One hand rested at his side, a pistol hanging loosely from his fingers.

I swallowed, then I looked back at the girls, “…Do you have any idea who might have done this?”

Neither of them answered immediately.

Then Tasha’s expression hardened, “I think you already know.”

I frowned, “I don’t.”

“The Capones.”

I shook my head before I even thought about it, “No, they didn’t.”

Both of them stared at me and Jasmine frowned, “What do you mean they didn’t?”

“They…” my voice came out quieter than I expected, “I was there, the Capones… they only hurt Mama D. Raphael

said Morgan, Emma, and Brianna weren’t touched. They let them go, trust me.”

Tasha let out a slow breath, “Gianna…” she spoke so gently it almost hurt, “You really believe that?”

Jasmine looked toward Raphael, “He was in that basement, wasn’t he?”!

“I… Y-Yes.”

“He belongs to the family that controls half this city. They don’t exactly file police reports every time they solve a problem.”

“Tasha…” I whispered.

I swallowed hard, “… Maybe it was Cole.”

They simply looked at one another, not surprised but almost… uncomfortable.

A cold feeling settled low in my stomach, “What?”

Jasmine bit the inside of her cheek, “You really don’t know?”

I frowned, “Know what?”

She hesitated, glancing toward the officers standing several yards away before lowering her voice, “We’ve been hearing things since this morning. Nobody’s seen Cole since last night.”

I blinked, “What do you mean?”

“I mean…” She took a shaky breath. “He’s gone.”

“Gone where?”

She shook her head, “No one knows.”

 Jasmine rubbed both hands over her face, “Some of the girls who worked for Cole started talking after the police showed up. And they told us Cole disappeared after the Capones took over the Basement.”