Verity

Waiting Room

FRANCESCO'S POV (bio dad)
~_______~_______~

I sat in the waiting room with my family. Most of them left to get some rest but me and my sons stayed here, and Matteo was nowhere to be found.

I was terrified for my daughter. I knew something was wrong with her, she flinched when we came near and often had to stop and take a breather even if she was walking from just the kitchen to dining room. I never said anything, I thought it was 'girl stuff' or some shit, or that she just needed time to get used to us.

But I was so wrong.

Suddenly, the doors slammed open. Me and my sons looked up to see a man, about 45 years old, running in and looking around frantically. Behind him was three other people -around the same age. I knew exactly who they were.

Mikael Volkov, the leader of the Russian mafia.  His son, Maxim Volkov, and their 2 best assassins- Alexei and Andrei Ivanov.

"WHERE THE FUCK IS MY DAUGHTER?!" Mikael bellowed, looking around frantically before his eyes set on me.

He came up to me, grabbed me by the collar and yanked me out my seat. I tried my best to stay calm, even if I wanted to beat the living shit out of this fucker who dares to get in my face.

"What the fuck did you do to my daughter, eh?!" He yelled, his Russian accent coming out.

Just then; a nurse came in. "Uhm.. Mr. Moretti? May I have a word with you?"

"I'm coming too." Mikael muttered. He let go of me and I grunted as we walked to the nurse, and went to a more private area since there was several eyes on us.

"Mr. Moretti, and Mr. Uh.."

"Volkov."

"Volkov, right.. well, Verity is in quite the critical condition. She's been like this for quite some time, it seems. How you have not noticed it makes me question how strong this girl truly is to hide it so well, or maybe you two are stupid," she muttered the last part under her breath and I glared daggers at her, daring her to insult me more.

She cleared her throat before continuing. "She has bruising all over her body. There is not one body part where she does not have bruises or scars. A few of her ribs are cracked and broken, and her left lung collapsed- which caused her fainting. She has an open wound on her back, which will need to be treated thoroughly and carefully because it is near infection. She also has bruising along her neck, indicating signs of choking. Along her arms.. scars, that seem self-induced, so self-harm. Some seem very, very old, but others are recent. Like, this week kind of recent. Her right shoulder is fractured and her left was dislocated slightly, but not to worry, we fixed it up best we could. She'll have to stay for a few days here as she heals."

I gaped at the nurse in surprise. What the fuck? So all this time, my daughter has had

- Broken ribs
- A collapsed lung
- A dislocated shoulder
- A fractured shoulder
- Bruises ALL over her
- Self harm scars...

And I never noticed. What kind of father am I?

I glanced slightly at Mikael, who had pain in his eyes. I could tell he cared for her but she was still my fucking daughter. Not his.