ARABELLA's POV
"Why is she not waking up? You said she should have been awake by now." I heard a voice.
"She will, the sedative they gave her was pretty strong. She's in a deep slumber but she's fine, now will you stop breathing over my fucking neck?" Someone said with a sigh.
"Fuck you." The same voice from before said.
"That is enough Mason, get out– I'll call you when she wakes up." A different voice said.
"No I'm not going." He said as I felt the gentle hold on my hand getting tighter.
I tried to open my eyes as I squeezed the hand that was holding mine, and the surroundings got quiet almost instantly.
"Hey Arabella, it's Max, try to slowly open your eyes." A voice said, which sounded close to my ear and I did as I was instructed.
Slowly fluttering my eyes, I tried to open them— my eyebrows were knitted together pressuring my eyelids to stay closed, it felt like, somehow, they had been glued shut.
Once I finally opened my eyes, I looked around the now-darkened room in confusion, as I tried to recall what had happened.
I took in my family who were scattered around in my room, looking as worried as ever.
Max was standing right next to me patiently, waiting for me to get adjusted to the dim lightning.
The grip I felt on my hand was yanked away as I turned to look at now angry Mason.
He stood up and moved away from me, as he glared at me with his arms crossed in front of him.
What's his problem?
Oh I know...
Once a prick, always a Mason...!!
To think about it, nearly half of my brothers were looking at me as if they were mad at something I did. Silvio opened the curtains allowing the sunlight to seep into my room.
"How are you feeling?" Max asked, as he made me look at him and raised my right eyebrow to widen my eye as he flashed a light to check it and then repeated the process with my other eye.
"Confused." I replied, causing Max to sigh along with a couple of huffs from around the room as I looked at my angry looking brothers.
Why are they mad?
"Does anything hurt?" He asked in a doctorly voice, I couldn't find the usual warmth in his voice that he uses every time he talks to me.
"Not really, I don't feel anything other than a slight ache in my head." I responded while staring at him, trying to figure out why he has such a cold exterior.
"It's got to be anaesthesia." I overheard him mumbling.
"Why'd you give me anaesthesia?" I asked, looking at him with furrowed eyebrows.
"I didn't, you were already drugged," Max replied, causing my eyes to widen in surprise, and leaving my mouth hung open as I looked at Max in confusion.
Drugged!?
When was I fucking drugged?
Who drugged me?
"Anyways I have treated the bruises on your face and removed the chip that was inside of you so let me know if you're in pain and I'll give you a painkiller." He further added in a monotonous voice as an angry frown creased his eyebrow.
Hold up right there?
Now what bruise..!!
Did I wake up from a coma or something?
Why can't I understand any of what Max was saying
"What bruise and what Chip?" I asked, confused as hell, causing his eyes to widen.
"Don't you remember anything?" He asked and I looked around the room at everyone whose cold exterior had changed to something much more alarming.
"What happened to you?" I asked shocked as I sat stiffly on my bed staring at a very bruised looking Kyson.
Beside him stood a black eyed and bruised Alexander and on his right was Dante who had a cut on his cheek looking just as worse as the other two.
How did that happen?
Someone beat Alexander and Dante? How–
I don't know if I should laugh or stay in shock forever..!!
They just stared at me and then glared at the rest of my brothers as realisation dawned upon me— they are the ones who did that.
"Why did you guys beat them up?" I asked, still in a stunned state, while the rest who just stared back at me looking pissed themselves.
I'd like to think they are mad at the trio rather than me but judging by the looks everyone was giving me I could say they were equally mad at me too.
"How come she can't remember anything?" Noah frustratedly asked Max, while looking at me worriedly.
"Give it a minute or two, it's normal." Max muttered but still gave me a concerned look.
"Arabella." Dad called me, as he made his way towards me with stoic-expression on his face.
His eyes looked so tired and red from lack of sleep.
"Did you remember what happened at the hospital? The phone call? The Chip? The warehouse? Anything?" He asked while taking a seat on the chair where Mason was sitting earlier.
Just as he said that, everything came crashing down on me like a pile of bricks fallen from the sky.
My expressions turned from confusion to recognition to horror and to guilt as I looked at my thrashed looking brothers at the side of my room.
Did the others beat them up because of what I had asked them to do?
My expressions must have answered Dad's earlier question, because everyone's worried and alarmed faces turned to angry and cold ones including dad's.
I couldn't bear the hardened looks everyone was giving me so I looked down at my conjoined hands in my lap.
As I recalled everything I quickly looked up at dad in urgency.
"How's grandpa?" I asked, as I removed the blanket off of me, ready to get out of the bed.
"Stay back, he's fine and sleeping in his room." Dad replied, still giving me a stern look.
Hearing the harshness in Dad's voice, I froze and stayed rooted at my place, while the whole room was surrounded by pin drop silence.
I could feel everyone's gaze which was fixated on me.
I know everyone was upset with me because of what I did.
Their upset and disappointed expressions only fueled my urge to want to dig a hole and stay there for the rest of my life.
"Do you have anything to say to justify your actions?" Dad asked angrily, breaking the deadly silence in the room.
"No, I don't." I said, causing Dad's eyes to narrow down at me as he took a deep breath.
"Arabella, explain." Dad said and I sighed.
"What is there to explain? I did what any of you would have done in my situation. I'm sorry, Dad, but Grandpa was laying in the hospital bed. I couldn't have stayed back knowing that I could have saved his life. I didn't have a family for the first 15 years of my life, and now that I have one, I'm not planning on losing anyone. I couldn't let him die when I knew I could do something. Wouldn't you have done something similar if you had been in my shoes? I don't want to lose Grandpa– Dad, and if I had to do it all over again for any of you, I would in a heartbeat." I asserted sincerely and sternly, with tears threatening to roll down my eyes.
I wasn't fucking guilty, and I meant every word I said.
My face was contorted in pain, and my hands covered my face as I recalled the time when grandpa was in the hospital fighting for his life. I felt arms wrap around me, enveloping me in a safe and secure embrace.
Dad stroked my hair as he tried to calm me down, while his other hand patted my back as I finally let my tears flow free in his safe embrace.
"Princess I don't conform to what you did, and I strongly condemn your actions. I don't want you to do it again. What if something were to happen to you? Did you think Grandpa would have lived if he knew you were putting your life in danger for him? What if I had lost you? Did you not think about me at all? I found you beaten and unconscious. Do you know how painfully dreadful that was, I don't ever want to see you like that again." He choked out his words, his voice sounded painful.
I looked up to see him in tears.
As I brought my hand to wipe them away— I quickly wrapped my arms around him again, clinging onto him.
We didn't say anything as we stayed in each other's embrace finding solace.
Finally after a while, I felt a couple of more arms wrap around me, and I looked up to see some of my brothers hugging me and dad.
We stayed like this for a few minutes, and then everyone separated themselves as their now angry expressions softened.
"We are glad that you are safe." Giovanni and Gianni said together as everyone else agreed.
"Are you still mad at me?" I asked everyone but nobody replied as they looked away from me.
Elijah sighed and muttered something as he made his way to my bed.
"Not gonna lie, we are all still upset about what you did, but I don't think any one of us is mad at you anymore. We understand where you were coming from and why you did what you did. But, please, don't do it again." He said as he brought me in his embrace and kissed my forehead.
"At least, I informed the three." I said pointing towards my scowling three brothers as everyone else glared daggers at them.
"Can you please not." I sighed in exasperation, causing them to turn their questioning stare towards me.
"Shouldn't you be relieved that I at least informed them? Would it have been alright if I went on my own?" I asked, causing them to glare at me.
"You shouldn't have gone in the first place." Matthew gritted at me.
"And with that fucking chip, which we hadn't even tested yet." Dominic said, sneering at Kyson.
"Even if I didn't have that chip, I was confident that Alexander and Dante would have brought me back home. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't trust you guys." I replied as everyone looked away from me.
"Just don't fucking do it again. And for fucks sake, if anyone threatens you again, you come to us since the two oldest couldn't keep you safe." Mason said, glaring at me and my three brothers.
"I'm fucking done with your stupid fuckry of tantrums, I swear to god—" Alexander started but dad cut him off.
"Just don't right now, I'm tired of listening to all of you rambling and bickering." He said with a sigh of irritation.
"Second that." Uncle Alessio and Uncle Matteo said together sounding equally irritated.
"Who beat them up?" I asked, looking at my uncles causing their grave expressions to turn one into amusement.
"Dominic beat Kyson up while Vincenzo beat the two older ones." Uncle Matteo said as I stared at Dominic and Vincenzo with wide eyes, who by the way looked smug.
"Vincenzo I love you more than any of them, you are my favourite brother I swear." I said with a nervous chuckle, causing Vincenzo to shake his head amusedly while my other brothers huffed at me.
"Lying bitch–" Mason muttered audibly and rolled my eyes at him.
Jealous prick
"Mason didn't do anything?" I asked surprised, since he would have been my first guess.
"The gym's pretty trashed." Uncle Alessio said with a laugh.
"Being fair, all of these idiots destroyed it equally." Dad said pointing to the rest of my brothers and cousins, earning a few chuckles from around the room.
"Why don't you take some rest? I'll have someone send you breakfast, and we'll have a talk about what happened after breakfast with everyone present." Dad said and the room suddenly became solemn.
I knew exactly what they were talking about and I wasn't sure if I wanted to discuss it at all.
"Okay." I sighed.
I turned to look at Lucca as I realised he hadn't said a single thing to me. He's been staring at me blankly from the doorway.
I gave him a small smile which he didn't reciprocate.
His serious expression shifted to anger as he glared at me and left the room.
Tears welled up in my eyes as I realised my best friend was still upset with him. I kept staring at the now-empty doorway, hoping he'd come back.
"Give him a little time, princess; he'll come around." Uncle Matteo said as he drew me into a hug.
I simply nodded my head and then the older ones began to leave the room, not before kissing my forehead.
When Alexander and Dante approached me I looked at them with guilt.
"I'm sorry, they hurt you because—" I started but Alexander cut me off.
"It's not your fault, that they were angry at us. Don't blame yourself princess and I'm glad you came to us." He said as he pulled me in his arms.
After that I hugged Dante who also kissed my forehead and then they all left leaving me with the angry and moody teenage brothers.
"What if he refuses to forgive me?" I suddenly asked no one in particular as I stared at the doorway.
"Believe me he will come around way sooner than you think." Giovanni said.
They all sat across my bed, as they started a lecture of their own about how wrong was what I did and everything else that could have gone drastically wrong or had made things worse.
This was going to be long and painful.
I looked at Kyson, who smiled and nodded as he walked out of my room, most likely to talk to Lucca, leaving me alone to deal with my moody and infuriating brothers.
What a life–
✏️ Word Count: 2368
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