Vincent slowly pulled the rim of Alexis' neckline to reveal the piece of glass - his eyes focussed as he gently pulled at it before gesturing to another of the men who also approached and crouched in front of her.
Small jolts of pain emanated from the area where the glass was slightly embedded causing Alexis to grimace, trying her best to keep a neutral expression as Vincent watched her. Geoffrey then took hold of her hand and gestured to the man whom Vincent had called.
"This is my brother, Jeremy," he said. "He's kind of a doctor, so don't panic."
Jeremy did resemble Geoffrey slightly, with the same lilac-coloured eyes, but rather than lilac-dyed hair he sported blonde highlights.
"Hello, little lady" he said in a similar tone to Geoffrey. "Do you mind if I have a look?"
Alexis didn't answer and backed into Geoffrey for support. If she had to choose one of the men as the least frightening, Geoffrey had been given that role, as such she felt as safe as she could beside him.
Jeremy raised his open hands in front of Alexis before slowly moving in to pull back on her dress to reveal the shard of glass.
Ren was beside them then with a small black bag that he opened, handing a pair of gloves and some small cotton pads to Jeremy.
Why are they so concerned about a small cut? Alexis wondered as she watched their concerned faces, talking and looking over as Jeremy applied some ointment to a cotton ball and began to wipe around the cut before pulling slightly on her dress and crop top to reveal more of the glass.
"Stop," she said, quickly pushing his hand away. "I can get it out myself."
The pain she felt now surpassed the usual pangs of hunger or the stiffness from sleeping on a cold concrete floor.
It wasn't a deep cut, though the bleeding was starting to pick up, but surely a wipe and a plaster would be enough - there was no need for all the fuss they were making.
"Let Jeremy deal with this, please, darling," Ren said. "We don't want it getting deeper or infected or anything like that."
"I don't want him touching me," she said firmly.
Jeremy let out a small sigh and looked back to Vincent, who seemed focused on something as he watched her with a thoughtful gaze.
He reached forward, hooking her chain on his finger and pulling it out from under her dress line.
"You still have this?" he said with a smile.
"Still?" Alexis asked, confused by the warm smile that was now present on his lips.
"You probably don't remember," he said before lifting his arm to display the pendant in the cuff of his sleeve. "All of my men wear one of these. See," he said, gesturing with his eyes to the other men.
Alexis glanced along the ones who stood nearby, and indeed each one of them wore cufflinks with the same misaligned cross symbol that was on Alexis' chain - except for Geoffrey, who, for some reason, wore his pendant in his right ear piercing.
"Anyone who wears my symbol belongs to me and is under my protection until I, or they die. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Vincent wore a serious expression as he spoke which Alexis couldn't determine the meaning of - was belonging to him supposed to be a good thing or not? But then, all of his men looked well-kept and, for as much as she could see, happy.
"It means," he continued when she didn't answer. "No one inside or outside these walls, is ever allowed to harm you. And if your father had minded his duty properly, nobody ever would have," he added the last part, his eyes narrowing slightly as he spoke of her father. "Now keep your eyes on me for a moment, okay?"
Vincent took Alexis' hand in his and continued to talk as Jeremy went about cleaning around the piece of glass and removing it before applying what he called butterfly stitches with some thin, sticky tape.
Alexis didn't stop him, her mind caught up in the revelation that Vincent was exposing about the last time he'd seen her, which he was sure was her seventh birthday. He didn't explain how he knew her mother, why he felt the need to include her in his league of men by giving her one of his tokens, or why she'd never seen him again after her mother died. It was clear though, that he and her mother had been close, at least at one time, and if it hadn't been for his lifestyle which he only described as 'not particularly suitable for children', she would have seen more of him.
Vincent also disclosed that if it hadn't been for her father's complete incapability of doing anything good, his exact words, he would never have brought her to his home even now. But as it was, he now realised that being with him was probably safer than being without him.
"There you go, sweetheart," Jeremy said when he had finished wrapping her cut. "Now, what did you have this tucked in your dress for?" he said with a small laugh.
Alexis smiled sheepishly. She had intended to use it to fight, wasn't that obvious? Or more likely it was, and Jeremy thought it was a complete joke, hence his small laugh.
Embarrassed, she shrugged and looked away.
"She's a fighter, that's why," Geoffrey said, rubbing her head gently. "Aren't you, princess?"
"Princess?" Vincent said with a small smile. "I like that. Do you feel like eating now, princess?" he asked, using the same term to address her.
"I'm still not hungry," she said.
"Maybe just try a little," Vincent suggested. "It was prepared with you in mind."
A small groan left her, as the men recomposed themselves and began heading back to the table, with Vincent still holding her hand in his.
What more could she do? She couldn't escape. And the truth was, if they wanted to harm her there wasn't anything she could do, the best she could do now was hope that their friendly admissions were truthful and she was indeed safe.
Once seated and pushed back into place, Alexis picked up her fork and took her first bite of food.
It was amazing, the softest, yet crispiest potato she's ever had, covered with the most mouth-watering gravy. Silently and grateful that they had talked her into eating, Alexis continued as Vincent nodded a gesture to the other men, who also began eating.
Alexis ate, without remorse, happily allowing the server to refill her plate with new varieties of food that she had either never tasted or just never tasted as good as before. The rest of the men talked heartily as they ate, laughing every so often, and for the most part, leaving her in peace to eat.
Even Thomas, whom she'd only seen frown until then, smiled with Vincent as they spoke.
After her third plate fill, she placed her hand on her taut stomach and held in the need to groan from the pain of her overfilled tummy.
"Seems like you were a little hungry," Vincent said after she pushed her plate away from herself.
"Maybe," she said with a small smile. "Thank you."
"Well, now that you've eaten," Geoffrey began. "Allow me to introduce you to everyone. This one here, you've already met," he said placing his hand on Jeremy, who sat next to him. "This is my little bro. We call him Doc."
Jeremy smiled and gave a small salute with two of his fingers as he took a large gulp of the beverage he was drinking.
"He's Ben," he said pointing towards the man who sat opposite Jeremy.
Alexis leaned forward to see past Ren, who sat beside her to look at the man next to him. She hadn't noticed he had such a curious look until that moment, his pale skin and hair set off by his pale grey eyes. Her head tilted inquisitively as she watched him until he spoke in a soft, polite voice.
"Don't stare too hard, princess. You might give me a complex."
Geoffrey laughed at Ben's comment and then added. "Don't mind him. Everyone stares at him."
Well, that's not very nice, Alexis thought, though she could see why he would gain the stares of people. He had a somewhat eerie appeal to him and looked like he could belong to some otherworld, none-the-less she couldn't deny that his face was pleasant to look at.
"I'm sorry," she said eventually. "I think you're pretty."
Geoffrey and Jeremey laughed out loud at that, while Ben just smiled.
"You think I'm pretty?" he asked. "That's a first. Never been called pretty before."
"Really?" Alexis asked, looking around as the other men watched her. "I think all of you are very pretty. Much prettier than many women I know."
That made the whole room erupt in laugher, and even Thomas smiled at that.
"Hey," Vincent said, giving her a small pat on her head. "You can't call a room full of men pretty, darling. Not these kinds of men anyway."
"Not at all," Ben said. "I appreciate that, princess. Thank you."
"Okay, pretty boy," Geoffrey laughed before continuing with his introductions which included a dark-skinned man, with dark eyes and the fullest smile she'd seen so far.
His name was Eden; an unusual name and one she'd never heard before, but then she'd never heard a name like Mamax either. She'd never met men like them before either, which made her wonder about Vincent's comment about 'these kinds of men'.
What exactly are these kinds of men?
Mamax was the man with the long scar who had grabbed her earlier; he was sitting next to Eden. He apologized for rough handling her and asked if she was feeling better, and then the last man, who sat opposite Eden was Joey. Maybe the youngest of the men with curly black hair and deep blue eyes. He smiled and, just as Jeremy had, gave a small, two-finger salute.
The men sat at the dining table for some time longer, talking and occasionally asking Alexis questions about things she liked until Vincent tapped lightly on the table.
"We should move into the lounge now," he said. His voice took a firm, authoritative tone. "I have some things we need to discuss," he said before turning to Alexis and saying in a lighter voice. "You're free to sit with us if you want, but we'll be talking for a while, so you can always go back to your room and watch a cartoon or something."
She hadn't watched a cartoon for a long time and didn't really have much interest in those kinds of things anymore. Besides, sitting alone in that large room was only sure to fill her with anxiety, and when she was anxious that was when she was most likely to run and hide which she'd already seen may be harder than she hoped.
Then, there was Vincent's promise, which she somehow believed.
"I'd like to sit with you if that's okay," she asked.
"That's perfect," Vincent replied. "One thing though, I must warn you, whatever you hear in this house, stays in this house. Do you understand?"
"Like, secrets?"
"Like secrets," he responded.
"Secrets hurt people," she said.
That, she knew too well and immediately hated when anyone told her that she mustn't tell.
Vincent smiled and nodded in understanding. "You're a clever girl, Alexis. So, let's not call them secrets, but this household is a business of sorts, and we can't let anyone know what business we do."
"Do you hurt people?" she asked.
"Maybe, sometimes. But only people who need to be hurt, and never little girls or children at all for that matter."
It was Alexis' turn to nod. Some people did deserve to be hurt, that much she could agree with. In fact, she wondered if she told Vincent of some of the secrets she'd had to keep if he would consider those people the ones who needed to be hurt.
Would he do it? she wondered, almost tempted to ask him, and feeling, at that moment, a sense of comfort in his eyes.
"No children," she said, focusing first on the most important thing.
Her words came out more as a statement than a question, but Vincent didn't seem swayed at all by it.
"Never," he replied softly.
Alexis nodded, satisfied by at least that much if anything. "Then I'll never tell anyone anything."