Tree after tree after tree.

Silas was driving at a speed that could not be legal. Who was I to tell him to slow down though? I think I was lucky they weren't making me walk home. Ezra looked ready to explode.

I didn't think going to pee would cause someone such stress.

I debated apologising but I didn't for two reasons. Firstly, I wasn't risking a punishment. Secondly, what would I be apologising for?

I get I told him I'd wait but when you've got to go, you've got to go. Besides, it's not like anything could have happened to me, I was only going to the toilet. Still, I knew I should have listened, especially to someone with a temper as bad as Ezra's or Silas'.

Oh my god, what if they tell Zayne?

I'd rather take another beating from Milo than be scolded at by Zayne. The mere thought of disappointing and annoying Zayne overtakes any fear I have of a beating.

I was snapped back into reality when the car made an unanticipated turn. I had to use my not-very-many torso muscles to keep me upright otherwise I might've smacked into the seats next to me. If getting yelled at by Zayne didn't kill me, Silas' turns might.

"...and then you have the audacity to not listen to our strict orders! Honestly Brynn! What were you thinking?!" Ezra's pissed off voice sounded through my thoughts. Neither of them were looking at me. Ezra was sneering at his phone and Silas was focusing his death stare on the road.

I couldn't handle all the noise right now. All I could hear was the swoosh sound of passing vehicles and trees, Ezra and Silas' muffled scolds and the thumping of my own heart. Too much. Make it stop.

I curled my legs up onto the seat and wrapped my arms around them in a vigorous grip whilst mindlessly looking out the tinted window. Breathe.

"Imagine what your mother would say."

"You are so-"

"Irresponsible!" Silas carried on. I just kept my cheek resting on my knees and inwardly sighed. I just wanted to be curled up in my bed. My only safe space.

"Are you listening to me, sorellina?" I snapped my head up with wide eyes, fearful I'd pissed them off even more.

I'm pretty sure Africa is listening to you right now, Ezra.

"I didn't mean to disobey you." I don't even think I said it, it was so quiet.

"We told you not to leave the office! What part of that did you not understand, Brynn?" Silas rebuked. We're going in circles here.

"What's the big deal? It's not like I left the place, nothing would have happened!" I insisted almost begging them internally to not tell Zayne. I don't want to disturb him with something as petty as me going to the toilet when I was told to stay in Ezra's office. He definitely had more important things to deal with.

This seemed to keep them quiet because rather than shooting back, they looked towards each other and stayed silent. I couldn't tell exactly what they were doing but it appeared to be speaking through their minds.

They finished their internal discussion and Silas concentrated on the road as Ezra turned back around to me. "It doesn't matter, Brynn. We gave you an order and when one of us gives you an order, you always listen to us. No exceptions, you hear me?"

I didn't respond, only toyed with the bobble around my wrist. What was I supposed to say to that? He wasn't wrong. Technically, I'm in all my brothers' care now because they're the adults.

"What was that, Brynn? I couldn't hear you," Silas piped up from his seat.

"Yes, sir."

Shit.

Suddenly, the car came to an immediate stop with the brakes screeching like in the cartoons. We all simultaneously shot forward and straight back to our seats due to our seat belts. I swear I got whiplash.

I looked at where we stopped in hopes it wasn't in the middle of the motorway, only to see we had now arrived back at the house. Phew just made it out of that one.

I clicked my seat belt off and gripped the car door handle as if my life depended on it. It probably does right now. Sadly, the second I pulled, a light above the door beeped.

'Child lock.'

At the front, I saw Silas had his finger on the child lock button. That was speedy of him. I'll just have to jump out the window then.

"What did you just call me?" Nevermind then.

It'd be bad if they were giving me their hard stares, it's worse when they're facing forward completely tense, fists clenched around their seat and steering wheel, eyes hardened on nothing in particular.

I really wished the seat would just engulf me at this moment. I just called my brother sir. Sir.

The car is filled with unbearable silence. I wished to God that they'd do something, anything; punch me, slap me, kick me, yell at me. Anything but this suffocating silence. I just sat there, staring tensely at my knees whilst they made no move to speak or turn around.

A few more seconds of pure silence and, without any warning, they both whip around and I flinch back in my seat ignoring their hurt and angered looks. I couldn't handle feeling guilty on top of my other emotions right now.

Ezra just stared at me and Silas spoke up, "Brynn, you never have to call us sir." He practically spat 'sir' out like it was poisonous venom intoxicating his mouth.

"Did Milo make you call him sir?" Ezra spat his name out with just as much disgust as Silas did as I winced at the mention of Milo. I nodded weakly, hoping neither of them reminded me to use my words.

Neither did such, instead I could see from above my eyelids that they turned their heads to look at one another having a silent conversation. They're going to think I'm a freak.

I felt a finger graze my chin and shot back wide eyed. Ezra's wounded face frowned further and he reached forward again but I smushed myself against the car door. I had to get out of this car.

I ignored Ezra's angered expression and looked at Silas, "can you unlock the door please." He was about to protest but I stopped him, "please."

With a look of defeat he reluctantly reached his right arm back to press the unlock button, doing so whilst still looking at me. I couldn't bring myself to look at him so I just gripped the door handle and stared at it until I hear the ding signifying that it was open. The very second it was opened, I bolted out the car and walked hastily to the front door thankful for it not being locked.

I shot up the stairs, not looking back to see if Ezra or Silas had followed me and made my way to my room. All I wanted was to curl into my bed and overthink about today.

I managed to get to my room safe and soundly, checking the time and saw it was after one pm. We really didn't stay out as long as I thought. On the plus side, they forgot to make me eat lunc-

Knock knock.

Please don't be Ezra or Silas. Please don't be Ezra or Silas.

I stood in the middle of my room for a good three seconds before I realised I had to speak. "Come in!"

Brayden entered, still in his work clothes, holding a white bag. He leaned back on the door closing it and folded his arms across his chest.

"Hey, sweetheart. Heard you had quite the day today," he looked slightly sad yet his smile never faltered, not once. God, I'd love to have his cheery attitude. I played with my hands behind my back, blushing at the nickname and the fact that he most definitely knew about the incident in the car.

"It was... interesting," I mumbled, worried he'd be mad. He just chuckled and shook his head

"Gave your brothers a real good scare," his mood turned a bit serious. I hoped he wasn't mad at me too.

"I didn't mean to," I assured him, "I just needed the toilet."

Brayden didn't get mad or scold me, he just chuckled even harder than before. "Alright bambina, it's okay." He walked towards me and crouched, face suddenly taking a very serious almost scared expression. "But you can't do that again, okay? Promise me," it looked as though he was pleading me.

I desperately wanted to know what the big deal was, but what was the point of asking? I'd only get hushed. Besides, Brayden was being really nice. Nobody's asked me to do something for them nicely, not in a long time. I nodded and agreed, "okay."

He smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder, frowning when I winced. "Shit," he jumped up and then looked down at me with a guilty look. I raised my eyebrows, "langauge, Brayden," I retorted cheekily. He glared, playfully and placed a finger on my lips, "not a word, little miss."

I laughed slightly as he reached into the bag and pulled out the thing I was dreading the most. "I was told you hadn't had lunch yet," he raised a disapproving brow and I almost scoffed. Of course he would scold me for not eating lunch. I wanted to scoff at myself too because it was foolish of me to believe I could get away with skipping a meal. My brothers were like hawks. I could almost guarantee you Silas and Ezra told him.

"And since it was my lunch break, I thought we could eat together." How could I say no to that? He wanted to spend his lunch break with me. Me.

"Do we have to go downstairs?" I asked, biting my lip. If we went downstairs, there was a ninety percent chance I'd see Ezra or Silas. I did not have the backbone for that right now.

Brayden spun me around and guided me to my bed. He handed me a painkiller and got a bottle of water out the bag. As I thanked him and swallowed it, he brought my desk chair in between the desk and bed and took a seat. "Only if you want to. Unless you'd rather keep your poor, old brother company and gossip with him," he joked feigning sadness.

I sighed deciding to play along, "if I must." He shook his head and emptied the bag, "cheeky,"

He handed me a store bought ham sandwich and cool original doritos, getting his own food out too which consisted of water, a store bought turkey salad sandwich and a packet of salt and vinegar crisps.

"Now, gossip."

I had to admit, that was probably the best half an hour of my life. I ate a sandwich and a half (Brayden finishing the rest), most of the crisps and my ribs stopped aching as much. Brayden's "gossip" contained countless stories of the rest of our brothers.

He revealed that Zach once drove into a shop window by accident. He was okay but Zayne grounded him for a month.

By the time it was two, Brayden had to go back to work sadly. We cleaned up and he didn't forget to tell me how proud of me he was for eating so much. I could have cried at the praise. No one's told me how proud they were of me for a long time, especially not for something as small as eating a meal.

"I'll see you when I come back, okay bambina? Stay out of trouble since then," he kissed my head and left, taking all his comfort with him. Now I didn't know what to do with myself. Curling up into a ball didn't sound as appealing as it did before and I feel slightly queasy. I could play in the game room, though I don't really know how most of the stuff in there works. It wouldn't be as fun without Zach as well, I could always ask Ezra or Si-

Maybe not.

I just settled on sneaking back to the cosy corner in the library and trying to fix my phone. The fixing consisted of me bashing the screen a few times to try and get it to work.

---

At exactly five, the front door opened and judging by the steps that echoed the house, I assumed it was Zayne. As far as I know, he wasn't aware of what had happened at Ezra's studio so I was safe and in the clear.

Nevertheless, I tidied up and went back to my room. There could've been an unspoken rule about being in the library after a certain time and if Zayne had heard about today then I, in no way, am going to do anything to anger him further.

Once I entered my room however, I totally froze. On my bed, there was an iPhone and a laptop wrapped in a red ribbon together. This couldn't be for me, surely.

Stepping forward, I saw a small note on top of it and tentatively reached for it.

For our Brynn,

With lots of love, Your Brothers.

I felt my eyes tear up, they did not have to waste their money on me like this. No, I wasn't going to cry. With lots of love. Love.

After holding my tears back, I made my way to Zayne's office assuming that's where he went when he came in.

I planned what I was going to say in my head so I didn't humiliate myself but I abruptly stopped when I heard the commotion going on in the office.

I was going to walk away and mind my own business but I found myself being sucked into the conversation, particularly when I heard my name being thrown around.

I peeked through the tiny crack in the door and watched closely. Zayne was sat behind his desk, still in his suit, in total business mode, the most serious and slightly angered expression on his face. Ezra and Silas were stood on the other side of the desk with Ezra resting his hands on it and Silas with one arm across his chest and the other leaning on it with his elbow, hand spread on his face. I couldn't work out what their facial expressions looked like as they had their backs faced towards me but from the tensed shoulders and heavy breaths- they were as mad as they were in the car. Callan was sat on one of the couches at the side on the room, hand curled around his mouth and face looking angered and saddened. I didn't even realise he came home.

"She called me sir, Zayne. Fucking sir!" Silas all but bellowed.

"Silas calm-"

"No I will not calm down, Zayne! My little sister has been gone for over nine years and now she's come back abused, afraid of me and calling me sir! It's not fucking right!"

"You don't see how scared she was of us! She wouldn't even let me touch her in the car! Do you know how fucking painful that is?! To have your own baby sister not want to touch you!" Ezra stepped in. Did I really hurt them that much? I didn't mean to. I just-

"Did that bastard make her call him 'sir'?" Callan voiced his thoughts. His voice was the coldest I've ever heard, every word he spoke was like ice stabbing me. I did not like this side of Callan and prayed to God that I would never have to become victim to it.

"Of course he did, Cal. Fucking hell, I want to revive the bastardo malato, torture him and force him to swallow his own-" Ezra was interrupted.

"Brothers. It may interest you to know that our conversation is now longer private," Zayne's cool voice asserted dominance in the room and it also simultaneously made my entire life flash before my eyes. He couldn't possibly know I was listening.

"Brynn?"

Oh my holy mother of all things that are good and pure.

Gulping, I accepted my fate, there was no backing out now. I glared at the doorknob as if it was made of fire and slowly grabbed it. I took several deep breaths and opened the door. The suspense was killing me.

I'm starting to regret this.

The second I set foot in the room all eyes were on me and me alone. Callan forced a smile, Zayne remained his emotionless self and Ezra and Silas still weren't facing me.

Callan, my angel in disguise, stood up and came towards me, his smile never dropping. He dropped down in front of me, effectively blocking my view of the desk, not before I got the chance to see Ezra and Silas listen to something Zayne was saying.

"Hey, sweetheart, how are you?" his seemingly brightened mood made me crack a small smile. "'M fine, how was work?" I genuinely wanted to know. His voice felt homely. My brothers could talk about absolute nonsense and I'd still find their voices to be the most comforting sounds ever.

"Boring," he fake rolled his eyes making me smile. "Did you eat lunch?" There it is.

I sighed, "yes." He raised a questioning eyebrow. I sighed once again, "most of it." He smiled proudly as he stood up. "Good girl," he praised further which made me grin bashfully.

As we were conversing, I saw Ezra and Silas making their way out, both giving me side glances as they passed me. I played with my hands behind my back again and focused on Callan, who now had his hands on my shoulders lightly.

"I'll leave you two be," he glanced back at Zayne, who was looking at him with intense eyes. I was starting to rethink speaking to him, I could just thank him another day. My funeral or something.

Callan kissed my forehead, gave me a reassuring grin and with that left. Now it was just me and Zayne. Zayne and I. Just the two of us. Together. Alone.

"Brynn, what can I do for you?"

I gave him a small smile, taking a few small steps forwards and, quite bravely, I spoke.

"IjustwantedtothankyouforthegiftsyoudidnthavetodothatandIreallyappreciateitsothankyou."

I smiled proudly. Zayne, on the other hand, clearly didn't get any of that. His intense gaze intensified.

"I just missed that, can you repeat please?"

I cleared my throat, my hands still playing nervously behind my back. "Thank you for the gifts in my room, you really didn't have to do that so I wanted to tell you how grateful I am for it."

He leaned back in his chair. "We've told you before, sorellina, you deserve the world and the world you shall get," he stated simply as though he just bought me a chocolate bar, not a phone or laptop.

"You really didn't have to," I shifted my gaze downwards to watch my feet rub together. Zayne slanted back on his desk and I looked up again weary of any sudden movements. As he was analysing my face, a slam sounded around the entire mansion causing him to blink and me to jump fifty feet in the air.

"Brynn!" a voice I recognised as Zach's sang out.

I held back a smile, shaking my head to myself. Zayne huffed to himself, "I believe you're wanted."

"I guess I am," I smiled, not expecting one in return. Of course, he only nodded so without any more words being spoken, I exited. Not before Zayne continued, "Oh and Brynn?"

I turned back to him, half way out the door, with my eyebrows raised in expectancy. "I trust you'll listen next time?" I swallowed harshly before rapidly nodding, "yes, I'm sorry," I looked down ashamed not for following orders.

"Brynn," we made eye contact again. I chewed on my lip anxiously.

"I hope you know that you never have to call us anything other than our names. We are your brothers and we will never cause you any harm. You are so special to us."

The last part hardly sounded like a sentence but I heard it. I heard all of it. I nodded, "I know, thank you." You're special to me too.

He gave one last nod and then I left in search for Zach. The very second I stepped out of the office, I saw Zach making his way down the hallway with a vibrant smile engraved on his face. "There you are, love," he took my right hand with excitement dancing in his eyes. "I've been dying to play Minecraft with you all day." Me too. I didn't realise how much I actually missed him.

"Nice outfit by the way, it's great to see somebody else in this family has style as good as me," he winked smugly as he pulled me towards the game room.

He didn't bother changing out of his school clothes- which looked neater than it did this morning. His tie was tied, but still hung loosely around his neck and his shirt was half tucked in.

We entered the game room to see Zaiden already sat there with the game loading on screen and three remotes set on the table next to a bowl of crisps. He was sat on a black bean bag, scrolling through his phone. I didn't realise he would be playing with us, I don't mind if he does, I just hoped he wanted to play with me.

As soon as our presence was known and we sat on the soft couch, he pocketed his phone and muttered, "took you long enough," throwing the two remotes at Zach, who scoffed and caught them with ease.

"Yeah yeah," Zach threw his right arm over me and pulled me close, connecting it with his other hand to hold the remote steadily. Out the corner of my eye, I could see Zaiden glaring at his arm.

"Now let's play," the arm around me tightened significantly so I was stuck. Not stuck in a bad way- a safe way, a comforting way.

Zach clicked on our world and Zaiden wandered around the flower garden. "Who planted the flowers?" he smirked. Zach chuckled, "that would be ," he pointed at me whilst I blushed at their stares. Zaiden shook his head and ran his tongue along his teeth, looking back at the screen, "not bad."

Did he like my flower garden? I did work really hard on it.

And for the first time since I'd been here, I caught Zaiden smiling to himself whilst looking at my flowers. I did something that made Zaiden smile.

---

<3