I climbed down the stairs, following my so-called brothers and Mrs. Smith.

My mind was completely blank. There was nothing left in it. And my heart was feeling so heavy that it was becoming hard for me to even breathe properly.

No one paid any attention to me as we all made our way towards the dining hall and I was more than thankful for that.

I was in no state to face either of my brothers nor I wanted to listen to Mrs. Smith's praises that she had been raining on the Alessandro brothers all this time.

Yeah, they were Alessandro brothers, not my brothers. I, a girl who just entered their lives out of nowhere, meant exactly nothing to them.

I was just a responsibility for them, for Domenic, and he would do anything to make sure that I won't be the reason for the downfall of their family name.

If it meant that they had to build walls around me and cover up my life with lies then that was exactly what they would do.

We seated down around the dining table and everyone immediately dug into their food.

I was not really hungry but I stayed silent as Daniel piled up food on my plate, ushering me to eat more.

I was only waiting for Mrs. Smith to leave so that I could get away from their company, from the suffocation that was trying to kill me.

I could feel that they had started feeling the change in my attitude, but I did not care about it anymore.

I heard Leo and Daniel calling my name as they tried to include me in their conversation but I stayed still in my seat, not even looking up from my plate.

Unaware of the worried glances that Daniel, Crist, and Leo passed to each other and then looked at Domenic for help.

Domenic himself had no clue about what was wrong but he also did not want to cause any scene in front of Mrs. Smith.

Therefore, he signaled all his brothers to stay silent for the time being.

Everyone followed his order, even though a weird kind of feeling was seeping into their hearts. Was it the worry for their little sister or the fear of losing something precious?

What I also did not notice was the slightest flicker of distress in Mark's eyes as he looked at me and the concerned glances that Simon passed towards me.

I noticed nothing of these since I was busy in staring at the plate which was still completely filled with food.

What was amazing about the entire situation was that Mrs. Smith was completely clueless about the tension that was surrounding the dining table.

Or was she just pretending to be oblivious?

I did not know the answer to that question and neither did I care to know. All I wanted was for that woman to leave as soon as possible.

And after the next fifteen minutes or something, the woman finally stood up from her seat with her purse in one of her hands as she thanked my brothers for the amazing lunch.

Of course, she did not forget to give me a tight warm hug before leaving, even though I felt anything but warm at that moment.

I was just relieved that she didn't say anything other than 'Have a happy life child' and then left the dining hall with Domenic and Crist.

Only if she knew!

I could feel four pairs of eyes boring into me but thankfully no one said anything.

I kept sitting in silence till the moment when I finally heard the sound of the front door closing as Mrs. Smith left the mansion.

I did not waste a single more second as I stood up from my seat and rushed out of the room.

My sudden movements definitely left my brothers shocked, but Mark was quick to react as he tried to catch me as I passed through his chair.

It was pure luck that his hands failed to grab me as I ran out of the dining hall towards the stairs.

I could hear several voices calling my name, shouting for me to stop but of course, I did nothing like that.

Rather, I ran right towards my bedroom where all the lies of the past two days were stored, where the evidence of my fake life was stored.

I wished to reach my room before Domenic could return. However, I just reached the top of the stairs when the deep intense voice of Domenic pierced through the mansion.

"Emilia...!"

His voice was so deep and cold that it held the power of freezing me in my tracks.

However, at that moment I cared about nothing. Not even Domenic's sharp commanding tone was enough to stop me.

I reached my bedroom and entered inside, closing the door behind me and locking it.

My heart was beating so fast and I was completely out of breath. I stood there against the door as I heard someone coming upstairs.

Soon enough someone knocked on the door and with that Domenic's voice traveled inside my room.

"What kind of behavior is this, Emilia? This is the second time within three days when you have run away like this without explaining. I already told you that I won't tolerate this kind of behavior. You have ten minutes to calm down and return downstairs. Only ten minutes!"

With that being said, he didn't waste any more time standing outside my door and immediately left.

I felt the wetness on my cheeks and only then did I realize that tears were rolling down my cheeks at full speed.

My eyes blurred and the photo frames at which I had been staring disappeared from my sight.

That's what I deserved for placing my hope in strangers. I deserved this suffering since I was idiot enough to think that I could find a family and a home in the middle of unknown people.

This was what I deserved for wanting a happy family.

As the memories of my dark past resurfaced, a certain voice of a woman whom I loved dearly at some point in my life suddenly filled my ears.

'You don't deserve a family. You deserve only pain and suffering. And that's exactly what you will get in your life.'