Isabella: Our Adopted Baby

Chapter 17

Giovanni shut the door to his car on the opposite side from where I was and I jumped.

"Jeez, you scared me." I placed my hand over my heart and felt it pounding in my chest.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I didn't know you were out here," Giovanni said. He looked at me over the hood of the car.

"I just wanted some air."

"Is everything ok?"

I wasn't sure anything was ok. I was stuck living with people who thought I was meant to be a baby. That in itself was wild. Then I had my parents who wanted me to depend on them for everything so they could control me. It seemed like I went from one set of bad parents to another.

Why was I being punished?

I shrugged and stared down at my feet. I hadn't put socks or shoes on so my feet were bare. I wasn't sure how Giovanni and Quinn felt about that.

Giovanni walked around the car and leaned against the passenger door. "I can't help you if you don't talk to me."

I sighed. My problem was only going to stay a problem if I let it. If I wanted it to get better, I had to let someone help me. "My mom sent me a message."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"She's always telling me that I'm ungrateful because I moved away and don't visit them much."

"Maybe she misses you."

"She was just as mean when I lived at home. But it was more of 'I didn't do what she wanted me to do so I was the bad child'."

"It sounds like that's still the case."

"Moving away only made it worse."

"Have you tried telling her how you feel?"

My mom wasn't one that listened to reason. She was right even when she was wrong. She wouldn't let anyone have an opinion or thought she didn't believe in and wanted everyone to do as she said. If we weren't carbon copies of her, she hated us. Unfortunately, my brother and sister followed after her like drooling puppies so I was the one that looked defiant and unruly. I was surprised she didn't want me to move when I told her I was leaving. It would have made more sense to get rid of the bad child. But no. She wanted me to stay so she could warp me into a mini version of her just like my siblings.

I shook my head. "Mom doesn't listen."

"You have a month where you don't have to deal with her. Maybe that will help things."

I wished that was enough to do the trick. But I knew better than to get my hopes up.

Quinn opened the door behind me and stopped when she saw me. "Oh, I didn't know you were out here. I'm getting ready to make lunch if you want to get cleaned up."

I looked between her and Giovanni before I got to my feet. I stepped back a step so she and I had some distance between us.

"We'll be in in just a minute," Giovanni said from behind me.

Quinn smiled and walked away, oblivious to the conversation Giovanni and I were having.

I looked back at him. "Are you gonna tell her I used my phone?"

He crossed his arms over his chest, a green microfiber towel in his hand. "Only if you use your sippy cup at lunch."

My mouth fell open. "That's not fair."

"You used your phone without asking permission. I think it's plenty fair."

I rolled my eyes. "I can't wait until these thirty days are over."

"We'll see how you feel in a few weeks."

I walked up the steps and back into the kitchen. Quinn was getting some things from the fridge and setting them on the counter behind her.

Giovanni was quicker than I expected. He walked up behind me and scooted past me, heading for the stairs. "I'll take Isabella upstairs and change her diaper."

My face flushed. "I don't need..."

Quinn shut the fridge door. "You can't stay in a wet diaper. You'll get a rash."

"It's not wet."

Giovanni sighed.

"Baby, you need to use your diaper. Your bladder's probably so full right now," Quinn said.

"I'm not using it. I'll do all the other stuff but not this. I can't."

"Those are the rules. You signed the contract."

"Stop throwing that damn contract in my face," I said. I clenched my fists at my sides, feeling my blood beginning to boil.

Giovanni wasn't far from me so it didn't take him more than a few steps to get to me. Before I could even back away or move out of his reach, he smacked my butt, forcing me to jump in shock and pain.

Tears welled up in my eyes but I knew it was just from how angry I was. "Stop hitting me, you asshole!"

He hit me again, this time a bit harder than the first. I felt the pain on my skin that I wasn't expecting to feel. I assumed the diaper would provide enough padding to protect from a hit. Clearly, it wasn't enough.

I screamed through gritted teeth. Before I could get any more insults out, he picked me up and tossed me over his right shoulder. My dress dropped and exposed my red, diapered butt.

I screamed, this time out of fear. I began to smack him, alternating between slaps and punches on his back. No way he was going to carry me like that all the way up the steps.

"Let me go!" Spit fell from my mouth and littered the floor in drops. It looked like it was raining inside.

As Giovanni carried me up the steps, I could feel myself getting angrier and angrier. One minute he was being so nice and the next he was hitting me and throwing me around like a doll. The shift in his mood made me scared of him. What was he truly capable of?