❝ Even the most beautiful masterpiece would have a bitter truth hidden beneath its deceptive covers. ❞
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Iris learns that her brothers have decided to take her in after she gets into a severe accident. With a dark past and twisted truths, she has...
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THE DOOR TO Roman's office was left ajar.
Faint lights, accompanied by the muffled voices echoing from inside, peeked through the small gap, casting their illumination over the floor of the dimmed hallway.
Sighing, I opened the door farther and slipped into the cold room, closing the door behind me once I was in.
My shaky grip tightened around Abby whom I had been holding protectively for the past twenty minutes or so.
Somewhere deep down, beneath my lifeless ribcage and along with my aching heart, I was so, so scared of losing Abby again, especially now that I had learned that my father, along with Nolan, had been the one to buy it for me when I had been a baby.
It provided me with a soothing sense of comfort: knowing that I still had one of the things my parents had once bought for me, I mean. It somehow managed to make me feel a little closer to my father, and it somehow filled a tad of the void that his absence had created within my heart.
I was never going to experience what it'd feel like to have two loving parents or to get engulfed in their embrace. I was never going to experience what it'd feel like to go to them whenever I'd face a problem, knowing too well that they'd have my back. It was those little details—the ones that I'd never have—that made my heart ache. It was those subtle things that my mind yearned to own memory of.
And maybe, it hurt that I'd never get to witness how amazing my parents were, but at the same time, knowing that they had been good people was like a warm blanket to my shivering heart, shielding it from the ache on a cold night. It was a soothing embrace; one that filled the cracks within my chest.
I found myself hugging Abby closer to my chest as I cast a glance toward my brothers who didn't seem to notice my presence yet.
Both Roman and Elliott occupied a couch in the distance, and a large pile of files was scattered across the round, wooden table before them. They both spoke in what I assumed to be Italian, switching to English every once in a while.
I shifted on my feet in discomfort, subconsciously starting to fiddle with the stuffed animal I was holding as I headed toward my brothers.
"Hi," I mumbled, lingering by Roman's side.
His neck craned in my direction, and a smile was quick to settle upon his lips once his gaze locked with mine.
"C'mere," he softly spoke, moving aside to provide me with a place to sit along with him and Eli. The latter offered me an encouraging smile once my hesitant gaze met his.
