Elijah pov

"It was just a fucking trigger, so don't fucking worry. You have enough going on and next time try not to fucking scream at me" I know Scarlett was not saying what she wanted to say because ace is eavesdropping, so she waited until he was gone.

Scarlett has always been our hero, the one who protected us no matter how old we were. We owe her our lives.

Dimitri used to scream a lot, that one of Scarlett's triggers.
He used to scream he would kill us and made his men do the same for hours, but only to Scarlett, he would take her to a different room and yell everything he was going to do to us. 

Yes, it was a different type of torture. She never gave a shit about the physical or the killing, but threatening us was a big no, no.

After she had been in that room, she would check us for life threatening injuries multiple times just to make sure we were alive.

Carlos and Theo came bursting in the door, they hang most of the time with us, but they wanted to see their dad, Robert.

"where's the fire" Carlos joked, and I could see Scarlett not making eye contact with them.

"Scarlett has lied about not having nightm-"
"It was a fucking trigger from the Russian we killed yesterday" she quickly interrupted Mattia who looked fuming.

He doesn't like to be lied to. His parents lied to him and said they were going to his grandma, but then instead sold him for money.

"doesn't fucking matter, we had to hear it from Dante." I said "I know you don't fucking sleep in case you get a call from any of us or someone in the mafia" I am quite observant, so I know when she's not sleeping.

Any of us can see right through her, except when she has her stone-cold face on.
Trust me there's a different between her cold and stone-cold face, I have seen it. I was fucking terrified, and it wasn't even in a bad situation.

"Get of my fucking back" she ordered and went toward her bathroom to take a shower.

"Why didn't she look at us, and why did she search Carlos for injuries" Theo is a mix of me and Scarlett, quiet but observant. I guess he figured something out.

"I don't know man; she had a flashback. She usually gets like this after one" Mattia answers, its hard seeing Scarlett always taking care of others, but never herself.
She insist on us going to therapy or getting us to talk to her, but she never talks to anyone herself.

She never pulls the 'I'm your donna' card, but she does when it comes to therapy or speaking to someone.
She also can use it if it's for our benefit, like someone from her hospital looked so tired so she ordered him to go rest. She still paid him the same amount.

She genuinely cares for anyone; she never thinks she's better than everyone else.

The shower turned off and soon after Scarlett came out drying her hair.

"Why aren't you looking at us" Carlos said blankly, he never had much of a filter.

"What?" Scarlett asked but still not looking them in the eyes. She's doing anything but looking at them, she has gotten out her phone and is answering emails for fuck sake.

"Look .At .One. Of. Us." Theo gritted out through clenched teeth, I don't know why he is mad, but I think he has noticed how much guilt Scarlett is carrying.

I could say I stubbed my toe, and she would think it's her fault because she brought the furniture.

"I'm going to go and check on stella" she says and walks away before anyone can object.
She is good at lying but I think the flashback was connected to the twins.

"Well, I'm going to check to Dante, he cried on the call" I say, and everyone looks at each other before looking back at me wiggling their eyebrows.

Yes, we are weird bunch, but mostly with each other.

I walk towards Dante's room where I knock before going inside.

I opened my arms for him immediately.
"Do you need a hug" I asked, he rushed into my arms and began to sob.

"s-she looked terrified" he cried out and held onto my torso even tighter. Fuck why is he so strong.

"I know" I whisper, I have seen it myself. Its fucking terrifying, nobody can get her out of it, she has to wait it out. Her voice always calms me and gets me out of it, but nobody can help her.

He still hold me as tight as ever, but I manage to get us over to his bed. He lets go for a second and climbs on his bed after me. He immediately cuddles me while he's crying his heart out. My heart hurts so much for him.

"why" he asked looking at me with teary eyes. I sighed because I know I can't say much, I don't even know much.

"You can't say anything at all to anyone, you promise" I asked, and I know he thought it over before he responded with' I promise'

"Scarlett has gone through a lot; she has taken way too many punches for the people she love." I start off. It's weird to say this without revealing too much. I can't say she took beatings for us; I can't say anything that will expose her.

"So, she has gotten consequences for those punches she took which is coming out as nightmares and flashbacks" I said, and I know he's looking at me suspicious.

"She feels guilty for everything, I once forgot my lunch and she apparently should have reminded me, so she gave me hers, I of course denied but she's so fucking stubborn have you noticed." I ask and look at the boy who is snuggled against my chest.

Fuck I want him.

"Yeah, I have, she's never lost a fight with dad or Leonardo. Its fucking hilarious how the youngest and the oldest are bickering all the time." He rambles about it while I listened.

"You know Scarlett makes me want to talk to her, the same with you, but on the first day when I told her my name my whole family was like super shocked. Then she rolled her eyes AT THEM and smiled AT ME." He babbles and I have a feeling we both needed this.

He stops and looks at me and that's when I truly see how close we are. He looks down to my lips before traveling back up to my eyes.

I know what I want, and I REALLY want to kiss him.

I look at his lips before I meet his eyes again.
We both lean in and when our lips meet let's just say...

Fireworks irrupted in my stomach.

The kiss is slow but passionate, fuck me, he has soft lips.

I groan when he puts his fingers in my hair and tugs at the roots, I feel him smile against my lips before we break away and watch a movie, well try, I can say it was a lot more kissing before we fell asleep cuddled up.

1226 words