Special mass release for the novel's launch, 16/20.
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MISHA
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"I just want you to be aware, to know that she's not acting like she is for nothing. And never talk about this to anyone, please, especially not let her ever know that I told you this."
She's breaking? It's been five years, but she's still breaking? She's still that lost on her grief? I thought she was better, she acted like she was better.
Why didn't she gave us any signal? I've been through that, I could help.
"Pay attention, I'll play it sped up, but pay attention, okay? And don't tell this to anyone else. We are one famiglia now, and this is between us. We are the ones responsible for little Mia, and the only ones who can help her," she warned us, and only when we nodded twice, did she finally play the damn recording.
۞ ۞ ۞
I feel like we shouldn't have listened to this.
"I can't believe she… she's been hiding this all to herself," Emma cried.
Holding her hand, I did my best not show how fucking affected I am by the damn recording, and by how listening to Zoe Maud's breaking made me want to crawl out of my skin to help her, even if she hates me.
"My baby sister…" Pieter cried, "we should have done better. We've been terrible siblings to her. We all trust each other, but she doesn't trust her. I can't believe we did such a poor job with our youngest, who needed us the most, just because she acts tough and cold."
"She didn't even tell me," Leo mumbled. "I would have helped her."
My little sister Maria sighed frustrated, "Mia is too fucking proud to ever show any weakness near us. All because we already have a vision of her that she is intimidating and seemingly heartless and indifferent. Even if we tried, she wouldn't have told us anything. She would just runaway away, because she wouldn't want to he vulnerable near us."
As much I hate it, she's right. "She is the most stubborn in here," I scoffed.
"Huh," Anastasia attracted our attention, "all of that aside, what the hell did she meant by loving a boy since she was a kid, and being one sided, because he is unavailable and loves someone else?"
I tensed up, "It's definitely Leo," the words came out of my lips before I could control it and my brother gasped. "It can only be you, if it's one of us. She hates me, and there's so way it could ever be Vlad, since she's okay with him. You are the one whose always been closer to her."
"It's me," Leo gasped. "She helped me be with Luigi. She literally pushed me to him and locked us in a room. There's absolutely no fucking way she would do that if she loved me."
Emma swallowed, "Maybe she did that because she knew she had not even a little chance with you, since you're gay, Leo." 1
Hah, sounds like me.
But my brother refused, "No. You don't know her like I do. Guys," he licked his lips, "Mia is possessive. Extremely possessive. If she loved me like that, even if I am gay, she would never help me be with anyone. Ever. She would want me to stay single, just so we could be miserable together," he chuckled anxiously.
"That's how Mia is, since none of you are close to her like I am. Besides, I'm not her type, and neither is Luigi, before you suggest that it could be him."
"Jesus, that sounds toxic," Maria choked.
"Sounds like her," nonna mocked to our dismay. "As a child, she always acted like that. What was hers, was hers, and she refused to share with anyone. She wanted it all for herself, and didn't want to let anyone else have it. Together with her competitiveness, it made her who she is now."
"Exactly," Leo exclaimed. "In fact," he licked his lips, "I asked Mia to act as if she was attracted to me when near you. She got nauseated with the suggestion, saying I wasn't good enough for that, but after begging a lot she gave it because I annoyed her too much. That's why you all think she could like me."
"What?" I gasped. "Why would you do that?"
Leo blushed, "To make you believe I was straight, because I was scared of coming out. Mia kept telling me I should be confident, own who I am, be myself with no reservations, and if the famiglia refused, you were losing and she would be my sponsor if I needed, saying she's filthy rich by herself."
"That does sound like her," Bram mocked. "Definitely does."
But it has to be him. There's absolutely not way it's Vlad or me.
"It's not me," Vlad exclaimed. "The little I talked with her, she said that she was happy that I was with her sister, and that we matched more than I could understand. That we were like two sides of the same coin, and that it would be good to have a brother in law like me."
Julia blushed hard, "She said that? Dio mio, when? That's so cute, babe."
Ew. Ew-ew-ew.
"Before she left to MIT," he told us. "She popped up in my room out of nowhere and threatened me saying that if I dared to hurt Julia she would come here, chemically castrate me, reap me apart, dissolve my body remains in acid, and she would make it look like she wasn't the culprit. Then she said that, if I didn't hurt Julia, she would give me a villa as a present in our marriage. She also told me to never tell anyone that she did that."