The Twelve Zenati

Authors note: Hello everyone. I am grateful to David who is back onboard proofreading for me again and thank you once again to Kate for being my second set of eyes. I hope you continue to enjoy this series. ~ellie.

*****

"Fuck! She's gone?" Noah asked, incredulously. "Gone where? How?"

"No one knows. No one saw anything. We're tracking down the night nurses, but they didn't report anything until this morning when they went to do the handover and couldn't find her," Gideon informed him.

"I saw her around two this morning, before the Battaglia arrived," Noah said. "Did anyone see her after that?" His stomach was beginning to churn, and he felt a cool sweat break out on his forehead.

"There is security everywhere around the hospital, especially on that ward. She can't have just walked out. You know her better than anyone. How would she have left and where would she go?" Gideon asked, noticing how pale his brother was turning before his eyes.

"Did she have her stuff? Did the nurses give her back her personal effects?" Noah asked, trying to work out how a woman with no phone, no wallet, no car and no friends outside of the family could just disappear into thin air. Except that she did have friends. Friends he and his family knew little about. "Did anyone have eyes on Greg last night?"

"Yes, and still do," Gideon nodded. "He was home on the plantation."

They joined the search, scouring the hospital from top to bottom, locating Marcella's personal belongings at the administration station of the emergency department where they had been held overnight so that she would stay under doctor's orders.

"Fuck!" Noah cursed an hour later and pulled his phone from his pocket, reading the text that popped up on his phone.

"Dominic 8:37 am: Thank you, for everything. I couldn't stay. Tell her I will keep my promise."

"What the fuck?" Noah furrowed his brow and practically ran through the hospital, making his way to Dominic's room, thinking the worst. His eyes were wild, and he was panting for breath when he got to the room, closely followed by Gideon, but Dominic was resting peacefully, with Emma sitting beside him holding his hand and smiling softly. "What the fuck?" he said again, as he shook his head, glancing back down at the phone he held, clutched tightly in his hand.

"What's going on?" Emma asked, looking up in alarm.

"Dom, he sent me a text like two minutes ago. I thought he was... leaving us," Noah said, confusion and relief warring in his mind. He held up the phone, as if to prove he wasn't going crazy.

"No, he didn't. I've been right here for the last half an hour," Emma said, confused by the statement.

"Where's his phone?" Gideon asked in a gentle voice, not wanting to alarm anyone further.

"In the top drawer, I guess," Emma shrugged but stood to check the drawers on the nightstand. She frowned, not finding it and checked the other drawer and then the small cupboard. "I can't find his phone anywhere. Maybe X has it. I'll give him a call."

"It's okay. We'll just get Zanto to track it and find it. Is anything else missing, like his wallet or watch, or anything at all?" Gideon asked as Noah left the room to call Zanto and get him to track the phone. It was obvious to them both that this was how Marcella had managed to get away from the hospital, but not how she as able to leave without security knowing. If someone were asleep on the job, Gideon believed that Noah would lose his shit entirely. As if he hadn't already. "I'll call X and let him know what's going on. You look after Dom. We need him back to full strength, the sooner, the better. Sorry about this, you don't need the added drama..." he smiled apologetically and stepped out of the room to answer his phone, which had begun to vibrate.

"Gen, anything?" he asked. as he moved toward where Noah stood. "Yeah, he's losing his shit as we speak. I got him for now. Hang on..." He pulled the phone away slightly and answered his brother's inquiring look. "Gen says her apartment looks untouched, not that any of us had ever been in there to know what it looked like. I'll get Viv to go take a look."

"She won't have risked going there," Noah mumbled, and pressed his own phone back to his ear. "Palmerston Police station? Seriously?" He frowned. "That's on the way to Wak Wak. I'll give the guys watching the pilot a call. Yeah, try it, if you think it will work. The phone is here in administration, I'll get it sent over to you." Noah ended the call.

"Dom's phone and wallet are at Palmerston Police Station. A woman matching Marcella's description handed them in not long ago and disappeared," Noah said woodenly, knowing the chances of finding her now, if she didn't want to be found, were slim. Especially as he had other responsibilities to worry about right now. His whole family had done their best to protect her, and she still chose to leave. He just had to accept that she didn't feel any sort of pull on the bond between them and let her go. Easier said than done, but that was the way it was working out this time. There would be no happily ever after for him, and it was all his own fault. Drawing a deep breath, he walked back into the room to join Dominic and Emma.

"The good news is that we found your phone and wallet. The bad news is someone will have to drive out to Palmerston to pick them up," he chuckled.

"What are they doing out at Palmerston?" Emma asked, confused by the information.

"That's where the thief dropped them off, I am guessing. She sent me an apology from your phone, which is why I rushed in here before. I thought Dom was telling me goodbye, instead of Marcella." Noah admitted, sadly.

"She's gone?" Emma gasped.

"Yeah, disappeared in the middle of the night like a regular thief, with Dom's wallet and phone." Noah tried not to let the hurt and anger he felt flow into his voice. She had been so ungrateful for all they had done for her to protect her and her sister, and she had just turned her back on them all, so easily.

"She'll be back," Emma said with certainty.

"She will or she won't. Nothing anyone else does or says seems to make one iota of difference to that reckless woman," he said, more harshly than he meant to. His stomach rolled, and he needed to stop thinking about her. "So, Dom, found your voice yet?"

Dominic sagged and let out a breath. He knew what he wanted to say but he just couldn't form the words he needed, and truthfully, he wasn't even sure who Marcella was. Memory loss and some loss of motor function were to be expected after his surgery, but it bothered him even more than he had expected. He had questions and things he wanted and needed to say. He just couldn't make the words come out. Yet, he lectured himself. He would, soon enough, and they would all want him to shut up again. Right now, however, he wanted nothing more than to say something comforting to his cousin, so he reached out his hand and touched his arm. The jolt that went through him was almost instantaneous. It was like he could hear Noah's thoughts and feel how sick Marcella's leaving made him feel. By the look in Noah's eyes, he could hear his thoughts as well.

"Can you... hear me? Like Imelda? In your head?" Dominic pushed his stilted thoughts toward Noah, gripping his arm tightly.

"Yeah, but how?" Noah asked, not quite believing what was happening.

"Fucked if I know... But thanks... fucking God! Need to talk. Can't make sounds. I need you to... tell Emma exactly," Dominic instructed, and when Noah nodded, said, "You and I... are like fireworks... and symphonies... exploding in... the sky."

"Em, this is going to sound crazy, but Dominic wanted me to say, 'You and I, are like fireworks and symphonies exploding in the sky.'" He barely got the last word out when Emma gasped and threw herself onto the bed, clutching Dominic to her and kissing him.

"Well, shit, I'll be careful how I use those words in the future," Noah said out loud with a chuckle.

"That's the first line from our song, it's a sad song, but we love it," she grinned. "He's going to be okay, isn't he? I mean, if you can hear him, or whatever it is you oracles do together, he's going to be okay, right?"

"Yes, he is going to be perfectly fine, and he is filling my head with more curse words than I have heard him use in his entire life. Does he swear that much at home?" Noah threw a scandalised look at Dominic.

"You have no idea," she rolled her eyes and laughed even more. "Tell him..."

"He can hear you, he's just taking a little while to get talking again," Noah said, holding up his hands. "Don't drag me into your twisted three-sided triangular love affair. We'd be a square then, and no one wants that!"

"Oh, I don't know. I could kiss you right now for just saying that one sentence," Emma laughed happily. "If you'd managed to sing it to me, I might have insisted." She laughed all the more as Noah pulled a face, and then scooted his chair closer to the bed, so that he could keep the physical bond with his cousin intact without Dom having to stretch.

*****

"What do you mean, he said he didn't care?" Gideon growled at Genesis.

"Just what I said. Noah isn't pale any more. He ate lunch with Emma and Dom and kept it down. Then when I told him about the information Vivienne found, he shrugged and said he didn't care and that I should handle it," Genesis explained. "It's like he just shut that part of his brain off and couldn't care less if we find her dead or alive."

"That's bullshit, and you know it. Noah would care about anyone he considers a friend, especially her," Gideon argued.

"Go ask him yourself. I'm not lying. He honestly didn't want to know what you and Vivienne found out," Genesis shrugged. "To tell you the truth, if he doesn't care, then why are we killing ourselves for someone who continually throws everything we have done for her back our faces? She hates me, judges her sister, and even uses your own wife's generosity and love against her."

"You ever think that's because no one ever loved her enough to do those things for her, just because they care? No one ever gave her a reason to trust their motives? Fuck Gen, you know what she went through now, and you blame her for her lack of trust?" Gideon asked incredulously.

"What? What did she go through that Olivia hasn't been through worse?" Genesis asked belligerently, taken aback by his brother's vehemence.

"You haven't read the report that Vivienne got from the doctor in Perth that I sent you, have you?" Gideon asked, stunned by the fact. "I didn't just send it for the fun of it, or to keep you in the loop. It involves Olivia too, you fucking dropkick. Read the fucking report!" He stormed off down the hall, barely registering Genesis's words that followed him, as he went in search of Noah.

"Olivia already told me everything. I don't need your report," Genesis's words finally caught up to Gideon, who wheeled around on his brother, his face a storm of emotion.

"Read. The. Fucking. Report!" Gideon glowered at him. "Then see if you still want to argue with me." Once again, Gideon turned and stormed off. He remembered Vivienne's tear-filled eyes as she begged him to help her friend, showing him the report that she had written from information that she had gotten, that morning, in a confidential file. The report was ostensibly on Olivia, whose files Vivienne could request as her doctor, but it also detailed vital information about Marcella's role in her life and the family dynamic, and it sickened Gideon to remember some of those details. The fact that Marcella Gambaro could come across as such a reasonable, well-adjusted woman, albeit with a bad temper, instead of a basket-case rocking in the corner defied logic for Gideon. Vivienne hadn't needed to beg him. He would do what was needed to find the woman and help her now.

"You fucking asshole," Gideon ground out, after he stormed into Dominic's room and grabbed his brother by the shirt front. "You don't care what happens to that girl!" he roared, and threw a stunned Noah back into the nearby chair and pointed at him. "There are reasons why she doesn't trust anyone, but she trusted you, or at least she tried to, and you fucking crushed that little bit of hope she had. Congratu-fucking-lations! You win! You're the biggest fucking asshole I know!" Then he turned and left without another word. He blocked out the calling of his name and stormed toward the elevators, catching one as it was closing.

"Hold the lift!" Noah's voice rang out, but Gideon felt only anger as he turned to see Noah striding purposefully toward him, his own face set in an angry scowl. Thankfully, the doors closed before Noah was close enough to stop it. Gideon needed to do things his way for once, instead of being a good and loyal soldier to the commanders of his family. He picked up his phone as he strode to the exit of the hospital. "Papa..." he said as Armando answered his phone immediately. "Shit is about to hit the fan, and I need your help. Can you get hold of that Imelda woman?" he asked. Then he gave his father sketchy details as he headed to his car.

When he arrived at the recruitment facility, where his father spent most of his time, he had calmed down to the point of being rational again and realised that this was probably not the best place for the meeting of minds that he had wanted, but it was too late now. His father hastily exited the building and jogged around to the passenger side, before Gideon could exit the car.

"They're waiting for us. Let's go," Armando said as he closed the door. "You can fill in the rest of the details on the way. Noah called, looking for you. He was angrier than I have heard him in a very long time, so you'd better tell me the full story," Armando growled. It had been a long time since his sons hadn't been a tight unit, looking out for each other, and he knew there was more to the story than what he had heard from Noah, who had said practically nothing aside from the fact that Gideon had lost his mind.

"Good! At least he cares about something," Gideon sighed. "Yesterday, that old woman, Imelda, told him point blank that Marcella was his curse breaker, and he spent the day moping about and looking sick because Apollo came in, claiming he was her fiancé and he had already put her in the friend zone when, apparently, she offered more in the beginning. Then this morning, when we found out that she had left the hospital without telling anyone, he ran around like a lunatic, trying to find her, and looking even sicker than he did the last time she went missing. Then he suddenly gives up, says he doesn't care what she does or where she goes. Won't even read the report I sent him, which Vivienne sat up all night transcribing from the other doctors' notes, to make it more generalised than the actual report, which she couldn't share."

"And you're mad at him for giving up on a girl who constantly pushes him, and any help she is offered, away?" Armando tried to clarify, while putting it in Noah's perspective. "She could have gone to him, to you, me, or Vivienne... anyone of us, and we would have helped her. Instead, she left, alone, without a word again."

"Do you think that she trusts anyone associated with the Tables anymore? Vivienne said she started looking into the sister's background again because Marcella looked petrified when she found out the Battaglia were arriving last night. She probably thought we were going to hand her over to them again." Gideon tried to explain it the way Vivienne had explained it to him.

"We wouldn't have allowed that to happen," Armando argued. "What do you mean 'again'?"

"You'd think her family wouldn't have allowed that to happen, either," Gideon said, making his point. "She has fewer reasons to trust us. Everything good in her life she has had to get and fight for, on her own, no help from anyone. When she went to live with her aunt, she put herself through law school, she worked three jobs, and saved enough money to help Olivia escape the family. Olivia claims that Marcella sent her away, and Marcella feels guilt for all that happened to Olivia after she left. I think that is why she is so determined to fight for Olivia's rights now, or Vivienne does."

"You're losing me here. Start at the beginning," Armando instructed, genuinely curious now.

"Last night, I stayed at the hospital, as you know, to deal with the fall-out from Apollo Martino, and to support Xavier and Dominic," Gideon said. "Junie took Emma and Vivienne home with her, or so I thought, but Vivienne had her drop her back at our place. You see, she hadn't really looked in any great depth at the records sent from Perth. She'd had Olivia sign some sort of legal waiver to have all her medical records sent, because Vivienne would be her doctor, along with Hector. She'd assumed that all of the trauma Olivia was dealing with was solely because of what had occurred during her time with Remington Royce. And she was right, to a degree."

"Go on..." Armando said, his voice calmer, realising that this would be a longer story than he had originally thought.

"Olivia, along with her sisters, had to see a psychologist when it was discovered that Marcella had been sent to the Battaglia for her trial underage and with dubious reasons. The whole family came under investigation. Upon confirmation from the family doctor that nothing untoward had ever happened to any of the girls, or their mother, the investigation was dropped and the father got a slap on the wrist for sending her before she was eighteen. They dropped it despite concerns from the psychologist, who had started doing her own investigation and continued it after Nunzio severed any further contact between the psychologist and the family. The notes made in the file show that the abuse started being documented several years before, when a teacher who was concerned about the amount of time Marcella had off school for mystery illnesses and accidents, and how that affected her academic achievements," Gideon began.

"It was covered up again by a clean bill of health from the family doctor?" Armando asked. It wouldn't be the first time such things had happened. When he was a child, it was far too common for children of the Tables to be home-schooled, and corporal punishment was the norm.

"You got it. Then the second time Marcella was sent to the Battaglia, it was under an assumed name. The investigation that followed that debacle intensified, and the net for gathering information widened. There is an interview with Olivia, and the psychologist from that time, where she talks about Marcella, and it was linked to these other documents from the investigation. From what it says, Olivia was never abused or molested because either Marcella continually took the blame for Olivia's mistakes or Olivia pushed the blame onto her. Marcella would often be beaten to the point of requiring medical treatment, where she would be taken to the family doctor. That doctor would sedate her to treat her, and then keep her sedated for days at a time while he molested her. He started giving her contraceptive injections without her knowledge, and when she started skipping her period, her father assumed that she was pregnant to some boy at school and beat her all the more, in an attempt to end the pregnancy," he said disgustedly.

"The doctor relayed that she wasn't pregnant but, in fact, on contraception, saying it was at her request. Her father decided to send her to the Battaglia facility where she could learn how to be a good woman and not the wicked girl she had grown into, always in trouble and causing problems. One of the impartial investigators, who had been brought in because the Battaglia were involved in the investigation themselves, was the Farnese man that Jessa, the eldest sister, ended up marrying. All of the notes and records on Jessa have disappeared, unsurprisingly. What happened after that is what we have all been told by Marcus and Francesco over the last twenty-four hours," Gideon finally finished and let out a sigh.