Forbidden Affair with My Mafia Stepbrother R18

"You didn’t see the way she reacted, Raphael. The way she looked at me, and all the things she said to me. She told me that I ruined everything that she had built with Bennett. She thinks that I betrayed her, and I think that she’s right..." I said softly.

His jaw visibly tightened before he lifted his hand to wipe a tear from my cheek.

"Don’t worry about anything. We’ll fix it together. We’ll go talk to her again tomorrow, both of us. We’ll explain everything, and we’ll make her understand," Raphael said calmly.

"But what about Bennett? What if he finds out? What if he..." I asked before trailing off.

I didn’t even want to think about the scenario where Bennett might hurt my mother. It was true that he was very in love with her, but could their love endure it all? If Bennett had to choose between his family fortune and the love that he has for my mother, which would he actually choose?

"Bennett will find out eventually. I will talk to my father and deal with him," Raphael replied simply.

The way that his eyes darkened told me that it wasn’t going to be an easy matter dealing with Bennett, even for Raphael. He had always had difficulty talking to his father and getting him to accept the choices that we have made.

"You mean... you’ll tell him?" I asked, just to make sure that I understood.

"Yes, I’ll tell him the truth about everything. He’s not going to like it, but he has to know," Raphael replied.

"But..." I mumbled before I realized that I didn’t quite know what to say.

I felt so conflicted. I thought that I couldn’t wait for Raphael to confront his father about the truth of our relationship and to break off his engagement with Rosabella, but now that it was happening, I felt so scared of what might happen. Bennett always acted all lovey-dovey when he was with my mother, but that didn’t mean that was his true nature. I quickly realized that I barely knew Bennett at all and that I had absolutely no idea about the lengths he would go to achieve his goals.

"Are you sure about this? He loves my mother so much. What if he thinks that what we’ve done will ruin everything between them?" I asked as countless worries surfaced in my mind.

"Things will get complicated. I won’t lie to you and say that it will be easy, but I’m not letting you go now. We have to face them, and this time, I will be with you, and we will get through this together," Raphael said with clear determination.

"Rosabella told me that you will never leave her. She still believes that you will marry her for sure in the end. When I told my mother that you loved me, she laughed in my face. I must have looked like a fool. My mother... she didn’t believe me at all," I said sadly.

"I’m yours. I don’t belong to anybody else. I also don’t care what other people say. We just have to believe in each other and our love. Everyone else will see the truth soon enough," Raphael said before he took my hand and kissed it tenderly.

"Raphael..." I whispered his name.

I was at a loss for words. My eyes drifted closed as he leaned in to place a comforting kiss on my forehead and urged me to get some sleep because I needed the rest. So many wild thoughts swirled endlessly in my mind that I was certain that sleep would be impossible for me, but I decided to let Raphael put me to bed as if I were a young girl. As I closed my eyes and lay there on the bed, I honestly wished that I could go back to my younger days when things were a lot less complicated. The thought of losing my mother gripped me so tightly that I was on the verge of having a panic attack.

"I need to sleep," I whispered to myself in the dark.

...

The familiar sound of my ringtone was what yanked me from my shallow and restless sleep. My temples throbbed, and for a moment I was very tempted to simply ignore the call. However, the ringing just wouldn’t stop. I fumbled for my phone on the nightstand before placing it against my ear.

"Hello..." I mumbled.

"Good morning, sweetie!"

The moment I heard the voice on the line, my entire body felt like ice.

Rosabella.

I bolted upright in bed as I tried to ignore the intensifying ache in my head.

"What do you want? Haven’t you had enough fun already?" My words came out sharp.

"Come on now, Abigail. Why do you sound so upset? Don’t overreact-it can get annoying. I called simply because I thought that you might want to thank me," she said brightly.

"Thank you? For what? For breaking our deal? For stabbing me in the back by telling my mother everything? How dare you!" I practically yelled into the phone.

"Not everything..." she said, and I could hear the teasing amusement in her tone.

"What do you mean?" I muttered.

"Did you think that I already told her about Bennett and Raphael? You know, about what and who they really are?" she said before she laughed.

"You..." I muttered darkly as I felt hatred boiling inside of me.

"I only told her the juicy part. I thought she would want to know what kind of slut her daughter really is-crawling into bed with a guy who is already engaged and who is also her stepbrother, of all people. That was enough to make her cry from embarrassment, wasn’t it?" Rosabella continued, taunting me.

"Stop with all this bullshit. Raphael and I have decided to tell my mother and Bennett the truth about everything. Sadly for you, this means that you can no longer use anything against me anymore," I spat.