The Lost Sterling Brother & His Secret

5: The Big Red Doors

TW: mentions of Abuse and I guess a torture room? No one gets tortured it's just mentioned/discovered

A few hours later, Elinor woke up from her nap. It was a good thing though, as it was almost dinner time.

At dinner, Lucian had asked if he could feed Elinor, and I agreed. I thought it was a good idea for her to bond with her uncles. Even though I still didn't trust them and felt hurt every time I was near them, Elinor didn't. She was just a baby and has only ever known me and the people at the daycare.

<&>

Their was a few things I've noticed since moving back in with my brothers. Things weren't adding up. Last year I read an article about what had happened to my father. It was a brief summary pretty much saying that he was presumed dead. That didn't make any sense to me.

Then there was the question in the back of my mind regarding my mother. My brothers never told me what happened to her. I didn't really care if she was dead or not, but my brothers were definitely hiding things from me, and I had planned to find out one way or another.

I hated being left in the dark. I hated not knowing what was coming next. I blame the abuse on that. All those years of dealing with my moms difficult mood swings did that.

Since my brothers decided that they weren't going to tell me anything, I decided that I was going to figure it out myself.

I remember when I was younger, there was a room with big red doors in the basement that we weren't allowed to go in. I was always curious as to what was in there but never dared to go in. When my father was mad, he was like a ticking time bomb. His anger almost reminded me of Enzo's. He had also expressed to us countless times about the dangers of going into that room.

One night, Hendrix had snuck in there, and when my dad found out, he was beyond angry. Plus, I'm pretty sure going into that room scarred my poor 13 year old brother for life.

But my father wasn't here. And although I'm sure my brother's are going to be mad at me, they can't be mad forever. So, I had made the decision to go through the big red doors in the basement.

I knew where the keys to the doors were. I had snuck up to the third floor where my dads old office was. My brothers use it now, for what I don't know. I had heard them talking about the big red doors. Enzo needed to go in there and had asked Hendrix where he had put them. I had then waited till Enzo was done in the room, and watched as he put the keys back.

So now, I have the keys to the big red door. I didn't know what to expect once going into the room. But what I found, was definitely not it.

Upon waking in the room, I saw tons of cells. Like prison cells. On one side of the room, I saw a wall full of a bunch of torture devices.

My mind didn't fully grasp why all this stuff was in here until I saw the symbol that was perfectly carved into the cement.

My brother's were part of a mafia or gang.

Which one, I wasn't sure. But everything started to make sense. Why we have always had security, why that one time when I was younger, my mom, brothers and me all had to hide out in a safe room.

I didn't really care that they were part of a gang or the mafia. I had several run ins with gangs and even mafias when I was a young stupid teenager who always got into trouble.

I quickly left the room and put the keys back where I found them. I would use this information later. Right now, I needed to stop being the rebellious teenager that I was deep down, and be a dad.

I went to check on Elinor. I may not have trusted my brothers, but I knew that they would never hurt her.

Although I had discovered one of the biggest secrets of my childhood, it still didn't answer the question of what happened to my parents.

Maybe when I bring up the mafia or gang to my brothers, I can convince them to tell me.

<&>

As I lay in bed looking at the ceiling with Elinor laying on my chest sleeping, I couldn't help but start thinking.

My mind kept drifting to the same question: what happened to my parents?

The article I had read had said that my father was presumed dead. Did that mean he had gone missing?

I remember my father going on several business trips when I was younger. Now that I'm older, I realize that those probably weren't business trips and instead work for the mafia/gang. He always ended up coming back.

Mafia or gang, I wasn't sure. I had decided to look up the symbol to see if I could find any information on it, but there was nothing.

I said I didn't care about whether or not my brothers are part of a mafia/gang, and I don't. I just don't want to be apart of it. I'd like to keep Elinor as far away from that type of stuff as possible.

Since becoming a father, I no longer do things that could get me killed or in major trouble. When I was younger, I had come into contact with several large gangs and mafias. I had done favors for them. But that all stopped the moment I found out that Amber was pregnant.

My thoughts came to an end as my eyes get heavy and soon, I'm pulled into a deep slumber, dreaming about what happened that day, 12 years ago.