I sat there and listened to the story of how my loving, caring, sweet aunt was abused. I heard how she isn't Nana Lucie's biological daughter. She is Nonno Devan's daughter, but he was raped by a psychotic woman who got pregnant on purpose to hurt him and ruin his relationship. I heard how difficult my amazing Aunt's life had been and how it took her years upon years, even after her marriage and her children, to truly get past everything. She even still cried about it now as she told the story. So Gabe was only her half brother, not her full brother.

My heart shattered with every word they spoke about it all. Finally, the entire family knew the whole story. Gabriel wasn't happy with hearing the story, he looked around at everyone with a hurt look in his eyes, then he ran to his sister and pulled her into a tight hug. I could understand it was hard to hear it all, although he looked like he had heard it before.

I was too much in shock to notice the crying that Kiara was doing. Aunt Sophie was the first to notice Kiara's hair pulling and crying.

"Honey, no! No, baby girl. D-don't do that. Everything is ok!" Aunt Sophie said in complete surprise and fright.

I looked down at my beautiful girl and I immediately grabbed her wrists, pulling her delicate hands away from her hair before she could tug at it for any longer.

"Hey... I'm so sorry... no more. No more. I'm sorry." I apologized, knowing she probably felt scared when she heard about abuse.

Aunt Sophie never said anything too explicit, God knows the details. I didn't think Kiara would freak out, although now it made me feel stupid to think she would be alright hearing all that.

She shook in my arms. Still deep in her own world of despair and what seemed to be hallucinations at this point.

"No! No! No!" She screamed, scrambling about in my lap. She was hyperventilating, screaming and squirming. It didn't seem like she was remembering things, but she was lost in her own dark world for sure.

I set her down on the couch, forgetting everyone else and pulling her beneath me. Her body stilled underneath mine and I put my thumb back in her mouth to pacify her again. She started sucking and she twisted beneath me. I sat back up changing my position and watching her curl up as she sucked on my thumb.

"What happened?! Is she ok?! It's my fault! I shouldn't have said anything." Aunt Sophie said. But Aunt Sophie literally didn't say anything. She said she was abused but she didn't give any details at all.

"Shh..." I tried to sooth Kiara. "No. It's not your fault, Aunt Soph. It's good that you told us. I should've put her down though and made sure she didn't hear anything that would trigger her." I said softly, kissing Kiara's forehead.

Poor thing had a long day. She had gone through so many emotions and it was my fault. I pushed her into way too much and in too little time. I felt like a failure at taking care of her. I just wanted her to be happy and safe but I was putting too much pressure on her.

Kiara slowly calmed down from her intense panic attack or whatever it had been that I witnessed. Her trembling body slowly calmed down and the sucking on my thumb slowed down.

"I think it's bedtime." Uncle Federico said softly and never did I expect for him to be so correct about it. Poor Kiara broke into yet another fit of sobs at the sound of it, looking so desperate to sleep that I felt guilty for keeping her up.

"Come, Baby. Let's go home, we can meet everyone tomorrow." I said softly. She scooted closer to my hands and I scooped her up.

She rubbed her cheek against my shirt and her body trembled with fatigue. I suddenly remembered that Aunt Sophie had brought a plate of food for her and that she hadn't eaten anything but a bowl of fruits since the morning.

"Uncle Rico. She actually refused to eat anything but a bowl of fruits this afternoon, sleep or eat?" I asked him.

"I'd say make sure she eats at least a little bit." Rico said to me. "Not too much, just a little bit of food."

Aunt Sophie came back and she had all the food in a container for me. I smiled and I put it on top of Kiara's shaking form that refused to relax and sleep.

I knew she needed to be alone with me for a while, poor thing. She was definitely emotionally exhausted.

"Let's go home." I whispered, picking her up and kissing her forehead.

I quickly carried her to the little cabin and I took her to the bed. I noticed that the place was spotless and that there was a batch of cookies on the kitchen counter.

"Hey, Kiwi. Don't sleep yet, My Love." I told her, deciding to address what she'd done in my absence at a later time.

"I want to sleep." She begged me.

"I know you do, but you need to eat." I said softly, brushing her golden locks away from her pretty face.

"Vivi." She cried, crawling into my lap. "I wanna sleep."

"What if we just eat some kiwi?" I asked her.

I knew she hated eating so I was setting myself up for her wrath at this point. She was crying and begging me to let her sleep, she even refused the kiwi idea.

"Look at me for a second, Kiwi." I said softly.

She looked into my eyes with a huge pout and watery eyes.

"Next time when I ask you to eat in the evening, don't say no. That way we can avoid this." I said to her and she looked into my eyes, clearly becoming more and more upset with me.

"I don't wanna eat!" She exclaimed, fat tears streaming down her beautiful face as she cried.

"I know you don't, but you have to." I insisted. "You're starving yourself, baby."

She had a little tantrum, it lasted about half an hour before she finally gave in and agreed to eat some fruit. The tantrum was difficult to handle, but it made me happy. If she was comfortable enough to have a tantrum with me, it means she finally understands that she's safe with me.

I put the container aunt Sophie had prepared in the fridge and then I grabbed a bunch of fruits. I opened the little box of strawberries and I handed her one, setting her down on the counter and turning the tap on so she could wash the strawberries before she ate them. She seemed to enjoy the running water and she ate the strawberries as she sniffled. Then I brought out some blueberries and she ate those, and then I brought out some kiwis.

I handed her a whole kiwi, and she stared at it in confusion. Her tolerance levels were very low at that moment. She glared at me before throwing the kiwi directly at my head.

"Hey, what was that for?" I asked her in shock.

"You said kiwi!" She growled.

"Yeah. A kiwi." I said, handing it back to her.

"No! This is an ugly brown ball... with hair!" She cried, her eyes tearing up and tears streaming down her pretty cheeks.

"It's a kiwi." I assured her, cutting it open and showing her the familiar flesh of the fruit.

She insisted on holding a whole one in her hand as I fed her the one I'd opened. She was fascinated by the exterior of the fruit now, very intrigued by how different it was from the inside.

"It's a little fuzzy." She mentioned as she accepted a chunk of kiwi from me.

"It is." I chuckled and she looked up at me, not amused in the slightest.

She continued to examine it as she ate the pieces that I gave her.

"I ate." She said after we finished the kiwi.

"You did." I nodded.

"I wanna sleep." She said, new tears forming in her eyes and falling from them.

"Ok. Let's go to bed." I said softly, kissing her forehead and picking her up.

I carried her to the bed and got in beside her. She climbed on top of me and she struggled to fall asleep. I urged her to put her thumb in her mouth and she did exactly that. She was in no mood to be stubborn about how she fell asleep. She just wanted to sleep.

Theo called a few minutes after she slept, which made me put Kiara down, or make an attempt at it. It woke her up and she had another meltdown. I answered and told him I had to go and that we'd talk later. I really had to talk to him. So I hung up and then I got back to her.

"I'm sorry. I'm a jerk, I know. I'm so sorry, baby." I whispered, rocking her back and forth again.

She finally fell asleep again after three minutes of rocking and I didn't move an inch in fear of waking the poor little angel up.

I eventually fell asleep and then I woke up to her hair tickling my face. She was still asleep when I woke up, so I didn't dare move in fear of waking her up and having to see her upset again. It didn't take long for her to wake up, but when she did, she was crying again.

It was honestly quite miserable to be with her like this. Only because I felt so strongly for her that I wanted to fix everything and see her happy again.

"No, baby. Don't cry, My Love." I said gently.

I noticed she was holding her belly and she seemed to be in pain.

"Does your tummy hurt?" I asked her, holding her head close to my chest and petting her hair.

"I don't wanna have my period anymore." She cried.

"Does it really hurt that much?" I asked her.

She nodded and cried her heart out as she winced and groaned and clutched her poor little tummy.

I carried her to the villa and I woke uncle Rico up. He just about smacked me in the face before I explained myself. He looked at my face and saw how miserable I felt.

"Is she ok?" He asked me.

"She's on her period. She got it yesterday. But she's in a lot of pain and she had a really tough time last night." I explained.

"Alright. She's an emotional wreck is what you're saying?"

"Please, can you just... give her something for the pain?" I sighed.

"Sure thing. Let's go see her." He said, getting up and following me to my room where I'd left her. She was still crying when we walked into the room and she got up and ran at me when I opened the door. I lifted her up and placed her in my lap.

"What's wrong, Little One?" He asked her.

"Make it stop." She cried.

"I will, don't worry. Is your period heavier than usual?" He asked her.

She shook her head.

"Does this always happen?" He asked her.

She nodded.

"Ok... how much blood are you losing though?" He asked her.

"Uhm... like a lot the first two days." She said softly, clearly not sure if she was safe enough to speak.

"Ok. That's perfectly normal, and then it sorta gets less and less until it goes away, right?" He asked her.

She nodded.

"Let's take a little bit of medicine and see how it helps." He said softly.

"It'll hurt less?" She asked, sniffling.

"Hopefully and if it doesn't, we can work on getting you something else that will make the pain go away more." He said to her.

She nodded and he handed her a Tylenol. She took it quickly and then she looked at him.

"It still hurts." She pouted.

Both of us chuckled and she looked confused.

"It's not going to work immediately. But it'll make it better in a little while." Rico explained.

"I wanna sleep." She complained to me.

"Go to sleep then, baby." I said to her.

She snuggled into my shirt and she closed her eyes. It took her very little time to fall asleep. I carried her around everywhere for the next two hours. I liked that she was more comfortable being around my family now. I knew maybe it would push her out of her comfort zone, but eventually she'd love them all.

When she woke up three hours later, I was out on the patio under the umbrella. She woke up and sat up to look at me. Her eyes started welling up and I sighed.

"Baby, please. Don't cry." I said to her.

She rubbed her eyes, snuggling back into my chest and sighing.

"I'm not crying because I'm sad." She said to me.

"Then why are you crying?" I asked her.

"Because I... I love you." She said to me.