"I want to know the whole story." Damon said sitting down.
"So I was at the base. I met Daniel there. I had a meeting with Mafia men. It was Mason Costello. Then I met another man in school who claimed I was his sister. It was Roman Costello. Then I was taken as a bait by none other than Grayson costello. He told me they aren't my real parents. I searched the basement and found out the truth. Then Mason and his Younger brother Jace costello walked in while I was threatening Chris. Till then I was just like 'why are these blue eyed men appearing out of nowhere all of a sudden'. Then finally they called Lorenzo Costello, then I found out they are my biological brothers." She finished her rambling and looked up at him.
Throughout the story, he noticed the name Costello, more than anything.
"I'm not actually Ava Winston. I'm Amelia Costello." Amelia said, smiling at him happily. He was deep in thought.
"So The Costello's are your brothers?" He asked. She nodded.
"And you live with them?" He asked as she nodded again.
"How did you get here?" He asked. She shrunk a little.
"I sneaked out." She mumbled, not looking at him.
"They must be trying to find you." Damon stated getting his phone out.
"What are you doing?" Amelia asked.
"Calling them? They probably don't know you're gone yet." Damon answered.
"No, don't. Wait!! you know them?" Amelia asked furrowing her eyebrows.
"Yeah, I know them." Damon said. He didn't just know them. Lorenzo and him were business partners. He was also good friends with him. They were family.
"Don't call them. I didn't sneak out to go live with them again. I want to live with you, big bro. I don't want to live with them." She begged putting both of her hands on his phone.
As much as Damon wanted her to live with him, he couldn't do that. He couldn't just take away their angel who they found after ten long years.
He'd seen the brothers at their worst when they missed her too much. He felt a little sad about not being able to adopt her now, but the thought that she was living with his best friend helped. He could meet her anytime.
"You know, I can't do that baby." Damon tried to explain. "They are the Mafia. They are much powerful than me. They'll take you away and will not even let you meet me, if I posed as a threat to your family, that is just coming together."
"But you said you'll take my custody." Amelia said tearing up again.
"And I was still trying. It's not that easy, baby." Damon said in a soothing tone as the girl just huffed and crossed her arms.
Damon raised an eyebrow.
"Is the baby about to throw a tantrum?"
"I'm not a baby." She whined, hugging him again and burying her head in his chest as a deep chuckle resonated inside.
"Yeah, sorry. My baby. Is my baby about to throw a tantrum?" Damon asked again as she just mumbled incoherent words.
As much as Amelia wanted to throw a tantrum, she knew what position he was in right now. She knew if he tried to come in between her brothers and her, they'll try to push him away from her.
That's the reason she stayed silent, while Damon was still talking on the phone.
Lorenzo knew she sneaked out, the moment she left the mansion. He had already sent search parties and tracked Daniel's car. He was tracking Amelia's phone which was turned off.
Its good she let him call her brothers, for the sake of Daniel. They would've caught Daniel and tortured him.
"She's with me. I'll explain later. Why don't you come for dinner with the boys?" Damon asked. There was silence for sometime.
"Yeah. I wanted to spend some time with her." Damon said. "Ash is not home. I told him to inform me if he wanted to go somewhere."
After he hung up the phone, he booped her nose and said.
"Let me make some waffles. Which ones do you want to eat, Princess?" He asked.
"Of course. Blueberry waffles." They said together.
Damon led her to the kitchen. She suddenly started feeling like throwing up. She couldn't eat but she didn't want to make him sad.
A voice at the back of her head was taunting her.
She vowed not to trust anybody. She vowed not to be friendly with anyone. And here she is, sitting on the kitchen counter and acting like he's the best brother one could ask for.
"What happened?" Damon asked as he looked at the conflicted look on her face.
Before, he could read her like an open book. That hadn't changed. In fact, nothing actually changed. She still feared his scolding, if she uttered a curse word. She still got nervous when she talked about something she did wrong. She still loved him to no end.
"I actually ate before coming here." She lied. Damon knew she was lying. He was about to say something when they were interrupted.
"I'm home." A deep voice rang through the mansion.
Ava's POV.
The way Damon was stalking towards the door, I knew Ashton was in trouble.
"Why are you late?" Damon's voice sounded as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen, with his arms crossed.
"Uhh, I went to a friends house." The deep voice said again.
Ashton must be really grown up now. His voice was deep but soothing.
"Did I or did I not tell you to inform me if you went somewhere after school?" There was silence.
I knew he was too terrified to speak now. Big bro suddenly started seeming scary when you were in trouble. His glare could make both me and Ashton tremble when we were little.
"We'll talk about it later. For now, there's someone who wants to meet you." Damon said pointing towards the kitchen.
My breathing caught in my throat as heavy footsteps came closer to the kitchen.
A tall and very good-looking guy entered the kitchen as he looked around and finally spotted me. He kept staring at me as I stared back.
He was quite tall now. His face now had a sculpted look. He was wearing a hoodie with black ripped jeans.
"Ava?" He asked, his deep voice suddenly shaking as he stepped closer.
Before I could stop myself, I launched upon him and hugged him tight.
"We can finally have her with us?" He asked Damon who was behind me.
"No. She's the missing Costello." Damon stated.
Ashton pulled away to look at me.
"The fuck?" He said, then glanced behind me and his eyes widened. Damon was probably glaring at him.
"The fudge. I meant the fudge? Really?" I giggled.
I haven't done that in a very long time. I looked back at Damon to see if there was still a glare etched to his face. There wasn't. Instead, there was a soft smile as he looked at me with nothing but love and adoration in his eyes.
"No problem. We're still family." Ashton said pulling me into a hug again. He hugged me tight for a long time, that I was tired of standing but also didn't want to let go.
After pulling away, we both sat on the kitchen counter, watching Damon cook.
"So... How are you?" Ashton said awkwardly.
It suddenly started feeling awkward, meeting after these many years with all of us changed so much.
"I'm just fine. I didn't want to come live with them, you know. I just wanted to go far away after knowing I was trying to impress someone who was not related to me and put me through all that shit." I said, then felt a certain glare on me.
"Oops, it slipped." I smiled innocently as I saw his expressions soften.
"And the favouritism starts again. Not that it ended in the first place." Ashton muttered from beside me, as we burst out laughing.
"No more curse words." Damon said sternly before continuing cooking.
----------------
"Your brothers will be here any moment." He said looking at the clock.
'I don't care.' I wanted to say but I don't have enough courage.
The doorbell rang. Damon went to open the door.
I kept sitting in the dining room.
"Let's go to the dining room." Ashton said, leading me to the dining room.
We entered the room to find all of my brothers already sitting there with Damon and Lorenzo at the head of the table.
I took a seat nearest to Damon. I could feel everyone's gaze on me.
"What?" I snapped as they diverted their gazes and an awkward silence filled the room.
Everyone started eating. I didn't want to eat. I didn't even want to just swallow the food and throw it up later, that'll be betraying big bro.
I just played with my food and tuned everyone out. I don't want to go with them.