The Bertinelli Family's Revenge

Chapter 24. How Many?

Third Person POV

"Let's go," William spoke to the tired group of kids. They all nodded and followed him to the cars. The night before William told them that their flight was going to be leaving at 3:00 a.m the next morning. They decided to have Ashton stay the night as Zade hadn't left the guest room yet. 

The hired drivers drove the several S.U.V.s to the private airstrip. The family in the back silent on the drive only focused on keeping themselves awake. 

Getting on the plane was no different they all went their own ways choosing to not talk. William used to work late hours and early mornings but was fine being up this early and chose to start working. Oliver sat next to him still waking up but planning on following his dad's footsteps come a few minutes. 

Ashton sat on the couch closing his eyes, Riley sat next to him and placed her head on his shoulder. Zane sat in one of the chairs placed with the table. Rory sat down in his lap curling into herself and falling asleep with his arms around her. Ryan and Ruby sat across from Zane both leaning their heads back. 

Jessica sat next to Oliver closing her eyes instantly. Levi and Milo sat next to Riley and Ashton knocking their heads together and falling asleep. Jake sat on the other chair with Blake lying on the floor next to him. 

The family, plus boyfriends, remained quiet as they took off. 

For twenty minutes Oliver sat down then he started to work with his dad. Everyone else continued to sleep for another hour or so. 

Riley woke up before Ashton and started to play with the few rings on his fingers. She started at the silver rings twirling them around his fingers until he woke up. He looked down at her to see her entranced and let her entertain herself as he looked around the plane to see most of everyone was starting to wake up. 

"Dad, what are we gonna do in Russia?" Ruby asked wide awake with excitement. William took a break from typing to look up and answer her. 

"We'll be staying at one of our houses. There's not much to do while it's still warm so we will be mostly hanging around the house." William told them. 

"So how many houses do you own?" Ryan looked over the chair to look at her dad. This caught everyone's attention. 

"You know I'm not real sure. Somewhere around twenty houses if I had to guess." He shrugged and looked back to his laptop. The four girls and Zane all looked at him with their mouths agape. 

"Sounds one hundred percent normal," Ryan muttered to herself as she sat back down fully. 

"Ashton anything fun to do in Russia?" Blake asked the boy. 

"Well sure but not near this house."

"Huh?" Riley asks him. 

"He means our house is about 3 hours from the nearest town," Oliver told them. 

"Great." The four muttered. Riley looked at Ashton. 

"Have you been to Russia a lot?" 

"A few times. But haven't been in a few years." He told her playing with her hair. 

"Is it really cold there?" 

"Actually it is. It's probably only going to get about 70 degrees while we're there."

Riley nods and goes back to playing with his rings. 

The rest of the flight remained uneventful. The jet landed and William led them all out. There were three SUVs waiting for them but no drivers. William wanted to keep as much as he could about their vacation a secret. He was secretly hoping that with them gone his workers could focus more on finding Bradley and they could go home to good news. 

"Alright Oliver and Milo and I will all be driving." Everyone nodded and helped the flight crew load up their bags. They are crammed into the vehicles and watch the scenery go by and civilization disappear. 

After nearly three hours of driving they pulled up in front of a cross between a log cabin and a mansion. It was easily three stories, the first floor was cobblestone with everything else wooden. 

Willliam had everyone grab their bags before leading them all inside. They all looked in awe as the house was set up like a millionaire hunting lodge minus the animal heads. William walked in taking his own look around and doing mild check-ins to see if anyone had been inside recently. 

Happy with his findings he turned back towards his family and gave them the room selections and the run-down of the house. 

"Alright, so the first floor has the common areas and two bedrooms. Every bedroom is a master. The second floor has 6 bedrooms and a second living room. The third floor has three bedrooms. I'm taking one of the first-floor rooms the rest is up to you kids." William moved out of the way of the kids and let them run for it. 

The kids abandoned their bags on the floor and ran. Oliver simply walked past his dad towards the second first-floor bedroom. The kids pushed past each other on the stairs with Zane and Ashton trailing behind them not wanting to get involved with the siblings wrestling. 

Blake was crawling over his brothers and trying to claw his way up the stairs. He had no idea where he wanted to stay but he just wanted to make it up the stairs first. Rory ran up the stairs almost falling when one of her sisters grabbed her ankles. 

After a lot of cursing, and shoving Blake made it to the top of the stairs. He immediately ran and went towards the farthest room from the stairs. Jake followed him calmly and chose the room to his right. Jess walked down to the one across from Blake. Milo and Levi took the ones on the left side of Jess. Ryan took the last room on that floor. 

The other three went upstairs and explored the bedrooms. They each took one and went back down grabbing their bags and in Riley and Rory's case also their boyfriends. William had ordered a trusted employee to go buy groceries for them. 

They all had an easy night. Just eat dinner and then go to bed to rest up after a long day of traveling. 

While the group was fighting for a bed Wiliam spoke to the two boyfriends and told them the rules of the vacation. 

'1. No inappropriate behavior with his daughter.'

'2. He can come in if he feels the need.'

'3. Any funny business means they deal with him and sleep outside.'

The boys agreed mostly afraid of him. They told their girlfriends about the rules and they shared a laugh and went to bed like everyone else. Rory made Zane wait outside her room while she changed and invited him and went to bed being the little spoon. Riley had Ashton turn around not waiting for him to leave her alone, they went to bed with Riley hugging his arm and Ashton waiting until she fell asleep before closing his eyes. 

The house was quiet with the only noise coming from Blake's room as he hugged his pillow and snored.