Pezzo Mencante

22|Damaged

♧︎Damaged people are dangerous. They know how to make hell feel like home♧︎

They all followed me downstairs and into the living room where Luca was already waiting. This is it. They might as well know now. How else am I going to explain Alexei?

Silence consumed the air which was soon followed by the rising tension as all of their eyes laid on me.

Before I could even begin to speak, Alessandro cut me off "Val who the fuck was that? and don't lie to me I know you've known him for a lot longer than you've been here" he seethed looking more angry than ever.

Excuses came rushing through my head. What lie could I come up with this time? As more and more time past in complete and utter silence, their glares and concerned looks only grew. I knew I had to speak now, for my own good. It's time they knew.

"H-he's my ex. From Serbia. He's helped me so much and I couldn't have survived it without him." I explain in a low whisper. Please, please dont hurt me for what im telling you i think to myself. Or him.

Silence and their confused looks filled the air until Gio rose to his feet and questioned "Survived what?"

"I-I um" I stutter but before I could even finish my sentence Luca moves to put his arm round my shoulder and out of habit I instantly flinched and cowered back into the armchair. Everybody's shocked and Luca's hurt expressions soon turned into question after question.

"Val? I'd never hurt you. You know that right.?"

"What the fuck was that?!"

"You keep flinching? Val we're you're brothers we'd never hurt you."

They all kept yelling questions directed at me. They just made everything worse. I tried to tell them to stop, but everytime I opened my mouth nothing came out. My throat felt dry. Swet cascaded down my back. I couldn't take it anymore.e I finally rose to feet and snapped.

"LOOK, I KNOW IM NOT NORMAL. I KNOW IM NOT WHAT YOU EXPECTED. WHAT? YOU THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO BE SOME SWEET INNOCENT LITTLE SISTER? UNFORTUNATELY LIFE IS CRUEL AND NOT EVERYONE GROWS UP WITH THE SAME PRIVILEGES AS YOU. I KNOW I FLICH, AND I COWER AND I PUSH PEOPLE AWAY BUT IT'S BECAUSE.." I yell throwing my arms in the air and I hadn't even realised the tears that were streaming down my cheeks.

"Because what?" Angelo asked in a soft voice.

"Ivan he-" I began but I was cut off when the front door was kicked open and at least 10 armed men stormed into the room each pointing their guns at a different brother's head.

"What the fuck is this?" Gio shouted but one of the men just shoved their gun deeper into the side of his head making him instantly shut up.

The elder of the man spoke up. "Which one of you is Alessandro Knight?" What the fuck do they want with Ale?

Alessandro rises to his feet. "Can I help you?" He looks angry. Beyond pissed.

"You're under arrest for abusing a child trusted in your care. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in the court of law." The police officer states as he hancuffs Ale's hands together behind his back.

Ale doesn't say anything as he looks like he's still processing this information. He's confused, my brothers are confused, hell! even i'm confused.

Yes I was abused, but not by Ale, he hasn't laid a finger on me, yet. So how the fuck have they come to this conclusion?

The deathly silence is interupted when my social worker- who I only met briefly when I first moved in- enters through the broken door and makes her way over to me.

"Hi honey." She says and I instantly cower back into the sofa. "You don't need to be afraid anymore, we're taking you out of here." she explains.

What the actual fuck is going on?

"You think I've hurt her?! I wouldn't even think about laying a finger on any of my brothers let alone my baby sister!" Ale yells looking hurt anyone would ever accuse him of that. Like theres something deeper?

Lorenzo rises to his feet and faces the social worker "Lady what the fuck is your problem, Valenica is completely fine."

"We have reason to believe she has a number of bruises and scars since she was taken into Mr Knight's care sir, so I would appreciate it if you lowered your voice. You are not helping anyone's case."

My heart drops. How do they know about the bruises? I always try my best to hide them; they're never on show.

"I don't see any bruises!!" Giovanni yells now struggling in the grip of the man who had a gun pointed at his head.

She turns towards me before she says "Honey, we're going to have to check to see if the alligations against your brother is true."

No. No. No. No. I begin frantically shaking my head as I bring my knees up to my chin. They're going to see my bruises. Everyone. My brothers will hate and be disgusted by me and worst of all, it will send Ale to prison. For that, I know the rest of them will hurt me more than i've ever been hurt before.

The officer who had hancuffed Ale made his way towards me. No. I won't let this happen. I instantly stood up and attempted to run straight for the now non-existant front door but he picked me up by my waist and threw me back down onto the sofa. I could hear the shouts of my brothers telling them to let go of me, but it was no use, they were completely outnumbered.

"Pin her down." The officer I assume to be in charge commanded and straight away I was held down onto the sofa, everyones eyes on me.

I began kicking and screaming but it was no use. I was far too weak to escape from the muscular man's build so eventually I just lay there. Lifeless.

He pulled the bottom of my hoodie up to just below my chest revealing my hideous, purple bruised ribs.

Shocked gasps filled the air. Tears yet again began to stream down my face as I felt completely ashamed of myself. I'm sure my brother's are too.

I build up the courage to meet eye contact with Alessandro who's eyes I could already feel were stuck on me. He started at me, I stared back. I couldn't tell what he was feel in this moment. Hatred? Disgust? That's all I could think about until for the first time in forever I saw a single tear drop fall down his cheek.

Before he even had the chance to say anything, he was lead out of the house and shoved into the back of a police car.

My brothers were speechless. They had no idea what to say or what to do, but they didn't have to do anything because as soon as Ale was out of sight two big men practically dragged me out of the house and into the back of another police car.

In the distant I could make out my brothers screaming out for me, but I didn't have the courage to look back. Their oldest brother, their father figure had been arrested, because of me.

Now I had no idea where I was going or if I would ever see my brothers again.