Changed

Chapter 23

"So I guess it's almost impossible to change her back now."

We all went downstairs to the living room where grandfather awaited us all. Father- Robert had left soon after dinner to check the compound that had been attacked. He seemed to be in a sour mood after the argument, when before that, he was really happy with his parents' presence. Not that I really cared, though. All of us settled down on the couches, and I and David both sighed in unison.

"How did it go?" Grandfather asked as he poured some wine in two glasses; one for him and one for grandma. She sighed before speaking in a sympathetic tone, "It's not as easy as we thought it would be. She doesn't trust us. And you all are as much at fault as Robert is. You all should be ashamed. I'm disappointed." She replied as she grabbed one of the wine glasses, sending a blazing glare our way the whole time she spoke. I bent my head down and dropped my gaze to my lap, my hands slightly shaking from the guilt and shame. I felt ashamed of myself for being such a terrible brother that my own sister doesn't trust me now.

There was a moment of silence among us as we were all contemplating our words when Grandpa spoke, "Damien, what information did you want to get earlier?" At his question, we all looked curiously at Damien who looked a bit confused, and replied, "How'd you know that?" Grandpa took a drink of his wine and spoke again, "I inquired the guards at the compound after I got the news of the attack there. Jeremy told me that you were looking for some information on Rose's past life and something more. What was it about?" Damien sighed and ran a hand through his hair before speaking again.

"After getting Rose's test results a week ago, I got to know that she had been drugged with heroine and cocaine. I researched and found out that there used to be a group of anonymous people who used to pay the Phoenix's to supply them the same drugs several years ago. I asked our men to research more only to find that the leader of that anonymous group was Oscar, mother's boyfriend." The disgusted expression on Damien's face at the mention of her showed how bitter he was about calling her mother. "Phoenix's? Daniel's family?" Ryan asked in shock. "So they were working together?"

"Not exactly. His family just used to supply the drugs and some illegal weapons to Oscar and his gang in exchange for money and sometimes, young girls and human organs." What?! Daniel's family used to do human trafficking? I knew something wasn't right about him. How could Robert be so ruthless to try and sell his own sole daughter to a guy who along with his whole gang used to do such heinous crimes? This is absurd. Even though we'd also commited a lot of crimes, but our mafia had never in our entire time of existence done human trafficking or sold innocent young girls.

"Oscar had been receiving the drug shipments for several years only to sell most of them illegally. I also found out that Diana had been arrested several times for use of drugs and child abuse, which explains that Rose had been abused all this time in that household by those people, which also explains the scratch marks and scars on her arms and legs. It turns out she used to drug her, too." By the time  he was finished, I was in tears.

Why? How? How could a woman do that to her own daughter? How could a mother to that to her own child? She was a mere child!

"Why would she do that?" The words slipped out of my mouth as a broken whisper as I looked over at Damien, but what I saw left me in more shock. His eyes were glassy. Damien was crying! He never cried, never for a girl, especially for his own sister. He remained silent for a moment before speaking, "I don't know. Maybe she lost her mind or something after the divorce, and being under the influence could make a person do anything." His voice came out shaky and raspy as he exhaled heavily at the end of his answer.

"Is there any other problem? Has she ever gone to therapy for this?" David asked in a hoarse tone and Ryan sighed, sliding his fingers harshly through his hair and grabbing his head in his hands. He looked really uncomfortable with this conversation, because he may not have showed it, but I could see he cared for her. But he wasn't so nice to her from the beginning. We are all equally guilty, and now after getting to know Rose doesn't need us in her life and that she doesn't trust us one bit, I don't know how we can make it up to her. It's driving me crazy.