Noah
My baby is sleeping in James arms as we drive to the safe house. It's been a crazy few hours and I am exhausted but on high alert. Same as my brothers.
As we pull up to the safe house in the middle of the forest we quickly grab our stuff and the dogs and got inside before we could be seen.
We all breathe a sigh in relief before getting our stuff all together and making sure Daisy is comfortable when she wakes up.
We close the blinds and keep the lights on the lowest setting.
The safe house is a small but well built house that has bullet proof glass and walls with a very complex security system that will keep us safe and under protection.
For a while at least.
No phones, no tablets, no laptops. Nothing that could be tracked. We will have to kick it old school which means board games and reading.
I don't think we will be doing any sort of relaxing anytime soon. With Daisy probably the most traumatized she has ever been in her fourteen years of life we are going to be walking on constant eggshells around her. We will be taking shifts in staying up with her at night in case she gets a nightmare and we will be following her around like lost puppies to make sure she doesn't hurt herself.
Speaking of, Daisy starts to wake up in James arms.She stares straight forward. She looks numb.
"Hi pretty girl." James greets her with a soft smile. She doesn't respond. She is trapped in her own mind, I don't think she even heard him.
"Daisy we are at the safe house you are safe now." Roman tells her. Xander looks worried out of his mind. Henry looks deep in thought and I probably look helpless.
We are so out of our league here.
She can't catch a break. After all she's been through she gets better only to take ten steps back.
"Let's go make some dinner boys." Henry says while standing up, we leave James and Daisy in the living room as we go to the kitchen.
Let's just hope the numbness passes.
-
James
"Daisy why don't we go on a walk?" I've now positioned her so she's sitting on the couch and I am crouched down infront of her.
Her head is in my direction but her mind and her eyes aren't here. She looks right through me.
I sigh before moving around her and grabbing her bag.
I pull out her hair brush and start brushing her hair. It's knotted and crazy at the moment and when she snaps out of this she'll be pretty pissed to mind her blonde locks knotted.
I gently comb through her hair then start working on her braids. I part her hair down the middle and start braiding her hair.
When Daisy first came here I learned how to do her hair just in case she needed help.
She never really did up until now.
I think messing around with her hair has comforted her because I saw her head un stiffen a bit.
I don't know what to do here. Do I just sit with her and wait it out? I guess that's all I can do.
"Okay Daisy I'm taking you to your room okay? It's not going to be as comfortable as your other one but at least I brought your blanket."
No answer. She continues to look straight forward.
Xander walks into the room and bend down to her height. "Hey munchkin, do you want food? Are you hungry?"
No response again.
"Xan she's not here, can you carry her to her room I'm going to grab her stuff." He does what I say and he gently picks our angel up and carries her down the hall way to the bedroom corridor.
He sets her down on her bed. He then looks to me. "James go deal with the others and come up with plans I got her."
"Okay, help her into new clothes maybe it'll make her feel better." I tell him giving her a kiss on the forehead before leaving down the hall to speak on the emergency phone with Dan and Dante.
-
Xander
I help her out of her sweatshirt. The scars and words littering her upper half making me feel nauseous. How could they do that to her?
I slip on one of my long sleeve shirts and then take off her sweatpants before replacing them with my basketball shorts. She has scars on her legs aswell.
I take off her socks and rummage through her bag as I find her fluffy socks.
Timmy and Beau come waltzing into the room. Timmy sits at the door and Beau tries to attempt to comfort Daisy. She doesn't react too him at all.
I push her back down on the bed and hop in next to her. I grab her favourite book Charlottes Web before starting to read where she left off.
"Trust me, Wilbur. People are very gullible. They'll believe anything they see in print. -"
-
I read to her for a while and I could tell she was listening but she wasn't fully here. She hasn't moved once, if I thought she might be uncomfortable I would reposition her so she has a bit more comfort.
"Daisy, why don't you try to sleep." I try to get any answer out of her.
"Can't." She mumbles.
"Why not princess?" I question her softly.
She shakes her head and turns her body so her back is facing me. I rub her back and pull her body so she is tucked into my side.
"They can't get you baby." I whisper. I see a tear fall down her face.
"They can and they will." She whispers back. Her voice cracks as she says that.
I pull her tighter into me. "They can't and they won't. I promise that we will protect you. I promise that as longs a we're alive you will never be hurt again."
"You can't promise that Xan."
She's right. If there is a will there is a way, and clearly they have that will. But that doesn't mean we won't try our hardest to keep them away. I know I shouldn't promise. I mean it could totally backfire on me. But all I can think about is making Daisy feel better.
"I can Daisy, we have more power than you think."
She just nods and let's the tears continue to fall.
Her tears pick up and are replaced with heavy sobs. "Get James." She sobs.
I get out of our hold and bolt down the hallway to find James. I see him sitting at the table with Henry and Rome. They look up alert at my panting figure.
"Daisy needs you James." I say out of breath. He shoots up from his seat and with out a word walks faster to her room. I follow behind him and stay back as I watch him pick Daisy up and effortlessly help calm her down.
"All I see," she pauses as she hiccups. "Is his head, and the blood, and the fingers. Make it go away... please James make it go away!" She hysterically cries.
All the boys are in the room now and we stand here not moving. Tears spill from James eyes and mine full with them as I watch my baby break.
"I can't sweet girl, I can't make it go away." James voice shakes as he holds her while rocking her back and forth.
"PLEASE!" She scream cries.
I can't do this.
I speed walk out of the room, then the bedroom corridor, then the house and into the woods.
I don't stop walking, tears spill from my eyes. She's too young. Too innocent to see such horrifying shit.
I hear footsteps behind me and quickly turn around pulling my handgun out of my pocket as I point it at the unknowns persons head.
I drop the gun when I realize it's Roman I am pointing my gun at.
I just shake my head and continue my walk.
"Xan are you-" I cut him off.
"I swear to god if you ask me if I am okay I will rip your tongue out. Nothing is okay! We are in hiding from our rivals. Our sister saw her abusers decapitated head. She can barely function and she is traumatized for LIFE! All because of our good for nothing mother. We are at a complete disadvantage here! They know where we are they know our weakness they know every fucking thing about us and we know shit about their whereabouts. Nothing is fucking okay!" I rant.
I am so exhausted. Every bone in my body aches at this never ending cycle of worry.
Roman just listens to my rant before pulling me into a hug. "I know Xan, trust me I know."
"I hate Margaret so much." I tell him with such hate in my voice.
I was just four when she left. I barely knew her, James practically raised me. Yet the woman who was supposed to be my hero became my villain and now she is causing our whole lives to come crashing down. Less than a week ago we were celebrating Christmas. I mean for fucks sake it's New Years tonight and here we are in a fucking safe house.
"Me too brother, me too." Roman agrees. "Let's go back." He says pulling away from the hug.
We walk back to the house. It doesn't feel like home. It feels empty and deathly.
We step back into the house and there we see all our brothers plus a sleeping Daisy in Henry's arms sitting around the table.
I go to the living room before coming back and wrapping the two in a blanket.
We sit around the table in silence. I can tell we are all exhausted. None of us has slept in hours almost a day actually. We can't sleep. Not now.
"I spoke with Dante and Dan." James breaks the silence. That catches our attention. "Dan said that the man we sent in too spy on them has found information on their whereabouts. Dante said that he is currently working on plans along with Tanya for taking down their empire. We just need to confirm their whereabouts and then we can come up with a plan."
That's good. At least they are making some progress. At least we aren't at a standstill.
"Good." Noah acknowledges James.
"Is she okay?" I blurt out looking at Daisy in Henry's arms. Her face is puffy and she doesn't seem relaxed at all.
"It took a while to calm her down but once she did she passed out like a light. I don't know about you guys but I think we should tell her about our mafia. I think she feels so unprotected and maybe knowing how powerful and strong we actually are can help ease her anxiety. I mean she has only seen the sides of us where we are soft and wouldn't hurt a fly. If she knows what we are capable of maybe it'll help her a bit." Roman suggests to us.
"What happens if that's not how she takes the information? What happens if she becomes more scared because we are no better than the people who are out for our blood?" Henry counters.
"I agree with Henry, I would much rather her not see us as killers." I pipe up.
"I think we should tell her, what if she finds out at the worst time and it only makes it ten times worse." Noah agrees with Roman. Something I never would've thought would happen.
In situations like this we all suggest our opinions. Normally it's divided into two. Most of the time two of us take one side and two take the other and because James is the oldest, and because he's the Don of the Italian mafia, he waits until everyone else makes their own decisions before giving the final order.
We all look at James. He sighs and rubs the growing stubble on his chin.
He looks up at us and gives his final answer.
"It's time to tell her."
-
Hope you all are having a great Sunday! I'm most likely going to post the next chapter in a couple of minutes.
Thank you for all the votes and comments!
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