It was now evening. Sofia had successfully managed to avoid meeting any of her brothers for the past few hours, and with Remo coming home late at night, she doubted the events at the hospital would be brought up today.
How wrong she was.
As soon as dinner was over, Vincent asked her to meet him in his downstairs office. It was less formal looking than the one she had seen on the third floor and had lots of armchairs and sofas. There she found all of her brothers seated, even Remo who had now returned with a file clutched tightly in his hands. No one looked happy.
"Fia, come sit here." Luca gestured to the empty spot next to him and she obeyed. To the other side of her sat Dante, and opposite her were the rest of her brothers.
Vincent spoke up, "Remo, the results of the check-up?"
The addressed brother grimaced and opened the file and spoke, "It's better if I just summarise it. Sofia's severely underweight for someone her height and age; she's got a few deficiencies including iron and calcium. What worried me the most was when I couldn't finish the last part of the check-up."
Rocco interrupted, "What part? And why?"
Remo glanced at Luca, and it was only then that Sofia had realised why she had been sat next to him. She had felt the most comfortable around Luca so it would be easier for him to lift her shirt in conformation that she really was a broken girl.
It's a trap.
"It's quicker if Luca just lifts her shirt so we can see her stomach."
It was a battle of speed, and Sofia had won since she had already predicted it. She managed to hold onto the bottom of her shirt in time before Luca could. For a few seconds she struggled as Dante took her hands and held them in his, and still squirmed in hopes that Luca would change his mind, but he didn't.
Her brother raised her shirt hurriedly until it was just below her ribs and then dropped it in shock. Dante's grip on her loosened and she yanked her hands out of his, though she slightly missed its warmth. No one spoke for a while as they tried to process what had just been witnessed.
It seems that Vincent was the first to snap himself out of it and return to his emotionless facade, "Sofia, who did this to you?"
She looked down and whispered another one of her lies, "no one, I'm just clumsy."
Marco scoffed, "are you serious right now?"
Rocco put his hand on his twin's arm in warning, though it didn't stop the lashing brother.
"Why the hell are you trying to protect whoever did this to you?"
After that Sofia blanked out for a full minute until Vincent told Rocco to take Marco away until he cooled down. She was completely numb at this point and even though the rest of her brothers tried to find out the truth, she could only repeat her previous words like a broken record player.
The girl refused to break down, to reveal her hurt, to share her pain.
Eventually everyone realised that their sister would not be fully honest with them for now, so Vincent decided to let her go to her room. Once she did all eyes were back on him.
Luca was the first to speak, "Vince, do you think...?"
The eldest nodded, "without a doubt, Maria must have done this."
"I don't get it, the woman's dead. Why's Sof still not opening up?" questioned Dante, looking frustrated.
"It's not as simple as that," frowned Remo, "the scars show years of physical abuse, but there must be mental trauma from what Maria did as well. Sofia's used to hiding everything, she didn't even crack when all of us tried."
"That's why we wait," concluded Vincent.
"We wait until she can trust again."
Fortuntately nobody tried to pry again- not even Marco, who must have been told not to. However Sofia felt suffocated even in this big house; at least one of her brothers would constantly be trying to check on what she was doing and she was even given different meals and pills which were supposedly to help with her deficiencies.
The only place she could ease her mind was now the music room. The girl had thought that her brothers would have definitely tried to threaten her with not letting her be able to do music if she didn't open up, though so far it wasn't even mentioned.
It was weird that everyone acted as if nothing had happened and for that she was thankful.
Tommorow school would start and Luca, Vincent, Rocco and Marco would accompany the girl to speak with the school's principle and give her a tour. She decided to wear some of the new clothes from the shopping trip the other day and picked out clothes she thought were formal yet comfortable.
Black leggings, a long blue sweater with ankle boots.
The car journey was somewhat uneventful with Luca driving, Vincent speaking to someone over the phone in the front seat, and her being squished between Rocco and Marco who were bickering about a movie they had recently watched.
When they five did arrive at the school she was shocked to find how big it was, even for a private school this was a bit much. Thankfully there were maps around the school so even if she did get lost (which she would), navigating her way around would be a bit easier.
They were guided by the school receptionist to where the principal's office, although Rocco whispered to her that they didn't really need help finding it since he and Marco got sent there alot. Surprise surprise.
The office was a lot smaller compared to Vincent's and was cluttered with files and stacks of papers at the side. Mr Reeds was a short, middle aged man who seemed to sweating buckets in the presence of the Carmines. He gestured for them to sit, and Sofia sat in the middle between Vincent and Luca whilst the twins stood behind her.
"Mr Reeds, so nice to meet you again," smiled Luca, though she could tell it was a forced one.
The man nodded stiffly and then greeted Vincent before looking at the twins with narrowed eyes, "yes, the last time you were here I believe it was because Marco had gotten into a fight again."
Marco rolled his eyes as Rocco elbowed him to be more polite. Luca gave a strained laugh and looked at Mr Reeds with cold eyes, "I think we already resolved the matter, besides we do give hefty donations for the betterment of your school."
"O-of course." The man looked at Sofia and smiled slightly, "you must be the new student."
She nodded and introduced herself, "Sofia."
"As Sofia will be attending starting from tommorow, we hoped it would be alright for her to be given a tour of the place." Vincent looked into the quivering man's eyes, daring him to oppose him.
"No that will be fine. D-do you need help on the tour?"
"No, the twins are more than capable of showing her."
Once again the attention was now directed towards Sofia, who felt a bit sorry for the scared principal.
"As a student of this school you must behave accordingly and bring good results to make youself and our school name prosper. Do you have any interests which you might pursue Miss Carmine?"
"Well...I'm not really interested in going to any clubs, but I'd like to practice my music."
Reeds smiled, "that's excellent." He then paused and looked her up and down in confusion a look of awe came acroos him.
"By any chance...did you used to be Sofia Jones?"
Whilst her brothers seemed disorientated at her old name being brought up, she inclined her head.
"That's why you seemed familiar!" exclaimed the man, the nervousness his voice held before now gone.
Marco heckled in, "what do you mean she's familiar?"
The principal rushed to explain, "she's known quite well in music competitions for under 18s. A musical genius from an unknown background who rose to the top by winning every event she entered. Miss Carmine was to enter the competition this school is hosting in three months because of her gifted abilities. It's truly an honour to have her attend here as well!"
There was a stunned silence as the girl tried her best not to blush from the embarrassingly long explanation.
Vincent cleared his throat and stood up, "we're glad you're happy to have her here. We'll take our leave now."
"Y-yes, goodbye."
As soon as they left Rocco pounced on the chance to find out more, "Sof! Why didn't you tell us that you're basically a prodigy?"
She blushed, "I'm not! That man was just exaggerating."
Luca crossed his arms, "you should have still told us!"
"Sorry..."
For the next hour she was given a full tour of the entire school by the twins, well mostly Rocco yapping away and Marco pointing at a place and grunting what it was before moving on. Once that was over and they returned to the entrance again, the school receptionist handed her the entire school uniform and kit which had been prepared for her beforehand.
That was when reality had hit Sofia. She was going to go to a whole new school tommorow! The dismay had set in.
On the ride home she was brought out of her crisis when Vincent had tried having a conversation with her.
"Sofia, if you need any help for the competition please do tell us."
"I will...but I prefer doing everything myself."
He raised an eyebrow, "you taught yourself how to compose and play several instruments all by yourself?"
"Yes." Was her earnest reply.
"So when was your first competition then?"
"I think I was about nine then," she reflected.
"That's so cool!" gasped Rocco, "how many have you competed in then?"
"Erm...quite a lot. Maybe thirty?"
That even got Marco's attention.
"Hey squirt, how come I've never seen you in any interviews or magazines then?"
She tried to ignore his rude nickname and answer him."Oh, well I turned them all down. The publicity wouldn't be good for me."
The last part of what she said made them all disheartened and Marco went back to staring through the window. At last she was occupied by her thoughts again.
Tommorow she would start school again. She'd have to be careful so nobody would find out about her past.