Their Little Princess | ✔️

Chapter Seven

Emilio and Alessandro share a look. I hate when my brothers do that.

"We have a med bay at our company. We just need to make sure everything looks good. It's not a hospital, I promise."

I don't even bother asking why they have a Med Bay at their company. They've been super secretive about their company and I don't want to start any conflict right now.

Alessandro looks at his watch, before pulling out his phone, "I'll drive ahead to make sure there's nothing...In the way. Come straight to the medical room when you get there."

He walks out of the room speaking into his phone but I don't catch anything he says as Emilio reaches over to pick me up off the floor, on instinct I flinch away from him and I can practically see his heart break but I don't make any moves to move closer to him.

He doesn't push, instead acting as if nothing happened, putting a hand out for me to grab. I take it and he helps me to my feet.

Elijah stands up after me, "I won't be able to go there with you guys. I have to take care of something. I'm really sorry, Maddie. But I'll be there as soon as I can. Promise."

I swallow the lump in my throat and nod, following Emilio out to the black car he'd picked me up in on the first day. I sit in the back seat and we drive through the darkness toward wherever their company is. My ribs hurt so bad that everything on the ride their is just a blur. I blank in and out the entire time.

I'm barely conscious as Emilio leads me up a stairway in a bright building. The lights make my head throb. I'm sure I see men in black suits, the same as I saw on my first day at my brother's home. Emilio purposefully stands in the way of my vision, masking it as unintentional. He leads me to an all white room. It's like a hospital room, there's only a single bed in the room. But the monitor is still there, ready for the next person to walk in.

Emilio must sense my panic because he interjects quickly, "Relax, Maddie. It's just a first aid room. There's no doctors and nurses, just me."

He's my brother. I can trust him.

I take that lie and I let it pull me as far as possible, I try to believe it. It feels as if my mind is working against me. My mind is warning me, but I want so badly to trust that I can believe him, but I've never had any reason to believe I can give my trust out to adults who say they want what's best for me.

"Do you have a sports bra on under your sweatshirt?" He asks, shuffling around on the cart by the wall.

"Yeah," I say quietly.

He reaches over and shuts the door, "Can you just slide the sweatshirt off? I just want to see if there's any damage beyond the ribs."

I slide the curtain over, trying to temporarily give myself as much privacy as possible until everything is out for my brother to see. Physically and metaphorically.

I slide the curtain back open and swallow the lump in my throat again as I lay back on the white hospital—sorry, 'med bay' bed.

"This might hurt a bit. I just need to make sure they aren't broken," He takes a look at my ribs, pressing down in certain places, and he lied when he said it's hurt a bit, it's excruciating. I jerk away in pain, unable to keep from squirming. Tears well in my eyes, "I'm sorry, I know it hurts," I hear the sympathy in his voice, the pity. I hate pity. "Good news, it doesn't look broken but—" He takes all the bruising in stride until he gets to the fading hand shaped scars peeking from the waistband of my legging, he looks at them for a moment as if hoping he's just seeing things. I see a flicker of anger in his expression, but he nods, masking it quickly and drags over the cart.

I watch nervously as he prepares a needle.

"What's that for?" I ask, my voice is shaking and it's lighter than usual.

"It's just an anesthetic, it'll put you to sleep so you won't feel anything."

He slides a mask on, the fact that he's just wearing his plain blue shirt and sweats instead of scrubs and a lab coat succeeds in calming me a little. He sits down in the rolling chair and rolls over beside the bed, "Don't be nervous, I'm a certified anesthesiologist," He says absently, putting the needle together. 

I act like I know what that means for the sake of calming my nerves. He grabs my arm and hands me a squeeze toy, lightly squeezing my arm in difference places, my hearts starts to race when he picks up the needle and I finally break. I jerk away from him, "Can we skip the needle?" I ask, my voice shaking pathetically.

I hate that I can't make my voice sound even and brave. If he didn't think I was weak before, he would now.

"It'll only be a pinch, I promise."

"No," I say, my voice shaking with the threat of tears. I'm tired and in pain, and I just want to go lay down in my bed and get under the covers. For once, I want to lay down and have no nightmares, no pain, just pure comfort. Something I haven't been able to have since I can remember.

He reaches for my arm again but I pull it back. "Maddie—"

"Where's Elijah? He said he would get here—"

"He's taking care of business, Maddie. It hasn't even been 30 minutes yet. This'll be quick, I promise. A pinch, and then you won't feel a thing. You're so strong—"

"But I'm not," I say quietly.

I can see his heart break a little and I feel guilty. Did they want me to be? Did they want me to be strong? Unbreakable? Is that why they took me in? Because they thought I was brave, they thought I was one of them? 

"Come on, Maddie. It was wrong, but you walked around and cooked dinner, and spent time with your brothers, and went shopping, and you did all of that while hiding a broken rib. If Carlo even stubbed his toe, I'd be nursing him in bed for weeks. How's it feel knowing you're stronger than your big brother?" He ask, sending a wink my way.

He takes the moment of calm to continue pressing around on my arm. I allow a small smile to break out at his words. However untrue they may be, it feels good to hear. I want to believe that I can deserve praise. It's just hard to accept.

"Deep breath in," He says. I inhale deeply and squeeze my eyes shut, I feel the prick in my arm and then that's it, aside from the discomfort of having the needle sit in my arm. I open my eyes and grin at him. He grins back, pulling off a strip of medical tape and tapes it down, "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" 

He walks over to the desk at the side of the room, and pulls a laptop out of his laptop bag. He walks over and sets it beside me on the bed, he puts on an avengers movie.

"A little bird told me you're a marvel fan," He says with a slight grin.

I'm a little surprised that he knows that. Did I mention it before? "You and Carlo both with the Marvel stuff," He shakes his head standing up.

I watch the first few minutes of the movie, and I don't even remember falling asleep.