Avery Romano

After dropping me off right at my house, Vincenzo drove away as I watched his car disappeared in sight. Heaving a small sigh, I headed into the house, only to be greeted with chattering in the dining room. 

The table was packed tonight as Uncle Ezra and Aunt Giana were here along with our cousins. Upon seeing my appearance, only Mason, Bea and Aunt Giana smiled at me. The rest focused on their conversation as though they had not seen me. 

I was grateful that Aunt Giana was still on talking terms with me even though I was not sure if she believed that I had killed my own father. I was not sure if she was talking to me out of pity or the fact that she truly believes in me. 

I washed my hands and took my seat beside Mason, with Bea directly across me. I had briefly met Lucas' gaze for a split second and he nodded stiffly at me, as though acknowledging my presence in front of him. I did the same back and turned my attention back onto the food in my plate. 

Suddenly, a loud shrill was heard from the gates and we all turned our heads towards where the shrill came from. Two of our bodyguards came running into the living room with a box which had some red liquid dripping out. Everyone threw their cutleries onto the plate and got on their guards. Bea had a confusion etched onto her face as she was not aware of the mafia business that the family was doing. 

Her eyes wondered off to me and I immediately moved to the empty seat beside her. I gently picked up her hand and whispered,"It's okay. Don't be scared, I'm here." She nodded stiffly while trying to read the atmosphere in the room. 

The bodyguards presented the box to Alexander, who had an absolute look of fury written on his face and anger was seeping out of him every second. The tensed atmosphere could definitely be sliced even with a blunt knife. Right after the bodyguard opened the box and showed its contents to everyone, the silence became eerily uncomfortable. 

"What the fuck is this?" Lorenzo was the first to slice the thick tension.

"Who the hell sent this?" Gabriel was the next.

"This bastard will be dead when we get our hands on him." Axel gritted out. 

Alexander made an eye contact with Uncle Ezra and they both gave a small nod to each other, before turning around and ordered,"Ari and Avery, get back to your rooms. We've got things to discuss now." Bea tried to open her mouth and say something but I placed my hand on her shoulder and stood up with her to return to my room. I was curious to find out what was going on but I will find that out later.

Bea sat on the edge of my bed and asked,"Eliz, I suppose you know what they are doing?" I crossed my legs and inched towards her, nodding my head slightly. 

"I will tell you what's going on, but don't freak out." I informed her, her eyebrows shot up in curiosity, making her to sit up straight. 

"They are in the mafia, and I'm referring to the whole family here." Her eyes widened slightly at my words but she was composed. She blinked hard at me for a few seconds before she stuttered out,"H..how?! This shit actually exist in real life?" I chuckled at her use of words, and flicked my fingers lightly against her forehead.

"Of course it does, there's real life examples just outside of this door. It doesn't just exist in books, you know." She took a while more to absorb the information and she accepted it. 

"Then what do you think was in the box that got them all in the 'who-messed-with-us' mood?" Bea inquired, tilting her head a little as she pondered. I shrugged my shoulders at her question. After about an hour which seemed like a year, Missus Dai came up and informed us that Uncle Ezra and Aunt Giana had left, but our cousins were staying here. 

Bea then returned to her room since we had been binging on Netflix for the past few hours. Seeing that it was now close to midnight, it was a chance for me to find out what happened during dinner. Slowly opening the door, I stretched my head out a little to check if there were anyone in the living room. Clearing the coast, I then opened the door a little wider before allowing myself to step out of my room. 

Low murmurings could be heard from Alexander's office. They must all be there since no one was at the living room. Taking off my slippers such that no sound will be made against the ground, I moved slowly towards the door and listened quietly to their conversation.

"Fuck, there is no way to trace who sent that package to the house."

"And neither there are any fingerprints or anything worth for us to examine." 

"Who else would know that Ari has returned to us? How are they able to find out and send us a bloody finger telling Ari to watch her back? I just don't fucking get it." My breath hitched in my throat when I heard it. That was a threat meant for Bea?

"Might be someone in the house, who knows what's going on." 

"Alex, what do you plan to do now? It's dangerous to keep Ari here especially after the person who sent us this knows that she's back again."

A long silence gone and Alexander finally spoke,"I believe we should leave Ari here and make sure that whoever is getting information in the house will not sense that we are going to move her to a safer place." My fist clenched tightly, he was going to use Bea as a bait to lure the person out? Fucking bitch.

Realising that they were no longer on the topic, I slowly made my way back to my room, as though nothing had happened. Closing my door quietly, my hold around my slippers loosen and allowed them to fall onto the ground. The words that I've just heard made me uneasy. 

Alexander was going to continue let Ari to stay here in order to lure out the person. What if the person decided to strike at the most unguarded period? I will lose Bea again? 

No, I won't ever let that happen again. Once was enough. Not again.

I will protect her this time. 

early update! just started my internship and it was so hilarious LMAO 

so my reporting time was supposed to be 8.30am but I was told to report at 9am strangely, so I decided to reach at 8.40am instead. and turns out there's another guy from my school who happened to be a year older than me and he's doing his internship as well (at least I'm not alone LMFAO)

the most hilarious part was that we were then told that we can actually work from home so at around 9.45am, we were actually dismissed and told to go home WNWSNJWKSMKQSM (which wasted my efforts of waking up super early to shower and dress up for my first day WNJSKM I'm sobbing)

but oh wells, at least it's work from home so I don't have to squeeze the tightly packed transportation in the early morning YAYYY and most importantly, I get my beauty sleep WSJWSJWSJ

Happy reading! -5/9/2022