The Ones Who Saved Us

Chapter 16

Avalee's POV

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was Emilio sitting at my desk scrolling through his phone. I propped myself up on my elbows, bringing my brother's attention to me. He ran over to where I was lying and engulfed me in a hug.

"Thank God you're okay," he muttered. Emilio pulled away from the hug, his hand cupping my cheek. "You really scared us, Aves."

"Relax, dude. It wasn't even that bad," I chuckled.

Emilio rolled his eyes, his arms once again wrapping around my torso. Backing away from me, he said, "Sandro wanted me to bring you downstairs once you woke up, but I need to check your tattoo and make sure it's healing properly. Can you lie down for me?"

I laid down on my bed with my head on the pillows. Emilio put his hand on the hem of my shirt, silently letting me know that he would be lifting it up to examine the tattoo. I nodded my head, and Emilio exposed the tattoo to the cool air of the room. His hand gently prodded the area, checking for any pain and sign of infection.

"It's healing nicely," he said. "There's some scabbing so make sure you don't pick at it. It'll cause scarring and completely ruin the tattoo, maybe even cause an infection. Then we'll have to tell Sandro and Dad, and they'll kill us."

"And here I was thinking you cared about me. Still trying to save your own ass, I see."

Emilio ignored my comment as he pulled my shirt back down and helped me sit up. "Come on. The rest are waiting for us."

The two of us walked down the stairs towards the kitchen, Emilio's arm wrapped around my shoulders. Alessandro, Elijah, and Leo were seated next to each other at the kitchen island with Teddy and Matteo across from them. Upon seeing us, Alessandro walked towards me and wrapped his arms tightly around me, placing a kiss on the top of my head. "We missed you, tesoro."

"I didn't go anywhere," I said with a smirk. Looking up at my brother, my smirk dropped as I noticed the red cuts that littered his face and neck. My brows furrowed, my fingers tracing every cut.

Alessandro grabbed my hand and kissed it. "Aves, I promise it looks worse than it is. Don't stress yourself out over it."

I opened my mouth to say sorry but was stopped by Leo raising his hand and saying, "Don't you dare apologize, Aves. You had no control over it."

"Yeah, but—"

"No, honey," Elijah interrupted. "Leo is absolutely right. Don't stress about things that aren't in control."

Teddy looked over at me with a mischievous smile as he said, "Exactly, Ava. And anyways, Dad looks worse with that bruise you gave him."

Alessandro gave Teddy a pointed look, shaking his head in disappointment. "Go help your brothers set the table, Teddy. It's time for lunch."

Teddy groaned as Alessandro led me to the dining hall, taking me to the seat next to him. "Is Papa going to join us?" I asked.

Alessandro shook his head. "He hasn't slept much these past few days, so he's resting right now. I'm sure once he hears all the noise down here, he'll wake up and join us."

The rest of the boys soon joined us after setting the table. Alessandro took the bowl that was sitting in front me and filled it with steaming soup. "Matteo and Emilio made all the food," he said. "They wanted you to wake up to something nice."

"I helped too," Teddy said.

"More like got in the way," Matteo said with a smug grin.

Before Teddy could attack Matteo, Elijah grabbed his arm and pulled him back down to his seat. "Don't start something you can't finish," Elijah said.