Wren

S. Part 5

"It's okay, come here." 

Sophie crept into the room, her eyes red and her face puffy. She'd been crying.

It had been a few hours since Wren woke up from his sedated sleep, and he and Matteo had discussed Leo's suggestion. They'd decided it was time to talk to Sophie about everything.

Sophie sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, not meeting her parents' eyes. Matteo had his arm wrapped around Wren's shoulder, and was playing with his hair absentmindedly. 

"Sophie, we need to talk--"

"Did I make you pass out like that?" She whispered, her hands shaking in her lap as she fiddled with the frayed hems of her sleeves.

"No, baby." Wren whispered, reaching out a weak hand to pat Sophie's leg. "There's a lot of things we haven't told you. But you're old enough to know now."

Sophie glanced up, confused.

"You know how we've never told you how Dad and I met?" He waited for her to nod before he continued. "That's because. . . it was a rough start."

"My dad was abusive, and a gambler. He went into serious debt at one of Nonno's casinos, and when they caught him. . . he made a deal. He offered me up in place of what he owed, and swore to stay out of the casinos. Nonno agreed." 

(A/N: guys, 'nonno' is how you say 'grandfather', and 'nonna' is 'grandmother'. Forgive me for my Italian heritage lol. In case you didn't catch it, Wren is talking about Vincenzo, and his casino from OG part one.)

"What? Your dad traded you to strangers to get out of debt?"

"Yes." Matteo answered for him. "Our men broke into his house at the time and took him. He fought, and broke one guy's nose, but that made them angry and they hurt him. Unfortunately, when he got here, I was no better-- I was a monster to him. Nonno placed Wren under my care, but I hated him. I'd gone through a bad relationship, and I didn't want to ever do that again."

Sophie glanced between them with wide eyes. "You. . . hated him? But you're always all over each other. . . I thought it was cheesy--"

"Because we love each other now. But we didn't back then." Wren said. 

"So, what? You yelled at him and stuff?" Sophie asked.

"I did worse than that, Sophie. Much worse." Matteo whispered, looking out the window with teary eyes. Wren reached up and took the hand that rested on his shoulder, holding it tight. "I had him chained to the wall like a dog. I beat him, yelled at him, burned him with my cigarettes. . . he got a fever and I stripped him down and threw him in the shower-- I made him stand under freezing water, and when he got out I didn't let him dry off. I kept the room cold on purpose."

Sophie stared in open-mouthed horror. It felt like these things were made-up; like they were too horrible for someone to do to another person. Much less her parents. 

"That night, I searched around with my hands in the dark, and I found a bobby pin. I picked the lock on my ankle chain and snuck out. I made it all the way to the front doors before a guard caught me, and unfortunately, it was the guy whose nose I'd busted at my house. He drug me into one of the rooms off the main hallway, and beat the shit out of me. Again." Wren said.

"You. . . who was it? Someone I know?" Sophie asked, getting more and more shocked with each thing they told her. 

"No, he was reprimanded and fired right after that." Wren said quickly. 

"Good." Sophie said. 

"Anyway. . . I was informed by one of my men, and I had Wren brought back. I--" Matteo swallowed hard. "It had been storming really bad. I grabbed the chain from the wall and hooked it back to his ankle, then I drug him outside onto the balcony. I chained him there and left him in the storm, injured and scared. I left in the morning without even checking on him." Matteo's voice broke.