EVELYN'S POV
Taking a deep breath, I tried to prepare myself for their reaction when they get to know the truth.
I am sure they would throw me out, so I tried to my best to look at everyone and bask in their comfort for the last time.
"So, I-uh, you know I have lived with Jack and Amanda my entire life, that's why I didn't know that they are not my real parents and that I was adopted. At first, I guess they were ok. Not the typical loving kind of parents, but they were fine. They really changed when I was 5. It started with a few slaps here and there at the start. If I did not do anything they told me to, they would slap or punch me. But, it turned to full-fledged beatings by the time I was 8. If I did something wrong, they would beat me for hours without any mercy. I, at first thought that this was normal. That hurting their children was a way for parents to discipline them and that all parents did it. But, it was later that I found out that it was wrong. So very wrong." I started nervously with tears in my eyes.
Stopping for a moment, I looked around and saw that everyone was frozen in their places. The ladies were crying, so were the young ones. The oldies along with my older brothers were looking at me in disbelief and shock written all over their faces.
'It was a heartbreaking sight..'
"Umm, so yeah, they kept beating me once in a while at first, but then they started doing it everyday. Later, it progressed to twice a day on some days and even thrice sometimes. T-They liked it when I used to scream for them to stop. I guess they liked to show me my place, which was at their feet according to them. So, as to not to give them the satisfaction of breaking me, I stopped begging them to stop when I turned 10. I stopped doing anything while they were beating me. Sort of like a switch, I turned it all off when they were hurting me. I stopped crying, pleading, screaming and literally anything that would satisfy them. They took this as a challenge and started beating me harder, wanting to see me cry. They would beat me to the point I would pass out from either pain or blood loss. I did everything for them, cook, clean, and what not, basically everything to please them and get at least one word of appreciation, but it never seemed to work, they always found a mistake in it and it gave them another reason to beat me." tears rolled down my cheeks remembering everything.
"They would do anything to make my life even more worse. They ruined my life. They made me regret being born. There were so many times when I would wish that they cut or stab me so deep, that I died and did not wake up the next time, for it to happen again. They made my life a living hell. They not only physically abused me, but mentally as well. They would call me a whore, bitch, slut, mistake, worthless and anything derogatory. After some time, I actually started believing them, that I was worthless and that I did not deserve anything. I had to start working at a young age to get some basic stuff for me as they did not get me anything. That is actually why I was working at that café."
"You know, I always wondered how it would be like to have a normal family where the parents loved their children and not beat them. You can say I was highly envious of other kids who had a loving family, knowing I wasn't ever getting that. I-I wanted to be loved, but I knew that I didn't deserve that. So, after wishing for some kind of miracle to happen that would save me from them for a few years, I lost that hope too." I smiled sadly at that.
Looking up, I saw ladies crying hysterically along with my younger older brothers, while the oldies and older brothers had clenched jaws, clenched fists and rage and guilt in their eyes.
"So, umm, that's it. Basically I have been used as a punching bag my whole life and degraded to think the least of me." I finished looking down.
They all remained silent. No one was saying anything. There was a pin-drop silence in the room. It was making me more nervous by the second.
All of a sudden, Carlos moved from his frozen state and came towards me.
Domenico and Ales took a step back after sharing a look with him.
"Are you hurt anywhere right now bambina?" Carlos asked me gently with tears in his eyes.
Angelo too stood up and came to my other side.
I looked at him trying to figure out his intentions, if I should tell them about my present injuries or not. Coming to the conclusion, that they would know if I lie anyway, I decided to tell him the truth.
So, I nodded.
Almost instantly his and several other men's jaw clenched in anger.
"Where bambina?" Angelo asked softly.
"Uhmm, everywhere." I said in a low voice looking down not wanting to see the disgust in their eyes.
Everyone looked even more angry now.
'Oh no no. I shouldn't have said that..'
'Now they hate me, don't they??'
'Stupid. idiotic Evelyn. Can't even do one thing right.'
'Maybe I really deserved what they did!!'
"Can I please see them Eve? Just to make sure it is nothing serious." Carlos asked me softly trying to control himself.
My gaze for some reason immediately went to my triplets.
'I want their comfort. I don't think I can do this without them.'
'God, I sound so clingy!!'
As if understanding me clearly, they both ran towards me and held my hands. They were on either side of me, but were still giving Carlos and Angelo some space.
I just lied back down on the bed, completely exhausted from today's events.
Carlos took hold of my sweater and looked at me as if wanting my approval. I merely nodded still holding tight onto my triplets' hands and closed my eyes, not wanting to see their reactions.
Carlos lifted up my sweater till you could see my entire torso.
Gasps and sobs were heard all across the room. The elders were looking at my torso completely frozen in shock and with wide eyes. Everyone was looking at my multi-colored torso. My ribs were quite visible as well. The bandage on the cut was preventing them to see the infection though.
As if coming to the same thought, Carlos slowly opened my bandage. Now, my yellowish-brown infected cut was also visible.
Ethan started crying and Ezra too shed some tears looking at me.
Domenico looked hella angry and punched the wall.
"Omg, Eve" whispered Xavier looking at me in shock.
"This cut is infected bambina." Carlos informed in a shaky voice after checking it.
'I know that brother!!'
Angelo pressed a little on my ribs while I cried out in pain.
"Your ribs are broken too." he mumbled in disbelief.
'Geez, I did not know that!!'
'Can it get any more worse??'
"Dad, we need to take her to the hospital. This cut needs immediate attention or the infection will spread further. Her ribs too." Carlos stated.
Ales immediately came towards me and picked me up. He was looking at me with eyes filled with guilt and regret.
With that, we all made our way towards the cars. As Ales was sitting down with me on his lap, the exhaustion took over and I passed out.
After some time I woke up and saw that the car had stopped and we were at a hospital. Getting out, with me still in his arms, Ales entered inside the hospital.
Soon, we reached a room and Ales put me down on the bed.
Carlos immediately made his way over to me.
I noticed he was wearing his gloves and other medical items by now.
"Ok bambina. I am going to remove your sweater now okay?" he asked me gently.
Nodding at him, I just lied back.
He lifted up my sweater and removed it. I was wearing a sports bra, so there was no problem in this.
Gasps were again heard around the room but louder this time.
Taking a deep breath, I guess to calm himself, Carlos started treating the cut on my abdomen.
TIME SKIP
After an hour or so, he was done with treating the wounds on my torso. He still hadn't seen my back yet though.
As if on cue, he spoke.
"Bambina, now I need you to get up, so I can check your back, ok?" I was now panicking a little.
'They will see the carved words now.'
'Will they be disgusted in me??'
'Or will they hate me now??'
Sensing my hesitation, Xander came towards me.
"It's ok bambina. We are here for you." he said comfortingly.
'not gonna lie, it did give me some comfort.'
Deciding to just let it get over with, I sat up with his help. Carlos went behind my back and gasped loudly.
Tears started rolling down his cheeks by now. Everyone immediately got alert by his reaction.
"What happened Carlos??" grandpa asked in a shaky voice.
"S-she..- T-They carved words into her back." Carlos stuttered out.
Everyone froze at that and Carlos, after permission from me, turned me a little, but enough to let everyone see my back.
Sobs were again heard in the room along with cracking of knuckles.
Carlos immediately started treating them too, after composing himself.
It took him an hour more to completely treat all the wounds on my body.
When we were done, dad made his way towards me.
"I-I am so sorry tesoro. It is all my fault. If I had found you earlier, you wouldn't have to go through this. I failed as your father. I am so sorry." He said with tears in his eyes.
I did not think of anything, but just hugged him tightly.
"It's not your fault dad. Please don't blame yourself. I don't blame you. You are not a bad father and you certainly did not fail. You all gave me love that I have always craved for. I should actually thank you for that. I love you dad. Please don't feel guilty." I said still tightly hugging him.
"Oh I love you so much tesoro. You have no idea how much I missed you all these years." he said breaking the hug and kissing my forehead.
Mom came towards us and hugged me tightly.
"I am so sorry you had to go through that sweetheart. I promise you'll never have to go through something like that again. You will be the most loved girl from now on." she said crying.
"Thank you mom. I love you." I replied.
"I love you too sweetheart. So so so much." she said sobbing.
One by one all of my family members came towards me and said sorry, although I told them that it wasn't their fault.
I was honestly feeling so overwhelmed seeing the love they had for me in their eyes.
"From now on, you are going to be the most spoiled and loved girl ever in the whole world." Domenico declared earning nods from everyone making me chuckle lowly.
"Evelyn" Carlos suddenly called out gaining everyone's attention.
I looked at him to see him looking at me with sadness in his eyes.
"I need to ask you something important." he said getting a nod from me.
"The makeup on your wrist just faded." he said giving me a knowing look making my eyes widen.
'Oh no no no. He found the cuts. And he knows that I did them.'
He just said, "Why?"
"Sometimes the pain got too much for me to take Los. And sometimes the nightmares I had were so frightening that I couldn't take it." I answered looking down guiltily.
"What are you both talking about?" Matteo intervened.
Carlos looked at me hesitantly and cleared his throat before speaking.
"When the makeup on her wrist faded, we found some cuts on her wrists." he started, but continued before anyone could interrupt, "They were self-inflicted. She did them to herself."
Everyone in the room inhaled a sharp breath.
"Is it true tesoro?" dad asked me gently.
I did not want to lie to them, so I merely nodded.
"W-why would you hurt y-yourself sunshine?" Ethan said in a choked voice.
"Like I said, sometimes the pain in my body and mind got too much, so to drive my attention away from it, I-I started hurting m-myself." I said shrugging.
"I understand what situation you were in, but this is not okay Evelyn. Whenever you feel the need to cut again, will you please come to one of us? Please?" Carlos said pleadingly.
I did not want to disappoint them, so I nodded.
"Some of them are fresh, so I bandaged them too. Please don't do this again bambina. We can't see you hurt." he said.
I nodded.
"Coming to the next topic, I saw your charts and blood-work and it shows that you are severely malnourished and underweight." Carlos informed.
"They did not feed me much, so I am not used to eating a lot. Maybe that's why." I shrugged.
"But, she has been eating fine for some days." Xander stated furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.
I immediately panicked a little.
'Now they will know that I have been throwing it all up...'
'God, why does it all have to happen today??'
"Evelyn???" Ales called me giving me a look silently telling me he knows that I know why I am still underweight.
Clearing my throat, I said, "I-uh, actually I used to throw it all up after going back to my room."
Everyone froze yet again at this revelation.
"Why baby?" mom asked almost crying.
"There words just kept repeating in my head. I couldn't stop it." I said nervously.
"What words Evelyn?" Massimo asked.
"That I am fat. I do not deserve food. I do not deserve anything." I replied nonchalantly.
"Omg, Evelyn. You do not really believe that do you?" Vittorio questioned me with disbelief.
I simply looked at him with a straight face.
Ales immediately came towards me and cupped my face.
"Listen to me and listen clearly Evelyn. You are not fat. You are not worthless. You are none of those things those bastards called you. You are the most beautiful girl in the world. Not only that, you are very smart and kind too. You are worth more than anything in the world. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise okay?? We love you more than anything, and in our eyes, no other girl can ever be as beautiful as you." he said softly yet sternly, if it makes sense..
No one had ever said those things to me, only insults. So, feeling extremely overwhelmed, I hugged him tightly and started crying loudly.
For all the beatings, all those scars, my lost childhood, my everything. I cried like no tomorrow.
I couldn't bottle my feelings any longer. Not after he said those words to me.
He just kept holding me tightly to him, with my head on his chest, whispering sweet nothings in my ear and rubbing my back soothingly.
After some minutes, I stopped crying and started feeling drowsy due to the extremely hectic day, both mentally and physically.
Sensing my drowsiness, Ales spoke, "Sleep bambina. We are here and we are never leaving, From now on, you will never be alone. Go to sleep love." he finished cooing in the end.
"I believe you Ales." with that I drifted off to darkness.
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NEHAL