Adeline's Ροv
"I'm sorry. We couldn't save the baby." The doctor whispers sadly.
I suck in harshly but the air seems to disappear before it reaches my lungs.
There's not enough oxygen in the room.
I need water but when I turn to the side table to grab a glass, the doctor throws it away. I look up at his face and it's him.
It's the head chef.
He killed my baby. I knew I shouldn't trust him. He hates me and he's taken out some sick frustration on my baby.
He smiles in triumph and it's the ugliest thing I've ever seen. I want to get away but my body doesn't move.
I try again but nothing happens. I can't breath, I can't move and he keeps on coming forward-
My eyes flew open and I stare at the familiar ceiling taking in harsh breaths. It's my room. I'm home. I'm safe.
It was a stupid nightmare.
I turn to my side and see it's just five o' clock. I decide to have an early morning today and get out of bed. I could sleep after a quick snack.
I freshen up and didn't bother changing. Stepping in front of the full length mirror in my room, I analyze my baby bump.
It's hardly gotten into shape and it irritates me everyday because I'm really impatient for it to grow.
I don't look pregnant. I look like someone who eats junk and doesn't exercise. My stomach's inflating in an unflattering manner. Nothing close to a beautiful round baby belly.
I check the notifications on my phone and see a text from Josh telling me to call him when I'm free.
Josh has always been an early riser and school obviously has him maintaining that routine so I know he'll be up by now.
I pick up my phone and send him a text saying, "I'm up, wanna call rn?" Instead of a reply, I get a call and pick it up right away.
"Hi Josh." I say overexcitedly as this is exactly how I like to start my day —talking to my best friend and the brother who's always been there for me.
"Hi loser." He loves to call me that. "You sound fine, how's your irritating family? Have you eaten their brains yet?"
I know Josh doesn't have a particular liking for my family but he tries to not offend me by going all out on the insults —for their behavior towards me.
"They're fine. I'm a really great housemate."
"Who would know better than me?" He says sarcastically.
We both loved living together and having our little family with mum and George but he only admits that on rare occasions. He's usually in the mood to annoy me.
"Did you talk to yo- Lucius?" I can feel his tone change at the mention of the name.
Josh doesn't like to call him my father. When we found out what my parents did, he was equally mad at them as I was. And even if I had, Josh hasn't forgiven either of them.
"I'm sorry but I can't come to meet you guys. Lucius didn't allow it..." I sighed. "He said I could invite you over but I don't know how that would play out..."
"Perfect. We'll come meet you then." He didn't hesitate for a second.
"But I can't have George and Lucius meet. Wouldn't it be awkward? You know how the two liked- loved mom. And I doubt either of them would wanna stay civil, even if it's for my sake."
Josh and I are comfortable enough to discuss my doubts. Since he knows about the Mafia, I can hear a concern in his voice for George.
"You're right.... But I don't think there would be anything from dad's side." He wasn't sure of his words. "And I believe Lucius won't just start overreacting out of nowhere as long as you're around. Given how he's been with you lately, I think he wouldn't wanna get on your bad side by picking up a fight with your only father figure." I have more people to look up to for a fatherly influence now but I don't say it out loud. "He's a Mafia boss, aren't they diplomatic?"
I laugh. "I guess. The twins usually go out for the weekend and the rest possess a brain so I think this could work... Maybe?"
"What about Ewan? Wasn't he the one who lost it at Marcus' call?"
I had told Josh about Marcus when I was so overwhelmed by the reactions to the call. I needed someone to comfort me about it.
I didn't tell him earlier since I knew he'd tell mom so she could tell Marcus off and I really didn't want her to worry when her surgery was around the corner.
"But he won't again. He likes me now." I say confidently. Ewan knows now that I'm pregnant so I don't think he'd like to stress me out.
But sometimes I wonder if our relationship would've ever gotten better if I wasn't carrying a baby and he didn't had to be good to me.
"If you say so... Then it's final! I'll tell dad and you'll tell Lucius that we're coming over on Sunday." I can hear the happiness in his voice and it warms my heart.
It's been almost two years since I saw them and I can't wait for Sunday to roll by sooner.
"Aye, aye, captain!" I salute with my free hand and then realize he can't see me. "We'll talk later then, I'm hungry."
"Alright. Take care, loser. See you soon."
I end the call, mumbling a quick 'bye' and putting the phone on charge before exiting my room.
———
Author's Ροv
"This has to be a sick joke!" Altas' ragged voice gets to her as Adeline crosses the hallway.
It feels strange to her as the twins mostly get up just in time for school, resulting in them usually missing breakfast.
As the curiosity nudges her forward, she moves towards her second eldest brother's home office upstairs.
Lucius had chosen the room so it won't fall in Adeline's usual path —her bedroom to dinning room or rarely the living room— but he didn't consider that his two sons won't be so calm about the news that he had to share.
It felt like the safest time to discuss the news of the youngest Storm's pregnancy. It was five. The staff was to arrive in another hour and Adeline won't be up till two more.
But Altas' shouting had gotten her attention and it had slipped her mind that they were having a meeting which she wasn't invited to.
"Just because we aren't talking to you doesn't mean you make up fucking lies to get us to do so." Adam gritted through his teeth.
"I suggest you two to calm down." Lucius exhales, not a tad bit impressed by his son's reaction.
As Adeline nears the room, she hears another voice. "She's... She's a child herself. She doesn't... I don't think so- Are you sure?"
For the first time in his life, Cyrus refused to believe the obvious truth he could see in his father's eyes.
Lucius nodded and something in Cyrus told him he shouldn't ask the next question. "Please tell me it's not that pedophile's child."
The whole family had a special hatred for Marcus ever since his call to Adeline. When they later found out that he's been charged with harassment, stalking and assault, they were all fuming.
They knew it could be a possibility that Marcus that convinced Adeline into doing something she didn't understand but they still didn't think it was true considering how she didn't panic as much seeing his caller id flash on her phone.
"It's not a big deal. Shit happens. She's a teenager, she made a mistake-" Ewan had promised himself to remain calm in this conversation.
He knew the twins would be overreacting about it and he didn't intend to make it harder for their eldest brother and father.
"For fuck's sake! A mistake? Getting knocked up by a dude at fourteen is a mistake to you?" Altas yelled.
The moment she realized what the topic of discussion is, her eyes widen and she steps back. As her heart was beating loud enough for her to shut off all other noises, she failed to notice that the floor creaked under her feet.
Everyone in the office fell silent, alert of a presence behind the door. Before Adeline could take another step back, the door is swung open by Altas —as he was the closest to it.
His lips twist in a sick smirk and he steps out towards her. "Look who's here." His voice was bitter. "Come on in, we were just talking about you."
He takes hold of her hand, ignoring her attempt to get away and pulls her inside shutting the door behind her.
"Altas," Lucius warns his son to not do anything stupid but he simply raises his hands up in mock surrender.
"I just wanna ask a simple question." He says looking at Adeline with fake innocence on his face. "Didn't you say you never had a boyfriend?"
Adeline knew where this was going and she understood it's better that she keeps her mouth shut.
Tears were slowly gathering up in her eyes as she kept silently looking at her brother in front of her when Adam brought her attention to himself.
"As far as I know, you couldn't have gotten pregnant without one." He tries to keep his tone even but everyone could sense the disapproval and rage in it.
"That's enough now." Cyrus interjects.
"Maybe she really didn't have a boyfriend...." Altas tilts his sister's chin up when she tries to look away from him and spoke softly. "Could be a fuck buddy or perhaps a... plaything?"
Before he could say anything further, he was swung around by a hard grip on his shoulder and Rhyett slapped him across the face.
The whole room was stunned into silence as none of the men present have ever been physically violent towards each other —unless it was one of their sparring sessions.
Even if Adeline had anything to do with conceiving the baby, the rest of the family wouldn't have allowed the twins to insult their sister for a mistake she made.
A small chuckle turns into a laugh and everyone looks at Altas as if he's lost his mind.
"Wow. You too, Rhyett?" He looks up at his eldest brother shaking his head slightly. "You chose her over us."
"You can go to your room, Adeline." Cyrus tells his youngest sibling but Altas blocks her way when she tries to move past him to the door with tears dripping from her eyes.
"Let her stay." He smiles at her and she steps back fearing that his rage —which he's hiding behind a calm exterior now— might make him do something to hurt her and her baby.
"Let her see how pathetic we are. Let her see how everyone in our life always choose her. How are parents separated for her. How our mother didn't give a damn about us and our father kept lying to us our whole life. And now even our brother —who I thought loved us more than anything— hit me for her."
Julian steps between them, hiding Adeline from his view. Even though everyone —except the girl— knew he wouldn't hurt her physically, they still wanted her out of there.
Altas laughs again at Julian's action. "I'm not a scum who hits little girls. I thought you guys knew that." He shook his head again disappointed at his whole family.
"What's funny is that no one's fucking blaming her for anything." Adam comments leaning against a wall beside his twin. "We are the bad guys here, just because we hate it that our sister got pregnant by some horny ass.”
"Either you two shut up or I'll make you." Ewan fisted his hands, trying his best to not punch his brothers in the face.
Adam chuckles taking a cigarette out. He had picked the habit in his early teens but when Lucius found out, he had convinced him to quit which he did after two whole years of inconsistent rehab.
But the moment Lucius told him that they've been lied to their whole life, he didn't see any other solution but to turn back to the calmness the poisonous stick provided him.
"We will shut up. But don't you think we should atleast know who the father is?" He took a drag and exhaled it slowly, knowing well how much the whole family disapprove of it.
"It's been long enough since I killed someone." Altas cracked his knuckles looking her sister direct in the eyes, silently telling her that her boyfriend would be died soon.
Lucius stepped forward and touched Adeline's back who jumped at the contact as she was extremely scared of the whole scene playing out in front of her.
"Let's get you to your room." He said to her softly and nudged her forward.
When Altas tried to stop them, Lucius took his arm and shoved him out of the way. They both exited together and Lucius took her to her room.
"Stay here, ok?" He asks in a commanding voice.
"They never liked me and now they're disgusted by me." Adeline released a choked sob.
She was overwhelmed by everything and a part of her wanted someone to comfort her. Someone to remind her it wasn't her mistake and that she doesn't have anything to worry about.
Lucius cupped his daughter's face. "No one's disgusted by you, sweetheart. The twins are overreacting because they care for you. They hate the idea that someone might have taken advantage of your innocence."
He knew his sons well enough to know what they were thinking. He knew that even if they act like they don't care, they loved their sister.
And there was nothing that could take that away.
They were furious and were taking out their anger the wrong way but he understood they weren't disgusted by their sister. They couldn't ever be.
He wished they wouldn't have given her the impression of it but he knew exactly how to direct their anger in the right direction.
"Can you..." She sniffled. "Can you tell them I didn't do anything? And I... I was..."
She had hoped that everyone could move on from the fact that making a baby required two people but she understood that sooner or later everyone would wanna know.
She knew it wasn't something that she was guilty of so she decided to have the rest of her family know of what happened.
She hated the idea of anyone blaming her for something she didn't do.
"We don't have to tell them if you don't want to. You don't have to worry about them. They were just shocked but I assure you they'll not repeat-"
"No. Just tell them what happened, I don't want them to misunderstand me..." She said firmer this time, wiping her tears away.
"If that's what you want." Lucius agreed as he knew it would be easier if his sons knew the culprit to take out their rage on.
Lucius brought her into a hug when she mumbled. "They won't judge me for it, right?"
His heart clenched at the thought of how difficult it must be for her to have gone through such a traumatic experience and now disclosing it to her brothers.
"They won't. We all love you, Adeline. We really do. And I promise I'll never ever let your brothers or anyone else disrespect you again." He placed a lingering kiss on top of her head as she clung to him.
After some time, they pulled back and he instructed her again to wait in her room until he says otherwise. Adeline was disturbed by everything that had happened and decided to take a bath to relax.
Lucius checks his watch to see it's still half an hour till the staff arrives and went back to the office to finally finish the discussion.
"Well I clearly remember how you came running to dad panicked because you fucked a girl without a condom and he had to get you a plan-b pill at thirteen. How is it different from what she did? She's a kid and so were you. You both did something stupid. We've always solved your problems and we can handle hers too." Cyrus snapped at Altas who was glaring at him now.
"What if she- You know women die giving birth?" He shuddered at his own thought. "She's not old enough to be carrying a fucking baby." Altas shouted trying to put some sense into his brothers.
"She isn't. But it's already happened now. We can't change the past. And it looks like she wants to keep it so it's better if you accept the fact that you are going to be an uncle." Julian said as calm as ever.
Rhyett and Lucius had expected a reaction out of him but he had already known what the meeting was about and had collected himself as the alcohol cleared his mind a night before yesterday.
He knew what he wanted. All he wanted now was to be there for his sister as he wasn't her whole life. He wanted to have a relationship with her like any siblings did. He wanted her to like him and trust him with herself and her baby.
He wanted to start living like he should've years ago. With the family he had. Without guilt. And without memories of his mother haunting him.
He was clear that he wanted happiness now and a baby is a universal sign of joy. As cliche as it was, it was sounded like a hope to him.
He knew there still was hope for his family to be back to how they were before. Together and happy —for the most part.
Adeline's pregnancy and the baby could be something they could bond on. Julian could make her food and they could make small talks while at it. It sounded right to him.
It could be a new start for them. For their whole family. Forgetting all that happened in their messed up past. Forgiving their parents for the mistakes they made.
A new beginning.
Everyone turned to the door as Lucius entered. And all attention was on him as he turned to Rhyett whose eyes held a single question, ‘what do we do now?’
They had decided on not telling anything that wasn't their place to discuss but the twins were adamant on knowing who the father of their sister's baby was.
Deep down everyone had expected that they weren't gonna like the answer. They knew if it wasn't disturbing then their dad wouldn't have been so secret about it.
Even if the twins vowed to kill the baby's father, they weren't stupid enough. They would come to terms with him after taking some time to clear their head.
But if it was someone who shouldn't have been around their sister then they were ready to pull out their guns.
"We aren't leaving till you tell us who the fucker is." Adam spat the words.
Lucius hadn't told his daughter the identity of her rapist yet. He didn't want to give her any additional stress as she was specifically instructed by her doctors to take special care of herself.
"That's what I'm here for." Lucius wiped his hand on the side of his expensive suit hating the words that were about to leave his mouth. "Marcus Weller. The guy who called her. She doesn't know it yet because he raped her wearing a mask."
A shock crossed each of their features —except for Rhyett who already knew. The words turned in their mind but each of their thoughts were stuck to one word 'raped'.
Something they had never thought to hear in their sister's context.
Adam dropped his cigarette —his second one now— while Altas stumbled backwards losing his balance momentarily.
Cyrus had already concluded the horror reality and his hands started shaking to hug his sister and tell her how sorry he was for what happened to her.
Ewan cursed under his breath and a tear slid down his eyes when he closed them. Julian gulped uncomfortably wanting to have a drink but gripped the table in front of him to stay rooted to his place.
"Please tell me you didn't kill him." Cyrus was the first one to speak.
Everyone knew he was in the warehouse and they wished he was alive. They would've love to see him healthy and well. They needed more time with him.
"I gave him my best doctors." Was all Rhyett said.
"Good. He deserves to live." Ewan opened his eyes that were filled with disgust and rage for a particular man.
"I want to go to the warehouse." Altas' voice broke as he looked at his father.
He was the only one who had been extending his punishment of being restricted from warehouse visits —to blow off steam— by casually commenting on Adeline's eating habits regularly.
"You may." Lucius gave him the permission because he knew Altas desperately needed it at the moment.
Lucius stayed back at home with Adeline and decided to make her breakfast as the brothers left for the warehouse.
All of them not possessing a single sane thought.
As they stepped inside the cell, Marcus was already awake and when he took a single look at the brother's calm expressions, he knew his time has come.
He was ready to beg but by now he understood it was useless.
He was gonna pay for his sins.
And the Storms were ready to deliver him the necessary reward of his actions.