>▪︎ Sixteen

An intimidating mansion stood in front of me and my brain miserably pointed out that the men inside the house right now were the men I claimed a few days ago were psych patients. Maybe I should apologize about that first. Then they would hopefully leave me alone until the police found mom? Because adoptive or not, she had fed and clothed me all these years and that had to definitely mean something. On the car, the woman told me that Ryan would be staying indefinitely with dad until they found mom and there went my last chance of not staying with the Costas.

"I have already talked to your eldest brother and he knows you are coming", the woman who basically destroyed my life started, "The guards will not let anyone else enter the house except registered faces, so I'm afraid I have to leave you here."

The officer had already run away as soon as he could and every action these people took just emboldened my stance on the rumours I had heard about these people. My raised my eyebrows looking at Miss Miller before softly nodding my head. Even though I was sure there was some protocol about leaving a child unsupervised in front of the gate, maybe she was just as scared as everyone else about these men.

As soon as she took her leave, the front door opened and there in front of me stood Federico Costa. Out of the hospital room he looked even more intimidating if it was possible.

"Come in Fiore. We've been waiting for you."

Why did that sentence sound so much more menacing than it should have? And why for the love of God did he have to keep calling me that?

"Hi I'm Rebekah", I smiled lightly trying to enforce my stance on my fucking name as I held out my hand for a shake. What was I? Forty?

The man ignored me as if I had never said anything and instead of giving me a handshake like I expected, he held it and led me inside as if I'd get lost if he let go of it. Looking around however I realized that there was actually a high chance I would get lost. But honestly! Who needed such a big fucking mansion to live?

Maybe they had dungeons under like in the mafia movies.
Not funny Rebekah!
I involuntarily shuddered.

We had now reached a huge room which I'm sure was supposed to be a dining area if the table and cutlery and chandelier is anything to go by but honestly, it looked like the freaking President was about to come over to have dinner with all the other Presidents in the world. Combined.

"Why do you even need such a big eating place?", the question unconsciously left my mouth and I realized this was the first time I had voluntarily started a conversation with him ever since the night I almost got... not the time.

I couldn't see Federico's face but I could however see a little head shake before he answered me, "Because we do."

Okay mister moody thirteen year old. As if I wanted to talk to him in the first place. I rolled my eyes.

"Do not roll you eyes Fiorenza", the grumpy suited idiot told me. How did he even see me? And who the hell was he to tell me what to do?

I rolled my eyes harder.

"Fiorenza", he turned around and glared at me.

I glared right back. If he couldn't even say my name properly, he didn't deserve my respect at all, "My name is Rebekah."
I emphasized.

He rolled his eyes in response. Ah hah! Why could he do it and I couldn't? "No it's not. Your parents named you Fiorenza. Our baby sister is called Fiorenza."

"Well, I'm not your sister for one and more importantly I'm definitely not a freaking baby", the stress was getting to me. I knew it. Why else would I act so irrationally in front of a man who was said to be connected to the underworld? Wasn't it basic survival skills to go along with whatever crazy, psycho criminals tell you to do? Why am I so stupid?

"I believe you have a DNA test result to prove so otherwise", the stupid idiot said, completely ignoring the other part of the sentence. That definitely stumped me however and I knew arguing with him would be pointless. He was a businessman, he argued with people for a living. And mom would be back soon and everything would go back to normal.

Looking around I realized that my one track brain had completely missed the prescence of the six other men staring at us like we were the entertainment of the day. I didn't even know how I could miss giant men like them but to be fair the room was unrealistically huge and they were in a corner.

Why were they in the corner?

"Why are you in the corner?", my curiosity definitely got the best of me as I squinted my eyes in a confused manner.

"It's my house. I will be where i want to be", Eraldo Costa squinted at me and that was maybe the first time when I didn't see him looking at me and not glaring his eyes off. But his look was also sobering. It reminded me that I was not a part of this whatsoever and I had let go way too much in the last minute.

So instead of snarking back like I would have usually done, I removed my gaze and stared at the floor awkwardly. Mom would be back soon, and I could go home.

A silence permeated throughout the large room before someone cleared their throat and I heard a bunch of footsteps walking towards us. I looked up.

"I have started on your room tesoro, but for today you'll be sleeping in the guest bedroom", Gabrielé said and the look in his eyes did not go the smile on his face however. They looked pained. I couldn't understand why though.

I shook my head with a polite smile, "Thank you Gabrielé. But you don't exactly need to be working on my room. I'm just here for a few days anyway." I reminded him.

Gabrielé's smile however fell and I was officially sick of these mood swings. I didn't know grown ass people had so many of them until I met this freaking family.

"No you're not", the tattooed motherf- I mean Declan spoke. Atleast I thought his name was Declan. He actually spoke so less to me that I honestly forgot he existed sometimes but not so much. He was like that looming scarecrow that you wanted to forget existed but couldn't. "Blood is thicker than whatever sentiments you've got towards that family so no. You're never going back."

My eyes widened as my heart began to beat faster. Much faster. I could feel cold sweat build up on my forehead and my hands turn icy.

"Of course I'm going back", came my rushed answer as I tried to observe everyone's faces. They were blank. Why can't I read anything? Were they actually serious? "I'll go back as soon as they find my mom."

Someone snickered but I couldn't see anything behind the blind panic I was slowly driving myself into.

"She's not your mom", Declan growled -growled out. What kind of sick movie is this? I feel trapped.

"I don't care about the adoption. She raised me and fed me. She is my mom", I defended passionately. Why was I defending her? Wasn't I mad at her? Was I? Or was I just a desperate attention whore like Ryan said that one time?

"Baby, I told you you were kidnapped", Niccoló tried to negotiate with me but this time around I would not fall for his sympathetic eyes. I wouldn't give in. I couldn't.

They can't just uproot my life!

I snorted incredulously and just like every time I panicked, my mind went into overdrive and my stupid stupid filter vanished, "I have been in this city for two months. I know who the big bad Costas are. I know that even if half of those rumours are true, you have more security than the freaking President. So please don't feed me your bullshit stories."

Oh why, why was I so stupid. That is it. Today's my freaking death day.

A cold silence fell over the room as I forced my hands to stop shaking. I cleared my throat in order to bring down the octave my voice had climbed to. This happened every time. Everytime my anxiety crippled me, my voice would go up a few notches and my hands would violently shake. I'm just happy I'm not at the tears of frustration stage yet. That's embarrassing.

"Go to the guest room Fiorenza. We will talk about this at dinner. And mind your language henceforth", Federico's voice sounded in the room and knowing not what to do, I followed the maid who had magically appeared by my side to my temporary lodgings.

It was twenty minutes later sitting on the bed in an ungodly sized room that I realized that I hadn't even corrected the eldest brother about my name.

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