School on Tuesday was hard for everyone, they had enjoyed the 3 day weekend so the triplets, Marco and Nico were not in the best moods to go to school.
Lorenzo had been absent all weekend, mostly working or spending time with his girlfriend and stopping at his own home instead of the family one.
"Right kids I need to go to work. Marco drive safely, all of you have a good day at school. Alex, James and Skye, I need to talk to you when you get home so come find me I'll probably be in my office" Rafael said , before anything else could be said, he left.
Rafael was not the sort of father to stick around for alot of things. He was supportive and always there for his children when they needed him, he raised them well and made sure they had everything they needed but his biggest flaw was he was only there when the children needed. Of course he would check in on them after work but he mostly left them to get on with stuff. He wasn't the best at showing them he loved them, he was strict with them growing up, and only showed affection when necessary. Less so now they were all practically adults, apart from his triplets, he was aware they needed more of his time then his adult sons and even Nico, Nico was 16 but he could look after himself.
The triplets gulped, they began running down things they could have done wrong.
Marco glanced at them knowing the full truth , he knew a talk might be perceived the wrong way. Alex saw him looking and glared.
"It's getting old Alexander, grow up" Marco snapped and stood up.
His attention went to Skye who looked like she was trying to be brave but he could see past the lack of emotion. He doubted Nico or Leo could see past the look, maybe not even Alex or James but he could.
"School time kids, let's go" he said trying to change their thoughts to school.
"I'm not a kid" Nico snapped.
"Sure you're not kiddo" Leo smirked ruffling his hair.
"I hate you" Nico mumbled.
"Sure you do. I've got to go too. I'll see you tonight children" Leo said looking at Marco when he said children.
School went by slowly, Marco was his usually grumpy self and although his attitude had improved slightly, he still teased Alex. Maybe it had become their thing because Alex had no problem insulting him back.
So much so Marco got out of Maths to go help the first year football/soccer team.
He stood on the side lines helping the coach, he saw Alex glaring at him so he smirked and shouted "pay attention Alexander, you don't want a ball in your face do you" at that point another member had kicked a ball at him. (Alex is in goal at moment)
He didn't know whether to laugh at his little brother or break the neck of the first year who kicked the ball.
He chose to laugh.
Meanwhile James and Skye stuck together, they didn't dare leave each other, their friends saw how close they were today so didn't question it instead they worked on taking there mind off whatever seemed to be troubling them.
And it worked. They soon had Alex back too which helped.
However when school ended the triplets nerves came back.
It resulted in Alex being more protective.
James was quiet. He didn't dare say anything when they reached Nico and Marco.
And Skye, Marco saw the same look he did this morning. She was trying to appear okay, her expression was emotionless, it was as if she wasn't there. But Marco saw that she was close to breaking point.
He knew James and Alex would not leave her side, he knew she wasn't going to break in front of them. And he knew she wouldn't dare break down in the school parking.
So he didn't bother tease his brothers, he silently drove them all home. Nico was busy on his phone so he didn't notice.
When they got home they seemed to get worse. "Dad probably wants to ask how school is going or something, you haven't done anything wrong so don't worry too much" he told the three of them once Nico had left.
"Why his office then" Alex asked. It seemed to serious for a quick 'how's school today kids'.
"He's probably still working and doesn't have time to leave find you, talk to you and go back to his office?" Marco suggested. He really didn't know why they were summoned to his office, his dad worked evenings in his home office sometimes but it was also a place to get scolded as it stopped the others walking in, like the living room would.
"Go put your bags in your room and see what he wants" Marco said and walked off pretending he didn't care but when Skye went down the oppersite corridor to her room, he followed.
"Skye can I come in" he said after knocking.
She opened the door and he saw how bad it was effecting her.
"It's okay Skye, it's just us now, you don't have to keep pretending. I know" Marco calmly said.
Skye looked away. This was Marco, the brother who threatened them. But then it was also Marco, the brother and only person who knew everything.
"Can we hug" she whispered. She didn't want to make James and Alex worse today so she didn't tell them how she was feeling but with Marco she felt she could.
He simply nodded and opened his arms.
It took seconds after the hug for her to start crying.
She was broken.
She always tried to hide it.
Her brothers suffered enough and she didn't want to bother them more than she had too.
Having more brothers and a father had her feeling extremely afraid but at the same time she was starting to warm up to the idea simply because she didn't want to bother James and Alex.
"It's okay Skye, I failed you last time but I promise I won't ever fail you again" he said holding her tight.
It was his fault the triplets were like this. It was his fault, his Skye was so broken.
At least that's what he thought as he hugged her.
"You're safe now Skye" he was well aware she probably didn't believe it. It took him years to come to terms with what had happened and that was only one day, they had all suffered 10 years of abuse.
The hug lasted a while longer and when Skye pulled away she felt guilty for crying to Marco, she knew he had a tough time dealing with it.
"Sorry I didn't mean to" she whispered.
"It's fine. You are safe, they are all in prison now, once we catch the last person in that gang, it will be over" he stated.
Skye had put it together they were after Alex, it was kind of entertaining.
"Do you have any leads" she couldn't help ask.
"No. The druggies weren't any help half were too high to give any information. Only he's probably young" Marco said not seeing harm in telling her.
What he didn't tell her was alot had been beaten up with broken bones that may never heal right or dead for how they spoke about the person.
"He's probably escaped to a different country " Skye suggested.
Marco nodded, he was deep in thought about everything. "You're probably right. He might not even be a threat" still deep in thought.
For a boy who was kept in a basement and little food, Alex sure did display all the traits he and Lorenzo had. Maybe it was simply because he went into protective mode. He did have a decent amount of strength though, but he was angry...
"Let's get you to dad, I don't know what he wants but you're not in trouble" he said.
Alex and James weren't impressed when they saw Skye meet them only she was holding Marco's hand for comfort.
"Let's go we don't want to keep him waiting" Alex stated.
Marco gave her a encouraging nod and she hesitantly let go of his hand and followed her brothers.
Alex knocked recieving a 'come in'
"You don't need to look so scared, take a seat children" he said pointing to the sofa.
The triplets sat with Alex in the middle, he was prepared to get up and protect them if need be.
"It has come to my attention you spend alot of time in one of your rooms" Rafael stated walking over to his kids.
"You're not going to stop us are you" James asked.
"I won't let you" Alex snapped.
Rafael gave Alex a warning look then focused on the three of them.
"No you are free to spend your time in one room but I was thinking you could redecorate one of the spare rooms and put some stuff in it you all like, books a TV, whatever really. I know you don't like not sharing a room now but you all need your own space, so perhaps your bedrooms can be your own space and you can use a spare room as a space to share" he explained.
"Why are you doing this" Alex was suspicious. It seemed to be a good idea, something nice, but he didn't know whether there was alternative motives behind it.
"I already explained why, you need your own space but also space to share" Rafael said.
"Wouldn't that be unfair on Nico and Marco, what if they want a room" Skye asked.
"There's a games room besides they have everything they want" Rafael stated. He had let his sons decorate and add items to the games room, then they had the garden to practice sport. And of course there was countless rooms that had something at least one of his boys wanted. There was nothing the triplets decided though.
"So we can have anything we want in it" James clarified.
"Yes. I'll give you my card details so you can order whatever you want. Don't worry about the money. Order whatever you want, my only request is you keep the room clean"
"Thank you " Alex was the first to say it. Rafael kept showing him that he cared for them.
Skye and James also thanked him.
"Great, go get started on your homework, we will sort the online shopping out after dinner" he said.
Alot of you want the triplets to bond without them being scared or Alex being super overprotective, so next chapter will be them bonding together and maybe with the others too.
Im still building up to the main plot so I might end up rushing it a little.