Forbidden Affair with My Mafia Stepbrother R18-Chapter 133: Good Intentions

"Please don’t," I whispered softly. The forbidden secret between us, the one that could shatter everything if spoken out loud between my mother and me, hung between us in silence. I couldn’t bring myself to blame Raphael for using our secret against me when I was the one who plotted to betray him first.

"Then from now on you will do as I say," Raphael said. His eyes didn’t soften and he didn’t smile, and I knew that it would take a while for me to gain his trust again.

I got into the car, and we were on our way back to the mansion. My mother looked slightly nervous during the ride, but I was too busy with my own thoughts to inquire about the reason, although I had a really good guess.

"I’m sure Bennett won’t mind. I just hope that nothing happened that made him return from his business trip so early," I said to reassure my mother.

"I hope so. It would be unlike him to get mad simply because we wanted to go on a holiday together. I just hope that his business meeting went well," my mother replied as she stared out the window.

Raphael sat across from me, his gaze steady and his expression unreadable. Just as always, he seemed to be watching my every move. His threat still echoed clearly in my ears, although I couldn’t bring myself to hate him completely for it.

I knew that he was trapping me, and although I was disappointed that my plan had failed, I knew that there was a part of me that felt relieved. That part of me was probably the part that didn’t want to be apart from Raphael - the part that ached and missed him and wanted more than ever for him to hold me in his arms.

Right at that moment, I knew that no matter how hard I tried to escape, a part of me would always belong to Raphael. Perhaps that was what terrified me most of all.

...

The doors of the mansion swung open, and surely enough, Bennett was there waiting for us. He stood in the grand hall as if nothing at all had happened. His expression was calm, and he offered us a welcoming smile when he saw us enter the mansion.

It made me wonder if he knew just how close everything had come to falling apart and that we were on our way to escape from him for good.

My mother rushed forward towards him and basically flung herself into his open arms.

"Bennett!" she exclaimed. "What is going on? We were on our way to the airport for a holiday and then suddenly-" my mother said before trailing off.

"It’s just a change of plans, darling. Something came up suddenly, and I thought that it would be safer for you two to stay in the mansion instead of traveling. As they say, better safe than sorry," Bennett interrupted her gently before patting her back comfortingly.

My mother frowned and didn’t seem too satisfied with his vague answer, but she decided not to press him. She let him lead her down the hallway to the living room.

"Let’s take a seat before we talk. You’ve been under so much stress already, I don’t want you to feel worse or get sick," Bennett said.

I watched the two of them leave before I realized that I was left alone with Raphael. The silence between us pressed down on me like a dead weight.

He was standing just a few steps away, with his broad shoulders looking extremely tense. I knew that I needed to give him some kind of explanation, but I couldn’t come up with anything plausible.

"Why? Why were you trying to run away?" His question snapped at me like a whip.

My throat tensed and closed up as my hands started to shake.

"I wasn’t trying to," I mumbled, lying.

"Don’t lie to me, Abigail," Raphael said, and his voice rose coldly.

Tears ran down my eyes and before I could stop them, I had started crying right in front of him. I hated showing him weakness, especially when I had just made up my mind to get away from him and to save my mother for good.

"Because I can’t live like this! I can’t do this! I can’t just pretend that everything is fine when I know that it’s not. I can’t pretend that I don’t know who you are and what your family does," I said before my voice broke from emotion.

I thought that Raphael would get extremely angry at my sudden outburst, but his eyes only softened as if he could understand the pain that I was going through. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"I know that it isn’t easy, but we are trying our best to keep you safe," Raphael replied calmly.

"Is this what you call safe? I know you’re trying your best, but I can never feel safe living a lie every day. I can’t tell my mother the truth, and it pains me every time that I see her happy because she is living a lie and I know it," I said before my voice started cracking again.

My entire body trembled because I knew that my mother and I didn’t belong in this world. For a moment it looked like Raphael was about to say something, but then he faltered. It was as though his anger had subsided and he was willing to listen to me.

"I was just trying to protect my mother. I was trying to protect us. Do you understand? Every time I look at her, I wonder just how long it would take before the truth destroys her. I don’t want to see my mother get crushed by the reality of it all," I confessed.

Raphael’s jaw visibly tightened, and I could see his fists clench at his sides. His anger was no longer wild; it had become a cold and controlled feeling.