She is innocent
They are manipulative
She plays it safe
They thrive in danger
She likes her normal life
They rule the world of crime
She didn't know they existed
They missed her every day
After her mother's tragic death, 14- year-old Astoria...
"And she actually did stick to her end of the deal, Lindsey and Nathan were with us through most of the night," he adds as an afterthought.
"If that's so then why did I find the two of you getting all up and close with each other by the pond?" Jack snaps back, his fist and jaw clenched in raw range.
"What we were doing there is none of your fucking business!" Alessandro retorts, his patience running on a thin line.
"This is my kid sister we are talking about, so yeah it is my fucking business!" Jack grits through clenched teeth.
"She's your sister, not your damn daughter. She can make her own life choices," Alessandro bites back.
"Enough!" Xavier's powerful voice bounces off the soundproof walls and reverberates through the room, cutting Jack off before he can respond to Alessandro's remark.
"I've heard right about enough of this, yet none of you have given me a valid explanation of what happened," he remarks running his impassive gaze across each one of them in scrutiny.
"What do you want to know?" Lorenzo enquires in a weak voice not daring to meet Xavier's frightening gaze.
"Let's start with every detail since the start of the party," Xavier responds.
This makes his three siblings gulp nervously. They exchange a few timorous glances they find themselves at a lack of words, after all, once the party began, they were too busy with all the attention they were getting to even notice when Astoria joined the party.
"We weren't there," Lucas mumbles under his breath, yet it doesn't escape Xavier's trained ears.
"And why is that exactly?" He questions while his eyes hold reprimand focused towards his younger siblings.
"We thought..." Lorenzo trails off mid-sentence.
"You thought what?" He presses for more information. "You thought you could host a party in my house without my permission? And you thought you could get away with it?" He adds making the guys sink into their seats in guilt.
"But you heard the doctor, she was poisoned before the party, so technically..." Jack shut his rant as soon as he meets his elder brother's hardened gaze.
"Your stupidity could have put not just Astoria, but all of you in some serious danger, I didn't expect such level of irresponsibility from either of you," he remarks.
As Xavier continues admonishing his siblings, Alessandro shifts uncomfortably in his seat as thoughts of confusion cloud his head wondering why he's even part of this evidently family meeting.
"We will discuss your punishment later," Xavier's concluding statement snaps Alessandro out of his thoughts and back to reality forcing him to refocus his attention back to the oldest Santos.
"Now moving on to you," Xavier starts shifting his attention from his three guilt-ridden siblings and to the impassive mafia-born who returns his stare with the same intensity.
"I want you to stay away from my sister, am I clear?" He puts it out plainly yet firmly.
"With all due respect Mr. Santos, as long as Astoria wants me around, I'm doing no such thing." Replies the confident boy with promise in his eyes, his voice permeated with aplomb as he looks the head of the Brazilian mafia dead in the eye.
"It wasn't a suggestion," Xavier remarks curtly, irked by the tone of the sixteen-year-old, yet he doesn't let it show.
"Moreover, until this entire situation is under control, Astoria won't be allowed to meet anyone other than family, which you clearly are not," Xavier points out aiming to hit a nerve and at which he clearly succeeded as Alessandro's left fist clenched and unclenched trying to control his anger.
"I think we are done here," Xavier announces, pushing back his chair as Jack and the twins follow in tow.
"I'm glad that the Genovese family is helping out the Santos' in this situation then," Alessandro calls out as the four Santos' almost exit the room.
The small smirk Jack sported at Xavier's declaration of Alessandro staying away from Astoria immediately drops heading these words, his eyes snap to meet his older brother's. But as always Xavier's eyes nor expressions give anything away, this starts to make Jack nervous.
Xavier's phone comes to life as its ringtone echoes through the empty corridors, "lock-up once everyone's out," he instructs thrusting the key of the room into Jack's palm and proceeding towards the elevator as he accepts the call.
Having had the last word in the conversation gives Alessandro a spark of hope that their moment at the pond—that was interrupted by Jack—wouldn't be the last time he gets to see his girl after all. Not that he would give up either way.
A small victorious smirk lingers on his lips as he pushes back his chair, and makes his way past Jack and the twins who keep glaring daggers at him. Opting to take the stairs on his way down, he uses this time to muse.
Contemplating over whether he should leave for now and come back later, or if he should stay, he jogs down the stairs. 'I just need to see for myself that she's fine and then I'll leave' he negotiates with himself just as his phone buzzes with a text.
Dad: Meeting at the warehouse in twenty, there has been a development in the search
Groaning inwardly, he shoves his phone back into his pocket, and making his way towards the first elevator in sight, he gets on.
If he's to get to the warehouse in twenty minutes there is no way he can check on Astoria before leaving and being late to a meeting his dad is personally holding isn't an option.
Caught in a dilemma, after much thought he finally settles on heading to the meeting first and then coming back to check on her. This also is a consolation that the meeting that's being held is in regards to the person or people after Astoria's life.
But what if he finds more than he's expecting to?
Author's Note:
Hey, y'all! How's it going?
I just want to start off by saying how glad I am for your response to my new book idea and for all the support!
This book or any of my books wouldn't be anything if it weren't for you my awesome readers, so thank you!!!
Moving on, I've been swamped with term-work lately and so updates might take a little longer than usual, but I'm trying my best. P.S I hate the end of term, especially now that it's online!
And now lastly, I know I said that I will finish this book before starting the next one, and I will, but I've been procrastinating and used that time to design a cover for it. I would love to hear your thoughts on it :)
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Anywho, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
