Love's Premonition (Bruno Madrigal x Fem Reader)

20

That night at dinner, the quartet put things into motion.

Once everyone had arrived at sat down, excluding Bruno, of course, Isabela slyly grew some vines from a simple flower bracelet she wore, knocking over a bowl of soup onto Pepa as Camilo leaned over past it.

Everyone around the table gasped, and Camilo immediately realized he was in trouble.

"Mama- I swear I didn't-" he stammered as a storm cloud brewed over everyone's heads.

Pepa didn't say anything out loud, (she didn't like to shout, especially not at her kids,") but Felix stepped in for her. 

"Camilo, you're going to help your mother wash this dress right now, and if it stains you're grounded for a week," he said.

The calm voice in which he said it was bone-chilling, so Camilo didn't utter a word of protest as Felix helped guide Pepa out of the room, their oldest son trailing after.

The cloud followed them, leaving the dining room clear again.

Y/n and Diego were joking around at the other end of the table, her laughing uncharacteristically false. Bruno hated watching it.

Next up was Antonio. He waited for a minute, so nobody could think the two events were on purpose, then loudly said, "No!" as a rat headed towards Luisa across the table.

A bit of a fun fact about Julieta's middle daughter- she's deathly afraid of rats.

"Ahhhh!" she shouted, jumping up from the table. "Antonio, control your horrible creature!"

"He's not listening!" said Antonio back in faked panic. "My gift is animal communication, not animal control!"

Dolores stood up, grabbing the rat as it got close enough. "There," she said. She took it over to one of the walls, where she released it and it scurried into a hole.

Diego watched with curiosity. "You just let them go in the house? Why not outside?"

"Antonio likes them, when they listen to him," replied Dolores simply.

"I see," said Diego, letting the matter drop.

Dolores returned to her seat, but Luisa couldn't stop breathing hard and eyeing the rest of the animals that attended Antonio wherever he went.

After a minute of Luisa's traumatized expression, Julieta suggested that Luisa finish dinner in her room, and grabbed her a plate to escort her up.

"This is as good as it'll get for us," Bruno had said as they laid out the plan. "We can only hope to take out of the equation those that pose a real threat; that we can't stop without hurting them."

Dinner continued as per usual for the most part after that. Julieta returned and sat next to her husband, glancing around at the much more scarcely populated table than normal, and it seemed quiet without Camilo to make jokes.

Isabela, Antonio, and Dolores had each come equipped with a pair of headphones, ones that Dolores used to block out her gift. She had to, in order to get any sleep. Now, they shifted them out of their chosen hiding places on them into their hands underneath the table. 

There were still other people at the table: Abuela, Julieta, Agustin, Y/n, and Diego.

With only three people to sneak up on them with, they had to prioritize.

Once dinner was done, everyone got up from their seats, heading to the kitchen in the usual blob. Each of the three positioned themselves behind their targets, then with exchanged glances and a nod from Dolores, they put the headphones over the ears of the people in front of them.

Abuela, Agustin, and Julieta immediately spun around in surprise, but Dolores motioned to keep them on, and with no comprehension of what was going on, they were too stunned to do otherwise. Antonio ushered them into another room, using his animal friends to help him. Casita aided him, then closed the doors tight and moved the table for a more open space for Isabela to work with.

Diego and Y/n were on their guard at this point, facing off with Isabela and Dolores.

As Diego met Dolores' eyes, he smiled slightly. "It seems I made a mistake in forgetting about you," he said. "You've turned out to be more formidable than I expected."

"Hey, cut the talk big guy," said Isabela. "You're not going to be manipulating our family any more."

"Oh.. won't I?" Diego's voice was infuriatingly smug. "I've already won. They're all under my control, and you can't do anything about it." Turning to Y/n briefly, he said, "I never said that, darling."

Y/n's face, which had begun to be creased with doubt and confusion, immediately smoothed out. "What are the two of you doing?" she asked Dolores and Isabela. "Diego hasn't done anything wrong."

The two cousins knew they were never going to convince Y/n until Diego was beaten, so they didn't bother trying. Instead, Isabela grew a vine, wrapping it around Y/n and pulling her to the side onto a cushion of flowers. She knew Bruno wouldn't forgive himself if anything happened to his not-quite-girlfriend.

Diego grabbed for her, but she was out of his reach too quickly. "You two are tricky, aren't you?"

"And you're all talk," replied Isabela, sending a vine to restrain him, too, but he pulled a knife from his pocket before it reached him and sliced it down. 

"Perhaps," he said. "But you two are even less. None of your family will even remember you." He lunged for Isabela with the knife, but Dolores knocked him out of the way, getting a small nick on the arm as she did.

Isabela tried to grow more vines to stop Diego, but he was stronger than he had ever let any of them know. He broke free each time, and Dolores was at his mercy unless Isabela could find a way to help her. 

In a flash, she did the only thing she could think of, tripping Diego forcefully as he stabbed downwards towards her cousin.

Diego cursed, getting to his feet. "Fine, you two want to play games? You're with Bruno, aren't you?" 

Before Isabela or Dolores could realize what he was going, he was across the room and holding his knife against Y/n's neck.

Dolores and Isabela froze, Dolores in fear and Isabela trying to feel for any plants within her reach she could use to get that knife out of Diego's hand before he could hurt her. Unfortunately, her reach didn't extend that far, and any plant she threw at him wouldn't reach him before he slit Y/n's throat.

Inside, though, both of them were shaking. They had known Diego was dangerous, but the fact that he was willing to kill to get what he wanted.. that shocked them to their cores.

"Come out, come out, Bruno.." said Diego in a singsong voice. His smile was manic now as he pressed the a little blade harder to Y/n's neck.

After a moment, when Bruno didn't appear, Diego clicked his tongue in mock disappointment. "Not here to save your beloved, Bruno? What a shame. I guess you'll just leave your nieces to do your dirty work."

But as a hand slid out from behind the painting he was standing next to, snatching away his knife, he knew he was mistaken.