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Chapter 29

Valeriana's pov

Since I woke up my brothers have not left me alone. They were overbearing. I was discharged from the hospital this morning. They have been by my side for hours now. My three older brothers were downstairs preparing food. Valerico, Valentino, and Matteo were laying on my bed as they annoyed me.

"So how do you put this on?" Valerico asked, walking out of my closet. My eyebrows furrowed as he was trying to clip my bra around him.

"When did you leave the bed?" I asked. I wasn't even surprised by his weirdness. It grew on me.

"Uh ten minutes ago?" he said like it was obvious. I roll my eyes before pushing myself up off the bed. My brothers gasp while Matteo and Valentino jump up from the bed. Valerico tossed my bra into my closet. They all rushed after me as I left the room.

"You should be resting," Valentino says.

"Yeah well I'll do it elsewhere. You three are relentless. I can't even take a nap without one of you interrupting the peace and quiet called my room because you barge in like there isn't a thing called privacy," I say. Valerico gasped while shaking his head.

"You don't need privacy to sleep," Valerico says. I let out a groan.

"Stop following me!" I snapped. I get to the living room.

"Where are you going?" Santino asked.

"I'm going to my dads' away from all of you!" I grumble. Aurelio and Nazario step out of the kitchen.

"You should be taking it easy," Aurelio says. I shook my head.

"Look I get you all are concerned for me and all but I need space. I can take care of myself. In case you all forgot I was tortured my whole life this little bullet wound is nothing compared to what I have been through. I don't need you guys, I have my dad and papà," I say. Their faces all dropped causing my heart to tug at them being hurt from my words. "I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that. I just meant- I don't know what I meant. I'm just not used to having more than one person other than my dad and papà caring for me. So having you all smothering me is overwhelming when I was on my own my whole life. I just need you all to back off some. It's too much for me, alright?" I asked. They all nodded their heads. With that I walk back towards the stairs.

"I thought you were going to your dads' place?" Aurelio says. He said it almost bitterly. Like he didn't like it that I had them.

"I'm taking a nap," I say before jogging up the stairs. I spun around when I heard my brothers. "You three are not coming," I say before rushing up the rest of the stairs. Once I was in my room I laid down under my covers. The heat from my body was still trapped in the blankets causing me to smile at how cozy it felt. Sleep came almost instantly.

My heart beat loudly in my chest. My eyes frantically searched the room for mother. She disappeared from the room suddenly. No words were spoken, she was just gone. Was that all? A few lazy hits? That can't be right. Something was wrong. Searing pain hit my back as a loud crack hit my skin causing the flesh to rip apart.

"Ahh!" I scream. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes. I was hit again. Then again. Twenty more times. Tears were streaming down my face as the pain grew unbearable.

"Aw, there it is, the lovely tears I love to see you spill. I was wondering how many more whips you could take before they appeared. I have a new game for us to play tonight dear," Mother says. The whip wrapped around my neck before she was pulling me back. She let me go before locking something around my neck. It was a metal collar. There was a chain that was attached to the collar. Mother tugs on the chain harshly causing me to fly forward. I scramble to catch myself. My hands scuff across the ground as I barely caught myself.