Pain.
That's all that Isabella has experienced for the past 16 years. The pain of the abuse she faces from her boyfriend and step father. The pain of her loneliness at home. The pain of 'not being good enough'.
But she's learnt to tune it out. She's...
"They name the most powerful storms after women for a reason."
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I slipped away from my family and told them I was going to the bathroom, but I ended up going to see Nikolai.
He told me that he's leaving soon, he thinks in a couple of days. I'll miss him, obviously, but I'm so glad that he's joining us Italians now and working against the Russians.
There's a lot going on in my life right now, and I can't sort it all out. I have to go check out the club that Theodore told me about, Mateo is still an issue, I haven't told my brothers everything about me yet, like my issue with lighters.
"Iz, come back to earth." Leo whispered in my ear from the seat beside me. We're all gathered at the dinner table, eating insanely large portions of pizza. The chefs brought out so many pizzas, I actually wonder if anyone else in the area was able to get any pizza ingredients.
"Sorry." I mumble back, turning my attention back to the slice on my plate. I lift my head to make eye contact with Elijah, who gives me an encouraging smile which urges me to continue eating.
Small bites, small bits of progress.
"So, Isabella. What's been going on all these years?" Uncle Salvatore asks from the other side of the table, bringing everyone's attention to our conversation.
"Oh, uh, nothing special. A little of this, a little of that." I try to brush off the subject and go back to my pizza.
"Surely something happened in the past 14 years?" He continues, a smile on his face as he tries to ask about my life. It's an innocent question, but with so much underlying complexities.
"No, nothing interesting." I smile back and quickly glance at Vince to ask for help.
"At least tell us where you were. I think we're all curious." He pushes, my cousins looking eager to find out.
"I was in London, nothing special." I keep trying to finish the conversation and go back to my food which is already difficult enough to eat.
"I think we should all just get back to eating dinner." Vince finally pipes up and interrupts. I could have fixed it by myself, maybe.
"Alright." Uncle Salvatore defeatedly says, clearly looking a bit confused.
I give Vince a small thank you nod and turn back to my meal.
Blaze
The rest of dinner flew by, and I managed to eat 4 slices of pizza which is quite a bit for me.
Vince told me to meet him in his office later, we apparently have some things to discuss.
For the moment, I'm sitting in the movie room alone, watching Tangled.
"Iz? Are you in here?" I hear Bruno's voice call for me from the other side of the door as it opens.
"Hey." I say as he makes his way over to the couch.
