Little Game

Chapter 20

Isabella didn't leave Anthony's embrace. He didn't let go of her the whole drive. The driver, Rafael, was silent. He didn't look at her or showed some concern when she entered the car.

For some reason, that made her feel like she was an even more of a disappointment for the man. She remembered his words so clearly and she didn't want to disappoint any more by crying and whining about the fears she had felt today.

Isabella snuggled closer to Anthony and the man just hugged her tighter, stroking her head gently.

She didn't remember them entering the mansion, she didn't remember Anthony ordering people around. All she remembered was feeling tired and all she remembered was closing her eyes because of how heavy her eyelids felt.

**

"Bella." Anthony cooed softly, causing her to open her eyes. She noticed that she was in bed already with her pajamas on. She was clean too.

"Tony?" She asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes. "A-Am I... Am I home now?"

Anthony made a pained noise before nodding with hesitation. "You are now. You're safe..."

Isabella nodded slowly, giving Anthony a furtive look, wanting to know if he's mad at her or not. Well, she knows that her eldest brother will never get mad at her. Upset, yes, but mad?

He never gets mad.

Not at Isabella.

But, for some reason, she's scared that maybe she'd done something bad enough to warrant an expression that looked like he was mad. His eyes weren't twinkling with gentleness that Isabella was so used to see. Instead, it was burning with hellfire that could burn anyone who's near him. It was frightening.

"Are you mad at me?" The little girl asked cautiously, looking at Anthony with a tone that sounded forlorn.

The man gave her a flabbergasted look that somehow made her think that he was actually mad. But, what did she do to make him angry?

"What makes you think that?" He sounded genuinely confused.

Isabella's eyes strayed away with a despondent shrug. She doesn't know how to answer her brother. She doesn't have proof that he's mad. Anthony just look like he could be mad.

"B-Because..." She stuttered miserably after a little while. Her eyes welled up in tears as she glared at her shaking hands, annoyed that she was scared. Her family wasn't scared of anything and here she was, shaking in utter trepidation. "Because, I-I'm a disappointment. I wasn't smart like L-Luci told me t'be."

"Ah." He made a noise as realization dawned on him. His eyes welled up in tears as he looked at Isabella with nothing but sadness filling up his cold heart. She wasn't supposed to feel like she's a disappointment. She wasn't even one. "Bella--"

"S' all 'cause of me that this happened!" She shouted, clenching her fist in anger. She realized that she was angry at herself. She was angry that she couldn't do anything, she was angry at her frustrations, she was angry of what happened today. She was angry at herself for making her family worry.

She's mad at herself for letting herself be a disappointment.

She wanted to go to school and she messed up and she fought with the principal even though she was an adult.

Children should shut their mouths up because they don't have the right to speak. They don't have any right to stand up for themselves because they're children.

Isabella did something wrong and that gave her the title of a disappointment.

"I-If Bella didn't g-go to school then Bella w-would'a been safe at home and nobody would'a been hurt." Isabella's tears fell as she glared at her shaking hands. She wished that she could stop trembling. She wished that she could stop being scared.