Hidden Love

Figuring out what happened

“Hey little one. I’m right here.” I whispered.

“Baby G. we are all here,” Sebastian said softly.

“Tiny one. We are all here. It will be ok.” Adonis said, kissing her cheek so softly, “I need you to stay with us. I need you to stay awake. The Doctor is on his way.”

Nicolette looked around the room with a wild look in her eyes and screamed NO in a shrill voice.

I held her to my chest carefully. “Shhh..you are safe, little one. You are safe. I promise.”

Hailey opened the door and the doctor with a nurse walked in. “About f*****g time” I said.

“Young man, we would have been here sooner, but that woman out there wouldn’t let us in at first,” the doctor said as he opened a kit without looking around the room. “You might want to fire her. I could see blood out there. It’s everywhere. Which one of you is hurt?”

Adonis looked at the doctor and pointed to our sister. “Not us this time, her.”

Doctor Armani looked at Nicolette on the couch. “God damn. Marion and Joseph. Who would hurt her?” His face looked grim. He looked at his nurse. “Bianca, we need to set up an IV. Boys you need to leave us so that she can be looked on properly.”

“NO!” all three of us said.

Nicolette moaned. I never moved her head off my lap. “I’m staying.”

My other two brothers nodded. None of us wanted to leave. Bianca looked at all of us. “There’s the door now go . She’s safe. We are ten floors up. You have lots of security. She made it this far, so you know she is strong.”

We all left the office. Hailey was sitting at her desk. We all began to look over the entire office. Blood from the elevator to Hailey’s desk. A pool of blood next to Hailey’s desk and in the waiting chairs. A trail of blood over to the phone on a random desk and Nicolette’s handprint on the phone receiver where she called Sebastian. I watched as Sebastian’s jaw flexed.

SEBASTIAN’S POV

I was in the meeting of my life. This was a million dollar deal. I was in my element. All of a sudden, the red phone on the side of the wall rang. I excused myself to answering it. “Seb.“Seb. I’m sorry I need you. I’m at your office. Please. Seb.” I hear my sister’s weak voice on the other end.

“I'm on my way.” I say softly. My sister was supposed to be at Sonja’s. How the f**k did she get all the way to the other side of the city? I sent a quick text to my two brothers. SOS my office Nic.

I looked at the people in the conference room. “I’m terribly sorry ladies and gentlemen, but I have a family emergency. Would it be possible to table this discussion? The red phone only rings when it’s a family emergency.”

The group looked around each other. “Mr Caprisi, with everything that you have given us, I think we are prepared to vote now. Shall we?” one of the men asked.

Everyone looked around and nodded. “All in favor?”

Everyone raised their hands except one. “Vote passed. We will send the paperwork over for signatures.”

I nodded my thanks and quickly left. Earlier, I had to send Michael to get some papers I needed. Hopefully, he got to Nicolette before the rest of us. I tried calling him, but he wasn’t answering. I jammed the elevator button hard. Damn, this thing was so slow. When I finally got on the elevator, I pushed the button for the tenth floor, my office. This was the slowest it’s ever gone. I’m sure of it. I was only four floors up from my office. I contemplated taking the stairs, but they will be clogged this time of day with workers going to lunch.

I reached the floor and ran to my office as fast as I could. Hailey stood up at her desk. I shook my head and went in. I saw my little sister lying on my couch with her head on Michael’s lap. She looked broken and battered. My heart broke for her. I want to know what the hell happened. I looked up at the mirror above the couch. I saw my reflection. My brown hair was a mess. My gray eyes looked like steel. Nicolette would run if I got this look. She would say it’s my trouble look and somebody is going to end up dead. I took off my suit jacket and tie. I started to roll up my sleeves. Right now, all I needed was for her to live and be OK. She groaned and I went to her side. I didn’t want to touch her for fear of making things worse. I knew we had to keep her awake. I begged her to keep talking to me and not close her eyes. The doctor came in with his nurse and began to assess her. She moaned in pain, but never cried. I had never seen my little sister like this. After a bit we three were kicked out so they could do a more full exam. I went over to Hailey. I put my hands on the short side of her desk.

“So when my sister came up and told you that she was my sister you decided what exactly?” I said through gritted teeth.

“She looked like a mess. Honestly, I had no way of knowing who she was.” Hailey replied, licking her lips nervously.

“Well, she made it past the lobby full of security guards. She made it to the floor without any interference. That means that she made it ten floors up Hailey. You are a good receptionist, but this is how it's going to work.” I said, gripping the desk hard.

She laughed nervously. “Mr. Caprisi, I am so sorry. I should have known who she was, that was on me. She is in your office now and is being taken care of. I don’t know what more I can do to prove to you that I meant no ill intent.”

I nodded to Adonis. "Prendi Anthony qui" (Get Anthony here). Adonis nodded and went to make the call. I don’t think Hailey bothered to learn Italian. A few minutes later, Anthony came up with a box and two extra security guards. He gave the box to Hailey for her personal stuff.

“I don’t understand. What’s going on?” Hailey asked apprehensively.

“Our sister is our world. You disrespected her in a huge way. When she needed help, you tried to stop her from contacting me. Hailey, you of all people should know better. We passed her picture to everyone so they knew who she was if she ever came here. She passed security downstairs because they recognized her. Her picture is in a portfolio of people who don’t wait for anything. There are five of them. She is the first in that portfolio because she is the most important.” I said, glaring.

“I said I am sorry Mr. Caprisi. I meant no disrespect.” Hailey stuttered.

“Here’s what’s going to happen. Tony has already taken away your access to this building along with the rest of what we own. Here is what the next step is for you. Payroll has been informed, you will get one month severance pay and you no longer have a job. You won’t get a reference, just verification that you worked here.” Adonis filled in behind me.

“But sir. I’ve worked here for six years. I have never once seen her to know that she was your sister. I truly am sorry.” Hailey said, starting to cry.

“I’ve fired people for less, Hailey. Let me tell you something else. If you were a man, I would have knocked you out or thrown you out the damn window.” I growled.

Hailey looked at me with her eyes wide, and packed her stuff up. Her hands shook the entire time. The door to my office opened and Bianca called to us, “She wants to see you guys. Here’s the deal: we took blood and urine. She’s been through a lot. She’s in and out of consciousness. You guys trained her well. She clawed two of her attackers and got DNA from them. One on each hand. We will run it and let you know. Also, she needs x-rays on her ribs. She’s refusing to go.” She looked at Adonis. “Only you can make her, I think.

Adonis smirked and nodded, “she’s going. Just make sure there is minimal staff there.”

We all walked back into Sebastian’s office. Nicolette was wrapped in a blanket that Sebastian kept by his desk. The look on her face broke my heart. My little sister was seriously injured. The bastards who did this were going to pay dearly.