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The bitter truth

LYNETTE

It was so shocking to see the person who approached me to talk about the drowning incident with Isabella, which made my feet freeze on the spot as intense heat coursed through my body.

I tried not to thing so much about it as my body was already trembling but on the other side, I don't even know what else I should do!

Never in my life, would I have expected to meet Leone like this. As my stepbrother.

'How could I ever imagine that such a thing would ever happen?'

"Is it truly you?"I heard him ask me in my state of confusion, and my eyes remained fixated on him so intently with words stuck in my throat. I had no idea of what to do at that moment, or how to decipher the emotions that I was feeling inside of me.

The ethereal beauty standing before me that seemed different from the same guy that I had known before, made me lose my sense for a few seconds while trying not to gasp in bewilderment. His well-defined brows, chiseled jawline, masculine and hot body all screamed perfection, as my eyes ravished all of him even more.

"What… what is.. how?"I muttered some gibberish in an attempt to speak, and stuttered in shock even if I tried not to act so weirdly.

'How could this guy be my stepbrother? How? Why?'

I cannot believe this is you, Lynn. How have you been? It.. it's been ages,Leone sounded somewhat perplexed, probably the same way that I was, but he seemed to overcome that very quickly.

A grin stretched on his lips as he spoke to me, and he began to move closer to where I was standing which made me retreat.

His presence became so overbearing all of a sudden, and it felt like the air conditioner in the room was not working anymore. Heat from nowhere broke through every part of my body, and my breath hitched for a moment because he had come too close.

'It couldn't be.'

"Is Mr. Russo really your dad?"Was the only question that my throat that suddenly found its words could ask him at that moment, instead of answering his question or trying to reminisce on the past. The answer to that question mattered the most.

"Of course, he is. Any problem with that?"he inquired curiously, as his face suddenly came even closer to my face like they were going to dig through me. Those alluring eyes.

'How did I and Leone change from high school mates to this? And how did he become hotter than he had been in years?'

"Lynn? Lynn? Are you okay,"I heard the voice that called my name several times jolting me out of my thoughts, and I turned to look at the person whom I had run into in the unsettling moment of my life.

"It is just so crazy running into you here. I mean, who would have thought this would ever happen? What is the percentage of such chances?"I rushed my words to me and let out a fake chuckle with tension in me, as I retreated by so many steps in nervousness.

I turned to walk to the dresser at the other side of the room, to calm the surfeit amount of thoughts that began invading my mind. I was trying so hard to digest the entire situation in my head and mind, but it wasn't easy because my nerves were on high alert.

I wanted to jump on him and tell him how much I had missed him, but I wanted to be angry too because of how we had to end our past. It made me frown instantly as soon as I remembered that.

"Are you mad at me, Lynette? It is in my head that you do not look happy to see me,"I heard Leone's voice behind me from where I was standing, and I suddenly turned to him with a glint of resentment flashing through my eyes.

"How could I not be, Leone? You left all by yourself after dropping a very crazy letter. How else should I react after seeing you now that years have passed? Jump on you and cry that I……….."

Leone's large hands suddenly grabbed me from where I was standing closer to himself, and pressed my body against his as he wrapped his hand around me.

I definitely could not fight the calmness that settled in me the moment he did that, and just let myself sink into his embrace while the whiff of his cologne invaded my senses.

"I am sorry for doing that to you, Leone. I didn't mean to drop a letter so abruptly in such a harsh manner, when I knew that I was leaving the country the next day. It was so hard to leave in that manner after I realized my feelings, but I had to just tell you about it so that I would not end up regretting it,"His voice uttered such soothing and convincing words like he was reciting them from somewhere, and they sounded so sincere even if I didn't want to hear of it.

It felt like I was hurting all over again the same way I had done that day, and I was trying hard not to remember how the entire day had ended tragically for me. My heart was aching like needles were prickling mercilessly on it, and my eyes were stinging already in readiness to release tears.

'Why now of all time?' I wondered in pain.

"I am sorry, Lynette. I really am,"Leone apologized over and over again as uncontrollably tears streamed down my cheeks, and mortification swept me off my feet so badly in the realization that I was letting my emotions control me.

'How could our departure and meeting be so shitty in tears?'

"It doesn't matter anymore, Leone. Everything has changed now,"I stated the bitter and obvious truth, because that was how the situation had come to be in our lives at that present moment.

"I still love and care so much for you, Lynette as I have done in the past and still do now. My feelings have never failed, faltered, or swayed, and it has been so tough because you have always been on my mind. I still love you very much, Lynette Miller,"my heart skipped a few beats when I heard him say it to my face, and not with the imagination of what I had read in the letter.

'I was hearing right to my face that Leone Russo was in love with me.'

Regardless of how mind-blowing the confession sounded and how conflicted it would make my emotions become, I knew that we couldn't do that even if we wanted to.

"You have to get me out of your mind even if your words are true, Leone. Our parents are getting married in the next two days, and we are officially becoming siblings. It is useless now,"I reminded Leone just in case he had forgotten that my Mum and his Dad were now together.

My lips trembled as I spoke to him straight in the face, and I buried my hands deep into the pockets of my trouser to hide my nervousness.

It had to clear things up as soon as possible because regardless of whatever had happened between us in the past, our parents' marriage had brought us back to the most unlikely situation that was really annoying to think of.

It was crazy to think that I would live with someone like Leone in the same house when I knew that he had once been a part of my life that I never got to explore. That he had been someone I had crushed on so deeply in the past.

The thought that we had spent too much time together in one room only on the first day of meeting, began to bother me at that point and made me a little bit nervous. I didn't even want any of our parents to know that we had ever met in the past, or notice any kind of unnecessary closeness between us which might breed suspicions.

"I do not agree with you," Leone blurted out the moment I had walked away from where I was standing to the door, indicating that we should be planning to leave the room.

I turned to look at him because I didn't understand why he said that with a crease in my eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

Instead of answering my question immediately, Leone began to saunter towards where I was standing by the door, which began to put tension in me because of the kind of expression he had on his face; A malicious smirk.

His face suddenly shoved its way through my shoulder so close to my ear, which ceased my breath on the spot because I was taken aback by the sudden action. With a whisper that sent cold shivers running down my spine, he articulated words that put me in an immense shock and sucked my breath out of me.

"I don't think I really care that our parents are getting married, Lynette. I have always pined for you since we painfully separated from one another, and here you are now with fate that brought you to me. My feelings for you have never changed and it is still the same till now, so I am going to make you mine, Lynette Miller,"He declared impassively to my face.

'Wait. Has Leone Russo finally lost his mind?'

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