Tyler had been home for three days, and it was safe to say that they were the worst three days that he had ever experienced.

That was a lie. Being kidnapped and concussed was pretty bad. But being near his mafia parents that had sold him and then broken the deal was worse.

Their attempt to get him back was slightly honourable. It proved that they cared. But it also hurt Josh, and it failed. The Persico family was in trouble, too; they had betrayed a close and powerful ally, and that meant that they had hell to pay.

Tyler harshly stabbed the chicken on his plate. It was good chicken, but he was still trying to prove to his parents that he was mad. He also felt a little nauseous. He had since he left the apartment.

"Mommy, where was Tyler?"

That was Maddie. She had asked it every night that Tyler had been back, and every night she got the same answer.

"Don't worry about it, sweetie."

Tyler looked at his mother, hating her vague replies. She didn't know that he knew she was a Persico, and he didn't plan on telling her, but it still made him just a little bit more angry.

He hadn't spoken much since he got back, but Maddy's disappointed face made him open his mouth. He couldn't deal with the confusion from his siblings any longer.

"I was with a friend, Mads," he said.

"Why were you crying last time you came?" Maddie asked. "And why'd you yell at Mommy and Daddy?"

Tyler smiled as sweetly as he could. "I was having a bad day, but I'm all better now."

"A bad day?" Maddie repeated, looking concerned.

Tyler's whole family knew about his 'bad days'. When he tried to take his own life, it was a term that quickly became popular in their household. Tyler wasn't coming out of his room? Bad day. Tyler wasn't eating? Bad day. Tyler woke up screaming in the middle of the night? Bad day. Tyler locked himself in the bathroom? Very bad day.

"Like I said, I'm fine now," Tyler said.

Zack spoke up, looking just as angry as Tyler felt. "Then why'd you say you were in a bad situation?"

Tyler paused, trying quickly to come up with a lie. "Something happened, and it reminded me of something really bad. That made me act a little weird. I'm sorry if I scared you."

Zack narrowed his eyes. "Like PTSD?"

Tyler looked towards him. "How do you know what that is?"

"I'm fourteen, Tyler. I'm not an idiot," Zack scoffed.

Tyler shrugged. "I guess it's like that, yeah."

"What's PTSD?" Maddie asked.

"It's when something happens that's so scary that it scars peoples' brains forever," Tyler explained.

"Like the scary man that hurt you?" Jay asked, not fully understanding what they were talking about.

"Yeah," Tyler replied, his voice weak. "Like that."

All of Tyler's family had experience the consequences of unknowingly being part of the mafia. Tyler, being the oldest, had received the majority of it, but the others had their fair share of trauma. Maddie had been kidnapped before, when she was a toddler. Fortunately, she couldn't remember it. Jay and Zack has been physically hurt before, and they also had to bear the action of watching their brother being beaten to a pulp. They all were just as scarred as Tyler.

Chris and Kelly weren't speaking. They were looking at their food guiltily, trying to avoid Tyler's angry glare. Tyler stood up, his plate still full, and began to walk from the kitchen.

"I'm not hungry," he mumbled as he brushed fast his father.

He threw out the food, cringing at the waste but unable to eat it himself. He dug through his pocket as he walked upstairs, pulling out his earplugs and beginning to untangle them. He jumped when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He decided to ignore it, but furrowed his eyebrows when it buzzed again and pulled it out.

Josh was texting him, seeming to be in a panic. Tyler studied through texts, wondering what could be so important. Half of them were unintelligible, like Josh had been rushing to message them and not even looking at the keyboard.

One caught Tyler's eye, and he stumbled back as his chest began to grow heavy.

ICE is here, you need to get here NOW