Chiara Rose

tredici

"It was pretty bad, amongst the worst bruising I've seen. It covered most of her right side and continued onto her back, but I didn't have the chance to properly assess it because I didn't want to stress her anymore, and I didn't want to put her through any more unnecessary pain." Gi explains softly.

"Okay, so when are you going to look at it properly? Ribs are a dangerous place to injure." Tino asks this time, everyone momentarily pauses as Rocco reaches into the tub and pulls out some stretchy toy and begins aggressively tugging on it.

"I'm going to take her into the warehouse tomorrow. Do an x-ray of her ribs, and run some bloods. Then I'll call and see when Val can see her next." Gi explains, and I slowly start nodding.

"Does Carlo need any sort of check-up?" I ask. Something tells me that Chiara hates it when all the attention is on her, so if Carlo needs something done we should do them at the same time. Hopefully, it'll make her feel more comfortable, and less like all the attention is on her.

"Um I'll have to check his vaccinations, but he's just had a massive growth spurt so it's probably worth running a few blood tests to make sure his vitamins and everything are okay. Actually, he was complaining about being dizzy the other day, so it'll probably be worth checking that out." Gi says slowly nodding to himself.

"Okay, then tomorrow we'll take both of them in and do whatever needs to be done. Sound like a plan?" I explain calmly, and Gi simply nods in response.

"You didn't answer my question, who gave her the marks and bruises?" Rocco asks, now playing with the stretchy toy a little more aggressively. At some stage, he's also picked up a very mangled teddy bear which is sitting by his feet. He looks away from the thing in his hand and directs his glare towards Gi.

"Rosalia and John gave her the marks." Gi says it's a miracle his tone stays so calm. Because I feel the strong urge to get up, bring John and my ex-wife back from the dead, and then brutally murder them again.

"So she was abused?" Bruno croaks out, tears streaming down his face. Enzo's eyes are a little glassy, whilst Agostino and Rocco just look more mad than sad. Gi's face is still somehow neutral.

"Yeah, she was." Gi says quietly, the first ounce of emotion cracking through his voice. It feels like the whole world stills when he says it.

Abused. Rosalia had the audacity to take Chiara from us, rob her of valuable time she could've had with me and her brothers growing up, to keep her 'safe' from threats that come from my job. The job she was fully aware of when our marriage was arranged, just to take her to Australia and give her a much more unsafe upbringing than she would've had if she stayed here, with us.

There are no words for the pure anger running through me right now, none of it being directed at Chiara. All of it is directed towards my ex-wife, Rosalia, and her second husband John. Honestly, the fact his name is John is just a massive red flag, did his parents not love him growing up? Well, based on his actions, I think it's safe to assume they didn't.

"Just abuse, nothing else?" Tino asks slowly, wanting Gi to say no. But based on the way Gi's face pales, and he starts nervously fidgeting with his fingers, Tino's not going to be getting the answer he wants. There was more, and the thought of that makes me feel sick.

"There was a fair amount of bruising on her hips, which were all hand shaped." Gi says, wincing as he thinks about it. The room goes silent for a few seconds, everyone slowly processing what this information could possibly mean.

"So she was raped, is that what you're trying to say? The son of a bitch raped her?" Rocco spits aggressively. Well, it's about as nice as his tone can get, sometimes he doesn't realise that he's being aggressive.