My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 442

Chapter 442

No.

I hadn’t.

I had been so busy drowning in my own heartbreak that I never stopped to consider his.

A memory surfaced.

“I don’t know how to handle this.”

At the time I’d taken it as proof that he didn’t care.

Now I wasn’t sure, maybe he genuinely hadn’t known what to do. Maybe watching Jules cry had affected him too. Maybe seeing fear in her face had shaken him more than I’d realized.

My throat tightened.

Because if that was true…

Then I’d left him completely alone with it.

Across the table, Vincenzo was still talking.

“If I thought for one second I might hurt this family… Then this family didn’t need me near it,” Vincenzo looked toward the door one last time, “So he can do one of two things. He can get his shit together or he can tell me he isn’t in the right headspace to do his job.”

A muscle jumped in his jaw.

“Because I’m not about to get blindsided.”

Claire sighed, “You’re talking about him like he’s a machine.”

Vincenzo’s eyes never left the door, “I’m talking about him like he’s one of the most important assets this family has. I already watched Nikolai Costello’s empire collapse because he trusted blood over judgment. Do you know it cost them? Federal investigations. Raids. Missing shipments. Dead soldiers. Women taken into custody. Children ripped away from their parents. So forgive me if I don’t find this situation reassuring.”

Adriano shrugged, “I’ll talk to him.”

“About what?”

“About whatever crawled up his ass and died.”

“Adriano.”

“What?”

Vincenzo stared at him. For a second something strange passed between them.

“He’ll be fine,” Adriano said and sighed dramatically, “Look, the guy has probably spent the last twelve hours overthinking something stupid.”

“He doesn’t do stupid.”

“He does, Vince, he owns a snake. Give him a day.”

“A day?”

“A day.”

“That’s your professional assessment?”

Over.

And over.

And over again.

My thumb hovered above my screen as I walked through the estate.

Twenty-three unread messages.

Seven missed calls.

Three missed video calls.

All from Leone Caruso.

The screen lit up again.

Leone Calling…

1 stared at it then immediately declined it. I squeezed my eyes shut. God. What had I been thinking? I knew exactly what I had been thinking.

I was desperate, so, I’d sent a message to the one person who used to know me before all of this. Before Chicago, before the Outfit, before Raphael.

The problem was that now I regretted it deeply because Leone wasn’t stupid. One random message after years of silence wasn’t normal.

I kept walking. The front doors were already open ahead of me. Sunlight poured across the marble floor. My classes started soon. I needed to leave, I needed distance, needed fresh air, needed anything that wasn’t this house.