Mistaken: The Lost Heiress

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{Adelynn’s POV}

Once I was unzipped his hand froze on my back. I knew what he was looking at.. the burn marks that were left on my back from years of James’ abuse. He used to take a metal hanger and hold it in the fireplace, then whip my back with it when I didn’t listen.. “Are these.. are these burns..” he muttered, his fingers grazing softly across them.

I turned looking over at him, his eyes were full of anger, and I could tell by the way he looked, that if he knew what James had done.. he’d stop at nothing to ki** him. “I’m okay now.. don’t worry about it..” I said softly. “Just, please don’t tell anyone.. please Theo.” I said, tears beginning to stream down my face.

He stood up, his fists clenching by his side. “What did he do to you? You never talk about it? You just avoid anything to do with the two of them! You refuse to talk about it, to even try to talk to us!” He shouted, before looking back over me. I was trembling, not just from the cold.. my anxiety rising by the second. “Can you finish getting dressed?” He asked, and I nodded. He turned, rushing out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

I sat there for a moment, trying to catch my breath, between my anxiety and the ice cold clothes stuck to me it felt like an impossible feat. I peeled off the dress, before sliding into the floor, leaning back against the tub and taking off my back brace, I peeled off my bra and underwear, which was a difficult feat to say the least. I had to awkwardly fold my legs to the side to get them off. I grabbed the t-shirt that Killian had given me and pulled it over my head. I sat in the floor, the shirt pulled down over me, covering me as well as I could and waited. Soon I heard a knock on the door. “W-Who is it?” I asked.

“It’s Sebastian!” My brothers voice rang out from the other side of the door.

“Come on in..” I said, grabbing a towel and placing over my legs. When he walked in, his eyes scanned the room finally landing on me. “I.. I can’t get the pants on..” I chuckled. “I tried, but I couldn’t get it.”

He laughed as he walked in, closing the door behind him. He placed the pants on my legs, and helped me slide them up. Before helping me hook up my back brace. When he looked at my back, I could tell he was angry.. he was dead silent as he helped me hook on my brace. I looked up at him. “Are you angry too?” I asked. “Theo was furious.. so much so that he left.”

“We’re not angry with you Addie.. we’re just upset that you went through so much and we weren’t there to help you.” He sighed. “What are the scars on your back from?” He asked. “Tell me, I won’t fly off the handle, I just want to know.. I just want to be here for you.” He said, strapping on the last part of my back brace.

I sighed, leaning my head back against the tub, my hair dripping wet. “James.. he used to love to find new ways to torment me.. his favorite was beating me with a wire hanger that he heated up in the fireplace.” I said, looking down at my legs, they looked so thin, so frail, I suppose I looked that way in general. “He did a lot of terrible things.. but I was the one who was stupid enough to not report him.. to hide the scars.. to pretend that I was okay. I guess, even though I’m away from him, I’m still doing just that..”

He grabbed a towel from the cabinet, and laid it over my head, sitting down beside me. “You were a kid.. and back then, he was your dad.. I get it Addie. I completely understand why you did things the way that you did. We’re your brothers, and we just want to help, sometimes that means just being here to talk to you, to try to help you work through these issues.” He said, rubbing the towel over my head, trying to dry my hair. “So, as hard as it may be to talk to us, could you at least try?”

I looked up at him, nodding as tears began to spill down my cheeks. “Okay, I’ll try to be more open..” I smiled softly, wiping the tears away. “C-Could you help me get my makeup off? I know it’s a mess..” I asked, looking up to him.

He helped me towel dry my hair, and get my makeup wiped off. Liam brought my wheelchair, and Sebastian helped me get back into it. He rolled me out to the fireplace, letting me warm up in front of it. I felt a blanket wrap around my shoulders, before turning and seeing Killian. He was standing behind me with a towel over his head, his glasses hung off the neck of his t-shirt. He went back to drying his hair as he walked past me. “Thank you again.. for all your help..” I said softly, causing him to turn and look at me.

He smirked, before shaking his head. “I’m afraid I may have put a bigger target on your back.” He sighed. “Having Lola against you was bad enough.. but I’m afraid I may be the object of the other girls affection, and me helping you today, may have just made them truly hate you.” He sighed.

I shrugged, looking into the fire. “If I’m honest.. I’m used to having people hate me, so I’m not too worried about it.”

He chuckled deeply, the sound catching me off guard. I couldn’t help but enjoy the way he laughed.. the way he spoke. He was so kind.. handsome.. not to mention tall.. so very tall. My brothers were all over 6’0, but he had to be close to 7’0.. maybe 6’10.. “People should learn not to follow others around like lost dogs.. the only strays I saw at that party was them. Don’t pay any attention to anything that comes out of their mouths, they’re not worth the time or energy!” He said, setting the towel down and pulling on his glasses.

I nodded, smiling softly up at him. “I’ll remember that.. thank you.” I chuckled, thinking over what he just said.. I could get used to being around him.