"Umm I kinda fell-----" She started.

"There's more I guess?"

"-----on my ribs and I think they might be bruised." She finished.

Angelo's eyes grew slightly wide at her words. Carlo raised his brow as he followed Angelo who led Leila on the couch in living room.

"Call Xavier." Leila stiffened slightly at Carlo's words.

Antonio nodded and pulled his phone out and rounded the corner to call him.

"Err t-there's no need to call Xavier. I-I will be fine by some res--" Angelo cut her off with a sharp look on his face.

"Keep quiet for now and don't pressure your ribs more." Leaving her in Carlo's care, he himself headed to kitchen to bring ice-pack.

She awkwardly looked up at Carlo who casually stood in front of her with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes staring back at her.

By that time, Luciano and Vincent entered through the front door.

"-And then I twisted his broken fingers like that and he started squealing like a gi- What's going on?" Luciano's laugh cut off abruptly as his eyes fell on Leila.

Seeing a pained expression on her face and unshed tears in her eyes, he immediately rushed towards her.

"Who hurt you?! Who do I need to kill?!" He asked with a lunatic grin making Leila cringe in pain and horror.

"Give her some space, Luciano." Carlo said.

Just as Angelo came back with painkillers and ice-pack, Xavier along with Zach arrived there too. Antonio was already standing few feet away from couch beside Carlo.

"Let me see, Leila." Xavier sat beside her. Leila uncomfortably pull her shirt out of her skirt and lifted it up a little exposing the damage happened to her body.

Angelo and Luciano sucked a sharp breath in. Xavier assessed the damage with his keen, cold eyes.

"I FUCKING NEED NAMES!" Luciano cursed loudly and flipped the coffee table with a crazed look on his face that only made Leila tremble in fear.

"Calm down, Luciano. Go to gym and burn some steam off." Xavier said calmly.

Luciano clenched his fists and stormed out of there.

"I'm going to torture someone." His loud shout was heard from upstairs but Xavier and others ignored it.

Xavier held out his hand in front of Angelo who quietly handed him the ice-pack.

He gently placed it on her ribs.

"It will take 3-4 weeks for them to heal. It's a good news that nothing is broken. But proper rest is required." Leila stared at him frozen. The way he sounded, there was a hint of gentleness in his tone. It was strange to hear.

Leila nodded taking his words in and pulled her knees to her chest.

"Don't lay on your ribs and don't sit in the same position for long."

Her oldest brother was being caring to her. It was shocking not only to her but their other brothers who witnessed this scene.

He took painkillers from Angelo who was standing at his place, gaping lightly and frozen.

Vincent and Zach were staring with wide eyes. Antonio had his eyebrows raised while Carlo's eyes showed mild amusement.

"Brother, are you alright? You never showed this." Zach commented.

Xavier stared at him with an expectation of answer.

"I think this is called love and care. So odd!" Zach finished with a loud chuckle.

Leila looked at him with wide eyes.

"I care about you all equally. I love seven of you. It's another thing that I never got the chance to learn how to show it but if anything were to happen anyone of you, I would be more than willing to take bullet for you all." Everyone beside Carlo stared at him with wide, shocked eyes.

"Hmm. Well it's another thing that you have a special soft spot for youngest of the family. Not that we are jealous." Carlo was smiling faintly at this moment.

Leila was frozen at her seat. The youngest of family means 'her'.

How could possibly she had make soft spot in Xavier's heart? She had grown up thinking that she was a burden on him and others.

She looked down at her knees.

"Alright Leila. Tell us what happened?" Carlo brought his attention back at Leila with this question.

Leila knowing no escape out of this situation, narrated the whole incident to her brothers.

Somehow she missed Xavier's subtle nod at Vincent who pulled his phone out and started texting someone.

"That's all it?" Angelo asked her gaining a nod from her in answer.

"Why didn't you call anyone of us or get medical assistance from school's medical staff?" At Xavier's words, Leila straightened up.

"At first, I thought it was nothing serious and my phone was broken." She whispered while looking at anywhere but his eyes.

"Sorry umm that phone broke when I fell."

Xavier placed his hand on her shoulder and said.

"Relax. It was just a phone. Mere things like these doesn't matter. What matters the most is your health."

Her throat suddenly started to get heavy. She didn't know why she was feeling like to cry.

"Why didn't you tell Antonio at first place?" This question broke her immediately.

Tears started to fell down her eyes making every witness tense.

"I-I d-didn't w-w-want h-him t-to c-c-call m-me w-weak a-and p-p-pathetic a-again."

Antonio stared wide-eyed as Leila finally broke down in sobs.

Her cries were loud and painful. They never saw her breaking down like that.

Xavier was stunned at his place. He was incapable of erasing that little resentment in Antonio's heart.

The truth behind their parents death was different. Their mother and Leila were kidnapped when she was just few months old. The price to save her was the death of their father. He could not even save his wife in the process. They willingly embraced death for their daughter.

At that time, Xavier at the age of 15 had to step forward and become head and take their father's previous position. Carlo being a year younger started to train even more to help his brother along with Angelo. So they did not really get the chance to take care of Leila. She was raised by her nannies as the younger members of family seemed to hate Leila by passion.

Although slowly Antonio, Zach, Vincent and Luciano overcome with this hatred because growing up they understood that their father would have done the same for them as they joined the family business too.

But still somewhere Antonio held a small amount of resentment for her. He was considered his mother and father's favorite afterall. Leila's facial features were just like their mother but she was always so shy and always scared, that was complete opposite from their mother's personality. Antonio found this pathetic and he never left any chance to taunt her.

On the other side, Leila grew up thinking that she was a burden on her brothers. They did not want her in their life.

Due to their training and being busy handling their family's business, they never got the proper chance to show care and affection to her. The reason that Leila mistook as hate and distaste as they always ignored her.

When three years ago that incident happened, Xavier decided to send Leila away to their grandmother who was actually their real grandmother's sister.

Angelo hated this decision with real passion and he tried really hard to stop Leila from getting out. He thought that she could overcome with this trauma soon by staying here at their home. He did not want to send her away. Because he had really grown attached to her.

He was the only one who tried so hard to get break from work to watch her grow up slowly. It was different, he never tried to approach her because he did not want her to get scared like always. She had come to know about their family business at a really early age and it only made her child-self more terrified of them.

When he was stopping her from going to grandma's house, Leila only thought that he wanted to keep her practically 'caged' and 'locked-up'. He did not want her to get freedom.

Xavier shook his head to get rid of these thoughts. These little things were to blame for this rocky relationship between the siblings. But now atleast he had a hope to fix everything.

"Stupid brat!" Antonio murmured under his breath but somewhere inside he was guilty; very guilty. He stormed out of the room.

Xavier looked at Leila who was struggling to cry and breathe at the same time due to the pain in her ribs. But her grief was too big to handle inside her little heart anymore.

A little unsure, he cradled her in his arms. Leila froze, a little stunned, but she clutched his suit jacket and let silent tears flow. Her faint sobs were heard for a long period in the silence that fell between the whole household.

Thank you for reading... I hope you like this chapter... Do comment if you have any suggestion... Check out my other works if you have time or interest...

You can get early access of 'The Missing Piece' upto chapter 66 on my Patreon account. Link is in the profile...💖❤