My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 286

Chapter 286

Raphael

I kept my focus on Vivianne, or at least I tried to. Across the table, she was explaining how she’d pivot into a sub- network if the primary authentication failed. Normally, this was the kind of talk that made my blood/hum… pure, cold logic.

“The trick isn’t the lock, Raphael,” Vivianne said, swirling her wine. “It’s the guy who thinks he’s the only one with the key. You make him feel too safe, and he’ll leave it under the mat for you.”

“Yeah,” I muttered, leaning in, “Safety is a lie. I learned that the hard way after what you pulled with Alessandro. That dude is a ghost. The fact that you tracked him down and got into his head is fucking impressive.”

Vivianne let out a soft, dry laugh. She looked down at her wine, a small, private smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, “He is a ghost, alright,” she mumbled under her breath.

I tried to keep my eyes on her, but my gaze kept sliding to the right, down the long row of expensive plates and flickering candles. There she was. Gianna.

She was leaning so close to that… that tanned mannequin from Milan that I couldn’t tell where her dress ended and his suit began. I didn’t know his name, and I didn’t care to learn it. In my head, he was just The Bronze Bastard. He looked like he’d been dipped in cheap wood stain and polished with hair gel. He was sitting there with his white teeth glowing in the candlelight, looking like a professional smile-model for a dental magazine.

I watched him lean into her personal space, his shoulder pressing against hers. He said something, and Gianna let out a bright laugh that sounded like music. It hit me right in the center of my chest, and not in a good way.

“Raphael?” Viviane’s voice pulled me back, “Are you even listening, or are you too busy burning a hole in that art collector’s head?”

“I’m listening,” I snapped, my jaw tight. I took a swallow of my wine, but it tasted like vinegar, “You were saying? About the sub-networks?”

“What was that?” Vivianne asked, leaning closer.

“Nothing,” I said, forcing my eyes back to her.

I tried to focus on the conversation, tried to talk about encryption and the way I’d rebuilt the Capone servers to be a fortress. But every time Gianna laughed, it felt like a glitch in my head. I could fix a leak in a server, I could plug a hole in a firewall. But I couldn’t figure out why watching that grease-monkey touch her made me want to flip

the entire table over.

“It’s about the human element, Raphael,” Viviane continued, “You can have the best tech in the world, but if you let your emotions drive the car, you’re going to crash.”