Broken and Powerful

Chapter 16

JEDA POV

The nightmares happened all night. But every time I would start thrashing around or about to scream, someone was there to hold me until they stopped. I thought it was a dream.

I woke up a few minutes after Stefano took me to bed to realize I wasn't in my room. I was too tired to ask and just fell back asleep while he was working at his computer.

Now I woke to the smell of food. It smelt like bacon and pancakes.

My eyes slowly opened and I looked around. I was still in Stefano's room, which looks much larger than mine surprisingly.

The walls were a dark grey with nothing on them. There was a good-sized window behind the desk that held two computer screens just like his office. There were the same two doors that connect to the bathroom and my bedroom with a dresser beside them.

The bed was large with black blankets and a black metal frame.

I felt the bed sink next to me and looked over to see Richard sitting down with a tray in his hands.

"It gives off emo kid vibes, am I right?" He asks gesturing to the room. I lightly nod my head and he smiles lightly at me. "I brought you some breakfast. Stefano thought you might be hungry."

I looked around the room again to see we were alone and Stefano wasn't there. But I did notice a chair on the other side of the bed.

"He slept in the chair next to you all night," Richard says and I look at him in surprise. "I came in to check on you a few times when I heard screaming, but he was always comforting you already."

I just looked into his eyes with confusion. So it wasn't a dream. Why would he do that?

"You should eat up," he says placing the tray on my lap. I look down at the food and it looked delicious, but my stomach felt sick.

"I'm not hungry," I say lightly and lay back down, pulling the blankets up to my neck and staring at the wall. I could feel his eyes on me but he doesn't say anything. He sets the tray on the table and runs his hand up and down my arm to comfort me.

I felt a tear slip out of my eye before I even felt it rise.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asks in a calming voice. I look up at him with tear-stained eyes and lightly shake my head. "That's alright. You can always talk to us whenever you're ready,"

"Thank you," my voice was weak but it was the best I could do.

"Can you do something for me?" He asks and I nod my head. He stood off the bed and walked over to the dresser where a small stack of papers sat. "Whenever you are up for it, can you look through these and try to point out anyone you recognize who came over to Jerad's house?"

He handed me the stack of papers and I looked at the top one. There was a large picture of a large, buff man with all his information around it. I stared at the stack for a few minutes before nodding slightly.

"Just give them to Stefano or me when you find anyone that looks familiar and we will take care of it, okay?" He asks and I nod again. "I'll leave you be then. Try to eat something?"

"I'm going to go back to sleep, I'm exhausted. Then I'll eat." I tell him with a small smile. He returns it then brushes the hair out of my face and walks to the door, leaving.

I stared at the wall for what felt like forever until the door opened again. My eyes snapped over to see Stefano closing the door carefully. He must think I'm asleep.

When he turns around, our eyes meet and he gives me a small smile. I could see the heavy bags under his eyes from not sleeping the last few nights.

"Hey, love," He says in a smooth voice. I smile at him.