The Twelve Zenati Pt. 08

"We'll be safe in Perth," she spat. "It's here with you and all Royce's cronies that she's not safe!' Marcella spat.

"Yeah, I bet Nathanael thought he and Emma were safe in Perth too, or have you forgotten that the Suebi infiltrated the watchmen there too?!" Genesis fought back.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Noah roared into the room, coming to where they both stood glowering at each other.

"Come on, Pixie, let's get you back to bed," Gideon said softly, moving to pick the sobbing girl from the couch and carry her back to the bedroom.

"I'll do that," Genesis growled at his brother, his temper still seething.

"No, you won't. You've both scared her enough. Sort your shit out, then apologise to her. Trust me, you don't want to risk losing her or each other." Gideon turned his back on the room and walked away with Olivia in his arms as he left Noah to deal with Marcella and Genesis.

*****

Vivienne sat stunned. She could hear the whole fight. It was loud and terrible, and she couldn't imagine how Olivia must be feeling, having to listen to Genesis and Marcella fight over the danger she was in. She gasped when she heard Gideon's voice and the devastation it held as he spoke of losing her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She'd moved away from Lydia and her brothers to take the call from Marcella, knowing that she wouldn't call unless she needed to, but she hadn't expected all of this. What had she done? To start with, she'd broken her promise to be Olivia's friend and help her. She sighed heavily.

"She promised," Olivia said softly. "She promised to be my friend, no matter what." Olivia's voice broke as she caught a sob. "We were supposed to be brave and..." she sobbed again. "She ran away."

"Vivienne?" Gideon's voice sounded unsure through the phone that Olivia must have still been holding. There was another sob and Vivienne could hear the soothing, shushing sounds that Gideon was making to try and calm the girl. "She'll be back, Pixie girl. I will go and get her back, I promise, and I never break my promises."

"Everyone does," she cried softly, and Vivienne could hear the rustling of the bed covers as the girl moved and then there was silence. Thinking that Gideon must have left the room to deal with the argument between Marcella and Genesis, Vivienne drew a deep breath and tried to decide what to do. Everything had imploded because she left. Olivia could very well regress again, and it would be her fault. She would have hurt one of her patients, except Olivia wasn't her patient, not really. She had hurt her friend badly, and the knowledge killed her.

"Olivia?" she asked into the phone, hoping that the young woman still held it in her hand close enough to hear her entreaty to talk. "Liv, please answer me. Liv? Serena?" She tried anything to get her to answer.

"Vivienne?" Gideon asked incredulously.

"Yes, can you put me on speaker so I can talk to Olivia please?" she asked, feeling her belly knot at hearing his voice so clearly now.

"I'm sorry. I never would have ambushed you with Mama like that. I didn't know," he said desperately.

"I'm sorry, too," she said sadly. "Can you put me on speaker, please? Olivia needs to hear me right now. We can talk later." She sounded tired even to herself, and the wine had made her even more aware of just how much Gideon affected her and how much she wanted to believe him.

"Promise we will talk later," he hedged.

"Yes," she sighed and closed her eyes.

"I will call once all of the drama here settles," he said in a slightly disembodied voice, showing that he had done as she asked and put her on speaker.

"Liv, can you hear me?" Vivienne asked.

"She can, but she's not talking," Gideon answered for her.

"I haven't broken my promise. I am your friend. I will always be your friend, and I am trying very hard to be brave. In order to be brave though, I had to go to my happy place to think. Those sexy Zenati men don't give us any time to just think, and I had to get away for a little while. I already miss you and Genesis, Noah and Marcie. I even miss Gideon, a lot. I wish I hadn't had to go so far to get some space to think about everything, and I wish I could have had some time to tell you myself, but I had to go when I did. I am sorry, Liv. Truly, deeply sorry."

"No one will let me go to my happy place, if it still exists," Olivia whispered. "No one will let me move from this room."

"Tell me about your happy place," Vivienne asked, grateful to have heard the young woman's voice.

"My boat. It's the one thing in this world that's mine. That no one can take from me, except they did, and it's impounded somewhere, I think," Olivia said, struggling to remember what had happened to it so long ago.

"Maybe Genesis and his brothers will help you find it. I know that Marcie would, if you asked her. I'll help you find it when I come back to see you," she said with a smile, even though she knew Olivia couldn't see it.

"You'd help me find it?" Olivia asked.

"Of course," Gideon said. "If it will make you happy, we will find it for you. There isn't much Genesis wouldn't do to make you happy. You only have to ask. Just like there isn't much I wouldn't do to make sure Vivienne is happy, if only she would ask me. We aren't mind readers, though that skill would sure come in handy lately."

"And you will come back so we can be sisters?" Olivia asked, knowing that her inner brat was showing again. Damn Genesis and his insistence that she let the heart of Olivia free from the cage she had placed it in. Serena never would have asked the question so boldly in front of Gideon.

"That depends entirely on Gideon," Vivienne said with a similar cheeky tone, feeling the buzz of the wine she had drunk with her siblings making her tease him.

"I can come and pick you up right now. The jet has been fuelled and ready to go since I found out you left," he blurted immediately, cutting off her words.

"Maybe in the morning, after we've talked," she said with a sigh. "I was serious when I said I need some space to think, Gideon. Not from you though, Liv. You can call me anytime you need a friend. I will always be here for you, no matter what, just like Marcie is. You know she only yelled at Genesis because she wants to make sure that you are safe and happy. Reassure her that you are and she will stop fighting with him and trying to take you back to Perth. Unless you want to go there, but something tells me you don't want to leave Genesis."

"No, I don't," Olivia admitted. Last night she had come to terms with the fact that she didn't want him to leave her or to run away from him. It had been a hard truth to swallow, but it was true none-the-less. She trusted him, possibly even loved him to some degree. He made her feel safe and cherished. She liked the control and dominance he exuded, and as she struggled to take a deep breath in the brace, she knew that even though he would dominate her physically, he would never truly want to hurt her in the same way that Remy did and had.

"You need to make sure Marcie knows that before she tries to force the issue. She will understand if you just talk to her. She's feisty but she's incredibly loyal and trustworthy to those who earn it, and she loves you. She has a lot of guilt about what happened to you. She is just trying to make amends and do a better job of being a sister, now."

"Okay," Olivia said softly, uncertain that she and Marcie could ever be the sisters they once were.

"We can talk again tomorrow. Call me okay?" Vivienne encouraged.

"Okay," Olivia agreed.

"Good. Now rest while Gideon goes and calms Genesis down before he says something he regrets to Marcie. Or she says something she regrets. I'm not sure Noah is the right man for the job, considering the way he looks at Marcie lately," she giggled. "Good night, Olivia, sweet dreams."

"I'll talk to you later this evening," Gideon said, more to reassure himself than Vivienne, before she ended the call.

Yes, Vivienne thought, she would talk to him, and she would go back, but she would go back on her terms, strong and more in charge of her own life. Vivienne looked up and saw Leighton lurking in the doorway. "How much did you hear?" she asked.

"It's not what I heard that's most telling. It's how you look right now that tells what I need to know, even if Rick hadn't felt it in you," Leighton said gently. "If you love him, why are you here?"

"Because he's a moron, just like you said," she shrugged. "It was all too much too fast, and let's face it, I'm me, and he's... well, he's amazing in more ways than one." She dropped her head, feeling all her insecurities rise to the surface again.

"It's because of comments like that that Lydia has decided to take matters into her own hands tomorrow. So if you talk with Gideon, he can't come and claim you back until at least tomorrow night, if not the next day," he informed her.

"Oh God, a Lydia plan?" Vivienne grimaced.

"You only have yourself to blame for this one," he chuckled and sat beside her, draping an arm over her shoulder.

"She's also started talking about engagement party themes and lamenting that you will have to wed in Darwin. Let her run with it though. She needs the distraction after what happened at the airfield and with Cat going back to Melbourne so soon," Leighton advised. "She's not thrilled about the thought of losing you too."

"The things I do for you," she replied as she rolled her eyes.

"Now tell me what you need. You want me to call Gideon and tell him to back off a bit?" he asked.

"No, but as Papa isn't with us anymore, he may ask you about the marriage thing. He's already proposed. I just haven't given him an answer," Vivienne admitted.

"That could be fun. How would you like me to handle it? Protective big brother or the guy who is thankful someone is willing to take my spinster sister off my hands?" he chuckled.

"Neither!" she gasped but smiled at his chuckle. "Don't tease me. This is hard enough, and eventually, I will have to face that bitchy mother of his again. Regardless of what you or he might say to her, it will still come down to her and me."

"True, but you have a unique opportunity here because you will eventually be the keeper of the grandbabies and will be able to make whatever demands you want, with them as little hostages," he laughed.

"I wouldn't do that!" Vivienne gasped.

"I know that and you know that, but she doesn't, and it's a pretty hefty card to play at a pivotal moment," he grinned slyly. "Okay, they are Lydia's words, but if you ever needed a warrior woman in your corner to come out fighting, you couldn't go past Lydia. She had to deal with all our Zias and still came out on top, smelling like roses. She will make sure that you're well equipped to hold your own."

"The question is, will I need to be?" Vivienne asked as once again her insecurities threatened to overwhelm her.

"Yes, because, even though his whole family is bat-shit crazy, you love the guy," Leighton said seriously and pulled her into a hug. "And he quite obviously loves you. Not that I blame him."

*****

"That's Marcie's phone. You should go give it to her. I am okay," Olivia told Gideon as he looked at the now-silent phone.

"I'm okay too," Gideon smiled. "Thank you, little Pixie. You made my night so much better than it was." He leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"You love her, don't you?" Olivia asked.

"I do. I want Vivienne to come back as soon as possible, and I think you have helped me hurry her up a little," Gideon grinned. "You know Gen loves you, don't you?" he asked, and when she tilted her head slightly at the question, he smiled. "He does, and you, little Pixie, will one day soon become my little sister, which means that if you ever needed anything, all you have to do is ask. The question is, do you love him?"

"People use the word love so casually now that I don't even know what it means anymore. I mean, I love boysenberry swirl ice cream, but I couldn't have it all the time, or it would just be a regular thing. It's enough that I know I love it, and if I ever feel like ice cream, I would choose that flavour if they had it in stock. Sometimes there's a new flavour though, and I try that. It doesn't mean I've stopped loving Boysenberry swirl. It just doesn't matter. The thing with Genesis is different. I want to be with him and not worry about the other flavours which might, on occasion, seem better. So, it's more than that sort of love. It's that feeling you get when you see another flavour, that might seem new and exciting, but you don't want to eat it because there's a special feeling in your tummy when you know the flavour that's right for you. You know you want to eat that same flavour all the time, and it will never become boring or regular. What's that called?"

"Magic," he chuckled. "Would you like to come with me and settle the dispute in the other room. I think Marcella needs to know how you feel about leaving here."

"She won't understand. She never understood me," Olivia sighed. "I don't think I understood me back then."

"Well then, you tell her," Gideon encouraged. "If you want to be here with Gen, you have to tell her, or she will keep fighting to take you where she can look after you herself."

"Okay," she agreed sceptically and let him help her from the bed and back into the living room.

Once back in the living room, they found that Marcella was now fighting with both brothers, looking angry and almost snarling as she refused to back down and get steamrolled by the crazy entity that was the Zenati family.

"Marcie," Olivia said softly, stepping between her and the two brothers, holding out her phone to her sister. "Thank you for calling Vivienne. I feel much better. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Marcella blinked but nodded, unsure what to make of Olivia who had, up until this point, denied that they were sisters at all. She let Olivia lead her to a couch and sit beside her.

"When I landed here, with a broken boat and little money, I had lost almost everything. I had no friends, no people in the world to care what happened to me." She held up her hand to forestall Marcella's denials. "I know what I had, and I know that I did it to myself. I knew I couldn't reach out to Mama and Papa or you. I had burned that bridge. The boat was badly in need of repairs, and so I got a cheap berth for her and found a job in a sleazy dive, and struggled every day with my miserable existence."

"I'm sorry that you had to feel like that. I would never have turned you away if you had come to me for help." Marcella felt the need to say it, even though she understood why Olivia hadn't reached out.

"Then I lost everything when I saw a man murdered near my boat. Remington saved me. I was grateful to him, and in the beginning, he was so wonderful to me. Then my boat went missing. The marina manager said that detectives had towed it away because blood from the murder had splashed on it and it was evidence. Remy couldn't locate it after that, and then I had nothing and no one, except Remy. I gave up and just let him take control, and all the sense of entitlement and self-worth that Olivia had always had to motivate her got locked away in a box in the back of my mind, so that I could be the good girl, the perfect partner for Remington Royce. Serena Seabrook."

"Genesis said he believes that Remy brainwashed you. Used drugs and other techniques to make you like that," Marcella commented rather than ask the question. "You can recover from that. I promise that I will help you."

"I guess he did. My memories are fairly fuzzy from the first few months that I was with him, but in the end, I just gave in. I let him take the control he wanted, and I did what I was told. The punishments for being naughty were too hard to take in the end, and it was taking longer and longer for my body to heal, which just made him more impatient with me. So, Olivia and everything about her died in that little box in the back of my mind so that Serena could thrive and love Remy obsessively, to the point of being able to predict his needs and commands. Once I gave in completely to who I had become life was good, and I was treated like a princess, but I knew that I lived every minute in a glass cage."

"You took a long time to heal from his punishments?" Marcie asked.

"Sometimes a day or two, at worst a week. Unless he broke something that needed a cast," she admitted. "Still, I was alive, and I wouldn't have been if I ever left him or tried to leave."

"I had no idea," Marcie gasped.

"Genesis may not have always seemed to be doing the right thing. He lied to me more than once. He threatened and cajoled and tricked me even, but he has never hurt me or intended to cause me harm. He has never pushed me beyond my limits. Instead, he has been patient in the face of my refusal to face reality and denial of who I truly am. He has done everything possible to make me feel safe and secure here with his family, and I believe that he cares for me. I feel like I know him. You and I may share the same blood, Marcie, but I don't think either of us ever knew each other. Not honestly knew the other well enough to know what the other would want. I won't be going back to Perth with you, so please stop fighting Genesis about it. He is right, it's not safe for me anywhere, yet. I'm only just starting to find my old self again, and that is thanks to Genesis alone, not you or Vivienne or anyone else. Just one person, who wouldn't let me get away with hiding from the world for forever." Olivia let out a huge breath as she finally stopped talking.

"I should never have helped you run away in the first place," Marcella cried as she moved suddenly to wrap her arms around her sister. "I'm just trying to make sure that I look after you properly this time."

"You couldn't have stopped me then, and there is little you can do now. I am old enough to make my own decisions, and I will be staying with Genesis and his family for as long as they allow me to. Besides, you can't tell me Papa would be happy to have me home again or even back in Perth, for that matter."

"No, but Mama would," Marcie said softly. "Not that the old prick would let her see you, but we would find a way."

"We can still find a way, even if I stay here," Olivia said softly. "Go home, Marcie. I don't need saving, not from Genesis."

"Go home?" Marcie asked. "You don't want me to stay here in Darwin and help you find your boat and get all your belongings from the mansion once the police are done with it?"

"Gideon has already offered to help me try and find my boat," she smiled softly. "As for the rest, I don't care about anything Remy gave me," she sighed. "It always came with so many conditions and expectations."

"I would like to stay and be your sister, get to know you again," Marcie said with tears in her eyes.

"That will take some getting used to, but Vivienne suggested I give you a chance," Olivia shrugged.

"God, I love that woman," Marcie grinned. "I promise that I will get a grip on my temper if you continue to be Olivia and not Serena," she bargained.

"I have no choice about that anymore. Genesis banished Serena last night," Olivia smiled softly. "Unfortunately, he has no idea just how bratty Olivia really is, and I think he will regret doing that."

"You always were pretty bratty," Marcie laughed in agreement. "I won't tell him and ruin the surprise though," she whispered conspiratorially. "He deserves all the brattiness he gets."

"Thanks, it's late. Go home Marcie. Gideon has an important call to make and he won't until he knows things here are settled," Olivia prompted again.

"Okay, I'll pop in to see you tomorrow sometime," Marcie said, hating that Olivia had not once embraced her back and worried about why she remained so distant if she was getting her memory back. Olivia nodded but said nothing, and looked up as Genesis approached her and scooped her into his arms.