Chiara Rose

dieci

"What bruises?" Dad says, his voice barely above a whisper. Gi shuffles uncomfortably in his chair like his mind is also thinking the worst.

"The other day her hoodie sleeve rode up a little, and there was a bruise sitting right on her wrist. It looked like it might've been just over a week old. I don't know." Gi says, his voice slightly croaky. I feel like I could be sick right now, and I don't even know if my thoughts are correct.

"Okay, so maybe she's just clumsy? Bruises happen from random things all the time. I had a bruise on my arm the other day from running into a fucking door, maybe she did the same thing." Dad says, quite clearly in denial.

"Yeah, okay. Maybe she did. But what if she didn't, Dad? What if she was a-." I begin, but Dad swiftly cuts me off.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence." Dad forces out, shooting daggers in my direction. And it makes me insanely mad, that he won't even acknowledge what she could've been through. He's just sweeping it under the rug like it's nothing.

"You have to think about it Dad, there's a solid chance that it's true. You can't just deny it." Gi says softly. None of us want to admit it, it's obviously something we all hope isn't true. But if it is true, then something needs to be done about it.

"I'm not denying it, I'm not a fucking idiot. I've just spent the last 14 years convincing myself that she was fine, that Rosalia was treating her well. Because if I didn't think like that, then I would've gone insane." Dad croaks.

"And now there's a chance that she wasn't as fine as I convinced myself she was? Whilst I was here, living my life all okay? It's just a little hard to think about." Dad says painfully. I'd be lying if I said I didn't do the same thing. I used to picture Chiara and Rosalia living in a small house together, happier than anything. It's scary to think that it's very inaccurate.

"So what, you just don't acknowledge or find out the truth so it doesn't ruin the picture you'd painted in your head? You're just ignoring the shit she could've gone through because you don't want your delusion to be wrong?" I snap back. The look that washes over Dad's face genuinely scares me, he looks like my saying those words physically pained him.

"Is that seriously what you think?" Dad says, his tone is extremely offended.

"I mean, I don't know. You're not exactly doing anything about it are you?" I shoot back, and Gi shrinks into his chair a little bit. Clearly, he doesn't want to get caught in between this.

"Well, what could I be doing about it, Tino? Run me through your ideas." Dad says dryly. And by that tone, I already know he's going to shit all over my ideas. But he asked for them, so I'm still going to give them to him.

"We have connections all over the world, one word out and we could find out a shit tonne of information. And we have some really good tech workers, fuck knows what kind of information they could find on there." I explain, causing Dad to snort. Okay, that was slightly unnecessary.

"Yeah sure, let's just go on and dive into her life without her permission, or even better, without her knowing." Dad says, shaking his head. I go to respond, but he doesn't let me.

"We can't do that Tino. We don't know shit about what her life was like before. And it's her life, and it's her story to tell. If she doesn't want to tell us, then that's her choice. I refuse to go behind her back and destroy the small amount of trust she's put in us." Dad explains, his voice softening a little bit. And I hate that his explanation makes perfect sense because now I feel bad for even thinking it was a good idea. I just want to know what happened to her. I want to know so I can try to help her.

"I just want to help her." I mutter out, rearranging the pens sitting on my desk. They don't need rearranging, they're always sitting in that spot. But I need something to distract myself, and right now, messing up my perfectly organised desk seems like it'll help me. It won't, but I'll save my freak-out for when Dad and Gi leave the room.