STOLEN || 18+ (Monsters #3)

.47. Corner

"Tell me, who didn't try to trick love into staying?"

- Noor Unnahar
. . .

Fabiano

I wasn't an emotional man. I had control over my emotions. I always fucking did.

But when we found her there, laying on the floor, with her forehead bleeding and precious body covered in dirt. I lost it.

We were yet to interrogate her.

She went willingly. She had no marks of struggle.

Just went with him like a fucking idiot.

I eyed the door. She was on the other side. It was the morning. She needed to eat to heal quickly. She had torn her thigh and ankle, nothing keep but they were bandaged. I had bandaged them.

I walked inside.

She was sitting in the corner of the room, knees pulled to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, her head resting against her knees. Her eyes were closed.

She had removed the heart monitor.

I walked towards her. I picked her up bridal style. She stirred, opening her eyes just a little.

"Why the corner?"

"Felt safe," she whispered.

I grabbed a blanket and covered her freezing body with it. "Breakfast," I muttered.

She looked too tired to protest. She let her head rest on my chest, eyes staring away from me.

I walked out of the room and down the stairs.

Giovanni looked up, pausing mid-word.
A few of our uncles were over today. They looked at us and she tensed, hiding her face in my neck. I looked at them, daring them to say the word. The three men stayed quiet. Giovanni smirked.

I walked into the kitchen.

"I'll feed you."

"You just feel guilty."

I paused.

There was anger in me. Anger toward her, yes, but towards me, too.

She wiggled out of my arms. I threw the blanket away and looked at her. She looked like she was about to say a few things.

Giovanni entered the kitchen and closed the door behind him.

Her eyes bounced between me and him. She was dressed in a long nightgown that Rosa had changed her into.

"I am guilty," I said to her. "I am supposed to keep you safe. I failed to do that." I pushed my anger down. "And you failed to not act like a fucking idiot."

Her eyes cut to me. "You can't blame me. It was my only chance!"

"He could have done anything to you in the woods," Giovanni said. "Any fucking thing. Do you understand me?"

"I do!" She was almost screaming now. "I really do. I had to take that chance."

I watched her quietly. "I thought we were doing okay, principessa."

"W-we were...kind of and then...you left."

"You're mad we went to the ball without you?" Giovanni asked.

"I'm mad you went with them when you could have taken me." She took in a shaky breath and sat on the stool across the island. "I-I'd like you to clarify my position in our life so that I know what to expect."

"You thought we'd touch them," I said, putting my elbows on the cold surface, my muscles flexing under my shirt. That got her attention for a few good moments before she forced her eyes away. "Tell me, baby. Did you think we'd touch them?"

"Nothing is stopping you," she whispered. "I certainly can't." She looked into my eyes and then Giovanni's.

"You can," Giovanni said. "Say that you don't want to share." He stood up, walking behind her. I knew he was still angry at her, as I was, but this was bugging her and we had to assure her. "Say it." He put his hands on her shoulders.

I took her hand in mine. "Say it."

"I...I don't want to share," she whispered.

"We don't either." Giovanni dropped his lips to her ear. "Tell us everything that happened last night."

She needed a firm spanning after what she had pulled and she'd get it soon.

. . .

Ryder.

It was him. It was clear as fuck that it was Cassian Testa.

"You know him?" She asked me hesitantly. I wanted that hesitation gone but I had done a shit job of making it go away.

I pulled her on my lap, slowly pressing a kiss on her lips, giving her time to pull back. She didn't but she didn't kiss me back either.

I sighed against her lips. "He looks like one of our enemies," I told her and that was much as I was willing to tell her. I pulled back, looking into her brown eyes.

"Why d-"

"Don't worry about it," I told her. "Nothing will happen to you ever again. All you have to do is listen."

She nodded slowly although I could see the defiance in her eyes. Leyla wasn't used to being protected. From what I knew, when she was ten her biological mother passed because of cancer, and since then no one took care of her.

Jack started giving her to his friends when she turned fifteen. I could not imagine the impact that must have had on her.

It made sense why she wanted to run away when I thought about it rationally rather than letting emotions pull me.

She was scared. She had begun to trust us and she didn't want to. I had felt her body submitting to us, but her mind and heart would take a lot of convincing.

A good thing that I was a patient man.

"I want to know," she said stubbornly.

"When I know you won't try to run away, I'll tell you," I promised.

She looked down at her hands. "You want me to give up."

"Even if you run away. Where would you go?" I asked softly. I just wanted her to understand.

"I-" she shook her head. "I don't know."

"Your sisters and stepmother are with the Creeds. I know you don't want to go back to your father. Your ex-boyfriend is a liar. We are the best home you've got."

She let out a breath. "You sound pleased."

"I own you." My lips brushed on her ear. "In every way, little girl. I own you."

. . .

Someone mentioned that I don't write much A/Ns anymore.

So, how's everyone?

Remember to eat (If not I'll send Gio to kidnap you) and drink.