The life of a Mafia princess

• t w e n t y f i v e •

Third PoV

"Leandro got us out of class because she had a panic attack. He said that he doesn't know what triggered it but I don't believe him. He was just lying to save himself." Ivano explains the prior events of the day.

"Elena?" Santino asks her, trying to catch her eyes from where he is. His sister refuses to let this happen though. Her eyes are set on the floor, watching the way Ivano's foot keeps on slightly tapping against it.

The oldest looks at Cedro who is already helplessly looking at him and sighs. He walks towards her and crouches down in front of her. He puts one of his hands on her knee to catch her attention.

For a while, everything is silent while Eleonora keeps on avoiding her brothers eyes. Eventually though, she slightly raises her head and their eyes meet.

Santino's eyes hold no emotions while he is looking into hers, waiting for a reaction. The longer he looks at her, the more emotions he can see pass through her eyes. From sorrow to embarrassment and grief, everything is visible for him.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" Santino asks her, a small comforting smile with a sad undertone is visible on his face. Her eyes fill up with tears and her lips start to tremble.

Mere seconds later the first tears are silently rolling down her cheeks and Elena wants nothing more than to be alone in her room, covered underneath all of her blankets and shut away from the world. She doesn't want anyone to see her like this anymore. She's getting tired of constantly being like this and seemingly not being able to do anything about it. It's almost like she is stuck in an endless circle of her brothers worrying about her due to her crying, a panic attack or something else.

Ivano tightens his arms around her when he notices the slight shiver run through her body and glares at his oldest brother for upsetting their sister.

"It's okay, cara. Just let it all out. You're safe here." Santino soothingly tells her. Elena's lips tremble harder and the first sob leaves her body once again. She wants to get away from Ivano and scream at Santino for making false promises but she can't. She's stuck again. Stuck in a room with brothers that hate her, pity her or lie to her.

Because she is not safe. The murderers are still out there looking for her and could find her any second. As long as they are alive, she will never be safe.

More sobs rack through her body and she screws her eyes shut to stop the tear flow. "It's okay, piccolina." Ivano leans down to whisper into her ear.

She shakes her head and Cedro moves to sit down next to her. The twins are just looking at her with a pitiful expression. One one side, they want to go to her too and help her but on the other they also know that to many people, even when they are all siblings around her might lead to the opposite result of what they want to achieve.

"Everything is okay, cara. We're all here to help you. Take your time." Cedro gently says. Santino looks at him and gestures towards Ivano who by now, practically pulled her onto his lap and comfortingly rubs her back and the side of her arm. At first it doesn't seem to work, but after minutes of tensed silence, she begins to slightly calm down and leans into her brothers touch.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" Cedro says when her sobs almost stopped and only a few quiet tears run down her cheeks anymore. Santino gets up from his crouched position and sits down at his desk.