Leila began to feel safer when she was with her brothers. All of them were warm and comforting to her with a little exception of Antonio. He was still a mean guy but she was aware that he almost cared.

"What are you thinking so hard?" Angelo's voice inquired, snapping her out of her thoughts.

She blinked, momentarily surprised and saw his tall frame standing in front of her and shielding her from the direct sun or that's what she thought.

Instead, his eyes were locked on Alexander who was staring at her earlier with an intent to kill and hate.

Adriano stood near his car, not very close to them but not too far. He watched on expressionlessly. The fear of the Lambordi family was instilled in everyone's heart. It was purely evident, seeing the scared and cowering look of the students standing around them.

Alexander also came in that category. He was standing quite uneasily now. His shoulders tensed.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Angelo looked away and down at his little sister. She was still staring at him with her big curious eyes. Something about her gaze looked so innocent that he found his eyes softening. It was just for a slight moment and Leila did not even seem to catch on it.

But Adriano and Alexander sure did. The former smiled while the latter seethed inwardly.

Angelo grabbed her hand in his. His gentle touch astonished her again. She willingly wrapped her fingers around his grip.

"Let's go home." The small words were enough to send her heart skipping a beat.

People watched as the siblings left. But Angelo's aura still lingered in the air. Alexander could feel it too and that's why he hated this whole family.

The smile on Leila's face left a foul taste in his mouth. He swore to wipe it completely. Their plan had been already initiated. Leila Lambordi will become his family's own personal slave. He will use her as he pleases. The thought sent a strange giddiness in his chest. He wondered how would she look on her knees, beaten up and begging for death and mercy-- his eyes darkened and an evil smirk spread across his face.

Leila hummed under her breath as her eyes shuffled through the several books that were lined up neatly on the bookshelf.

She darted her eyes up to look at another shelf, scanning the titles curiously. Her eyes paused on a particular one. Intriguied, she reached her hand above to grab it but she underestimated the height where it was kept.

A drawled sigh left her lips as she looked around the room and found few chairs. Walking towards them, she grabbed one and dragged it to the shelf.

Placing it near the long shelf, she climbed it, standing on her tippy toes. Her fingers reached up to grab the target. It still felt a little high but she could feel that she was able to reach it. Her fingers barely brushed against the cover, when suddenly the chair creaked loudly, going out of balance.

She didn't get a chance to even scream as she was falling rapidly. Her eyes shut to brace the impact of her body hitting the floor heavily when suddenly she was caught.

Her heart was drumming frantically in her chest as she slowly opened her eyes to find Vincent's somewhat smiling face.

"You are being quite daring, performing such stunts, don't you think?" He teased in a light tone.

She heaved a sigh of relief and thanked him as he set her down.

"You were here the whole time? You could have helped me."

Hearing her words, he scratched the back of his head in an almost sheepishly kind.

"It's just a force of habit."

She was confused at his statement at first but then it clicked in her mind.

Vincent is nothing but a shadow to Luciano. By force of habit meant he had to watch over Luciano so he won't do anything too crazy. But it was bit twisted. Vincent observed Luciano and intervened when Luciano went overboard or got himself into trouble.

She watched as he easily grabbed the book from the top shelf. He didn't even need to stand on his tippy toes.

She didn't realize she was pouting. Her brothers were unreasonably tall.

"You are still growing you know. There's no need to sulk." He commented.

She was shocked seeing how he knew that when his whole attention was on the book and reading the description.

"But I don't think I will gain the same height that you guys have." She admitted. Her brothers were over 6 feet. There's no way her 5'5 frame would reach that level any coming time.

"I am not really into reading books so I can't give you a suggestion whether it is interesting or not. And, about the height, we are meant to be your shields for a reason." He shrugged, handing it to her.

She grabbed it out of his hand without a ounce of hesitation.

The old Leila could have never--- She again realized that her life was changed and she was thankful about it.

Her peaceful musings were cut off by the sound of alarm blaring. Vincent raised his brow while Leila flinched, startled at the loud sounds.

"Who's that fool, idiotic enough to attack us?" Vincent muttered already hearing Luciano's satisfied laughter from outside the library.

The door slammed open revealing the maniac himself.

"Yo Vince! Someone breeched into the mansion. It's going to be fun. You coming?"

"Yeah yeah." Vincent muttered. Both of the brothers' eyes met Leila who was watching the whole interaction without blinking.

"You wanna join?" Luciano asked giddily. He could feel his blood rushing for the upcoming battle.

"She will pass." Vincent answered for her.

"Let's fucking go then!" Luciano was already out of the door.

"Stop you fool! Don't go blindly rushing into the battle!" Vincent yelled after.

"Ok, mom!" Their crazy brother shouted back.

Leila stifled her giggle.

"You should go to the safe room Leila. It's dangerous out there. I will take you there myself."

"Ok." She clutched her book to her chest, following him out of the library.

Leila frowned while Vincent remained blank as ever when an unfamiliar man stepped in front of them with a huge gun in his hands. He didn't even get the time to point the weapon at them, a gunshot rang and a bullet passed through his skull.

Vincent had already grabbed her wrist and pulled her back along with him so the blood won't splatter on them.

"They have infiltrated the mansion and the number is about more than 100." Carlo's voice rang.

"You are telling me that there is a rat in our system." Vincent said but he didn't sounded much shocked.

Leila was quiet the whole time while her brothers interacted. She was inwardly dying with worry while her brothers chatted like it was something casual.

"Umm can I go to the safe room?" She asked in a quiet tone, pausing their conversation. She was uncomfortable, seeing all the blood and dead body in front of her.

"Sir Xavier is calling you both." One of the guard came running towards them. He was bleeding down his arm but he looked active with a loaded gun.

"We underestimated. The number is more than a hundred."

Carlo smirked while Vincent raised his brow. Leila turned pale in terror.

"Sounds like fun."

"Please be safe."

Carlo and Leila spoke together. He looked at his little sister. There were tears gathering in her eyes. Her cheeks had started to turn red due to forcing them back.

Vincent felt his eyes soften while Carlo stepped towards her. He leaned down, poking her forehead with his fingers.

"Quite worrying and have faith in us." He reprimanded her gently, not liking the sight of tears in her eyes.

"You read your book while we kick ass of those fools outside." Vincent commented.

She nodded and let him lead her to the safe room. She sat down on the bed and opened her book. Her stomach growled. There was fridge near but she ignored it. She looked at the walls that had guns and knives hanging on it. She felt protected but somewhere in her heart, there was a dreading sensation.

She had began to trust her brothers, yet there was something weary in this whole situation that made her want to worry.

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

Angelo bashed the skull of a man against the wall with such force that there was a crack left to the wall. Luciano whistled at the scene while taking down his opponent with same inspiration and dedication.

"I thought you weren't a fan of brutality." He commented. Angelo ignored him for a span of a moment, while dislocating a random guy's shoulder. He was a teenager so Angelo went easy on him and with a quick chop to his neck, knocked him out.

"I can be brutal but not merciless." Angelo answered.

"You are fucking lying with a straight face!" Antonio's distanced voice piped in but everyone knew that this comment was directed at him.

Zach chuckled. The bloodshed made his mind go crazy. He was almost as bad as Luciano at the time of battle.

"You guys are having too much fun. This is serious! They seem to be not ending. Where the hell are these devils spawning from?" Vincent's voice of reasoning made them actually pay attention.

Xavier and Carlo shared a look.

"Go check on Leila."

The brothers tensed at Xavier's words. Even Vincent was surprised. He didn't even think it like that.

"Shit!" Luciano cursed, abandoning the fight (something he never do) and ran upstairs. Angelo followed closely behind.

Xavier was at first busy noticing the behaviour of the enemies, that's why he couldn't pay attention until Vincent pointed it out. These Enemies' state was familiar. Almost robotic like. They didn't even care when their limbs were cut off. They never screamed once. They fought till their last breath. His brothers were unaware as they had never seen or hear something like this, however he knew for whom they could be working for and it made a bead of sweat to drip down his forehead.

"XAVIER!" Luciano's desparate yell caught his attention. Angelo had a furious look on his face.

"She's not here."

"What?" Carlo and others were shocked. Antonio almost got hit by a poisonous knife if it weren't for Zach kicking the intruder away.

Xavier took a deep breath. He was going to tear this world apart if anything were to happen to his family.

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 83 on my Patreon account. Link is in the profile...💖❤