5.The Brothers and the Princess

Present Day

Mia

I turned back to the table and hissed as I angrily removed the hand on my head and glared at Jack. I lowered my gaze, afraid of making him angry and annoyed with myself that I was still afraid of them after all the years that had passed.

John smiled and crossed his arms. "It seemed like the little sister doesn't like brother very much."

I glared at him. The pretentious little bastard. Who gave them the right to call me little sister?

I couldn't wait for dinner to be over and I breathed in relief when it finally was. How I had cleared out my plate, I had no idea. I rushed to my bedroom as soon as I could leave, counting down to when I was going to leave and already thinking of the excuse I was going to give mum for leaving earlier than planned.

I heard a knock on the door and rushed to it, thinking it was mum there to ask if I was enjoying my stay.

I stared in surprise as I saw Quinn at the door and winced as he pushed his way and closed the door.

"What do you want?" I asked, folding my hands over my chest.

He moved closer to me and pinched my left cheek. "Do you remember anything?"

"What if I do?"

He sighed. "It would be best for you to keep quiet." He gave me the cold and reserved glare that had never failed to send chills through me and walked out of my room.

The next day, I already had an excuse for my mother and woke up early. I rushed to her bedroom, unable to wait for much longer.  She was surprised to see me and breathed in relief.

"Oh, dear. Did you miss me that much?"

"I do." I smiled back at her, moving into her embrace. She seemed happy and I felt guilty about what I was going to say. I didn't want to ruin her day this early and decided to wait before I told her that I wanted to leave.

I was surprised with how sweet the triplets were to me during breakfast and I narrowed my eyes at them, wondering what they were up to. I could bet my recently gotten degree that they were up to another prank. 

I knew their true nature even if their father didn't know about it and they couldn't fool me. It wasn't possible that they were just sweet brothers to me. They were up to no good and that was what I believed.

"Do you want more meat?" Quinn asked, passing the meat to me.

"I don't want." I shook my head.

"Maybe more salad?" Jack winked at me.

"I bet our new sister likes bread." John smiled.

Albert and my mum glanced at each other and laughed. "It seems like the children would be fine." Albert chuckled.

"I'm so glad that our kids are bonding." My mum replied, smiling at me as the triplets put food on my plate.

"But it seems like Mia is still shy." Albert commented.

"She will warm up to them pretty soon." My mum assured Albert. "Who wouldn't love brothers as caring as these are?"

Oh no! I couldn't believe that my mum was fooled already by the demons but that was how they were. They knew how to fool people into thinking they were what they weren't.

I looked at the food on my plate and doubted that I was going to be able to eat what they had picked out for me but I knew I was going to have to explain to mum and Albert if I didn't eat it and served another plate for myself.

The boys seemed to know what I was thinking and arched their eyebrows at me as they stared at me, daring me to not eat the food and explain my reason.

They looked amused and it seemed like they were curious to know what I would say if I decided not to eat. I sighed as I dipped into the food, calling their bluff. I wasn't going to give them the fun they wanted to get high on.

"How are the wedding preparations going, dad?" John asked.

I snorted at his questions. As if he cared about someone else other than himself, his brothers and taunting the weak. 

Albert swallowed the food in his mouth before responding. "That is why I need you boys home. There are a lot you would help me with."

"Is sister also going to be home for the wedding preparation?" Quinn asked.

Albert looked at my mum and I stared in horror as she nodded, having no idea that she had just signed my death sentence. "Of course, she will." Albert replied.

I glared at Quinn, hating him for what he had done. There was no way for me to ask my mum to let me leave now that she had told everyone that I would be staying for the wedding.

"Or aren't you staying, darling?" Albert asked. 

I felt caged. Of course, I didn't want to stay but Albert had been so kind to me and as he stared at me, I could tell from his eyes that he sincerely wanted me to stay and I couldn't bear to refuse him and crash the hope in his eyes.

"I will stay." I said.

I could see a spark in the eyes of the brothers and wondered why they were happy that I would be staying. My heart went cold as I realized that they were probably happy because they would be able to tease me. 

I rushed out the thought that came to me in a breath. "I would be leaving soon for work though."

"Oh! About that, I forgot to mention." Albert smiled at me. "I got you a job around here. You won't have to leave your mum."

"Oh, darling." My mum cooed, blowing a kiss at Albert. She turned to me. "Isn't that sweet, Mia?"

I sighed. I was trapped.

"Anything for you, Vanessa." Albert grinned at her.

I watched as the two of them smiled, blowing kisses at each other. I felt nothing but despair at the thought of being forced to live here despite how happy I was that my mom was in love.

I knew my mum wanted me to live with her and was happy that I wouldn't have to live far away from her because of work but I just couldn't. I couldn't live with her and there was only one way to avoid that.

I was going to tell her the truth though not all of it. I was going to tell her that I had a bad history with the boys and felt uncomfortable about living with them. I knew mum would be curious but I wasn't going to tell her. I also knew she would be crushed that I wanted to leave but she wouldn't force me to stay if I told her that I was uncomfortable.

I couldn't wait for breakfast to be over so I could tell mum.

Mum stood up after breakfast and I jumped to my feet as well. "I would like to tell you something, mum." I said as we walked to her bedroom.

We stopped as Quinn suddenly got in front of us. He smiled at my mum. "Can I steal my sister away for a second, ma'am?"

"Of course." My mum smiled, pleased at the way he had called me sister. She seemed to love how I was accepted readily into the family by the father and brothers and that was my undoing.

"See you soon, sweetheart." My mum said as she walked away to her bedroom, leaving me alone with Quinn.

"What again?" I sighed.

He pulled me off to a corridor and pressed me against the wall. I wanted to scream for them and gagged on my breath as he covered my mouth with his hand.

He glared at me but I couldn't tell what he was thinking of. I didn't know if he was angry or just having fun teasing me.

"What were you about to do?" He breathed into my ears.

"I don't think it's any of your concern what I discuss with my mother." I hissed, spitting at him as he removed his hand from my mouth.

He sighed and shook his head, narrowing his eyes at me. "You are a tattletale who is good at running away just as you have done four years ago." He mocked.

How dare he mock me for that? I growled, pulsing with anger at his words. Whose fault was it that I had run away and still wanted to do so?