"Just wait and see how I'm going to torture that stupid woman," Leo muttered as he watched Domenic applying medicine on their sister's bruised cheek.

"You are going to do nothing to her. Stop overreacting." Emily immediately replied as the gel started working and a warm sensation engulfed her right cheek.

It barely took a few seconds before the magical medicine healed her cheek, taking away both the pain and the bruise.

"And you should stop being so soft-hearted," Simon remarked as came forward to inspect her cheek as if he was doubting the authenticity of the medicine.

Emily decided to keep quiet as she knew that there was no point in fighting with her brothers and making them understand that they did not need to use violence all the time.

Her eyes landed on Domenic who had returned to his desk and was once again busy dealing with his work.

From the very moment, she stepped inside his office till now, he had not spoken a single word to her. But what filled her with sadness was the realization that he was not even looking into her eyes.

Though he talked with Simon when he got to know about all the drama that transpired in the lobby downstairs and even applied the medicine for her, it did not succeed in hiding the fact that he was ignoring her exactly how Simon and Leo were ignoring her before the incident.

"Why are you living in Mount Ville? Don't you remember that you have a home here?" Leo suddenly asked in a kind of sharp tone as he registered her eyes on Domenic.

Emily was taken aback by the sudden change in his tone. And as she turned her attention towards him and Simon, she realized that neither of them was carrying the familiar soft and warm expressions that she was so used to.

When did they learn to change their moods and expressions so quickly? 

She was really surprised to see the sudden change in their demeanor. One moment, both of them were worried sick about her, and the next moment, they were back to giving her cold shoulders.

A small sigh escaped her lips before she spoke, "I know that all of you are mad at me, and you have the right to..."

"We are not mad, Em. We are feeling betrayed." Leo cut her off before she could finish her sentence, leaving her completely speechless with his words.

"Betrayed...?" 

Emily asked in a small voice as she looked at her brothers to see if Leo was telling her the truth. Did they all really feel betrayed by her actions?

"En! Betrayed. We kept hating ourselves for not being able to find you on time when Mrs. Alwssandro took you away years ago. We felt like we failed as your brothers. Do you know how hard it was for us to cope with our lives while a very important person of our family was missing?"

Simon's eyes were looking straight into hers as he voiced out that question but Emily could barely find her voice to answer him, not like she had an answer for his question.

"When we finally found you after so many years, we promised ourselves and each other that we will never let you disappear from our lives again. Hah! Who would have thought that it would be you who will leave us all just like that? Betraying our trust and love."

Emily could feel her heart contracting as Leo's sharp but sincere words entered her ear. She wanted to tell him and the others that she never planned to betray them but barely any sound left her lips.

"They both are the same. None of them thought about us when they decided to take such huge steps. Like it will not affect our lives even a little bit." Simon suddenly commented coldly as he glared at Domenic who was still pretending to be busy with his work.

"There's no need to pull him in all this. It was all my decision, he has nothing to be blamed for." Emily hurriedly spoke as she recalled her conversation with Shadow.

He had told her that the rest of her brothers were angry with Domenic for keeping the topic of her leaving the city a secret from them.

And looking at the current situation, it appeared as if she not only succeeded in ruining her relations with her brothers but she also successfully planted a feud between Domenic and the others.

"Why not, Em? Why he has nothing to do with all of this? Though he's the one who found you back then and was also your legal guardian, but that did not give him the right to take such a big decision without telling the rest of us." Leo stated coldly as he kept his eyes trained on her, not even sparing a single glance in Domenic's direction.

"Leo, don't talk so rudely about Nick. Let me repeat this again - he has nothing to do with my leaving the city back then. It was my decision and I'm really sorry about hurting you guys. It was never my intention. You......"

"Save it, Emmy! If you start apologizing, you will really need a lot of energy and time to ask for forgiveness from all those people whom you have hurt by your actions. And as for whether Domenic is guilty or not...........he knows it better than all of us. We all are aware that it was your decision but we also know that he was the one who signed the documents of your admission. He knew that you would be leaving but he decided to stay quiet about it and kept it from all of us...."

"You both are the same. You both are selfish and you both have no regard for our feelings."

Emily watched as a single tear rolled down Leo's cheek as he hurriedly stood up from his seat and left the office.

She was so taken aback by his words that her mind and body were no longer in a state to work according to the situation. While a part of her brain was aware that she needed to talk with her brothers, the major part was too shocked by their harsh words to react at all.

She kept standing there in a daze and did not even notice as time passed. At some point, even Simon left the office but she just sat there on the sofa in silence.

It was not until she felt some movements beside her, that she returned to the real world. Her eyes first landed on the dark view outside which told her that it was already night.

Her attention was pulled towards the man who had taken a seat beside her when she felt him draping his cost over her shoulders.

She watched as Domenic relaxed a little as he stared at the same night view of the city which she had watched just a mere moment ago.

"Nick...."

She called his name softly as she felt her eyes finally tearing up. She did not cry when she was ignored by Mark and Crist at the party. She did not cry when she was slapped in the morning and she did not cry even when Simon and Leo finally poured their complaints out in front of her.

But just one look at her eldest brother and she could no longer control her emotions that were already ready to burst.

"I thought that you would be prepared for all this since you know that you hurt them." He said softly but did not turn to look at her.

"I knew that they are hurt but I had no idea that they were hurt so deeply. I knew that it will take time before I'll be able to earn their trust, forgiveness, and love again but nothing prepared for me this." Emily replied sincerely as she wiped away the tears that had already succeeded in rolling down her cheeks.

"You should always be prepared for the worst. Did they not teach you this at Nightfall?" He asked as he started playing with the ruby ring which had a symbol of A written on it - a family heirloom.

"What about you? Why are you also mad? Is it because the others don't like you anymore because of me?" 

She barely completed her stupid thought when her brother finally turned to look at her. The expression in his eyes was clearly telling her that he was really let down by her stupidity.

Emily did not waste any more words as she hurriedly buried herself in his embrace, taking him by complete surprise as she wrapped her arms around him, locking them behind his back to make sure that he won't be able to free himself from her hold.

Domenic sat there in silence for the next few seconds as he looked at the girl who was hugging him so tightly that it was almost hard for him to breathe properly. He was about to speak when he realized something.

It barely took him a second as he wrapped his arms around her and just like that, Emily's silent tears turned into heart-wrenching cries as she finally let go of her tears and pain.