Chapter Eight
Verena sat on the carpet in the middle of her room. It was as she had left it. Plain. She never had any posters or pictures on her walls. She never had any colorful bed sets or colored walls. It was nothing like a stereotypical girl with photos and décor all over the room.
Praxis offered to go shopping together to decorate it, which only earned him a strange look from Verena. She felt some indifference to his efforts to be nice. No one had ever tried before, and now they suddenly remembered her and are asking how she is doing and caring about what she ate.
Lucian and Azryn didn't seem to have much care, but Davian seemed to care. He was subtle, but he never batted an eye when she was little, and now he's suddenly demanding she eats. It all just felt uncomfortable and strange.
Praxis gave her a tablet to play games on, but she left it untouched.
Tablets were constantly shoved in her face as a kid so that she would leave her father and brothers alone.
She never saw her mother. Whenever her brothers talked about her, it was always negatively.
She was able to gather that their mother wasn't welcome in this house.
She never knew why and just learned to accept it and not ask questions.
Her father had despised her. He refused to be around her and often called her a bastard child.
She never knew what it meant, but she knew it was bad from the sheer venom in her father's voice.
She learned fast not to be near her father.
She had attempted to hug him and get his attention, only to be shoved or struck by him, followed by a yell to stay away from him.
She didn't belong here. She never would.
Davian sat in his office, looking over Verena's exam reports after getting checked out at the hospital.
He had his fingers resting on his temple as he read through the documents.
He also got all the records from the psychiatric hospital that included Verena's diagnoses.
Praxis sat across from him, waiting for him to finish reading.
Davian sighed and dropped the stack of papers from his hands. He rubbed his temples in frustration, causing Praxis to look at him curiously. Praxis knew the medical reports, but he hadn't seen anything from the psychiatric hospital.
"Well?" Praxis pressed, wanting to know what the documents said about his sister.
"They had just schizophrenia for some time, but changed it to schizoaffective disorder," Davian explained.
"What's the difference?"
"Schizoaffective disorder is still schizophrenia, but it means the person also has a mood disorder, such as bipolar disorder or depression. They have major depression listed." Davian explained, keeping his eyes on the papers instead of Praxis.
Praxis felt his heart twist. He knew schizophrenia was one of the most serious and debilitating mental disorders. To know his sister was suffering from it filled him with sadness and guilt.
"I never noticed any of this when she was growing up," Davian mumbled. "I can see the depression but not schizophrenia."
"Because we ignored her all her life, Davian," Praxis stated the obvious.
"I may not have interacted with her, but I always paid attention," Davian said, looking Praxis in the eyes.
"If you suspected she had depression, why didn't you do anything?" Praxis challenged.
Davian raised a brow. "Same as you, Praxis. We paid her no mind and weren't concerned about how she was doing. Don't suddenly act like you are brother of the year because you suddenly care about her."
Praxis clenched his jaw, feeling his anger begin to simmer. "Fuck you, Davian. You think you're better?"
"Never said I was. I'm just pointing out the truth." He shrugged nonchalantly.
"I care about her." Praxis hissed.
"Uh-huh. Get out of my office. I have work to do." Davian dismissed him with a wave.
Praxis stormed out and slammed the door behind him, causing the walls to rattle at the force.
Davian shook his head and turned his attention back to the documents.
He pondered what could have caused Verena to have schizophrenia.
He knew genetics was a cause in some, but he couldn't recall anyone in the family who had schizophrenia.
As he had told Praxis, he suspected depression from loneliness as a child, which he figured she would eventually get over.
He will never admit it, but he has felt the guilt of his behavior towards her begin to wrap around him.
It wasn't Verena's fault that their mother betrayed them by cheating with their father's enemy, Vince Nicoletti.
She reminded them of the pain, and they fought the pain by shoving her away.
They didn't know she was Vince's child until a few months after she was born.
Their father was furious, and their mother ran.
Dylan Velton put a hit on his wife for her betrayal, and she hadn't been seen.
Davian hadn't heard from their father in a few months, which was typical. He would come and go as he pleased, which started after Verena was born.
Davian knew, though, that the physical injuries she suffered from were not an accident or because she needed to be restrained. It was done out of malice, and they would pay for it.
Davian left his office and was immediately alerted by the opening of the front door. He knew it was Riven, and chaos was about to unfold.