Whatever You Please

chapter 12

Giovanni sits quietly and watches as Lilyan and Liam interact. He's glad Lilyan is finally getting some comfort from someone in the family.

Then he looks at Liam and notices a fresh bruise on his face.

Giovanni looks over at Liam with concern and says, "Liam, is that a bruise on your face? What happened?"

Liam looks at him, embarrassed, and says, "Oh, it's nothing, don't worry about it."

Giovanni's concern grows as he sees the mark on Liam's face.

"Liam," he says, "did someone hit you? I'm sorry, but that looks like a bruise. Did Stefano or Silas do that?"

Liam looks at Giovanni and shakes his head, embarrassed.

"No, it's nothing, really. I fell, that's all."

Giovanni looks at him with disbelief. "You fell? That looks like a pretty bad injury to me."

Lilyan also looks at Liam with concern, she curls up the courage and asks. "Liam, what happened?"

He puts his hand on Lilyan's shoulder and says, "Lilyan, I'm going to tell you what happened. But you can't go and tell anyone else. Okay? Same goes to you gio."

Lilyan looks at him with surprise, not expecting Liam to say this.

"What happened, Liam?" she asks.

He looks at her and decides to tell her everything.

"Okay...Stefano and Silas punched me and kicked me a little," Liam says quietly. "They wanted me to force you to eat all your food, but I tried to defend you."

Lilyan looks at Liam with surprise, feeling guilty for causing this.

She is shocked that her uncles would hurt Liam to get her to eat more food. This situation is getting worse and worse, and she feels guilty that she is at fault.

Liam looks at Lilyan, realizing that she feels responsible for what happened. He takes her hand and says, "Lilyan, it's not your fault. They shouldn't have done that, no matter what I did."

Giovanni is standing next to Lilyan and listening to the whole conversation.

Lilyan still can't believe that her uncles hurt Liam, and she can't help but feel guilty. But Liam reassures her that it's not her fault.

Just then, Giovanni speaks up, "Lilyan, I know what you're thinking. It's not your fault. I've been listening to the whole conversation and it's not your fault."

Lilyan shakes her head, still feeling guilty. "Still...I feel like it's my fault, I caused all of this."

"It's really not, Lilyan, don't blame yourself for what happened," Giovanni says.

"If anyone did anything wrong, it was Stefano and Silas, not you. You didn't ask them to do anything."

Lilyan nods but still feels guilty. Giovanni puts his arm around her and says, "you don't have to be so hard on yourself."

Lilyan smiles softly but still can't help but feel guilty. In the end, she just tries to push the whole situation out of her mind.

"Lilyan, it's time to go to bed," Giovanni says to Lilyan.

Lilyan nods and gets into bed, still feeling a bit guilty about what happened. Giovanni and Liam both tuck her in for the night, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Goodnight, and don't worry your pretty little head about it" Liam says.

And then they turn off the lights and walk out of the room, leaving her to sleep.