Leila's cheeks flushed at her own shout as it was not that serious. The most serious thing was that genuine look of hurt that morphed on Luciano's face.

She blinked at that.

"I'm not going to hurt you." His voice sounded hurt too.

"I'm sorry, I just overreacted." She apologised. Taking a deep breath in, she extended her foot a bit.

He saw what she was doing and wordlessly, crouched down in front of her.

Before she even had the chance to remove her shoe, he was already doing it for her. She couldn't bring out a word of protest at that.

He took her socks off and looked down at her ankle that had started to throb painfully.

Slowly with gentleness, that Leila didn't know he carried inside him, he started to massage her foot. He was as patient and slow as he could-something that was a complete contrast to his personality.

The massage did work. The pain soothed down a bit and slowly she started to feel better.

She looked at his face with a genuine bright smile.

"It worked!" She exclaimed happily, prompting a usual crazy smile of his own.

He slowly put her foot down and removed her other shoe too.

All of a sudden, a surprising yelp left her lips as he picked her up in his arms.

"I can wal--"

She tried to protest but he hushed her.

"I know your ankle is better but just to be sure, avoid moving it for now." She could only nod, hiding her surprise at his words.

Is this how his split personality disorder worked? She had always seen him from being a pure maniac to acting simple crazy. He had unpredictable anger issues but she never knew that he had this 'gentle' side too.

Suddenly they come across Antonio and Vincent in the hallway who looked baffled at the scene in front of them.

"Give her to me." Vincent proposed as soon as possible while Antonio looked angry for some reason.

Leila understood that they were too quick to jump into conclusion thinking he might have hurt her or going to do it.

It didn't help when Luciano grinned his psychotic grin, sending panic alarms in Vincent's chest who had grown up witnessing the level of craziness Luciano had.

"It's alright." Leila said, surprising both newcomers.

"You sure?" Vincent asked again. He seemed to be debating with himself whether to believe her words or not.

"Didn't she say so?" Antonio huffed.

Without another word, Luciano passed by them.

Life seemed to be going on slowly and as normal it could be. Leila's life at school was still the same. The students hated and feared her.

Alexander used to giving her snarky remarks was acting suspiciously quiet nowadays. He gave her smirks and glares time to time but sometimes he stared at her with such intensity, it became difficult for her to sit still.

Luciano was back to his normal self since the moment he left her in the room to rest that day. About the rest of her brothers, all of them were busy with work. Whenever she come across Xavier and Carlo, they stood for a moment to have a casual talk like how she has been or if she wants anything specific.

Regarding Angelo and Zach, they gave her a drive to school on regular basis, whichever one was free at the moment. Antonio ignored her as usual but it always felt like he was keeping an eye on her. Atleast, it was better than those hurtful words he used to say to her.

Vincent and Luciano were keeping her company. Mostly it was Luciano who started to spend more time with her from eating meals together to just simply sitting and watching tv. Vincent just tagged along because he still did not seem to trust Luciano alone with Leila.

"Leila!" Luciano shouted, catching her attention. She looked at him, her book long forgotten as she beamed at the sight of an adorable puppy. She ran to Luciano on the grassy path who stood in front of the entrance.

"This is for you."

Vincent was one step behind him. He seemed a bit taken aback at the sight of stars that shone in Leila's eyes.

Not only him, few close guards watched the scene transfixed as Leila suddenly let out a quiet squeal.

Vincent blinked. He and Luciano got to know from her yesterday night that she liked puppies and Luciano had gone out early today to get one for her. Vincent was with him too.

But her love of puppy was at this extent- it was indeed astonishing.

"I love it." She hugged it to her chest.

Luciano was grinning widely. He seemed content seeing her smiling. Vincent, already accepted this fact that his sister was capable of smiling so carefree and happy, was looking at the scene with a hint of smile on his own face.

The little thing was adorable. A siberian husky. It must have been a day old only.

The entire day Leila spent cuddling with Milo. Mia was the one who named it.

Milo's introduction to the family went well surprisingly. The three older seemed to have no problem with it but Zach and Antonio were not too fond of it. Zach held his thoughts back though Antonio was pretty vocal about it. But one word from Xavier had put him in silence about this matter.

On monday, Leila found herself on the way to school along with Zach. She was finally feeling happy. It seemed like everything in her life was getting at right track. At this moment, she did not even have a slight idea that a real game play was already set and she was the pawn.

Thank you for reading... I hope you like these chapters.... 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 80 on my Patreon account. Link is in the profile...💖❤