I used to arrive at our gym before Dylan to stretch a little. I preferred to do it alone. Later, I always sat cross-legged on the mattress and waited for him to appear graciously, which today he did long after the set time. I didn't, however, point out his lateness. It was advised by my self-preservation, which, I'm not going to lie, developed a lot thanks to my brothers.

We practiced a new move. I was standing with my back against him and he put his big hands on my small neck as if he wanted to strangle me (which was terribly frightening to me even if I believed that Dylan wouldn't try to kill me). I was supposed to break free using doing a complicated move and finally slamming my hand in his face. Of course, it was all pretended. It wasn't working out well and he kept complaining about how slow I was. As usual.

During my training sessions with Dylan, I always fell into a trance and made all movements automatically so maybe that's why, when at some point Dylan let me go and murmured "Wait a moment", I didn't wait.

He was standing with a phone in his hand, probably replying to a message he had just received. I didn't register this suddenly announced break and the edge of my hand hit his face. It wasn't until a second later that I realized that something was wrong. I turned around quickly to look at my brother who had an irritated expression showing up on his face. He slowly looked up from his phone screen.

When I saw blood forming on his upper lip, I got even more scared. Especially that his dark eyes frightened me with their seriousness. Oh God, I hurt him. And he always repeated that I should concentrate more.

I froze and didn't know what to do. My brother raised his free hand and touched the cut with his fingertips, then glanced at them, and when he was sure that the warm, sticky liquid, he probably felt on his lips, was red, he looked back at me.

Blood gathered in the corner of his mouth and began to lazily make its way down so he looked like a wicked vampire. When a sudden, creepy smile plastered on his face, his lip cracked even deeper, and more blood flowed from it, now also staining some of his grinning teeth.

Without turning his dark look away from me, he slowly slipped the phone back into his pocket.

"Well done, little sis," he murmured, taking a tiny step forward.

I backed a little. Hey, it's just training, isn't it? It's normal... These kinds of things happen...

I just didn't know if Dylan had the same opinion.

"Do you know what to do now?" he asked quietly, tilting his head. He was like those predators from nature films that are lurking for their prey.

I shook my head uncertainly.

"Run."

He didn't have to repeat these simple instructions to me twice. I immediately turned away on my heel to escape from him as far as possible.

I almost reached the door to the corridor when I felt Dylan's hand clenching at the back of my shirt. It pulled me and then one of his strong arms wrapped around me like a snake. That's when I screamed at the top of my lungs. I knew that he wouldn't hurt me but somehow I just got stressed.

"Very good," he praised me, pulling me, as it turned out, into the bathroom. I always assumed that it was placed close to the gym so that everyone could take a quick shower after a workout but in reality, I have never seen anyone using it. We all preferred our private ones.

When I realized what Dylan was planning, I vigorously tried to yank myself out of his grip and shouted even louder.

"Dylan, no!"

"Shush," he muttered dismissively.

He stopped with me right in front of the mirror that hung above the washbasin so we were both facing it. He towered behind my back and held me tightly. With one hand still embracing me in his firm hold, he lifted the other one and grabbed my cheeks between his forefinger and thumb, so that my mouth bulged and I looked like a small, swollen baby. In this way, holding my face, he raised it so that I would meet his amused look in the reflection. The blood in the corner of his mouth had dried up a little though the upper lip wound was still fresh.

"Don't you know, baby sis, that you mustn't hit others? Especially your brother? Our training sessions aren't meant for that," Dylan leaned a little forward so that I could hear his whisper more clearly. "Nu, nu. Very, very ugly, little Hailie."

I looked even more comical now because I frowned at his patronizing tone which I knew he had purposely used to annoy me. He knew well that I didn't like being treated like a child. I tried to break free again, and he just leaned his head back so that I wouldn't hit him and rolled his eyes. Then the thing that I expected to happen happened, that is, he opened the large shower stall and pushed me inside, not caring about my protests. He pulled out the tap and the showerhead hanging over me immediately spouted a decent stream of icy water.

I yelled my head off as if I was being skinned alive. The cruel cold soaked me. I wasn't prepared for such a shock. Dylan almost immediately let me go and shut the cabin door, closing me inside. As soon as he let go of me, I blindly felt the tap and turned off the water. Then I took a deep breath and shivered with the cold but also a relief because this short shower was over. I rubbed my eyes to see better and I grated my teeth as another wave of cold chills passed through my body.

I jumped out of the shower and was sure that Dylan had already left the bathroom but the bastard was standing in front of the mirror as if nothing had happened and was rinsing his mouth with water, getting rid of the remaining blood and having a closer look at his wound. Oh, what I wouldn't give to have enough strength to drag him into the cabin and give him the same treatment! Instead, I cast him a murderous look that he noticed in the mirror reflection and smirked at me in response.

"Did you cool down?"

Even though my first thought was to grab a towel and wrap it around myself as my wet clothes and hair were freezing me mercilessly, I decided to pay back to Dylan first and started walking towards him with my arms open, almost sliding on the puddle which immediately formed underneath me. I stuck to his side like glue, wetting his clothes, and passing him cold shivers.

"Fucking hell," he hissed, raising his arms up and looking down at me, wrapped around his hips. He tried to break free from my embrace but I didn't give up. I held onto him as if my life depended on it.

"Don't say 'fucking'," I scolded him maliciously, hoping to beat him at his own game. It didn't work out because Dylan reached with one hand to the soap dispenser. He pressed the pump with his thumb so that a large portion of fluid got on his remaining four fingers. And then he unceremoniously rubbed it against my mouth.

"You don't say 'fucking'," he replied.

I let him go immediately and with the back of my hand wiped the soap away, spitting into the washbasin to get rid of its taste. Dylan wiped his hand carelessly on a towel hanging on the wall. He also took the opportunity to walk away from me casually but I wasn't going to give up and I quickly followed him. I pulled him by his black, tight T-shirt. I was determined to win this battle. I couldn't stop him with my strength. I was no match for him. But his T-shirt stretched and I could hear the sound of fabric being ripped. At first, I didn't see where it had torn and I was surprised that it did happen at all considering how much money my brothers spent on their clothes.

Dylan sighed as if he was very tired of our struggle but he turned back to me and, with new energy, rushed at me, then grabbed my wrists, and in a moment I was lying on the floor and his big body hung above me.

"Little brat," he muttered and pinched my side what made me squeal and then added ominously. "You should get it for hitting me, you know?"

I boldly looked into his dark eyes, which pretended to be serious but there were also perfectly visible sparks of amusement.

"I know but you won't hit me back," I replied and a feisty smile appeared on my lips. I have no idea where I got this confidence.

Dylan raised an eyebrow, surprised by my shameless answer but he didn't deny it, just smirked. His upper lip was starting to swell a little and he honestly looked like he was hit by an equal muscleman, not his younger sister. A point for me.

"No," he admitted, "But you're pushing your luck, little girl."

A smile quickly disappeared from my face when I saw his saliva slowly drooling from his mouth right above my exposed neck. I watched in horror as a transparent, slightly foamy liquid drips onto my skin.

"Dylan, it's gross, eww!!!" I whined, struggling like a demon. Shivers of disgust went through my body as I felt his saliva on my collarbone.

When my attempts to free myself did nothing, I stared at him with a furious look, and he just looked at me back, openly mocking me. I clenched my teeth in anger and spat with particles of my saliva at his face, like a sprinkler.

Dylan clucked his tongue irritably and turned his head away from me but before I could run away from him, he grabbed me and, muttering something like "That's it", he dragged me towards the glass door that connected the gym with the garden. It was located in the corner of the room and so integrated into the huge window that, to be honest, I'd had no idea about their existence until now. Dylan opened it and pushed me outside, immediately locking it behind me.

"Hey! Let me in!" I screamed and started punching the glass with my fist. The slowly setting sun reflected in it, so only after a moment, I noticed that Dylan was walking away ignoring my yells.

Of course, I could get into the house through a different door, but I was annoyed that Dylan would get away with something like that in the first place. I shivered and this time it was because of irritation, not the cold as, although my clothes and hair were still wet, the sun on this nice September afternoon was warming me up pleasantly.

I walked around the building, finding a garden faucet attached to one of the walls, and I opened it. I washed off the remnants of my brother's saliva from my neck with cool water.

The garden of the Monets' residence was not as dignified as it sounded. The boys couldn't care less about flowers and decorations. The gardener they employed had to only make sure that the grass wasn't losing its juicy color and the trees were growing healthily.

I kept walking and finally saw the kitchen terrace door which I immediately used to get inside the house, surprising Will and Vincent who were standing there, talking. They stopped their conversation, giving me weird looks. Dylan also was already here. He was reaching for a bottle of water and hid a mocking smile that appeared on his lips immediately when he saw me.

"Hailie? What happened?" Will asked, and I, as soon as I shared with Dylan my hateful look, turned to my favorite brother, using my puppy eyes that I knew would make his heart melt.

"Dylan poured cold water on me and locked me out in the garden," I complained, approaching him and deliberately avoiding looking at Vince. Even though I was wet, Will opened his arms for me which into I gladly fitted. Raising an eyebrow, he glanced at Dylan for confirmation of my words.

Dylan seemed unimpressed by my accusations because he just shrugged.

"She hit me," he said indifferently, pointing his finger at his swollen lip.

"It was an accident!" I defended myself before I could feel William's questioning gaze upon me. "And he rubbed soap in my mouth!"

"Because she said "fucking"."

"I just repeated after him! And he spat on me."

"You spat on me too."

I snuggled up to Will and gave Dylan a sullen look because I was running out of arguments and I didn't like how easily he refuted them all. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vince quietly leaving the kitchen, shaking his head.

"Come on, Dylan, you're supposed to be gentle with her," Will reminded him, apparently referring to some conversation that I'd never witnessed.

Dylan spread his hands.

"But I am. She's fine," he said, backing out slowly from the kitchen. In the end, he raised an eyebrow at me. "She pretends to be a victim in front of you because she knows you'll pamper her."

And he disappeared. I blushed and buried my face in Will's shirt to hide it. He, fortunately, didn't care about Dylan's words at all and kissed my hair, then patted my shoulder and tried to lean back to look at my face.

"You should change, huh?" he asked me gently and I cuddled up to him, murmuring something unintelligibly. I needed to be hugged and Will's embraces were the best in the whole world. I could stay in them for ages. Finally, however, I had to listen to him and went to the bedroom to change my clothes. He did the same but before we split up, he promised me that we could watch a movie together which I agreed on with excitement.

I chose Titanic for two simple reasons. First of all, I loved this classic and no matter how often I watched it, I always cried like a baby. Secondly, the film had two parts, which meant that Will would have to save one more evening for me.

I didn't expect that the main hero Jack, who is an absolutely wonderful character, played by Leonardo, will remind me so much of the damn Leo, whose mysterious glances, which I often encountered at school, didn't let me forget about him.

He seemed a quiet boy who didn't care about having a cigarette during breaks and whom I often saw with a book. This, plus his personal charm, which was manifested in politeness and kindness, made me think of him more often than I would have liked. In addition, I was still curious about the deal he wanted to talk about with my brothers. With Vincent. People at my school knew twins and Dylan but hardly anyone ever mentioned my eldest brother...

I didn't want to think about it too much because I was stubbornly convincing myself that I made a wise decision to mind my own business. Especially if it had something to do with my brothers.

One day, however, I was heading to the bathroom during a break and I crossed my path with Leo himself. His face was very taut and his brows were frowning worriedly.

I greeted him and wanted to get away as soon as possible so that he wouldn't have the opportunity to talk to me again about matters that I did not want to be talked about but his eyes bored into me made my sensitive heart quiver and stop.

"Everything's all right?" I asked, casting a quick glance around to see who could possibly witness this conversation. I learned this caution by being under my brothers' constant surveillance.

Leo looked at me so meaningfully that I lost my mind. At home, I was surrounded by men who had cold blue eyes or dark ones (like Dylan's), so drowning in irises of such a warm, almost fiery color was a real change for me.

I felt sorry that such pretty eyes now seemed so sad. This should be illegal.

"Not completely," he muttered and I could almost see him asking me to hear him out with every cell of his body, though he had enough tact not to say it out loud again. Not after I told him I didn't want to listen to him...

I sighed and my common sense knelt in front of me and begged me not to get involved in any stupidity and to leave now because I didn't need to add someone else's problems to the list of my own ones.

I deliberately ignored that wise voice in my head, as I used to do very often, and nodded. Leo knew what I agreed to by this gesture. I didn't have to use words. Hope appeared on his face at which the sight of I swallowed bitterly.

After a while, we were already sitting down on the stairs next to the janitor's closet. It wasn't really a good hideout because we weren't really out of sight and someone, for example, the twins, could easily spot us here if we were unlucky. However, there was no time to hide in the bushes and I didn't want to drag Leo around the ladies' toilets. I had bad enough memories from using them as meeting points Jason. The only advantage of this place was that before anyone heard us, we would first notice them coming, so we could safely talk about various secrets.

"Hailie, I'll do anything. I swear, anything. But I'm begging, I'm begging you, help me talk to Vincent," Leo began. His voice was tired but determined.

I sighed.

"Leo, I can hear you out, you can talk but I can't promise anything more," I said dryly. Jesus, I had to make an impression of such a rude girl!

Now he sighed but also nodded, agreeing to my conditions.

"Okay. Okay," he whispered and although he clearly wanted to start speaking, he had some barriers. Finally, however, he sighed and apparently nervous began his story. "My brother..." he swallowed. "My older brother got into trouble. He's always been in trouble since as long ago as I can remember but over time it began to get more serious," he paused for a moment, licking his lips nervously. "Now they are so big that it's me who has to pay for them. Literally."

He was sitting on the highest step, his legs bent and parted. He put his elbows on his thighs and played with his hands, looking down with a clearly worried expression. I crouched a little lower, but so that when my head was turned in his direction, I also saw the corridor out of the corner of my eye and people who occasionally were passing through it.

I frowned.

"Why would you pay for them?"

"Because my brother is temporarily... out of reach."

I know that it was difficult for him to talk about it but I needed more specific answers to understand anything of this. Otherwise, we would not have time to get through the whole story. I decided to gently suggest it.

"You're right, I'm sorry, it's just... it's so complicated..." he groaned, leaning his head forward and putting his hands on the top of it.

I was sorry to see how troubled he was. Led by the most common, human impulse, I reached towards his arm to show him some quiet support. He looked at me with an unreadable expression.

"My brother was sent to forced drug rehab."

"Oh," I said, not expecting it completely. I bit my lip and immediately added, "I'm sorry."

Leo took a deep breath and shook his head slightly.

"That wouldn't be so bad. Maybe there he will finally get help," He shrugged and unfortunately didn't sound very convinced. "The problem is that drugs are an expensive addiction. He started borrowing money, he was also into gambling, as far as I know..." Leo rubbed his forehead with his hand. "I don't know, I just know that he's made huge debts that now somebody has to pay back."

"Someone? Shouldn't your brother pay it back after he finishes his rehab?" I asked gently.

He looked at me seriously and frowned a little.

"Hailie, he didn't get into debts with the damn bank. He borrowed money from a mafia. A mafia who now wants their money and who doesn't care who will pay it."

My heart skipped a beat.

I knew what he meant but I refused to admit it in my head.

"The most money he owes to your brothers, Hailie, and they want it back. Now."

A/N: I hope all of you are healthy and doing well! At least as well as possible in the current situation. Just wondering, do you like Leo? 😏