Their bambina

19 ~ Caught

⚠️ TW - Panic attack ⚠️

Isabella's POV ~

To say I'm scared would be a massive understatement.

I am completely and utterly petrified.

He knows. He has to.

My heart is thumping out of its cage in my chest as both me and Nik walk practically shoulder tp shoulder downstairs to the living room.

I'm honestly more scared for Nik than I am for myself. Nik should be running for the hills right now.

Luckily for me, my brothers won't kill me. They may ground me until I'm 50 or whatever, but they kill me. Nik, however, is a dead man. The minute the rest of my brothers realise what's happening, he's dead meat. I might as well have some fun with this little chat.

I awkwardly pat Nik's shoulder as if to say 'Sorry mate, but you're screwed.', to which he glares down at me. As he turns his head to look at me, I go on my tips of my toes and reach up to give him a quick peck on the lips and pat on the cheek, before stepping back and smiling sarcastically at him.

"Whatever happens in there, I'll be sure to have lilies at your funeral. I know they're your favourite." I wink as a walk ahead of him into the living room.

Ah. How lovely.

There they are. Looking as intimidating as possible, but in all honesty they just look constipated.

Really constipated.

"Why hello dear brothers. How may we help you?"

"Sit." Luca demands, trying to be all intimidating and crap.

"Nope."

"Isabella Bianca Cortello-Moratti. Sit."

Oooo. Full name. I'm in deep shit.

"Nah. No can do big bro." I smile, probably digging myself further into a grave, but lets be real, we're already dead. We might as well go out in style.

"Cut the sarcasm Isabella. Sit." Darien glares.

Oh shit. Double trouble.

"Alright, so what's this family reunion about." I smile once again, purposefully trying to irritate my brothers. Darien and Luca glare at me as a speak, still refusing to sit like they asked.

Wait. Sorry.

They commanded.

"You fucking the Russian prick." Ricco spits out.

"Uh we haven't fucked thank you very much." I pause before muttering quietly, "Not yet at least."

All heads shoot up once hearing my last sentence and all eyes narrow in me and Nik's direction.

Damn werewolf hearing much.

"Are you trying to get me killed?" Nik screeches, wide eyed.

"Yes." I retort, giving him an innocent look.

"Right, whatever. Just sit." Luca states exasperatedly, clearly sick of us already.

We reluctantly follow his command and sit on one of the couches farthest away from my brothers. I can see Enzo smirking before I am pulled up out of the seat by my arms and dragged over to the couch occupied by most of my brothers. I am dropped in between Vince and Adriano as they wrap their arms around me, trapping me in between them.

"So, you and Russian boy, huh?" Enzo questions darkly, "You two like each other or some shit."

"Yes. We only just admitted we had feelings for each other. It's not fair if you want to take that away from us, I should have the chance to find love juts like you guys do." I speak truthfully.

"Calm down, Bambina." Luca says softly, "We weren't going to say you couldn't be together."

"I was! She's 16! She can't date until she's 50!" Ricco shouts and his voice makes me flinch back slightly into Vince, who holds me tighter. Regret flashes through Ricco's eyes as he mutters a small apology and sinks into the couch.

I look up at Nik and see him looking at me softly, mouthing 'You okay?'. Hesitantly nodding my head in response, I lean into my brother's embrace, feeling my heart rate pick up from the sudden shouting.

The time I spent with Nik definitely helped boost my skills and somewhat helped me mentally, but some wounds leave scars, whether that's physically or mentally. In my case it's both.

I can feel my heart pick up as my breathing becomes uneven and my vision becomes fogged with tears. My throat feels as though it's closing and suddenly I'm gasping for breaths.

I pull away from Vince and Adriano as my body starts to feel clammy. I can feel people moving around me but I can't hear or see them. When I hand is placed on my shoulder, I immediately flinch away, memories starting to come back.

The slaps.

The hits.

The punches.

The hands.

HIS hands.

His hands all over my body, touching everywhere.

"Amorem, I need you to listen to my voice. Can you do that?" a voice speaks, sounding concerned, but it sounds to distant for me to tell who it is.

Putting all my energy into the voice, I try to listen as it continues speaking.

"Just listen to what I'm saying." I feel a tight squeeze on my hand, "That's me okay. I need you to focus on my hand squeezing yours. Try ignoring those voices and memories. Juts focus on my hand. My hand only."

Listening to the voice, I put all my attention on hand squeezing mine and the memories begin to fade away and the voices around me come into focus. 

Once I was back and my mind wasn't foggy, I felt two strong arms wrapped around me and I realised I was sitting on someone's lap.

On Nik's lap.

"It's okay, I've got you amorem. Just sleep, you need it." Nik whispered in my ear as my head dropped onto his shoulder, completely exhausted. 

As I start to drift off, I manage to catch a bit of a conversation between Nik and my brothers.

"Does she get them often? You know, the panic attacks." someone asks, but I'm too tired to be able to tell who it is.

"Yeah. It's not as bad as it was at first. Some things trigger her and other things don't, it's just about knowing how to help her out of them." Nik explains, stilling holding my body tightly.

"She was fine when she was with us, before her 'death'."

"Yeah well being kidnapped and nearly being burnt to death is kind of traumatic, don't you think?" I can just hear Nik's glare. 

There is an awkward silence as I'm guessing Nik and someone else were glaring at each other.

"You two are good for each other. I know you can protect her. Take care of her." I hear someone say, before exhaustion finally takes over.

A/N ~ Sorry for the long wait, I've been really stressed with school but I hope you like the chapter. Stay safe <3