I whirled around, already annoyed but softened my glare when I realized it was just Giovanni.

"What's up?" I asked.

"We're headed to the mall; come on."

I opened my mouth to argue, as I hated going out in public, but quickly shut it when I realized that I would be fighting a losing cause.

***

*Emma POV*

I was exhausted just from walking around the tiny mall. In my defense, a lot of my energy was spent trying to argue against Luca not to buy me high-end items, most of which I lost. Also, my legs and ribs still weren't fully healed, so I had to put in twice as much work.

That is how I ended up slumped against this random bench, surrounded by bags from stores such as Gucci and Balenciaga, but also bags from Forever 21 and h&m. I knew it wasn't much, but I felt a slight sense of accomplishment at convincing one of my brothers to let me shop where I wanted to.

I was zoned out for so long that I barely registered when Luca put his hand down on my shoulder. I flinched at the contact and looked up at a frowning Luca.

He said nothing and instead asked, "Ready to go?".

I nodded in response, glad that I could finally watch some Brooklyn Nine-Nine once we got to the house.

***

I was so glad that we were back at the house.

I was not very social initially, but something about Chicago just strained me even more.

I spiraled into more thoughts about how much I did not fit into this life but snapped out of it when Luca's Mercedes E300 pulled up in front of the house.

Again, I gaped up at the house, forever mesmerized by the sheer size.

I opened the door and tried to run up to my room but was stopped by yet another hand.

I held my breath and slowly turned around, hoping it wasn't my least favorite brother. I loudly exhaled when I realized it was just my brother that was the same age as me.

My twin.

Dang, it still felt weird.

Enzo looked at me weirdly since I resembled a bull right now, with my nostrils flared and mouth slightly open.

"Do you wanna come to the living room to show off what you bought? Like a mini fashion show...?" He nervously chuckled at the end of his question as he tried to gauge my response.

I just tilted my head before silently walking back towards the living room. My arms ached from carrying all the bags, and my legs hurt from walking around the mall so much.

Just as I put the bags down, I heard the sharp click-click of nails on the wood and the loud shout of Luca, yelling, "Hold on, Coco!!"

I slowly turned around, hoping that there wasn't yet another person in this house, and thankfully I was proved wrong.

Barrelling at me was the cutest dog that I had ever seen.

I immediately dropped on my knees and caught her in my arms, falling backward slightly.

I left her sniff my hand before I slowly went to pet her on her side, then moving to her head. Her eyes followed my hand the entire time before flopping down and setting her head in my lap.

I spent a solid 5 minutes just showering her with affection, all while she looked up at me with a goofy look on her face before I came back to my surroundings.

My brothers looked at me with awe, adoration, and a little bit of jealousy in their eyes.

I was a little weirded out, so I snapped my fingers and waved my hand in their faces.

"Are you okay?" I hesitantly asked. It was weird to see all of my brothers like this, especially Marco and Antonio.

"H-how did you do that?" Luca asked.

"Do what?" I replied.

"Get Coco to do that to you. See watch this."

Luca shoved Marco closer to Coco and me, and almost immediately, Coco started growling and baring her teeth as if warning him to get away.

I just stared at Coco in awe and a little bit of shock.

Huh, guess I was an animal whisperer.

Coco had grabbed onto Marco's sleeve and was pulling it.

Sadly, I was snapped out of my thoughts by Marco yelling.

"Stupid bitch! Why don't we just put you in a shelter?"

I was definitely possessed at the moment because the following words that flew out of my mouth shocked me.

"Don't talk to her that way!' I practically shouted at Marco.

Once I registered what I had just said, I froze in shock, my hands placed over my mouth. I warily eyed Marco's biceps, just thinking about how one punch from those arms would completely knock me out.

The rest of my brothers had started laughing while Marco just lifted an eyebrow up and stared at me.

"Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do about it? Hmm, dear little sister."

The last part was mocking, and I knew he was just trying to get under my skin, to get me to say something that I would regret earlier.

Instead, I just shook my head and asked.

"Who wants to see some clothes?"

***

I flopped down on the sofa, exhausted at this so-called "fashion show."

Don't get me wrong, it had started off fun, but we weren't even halfway through the clothes, and I was done. I basically tried on 20 colors of the same style long sleeve t-shirt and pants, and each time my brothers had a different reaction.

I guess it's a rich person thing?

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't even notice the conversations around me die down until it was just silence and my thoughts.

The loudest thing of all.

On the first night I was here, Antonio had grabbed me a little too hard and had left a bruise. It didn't hurt as much as my other bruises, but over these past two days, the mark Antonio's fingers left had darkened into an ugly purple.

Realizing how quiet the room had gotten, I shifted my eyes upward to look at the brother sitting closest to me.

Antonio.

The anger in his eyes frightened me. However, his eyes weren't on my face? I looked down to see what he was looking at and was met with the ugly purple bruise that Antonio himself had left.

"What the fuck is that, Emma." Antonio gritted out.

Opting out of replying, I scanned the room instead, hoping at least one brother would come to my rescue.

However, what I was met with were more anger and stone-cold gazes. From youngest to oldest, the intensity of anger level in their eyes increased until I finally had to look at Alessandro's eyes. I was already terrified, and what I saw chilled me to my core.

Allesandro looked ready to kill.

His eyes did not hold anger; no, they held fury. I swear I could see the fires of Hell burning in his eyes if I looked long enough.

"He asked you a question, now answer him, Emma," Luca said.

Dang, the one brother I liked so far.

"Oh, you know...:" I trailed off, not really knowing where this sentence was going.

"Know what." I heard through a sneer.

"Oh, and the truth, not some lie that you're going to try to make up on the spot."

Well, there goes my plan, I guess.

I took a deep breath and steadied myself for this, hoping nothing happened.

"Well, on the first night here, I was on my way back to my room, and Antonio might have grabbed my wrist a little too hard..." I mumbled out

"But, I'm pretty sure it wasn't his fault; I think he was drunk?" I rushed out quickly afterward.

My second sentence must not have registered with half my brothers because as soon as the first one was out?

Well, after that, all Hell broke loose.