My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 708

Chapter 708

Raphael

“Is Gianna ready?” Vincenzo asked, his eyes settling on me. “Will she tell the Council what needs to be said?”

gave a single nod. My mind drifted back to the night before. To Gianna trembling in my arms, her tears soaking into my skin, to the way she’d clung to me as though letting go meant losing me forever.

Please don’t leave me…

She’d whispered it over and over until exhaustion finally pulled her to sleep.

I’d held her the entire night, “She will,” I said quietly. “I trust her.”

Adriano exhaled slowly, his gaze moving toward the closed chamber doors, “We have no fucking proof. We’re fucking weak. Everything comes down to her word… and the scars. You said she had scars.”

I nodded again, “She does.”

Just then, the doors opened. The council guards outside stepped aside, and one by one, we entered the chamber.

The room was built for intimidation.

A long table of dark wood stretched across the center, polished so perfectly that the lights above reflected across its surface. Heavy curtains covered the tall windows, blocking out the Sicilian evening.

There were no distractions, no outside world, only the people inside.

Five families.

And the Philadelphia Syndicate.

Adriano and I walked beside Vincenzo, behind us came Dante, Luca, and Silvio.

Claire and Maddie stayed with the other women outside the chamber. The Council allowed family heads and selected representatives inside.

Gianna was not supposed to be in here yet but everyone knew why we were here. Everyone knew whose name would eventually be spoken. I took my seat beside my brothers.

Across from us sat the Costellos.

Nikolai sat at the head of the table. To his right sat Scott Mancini, Lorenzo Vitelli, and his closest cousins Alessandro and Marco Costello and to his left were the representatives of the other families. Visconti. Falcone. Deverecci.

All old names.

Then the doors opened again. I didn’t need to look. I already knew. Giovanni Toricelli entered the room. My hand tightened against the armrest because beside him walked Leone Caruso.

Nikolai leaned forward slightly, “You all know why you’re here,” his eyes moved from Giovanni to Vincenzo, “There’s a dispute between the Toricellis and the Capones. By the end of today, this Council will decide who walks out in the right.”

My eyes stayed forward.

Dispute.

It was a clean word, a little too clean for what it actually was.

“This hearing concerns the guardianship, protection, and succession rights regarding Gianna Toricelli.

Giovanni leaned back in his chair, one hand resting on the table, “This shouldn’t even be a discussion Gianna is my blood. My daughter. The future of my family.”

He spread his hands.

“Years ago, she was taken from me. The Capones kept her after my former wife, Hazel married Salvatore Capone and now they’ve decided she belongs to them. She doesn’t. She’s a Toricelli. She carries my name. My blood. My legacy. No matter how many years she’s spent under your roof, that doesn’t change. I’m here to take my daughter home.”

He paused, giving the room time to absorb every word.

“My ex-wife chose to leave our marriage. That was her decision, and I did not stand in her way. The courts granted me full custody of my daughter because Hazel was deemed mentally unfit. Instead of respecting that judgment, Hazel chose to interfere. She filled Gianna’s head with lies, turned her against her own father, and persuaded a sixteen-year-old child to run away from home.”

His jaw tightened just enough to make the anger seem restrained.