Present
As Angelo was about to head back to use the guest room, he heard a crash coming from inside.
"Berry, are you fine? Did something happen?" he shouted, banging on the door.
"Don't come in," he heard his sister's faint voice.
"What happened? Tell me, is everything fine?" he shouted, banging the door, which woke everyone up.
"What's the matter, Angelo?" asked a very worried Isabella.
"Mom, she's in there. Her voice is faint, and I heard a crash," he said in a panic.
"Don't you have spare keys with you?" asked Alexzander.
"No, I left them inside the room as I rarely use it," he said.
"Move back, I will try this," Xavier said, holding a piece of metal wire in his hands.
Angelo agreed and moved away from the door as Xavier tried to pick the lock.
"Why are the locks in our house so hard to crack?" he mumbled as he continued to work on the lock.
After a few unsuccessful attempts, the door was finally opened.
As the door opened, all they could see was darkness. The lights were off, the windows were shut, and there was not a ray of light.
"Eva!" Massimo shouted.
"Leave," they heard Eva whisper.
"What happened to the lights?" Xander asked as he flicked the switch multiple times.
"Leave me alone!" she shouted as they all moved towards her voice.
"No, don't come, leave the room, NOW," she said in a panicked state.
"I'm getting my phone," Callum said as he rushed out of the room.
"No, don't look, GO AWAY!" she shouted as she felt their presence near her.
"You're scaring me, Berry. If it's about the fight at dinner, I'm sorry," Angelo said weakly.
"No, no, Gelo, it has nothing to do with you. Please, go out," she said.
"No one is going out. We're all concerned about your behavior right now," Austin said as Callum entered the room with a flashlight.
As soon as the flashlight was pointed towards her, the room fell silent.
"What the hell!" Callum exclaimed, seeing his sister.
She was on the ground, unable to move any of her limbs, with broken pieces of glass next to her arm.
"Please," she whispered, seeing everyone staring at her.
"What... What the hell happened?" Angelo shouted before rushing towards her.
Alexzander and Angelo gently lifted her onto the bed and laid her in a comfortable position.
"Oh my god, you're hurt. Let me get the first aid kit," Callum said, seeing a piece of glass sticking out of her arm.
Soon, Callum returned and started to treat her arm very carefully.
"How did you end up like this?" Isabella asked, falling to her knees as Massimo and Xavier supported her.
"Get out, don't look," Eva whispered, closing her eyes.
She couldn't dare look them in the eyes after they had seen her in this situation.
"Don't," Xander gritted out angrily at her.
"Don't hide. We are your family. We are here to help, not to turn our backs on you when you are at your weakest," he said with anger in his voice.
"Do you know how much Angelo was suffering just because you refuse to open up to him?" he shouted.
As Eva was about to protest, Callum cut her off.
"I know you're not willing to open up to any of us, and it's okay, as we were never there for you until you were almost adults. But what about Angelo? He was with you through everything."
Eva did not know how to respond to any of that, so she just turned her head away.
"What happened?" Angelo asked again, his voice filled with anger and anguish.
"I asked you what happened?" he repeated when he didn't get a reply.
"I'm tired, Berry," he sighed. "I'm sick of you treating me like something to be hidden and protected by hiding everything from me. I know what happens when you get taken by the top assassins. I know you have something to do with them, and I also know that you're not telling us what happened because you think it'll make us sad. But guess what? You not telling me makes me doubt myself to the point where I'm starting to question if I'm not worthy or strong enough for my sister to confide in when she needs it," he shouted, tears flowing.
"No, Gelo, I trust you. And I know you're very strong," Eva said, starting to feel guilty for all the things she had done in the past few days.
She was so obsessed with her guilt and the thought of it burdening others that she couldn't see all the other emotions flowing through her family's eyes.
"I will ask again. What is wrong with your body?" Angelo asked again, wiping his tears.
Eva hesitated for a moment but knew it was time to open up and stop hiding things.
As she didn't reply for a few seconds, Angelo got up from the bed and started to make his way out of the room, angry and saddened that his sister didn't want to confide in him.
"Addiction," she said, causing Angelo to freeze at the door, as did the others.
"P7, a type of drug which has no effects when in the system, but as soon as it leaves the system, your whole body from the neck down becomes paralyzed until it's back in your system," she said, her eyes closed.
"I've never heard of it before," said Austin, who specialized in drugs and their effects for helping his family's mafia. "Where's the dose? Should we find it? Is it with you? Does another dose make you better again?" he asked all at once.
"I have a dose of it in my makeup drawer," she said, looking towards it.
Callum walked towards the table and opened the first drawer, where he saw a few colorful test tubes.
"Which one is it?" he asked from across the room.
"Green, P7. It has a label," she said, as he searched through the drawer but couldn't find it.
"There's no green test tube in here!" he shouted back, as Eva's eyes widened in shock.
"My phone! GET MY PHONE!" she shouted, as Alexzander held it up.
"Call Hopper," she said, as Alexzander raised an eyebrow.
"What's the pin?" he asked.
"0308," she said, as he opened the phone and went through her contacts.
"August 3rd," mumbled her dad.
"Seriously, like father, like daughter," Isabella chuckled out loud, as all the boys gave her a confused look.
"What is it?" they asked, and Isabella replied, "Both father and daughter have the same pin for their phones."
"What happens on August 3rd? It's no one's birthday," said Xavier.
"Oh, maybe someone died, and we should be celebrating it?" asked Xavier.
"I don't know what day it is either. Ask your father yourselves," said Isabella, as they all now looked at Massimo and Evangeline.
"What day is it?" everyone asked at once.
"A special day," Massimo said, looking at his daughter with a small smile on his face.
"Yeah," Eva replied.
"There's no contact named Hopper," said Alexzander.
"(456) 333-777, it's his number. Make it fast," she grumbled, glaring.
"And why do you have a male's number memorized?" Xavier grumbled.
"Not the time. And for your satisfaction, I also have all the numbers of males in this room memorized," she said with a sigh.
"Ah, the number is saved as 'annoying prick,'" Alexzander said, dialing the number and putting it on speaker.
"Hello?" Hopper spoke, sounding bored.
"Where the fuck is P7?" Eva asked in a dark voice.
"Why?" he asked.
"Where is it?"
"Chill down, tiger."
"Where the fuck is it?"
"Relax, he just improved the formula. It's labeled as A9. It will last 5 months."
"He did it?"
"I know, shocking, but yes."
"Done. See you later," she said, as Alexzander hung up and Callum brought the test tube and a new syringe.
"Let me do it," said Austin, taking the syringe from Callum.
"Yeah, yeah, Doctor," Callum mocked before giving it to him.
"In the vein, I assume?" he asked, as Eva nodded.
Slowly and carefully, he injected the drug into her system.
"How long does it take?" Massimo asked.
"Not more than five seconds," she replied, feeling the drug working.
Soon enough, she was sitting on the bed without any trouble.
"So, are you telling us what happened and how you ended up being their target?" asked Angelo with a scowl on his face.
"I will tell you everything," she said, smiling a bit.
"Right now, or do you need some rest first?" asked Isabella, taking a seat at the edge of the bed.
"Right now," she said.
"Can you all close your eyes for a bit?" she asked.
They all did so without asking any questions, knowing it would be pointless.
She slowly removed her top and faced them with her back turned.
"You can open them," she said, as they were all shocked to see her back.
It was full of scars.
However, what stood out the most was her tattoo.
"The Lotus," whispered Angelo as he stared at the tattoo.
"I am a part of The Lotus. It was decided when I was eight because my body could handle various drugs, and my stamina was stronger than kids my age," she said, covering
herself up.
"Why take you now?" asked Callum.
"A reminder, so that I don't forget I'm still tied to them," Eva replied.
"I'm killing whoever is in charge," Alexzander said angrily.
"Killed him already," replied Eva, which led Xander and Xavier to chuckle, mumbling about how it was so her to do so.
Then she spent the next hour telling them everything briefly.
"You're not telling us everything," Angelo stated.
"I know I can't hide anything from you, but I need to do something before I tell you everything," Eva replied, as the only thing she didn't tell them throughout the entire conversation was the scar on her face