Existence

31.

M A T T E O ' S    P O V

   We sat in a circle, my family in chairs while Mario sat bloodied on the concrete floor. "I'm only asking one more time. You can't ignore us for forever." I said, crossing my arms.

   He kept his gaze on his hands. "So please. What exactly did you want from her?" I asked the question i've repeated so many times tonight. He didn't make any move to speak, even look at any of us.

   He played with the silver ring wrapped around his finger, the same ring we all have. "Fucking talk!" Luca seethed from beside me. Mario lifted his head, allowing us to see the tears, threatening to spill.

   "I never meant to hurt anyone, Matteo. It was only my intention to hurt myself, a-and it happened, it has trust me. I never knew what I was really getting myself into until it happened. And when I tell you that I really fucking regret my doings, I mean it." He said slowly, as if he spoke to fast, none of us would understand a word he's saying.

   "I want the whole story." Uncle Bruno said, staring down at his brother. Mario nodded, "I-" "And I don't want any short cuts. I want the full, truthful, real story." He interrupted, leaning back in his chair.

   Mario nodded again, still playing with the ring. "I've always been a troubled person, we all know and understand that. My childhood was fucked up. Only a few of you know this, but I was adopted as a child. Your grandma and grandpa felt bad for me, having no parents at a young age, they adopted me. Said something along the line's of 'they will help me.' A year after I was happily welcomed into your family, I turned to drugs. It was my only escape. When I was doing and taking all of these drugs, I felt alive. I guess I ran out of money. Maxim said 'just steal your parents money, they're rich, they won't even notice." He paused , looking around the dark room.

   We all looked amazed. I mean we all knew he was different from us, he didn't look like any of us, but we still considered him family.

   "But I never did." I saw Uncle Bruno let out a breath of relief. "I would have felt horrible for that, so I never did. They had already helped me so much, I didn't want to just betray them live i've done to all of you. After a while, I ran out of money. I had no way of paying them back. Maxim made me a deal. I could repay him by giving them Kinsley, or I myself die." He closed his eyes like he was reliving the time.

   "A day after he told me that, Kinsley disappeared. Of course I wasn't planning on giving them to her. We were already so involved in her life that I would have never forgave myself. So I distanced myself from everything. I hired someone to completely take me off of the maps. It's like I was never alive. Then she was found, she was brought back to you." He paused again, pointing up to my father.

   "I just felt relieved that she was back. But I also was angry. I was angry that she wasn't found sooner, that she didn't even try looking for us. While she was gone, I completely lost myself. I was to far gone for saving. I got a call from your father-" He paused again, pointing at me. "Telling us that he thought it was a good time for us all the meet again, to finally see the missing mafia princess."

   "I contacted Maxim, told him to send me the address in which I could drop her off. He sent it to me without a question. When we met up here, I was pissed at myself for going through with this whole thing. But I knew at the point I didn't really have a choi-" "You didn't have a choice? You had two options and you picked the one that you knew wasn't the right choice." Roman interrupted, smoke was practically fuming out of his ears.

   "It was either I take her, or Maxim and his men come here. I thought I was thinking the most logically. And that's basically the story. And now she may be dying because of me." He shook on the ground, bringing his knees to his chest.

   "She isn't dying. She's a hell of a lot stronger than what you think she is." Andrea said from his seat.

   I checked my watch, seeing the time just being nine. "I've got to go. You guys, figure out what you want to do with him." I said, getting up from the chair and slowly making my way to my room.

   I was still in extreme pain. The doctor's tried to make me stay and extra few days, but me being me told them i'd be fine and that I didn't want to sit in that uncomfortable fucking bed staring at the blank wall for another minute.

   I hopped in the shower, carefully removing the bandages from around my wounds. I took the world's fastest shower then hopped out. Pulling on a grey hoodie and some black sweats. Honestly fuck being professional.

   I walked out of the house, getting in the back of the car that was waiting out front. "Hospital please."

K I N S L E Y ' S   P O V

This has to be what death feels like.

   I cannot fucking move my body. The pain is simply to much. I can open my eyes but only for a second. Who came up with the idea to have bright ass lights in a room where someone was basically dying?

   Aside from the pain, my brain wasn't even fully comprehending with me. I just felt numbness, like my brain was blank.

   I heard the door creaking open and decided to close my eyes, pretending to be asleep. Someone was sat in the chair beside me. They took my hand in theirs softly.

   "Hey Kins." The voice I recognized was Matteo's. It took just about every fiber in my body to not open my eyes and drown him in a hug, but I can't move so I decided against it.

   "I'm not sure you can hear me-" oh i can brother. "But uhh. I don't really know. I'm just ready for you to be awake and to be back home with us." He paused.

   "I miss you, so so much. I'd rather be in your position right now, even though I literally was in the room beside yours." He chuckled lightly. He was hurt too? "I'm so sorry we didn't find you any sooner. I feel horrible." I felt a wetness on my hand.

   "Uncle Mario told us his story, he told us what he had to do with you. I guess he isn't really our uncle. I don't consider him anything other than being dead to us. How could he hurt you knowing how much you meant to us?" He whispered.

   "Gosh, I just want you to wake up-" He paused  I slowly opened my eyes, seeing my brother sat with his eyes closed. "I just miss you so so so much. But i'll wait for you to get better. I'd wait a million years if I had to."

   I gently squeezed his hand, as best and I possibly could. His eyes snapped open, meeting directly with mine. His eyes widened as he stood up. "No fucking way." He smiled a wide grin. I closed my eyes for a few seconds then opened them again.

   "I've missed you, Kins." He slowly walked towards me, wrapping his arms around me. "I-" I paused, my voice coming out as a rasp. "I missed you too." I whispered slowly.

   "Holy shit. Let me get the doctor." He walked out of the room, leaving me all by myself once again.

Have I really impacted them that much?

________________________________

Cool quote I found earlier today-

"If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit."

How motivational.

<3 K