ruthless

chapter 76: heal

two months later

Luciano's pov

sitting at the dining room table we all know hazel will be down in a few minutes after yet another failed attempt to get her to eat breakfast with us.

since rose died niki just hasn't been the same, she refuses to see any therapist and wont even talk to hazel. the most i get to see is when she comes into my bedroom a night. the most talking we've done is me calming her down from the terrible nightmares she's been having.

hazel walks into the dining room and sighs sitting down "when are you going to realize that doesn't work baby" she leans on her hand shrugging "i just hate seeing her like this, she won't talk to me"

the good thing is we have gotten niki to eat atleast one meal everyday, and thats usually a big dinner. "do you want me to try and talk to her when i get home from school?" cora scarfs down her food.

"it's worth a shot" she nods standing up and wiping the skirt of her school uniform "i've got to get to school, i have a group project" we all nod "bye cora" dominico nods and she grabs her bag rushing out the door.

"i was never that excited for school" stefano sighs "well you also got a chance at your freshman year" alice touches his hand "she's starting school as a sophomore and making friends" alice's bump is starting to show and at cora's birthday next week pictures will come out and the mafia will know.

"she could also be seeing someone, having a reason to be excited for school" dominico glares at aunt v coming through the door "absolutely not, she's still too young for any of that" i smile looking out for her like a daughter are we.

"dom, don't start" aunt v takes a seat next to alice taking food off of vincenzos plate.

...

niki mumbles griping againt the pillow againt the pillow and ive tried to figure it out but she ends up falling into a screaming fit and then a panic attack it's happened three times this last week.

i rub her back waiting for the dream to end and in a few short moments i'm holding her body tight as she cries into my shoulder. i slowly rock us back and fourth drawing little shapes on her skin as she calms down.

"you're okay niki, it's just a dream." i repeat the words into the top of her head until she is silent. after a moment she fixes herself on my lap as we both sit up. she stays in my arms for a while not speaking. "I can't sleep anymore, can we go for a drive?" Dominico is going to kill me.

"sure" i nod as she moves off my lap. nikis hair stays in a braid for most of the time because it's easy to manage. it took a few weeks to make niki start to take care of herself again but she's doing it and that all that matters.

we walk down the steps as quite as we can and we get into the driveway to my car.  I shut the door behind her before walking over to my side and getting in

i start the car and niki just stares off as we drive out and further from the house. "thank you" she touches my hand for a moment before she interlocks our fingers.

we're both quite as she strokes my hand with her thumb while i drive through backroads. "pull over here" and I listen as we're on an old cobblestone road. niki unbuckles her seatbelt and turns on her side to look at me causing me to do the same.

her eyes are dull from the surrounding dark circles she has but she is still undoubtedly beautiful. "i- the dreams are all different but they all have to do with rose." she sighs and swallows hard "i dont want to talk about them but i want you to know what's going on with me because i want to get better"