My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 663

Chapter 663

“I said things, I shouldn’t have. I told you that you’d have to leave because I was angry. I was grieving. I wasn’t thinking like myself. I never meant you weren’t family.”

Family.

The word sounded strange.

“I made Hazel a promise. I promised her I’d look after both of her girls.”

My fingers tightened around the pen, the line I drew became darker, longer. It cut almost to the bottom of the page.

“I intend to keep that promise. I don’t care what happens. I don’t care who disagrees. Even if Raphael stands in front of me one day. I won’t walk away from the promise I made to your mother.”

My hand finally stopped, not because of his words, but because I’d reached the bottom of the page. I stared at the black line. It looked exactly like the others.

I turned the page. The paper made a soft sound beneath my fingers. The pen touched it again.

Salvatore watched me for a long time, “You don’t have to answer me. I only needed you to hear me.”

Hear him.

I wondered if I had.

His face sat somewhere at the edge of my vision. I knew he was there. I knew he was speaking but he didn’t feel real.

Nothing did.

It felt as though there were thick glass between me and the rest of the world.

I blinked, the page was almost full again. I didn’t remember drawing half of it.

“I can’t let you see Giovanni.”

The pen slowed.

“I loved your mother too much to stand by and let that happen. You don’t understand everything yet but I made Hazel a promise. I’m trying to keep it. I’m trying to protect you, Gianna, even if you don’t see it right now.”

The pen stopped.

For the first time in what felt like forever.

Giovanni.

My dad.

Hazel.

My mom.

The words echoed slowly inside my head. Something inside me shifted, small but enough.

Damage.

“Maybe he’s changed,” Salvatore shrugged weakly, “Maybe he regrets every decision he ever made. I don’t know. What I do know is that I’ve seen what those years did to you.”

He looked at the notebook.

At the endless straight lines.

He swallowed, “And I can’t convince myself that the man who let all of that happen deserves another chance.”

Raphael had told me grief made people reach for what they’d been missing their whole lives.

Salvatore was telling me to let go of it.

To let go of…

Daddy.

My chest tightened, I tried to remember, I tried to remember the bad things. I found flashes, a locked door, crying, being alone.

Then…

A pair of hands lifting me when I was little. Someone carrying me on his shoulders. A deep laugh. A warm coat wrapped around me when it snowed.

The memories crashed into each other until I couldn’t tell which ones were real anymore.