Alina

Antonio

Ok, maybe we shouldn't do that yet.

It hurts to see something like this. Such a small, innocent child has been through so much. She's had to experience things no child should ever have to endure.

My wife runs into the room and gathers her in her arms without hesitation.

I can't hear what she's saying, but it looks like princess is reacting nicely.

I like that, 'princess'.

Then I hear my princess's first words.

"Hey, I'm not a baby. I'm tree years old. Tree. Tree." I can't help but laugh at her attempt to say "three".

Her voice is beautiful, not whiny or squeaky at all.

When I hear Bianca say "he's your daddy" my heart just melts. Then when my girl says that I'm scary, I think two things:
Damn right I fucking saying and I don't want to be scary for my princess.

Then I finally get to hold her and now that I really have her in my arms for the first time, it all becomes so real.

I felt an instant connection to her when she was asleep, but now that she's awake, I can feel it tenfold. I'm ready to give her the world right now and I'd kill anyone who'd dare hurt her, and I'd take a beautifully long time doing it.

Then she asks me if I was a teddy bear.

Can this girl get any cuter?

I introduce myself to her as her father and feel her get all tense in my arms and that hurt. He clearly hurt her and will pay tremendously.

I manage to calm her down before she starts to cry. I don't think I could take that. A bullet, sure, why not? But not my daughter's tears. Never my daughter's tears.

Then Bianca asks the big question, her name. And then she says it, Alina. What a beautiful name.

Our Allie.

Our princess.

I go to call the boys while Bianca is going to make some food for Allie. She looks very malnourished for her age and I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't fed correctly. Now that she's up and we have her name, finding her excuse for a family should be easy.

"Alessandro, she's awake. Get everyone home n-" before I could finish I hear him yelling to the others.

Here we go.

I wait for them near the elevator because I know they're going to rush in and most likely overwhelm Allie.

When the elevator opens, they rush out but I step in their path before they can get too far.

Before I can get a word out,
"Where is she?!" Luca yells.

"Quiet! She's only been up for an hour. Be gentle with her and don't overwhelm her. No yelling," I glare at Luca who pretends not to hear me. "Wait, where's Roman?" I turn and see him sneaking toward the main room.

"Turn around dad!" He says.

Huh?

I turn and see my boys gone. I look back to where Roman was and see them all running toward the kitchen.

Assholes.

I go to the kitchen and see them staring at Allie. She looks terrified and honestly, I don't blame her.

Like me, my sons don't exactly look the most friendly. In every room they walk into, you can practically feel the power and strength that surrounds them.

I see her flinch when Alessandro stepped forward. Shit. I was going to tell them no sudden movements.

I decide to make my presence known and pick her up.

"Princess, I want you to meet your brothers." She processes the information for a second, then her face goes pale and turns into a look of pure horror.

Her heart rate picks up and I can tell she's going to pass out again. Bianca can tell too.

No no no no, not again.

"ALINA!" She yells as Allie goes limp in my arms. Bianca takes her from my arms and cradles her, tears of worry in her eyes.

I look over at my sons and see hurt and concern on their faces—their sister is afraid of them. I know they'd never hurt her. They saved her life and brought her home.

"I swear to god, I'll find whoever hurt my sister and make them wish they were never born," Alessandro says, the rest of the brothers nod in agreement. 

"When she wakes up again, we have to talk to her about her old home. No one has found anything on her. It's like she doesn't even exist." Roman explains.

"First, why don't we, I don't know, make sure our sister won't pass out the next time she sees us?" Luca says.

"Your mother is with her right now. There's food on the counter. I'll be right back." I walk back towards my bedroom. From outside I hear her yelling and crying.

It's so hard hearing your child in pain.

I open the door and slowly walk towards my princess. She turns and her puffy eyes look into mine. She puts her arms out, telling me she wants to be picked up. You love your daddy.

I was so worried when she fainted. She was out for so long already, I couldn't stand to see her like that again. But she's ok now. She's safe and in my arms.

No one will ever hurt her again.