breaking the truth

𝟙𝟛

"Chloe, I'm going to work early, so Daddy will have to take you to school today." I smiled and ran up to her, giving her a big hug. "Ok, mommy, I love you." She gave me a kiss on the forehead. "I love you to scarlet." I love when she calls me by my middle name. I watched as her car pulled out of the driveway, intently going to wake up Daddy. "Daddy, Daddy, come on, it's time for school." He laughed and got out of bed. "Well, my little 6-year-old is ready for school now, isn't she?" I had just turned six, and he would always like to point it out. School was exciting like always in first grade: friends with everyone and no drama. I was in class when one boy started to pull my hair. "Hey, stop that." I stood up. "Why is your hair a mess?" I just got up and smacked him. "Chloe Smith in the principal's office now," the teacher said sternly, "but he was-" "I don't want to hear it, I said now." I started crying. When I got to the principal's office, they said they had called my mom and she should be here soon. That soon turned into one hour, then two, and then my dad came in looking mad. "Come on, Chloe, let's go." He grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the room. "Daddy, that hurts. Please stop that hurting." "Well, I don't care. You killed her. You killed your mother."

I shot up from my slumber, feeling an arm wrapped around my waist. Shit. I fell asleep and cuddled up with Noah. I looked over and saw the twins lying back-to-back. We must have fallen asleep last night during the movie.

I looked at the clock on the wall at 4:30 AM. Great, I'm not going to bed again. It seems like every time I close my eyes, he is there, and he won't go away.

I got up and went out to the Balcony and just looked at the scenery for the first time. The hills with the trees were captivating.

I felt something warm on my arm already, knowing who it was.

We just sat in silence. He didn't ask why I was out here at this time; he didn't need to; he knew why already.

I asked the question I have been wanting to ask.

"Why did you really do it?" I asked.

"What do you mean? I told you why," he responded.

"You can beat the shit out of him; we both know that, and that wasn't the first time he threatened you." All I wanted was an honest answer, and I wish he could give me those answers.

"I can't tell you." Was all he said.

I just nodded my head.

"Why do you hate me? I told you I was leaving, so why do you hate me?" He said, after some silence.

"I hate you because after you shared my real identity with whoever it was, it was hard for me to even survive. I couldn't leave my house for about two months. It was bad, and you never said that you were leaving." I looked at him.

"Yes, I did. I gave a note to J-oh my god, shit." He got up and ran back inside. I just got up and followed him; he was in Luca's room on his computer.

"What are you doing?" I am asking a lot of questions tonight.

"The leader of the 'gang' that got you information never told me who they were—only the men," he said, typing on his computer.

"I already knew who it was; it was Dom." I thought he knew that.

"That's the thing; there are two. I found out Dom was one a month after I left, but I just found out who the other one is," he said.

"Fuck," he said, getting up and starting to pace.

"Did you find out who it was?" He just nodded, raking his hand through his hair.

"It's him; Joe is the other boss."

everything stopped.

The man who helped me after every beating his co-leader did and every rape his own men did basically live at his house for a year.

"Noah," I said, my voice shaking.

His head snapped up.

"He is coming over today to help Dre."

He is going to be staying in the same house as me and Noah.

He basically put both of us through hell.

He was behind it all.

wait

"What about Maya?" "She is involved to." He came to me and just wrapped his arms around me, and we both slid to the ground.

"We will be ok; we can get through this together; we won't let them touch us," he whispered in my ear, hugging me tight.

They were both of our parental figures, and now we know everything that happened was a lie.

I heard the door open, and we looked up to see Luca and Louis walk in.

"What the fuck is going on?" Louis asked.

We both stood up.

"We set aside our differences; it turns out it was just a big miscommunication," I said, answering him.

"Oh, I'm glad. Come on, let's go eat breakfast," Luca said.

We both looked at each other with confused faces. Has it been that long?

I look at Noah's computer, still open to a picture of Joe, Dom, and their men. Maya was in it to

quickly looking at the time and closing his computer, I tuned to him.

"I guess we took a little longer than we thought," I laughed.

He came up and gave me a quick hug, and we walked down the steps to the kitchen.

"So, I heard you two settled your debacle," Jack said, handing each of us a plate.

"Um, yeah, we did," Noah replied this time.

"I'm glad to hear. Oh, Maya and Joe should be here soon. They are staying in the guest rooms. Can you two show them when they get here?"

We both froze up.

us alone with them.

No, thank you.

"Um, are you sure you want them to stay here? I mean, you haven't met them before; those are two strangers in a mafia house who know what could happen," I spat out quickly.

"Yeah, if they can help us find Dom and help you, then they are welcome here. Why are you trying to make them not stay?" he asked.

"I'm not; I was just wondering because they are involved in the underworld. I just wanted to make sure," I said, taking a bite of food, so I didn't say any more.

Noah still seemed off, so I just grabbed his hand and squeezed it softly. He looked down, then at me.

Right when the door opened, we both jumped right out of our seats.

"Wow, some people are excited," Luca said, walking down the steps with the other brothers.

"Hello, I'm Andre. It's nice to meet you guys." Dre walked up and shook Joe's hand. Maya brought him into a hug.

I took a deep breath and looked at Noah.

He quickly wiped the tear, which I didn't know was there, and nodded his head.

I knew what that meant.

We would have to pretend; we don't know.

for our own and the family's sake.

I forced a smile on my face and walked up to give Maya a hug. Noah was right behind me.

"Oh, my dear, there you are. How much I missed you." I wish she actually missed me.

After Noah and I hugged both of them, we did what we had to do and took them up to the guest room.

the room next to me

"So, this is your room," I said quickly, wanting to get out of this room faster.

"So, are you guys back to being friends?" Joe asked.

Probably realizing that his attempt to break us apart didn't work like he wanted.

Noah put his arm around me and said, "Yeah, closer than ever."

He hatted that answer. If you weren't paying attention, you would have missed it. That was what Noah was trying to do; we needed some proof in person.

"We know you know," Maya said.

Shit