Their Little Princess

Chapter Forty

I hear my mom and Daniel's harsh voices in the sitting room. They aren't directed toward me and I can't help but listen in. Mom and Daniel don't argue often, but when they do, it usually ends worse for me, and I don't know what to expect.

"You would rather live your life on Lorenzo's puppet strings then?! With this deal, we could free ourselves from him, and get protection from—"

My mother's furious voice follows, "Protection from who?! You're talking about selling my daughter, this is a decision that doesn't solve anything. So when our lives are on the line because of some fool like Jon or Aleksei, and they can't protect us from my ex-husband, what then?! They've never protected anyone from anything! Most people can't even protect themselves, what makes you think anyone moron you can find even has the mental capacity to figure out how to keep your ass safe when the stakes are higher than us?!"

"You must think Rossi is keeping me alive just for the hell of it! He's gonna find out soon enough, and what fucking then?!"

"You aren't selling away—"

There's a slam that makes me jump and then Daniel's threatening voice, "You don't have a say in this. You're keeping your cards hidden? Well I'm done with it." 

There's a slamming knock on the door. It's quiet for a moment and no one moves, then Daniel is hurrying into the room I'm in, he grips up my arm, I let out a pained yelp as he drags me towards the cellar downstairs, "Dammit. Dammit. Go in the fucking basement. Don't make a sound or I'll kill you on the spot. GO."

He all but shoves me down the first few stairs slamming the door and locking it from the outside.

"Where is she?!" I hear a male's voice upstairs.

"We gave her away already," Daniel's voice follows.

The male's voice is furious, "Do you know what Lorenzo will do when—"

.    .    .

I'm pulled from my sleep in a cold and shaking sweat. I can't stop shaking and it takes a long time before I realize I'm in the living room in the mansion. I'm here. I'm safe. Am I?

Alessandro and Elijah are on either side of me, Alessandro's jaw is tense, Elijah looks extremely concerned. It's only then I see my brothers standing around him. I plant my hands on the couch behind me, bolting upright.

That was a dream. It was a dream. So why did it feel like a memory? I don't remember that happening. I can feel the dream slipping away until all that's left is a faint shadow of the nightmare I just had.

"What was that?!" Xander says, breaking the hard silence.

I flinch, his voice bringing me back. "Don't yell," Emilio snaps.

"Madison, I need to know what that dream was about," Sandro says, it's calm, but his voice is sharp.

"I—I don't know. It—I don't remember what that was—"

"I need you to try," He says. "What did I say?" I ask shakily.

"You only said the name 'Lorenzo', we just need to know if that was a memory from back in Seattle or from here," Emilio asks gently, "Do you remember?"

I shake my head, "No, I—I don't. I'm sorry, I don't remember—"

"Don't apologize," Francesco, of all people, says. 

I feel like crying and my shoulders are trembling. I feel terrified, and I don't even know what for. I know something is wrong. It never even occurred to me that I could have repressed memories, as much sense as it would make. When Elijah extends his hand, I don't take it, it's like my limbs don't work, my mind is in overdrive, I'm trying to grasp at whatever I just dreamed about and when he goes to touch my forearm to help me up, I flinch away.

Someone offers me a water and I shakily take it, taking a sip, thankfully it isn't too much water in it so my shaky hold on the cup doesn't create a mess. When I'm back to, I see Zio Dante, he's standing beside Alessandro with his hands in his pockets, a concerned look on his face.

"Thank you."

"Maddie, what—"

"Let her rest for a moment, Alessandro," Dante says firmly, "You won't get a sentence from her when she's this shaken up."

Sandro hesitantly complies, standing up, "Drink your water, Madison." He pulls his phone out, and walks toward the kitchen, "Everyone else, finish whatever you were doing," He says to my brother.

Zio Dante takes a seat next to me once they've left, "Do you want to talk?" He asks finally.

I exhale shakily, setting my cup on the table, "I don't know, I—I thought it was a dream, but it felt like a memory, I just—I don't remember that ever happening and now I can't even remember what the dream was about. I think it was a Seattle memory but if they're saying I said 'Lorenzo' then that wouldn't make sense. I want to remember, but I just...I can't."

"Don't beat yourself up over it," He says gently, "With everything you went through, it's normal that you'd have memories that are repressed, no one blames you for it."

"But Sandro—"

"Sandro doesn't blame you."

I take a shaky breath, "Okay."

"Do you want to go to bed?" He asks.

I practically shiver at the thought of laying alone in my dark room, but I don't want to seem baby-ish, "Yes."

He walks me to my doorway and I climb in bed, "Goodnight, principessa."

"Goodnight, Zio," I say quietly, squeezing my eyes shut, praying that sleep comes quickly, except knowing it won't.

Elijah's POV:

I watch as Alessandro's grip tightens on the pen in his hand as his eye closely watch the new and useless footage we've procured. None of the cameras give us a good enough view to get any info.

"I don't think she knew who dad was," Carlo says finally, "It just wouldn't make sense. He couldn't find her remember?"

"And it doesn't matter that we have Daniel now, because it seems like this is turning out to be more than you thought it was," Xander says to Sandro.

I don't even realize when Zio Dante enters the room until he speaks, "Do you have any angles besides that one?" He asks, looking at the footage.

"No, this is all we've been able to get our hands on, it was an old street, there weren't many cameras set up."

"Okay, but let's just say dad was somehow involved in this. Why wouldn't he have brought her back home before he died? And if he really was working with Elena, I understand having someone take out Daniel, but why Elena as well?" Emilio thinks aloud.

"Think about it," Francesco says, "Do you know the kind of threat Elena would have posed and having only one man carry the hit? Whoever dad could have sent wouldn't be nearly as skilled as her. They probably had to get her out of the picture before they could kill Daniel."

"They looked through the house afterward, there was blood in the hallway. Whoever killed them clearly had some sort of fight and set them up on the couch after to make it look like a normal house-killing."

"And if dad really is dead, then how would he have orchestrated all of this?" Carlo says.

"Right, that wouldn't make sense. So either dad isn't dead..."

I hesitate, "Or there's someone else behind this."

Sandro exhales, "This is fucking annoying."

.    .    .

hi loves!!!

these chapters honestly took me so long to write and i haven't even proof-read yet so i might go through and change some things. 

but i hope you enjoy, let me know what you think

see you next week <333