She hated them.
They loved her with everything in them.
The universe truly has a sick way of telling you it's there, doesn't it? From being kidnapped to being abused, that was all Arabella saw in life. It was all she ever knew. They tell you to ke...
As if realization only hit him now Luca gasps looking at me with a panicked expression. "When you were 9?" My breath hitches hoping he didn't figure it out but it was too late. I shake my head to him pleading with him with my eyes to not say anything.
"It was him, wasn't it?" He says softly. I don't respond and tears slowly gather in my eyes. He takes my silence as an answer. "That fucking bastard!" He shouts, making me flinch. I've never seen Luca so mad, ever. The whole family looked back and forth between us confused.
"He took the one thing that was supposed to be mine to give." They seem to not understand until I continue. "I never had a choice with my life. But this was the one thing that only I should be able to decide. The one thing that many young girls including me were stripped of at this prison. But he took it. He held no guilt. No remorse. I tried to fight back but it was no use. It ended up happening 3 more times after that." My voice was a soft whisper but everyone heard as the air was deathly calm. I couldn't even look them in the eye as my vision stayed plastered to the ground, a few tears slipping.
As though reliving the memories I felt my hands tremble uncontrollably. I began crying but couldn't even get my thoughts to stop. Luca immediately rushed to my side and quickly had me in his arms.
A loud sob came from behind me. I didn't realize the ladies were present till afterwards. All of them were crying in silence, but grandma was clutching the door in a sobbing mess. Grandpa quickly arrived and quickly held her in his arms as she wept uncontrollably. I caught a glimpse of the others, and they were either crying already or had tears in their eyes. Papa walks over to me while looking teary himself. He gets down on his knees in front of me and embraces me in his arms.
I sob continuously letting all my bottled emotions go. He holds me, rubbing my back and whispering soothing words to me. I feel more arms wrap around me from all around. When my cries subside I look up to see everyone surrounding me with tears.
"I'm sorry. I should have fought harder. I shouldn't have let him. I should have done more." I murmur quietly looking down ashamed. A finger pulls my chin up and I'm met with Xander's fierce eyes.
"Never. And I mean never think that any of this was your fault."
"But you probably hate me right now."
"Leia, look at me." I look up from the floor to Xander. "Don't underestimate our love for you. We could never hate you. What that disgusting human being did to you is absolutely horrible. It's something no one should ever go through." He sighs softly.
"Leia?" I chuckle sniffling.
"I'll tell you later." He awkwardly scratches the back of his neck.
"Is that why you weren't eating properly?" The words slip out of Xavier before he can stop himself and my body goes stiff.
"Yes. The fear of him coming back held me back from eating." I shrug my shoulders as I wipe my tears getting up from the floor. The small white lie easily slips out. I have told them everything. Every little thing. But my self harm? My eating disorder? The little angel that I lost? I can't put those things into words for them to understand.
I see grandma still crying into grandpa's chest. I make my way to her and tap her on the back. She turns around, her eyes full of tears. Grandpa takes a step back and I immediately pull her into a hug. She cries on my shoulder before letting go and holding my face in her hands.
"My sweet baby. I love you so so much." She whispers gently.
"I love you too. But I'm no baby. I think I prefer badasses more. Like grandpa." I grin. She laughs, shaking her head as well as everyone else. Grandpa stands in front of me and hugs me tightly as I bury my face into his chest.
"That's my girl." He chuckles and I giggle in response.
"Sissy!" I hear someone yell from halfway. Elijah. I quickly checked myself in the mirror that was there, wiping my tears away. My eyes were slightly puffy but it was fine. I make my way outside and look around listening to small footsteps in the living room. They suddenly halt and a small cry is heard.
"Sissy!"
I rushed there as quickly as my feet could take me and saw Elijah crying on the floor. As soon as he sees me he runs up to me wrapping his small arms around my legs. I pick him up holding him in my arms and sway a little. He soon stops crying and looks at me with his tiny tear streaked face.
"Why did you leave me?" He whimpers.
"I'm so sorry little man. I just had to go talk to the rest of the family." I reassure him and he nods his head putting it back into my shoulder. "I'll never leave you alone again."
I lied.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Authors note
This chapter wasn't very long and was more of a chapter based on her family finding out about her being raped. I wanted to centre this chapter on just this topic since even with a smaller chapter it still has a lot of unspoken words.
I cried writing this chapter but next chapter we will be meeting a new character who may or may not be someone special in another person's life. Bet you can't guess who.
