Blunt. (UNDER EDITING)

CHAPTER 33

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Diane froze in her tracks, Her lips felt like they had been sewn together and her heart rate sped up, tears filled her eyes at the sight that was before her.

"Before you say anything, it's not what it looks like," Leonardo tried to assure her as the blade fell from his hand.

"How long?" She managed to let out. "How long has this been going on baby?" Her voice was heavy with emotion and Leonardo's eyes glasses over.

"I'm not crazy or anything like that okay?" He pointer out, she nodded and took a step towards him, Leonardo did not try to flinch it move back, he glanced at the blood drilling from his wrists and then back to her.

"Aren't you going to say anything? Yell? Be furious? Blame me for having everything in the world but still doing this?" His voice cracked and her heart ached.

"Baby..." Her hands reached out and grades his cheeks "You know we love you right? Right?" She asked as a tear fell down her eyes "You know you can tell us anything right?"

"No, I don't," Leo confessed as he ran his shaky hands through his hair and began to pace to and fro in the room. "I can't tell you anything... Without you freaking out!" His voice went a pitch higher at the end.

"Without you trying to fix everything and treating me like I'm going to break Diane! All of you — You make me feel incompetent like I'm useless or something and... and it just happened..." His voice became lower and wreaked with fear.

"What happened Leonardo?" Leonardo perked up at his full name, He was grateful that she wasn't trying to baby him anymore or using that extra sweet tone that made him cringe. He loved his siblings to the moon and back but sometimes they choked him so much that it felt like he didn't have a voice,

Leonardo sat down on his bed, His knees bounced quietly and Diane took a seat beside him but he did not acknowledge her. His eyes glazed over and trembled slightly.

"I just wanted to feel independent, to feel something... anything..." He locked eyes with her "But I messed up." His voice cracked and Diane felt her heart break all over again, he wanted nothing more than to pull him into a big but she had a feeling that Leonardo might not appreciate that.

"I-i told them to stop, but they didn't listen... They just..." He shut his eyes, almost as if h was recalling an event and his face contorted in pain, "They continued, they hit me... and um... took— they took off my clothes..." Leonardo trailed off and glanced at Diane, He searched her facial features for any form of mockery, doubt, anger, resentment, or even an 'I told you so', but all it held was a very worried lady who looked like she would give anything to take his pain away.

"I don't know what happened Diane, but— but when I woke up, all I had were bruises and I didn't remember anything, I don't remember anything but it just hurts so much, cause I can hear voices but I can't remember anything, they are muffled and I just—" Leonardo crashed into her arms and Diane let the tears freely fall down her cheeks, what had they done to her brother, to her baby, to her prince? She wrapped her hands around him protectively and placed a kiss on his brown curly hair.

"Did they touch you?" She asked.

"I-I don't know, this is all my fault." He whispered.

" This is not your fault okay? None of this is your fault, alright? Yes, I admit that have been overbearing and we never asked what you wanted, what your goals were, but your dreams were, we just pushed ourselves unto you and tried to protect you so much so it began to choke you, I am so sorry," Diane apologized as she hugged him tighter.

"I love you, Diane, I love you so much," Leonardo whispered, Diane, let out a watery smile.

"I love you to the moon and back" She whispered. Soon enough, Leonardo fell asleep in her arms as she rocked her little brother, they would never make the same mistakes again, never. And this time, she was going to make sure of it.

Her chest hurt at the thought of the fact that her brother had been assaulted and possibly raped. Her little brother, her baby. Diane could not have kids, She was barren and as funny as it may sound she cared about Leonardo as if he were her child but in a bid to protect him from the world, it seemed like they had thrown him head first into it.

Diane sighed and stood up after laying him on his bed, She grabbed the first aid box and nursed his cuts. Once she was done, she retreated to his bathroom and took out every sharp object that was in there. They needed to fix this, the right way. But first things first, she wanted Leonardo to feel safe, to feel like he mattered, to feel secure and not controlled or intimidated around them.

She eventually slipped out a few minutes later and almost stumbled into Max. "How is he doing?" He asked softly.

Diane took in the man's appearance, his eyes were reddened and had dark circles underneath them, He seemed to be sporting lazy sweatpants and a sweatshirt, His hands were stuck in his pockets as he stared fixedly at her in anticipation of a response, any response.

Diane sucked in a deep breath and she hugged her brother, Sobs racked through her body and her legs felt like jelly, guilt pierced through her thoughts, and for a split moment she felt like it was all her fault, like she should have been there, like they let this go on for so long and did absolutely nothing because they had been convinced Leonardo would be fine,

But Leonardo was not fine.

"Diane? Say something." Max's voice held a sense of Dread.

"Max..." She whispered as she pulled away from him and locked eyes with the man "Our brother assaulted and raped, our baby was raped." Max froze.