silent

57

• AMALIA •

I don't know how long I lay awake, bound to the bed, until the door to the tiny room opens and my auntie walks in.

     She storms right over to me and slaps me across the face, her rings cutting my cheek. I feel blood drop down onto my jaw as I wince.

"You stupid girl!" She exclaims. "Do you realise what you've done?"

I attempt to pull against the ties when she raises her hand again, but before she can hit me the doorbell rings.

I prepare to scream, only to find that my mouth is gagged. My eyes water as she glances behind her, to the door.

She scowls at me before leaving, slamming the door shut behind her and locking it. I try to scream through the cloth wrapped around my head, but it blocks most sound from getting out until all I can hear from myself is quiet whimpers.

• LORENZO •

I knock on the door. A few excruciatingly long moments pass before I see the blinds open a centimetre, then immediately shut.

     I knock again. No one answers.

     I sigh. And then I break the door down. It only takes one charge of my shoulder for it to collapse onto the carpeted floor.

     I walk in, stepping over it, and Pietro and Elijah follow me. I furrow my eyebrows when I see the empty main room, but then I proceed into one of the connected ones. My daughter's here somewhere, and I'm gonna find her.

     It's a bedroom with two double beds. But that isn't what I focus on. No, my attention is on the young woman attempting to escape out of the window.

     I walk forward, close the distance between us, then grab her neck and slam her head against the wall, cutting off her nervous sobs and sputters. As she collapses onto the floor, I begin to realise that I recognise her.

     It sparks like a flame. She's the doctor from the hospital who made me sign all of those forms.

     My anger flares, but I remind myself to come back for her later.

     "Enzo!" Pietro shouts from the other room. I snap my head up and rush back into the living room. My son and brother are outside an open door, and the former looks terrified; like he's about to throw up.

     I make my way over to them quickly, pausing behind them when I see what's gotten them so shaken.

     Briana is holding a knife to a tied-down, gagged Amalia's throat.

     "Leave, or I'll kill her before any of you can." Briana says, voice as shaky as her hand is. She holds the blade tentatively to my babies throat.

     And it doesn't take me long to realise that she's not going to kill her.

     I take a small step forward, into the room. "I mean it, Lorenzo!" She exclaims.

     "If you let her go now, then we'll let you walk away. You can leave." I say. "I promise. Just please don't bring Amalia into this anymore than you already have. She's just a kid, she's got nothing to do with this."

     "I'm not going to let you hurt her." She says.

     "You're already hurting her." I reply. I glance at Amalia. Her eyes are clenched shut, almost as if she's trying to ward all of us away and pretend we don't exist. "She's just had a surgery, Briana." I say. "She needs to see a doctor."

     "She's fine. I gave her the anti rejection pills."

"She needs more than that!" I shout. "Xander isn't even out of hospital yet, so Amalia definitely shouldn't be!"

"She's fine!" She shouts, lowering the knife for a split second. I use this distraction to grab my gun again, assure the silencer is on and shoot her in the arm, just like she did to me.

She screams.

Pietro walks toward her and quickly takes her by her uninjured arm before dragging her out of the room. She tries to stop him, but her attempts are useless. I can still hear her shouts as Pietro takes her to the members of our team, waiting outside.

I rush over to Amalia, who's sobbing uncontrollably. Elijah begins to untie her ankles as I undo one of the bounds around her wrist. She uses her freed hand to grab the gag out of her mouth and undo the other.

I sit beside her, and she immediately crawls over and latches onto me. I wrap my arms around her and pull her onto my lap, eyes watering as a heavy blanket of relief folds over me. Amalia wraps her skinny, bruised arms around me, and I hold her back tightly, afraid that if I loosen my grip, even for a moment, I'll lose her again.

She continues to sob into my shirt. I stand and adjust her onto my hip, using the arm that isn't hurt to support her. She wraps her arm around my neck and digs her head into my shoulder. Elijah smiles at his sister before nodding to the door.

"We have to leave." He says.

I begin to walk after him. Amalia, dressed in a jacket too big for her, holds onto me so tightly I think she's cutting off some of my circulation, but it's okay. As long as she's okay.

     Her tears soak my shirt, and in an attempt to calm her down while we're in a rush to leave, I rub her back.

     "It's okay, baby." I whisper. "You're safe now." I add as we walk outside. I rush down the steps, then back to the car. I go to set her into the middle seat, but she doesn't let me, clinging onto me tightly. So I duck inside, folding her up on my lap as my employees lock the back of a van—which I'm assuming has my sister in it.

     Good.

     Pietro gets into the drivers seat as Elijah climbs into the back with Amalia and I. He immediately lets out a sigh of relief, as though he didn't quite believe she was here before. But now he does, and I can see the happiness he's trying to hide behind his sorrow.

     "Amalia." I say quietly. She looks up at me with puffy, red eyes. "Elijah's here."

     She snaps her head toward her older brother, and another sob escapes her. She crawls off my lap and onto his, wrapping her arms around him. He hugs her back tighter, burying his nose in her hair.

     I smile.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys! Sorry for the short chapter. I didn't have a lot of motivation to write but I wanted to anyway. Also, please let me know if this was a good reunion? I'm kind of 50/50 about it.