The next day was passing slowly. The triplets were nervous about their results.
Leo had made them sit down and look online at any items they might want. Mostly to personalize their rooms but he said if they saw anything to just add it to the basket.
They were currently in Alex's room looking at different items.
"I think they are different" James spoke.
"Yeah or maybe they are just waiting till we trust them so they can break our trust" Alex replied.
"But they have been nice so far. Even yesterday when I insulted Marco I wasn't punished" James said
"I don't trust them especially Lorenzo " Alex replied.
"Why don't you trust him, he's nice" Skye said quietly.
"Of course you would think that. Youre getting too comfortable with him" Alex replied.
It wasn't like Alex was purposely doing this. A year or so ago two men promised they would save them, that they would get the triplets out. Those men gained the triplets trust. Alex had let his guard down because he trusted them. Those men broke the trust. They hurt Skye the most but James and Alex got hurt too.
"What's your problem? He hasn't done anything wrong" Skye found herself defending her eldest brother. She had never not defended Alex or James so the boys were a little suprised.
"My problem is the last time someone earned out trust we all got hurt" Alex said.
"But what if this is genuine. I don't trust them yet but I think we could be happy" James said. He knew his brother was only looking out for them. The last time they trusted it had turned out bad.
"It's been just over a week. If they are genuine it won't hurt to give it longer to see if we should trust them. Just because they haven't done anything yet doesn't mean they won't" Alex said. He wanted to believe his siblings but he wasn't just going to forget years of abuse and trust them all because they have been nice for a week.
"But Lorenzo makes the best hot chocolate" Skye whispered.
Alex and James smiled at her. She was adorable.
"Alex is right. If they are good then it won't do us any harm waiting a little longer to make a decision"
"Or maybe you both need to trust them. They haven't done anything " Skye said.
"You want me to trust these strangers? Have you forgotten what happened last time we trusted strangers" Alex said with a raised voice.
Skye looked away, Alex barely ever raised his voice especially not at her.
Last time Alex had been made to watch Skye get abused and then he was made to watch James get beat up. It was then his turn and he had welcomed the beating as it meant he could focus on the pain rather than images in his head of his siblings being hurt.
He had trust issues, but he just wanted James and Skye safe.
"Where are you going" James asked.
"Not here, I just want to be happy and you both have to ruin that" Skye said and walked out.
Alex felt guilty. He hadn't meant to be like this.
"Hey are you okay" James asked putting his hand on Alex's shoulder.
Alex flinched and jerked his arm away.
"Alex what's wrong" James asked.
"I don't want us to let our guard down. It's been a week, they could be lying to us. There is no harm keeping our guard up until we know for sure" Alex told him.
"Why did you flinch away from me" James asked seeing that Alex had avoided the question.
"It's just a reflex" Alex quickly dismissed him.
"Should we go after her then or give her time. I don't like her being on her own" James said wanting to go after his sister. Just because he was starting to believe they could be genuine didn't mean he trusted them completely. He didn't want anything bad happening to her.
After Skye had left the room she started to head back to her room. She walked down the corridor, reaching where the stairs were when she saw a very pissed off Marco .
Sure she was starting to trust them. She had hope that Lorenzo was actually good but she did not trust Marco even just a little bit.
"All alone? I'm suprised your little guard dogs aren't behind you" Marco said before she could go down the other corridor that led to her room.
"I don't have any" she whispered not understanding what he meant.
"Well aren't you a dumb idiot. You know once you fail this test, dad will kick you out. He doesn't want children who are stupid. You will be sent back to wherever you came from"
Skye did her best not to cry at his words but they hurt.
She was also terrified that he was right. Would Rafael send her back to them?
"And when you do get sent back I'll be happy, I won't have to put up with you again "
Marco left to go to his room. A smirk on his face.
Skye felt like shit. Alex was right. She should have listened to him. She felt alone. Alex was probably annoyed at her outburst, he wouldn't want her. James was with Alex and he probably felt the same. Her other brothers probably found her just as annoying.
She left the corridor and quickly made it to her room. She couldn't help the tears fall. She had been strong for her brothers all her life, she hated crying in front of them as they never cried in front of her. Not anymore at least.
Marcos words hurt. They terrified her. She was already doing her best to be respectful and not anger them but she knew she would need to try harder.
She must have spent a few hours sat crying, thinking about her past and all the abuse she had suffered.
There was a knock on her door so she quickly made sure she didn't look like she was crying and then anwsered it.
It was James.
She couldn't help but feel a little dissapointed and sad, she hoped Alex would be here. She wanted him to reassure her he was not mad with her.
She figured since it was only James, Alex was angry with her.
"Dinner is ready" James said.
"Oh okay" she didn't want to face all of them, especially Marco.
"Yep. Also Leo ordered everything we had put in the basket. He insisted on us getting more stuff, he was very persistent about it, he said he would buy everything if we didn't pick what we wanted so we picked a few more things and got you a few stuff too" James explained.
"Okay" Skye said, she didn't see the point in it all.
"And Leo said that we should be getting out results in a few hours" James added. He was hoping for more than an okay from her.
"Ok" she mumbled.
James knew something was wrong but he put it down to her and Alex having that disagreement.
"Come on, let's go. Alex was going to come but he didnt want to upset you. He's waiting for us" James said.
"He's not mad at me?" She asked hoping he wasn't.
"No. You know what Alex is like. I can't blame him, he wa forced to watch us, especially you get hurt, before he was hurt himself so many times. He'd do anything to protect you and could never be mad at you"
Skye nodded she hoped it was true. She had been stupid to believe this place was different, she needed Alex and James.
They joined Alex who was waiting near the stairs. Skye was quick to hug him "I'm sorry I shouldn't have spoken to you like that" she whispered.
"I shouldn't have spoken to you the way I did either. I apologize" he replied hugging her back.
And just like that, Alex and Skye were back to normal.
James felt a little left out until Skye hugged him. Alex gave it a minute before he joined in the hug and soon they were having a group hug.
Skye needed the hug. She still felt like shit after what Marco had said but she had Alex and James, she wasn't completely alone.
"Kids come down dinner is getting cold" Leo called from downstairs.
They parted from the hug and headed downstairs.
Everyone was already at the dining table and had started eating.
They were still hesitant to eat, they still were wary that it wasva trap, that they would be punished for eating.
Lorenzo- - Leo
Marco- -Alex
Nico - -Skye
-James
Skye was extremely nervous and scared at dinner, she was almost directly across from Marco who kept sending the triplets hateful glared when Leo wasn't looking.
Leo and Lorenzo were deep in conversation about business.
Nico was telling whoever would listen about his day.
James felt bad for Nico so every now and then he would nod along or give a generic response such as 'thats good'. It was good enough for Nico though as his smile widened every time James spoke to him.
Skye was growing more nervous by the second. Her fear was consuming her. She didn't want to go back to them. She never wanted to see that basement again.
Lorenzo glanced at the triplets to make sure they were eating, he was pleased that they were however before he could focus back to the conversation with Leo, he noticed Skye looking fearful, he noticed a slight tremor in her hands.
He knew she would hate to break down in front of everyone and he knew she would leave the room or even ask to leave. Another thing he noticed, Alex would ask on behalf of them if they could leave.
He silently got up and walked round to Skye, everyone watched him.
"Come with me" he quietly said.
"Where are you taking her" Alex demanded as soon as she got up.
Skye had gotten up because she knew she was about to break like yesterday. She didn't want that especially in front of Marco who would insult her more or in front of Alex or James, they would fuss over her constantly.
"Nothing will happen to her" Lorenzo said to Alex before leading Skye out.
He took her to the living room which was one of the closest rooms.
"Okay Skye it's just you and I now" he said gently.
Skye didn't bother to hold back the tears as soon as he said that. Her panicked state grew as her fear grew.
"It's going to be okay. If you want to talk about it we can" Lorenzo said.
"Please don't...please" she said through tears.
"Don't what? I won't do it whatever it is" he found himself saying. He never agreed not to do something without knowing what it was.
"Don't send me away because I failed " she stuttered, crying harder.
Lorenzos concern only grew "never. This is your home Skye, it always has been. That test was only to get into that school. If you fail you will go to a different school. It's really no big deal" he reassured her.
Again for the second time, he pulled her into a tight hug.
"I don't want to go back there" she said whilst hugging him back.
"Why not" Lorenzo asked hoping to get a little information.
"No. Please don't. Please" she was crying badly.
"I'm not going. Dad isn't going to. You are home. This is your home" he quickly said hugging her tighter.
"I would never let you go back to a place like that" he said with a little hate in his tone.
It startled Skye and she looked up at him in confusion.
"Any place that has you begging not to go back is bad" Lorenzo explained his hatred for the place.
Of course he suspected but he didn't want to let her know just yet.
"Skye what put this idea into your head. We talked about it yesterday and we said that you would go to another school so what brought this on" he asked once they finished the hug.
Skye found herself looking at the floor.
"Skye you can tell me" he said.
"It's nothing " she whispered not wanting to cause more problems with Marco.
"Well I don't believe that but I will not push you for an anwser" he told her.
"Do you want to finish dinner" he asked.
She didn't want to but she didn't want to waste the food the maids had taken the time to cook so she nodded.
As they were about to enter the dining room, Lorenzos phone made a noise signalling he had got a notification, at a glance he saw he had 3 emails from the school.
He hoped they had gotten in.
"It's the results isn't it" Skye asked.
"It is" he confirmed.
"I know I said I don't want to be seperated from Alex and James but they deserve a chance to go to this school, so if I don't get in I don't want them to miss going to this school because of me"
"Would you like to know now or do you want to receive them together" he asked.
"Can we get Alex and James "
"Yes of course " he replied. He opened the door and both Alex and James were up in seconds when they didn't see Skye "where is she, what did you do with her" Alex asked.
"Both of you come with me " Lorenzo said and headed back out of the room.
The boys quickly followed. They both sighed with relief when they saw Skye.
"He has the results" Skye whispered.