Bulletproof(Blood Dupre x OC)

♡Ten♡

When Annabelle opened the door, holding her torn and ruined dress in one hand, Blood glanced at her from his seat on the couch. His eyes went wide, seeing her in his shirt like that. I regret that decision, Blood thought. He mentally cursed at himself. It would've been much easier to handle her in just her underwear. 

"It's big, but thank you,"Annabelle told him, looking down at herself. She moved and sat back down on the couch again. Blood sighed and moved. Annabelle pulled the shirt up slightly to show him the cut, forgetting she already had a ton of scars. 

"Annabelle..."Blood murmured. Annabelle blinked at him. She looked down at her stomach, where he was staring. She stiffened suddenly in realization. "Did you get those scars from your time in the mafia?" Annabelle didn't answer him. He sighed, realizing she probably wasn't going to. Annabelle stiffened as he drew the cloth across the cut, cleaning off the caked up blood. After a moment, he spoke again. "How was being in the mafia hard on you?" Annabelle sighed hard. 

"From the time I was a child...I was forced into learning everything money could buy. Piano lessons, sparring lessons, archery, guitar, dance, anything my father could spend on me. The only part I ever enjoyed was the praise from my mother,"Annabelle told him. She closed her eyes, remembering her mother and the smile she always had on her face. Annabelle opened her eyes halfway, smiling sadly. "My mother died when I was twelve." Blood stiffened, looking up at her silently. He gave her a sad look at hearing those words. 

"How?"

"Illness in our world...it was some form of cancer...Father never told me, so I'm not sure about which type exactly,"Annabelle told him. She smiled at him. "But...don't be sad at hearing that, I mean, my mom was a very loving woman. She was happy, and always had a smile on her face. She and I, we had tea times, and we had fun all the time. I made memories with her." Annabelle frowned, looking down. "But....the doctors didn't catch the illness until the last minute. After she died...Father was never the same." Blood frowned at her. He went back to cleaning the cut. He grabbed the bottle of ointment. "He became cold. Ruthless. Some of my cousins...my family...and some of the other Mafia children I grew up with...they all used to say my mother had tamed my father. Like, he was some sort of dangerous lion, and she was his lion tamer. Boy, that gave me a laugh when I was little. I used to giggle just imagining it, not knowing exactly what they meant." Blood smiled, seeing her amusement return to her face. She laughed and smiled, closing her eyes. "My mother was an incredible woman." 

Blood dropped the shirt. He moved and went to roll the sleeves up. He spotted the finger shaped bruises. 

"Rina...was actually one of my cases,"Annabelle told him. Blood paused, glancing up at her. "I was on the job. We were hunting for her kidnapper...she was being held by this one guy who had escaped myself and my colleagues numerous times." Blood moved, dabbing at one of her cuts on her arm with the cloth gently. When she winced, he paused. She closed her eyes and he started dabbing again. "When we thought we located him, we went to his place and found her chained up in the basement. I bet you didn't know that with the way she acts."

"Elliot informed me of her torture." Annabelle hummed and nodded once. 

"She doesn't tell many people,"Annabelle replied. "I took her in after that. She was like a little sister to me, as we grew closer. I helped her over the PTSD and the trauma...and she helped me understand that I didn't belong with the Meknikovs...even if I had been raised as Father's little Mafia Princess." Annabelle opened her eyes. Blood moved over each of her cuts gently. "After that....I met someone." Blood paused. Annabelle's brow furrowed. 

"You met...someone, like a friend? Or someone like..."

"Boyfriend,"Annabelle whispered. Blood looked up. He spotted her shocked and horrified expression at mentioning who it was. Blood slowly moved, releasing her. The marks on her arms. The scars. The flinching when I started towards her... Blood felt anger spark in him. The way her eyes squeezed shut when I simply went to touch her cheek.