The emergency meeting proceeded with the three Dons currently present in the residence along with the selected heads of their organization. The sudden escapade and breaches from their secured territories came across as a shock and a warning to everyone present, especially to the King.

"Did you pass the code to Aleksei?" King Stefano offhandedly questioned his second younger brother, Damon, while his attention focused on the documents at his hand.

"Yes, he has reverted back with a positive response, promising us full support and help on the search, brother. We are coordinating with their border soldiers in expanding the search."

"Leonardo, what is the intelligence you received regarding the security breach in the hospital?" This time the question was posed to the youngest, who sat at the end of the table with his fingers fastly tapping down the keyboard.

The display on the projector screen flickered displaying complete profile details of the intruder.

"He is in his mid-forties. Apart from the slight drug addiction, there isn't anything suspicious on his profile," with a slight pause Leo shifted to the next slide. "He had moved to this town fourteen years ago and used to work as an industrial worker for Smirnoff Industries. There is not much to see in his records, he had also lost his wife fifteen years ago in a hit and run incident. Apart from that, he has lead a very normal life in the small town, as far as the records go"

He slid out of his seat and changed the display to a blurry picture. A shocked silence prevailed in the room.

"WHAT? He knows our sister's stepfather?" Damon's loud voice boomed across the meeting room.

"Keep your voice down," a sharp command from Stefano, immediately silenced the seething Damon, who begrudgingly sat down on his chair.

"This is suspicious, sir. If I may comment boldly, for a person to attack four of our soldiers wildly in the middle of the day at a public space doesn't seem like an ordinary scenario, especially when it involves our princess," Paulo, their junior consigliere commented.

"Keep investigating on this, till you get a solid lead. Paulo, take on this case and report about this directly to me, I still want the stepfather locked under our basement. Damon, make sure to get it done no matter what," the dark coldness in Stefano's voice brought out a small wicked smile on the younger brothers' faces.

"Ah! Consider it done brother." Damon nodded excitedly while leaning back on his chair.

A slight knock was heard on the door, followed by Don's permission the head guard entered nervously with his eyes down.

"Speak." Leonardo commented to the guard who stood still with his eyes averted, waiting for the command.

"Don Vincent has landed."

*****************************************************************

Helping the little girl outside the car, "I will be there in two minutes, Ju. Stand here, I will call all of your other brothers down, " Vincent softly said with a tender smile on his face, and walked swiftly towards the two huge oak doors.

Juliette slowly raised her hand, and waved at the two burly guards who stood sternly on either sides of the door.

"Wou...ld you like to ha..ve some co..okie?" she softly asked the guards, wondering why they didn't wave back to her.

Anthony, who was standing two steps back to Juliette, smiled softly at her gesture. A content look spread across his face as he observed the actions of the little girl.

Her wide curious gaze wandered along the huge white building and narrowed at the guards who still stood sternly not reacting to any of her actions. The Ricci soldiers who were trained to withstand heavy torture, follow utmost discipline and inflict damages, were clueless in front of the wide-eyed girl who stared at them innocently with a cookie in her hand.

The main door slowly creaked open, as the four brothers walked towards their sister.

'This is so scary..., they are so tall and huge. If they beat me I won't even be able to escape,' A lone paranoid thought echoed in Juliette's mind, as she looked at them with wide eyes.

As they inched closer, her eyes immediately dropped down to her feet. The intimidating aura surrounding the four brothers, made her shiver slightly. Dark thoughts flashed across her mind reminding her about the numerous thrashings she received from her step father.

"Ah, Looks like we have a meek little rabbit with us," the one standing in the middle commented with a playful grin on his face.

At the word rabbit, Julie slightly lifted her head. "I'm Juliette," she said in a soft voice trying to correct him.

Hearing the soft clueless voice, the youngest brothers broke into loud laughter.

"Oh my! I can't! Did she just correct me? " Damon again broke into loud laughter. Sensing the uncomfortable look on Juliette's face, Vincent loudly smacked the back of his younger brother telling him to shut up.

"Aish! Stop beating me. Did you look at her face? Oh my, she looks so adorable. Those puffed up cheeks AHHH! How come I didn't know that I had such a cute looking sister before," reaching forward Damon tugged gently on her flushed cheeks. "Did Vincent bore you to death on the way? Why isn't she answering at all?" he questioned himself as he kept tugging on her cheeks widely.

"Mooi mawb..th" Julie responded while trying to push his hands away. She looked bewildered and slowly edged closely towards Vincent while gripping his arms tightly.

Her wide-eyes looked at Damon accusingly while holding her now swollen-red cheeks. On the other hand Damon looked absolutely clueless at the wary behavior of his sister.

The crisp sound of throat clearing was heard while all eyes directed towards the source, Stefano Ricci,

"Welcome to your home, Juliette. I'm your eldest brother and guardian, Stefano. Let's head inside the house now," Stefano spoke while holding out his hand towards his youngest sister, who seemed very different from the Ricci bloodline.

Julie slowly, but very hesitantly placed her hand on Stefano's palm as he guided her inside.

"You would be given a tour of the entire house later on," Stefano commented as he noticed the bubbling curiosity in her eyes.

Juliette had never seen such grandness in any of the houses back in her town. The huge, wood carved oak doors, crystal chandeliers, broad helical staircase, double- height curtain glass with black and gold upholstery added a regal touch to the entire house, reminding her of a palace.

"I'm Stefano Ricci, as I'd already introduced to you. I would be your guardian, since I am your eldest brother. I'm glad to have you with us," Stefano introduced himself formally with an awkward smile on his face.

"I'm Damon. The third eldest brother, and would definitely be your favorite one, " he winked while having a huge smile on his face.

Julie grimaced at the word favorite as she touched her still painful cheeks. Pushing back her thoughts, she gave a small smile to the overly enthusiastic brother.

"Have you never heard of us?" the youngest one among the brothers asked curiously.

Julie looked at him questioningly, and shook her head slowly with a look of confusion on her face.

"Wh..y? Are you fam..ous on TV?"

Another round of laughter broke around the room as the younger siblings looked at each other while laughing loudly.

"No..no" Damon spat out amidst the laughter. "We are just businessmen who made a...good name in our niche industry among different nations," he declared with a proud smirk on his face.

"Oh...That is..so co..ol" Juliette stuttered with a look of awe on her face.

An awkward silence settled in the room, as the brothers exchanged subtle glances with each other. They couldn't believe that their sister really had no clue about their identities.

"Okay moving on, I'm Leonardo. Glad to have you home sister," the youngest brother introduced with a soft smile on his face.

Juliette responded back with a small smile. With the anticipation and adrenaline slowly dying down, her body started to feel heavy with exhaustion.

"Let me guide you to your room, Ju. We can talk later. Your face looks ashy all of a sudden. I think you need to rest for a while. Afterall, we have lots of time to catch up on what we missed during your childhood," Vincent said as he slowly guided his sister out of the room.

*************************************************************************

"Anthony, what did you decide on?" Stefano drawled out once Julie was out of the hearing range. The guard slowly walked forward and kneeled in front of the Dons.

"I will protect the princess with my soul and life. I vowed to your father, now I would also take an oath in front of you, if needed. But, I swear on keeping my promise. I will do anything to keep her happy and safe," Anthony vouched for his credibility in front of the Dons, as they sat on the throne-like chairs and looked at the guard groveling under their feet.

"Very well. One misstep, and I would get rid of yourself and your entire family," Stefano warned.

Damon moved closer to the bowed guard, "We are not like our father, Anthony. Remember that well. Do not ever try to play your fraternizing games here like last time. You would return in nothing but a body bag if such a case ever happens again." a steely tone was clearly heard as the guard was warned one last time, before being deputed officially as the first guard of the princess.

******************************************************************

(1600 words)

Hello guys!

I finally managed to update within 10 days, which is first in a while. I am hoping to keep the update schedule regularly within 7-10 days. Also, thank you for all your comments in the previous chapter. It really helped me to figure out quite a few things.

Show all your love and support. -'ღ'-

Comment down your thoughts about this chapter.

Thank you again to all of you, who have waited patiently for the story's update.

A random question, do you guys like to read stories with a potential male lead in the future (a new character), or would you be fine with the story revolving only around the siblings?

All the questions, I ask at the end of the chapter are generally for my reference. I have developed the plot line already. But, based on your tastes and opinions I would increase/decrease the importance of that particular character in the story.