“It’s already loaded. Do something stupid, and I’ll blow your fucking brains out, brother to her or not.”

“You wouldn’t dare to do it,” Dakota said, although I had no idea what he was talking about. I tried to move my head, but Levi shushed me softly, keeping my head tucked away. Trusting in him, I wrapped my arms around his waist tighter and sniffled softly as he caressed my hair.

“You think I wouldn’t?Only reason I haven’t done anything is because of this little girl here. For all the shit you two have done to my business and reputation, you better be thanking God that she’s your sister. Otherwise, I would’ve put a bullet through your heads already.”

I heard Declan scoff, “You think I’m afraid of you? Huh? You think you have some kind of power over my little sister just because she’s naive?”

Levi let out a dark chuckle as he pulled me deeper into his embrace, not that I minded, before he responded once again in Italian.

“Well, if she’s begging me to fuck her… Then yeah, I do have power over her.”

I flinched in his hold as I heard something fall on the ground and quick footsteps.

“The fuck did you just say to me?” Declan growled.

“Declan, stop,” Dakota ordered, and I felt Levi move his other arm once again, before he slowly turned me as he wrapped his hands around my stomach from behind.

I wiped my tears away as I noticed my books were on the floor, and Dakota was basically holding Declan back from approaching Levi and me.

“I think it’s best you two leave... Teegan has a lot of work to finish. She doesn’t have much time for distractions… isn’t that right, Tesoro?” Levi said, lifting my head slightly to look up into his eyes.

I nodded as I was excited to spend the day with him, but my brothers had to go and ruin it. He leaned down and placed a kiss on my lips before looking back up at my brothers.

My face turned red as I bit my lip and looked back over to my brothers as well, who were furiously watching our interaction. The both of them made their way to the door.

Declan whispered angrily, “Didn’t know you were going to grow to be such a little whore.”

I bit my lip even harder before he slammed the door shut.

I went to bury my face in my hands as my feelings began to overload when Levi shushed me softly and walked me over to the kitchen counter. There he wiped my red, teary face with a napkin and shushed me softly.

“Tesoro... amore… no more tears, hmm? Gonna get yourself more worked up, and I don’t want you to have a headache later, baby,” he said, trying to comfort me as I took a seat on the stool. He walked over to the stove and pulled out the cookies that were miraculously done, and set them on top of the stove. I sniffled softly as he came back over to me and embraced me in a hug.

“I-I was having… such a good morning,” I whispered as I tried to hold back my sobs, and he nodded softly as he rubbed my back soothingly.

“I know, Tesoro. Let it out, baby,” he muttered.

I continued to cry into his shoulder as I did my best to block out my brothers’ words that continued to replay in my mind. After a few moments, I heard a small cry from my bedroom, and I pulled away from Levi slowly as I stood up and grabbed his hand.

He followed me into my bedroom, and I went over to my closet to open a bin that Grayson had no trouble entering but could only get out if I came over to open it. Upon opening it, he jumped into my arms and did his best to soothe me with his head rubs as I wiped away my remaining tears.

“I’m assuming this has happened... before, hmm?” Levi asked, most likely noticing the routine my brothers, Grayson, and I had. I nodded as I turned to see him sitting on the edge of my bed.

After I placed Grayson on the floor, Levi held his hand out to me, and I walked over, allowing him to make me sit on his lap. He caressed the side of my face for a moment, and I sighed as I played with the rings in his other hand.

“I wanted to have a good morning with you… I already feel so stressed, and now, they’re telling me I need to go h-home.”

He hummed as he intertwined his hand in mine and pushed my hair behind my ear.

“Is that something that you want, Tesoro?” he asked.

Unconsciously, my other hand played with the diamond on the necklace he’d gifted to me.

“No.”

He hummed again, and his eyes looked down at the necklace for a moment before returning to my eyes.

“Good. Don’t you worry your pretty little head, Tesoro.No one, and I mean no one… is going to take you away from me.”