Being Saved

Chapter 5 - Laughs and Standoffs

Trigger Warning: light mentions
Gore
Violence

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Katerina's POV

I had absolutely no clue where I was going at this point.

I'd been wandering through the halls for ten minutes now and nothing looked familiar.

Except for that vase over in the corner. I think I'd passed it at least three times now within the last few minutes; though, it certainly didn't help my sense of direction when Santiago gave me the briefest of tours a few days ago - this mainly consisted of is walking in circles to make sure that I'd never find my way around.

Sly Bastardo.

"Come on, man, you can't be serious."

"I told you to take care of it yesterday!" a voice boomed throughout the corridors, easily traveling to my nosy self.

The second person huffed a reply, "Relax, I'll get it done tomorrow."

"I want to know why he's still breathing. Deal with him. Now! GO!"

What the hell?

Rounding the corner, I saw Anthony yelling at Santiago, who then rushed out of the house and drove off.

I froze dead in my tracks when a surprised Anthony spotted me lurking.

"Katerina, what are you doing down here? How much did you hear?" He asked as he regained his composure, I continued to stare at him while I quirked a brow at him. "Right, yeah, umm. Follow me," he said while gesturing for me to follow him.

He glanced a few times over his shoulder as we traversed the winding halls; I took a mental image, learning the route as we went so that I might have a better sense of direction later.

"As you know," Anthony began, pausing briefly in one of the halls, "our oldest brother, Michele, is coming home today from his business trip."

He'd mentioned this more than once to everyone over the last few days, apparently, Michele'd been gone for almost a month finishing a business deal in Italy. I contemplated once again for a moment about telling my brothers that I understood what they were saying; however, I paused, having to stop myself from laughing again at his exaggerated hand gestures as he pointed at an unknown face in an old family portrait of a young version of Michele. I instead offered him a small nod of acknowledgment. He gave me a wide smile and grasped my hand; I frowned slightly at our hands as he tugged me along.

We continued forward, I continued to follow begrudgingly while he had a slight bounce in his step. We passed several rooms before walking into the living room where Christiano and Lorenzo were sprawled out across a giant U-shaped sectional watching Disney+. Making his way over to the couch, Anthony snatched the remote from the coffee table and plopped down on the open corner seat on the couch.

Hesitating only for a moment, I soon joined the trio. Taking the only open spot left, I sat beside Anthony while pulling my phone out to stop the music I had once been engrossed in. I then wrapped the headphones around my fingers and shoved them into my front jeans pocket.

Looking back up again at the TV, I saw that the boys were having a Pirates of the Caribbean movie marathon, but quickly did a double take when I saw that the subtitles had been turned on for me. For a moment, I felt the strange tugging at my heart which was slightly disconcerting, but it was gone as soon as it came. Must've been heartburn.

"Спасибо," I said while giving a small smile to Anthony, who returned the gesture along with a nod.
(Thank you.)

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