Chapter 73 - Seventy-Two: Trust

Emily stood up on her wobbly feet and signaled her brother to come back into the room.

Domenic was not sure about what Emily wanted to show him, but her expressions were telling him that it was definitely something important.

He walked closer to his sister and watched as she lowered the neckline of her floral top from her left shoulder to show him the tattoo.

And there it was! Covering most of the top of her shoulder.

At first glance, it appeared like a unique and beautiful tattoo. However, Domenic was well aware that it was not a tattoo.

"Emily, where did you get that from?" He asked as walked closer to his little sister who was looking at him with her soft doe-like eyes.

"I don't know Nick. When I woke up yesterday evening, it was already there. I-I was too shocked and terrified to tell you guys anything. It just appeared out of nowhere. I swear I did not go to see any tattoo artist. I will never do anything like that without your permission. I-"

"Ssssh! It's okay. I got it. I'm here, okay. Don't panic." Domenic tried to calm her down as he could see her trembling a little.

Emily took in a deep breath as she tried to get a hold of herself. Her emotions were running astray and she could feel the panic rising inside her as all the unusual events started appearing in front of her eyes.

"Nick, what kind of medicine did Doctor Sam gave me? How did all my injuries disappear within a span of a few hours? It was exactly similar to the medicine that Rylan gave me." 

Her voice came out demanding but also full of panic. Her eyes bored into the familiar eyes of her brother as she waited for him to answer her questions, to tell her everything was going to be right.

"Emmy..."

"Nick, am I losing my mind? Am I going insane?" 

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she gripped her brother's arms tightly into her small palms. Her fingers curling around the soft material of his black velvet shirt.

"Emmy! Honey, no! You are okay. There's nothing wrong with you. Do you hear me? You are perfectly fine." Domenic told her as he made her look into his eyes.

Emily just could not stop her tears that were constantly rolling out of her eyes. It was like her heart and mind could no longer handle the burden of surprises that her life was throwing at her.

"Emilia, look at me!" 

The commanding tone of Domenic entered her ears and even though she knew that it was an order that she was supposed to follow, she could hear the worry hidden behind his words.

Very slowly, she raised her eyes to look at her brother. His eyes were soft and there was a pain in them. Pain for failing in his duty as a brother. The pain of being unable to keep her happy.

And it made Emily's heart hurt even more. It was not his fault that she was weak. It was not his fault that her life hated her and it was definitely not his fault that she was nothing more than a broken piece.

"Do you trust me, Emmy?" Domenic asked her softly.

Emily did not waste a single second before she nodded her head in reply. She trusted him more than she had trusted anyone in her life.

"Good. Because trust me, I won't let anything happen to you. No one can hurt my baby sister. No one!" It was a promise. 

Emily burst out into more tears as she hugged her brother tightly. She had never felt this much loved ever before in her life. No one ever promised to keep her safe and protected before Nick.

Domenic tightened his hold around his little sister as he closed his eyes to control the anger that was ready to kill every single person who was behind the current state of his sister.

The two of them were so emerged in their own thoughts that none of them noticed the silhouette of three other Alessandro brothers who were standing at the entrance of the room for quite some time by now.

Leo did not waste a single more second as he burst into the room and hugged both his brother and sister.

Mark and Simon followed behind him, though both of them kept their distances from the trio.

It took a lot of Domenic's energy to calm down Leo who was sobbing even more furiously than Emily.

They had no idea how it happened, but somehow Domenic's irritated look and Leo's constant hiccups triggered Emily and she burst out into a laughing fit.

The surprised reaction that the four of her brothers gave her only increased her laughing.

One moment she was crying her heart out and the next moment she could barely control her laughter.

"Has she finally lost her mind?" Mark asked no one in particular as he stared wide-eyed at the girl.

Of course, he was awarded with three pairs of glares and unimpressed expressions.

"Em, are you okay?" Leo asked as he tried to pry her hands away from her face.

Emily just shook her head but did not lower her hands. She knew that as soon as she would see Leo's face, she's gonna lose it again.

The room was silent for the next few minutes as everyone just decided to give the girl a little bit of time to calm down and it worked.

By the time Emily lowered her hands and peered at her brothers, she finally had herself under control.

"Are you okay?" Leo asked her as he slowly rubbed her back.

Emily nodded her head slowly before looking at the rest of her brothers. 

Domenic gave her a soft nod and then he turned towards his other three brothers as he asked, "Have you guys seen it too?" 

The three of them nodded their heads. Emily's left shoulder was still visible and so was the mark carved on it.

"Whose is it?" Simon asked as his eyes kept glaring at the tattoo.

"What is it?" Emily found herself asking. 

"That's a Guardian Mark." 

It was Mark who answered her question. He too looked a little unsettled as he tried to not pay any more attention to her mark.

"A WHAT?" 

The question came from not only one but three people.

Five heads turned towards the entrance of the room where Daniel and Sam were standing with their jaws hanging on the ground.

"What did you just say?" Daniel asked as he hurriedly walked closer to their group.

He stopped in front of Emily and his eyes landed on the mark that was clearly visible on her left shoulder.

Sam was right behind her and Emily even imagined herself hearing the latter cursing under his breath.

"How did you....." Daniel trailed off as he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

"What's a guardian mark? Is it a bad thing?" Emily asked in an uncertain voice as she looked at all the people present in her room.

Daniel took a seat beside her on the bed as he fixed her top, hiding the mark beneath the soft material.

"It's not a bad thing. A Guardian mark actually represents good luck. Because as long as one has the guardian mark, it means there's someone out there always protecting him/her." Daniel answered her question.

"Really?" Emily asked with uncertain eyes.

"What are you doing?" Mark asked as he looked at his brother.

In response, Daniel just shrugged his shoulders. Even he did not know what he was doing.

"Are we going to tell her?" Leo asked as he looked at his brothers.

"It would be too much for her to take in all that information in such a short time." It was Sam who spoke this time.

"Do we even have any other choice?" Simon asked as he stared at the doctor.

Emily started getting frustrated as she watched all of them talking like she was not even present there.

But before she could speak her thoughts out, they were disturbed by the sound of the ringing of Domenic's cell phone.

Domenic took a look at the caller id and immediately his expressions changed. Without even saying a single word he walked out of the room, leaving six pairs of eyes to follow him.

"What's going on?" Emily asked no one in particular as she looked at the empty doorway of her room.

"No idea," Leo replied in a whispered tone.

***

"What?" 

Domenic's voice came out sharp and totally uninterested. 

"Good evening to you too Mr. Alessandro." Kaiden's sweet honey-like voice traveled through the phone and made Domenic drew the phone away from his phone.

"Mr. Sullivan, I don't have too much free time. Please get to the point." He did not even pretend to sound polite.

"Let's meet at the Club," Kaiden replied with a curt tone.

"Just like I said, I'm currently a little bit busy. So I don't think....." Domenic was about to decline when he was cut off in the mid of his sentence.

"It's about your little princess. Rylan is her Guardian spirit."