My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 373

Chapter 373

Luca reached into the chair beside him next. Unlike everyone else, he didn’t say much. He simply held out a long black box toward me. I took it carefully and opened it. Nestled inside dark velvet was the most beautiful dagger i had ever seen.

The handle was matte black wrapped with dark leather, elegant and deadly at the same time. Slowly, I lifted it from the box. It balanced perfectly in my hand. My thumb brushed over something carved near the base of the blade.

Gianna.

My name.

Actually engraved into the steel.

“It’s custom-made,” Luca said quietly. “Balanced specifically for your grip.”

Raphael glanced over at his brother with narrowed eyes, “When exactly were you studying her grip?”

Luca looked completely unfazed, “When she eats.”

I carefully slid the dagger back into its sheath, my fingertips lingering over my engraved name. Jules suddenly smiled softly from beside Salvatore.

“We have ours too, sweetheart,” my mom reached over and handed me a flat package wrapped carefully in cream

paper.

The wrapping alone looked too pretty to open. I peeled it back slowly. Inside was a scrapbook. My throat tightened instantly, it was not just any scrapbook. It had pictures of my life with my mom and Jules and the photos from the last few months.

Small handwritten notes written by my mom filled the empty spaces between the photographs, little memories, little moments I hadn’t even realized mattered to anyone else.

I turned another page and froze.

A photo of me sitting beside Mom and Jules during movie night, smiling softly without realizing that mom was taking the picture.

My vision blurred immediately, “Oh no,” Claire whispered dramatically, “She’s definitely crying now.”

“I am not,” I choked out instantly.

A tear literally fell onto the page.

Dante pointed at me, “Evidence says otherwise.”

Before I could recover, Salvatore cleared his throat. Salvatore reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and placed a thick set of keys on the marble table in front of me.

I frowned slightly, “…What’s this?”

“A deed,” he answered simply.

Raphael looked completely unbothered as he took another slow sip of coffee.

“I forgot.”

Claire looked personally offended, “How could you?! We talked about this yesterday!”

Raphael shrugged lazily. “I’ll make it up to her at the office.”

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.

Raphael looked directly at me then, “Maybe I’ll reduce your workload.”

The entire table groaned at once, “THAT is your idea of a birthday gift?” Maddie snapped.

Claire looked horrified, “She’s not a middle-aged accountant, Raphael!”

Raphael ignored everyone but I caught it. The tiny twitch at the corner of his mouth when he looked at me.

And somehow…

That stupid almost-smile made my stomach flip harder than everything sitting in front of me.