The Four Brothers ~ Completed

Capítulo Dezoito: O Fim

Gemma's POV:
SIX MONTHS LATER

What was it about sad endings that made me smile? Was it the idea that people were their most honest, their most pure and brutal selves when they saw their world crumbling around them? Perhaps the appeal lay in the conclusion, permanent and irreversible. I would sooner have the answers to the question of whether humans invented math or discovered it.

Maybe whatever fate, whatever god ruling over us with a steady hand and impervious heart decided to leave such inquiries unanswered and unsolved, allow longing hearts to search fruitlessly for an explanation.

When I woke up, groaning from pain and blubbering to my fretting brothers about how much I loved them and how I didn't want to die, I was left with question after question. What happened to Daniel? What happened to our mother? How were we to continue with such a setback, one that had nearly killed me?

I'd been reassured swiftly, my brother's easy descriptions of that day putting me at ease. Daniel had received a bullet to the head in a fit of rage, Sinclair's aim tried and true. My mother was still alive, being treated to the finest luxuries Damian could afford. Of course, in my brother's vocabulary, that meant she was being tortured until they got tired of listening to her scream and cry.

I won't lie. I laughed.

I'd visited her once, under the careful watch of Tobias. He'd rarely left my side since the incident, much like Zion. She'd begged for her release, promising she'd leave and never return and pleading, hopeful that I had a sliver of mercy in my heart dedicated to her.

I smiled at her before slapping her across the face. I walked out, leaving her sobbing behind me. That was the last I heard of her until Damian came up from the basement one day with bloodied hands, a grin on his face that spoke volumes on how exactly she died, and told us all her screams would no longer echo through the halls of our home.

Zion and Tobias babied me after I was released from the hospital, turning into complete mother hens whenever I so much as made a noise of discomfort, which, with a stitched up hole in my shoulder, was never ending. Damian had taken it upon himself to turn any and every threat to me, to ash. He hadn't been in the hospital room when I woke up, much to my chagrin, and he'd been missing for two weeks before he suddenly reappeared in the kitchen one morning, making omelets as if nothing had happened.

Zion told me that Damian had checked in on me almost every hour on the dot, but was consumed by guilt and unable to face me. I kicked Damian in the shin when I saw him, then hugged him and demanded he never leave me again if he really wanted to make up for it. He promised and hadn't left me since.

Sinclair, my teddy-bear of a brother, went completely feral while I was in the hospital. Rumor had it he'd taken over three gangs, helped Damian finish off the Ukrainian mafia, and destroyed the Mexican cartel Daniel had run. Since waking up, he'd acted like nothing had changed. He'd been the only one to treat me normally and it was refreshing, not that I had any complaints about how the other three treated me.

I'd started school and promptly dropped out. Thirteen year olds were possibly the most immature people in the world, even worse than kindergartners. And that was saying something.

I'd decided to take a break from school, not that my schooling career had lasted very long. And that wasn't the only change.

Not long after I'd recovered from the gunshot wound and starting physical therapy, Tobias had taken me clothes shopping to restock my wardrobe. While shopping wasn't my favorite thing to do, having an unlimited supply of money certainly made it a lot more fun. The first place I'd gone was the dress store where Juno worked. I'd told her that I'd been in an accident shortly after the ball and that my gorgeous dress hadn't survived.