The Four Brothers ~ Completed

Capítulo Vinte e Dois: A Reação

Still stuck in the hospital (yay) but you guys are helping keep my spirits up. They haven't figured out what's wrong with me yet (another yay) but I still can't walk. All that being said, this is a thank you for being amazing people. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Lots of love!

Gemma's POV:

I rushed through the house, still worried about there being more gunmen ready to put a hole through my head. I knew I should've been more worried about running into a masked gunman, but after Damian's little show, I felt less concerned.

Maybe I was being naive and stupid and a bunch of other horrible things, but Damian was my brother. He'd protected me, saved me without knowing it. I didn't think there was any way on this planet he would purposely hurt me.

"Gemma?" Came a panicked shout. I stopped short and turned around, a shocked and jubilant laugh escaping my lips without permission.

There stood Zion.

His usual suit was in disarray, but he looked unharmed. I dropped the fire iron and rushed into his arms.

He picked me up without a second of hesitation. He was breathing shakily, like he'd been running around. One arm was wrapped under my thighs to keep me stable, his other hand coming up to cradle my head.

I sobbed into his shoulder, relieved and so scared. Tears leaked from my eyes and dripped onto Zion's shoulder. He rocked me back and forth and hummed a random song. It calmed me down, oddly enough.

"I was so scared." I whispered, my voice muffled by his shoulder. Zion pet my hair a bit more, before setting me back down on the ground. He wiped a tear away with his thumb, smiling comfortingly at me.

"I know, sweetheart, I know. Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?" Zion asked, checking me over. I shook my head.

"I hid." I whispered, closing my eyes against the images of all the dead bodies I'd had to step over to get here. Zion shushed the cry that slipped past my lips, wiping my hair from my face as he crouched to my height.

"That's a good girl. I know you've been very brave so far, but I need you to be brave for a little bit longer, alright?" Zion asked. He waited until I nodded before grabbing my hand. I let go of him and ran for my fire iron.

He chuckled when I came back to him, weidling the somewhat useless weapon with a tight grip.

He picked me up again. My legs wrapped around his waist, my arms around his neck. He didn't really need to hold me up, but he did keep an arm around my waist just to make sure I stayed where I was.

I heard the familiar sound of a gun cocking. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Zion turning the safety of a dropped pistol off. I buried my face in his shoulder before he could see me watching him.

We stayed silent as he walked around the house. I figured it would be easier for me to get down, but every time I tried he tightened his grip around my waist. I stopped trying to get down after the first two times, not wanting to distract him anymore.

It was almost a half hour of creeping around later when we found Sinclair and Tobias talking in a hall.

Sinclair's arm was bleeding, but it didn't look to be anything more than a graze. Tobias looked perfect, as always. Not a hair was out of place, not a button on his suit jacket undone. It was sorta creepy how perfect he stayed during all this.

"Gemma!" Sinclair yelped, rushing towards us. I hopped out of Zion's arms, only to be hoisting right up into Sinclair's.

"Is she hurt?" Tobias asked, his voice steady.

"She's fine. Freaked out, but fine. She hid during all this." Zion explained. I buried my head in Sinclair's neck, not wanting to see the chaos around me.

There were smears of blood on the walls, splatters of blood along the floors, broken lamps, torn paintings, and bullet holes in the roof and walls.

"What happened?" I asked, wiggling around so that Sinclair would let me go. Once my feet touched the floor, I was staring straight up into Tobias's eyes. I was daring him to lie to me.

"I have some very dangerous competitors who wanted to scare me off of protecting this big organization." Zion explained in a rushed fashion. Tobias nodded along with Zion's story.

"Where's Damian?" I asked, looking around the hall.

While I may have seen my brother commit several acts of murder, he was still my brother. And, technically, he was protecting himself. He was also protecting me, but he didn't know that.

"He went out looking for you. He'll be back shortly." Tobias said. I nodded slowly, absorbing everything around me.

I had been in several abhorrent situations during my few years of life, but I'd never seen anyone be killed. And I'd never been in a shoot-out, though this wasn't really a shoot-out. Didn't mean it didn't feel like it though.

"Is everyone else alright?" I asked. Tobias nodded.

This truly was an effort to scare someone, but I doubted it was Zion they were trying to scare. No, these people were trying to scare Tobias. This meant his mafia had to be high up in the rankings, maybe even in the top ten.

There had to be a top ten, right?

"Everyone is fine. Like I said, it was just an effort to scare me." Zion said soothingly, brushing his hand down my hair. I nodded, something I'd been doing a lot lately.

"Gem, thank God." Damian's voice came from the other end of the hall. I swallowed thickly, smiling a bit at my brother who was rushing towards me.

Less blood covered his face, meaning he'd wiped it away at some point. But he was still dripping with blood and I was concerned that some it may have been his. There was no way some of it wasn't.

"Are you hurt? Did they get to you? What happened?" I asked him the second I reached him, making him laugh out loud. I didn't see how it was a laughing matter.

"Honey, these bozos aren't fast enough to hurt me. It's not mine." Damian said, gesturing at his blood soaked form. I stepped back, my chest rising and falling in fear. Damian's eyes widened when he saw the terror flash through my eyes.

The blood running through my veins froze.

"Gem, Gemma, I swear I had to. They would've killed me if I didn't." Damian rushed out, ripping his jacket off without a second thought. He ran a hand through his hair, but his eyes didn't leave mine.

"Okay." I whispered. He stopped moving and stared at me.

"Okay? That's it?" He asked softly, afraid of invoking more of a reaction from me. I nodded once more.

"I want to shower and sleep and eat. Then I'll continue to freak out. But I need to analyze everything and archive it." I said, not even realizing I sounded more like a computer than I did a twelve year old girl who'd been through one, big mess.

Damian blinked slowly, then tentatively reached out to touch me. His hand was a reassuring weight on my shoulder.

"That's fine, but I think we're in desperate need of a hotel." Damian said with a small grin. I nodded, giving him a brief but warm smile.

I turned to Zion, reaching up with my arms.

For someone who didn't like to be treated like I was a little kid, I sure did like to be picked up and carted around.

Zion swooped down and picked me up effortlessly.

"Wake me up when it's time to shower." I whispered into his neck. I felt him nod, before whispering his own reply. I wasn't really sure what he said, but it wasn't like I really cared either.

I closed my eyes and instantly started to doze off.

Just as sleep enveloped me, I felt someone pry the fire iron out of my left hand.