Leila was curious. Her brother seemed not well and they refused to show it to her. But she knew. She could understand it right that there was something weird going on.

A week later, Xavier finally saw it alright and gave her a permission to continue school. The relieved smile on her face was worth every singled dollar he owned.

"Take care." Angelo nodded. She waved at him with a grin but it faltered when Luciano jumped out from backseat.

"What's going on?" She asked perplexed.

"I'm giving you company." Luciano shrugged and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, dragging her away.

Angelo almost smiled seeing Leila's internal struggle as she did a battle with her shock and tried hard to keep up with him.

A weird tension filled air and every student sucked a deep breath in after watching this oddly sight.

Luciano Lambordi was here accompanying his sister.

Said sister looked utterly lost.

The wave of students parted to clear them the way in centre to walk. Nobody with a sane mind would wish to mess with this Lambordi. He wasn't called craziest for nothing.

Luciano accompanied her to the class and plopped down on the seat beside her while lazily hanging his foot on the table. He didn't seem bothered by the stare and wished Leila do the same.

"Going to nap. Call me when all this is over."

Leila nodded and bit back a smile.

Might this be all weird but her brother's protectiveness made her feel warm all over.

As the class began and their lecturer not even glancing in her direction started the lesson, a minute later the door opened. Alexander King stood there. For some reason he looked strange. There were bags under his eyes and his whole appearance was ruffled.

Was he on something? Leila thought to herself.

His eyes met her but he instantly looked away. Leila knew the reason that Luciano was not so asleep beside her.

Alexander quietly went to the back of class and the teacher began again. Leila paid concentration to him and avoided thinking about anything else.

At her 4th period of PE, Luciano had yet to abandon her. He followed her to the girls locker room and stood outside, leaning against the door with a cigarette dangling in his lips.

His eyes found King family's brat who stood at the other side of the gym with his group of lackeys. A minute later, he found Adriano joining him with his eyes cautiously avoiding Luciano's piercing stare.

Leila got out of the locker room now changed into her gym clothes. A simple white tee and black shorts. She looked up at Luciano, frowning a little when noticing a huge line of girls in waiting to go into the locker room and change.

He grabbed her by her hand and tugged her to the bleachers. Her eyes showed a hint of surprise when he offered her a pack of chocolate out of nowhere.

"Thanks." She mumbled. He didn't answer but ruffled her hair almost mindlessly. Leila followed his line of vision, pausing at Alexander. She blinked, surprised to find him staring at Luciano.

The tension radiated.

Just as their coach Mr. Smith came running into the court. He blew a whistle to gain everyone's attention.

"Aight Class... Get into the lines."

Leila stood up but Luciano grabbed her hand.

"Don't outdo yourself. If you feel a bit tired, come back to sit here and relax. If you don't, either way I'm gonna come to get you." The seriousness in his tone made her a little nervous.

This wasn't even the whole side of Luciano that everyone feared.

Just as the whole class gathered, Mr. Smith took the attendance, his palms turned sweaty everytime he felt Luciano's prickly stare on him. The poor teacher still hadn't forgotten the days he taught Luciano and few of his brothers and currently he was having flashbacks of them.

Leila was the nicest one of the Lambordi children and he was glad to get along with the girl better.

As the class started, the students ran few laps around the gym. Leila kept a normal pace. She wasn't even bothering to run fast or slow.

Her eyes caught Luciano who was no doubt watching her intensely. A little stubborn as she was, a little trait she just realized she must have gotten from her brothers, started to run while keeping her expressions focused.

Luciano smirked, having caught on and he leaned back in the bleachers.

By the time her 4th round began, she started to feel a little windy and slowed her pace to a little jog. Mr. Smith just gave her a smile. Atleast she was hiring better than few who were literally walking in the pose of running since the warm up started.

After that, the coach decided that it was a nice weather to have a match of basketball between all boys and girls teams. To be fair, Leila wasn't a fan of this sport.

None of the girls ever took a liking to her. The only girl that Leila once thought was nice and different from others was missing. Leila paused and checked again. She was not here.

She was the only one whom Leila considered as a friend for a short period of time but at last, the said girl showed her she was no different.

The thought vanished as Mr. Smith rang the whistle to commence the match. It only took five minutes, Leila was reminded again that she was an outcast.

All girls team avoided her like a plague. Feeling withdrawn, she turned around to go towards bleacher thinking of telling Luciano an excuse, that she was not feeling well. There was no good carrying on playing when her own team hated her and wants nothing to do even with her shadow.

Suddenly the ball came rolling near her feet slowly. She looked at it and then up to see Alexander.

He tilted his head to side, catching Luciano's gaze who carried on watching everything with lazy eyes. But Adriano noticed. Luciano's hands were clenched. The sign of fury and his 'normal' stage of psychopathic side.

Adriano nor surprisingly Alexander wanted him to burn the whole area for heaven sake with all these girls inside.

"Come at me, Lambordi." Alexander challenged Leila, much to his own amusement. The fear of Luciano faded under the alcohol influence.

Mr. Smith gawked at the entire scene as Alexander's friends ushered him and others to step out of the area.

Luciano watched on as Leila got serious and got down on to start the one on one.

She was faring no better against Alexander's brute strength. However, her short frame was flexible and sneaky.

'Too easy.' Alexander thought while almost scoring a goal but Leila took the lead back again.

Luciano saw an expression on his sister's face that he saw more often in mirror and on his brother's faces sometimes.

Cockiness! Slight cockiness. That Leila would surely call assertiveness.

15 minutes later, Leila was heaving but had no sign of giving up.

"Damn! Lambordi's pride!" Adriano thought with a tch.

Weak as she was, she was aware that she could never score a goal on Alexander's watch but was that going to stop her from giving Alexander a hard time.

Luciano was smirking the entire time. His sister hadn't let the brat win.

The bell rang signaling the sudden end of the class. The coach Mr. Smith whistled, pausing them both.

Luciano stood up and approached the panting Leila with a water bottle in his hand. He offered it to her and she gratefully took it.

Gulping down the entire thing and smiling, she recieved a pat to her back by her brother who seemed more than proud of her.

"Good match." He nodded at Alexander, boasting his pride a little. Alexander initially wanted to impress Luciano and seemed like it kind of work.

Leila excused herself to the bathroom.

It was just a gust of wind, Alexander found himself colliding painfully against the wall. Luciano's hand around his throat and clenching it hard.

Adriano's eyes widened and he moved to help, however Luciano's dangerous aura made him hesitate.

"It's all good unless you begin to think about her differently." Luciano whispered in his not-so crazy tone.

"You have no chance with my sister. Stay away from her, brat or I will fucking pull your guts out!"

Alexander paled as he felt a gun digging into his ribs.

"You know I was never a fan of giving warnings. I'm being pretty lenient today."

Saying this, he left him but not before a gunshot rang.

Few students screamed who were watching the scene unfold. Mr. Smith also stood shocked in sidelines.

Alexander flinched the second time as he realized he was not really shot but still it was a close call.

He ignored Leila's confused stare and stormed out of the gym and directly into his car.

His hands clenched around the steering wheel.

"FUCKING BASTARD!" He growled.

"Tch. Being angry doesn't resolve issues." A calmed voice spoke.

Alexander froze. He looked up into the mirror to find an unfamiliar man sitting in the backseat.

"If you want something, don't think of the consequences. Just steal it from them. Or should I say, steal 'her' from them?"

A cruel smirk played on 'his' lips as he watched the gears in Alexander's brain turning.

Thank you for reading everyone. Did you enjoy this chapter? What are your thoughts on Luciano? Will their bond continue to strengthen or not?

Do comment if you have any suggestion... Check out my other works if you have time or interest...

'The Missing Piece' is officially completed on Patreon and 'The Broken Petal' is continued there along with the sequel of 'Her Five Protectors'. Link to my patreon account is in the profile!