MAFIA POSSESSION ( Completed)

LOS ANGELES

"Bella, this is not a request.” Armando glared down his nose at me, his arms crossed, clearly frustrated. I rolled my eyes and stared back with my own intensity. I was still angry at my brother for all those months that he had gone M.I.A so he didn’t get to tell me what to do.

“I don’t care.” I wasn’t trying to piss him off but it seemed to be my specialty.

“You’re not making any progress and you’ve been here for almost a week.” Annalise said, her tone a bit gentler than my brothers.

“I don’t need this right now,” I stood from my spot on the sofa. Suddenly my new room seemed more inviting than whatever the fuck kind of intervention this was.

Before being rudely interrupted I’d been in the middle of the most amazing romantic novel. It had only just started to get good. The hero had admitted to himself he was gay and the neighbor who was his interest of love was still in the closet. The chase had begun. Wasn’t that the best part of a love story?

“You need to eat. We brought you here because we all thought it’d be better for your health. But if we see no progress… father said he’d have to send you to a health clinic. That’s probably what you need, you need professional help,” He said, gazing at the potato soup that sat on the coffee table untouched and cold by now.

My feet shifted and my hands began to fiddle with themselves. Eliza had told me she overheard our parents discussing the possibilities of sending me to a recovering facility. She too had been worried, apparently everyone was worried.

Since when had my health become everyone’s concern?

“I don’t need help,” I spat out.  What I needed was to be left alone so I could finish my book.

“You’re starving. Are you trying to kill yourself?” Armando didn’t miss a beat, he knew his game and he was determined to win, at least today.

“It’s all relative. I’m just not hungry. It’s not on purpose.” It was true— nothing that was offered was appetizing. In fact, the thought of having to eat anything at all made me sick.

“Sweetie…You fainted.  That’s not healthy. The maids told us you left your breakfast untouched. Yesterday it was all three meals. It’s just not healthy.” Annaliese wasn’t trying to give me a holier-than-thou attitude. She was just being nice but every time she spoke it peeved me the wrong way.

“You’re not my blood-relative and the only reason I put up with you is because my brother thinks he loves you. Stay out of my business.” It was mean, but that’s just what life was sometimes. Sometimes it was cruel and unforgiving and shit happened that we didn’t deserve.

“Annalise, give us a moment,” Armando bit out and I just knew he would give me some sort of speech.

Annalise gave me an indignant look before shaking her head gloomily. She retracted hesitantly, but surely, never one to go against anything my brother wanted. It was one of the reasons she sometimes made me sick. Didn’t she have a mind of her own?

“You don’t have to be a bitch, Bella,” Armando said, irately.

“Annalise needs to mind her business.” Not even sounding sorry.

“You’re living with us. It’s her business.” His eyes furrowed into one eyebrow and his forehead wrinkled with concern.

“Then send me back, I didn’t want to come.” That wasn’t a lie. My father had forced me on a plane and sent me away completely against my will.

“You’ve barely even spoken to us since you got here, Bella.” That also wasn’t a lie. 

What did he expect though? Was it expected for everything to suddenly be forgotten and go back to us being buddy-buddy?  Just forget the last few months like he hadn’t pulled the ultimate disappearing act of the century that would have even made Harry Blackstone incredibly proud.

Yeah, that wasn’t happening.

“Fuck you, Armando.” I crossed my arms and looked away, stubbornly. He didn’t just get to win this one for free.

“I know you’re angry that I never returned your calls.” He said ruefully. “But this is something else Isabella. You’re my sister, my family. I’m worried about you.”  He was trying to make amends. It just wasn’t as easy as he had thought it would be.

“You not returning my calls….or texts….or emails speaks louder than words, Mandiz.” I used his nickname, the one that usually came out in an endearing manner, but this time it only came across bitter. “You weren’t there when I needed you.” He wasn’t there when I was falling down under. When my world was coming undone.

Tears started to pool at my eyes and it took all my strength to keep them at bay. “It’s not fair that Father made me come. That’s not what I wanted.” My laugh sounded defeated— ultimately, I was always defeated.  “But then, my wants never seem to matter to you guys anyway.” He didn’t know there was a third person included in that statement.

I didn’t just mean him and Viktor.

“Father and mother are worried about you. Since your last date with Anthony you stopped eating altogether. You fainted twice, Isabella. The doctor says you’re anorexic.” That wasn’t true. Eating wasn’t something that ever came easy to me. But I didn’t have anorexia. It wasn’t something that I was purposefully doing.