EMILIO
I come back downstairs from my office and immediately walk into the living room to check on Maddie, but the seat where she was is empty. I walk into Alessandro's office quickly where Francesco is sitting in the seat by the door.
"Where's Maddie?" I say instantly.
"She went up to her room a few hours ago."
I look over at Francesco, his jaw is tight as he stares at his phone, but he doesn't seem as focused on the word sitting on his screen, he's been sitting on the same screen since I walked in. He's taken more after our father and Alessandro than is healthy. Father and Sandro had their own unique ways of showing their affection, I don't think I've ever seen Francesco show an ounce of human emotion.
"Did she eat?" I ask, "You saw her, she's concerningly small."
"We'll just give her extra in the morning. She clearly needs the rest, she's jumpy and I don't blame her considering what she just went through."
"Yeah, she's been that way all evening. I'm gonna head over to the warehouse. I got a call from Angelo, Giuseppe's been wounded, I'll be at the med bay for a few hours."
"See if you can find any footage of Elena and Daniel's place in Seattle from the past 48 hours."
Francesco finally pipes in, "How would there be footage, we didn't even know where they lived."
"There's always a way. Go, Emilio."
I'm scared to leave knowing Maddie will be here with these two and the twins and I won't be back until the morning time, seeing as though it's already 3:00am. With Carlo, I'm not as worried, but Xander, Francesco, and Alessandro are bound to scare her.
MADDIE
I startle awake up the next morning and blink a few times, I'm half aware of someone knocking on my door, it takes me a moment to take in my surrounding and remember that I'm no long with mom and Daniel.
"I'm not scared to break the door down, get up."
I'm with my brothers. I stand up, becoming increasingly aware of the pain in my ribs and arm. I use the wall beside me as a steadying feature and move away from the door, opening it, I look up at my brother who came in yesterday, who I overheard Alessandro calling Francesco. He's wearing a black shirt and I'm aware of the tattoos covering his arms. He looks even scarier than he did yesterday. I take a cautionary step back, "Sorry, I was asleep."
"Breakfast is downstairs."
"I'm really not hungry-"
"I'm sorry, 'breakfast is downstairs' doesn't sound like a question. Go downstairs and eat."
My heart drops as he walks away. I slide on my fuzzy slippers, hoping they don't look to childish, and walk downstairs.
Alessandro and Emilio aren't there, but there are two others I haven't met. They look oddly similar and not far in age from me, so I assume these are the twins I saw on the file yesterday. Xander and Carlo. The blonde twin walks out to the living room with a plate in hand, he seems to be having a really enthusiastic conversation over the phone. I don't even know him that well, but I would prefer him over the scary dark haired twin he just left behind.
I wriggle under his scrutinizing gaze.
"Why is she so fucking skinny? Doesn't she eat?"
I hate the way he's talking about me like I'm not standing right here. Francesco's eyes land on me too, and my arms subconsciously wrap around myself. I know I'm small, it's not the first time I've heard that.
Suddenly, Francesco enters the kitchen, I never even realized he left, but Alessandro is by his side this time, "Maddie, come with me please."
I hesitate. Did I fuck everything up last night? Is he about to kick me out? I have nowhere to go. I guess I could go stay with Jessica or Chase, but how would I get back to Seattle, would-
"Maddie."
His stern voice pulls me out of my thoughts, "Sorry. Coming," I say, following behind him into an office. He never looks back to see if I'm following, "Shut the door, please," He says once we're both in the large office. I follow his order and stand awkwardly in front of the desk, "You can sit," He says, shuffling a few papers aside.
"No thank you," I say softly. He glances up at me standing by the door, but thankfully doesn't push it. He keeps busy for a moment, looking at his laptop, typing on his phone, scanning papers, and I wonder why he called me here. I did my thumb into the side of my index finger to keep calm, finally he speaks, "I just need to ask you a few things and lay some ground rules, and then you're free to go eat breakfast."
I assume they aren't going to let go of the breakfast thing.
"I understand."
He looks at me curiously for a moment before looking back at the paper on his desk.
"How was your time living with Elena and your step-father."
I momentarily freeze, does he know? I take the chance and lie, "It was good." He nods, jotting a few things down.
"First ground rule, Maddie. Lying won't be tolerated. I would appreciate if you answer truthfully.
Despite my shaking voice, I persist with the lie, "It was good, really."
He looks like he's ready to go into interrogation mode, but he doesn't, "Very well."
I wait there silently as he continues looking through his pile of papers. Finally, the desk is clear and he sits down, giving me his full intimidating focus. "In this household, you have 3 rules we expect you to follow. Whether the number of rules increase or decrease is up to you but we expect you to keep these rules without a problem. Rule 1 is simple, no lying. This isn't only for us, this is for your own safety. Rule 2, you are not allowed to leave the house without explicit permission from one of your brothers. Rule 3, you are to without question follow any and every order your brothers give you. If you have a problem with an order your brothers give you, you can bring it to me or Elijah as I won't be available often. Am I clear?"
"Yes." I don't mention that I don't know who the hell Elijah is.
His phone rings. He glances at the screen and dismisses me as he answers it.
I walk out and stop outside the office door. I could go into the kitchen, but I can't face my entire newfound family, not right now. I feel sick and my ribs hurt and my head is pounding. I won't be able to handle it.
I turn toward the stairs and bump into Francesco.
Perfect.
"Where do you think you're going?"
I panic and try to back away from him quickly, knowing I'm in for it now. He reaches over and grabs my arm.
My heart speeds up and my breathing goes shallow. My vision starts to blink in and out.
His voice starts to sound distant and suddenly I'm not sure what's going on, stars flood my vision and I reach a hand out for the wall but don't find it. Francesco reaches out to catch me as I'm about to fall, but I flinch away from his hand. Everything around me begins to float and multiply.
"What the fuck?!"
The cranky twin.
"What did you do?!"
Emilio.
"What's going on out here?"
Alessandro.
Then finally, everything goes black.