ATHENA RUSSO:
I make my way down the stairs and go to the dining room. Everyone is already sitting down. I quickly sit down in my seat and they begin eating. I look down at my food and frown. I can't eat all of this. I slowly eat and after a few bites, I'm already full.
I lean towards Domenico and whisper, "Can you finish my food for me?"
He looks at me and then looks at my plate. "You're finished already?" He asks quietly. I nod. He narrows his eyes at me but sighs. He discreetly takes my food off my plate and puts it on his own. I give him a small smile and look away. I can tell he's getting suspicious now. I can see it on his face. I feel his gaze on me and I tense.
Don't. Don't question me. Please.
I wait for everyone to finish their food and once everyone is done I stand up.
"Athena."
I look at Lorenzo, "Yes?"
"Come with me to my office."
Office? He has his own office here?
I slowly nod and he stands up. I look at my brothers for help but they are all just watching. I internally groan. Useless. They're useless.
He begins to walk off and I quickly follow after him, I hear some snickers and whispers and I ignore them.
We enter a big room and I look around. It looks so plain and boring. I mean it is an office. Lorenzo sits down and looks at me, "Do you like it here?"
"No—actually I do, I forgot you guys are rich."
He doesn't laugh but I see amusement in his eyes. He shakes his head, "I never knew my sister was a gold digger."
I huff, "I was joking."
He nods, "Whatever you say, princess. But I need to go through some house rules with you so sit down."
I sit down in the chair and I look at him, "What rules?"
"Nothing much. When you want to go out tell us where you're going, no house parties," something tells me my brothers like to throw house parties a lot, "Do your homework and no boyfriends."
I narrow my eyes, "What if I like girls?"
He shrugs, "Then no girlfriends."
I mean I can't really complain about that, I've never been in a relationship.
"Okay. Is there anything else?"
He shakes his head, "No that's all."
Oh, I was expecting so much more but I think those rules are reasonable. I can live with it.
"And I've got your school uniform, a maid put it in your room during dinner for you."
I nod, "Okay."
Then we just sit in silence.
An awkward one.
I look around his office to avoid eye contact with him.
"Jokes aside. You do like it here, right?"
I nod, "Yeah."
"So the boys aren't bothering you or anything like that?"
I shake my head, "Nope."
He hums, "Okay."
I look down at my lap, God this is so awkward. After a few minutes of silence, I speak up. "Can I go now?" I ask.
"Uh yeah sure."
Thank God.
I stand up and open the door. I see Ares and Dante standing outside. My eyes widen, "W-What are you doing?" They look at each other and then sprint down the corridor. I look over my shoulder in confusion and Lorenzo just shrugs.
✩ ✩ ✩
I groan. This stupid goddamn game. I get off the app and go on to another game I've downloaded. All I've been doing is play games on my phone because there isn't anything else to do.
My door barges open and I sit up from my bed. Ares walks in holding a pack of cards, "Athena me, and Dante are gonna play Uno. Do you wanna join?"
What the fuck?
"I-I you know what? Sure."
I get up from my bed and he grins. We walk out of my room and he starts speaking. "Let me warn you Dante might try and look at your cards but if he does just slap him, okay?"
I give him a look, "Slap him? Can't I just tell him to stop?"
Shaking his head he says, "It won't work. He doesn't listen."
We go to his room and he opens the door. I see Dante and Domenico sitting on the floor waiting.
I thought it was just going to be Dante. It's not that I don't mind Domenico, it's just that he's intimidating. They all are.
"Domenico wanted to join," Dante tells Ares. He grins and sits down, "Finally decided to come out of your room for once haven't you?"
Domenico rolls his eyes, "Shut up."
I sit down beside Ares and he shuffles the card. He hands out each one of us seven cards. I pick up my cards and look at them. I quickly look up and see Ares grinning, Dante groans, and Domenico frowns.
I'm guessing Ares has a plus-four or something like that.
"Okay let's start," Ares says and he picks out a card from the deck and places it down in the middle. It's a blue eight. "Youngest to oldest."
This is gonna be easy.
I put down a red eight and Ares and Dante groan. Ares picks up a card. Dante picks up a card. I watch Domenico as he puts a red down. I tilt my head and put another red down. Ares picks up a card and smirks, he puts down a red reverse card.
Back to me.
I put a plus four down.
Dante puts a plus four down, "I bet Athena is gonna have to pick up the most cards."
I hold back a smile.
Domenico looks at me and puts a plus-four down. I put a plus-four down and watch Ares as he stares at it.
We all watch Ares, waiting for his reaction.
"Fuck you guys," he starts picking up cards, "sixteen cards? You are all traitors." I laugh and he glares at me. "Especially you Athena," he scowls.
I laugh even more.
✩ ✩ ✩
"And I win again! Take that you bitches!"
They all glare at me as I stand up and put my middle fingers up at them.
I've won every match. And we've played a lot of matches.
"We didn't even do anything to you!" Dante protests.
I raise an eyebrow. "Yes, you all did. You two," I point at Dante and Ares, "looked at my cards, and for Domenico you made me pick up ten cards nearly every round."
"First of all, we didn't look at your cards—"
I glare at him and he shuts up. Domenico sighs, "It's just a game." I place my hands on my hips, "That's what everyone says when they lose."
"What are you guys doing?"
I turn around and see Elijah looking at us.
"We're playing Uno," Dante answers.
He smirks, "Who's winning?"
"Me."
"You beat them all?"
"Uh yes. It was quite easy actually."
He tilts his head, "Let's play. Just me and you."
I nod, "Okay then."
✩ ✩ ✩
"Uno!"
Dante, Dom, and Ares are all sitting on the bed watching me and Elijah play. We're both are now on our last card. And it's getting intense.
Elijah's eyebrows furrow and he picks up a card. They all watch me. Waiting to see if I'm gonna win. I reach out to pick a card then quickly retract my hand and put my last card down. I smirk. They all look at me in shock.
"No fucking way!"
Ares walks out of the room. Dante jumps off the bed with his hands on his head. Domenico is holding back a laugh.
Elijah slowly looks up at me with the most deadliest glare I've ever seen. "That was just luck," he mumbles.
"It wasn't."
Domenico snorts.
Ares walks in with Marcello and points at me, "She just beat Elijah. Look!"
Marcello looks at me, "No she didn't." Dante shakes his head, "She did."
He looks at Elijah, "Is this true?"
Elijah nods, shamefully, "It is true."
"Oh but she can't beat Marcello, he treats the game like it's chess. He makes it so strategic and serious," Domenico says.
I narrow my eyes at him.
Ares points at me again. "Humble her," he demands Marcello.
Elijah nods, "Yes. Please do."
"Be my guest," I say, gesturing for him to sit down.
Marcello sighs, "Fine."
✩ ✩ ✩
They claim Marcello to be the king of Uno and that he's unbeatable.
And I'm about to prove them all wrong.
I place my last card down.
And I win. Again.
Elijah shakes his head, "Marcello this is embarrassing."
Ares gapes at me.
"No! She cheated. There's a low chance of beating Elijah but Marcello? Now that's impossible," Dante exclaims, standing up.
"I didn't cheat," I say, truthfully.
Domenico nods, "She's right, I've watched her this whole time."
I look at Marcello, "Hey are you alright?"
He shakes his head, "I've never lost to anything. Never lost a fight, never lost a game, never lost a race. But this. This is the first time I've ever felt defeat," then he stands up and leaves.
I tilt my head. What an odd person he is.
"Athena I-I think you broke him," Ares tells me.
I shrug, "I'm sure he will get over it."
"And she doesn't even care," Elijah whispers to himself. I snort, "Why would I?"
They all shake their heads.
The door opens and Lorenzo walks in. "What's going on with Marcello?" he asks.
"He lost to Athena in Uno," Elijah says.
Lorenzo looks at me, "He lost? That can't be right."
"I don't get what the big the deal is," I say. I mean it is just Uno. Maybe it was just pure luck that I kept winning. Actually no it wasn't. I'm just too good at it.
"It's a big deal because he's never lost. It's like he's programmed to win," Elijah tells me.
I shrug, "Okay well just grab a screwdriver or something and fix him."
Dante face palms himself, "She is a lunatic."
I grin.
"Right everyone goes to their room while I sort Marcello out," Lorenzo demands. I get up from the floor and walk past Lorenzo and go to my room. I shut the door behind me and grab my phone. It's eleven pm.
Tonight was fun. Watching their faces each time I won. It was funny.
I yawn.
Maybe I should go to sleep.
But I haven't been able to sleep properly. When I sleep I wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare of me killing my father. Each one is a different version. I can't escape it. Sometimes I think I never will.