Burning Ties

Chapter Eleven

(yes, I'm alive 💀 I'm so sorry, like actually)

Leandro POV

"Sir," The doctor calls, still looking fearful for his life. Once he sees my attention on him, he continues, "The cause of her unconsciousness and blue lips is a punctured lung, she has what we call Fat Embolism Syndrome, which basically means that her symptoms were delayed. The puncture is severe enough that we need to perform surgery, and I would like to speak to you about the extent of her injuries once she's out of danger, is that okay with you?"

I nod, my brain still processing the fact that if I'd thought in advance about the severity of the injuries my sister had, she would probably be a lot better than what she is right now. She could have been fine if I'd just used my damn brains. Merda. (shit)

"Do whatever you need, doctor. As long as she's okay at the end of it all."

My words make the doctor nod before he practically runs out of the waiting area and back into the room they'd taken Iris into. A few minutes later, she's wheeled out on a bed.

My brain turns even more numb than before. I don't really know what to do now. I don't know how to help, but hey, it isn't really about me right now seeing as my sister is literally dying as I sit here blaming myself.

A couple minutes pass by before my family bursts through the doors of the waiting room, looking frantic when their eyes land upon me.

Carmine immediately signs 'where is she?'

"She's in surgery right now. Doctor said she has a punctured lung and that he'd like to speak to me about the extent of her injuries once she's out of danger." I respond, my voice low and full of regret.

"She'll be okay, Leandro. Don't you worry, my daughters a fighter." Papa says, trying to convince himself more than me, but I nod along anyway. Who am I to judge when I'm doing the same?

Fine.

She'll be fine.

She can't not be.

A world without my reason for living is a world that I refuse to live in.

So she has to be fine, or none of us will ever be fine again.

"How did we not think to get her checked out before? Mama? Papa? How'd it slip our minds? Now that I think of it, are you okay, mama?" Alek questions, his eyebrows furrowed in both confusion and worry. This causes our mother to flinch and papa to look remorseful.

"I'm fine, mio figlio, I was never treated as badly as she was." My mother replied, looking guilty. She was lying.

A part of me resented that fact. The fact that she knew everything about how iris had been treated but she didn't bother to let us know that she probably needed a doctor.

As her brothers, yes, maybe we should have thought of it, but we didn't know the extent of how badly she'd been treated, so truth be told, it was her fault more than ours.

With someone else to blame besides myself, my anger was on another level. I no longer felt like Iris was remotely safe around my mother, and I would do everything in my power to protect my sister from this woman.

She just proved that she didn't care as much as we thought she did, and only time would tell how right I am, because, well, I'm barely ever wrong.

"So what you're saying is, you know how she was treated and it slipped your mind that she would need medical attention?" Luka asks, looking frustrated with our mother dearest.

"I- well, yes. I was just so happy to see you boys that it kind of slipped my mind. I figured that if I was okay, she would be too." She replies, her eyes filling with tears that I saw through and it's in that moment that I see the wheels turning in my other brother's heads.

They're probably thinking the same thing as me.

Our mother is a threat to our sister. We just don't know how much of a threat she truly is, but now that we know what a snake she is, we can find out everything that she's thinking, and keep our sister safe.

"Adrianna," Papa sighed, and pulled her closer to him. "It's okay, lyubov. You made a mistake, it's all fine." He kissed the top of her head, and I cringed internally.

By the looks on my brothers faces, they were all thinking along the same lines as me, and if I'm being extremely honest, that fact alone scared the hell out of me.

If we couldn't trust our own mother, then who could we trust to keep our sister safe?

How were we supposed to break it to the man who raised me as his own, to the man who loved our mother with his whole heart and soul?

Revealing her true face would absolutely crush his heart and soul. A part of me hoped that by some miracle I was wrong with my thoughts, but again, unfortunately for me, and the rest of my family, I'm almost always correct...

And that's not me being conceited, it's me being as honest as I possibly can. I try not to lie, it's unbecoming of me. Even as a mafia Don, I try not to lie as much as I can because it isn't a good feeling to be deceitful.

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Hello my wonderful people, this is just a filler tbh, I just wanted to add in some ✨direction ✨ bc tbh, I like throwing in random ass plot twists that people won't see coming.

To be fair, we still kind of need proof.... But eh, we'll see if we get that ig.

Depends on the words I type, apparently.

Anywho, I'm sorry for not updating. Genuinely. I'll try and make more of an effort but with school going crazy, I sometimes wonder if it'd be better to just take down this damned book.

Should I? 😭
N then republish it when it's completed and I've written everything out?

Nah, maybe is shouldn't. I dunno either. Anywho, enjoy the rest of y'all's month.

I wonder if anyone actually reads the shit I write in these authors notes 💀

I know I usually skip through them, unless I see like an interesting keyword bc then I'll be like "hold up, what's happening here?"

I love drama.
Anywayyyyy
Goodbyeeeee
Until next time
Muah 😘