Broken Pieces

CHAPTER {12}

AKARI

I stared at the raindrops that fell onto the window as I thought about how my life has changed since my mother's passing. It's been almost a month that I have been living with my brothers.

There was a bounty on my head but was easily terminated, figured because of the power and money my brothers had. Just in case, Domenico made sure I never left the house alone, either with a guard or one of my brothers, to which they weren't too happy about.

Speaking of my brothers, they haven't insulted me once after being told off by Domenico when Zachariah brought up me being a whore and that I have many STI's.
But as a result, none of them talked or even glanced at me. I was invisible to them.

Except for Zachary. I grew fond of the library and one day I walked in on him playing piano, I complemented him on his crazy talent to be able to perform such a masterpiece. It became a routine that we'd meet up in the library and whilst I read, he plays piano.

Though we never talked, you could hear what he wanted to say through his musical pieces. On most days it's a sullen and melancholic piece, on random days it's an aggressive and hostile piece and on more rarer days it's happy and uplifting.

Alexandros was right, Domenico did like me more than everyone else. He was more protective and was willing to do everything I asked. It was a weird feeling, a feeling of love. It was so foreign to me that when I started feeling it, I was so confused. I was grateful for him, I didn't even know what I would have done without him.

I was startled by the thunder that boomed outside. Growing up I was always afraid of bad weather. The thunder, the lightning. They always made me act different, I was angrier and easily irritated just to cover up the fact that I was scared.

Another boom hit and I started to draw circles around my palms to calm myself down and took deep breaths. I looked at the time, 6:34am, the clock read. I got up from my bed and went to the bathroom just to be ready for the session I had this morning with Giuseppe, my orthopedist.

Today they'll remove my cast and give me a boot because apparently my ankle was healing faster than expected. I hopped into the shower and a flash of lightning shone through the blinds. I pay it no mind to it and turned on the hot water.

After getting used to living here I asked for permission to use hot water and Domenico was shocked that I had been with cold water in the cold weather this whole time and immediately agreed. I finished showering and hopped out the shower, threw on a robe and went towards the sink.

I brushed my teeth and after, I rinsed my mouth, spit out and looked at my reflection. I looked different. I was a little bit skinnier than I was when I first got here. My hair was longer, easier to grab.

I run a hand through my hair as I thought back to the day I was raped yet again by that man, the last time I was raped. I always wondered how he knew about my brother, or how he knew I declined to go back with Domenico. I didn't think too much about it though.

I changed into my usual, a black turtleneck, black sweatpants with a black sweater and a coat. With that I wore black socks and Ugg boots, only on one foot though. After spraying some perfume and fixing my hair, which I decided needed a trim, I grabbed my crutches and made my way out of the room and went towards the kitchen.

Domenico was already in his suit drinking coffee on his laptop and Armano, who has never talked to me and who I barely see around, was cooking. "Good morning." I greeted but no one responded and I didn't try again.

I went towards the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water and went to sit by the dining table and waited for Alexandros to come. He was assigned the job to take me to my sessions as punishment for insulting me.