Their Little Princess

Chapter Eighteen

I'm awaken around midnight, it's Elijah. 

I sit up and take in my surroundings, it's dark. I can feel beads of sweat trickling down my face and assume I was having a nightmare.

"Are you okay with contact right now?" He asks gently.

I hesitate and I realize I'm trembling slightly. I nod shakily and he gently pulls me into a hug. I realize the trench coat and the suit and remember he's about to leave for 3 days.

I feels sad and hug him tighter, "Can't I just go?" I ask.

"I'm sorry, you can't. But if you behave while we're gone, we were thinking of maybe taking you to Italy on New Years'," He says.

That doesn't lift my spirits. "Oh okay," I say.

"Call me if anything happens, alright? Even if you just knocked over a bowl of soup, if you want to call then call, alright? But if it's something serious, something that you would want to call the police for and you don't want to tell Emilio, call Alessandro immediately, okay?"

"Yes," I say tiredly.

"Good night, Mads. I'll see you on Sunday. Be good."

The next morning, since Emilio is already at the warehouse, Xander just prepares me a bowl of cereal and we leave.

"Emma told me you were rude to her yesterday. Can't you just try to get along with her?" Xander says in frustration on the way there.

"I wasn't even rude to her," I claim, "She's just a bi—Disrespectful person. She's fake."

When we get to the school, we split ways in the hallways because they don't let me walk from the car to the doorway as if something could happen to me in the 50 feet between.

And for the most part, it isn't hard to avoid Emma. 

Later in the day, I walk into English class. I sit down at one of the empty desks and pull out the Hunger Games book we're reading.

"Hey," I hear.

I look over and see the boy from yesterday, not wearing the school varsity hoodie anymore, just the regulated burgundy blazer.

"Hey," I say.

"Are you new here?" He asks curiously.

"Um...Yeah. Yeah it's my 3rd day here," I say.

"How come I never see you at lunch?" He asks. I play with the edge of my book, "I have lunch with the upperclassmen."

"Cool. I'm Logan Evans," He says, "I'm on the Varsity Football team."

He reminds me of Chase which almost makes me giggle. "My name is Maddie Rossi."

He winces, "Ah, the twins. I probably shouldn't be talking to you."

"Right, um...Yeah," I say. Forgot Xander has to ruin everything for me.

The teacher begins class anyway and I have no time to talk to him. After class, I walk straight out of the classroom, not giving him the opportunity to ignore me. 

As I'm walking through the hall, I catch sight of an ice hockey league at the local rink currently looking for members. I light up inside. I pull the sheet of paper down and stuff it into my bookbag.

The day passes by jarringly quick and I remember Mr. Jackson returns today. I take a deep breath outside the room before entering and when I walk in I'm extremely caught off guard.

He's busted. His lip is split, his nose is being held upright by a splint and he has various color bruises around his face and a limp in his step. The dark circles under his eyes don't do the rest of his face any justice. I try to bite my lip to keep from being triggered as I walk to the back of the classroom.

My mind starts to race on what could've happened as class proceeds. He doesn't bother me at all, doesn't ask me any questions, he doesn't even look in my direction until the end of class when the bell rings. I begin sliding my stuff hastily off my desk and into my bookbag.

"Miss Rossi, please stay behind."

I freeze, my heart is pounding against my chest. All the students walk around me. Logan looks curious but continues walking, sparing me a wave on his way into the hall. I wait until all the students are out of the classroom to walk to his desk nervously. "Shut that door for me, will you?" He say eerily thinly.

Something in my head is screaming for me to make a run for it. I walk hesitantly over to the door and shut it slowly before walking back over to his desk. He takes a step forward, and then another. That voice in my head begs me to take another step backward but I'm frozen to the spot. My heart beats even harder, even louder.

He twists the collar of my polo into his hand, pulling within inches of his face, I let out a yelp but he doesn't even flinch, he reaches around me grabbing my ass to keep me in place as he gets menacingly close, to the point where when he talks, his spittle hits my face and the entire situation sends me into a panic mode. "If you ever say another word of what I do to those meddling brothers of yours, I'll do so much worse than you've ever felt before. You see this?!" He says sharply. Angrily.

A terrified whimper exits my mouth as I desperately try to move his hands from behind me as his grip tightens. "Look at me!" He shouts, giving me a painful jolt.

He lets go of my shirt and I fall back onto the hard tile, slamming my head on the edge of the desk on my way down, he kneels down onto his knees. But my body reacts first and I grab the staple gun off his desk, slamming it down onto his forehead with any strength I have and stumbling to my feet and out of the classroom.

The hallways are empty, it's quiet. I back against the wall. My breathing is so quick I can't keep track of it. My head is pounding and everything hurts. Everything. Sweat trickles down my face as I stare blankly at the wall in front of me. I can't decide what to do. My hands hastily find my phone and before I think about it, I call Elijah.

I hold the phone to my ear as I try to find my voice.

"Hey, Maddie, what's up? Aren't you still at school?" Elijah says. I open my mouth to talk but nothing but a sob exits my mouth.

"Maddie, what happened?" He's more alert now and I can hear Alessandro and Francesco's voices in the background.

I continue to try to gain myself, being interrupted by a sob every now an then. "Maddie, you have to tell me what's going on," He says gently. By the way the audio sounds different, he's put it on speaker.

"He—He said he's gonna kill me if I tell you," I say, tears racking my voice.

"Maddie, you think he could even touch when you have all of us there for you?" Elijah says gently, "But if we don't know who you're talking about, we can't help you."

I shakily recount the entire story to Elijah, from the moment he told me to stay after class to the last moment when he had me on the floor. By the end of it, I'm shaking beyond control and I'm not sure why. The hallways are still empty.

"Please, Alessandro, come home," I say and my voice sounds pathetic to my own ears.

"We won't be able to be home for another day, Madison," Alessandro cuts in, "Listen to me. Go and tell Xander everything you just told Elijah, understand?"

"But—"

"Madison."

"Okay," I say, hanging up the phone. I pick myself up and try to take a breath deep enough to compose myself before walking to the other hallway. I take a deep breath of confidence before opening the door. All the eyes turn to me. Emma looks furious. Xander narrows his eyes slightly before taking sight of the state I'm in and sitting up straighter.

He stands up abruptly, walking over to me quickly. "What the fuck?" He says quietly.

I reluctantly tell him everything I told Elijah. Quiet enough so nobody hears, "Xander, what are you—" Emma begins.

He brushes past me so harshly I almost fall and storms off down the hall. I follow him hesitantly, but have to pick up my speed to keep up with him.

"Stay here, Madison," He says stopping abruptly and pointing to a spot by a door at lest 50 feet away from Mr. Jackson's classroom.

"Are you gonna hurt him?"

"Just stay there."

And then he's gone.