Raising Remi

7. a secret?

"Come on Remi you need to eat" Emma desperately tried to get her to take another bite.

In the fea days that Remi has known her, she'd grown close to Emma.

She hadn't seen much of her brothers, she didn't know they were even her brothers yet.

Xander and milo had school on Friday. Ethan had to take a business trip out of the country. Luca and Levi were dealing with the family business while vincent was trying to sort out everything with Remi.

He'd been meeting with the social worker for the past four days.

Remi had a usual sleep schedule so when she woke up all the boys were gone and when she eats dinner they had just gotten home and were relaxing.

"I'm not hungry" she mumbled.

She also hasn't been able to finish a meal.

"But you didn't eat very much today. Your tummy is probably empty and sad don't you want to fill it and make it happy" she tickled Remi's stomach and got a small smile out of it.

"It-it is happy" Remi patted her stomach.

"How do you know that?"

"How do you know if it's not"

"I'm-" Emma got interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

Remi flinched at the unexpected loud sound. Emma looks at her with suspicion in her eyes.

When Emma asked about the bruises on her Remi had lied and said she got them when playing at the park with her friend.

When in fact Remi didn't even have any friends and hadn't been to a park in two years.

They heard footsteps then the front door open, they couldn't understand what the voices were saying from the kitchen but as they got closer they could comprehend who they were and what they were saying.

"These are the last two things that need to be done and if all goes well she'll be yours," the caseworker from social service said to vincent. "The judge already read her file and he said you were a good friend of his so he trusted that you would take very good care of her"

Vincent nodded silently and led her inside the kitchen.

The lady smiled kindly at Remi and approached her.

"Hello there Remington, I'm Ms. Johnson, I've been working with your brother so that you can live here. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

"Brother?" Remi frowned.

"Yes, Miss Moretti. Vincent is your brother"

"How?" Remi said quietly.

"I'm sure you and your brother can talk later but right now I need to ask you some questions"

-

"So Miss Remington can you tell me how old you are " Ms. Johnson sat back in the chair.

Vincent had led them to the library so that they could speak privately.

"Six"

"When's your birthday?"

"March 19"

"What grade are you in?"

"Ion know" Remi shrugged her shoulders.

Ms. Johnson wrote down the information she'd just received on the paper.

"Has your mom ever told you about any family?"

"No" Remi shook her head, "she-she said that grandma wasn't going to come visit anymore"

"Do you know where grandma lives?"

"No, are we going to see her?" Remi asked hopefully. She could still remember her grandma's homemade sugar cookies.

"No sweetie not today" she smiled sadly. "You lived with Aaron Davis before you came here?"

"Y-yes, am I going back?" Remi said in horror.

Ms. Johnson noticed her reaction and made a note back how she reacted to it.

"Do you want to?" She tested to see how she would react.

"N-no. P-please dont t-take me" Remi cried. The hold she had on her tears slipped and she started crying.

Ms. Johnson got up and sat next to her on the couch.

"Why don't you want to go see Aaron?" She wrapped her arms around Remi "Did he do something to you?"

"H-he was m-mean to m-me and m-mama"

"Was he always mean to you or were there different times where he was?"

"H-he only mean t-to me when-hen mam-a wasn't there"

"Okay honey you won't have to see him again" she hugged her tighter.

"O-okay" Remi cried into her chest.

-
After Ms. Johnson calmed her down she asked Remi the rest of the questions she needed to complete the process.

Luca was waiting in the living room when Remi left the library. He told Ms. Johnson Vincent was waiting in the kitchen and took Remi to her room.

"When can I see mama?" Remi looked up at him as they walked to her room.

"We gotta get you sized so you can have some clothes" Luca avoided the question and opened her door.

He lifted her onto her bed and took out measuring tape.

"Hold your arms out like this" he showed her. After he adjusted it the right way he took the measurement.

He went to measure her waist but she suddenly moved away from him and shrieked.

His face formed in concern as he took in the fear in her features.

"What's wrong?"

She remained silent as she clenched her torso.

He sat down on the bed away from her to give her some space.

"Do you not feel well?" Luca said after a few minutes.

Remi shook her head.

"What is it?" He asked softly.

She shook her head again as tears formed in her blue eyes.

"I c-cant te-ll you" she looked into his eyes, she looked away but he was still able to see the fear in them.

Anger started to build up inside of him but he pushed it back down.

"Why not?"

"C-cause he sa-"

The door opens to reveal vincent standing in the door. He studied the small girl on the bed.

"Mrs. Moon is in my office," Vincent said and stepped inside the room.

Luca got up from the bed and walked over to his older brother.

"She's hiding something" Luca whispered and looked back at Remi.

"I intend to find out what it is" vincent whispered back.

Luca took one more glance at the girl before leaving the room.

Vincent closed the door behind him.

Oh no. Remi thought.

-