"Are they my brothers?" ✔️

Chapter Eight

Adriano Romano POV-

     As I walked past the door to the library I noticed the door was cracked open. Opening it further, I saw that the file about our family members sat on the coffee table, with all of it dust wiped off.

     Silently hoping that Bella wasn't the person who took it out, I opened the reddish burgundy file.

       Isabella wasn't listed as our sibling on neither our father's nor mother's pages'. I always assumed that it was because they're both dead and these haven't been updated in years.

      My file says I'm 8 when I'm actually 17. Flipping through the slightly aged papers, I stopped on my elder brother, Alessandro's page.

      As I read through his info which was relatively boring I stumbled upon the children category. 'Alex doesn't have kids, why's this on here' I thought to myself before reading further.

      In bold ink, right under the category Bella's name was placed. 'Wait what-?'
I questioned in my head.

     I always noticed a strong connection between Alessandro and Bella but I thought it was before he was a father figure to her, not because he was her actual father.

     Millions of questions began swirling in my mind as I continued to think about my discovery, 'Is Alex actually her dad? Why did she get sent away? Is this the truth?'

    "This has to be the truth, the file never lies, like it even says how our dad died." I said out loud.

     My head snapped to the side as I heard the door to the library squeak open. Elijah walked in and looked at the file in my hand.

      "I'm assuming you found out the truth, huh?" he questioned.

     "Um yeah, did you know?" I asked, scratching the back of my head.

     "I found out yesterday," he answered, "You should go talk to Alessandro,"

      Nodding my head in response I placed the file on its designated shelf and walked out the library together with Elijah.

       As I stood in front of the door to Alessandro's office, I hesitantly knocked on the mahogany door.

      After a couple seconds it swung open revealing my oldest brother, who looked like he hadn't slept in a couple days.

      "I need to talk to you," I said softly only for him to hear, nodding his head, he opened the door more silently telling me to come inside.

      As Alessandro sat in his huge chair, which I was dying to sit in but sadly he doesn't let anyone sit there, I sat in one of the chairs that were opposite him.

      "So what do you wanna talk about?" he asked.

      "So umm, I know the truth.. about Bella," I said, stumbling on my words.

      "Did Elijah tell you? I swear to God I'll kill him-" he said trailing off.

      "No he didn't, Bella was in the library before dinner and after dinner when I went in there, the family file was on the coffee table so I picked it up and looked in it," I explained.

       "Does she know?" he questioned warily.

       "I don't know, Romero's page was opened when I first went in there."

       "Okay good," Alex said, sighing in relief.

      "So why didn't you tell us?" I asked.

      "Umm I don't know," he said, I shook my head knowing he was lying.

       "Alessandro, I know you're lying," I said, waiting for him to tell me the real reason.

       Taking a deep breath he began to explain, "Okay so, I thought you guys would be disappointed at me for having a kid at 16, that's why I never said anything when you guys called her your sister,"

       "I get it, but before she was sent away did we call her our sister?" I asked.

      "No, before she was sent away she always called me dad so you guys were aware that she wasn't your sister but after she got sent away Romero changed all the public record files to say she was our sister,"

         "When will you tell everyone else?" I asked, making myself comfortable in the chair I sat in.

        "I- I don't really know to be honest, but I think I want to tell Bella before I tell the boys, " he said.

       "Why did she get sent away anyways?"
I questioned.

      "Well when she was 2, we started getting threats from the Germans wanting to kill Bella, so Romero thought it would be safe to let her live with her mother," he said.

     "Did you try to fight him not to send her away?" I asked.

      "Oh I did, he kept saying it was safer with her living with Katrina not us, but we don't know what happened when she lived with her because of that nightmare." alx explained.

       "Exactly," I commented, "Okay well, imma go watch Netflix with Bella now,"

       "Okay, please don't tell anyone the truth, I want to tell them myself," he said.

       I opened the door and walked up the stairs into Bella's room. She sat comfortably on the bed scrolling through tiktok.

        "Hey Bella, wanna watch Netflix with me?" I asked her.

       "Sure," she said, putting down her phone and handing me the TV remote. We both settled on re-watching Matilda. By the time the movie finished Bella was ready to go to sleep, I covered her with the blanket and turned off the lights before going to my room.