A New hope

Chapter 20-everything's okay

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Happy holidays! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season! Sorry I haven't been active in awhile, exam season just finished and I have been extremely stressed, thankfully I have a few weeks of break before school starts back up so I should be able to get ahead in my writing. I hope you enjoy this chapter!- E.R.S 

Alessio POV-  

Someone hurt my little girl. I will find out who did this to her, and I will kill them. Bruises are scattered around her delicate little face and arms, but they are most prominent around her neck. Someone choked her, maybe they did even worse. I don't care if I have to torture hundreds of people to find out who did this to her, I will. 

Ciana has seen the good, kind side of me, and that will continue. She will never know that her 'Mother' who kidnapped her when she was 4 is currently being shipped to our house to our dungeons. Romeo has already done a good deal of damage on her, but I will cause her a thousand times more pain than she ever caused Ciana. 

Ciana will never know the amount of blood on our hands from the countless deaths we have caused through mafia wars. The killings that were brought through trying to find her through so many dead ends. I will do anything to keep my precious baby out of this world, unknowing and safe. We will teach her to fight, to defend herself should anything like this happen again. I will get her a safer way to contact us, but she shall never know why. She is too young, too innocent for our world, she doesn't need to experience all of this brutality and anger. 

I tried to keep my younger brothers out of this world too, but everything happened too fast. one minute Ciana was gone, next our distant family members died, then our parents died. The Mafia world as we new it was uplifted, my succession of my parents throne was unexpected and sudden, and many enemy mafias saw this as a chance to take the Italian throne, through the help of the Grecos and our distant family I was able to keep the Italian mafia throne, but the boys were caught in the cross-hairs of the succession wars. Romeo and I did everything to keep them unaffected but it was just too impossible. So now I have three seventeen year old boys about to join up, risking their lives in this dangerous world. So now I have a fourth-teen year old boy begging me to let him join, wanting to kill like I did. like I was forced to do. 

I slightly shift myself underneath Ciana's sleeping form. Her eyes shoot quickly open, panic spearing through her eyes as she practically jumps out of bed. her terrified eyes find mine and she backs up a step. My concern outdoes my anger. "Piccola, it's okay, it's only me" I state quietly, slowly sitting up in her bed. She calms a fraction but her body remains stiff and tense, "Sweetheart, it's okay, you're okay, come here." 

She takes a small step in my direction before retreating two. My eyebrows furrow, is she, is she scared of me? Even when she was being introduced to our family I never truly thought she was afraid of me, maybe nervous about but it was never like the terrified look she is giving me now. "talk to me, amore, what's wrong?" 

"are... are you mad at me?" her voice, quieter then I've ever heard it lets out. Confusion springs through my body before I realize, she must think we're still upset with her for sneaking out. I gently get out of the bed and approach her, she cautiously watches me as I walk towards her and kneel down so I'm almost eye level with her, "we were upset because it wasn't the smartest decision but we are not mad or angry at you, were are glad that you got home and are alive." I look into her eyes as I talk, making sure I'm getting my point across. she avoids my gaze, I lightly sigh, "Do you want me to go get Gio, he will tell you the same thing sorellina." she plays with her hands before slightly nodding. I nod, raising and walking out of the door. I will find out who did this to my sister, who made her retreat into herself like this, it's like when she just got here.

-

Gio's POV: 

The tap of my finger is the only sound that is heard. My little brothers sit in front of me, spread out in their usual seats. The food I so graciously cooked for them this morning sits untouched on their plates. Every single one of them has their head bowed in shame, refusing to meet my eyes. I let them sit in silence, feeling the tension rise with every second. 

"A year," I start, they all straighten at my voice, "no leaving this house besides school or with direct permission, no phones, no video games, no computers besides schoolwork. No going out with friends or having them come here, and no parties. " 

They shrink into themselves with every word but do not argue. "Brother please," Cassio starts, finally meeting my eyes, "it's my fault, I am the reason she was able to sneak out. let me take the punishment, not them." I continue taping my finger against my whisky glass, contemplating.

"No. Every one of you knew that she was there. You should have immediately brought her home. You all know how much danger she is being placed in just by being in our lives now, we have, purposely or not, brought her into our world. You all know that, but you made her vulnerable by not only having her out of the house without guards or our knowledge but leaving her alone too. you abandoned her in an unfamiliar, unsafe place and look what happened. Two more seconds and she would have been raped. RAPED." They all flinch, and Cassio looks down again. 

I continue learning against the kitchen counter, staying silent. Footsteps are heard slowly making their way down the main stairs. The boys shrink into their chairs even more, only I look back to see Alessio stepping into the main floor. his eyes study the boys before turning to me, " lei vuole vederti" (she wants to see you). Surprise flared through me, I didn't think she would want any company. I nod to him and quickly make a plate of food for her before I walk up the stairs to her room. 

I knock on the door quietly, "Piccola?". I hear sniffing in the room and a quiet approval to come in. I take a deep breath before slowly opening the door with my back, careful of the food and drink in my hands. my eyes roam around her room and it takes me a few seconds to find her. She is all cuddled up in a new purchase for her; A huge foam bean bag that takes up a good 20 percent of her room. The thing is huge and could comfortably fit at least 3 people sprawled out in it. Only her head is seen from all the blankets and pillows she has buried herself into. I smile lightly, she looks so young and precious. 

I set down the food on her bed before making my way to her. "You wanted to see me amore," she nods. I sit down on the ground next to the bean bag, holding out the glass of water. "Drink this," she slowly sits up, taking the glass of water from my hands. My eyes track her body, her neck is covered in one huge bruise that looks faintly like a hand, she had prominent bruises around her wrists and some smaller ones scattered around her little body. shame and pain fill me, I should have been there to protect her, this never should have happened. 

she gently hands the now half full glass to me, I gingerly take it and set it on the ground next to me. "Are you still mad at me?" 

Confusion fills my body, "about what piccola?"

She pauses, "you know, sneaking out." 

I pause, she can't be serious, "honey no, I'm not mad. I wish you wouldn't have sure, but I could never be mad at you." I study her as I say this. She crosses her arms around herself, and I see water forming in her eyes. I coo, grabbing her and pulling her into my arms before I can think better of it. She tenses at first but slowly relaxes, and I feel moisture against my shirt. "Oh mio bambina" (my little girl). I stand with her my arms and gently rock my body side to side. She clings to me like a koala. "It's okay. You're okay. You're safe now. Everything will be okay." 

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