Trigger Warning: mentions of sex, brief mentions of abuse, this is kinda not PG, so read at your own risk?

"you need to deflate your ego a bit. I didn't pass out because of you dummy; I passed out because I have like no iron in my body."

Marco pulled away at this statement and gave me a small smile, so quick it was barely there.

"Well, know that you're good, should we call in the rest?"

And with that, I was ready to give the best ass-kicking beatdown by words they have ever heard.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Emma POV*

As per my request, the rest of my brothers shuffled into the living room.

Now, I was usually a very calm person, but at the moment, I felt red hot, molten rage coursing through my veins.

And I wasn't going to hold back anymore. I stood up on the couch, ready to give my brothers a piece of my mind.

"Are you out of your minds??" I started, "What in the world compelled yall to try and beat Antonio's brains out of his skull?!? Marco barely touched me, and y'all are looking like someone ran over your dog, but Antonio over here has a broken nose and a black eye, and none of y'all look so sorry at all. And another thing?? You better not yell at Marco nor lay a hand on him when I leave this room, or so help me god."

I cast one disapproving look over my brothers before flopping back down on the couch, letting my eyes remain cold.

*Enzo POV*

The coldness in Emma's eyes rivaled that of Antarctica.

I knew that most of her rage was not directed at me, her twin, but I couldn't help but shiver.

With that sort of expression on her face, she looked like a miniature Alessandro.

Yet another shiver danced its way down my spine.

As if one Alessandro wasn't enough.

*Luca POV*

Emma must have been furious to yell at us.

She has only been here three days, and I already knew that she would never yell at us if she wasn't outraged.

However, I still felt a little...annoyed?

I don't know why, but seeing Emma yell at us just made my blood boil.

*Marco POV*

Seeing Emma stand up for her brothers, her family made me happy in some way.

Atleast she understood the importance of family.

That didn't stop the fact that I felt horrible for touching her, though.

*Antonio POV*

Well, I never thought this day would come.

It was amusing, really, to see all these men get scared by a girl half a foot shorter than them.

I would never admit it, but secretly I was happy that Emma stood up for me.

*Alessandro POV*

As I watched this whole fiasco play out in front of me, I had one thought in the front of my mind.

Emma

I thought she would be some sort of horrified, but her anger surprised me.

It was justified, but surprising nonetheless.

*Emma POV*

I sat there on the couch, hoping the coldness in my eyes would mask my true feelings.

But of course, I could never hide anything from the ever-watchful eyes of my older brothers.

"Hey, you know that we would love you and never hurt you, right?" Enzo asked.

I shrugged my shoulders, not really believing the lie that so many others had told me.

That didn't sit well with my brothers, for the next thing I knew, they were all crouched down around the side of the couch I was sitting on.

"Niña, we would never hurt you," Alessandro stated. "I would rather take a bullet that hurt you."

Huh, guess they were telling me the truth.

The one thing I was sure of in the past three days that I had been here was that out of all of my brothers, Alessandro was the least likely to ever lie to me.

However, I was nervous as hell.

I knew now that these boys would never hurt me, but it was always in the back of my mind.

Nagging, biting at my thoughts

You can never trust them... they'll just end up hurting you too.

Damn, my thoughts were depressing.

"Emma?"

My oh so lovely thoughts were interrupted by someone calling my name.

"Yes?" I answered.

"You're free to go to your room if you'd like." Alessandro, to whom the mystery voice belonged, replied.

"O-oh, okay. Uh, bye?" I squeaked out, the end of my statement sounding more like a question.

I was a bit nervous to go back to my room because I knew that I had an awkward walk as of right now.

My left thigh had a burn wound on it, and my right ankle had an odd feeling when too much pressure was applied.

I slowly started towards the stairs, hoping that no one would notice.

Knowing my luck, someone just had to say something.

"Emma, why are you walking like that?" Luca asked.

Seeing as my best bet was to play dumb, I replied, "Like what?"

"Like your legs are really sore."

Oh, thank god. I let out a little sigh of relief in my head. So they didn't think I was walking weird because I was hurt. However, that left me with two options.

Either tell them the truth about me being abused or make up some random lie.

Opting for the latter, I opened my mouth, hoping a beautifully concocted lie would come out.

Curse my bad luck, for what came out was,

"Uh, I had a hookup a couple of days ago," I mumbled again, horrified at the words that had just come out of my mouth.

Well shit. I was going to be in deep trouble.

To say all hell broke loose would be an understatement.

All my brothers froze.

Marco, who was in the middle of drinking water, started choking, while Enzo began choking on thin air.

Alessandro was the only one who didn't have an outward reaction, and even then, I was reasonably sure I saw his finger twitch.

"A-a hookup?" Enzo questioned.

"Yeah," I answered

"Like you-you-you did the deed with a-a."

"Yeah," I cut him off, hoping to save both him and me the embarrassment.

"Wait, you've been here three days, though. How are your legs still sore?" Luca asked.

"Do you really want the answer to that question?" I deflected

"Yes."

Well, I was not expecting that answer.

Instead of a verbal reply, I held my hands in front of me and stretched them apart to show.

Enzo was the first to get it, and his entire face flushed red.

"Oh my god. Emma, are you crazy?? That's literally a foot!" Enzo practically screamed at me.

"A foot of what...?" Marco questioned while going to get another sip of water.

Yet again, he choked, understanding dawning over him.

None of my brothers seemed too angry except Alessandro and Antonio.

"Well, that's all sweet and lovely, but what was his name, Emma?" Antonio asked, in a sugary sweet voice.

I rolled my eyes at his overprotectiveness and said

"Hell if I know."

That set them off because this time, even Marco was a bit pissed.

"You hooked up with someone without knowing their godamn name?? Emma Rami-" Marco started.

Again with the Ramirez thing??

Alessandro cut him off with a sharp look at said,

"what's done is done; however, I expect none of that under my roof, understand?"

I nodded, knowing full well that I was going to break that rule.

What can I say?

A girl needs what a girl needs.

"Anyway, it's getting a bit late; why don't the rest of you head to your rooms while I finish up some work?"

Glad to get away from this situation, I trudged upstairs towards my room.

I was drifting to sleep with the beautiful sound of Christina Yang talking in the background when I was interrupted.

I felt a sharp poke in my right temple but thought nothing of it.

That was until I felt it again.

And again.

And again.

My patience was running low, especially considering how tired I was.

"WHAT" I snapped, slowly opening my eyes.

Standing in front of me was someone I did not expect to be in my room at 1:00 am.

hey y'all!

the story is gonna pick up faster, from here just trust me.

is there anything you guys would like to see in particular?

thank y'all so much for 24 THOUSAND reads!! honest to God i thought my story would get 50 reads MAX by the end of 2020. now here i am sitting on 24 fucking thousand reads. that is crazy y'all!

love ya, wear a mask, eat your meals, drink water, and stay safe!

smooches x