Forbidden Affair with My Mafia Stepbrother R18-Chapter 147: Unreal

"You don’t have to worry about anything. Don’t worry about the Mafia world. We live in our world together. You don’t have to carry any of the weight alone; we will carry it together. We will make your mother understand our love," Raphael said convincingly.

I thought about the danger and the uncertainty that lay in the future, but then I thought about how empty my life would feel without him by my side. Even though I wanted to pull away from him, I knew that I couldn’t do it. I would always come running back to him even if I were to leave. I realized the truth with such intensity that I was deeply in love with him.

There was no going back. To look in his eyes, eyes filled with love and devotion, was a moment that I would never forget for the rest of my life. Raphael slowly took out a ring before he took my hand and firmly slid it down to the base of my ring finger. Surprisingly, it felt like the most perfect fit. I could feel my hand trembling as he held it, and I could not hide my excitement.

"I guess it’s a good thing that I had a ring prepared in advance," Raphael said before he kissed the ring on my hand.

The diamond sparkled brightly as if it wanted to engulf all of my attention. The engagement ring that Raphael gave me was so beautiful beyond what I could have ever hoped for. However, it wasn’t the ring that I was interested in, because I found myself staring into the eyes of the man that I loved. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"I can’t believe that you had a ring prepared," I whispered softly.

"I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Trust me, I’m not doing this based on a whim," Raphael said before he kissed the back of my hand again.

With the ring as concrete evidence, I couldn’t find any reason to doubt that what he had said was true. It was so hard for me to believe that Raphael had considered marrying me. His proposal was definitely sudden, but I chose to believe that his intentions were good and well thought through.

My train of thought was cut short when his lips were on mine. He kissed me hard and desperately at first before our kiss slowly softened and deepened. It seemed that Raphael wanted to pour all of his love into me as his hot tongue entered my mouth. We kissed each other passionately as if he wanted to use that kiss to seal our vow. He wrapped his arms around me, and I melted into his embrace, wrapping my arms around his neck to pull him even closer. For the first time, I trusted him completely, and all I could think about was the beautiful future that we would share. When our lips finally parted, I was slightly breathless. Raphael rested his forehead against mine, and I admired his beautiful smile.

"We’ll definitely make this work. I don’t care what it takes, I’m willing to do whatever it takes. I won’t let anyone take you away from me," Raphael whispered his promise to me passionately.

I simply didn’t know what to say, so I just closed my eyes and nodded my head in agreement. For the first time in what seemed like a very long time, I could see the sparkle of hope on the horizon.

...

The next day, I couldn’t stop smiling to myself whenever I thought of the moment that Raphael asked me to marry him. It still felt so unreal, and the fact that I couldn’t openly wear the engagement ring that he had given me sometimes made me believe that it may have all just been in my head. However, I did keep the ring in my jacket pocket and reached in to feel it with my fingers to give myself comfort. The ring was there. Everything that happened the night before was real.

As I felt the ring and turned it around between my fingertips, another smile came to my lips. We didn’t have much time together after he proposed to me the night before because Raphael thought that it would be best if we headed back to reunite with our parents before going home together. By that time, I was still floating on cloud nine to actually disagree with him on anything.

"Where did you suddenly disappear with Raphael last night? We looked all around for you," my mother asked from behind me.

"Oh..." I mumbled as I turned around to face her.

My mother stood there with her hands on her hips and a stern look on her face. When we returned to the gala, we spent so much time greeting Bennett’s business partners that we thankfully didn’t have time to explain to our parents where we had run off to.

"Well? Care to explain where you two sneaked off to?" she asked suspiciously.

My heart leapt in my chest when it occurred to me that perhaps my mother was suspicious about my relationship with Raphael. I quickly killed that idea while at the same time reminding myself that I had to play it cool and never give anything away.

"I was feeling a little dizzy because there were too many people. So, Raphael took me to a hotel nearby to get some fresh air and to rest a little," I replied half honestly.

"That’s nice of him, but don’t you think that you’re taking too much advantage of your stepbrother? He’s nice,

I get it, but taking you to a hotel for you to rest is really outdoing it," my mother said before laughing.

It was clear that she was pleased at how well Raphael seemed to be taking care of me as my stepbrother. A shiver ran down my spine when I thought of how my mother would react if only she knew the truth.

"You’re right. He’s definitely too nice for his own good," I replied before showing her a sheepish smile.