Maria's birthday is today.
We've been preparing for this since the start of December.
There's a long list of activities we have put together. The guest list includes Lori, Matteo, Victoria, Carina, Alessia, Seriyah, the Johnson's (excluding parents except for zio Carter), Dahlia, Nai, Dario, and me. It's funny how two Johnson's are already gone and married. Kara Rita Zara Rossi and Lori Mari Johnson Marino.
Lori, Matteo, and I were up all night putting up balloons and making the house look all fun and colorful. Now it's 10:00 in the morning, the party starts at 12:00, it takes an hour and thirty minutes to get my shit together, look professional, make my girls look right, and make everyone breakfast. I should've woken up at 9:00 because it'll take around thirty minutes for everyone to eat and that's when guests start coming.
I'll make it work.
The first think I do is wake up Matt and Lor. He slept over so he can make breakfast while Lori and I get dressed. Then we'll get our kids dressed and come eat breakfast which should be done by then.
But things are never that simple.
I walked in on Lori and Matteo having sex.
Then I left the room faster than my dad can throw me out.
Lori was laughing about it and Matteo's been really awkward since.
Next I went with Lor to the girls room to get them started. Per usual, Ria kept asking about Mc. D's. Now it was 11:00. We descended the stairs and went to the kitchen only to see Matteo burnt breakfast.
"Now can we get Mc. D's?" Maria asks while grinning at her idiot father. Lori and I sigh at the same time. "Yeah."
Seriyah makes a disgusted face, as she's about to say something I do. "No. Sy I know you hate Mc. Donald's but it's Maria's birthday. You either eat the burnt food or stay with Matteo and he'll find something he didn't burn to give you."
"But-" Matteo's about to whine but we glare at him. "Okay fine. Crazy wom- Seri where are you going?! The oven is hot- don't!"
I snicker at my daughter and leave the house with Ria and LJ. We get in the car and I wait in the front seat as Lori buckles up Maria. "What does Matteo like? Maybe I can just get Sy some ice-cream."
Lori glances up then back at Ria's car seat. "I think he likes whoppers, we can get him three because he's big."
"I'm surprised he doesn't have a dad bod." I snort. "How the hell is that guy so big?"
"The gym." She states. "I know his daily routine— give me a second." She finishes with Maria then hops in the drivers seat. Once we're on the road, she begins. "Okay, so he wakes up at 6:00 in the morning—"
"Really?" I interrupt.
She looks at me then back at the road. "Yes— don't interrupt." She rolls her eyes then continues. "Then he makes breakfast— daddy knows how to cook, right Ria?" Maria nods and she grins.
"After breakfast which is at 10:00, we all hang out for about two hours until he goes to work." She stops at a red light. "He comes back around five and me and him... talk... while Sy and Ria are hanging out." She smirks then starts driving again when the light turns green. "Then when Ria gets back we either go home or hang out with Matt, cooking or doing our night routine."
"Anyways, that's just his routine when me and Mia Belleza spend the night."
"I'm jealous." I huff.
Matteo and Lori have this perfect life with a beautiful daughter and what do I have? I'm not an idiot, Seri needs a father-figure and Matteo can't be that forever since he isn't her father.
I need to start dating.
We arrive at Mc. Donald's and walk inside. People turn their heads in our direction in shock and I see some whip out their phone. "Shit, I forgot we were famous." I mutter to Lori.
Maria grins and sings repeatedly, "Tia said a bad word."
Lori glances at everyone in the room with a gentle smile. "If any of you are going to post these videos, please do it after we leave." She continues. "We all know paparazzi is a bit much with celebrities and I have my daughter with me."
Some people reply with an "Okay" or "alright." We move up the line until we're first and ready to order. "Hello, how are you?" The worker, Lina, asks.
"We're doing fine, and you?" I smile at the young woman and she just stares at me in awe. I awkwardly look to Lori to see her stifling laughter.
Lina finally snaps out of it after a long two minutes. "Oh! Sorry, I'm doing amazing. What can I get for you today?"
Lori tells her the order of three whoppers, a happy meal, a chicken sandwich, a spicy chicken sandwich, and ice-cream. Lina thins her lips. "I'm sorry, the ice-cream machine is broken, we can get a McFlurry, though."
I think about it then nod and pay. "Alright. Thank you."
"No problem. Have a good day,
your order will be with you shortly." She states and we move to the side as the next person orders.
I check my watch and see it's 11:45. "Lori, we're going to be late." I inform her. She sighs. "Nothing we can do about it."
We wait about 10 more minutes and our food finally is finished. Lori and I yell a "thank you" and "bye" then get back in the car.
As Lori's buckling Maria up and I'm eating my spicy chicken sandwich in peace, I start to hear the annoying sound of pictures flashing and crazy reporters rushing up to our car right now.
I get out, chicken sandwich in hand, and go to talk to them nicely. "Hello, please don't get to close to our car. There's a five-year-old."
Questions fly out and I answer, "Are you thinking of an alliance with De Santis Corp?"— I don't even know what that is— "Isn't it Maria's birthday?"— yes— "Are you pregnant?"— should I be offended?— and many more. Though, they listened to my request and stayed away from the car.
I check the time and see it's 12:04. Lori finishes with Maria's seatbelt and once people see her, they start asking her questions she's forced to answer. "How are you and Matteo?"— fine— "Why don't you live with your husband?"— personal reasons— "Do you want anymore children?" — Maria's enough of a headache. Then she finally tells them, "look, I've got to go. Lana and I are running late to Maria's birthday party."
"Okay! We love you Alana!" And. "We love you Lori." I blow the crazy assholes a kiss and get back in the car.
Lori drives off and I mutter, "I ducking hate paparazzi." She snorts at my use of words.
"Mama it says it's 12:12 but we're supposed to be there at 12:00. Are we late?" Lori nods. "Only by twelve minutes but it takes a little over twelve to get home so... blame your dad."
We're on the open highway near our house now. Nobody uses these highways often because it's not to get to a public place, it's to get to private mansions like ours.
Suddenly, the car abruptly stops and the airbag smacks us in the face. "What the fuck, Lori?"
"That's a bad word Tia." Maria furrows her eyebrows. Lori mumbles. "You got it from your da- what the fuck is that?"
I look up to see a white woman with long dark brown hair and glasses covering her eyes. "Who's she?"
Lori shrugs, "I don't know but I'm glad we took those classes Matteo forced us into." Lori tries to drive away.
The woman is getting closer. Now that I have a better view of her I can tell she's grinning.
"Lori?" I start panicking. "Why isn't the car working?"
"I don't know." Her hands are shaking when she quickly rolls down the window to check. Now the woman is running. Lori pops her head back in the car and rolls the window back up when she gets to us.
"Tires flat. Woman's right at my window. Maria's in the back seat. And you're panicking isn't really helping." She says calmly.
"Mama, I'm scared." Maria quietly tells Lori from the back seat.
The woman starts circling our car and banging on the window, her grin not faltering. I flinch when she stays at mine. "Look at me, Alana!" The weird bitch yells. Lori takes her phone and starts recording. "If I get a video Matteo can find out who it is."
"I'm an old friend of Ciro and Farida's, no need to be scared." Ciro and Farida? "Come out of the car."
Who's Ci— Dominic, Mariah, and Adriana's parents. How does she know them? This woman looks young, no older than me. Ciro and Farida are probably in their late forty's, early fifty's.
I pick up my phone and call Matteo. He picks up right away. "Where are you guys? It's almost 12:30 and everyone is here."
I flip on my camera and point it at the crazy person. She screams, "Matteo! What a delight it is to see you!"
"Who is she?" I glare at him when he asks that. "If I knew, why would I be calling?"
"I'm on my way."
I hang up and glance at Lori while she comforts Ria. Just a few more minutes.
The woman leaves and I see Matteo's car pulling up down the road. The woman comes back with some weird device and smashes it on my window, breaking it.
I scream. Unbuckle my seat belt. And get away from her.
She grabs my chin and makes me look into her eyes, there's no more playfulness in her expression. Matteo's getting closer by the second. "I'm not going to kill you, Alana... yet. But I need you to get a message to Angelo for me." She pulls out a gun and aims it directly at Lori's head when she tries to fight her for me.
I nod. "Y-yeah. I can do it." She smiles at that, humourlessly. "Great." She throws me a letter and Matteo pulls up but she's already gone.
"Come on." He tells us.
Once we're all in Matteo's car I unfold the letter.
Dear Angelo,
I bet you've been having the best time searching for me these past five years.
Sorry about your house, though. It wasn't an accident or anything just thought it'd be nice of me to say. I won't lie, I'm a little saddened not one single person died.
Anyways, if your Emiliano guy didn't get in the way, Alana would've been stuck in a forest... I know what your thinking. "Get to the point, my old tired 28 year old self doesn't have the time of day for this shit."
I'll make it quick.
I'm only here because Ciro and Farida need to pay for what they did.
I'm starting to think you and your baby mama should be the price.
With love,
Ava.
"Let me see that." Matteo looks at me through the rear-view mirror after we've parked and I give it to him. I believe he's still associated with Angelo and right now it's useful.
>|<|>|<|>|<|>|<
The second we walked through the front door, everyone surrounded us. They wanted to make sure we were okay but I wasn't going to let the creepy girl ruin Maria's big day.
Now we're all outside playing tag.
Aiden's it and he's targeting Alessia because she called him a trash baller. Alessia runs screaming "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, stop!" But she has some long ass legs so Aiden hasn't caught her yet. The rest of us try to stay out of Aid and Sia's way.
"Aiden! Aiden! I have stamina but please stop, Aiden! Remember when Lori called you a scardy-cat?" Aiden pauses but Alessia's still running.
Then Aiden turns his head in our direction. I say our direction because it's Lori, Matteo, Ria, Sy, and I huddled in a corner. "Don't you dare-" Lori tries to threaten him but it's too late, he's already sprinting here.
So I grab Seriyah and wish the best for the other three.
Maria gets tagged and Lori got away. "Hey, I thought you were after mamma. You're not being a nice zio."
"Sorry, nipotina." The zio in question shrugs. "You have your mamma's blood in you."
She huffs and goes for Matteo who lets her tag him. Matteo grins and runs straight for Aiden. Aiden turns around and uses his basketball skills to break his ankles and run in a new direction. Matteo nearly falls but catches himself and goes for Marcus who was laughing at the annoyed father.
Marcus is now it and decides to target me.
"Marcus, I will kill you," I warn him but he doesn't care.
So I trick him.
I go in front of the pool and him not paying attention works in my favor because when he gets close enough to tag me, I side step in the other direction and he falls into the pool. Seriyah— who is still attached to my hip— cheers me on. "Go, mamá!"
Marcus is crawling out of the pool when he says, "I think it's time for a swim break." Then he reaches up, grabs my thighs, and throws Sy and me into the pool.
Everyone laughs at us.
Marcus is now out of the pool, only to take off his shirt and jump inside with his swimming trunks already on. Victoria, Alessia, and Carina take off their clothes to reveal a matching black, white, and yellow one-piece. Maria and Seriyah change into colorful bikinis while the rest of us women wear simple ones. All the guys are in trunks.
"Let's play chicken!" Sy suggests and in seconds Matteo has Maria on his shoulders and Carina has Seri on his.
"Ready to lose, Matt?" She smiles.
Matt cocks his head to the side. "Nah. Ready to win."
Lori, Dahlia, Aiden, Marcus, zio Carter, Leo, and Kara are cheering for Matteo and Maria to win while Nai, Mari, Ath, Alessia, Victoria, Dario, and I are cheering for Carina and Seriyah to win.
"Yeah, Sy! Put those hands to use!" Nai shouts. "Carina I swear if you don't hold her tighter—"
"Okay, I'm trying." He interrupts her mid-threat. "Pazza."
"I know what that means Carina." She glares at him. "You want a crazy woman, I'll show you a crazy woman."
I've never seen Nai like this and it's scaring me.
Nairobi. The girl with a secret husband and daughter she won't tell me about. The girl who's practically a real-life teddy bear. The girl who is yelling at my friend to keep Seriyah and her above water.
"$10,000 says Sy wins." I place a bet with Lori. She smirks, "$10,000 says Ria wins."
Seriyah won. "Pay up." I nudge Lori's shoulder.
Though, Nai is the happiest person right now. "Yes! You did it, girls!"
More rounds of chicken pass by. Leo and Kara versus me and Victoria. Dario and Nai versus Dahlia and Alessia. Aiden and Athena versus Marianne and Marcus. And more. Then we played Marco Paulo. Then went inside for hide & seek.
Now we're all sitting at the dinner table eating. All nineteen of us spread around a huge table and I love every second of it because this is my family. Maybe not Dario but he's a blood relative so who cares.
After we've finished our food, Lori excuses herself but in two minutes she's back with a lit cake. The cake is placed in front of Maria and she grins at the colorful thing drenched in icing. The lights are off and phones are out, ready to record.
We begin to sing. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Ria—" A pause. Some people said Maria while others, like me, said Ria. "Happy birthday to you!" Then we sing the, "how old are you?" song and count up to five.
Matteo and Lori are standing on either side of their child grinning like idiots. "We love you, Mia Bellezza." Lori ruffles up her hair a bit. "Make a wish." Matteo nudges the five-year-old's shoulder.
Maria closes her eyes and seconds later, blows out the candles. We clap, cheer, and shout. "Congratulations, Nipotina." Dario tells her from his position next to Matteo. I'm next to Lori and Sy sits next to me.
After everyone has had a piece of the "Tangled" themed cake, we open Maria's gifts and she gives every one of us a hug.
Now it's 6:00 and after a whole day full of fun, everyone is leaving to Ariana's house to celebrate the second party there. Lucky bastard gets two sets of gifts.
I'm alone in the house so with nothing better to do, I go to sleep with the memories of that loca chick haunting me before my mind goes blank.
"Boss?" Two knocks sound on the door and Sergio enters. "We've found Ava would be at a club celebrating popping Mrs. Johnson Marino's tires."
Well, that's new. We've been searching for this woman for the last five years so out of all the things he could've possibly told me, I didn't expect this. "Good work, Sergio. We're finally getting somewhere."
"Don't give me all the credit, the new recruit is better than I thought." He shrugs. "I still don't trust him but he accomplished something small we couldn't even do with five years."
I nod, "You're dismissed."
Sergio leaves the room and shuts my door behind him. I'm inside my office planning and sorting but with this information, I have to think fast. Knowing Ava will be at the club, I'll have to be smart and know the right time to attack.
Immediately I begin to plan an attack, and by 7:35 I have the whole thing ready, and by 8:00 I'm sitting in the conference room for a meeting.
Vince, Carlo, Alessandro, Matteo, Leonardo, and Dario just got back from dinner at Mrs. Johnson's house, Maria's nonna. They're all with me, Adrianna, Mariah, Dominic, Romano, Sergio, Valentino, high-rank soldiers, the commanders, and my parents.
I begin with why I'm here. "We received information that Ava would be at the club tonight, we have to work fast and smart." I explain that I'll need soldiers surrounding the club so they don't get away, Sergio and Valentino on the cameras, and the distraction.
Vince and I.
As strippers.
After the meeting finishes, V stops me in the hallway. "Angelo, I know you probably don't give a flying fuck but I have a wife and kid-"
"Fetus." I correct. "You have a wife and fetus." He gives me a look so I say, "Oh, no. Please continue."
He sighs. "Anyways, she will do everything she can to get footage of me being a male stripper and embarrass me for life." Just then, Alessandro is walking down the hall. Vince's eyes brighten. "Someone single with no life."
Alessandro looks up when he hears what V said. "Excuse me? I have a life, bro. I just rather do my own thing until I'm stable enough to have a family, we're going through a war right now. At least I'm not dumb enough to get someone pregnant, Ava can easily kill your baby. And then boom," He says. "Four months went to waste."
I slowly step away while Vince and Alessandro have a heated conversation throwing profanities in Italian at one another.
I make my way to the armory where the soldiers who will be stationed outside of the club should be getting ready. Matteo, Alessandro, and Carlo were planned to be servers so they can get into the V.I.P area where Ava will be celebrating.
When I enter the room, I'm met with hundreds of soldiers all getting ready for the event. I first walk up to two who are currently bickering while strapping holsters onto each other.
"Okay, idiota." Bianca pushes his forehead.
Romeo stops tightening her holster and looks up to glare at her. "Don't call me that, woman."
Romeo is on his knees in front of Bianca, helping her get the holster on. "Yeah whatever, tighter little bitch."
"I don't think you'll be calling me little tonight—"
"Okay." I interrupt, making my presence known. "Don't discuss your personal shit in open areas, please."
"Sorry, boss." He tightens the holster a little too much and Bianca gasps.
"Alright, just hurry up," I say disgusted. "We leave soon."
I move away from the two weirdos and find Niccolo and Ricardo across the room.
"Man, you should've seen the girl I had last night." Ricardo nudges his shoulder. "Double d's, I might have to call for a round six."
"Five rounds? Seriously, man you need to give her time to heal." Niccolo snorts.
"She can take it," Ricardo smirks.
"Get your guns then get to the vans." I try not to puke when the mental image of Ricardo fucking some woman into dawn comes to mind.
They're startled by my random presence and I roll my eyes, then turn to leave.
"Great catch, though." I compliment.
Next stop, the commanders.
These happen to be the only non-disgusting people here because when I near them, they aren't talking about sex. Maybe because they're siblings but still.
"Sup, Capo." Emiliano greets and I get a simple nod from Gianna.
"You guys ready?" I ask.
"Yeah, was just about to head to the van," Gianna answers. "A problem, sir?"
This is why these are the commanders. I can count on them to not be idiota's in a time like this and get shit done.
"No," I shake my head. "Have you seen Vince though? We have to get into our disguises and he's nowhere to be found."
I've already got the realistic mask on so I look like a completely different person right now but I still have my weird outfit for tonight.
"He just entered the room, Angela." Emiliano points to the doors, I glance and see V there.
I'm already leaving them when I say, "Thanks, Emilia."
I move around the room until I'm finally in front of Vince, "Ready to see our costumes?"
He nods and I motion for him to follow me. We stop in front of two suits, one has cheetah print all over it with a cheetah mask to hide our faces, the other has black panther print and a mask as well. Ava won't be able to recognize us tonight.
We grab our suits and slip into nearby washrooms. When I come out, I see Vince in his cheetah costume and cannot hold in my laughter. "Vince, man..."
"Shut up, look at yourself." He gives me a once-over and snorts. "I can see the outline of your dick in that."
I stop laughing and glare at him. "Why are you looking? You have a wife man, I think Iris should know I'm turning you on."
He rolls his eyes and I shake my head, moving around the room to get to the door. Most of the soldiers have already left because it's time to go. Vince and I are riding in an SUV together.
As a precaution, we gave every single soldier a tracking device to put on Ava in case she somehow gets away.
When we get outside, every soldier is lined up and ready for my instructions. A few smile at my odd outfit and others try not to look directly at me, barely containing their laughter. "Alright, you know the details. Some of you— you know who— will be stationed outside surrounding the building and some will be stationed inside the building disguised as bouncers. The rest of you— which is Matteo, Alessandro, and Carlo— will be servers inside the V.I.P. room she's in."
I look towards Sergio who normally works alone but Valentino just became a high-rank hacker so now I put him and Sergio together. "You and Valentino will be inside a van communicating through the ear-pieces to tell us her every move."
They nod and I look through the crowd again. "Ready?" A synchronized nod comes from them. "Then let's go soldiers."
The group slowly files out into vans and I approach Matt, Carl, and Al to see how they're doing.
"Ciao." Carl puts two fingers up.
"Oh, Angelo I forgot to give this to you." Matteo says. "Ava gave it to Alana and it's meant for you."
I take the crumpled piece of paper and unfold it.
Dear Angelo,
I bet you've been having the best time searching for me these past five years.
Sorry about your house, though. It wasn't an accident or anything just thought it'd be nice of me to say. I won't lie, I'm a little saddened not one single person died.
Anyways, if your Emiliano guy didn't get in the way, Alana would've been stuck in a forest... I know what your thinking. "Get to the point, my old tired 28 year old self doesn't have the time of day for this shit."
I'll make it quick.
I'm only here because Ciro and Farida need to pay for what they did.
I'm starting to think you and your baby mama should be the price.
With love,
Ava.
After reading the message, I furrow my brows. "Why is she bringing Alana into this?"
"We can figure that out after, right now we have to get going." Alessandro says.
I nod and they head into their SUV. I wait until five minutes after the last car leaves with them before driving me and V to the club.
"I'm actually kind of sexy." V starts. "Look at me bro, my dick is huge in these and it looks so fine—"
"I think you accidentally married a woman, you should've been with a man." My lip twitches in a smile.
"Nah man, Iris is everything. You'll understand someday I hope, maybe Alana perhaps?" He nudges my shoulder and I swerve.
"Not going to happen."
Alana was pretty, yes. A good mother, yes. But she isn't someone I'm interested in, she seems uptight and confusing so I'm staying away for now until we eventually have to meet in the future. Hopefully, she's as good at co-parenting as she is when it comes to being Sy's mom.
"Why not, I know Alana." He continues with this dumb shit. "She's the one for you man. Even Ava thinks so."
I tune out of the rest of his rant and instead focus on getting to the club. When we arrive, Gianna greets us. "Hello, capo. Everyone is in position, I was just about to join Emi on the roof." Then she looks down and grins. "You're packing, sir."
Before I can say anything, she walks off. I turn to Vince. "Ready?"
"Always, boss." He smirks.
I nod and we walk together to the back entrance where the strippers go to get ready. Since we were already dressed, all we had to do was wait until it was our turn. Suddenly, we heard our introduction. "Next will be Ghepardo Veloce and his partner Pantera Liscia!"
"That's us." Vince says as if I didn't know already.
"No shit."
We make our way onto the stage and start with our opening pose Ana said they'd go crazy over. Some twirling on the pole with Vince. I'll admit, I didn't think this'd be fun.
Vince does a dramatic twirl the jumps off and to the ground, rolling onto his back. I sway my hips as I walk over to him then get on his hips and grind. The crowd goes wild for that one.
After a couple more moves the curtains close and I hear Valentino say through my ear piece, "Good to go, Ava isn't alone though."
I nod and Vince follows me up to the V.I.P area. Matteo should be up there with Alessandro and Carlo. "Alright," I say. "3...2..."
We bust through the door and the three servers whip out their guns. They pass two in our direction so now the five of us have our guns aimed at Ava and a random man. They smirk and suddenly the lights flicker.
When they're back on, Ava and the man are nowhere to be found. We turn our heads to the door and see them quickly exiting. I guess we aren't the only ones inside the club's mechanics, they have someone on the cameras and even the systems too. Which means...
They knew we'd be here.
Shit
We follow them out the door and I figure out the guys name when Ava whispers, "This way, Luca."
Luca. The guy looks oddly familiar. I don't know if it's his looks but he looks like someone I've seen before... just different in a way. I don't know.
We chase Ava and Luca down various halls until they've randomly gone out of sight. I look at my friends to search their expressions.
Alessandro looks worried. Vince is annoyed. Carlo seems confused. Matteo is observing where they could've gone with a blank stare.
I'm not sure if there's any hidden doors in this place because I don't own the club, it's some anonymous CEO who doesn't want to show their face. I suspect Ava and Luca might be associated with them because they shouldn't have gotten away so easily.
How did they know we'd be coming, though? And why did they want us to?
"Capo?" Emiliano's voice comes through the earpiece.
"Yes?"
"There's been a bit of a—" Emiliano grunts as if he's in some sort of struggle. "Problem. See, Ava and her friend got out undetected and they have an army of teenagers. We don't want to hurt them but—" Another grunt. "They're feisty and it's pissing me off— hey, kid? Don't you have homework or something?"
"Christmas break, Idiota." Some boy's faint voice speaks through the mic.
"Okay but aren't you a little young—" Emiliano gasps. "Did you just knee me in the dick? You missed, Ava doesn't teach you aim well, does she?"
"What? I'm only here to get paid, now do you want to fight or be my therapist with all of these questions?"
"Sorry, kid. You need a new trainer though—"
"Emi." Gianna's voice appears suddenly. "Hey, bud. See some of us are fighting and your conversation is distracting as fuck."
"He's right though." Romano tunes into the conversation. "Hey— cheater! I have no gun you can't just pull one on me— Hey! Put that down, kid."
"Where's Ava getting teenagers from?" Matteo asks into the mic.
Emiliano takes that as his chance to continue talking to the kid and get some answers. While he does that, we make our way outside to help fight.
"Why is there so many hallways in this club?" Carlo complains.
"Are you sure were going the right way?" Alessandro looks around at all the possible ways we could go after asking.
"Al, bro." Vince says slowly, almost like he's talking to a child. "Just follow the music."
We make it to the main floor and head downstairs from the VIP area to the back entrance. When we reach outside, we're met by too many teenagers for comfort.
"Woah." This comes from Carlo. He continues. "What if we just took them because they're kicking ass of trained soldiers... could be useful."
"Why are we friends with you again?" Vince questions.
"Because I'm unbelievably beautiful, the funniest here, and without Carlo..." he pauses dramatically. "What really is there in life?"
"Peace?" Matteo suggests.
"Happiness." I add.
"Silence." Vince smiles at that.
"All of the above." Alessandro grins and nudges Carlo's shoulder.
"Hey boss, I see you at the door..." Gianna starts. "Are you going to stand there forever or help out."
"Right, let's go guys." I state.
In seconds we're all in the swarm of undertrained teenagers. On my way here I ordered not to hurt them. Instead, dodge attacks and make sure Ava and Luca don't leave. If things don't work out, well take a teen and hopefully it'll scare answers out of them.
"Yo, Ang man." Mariah's irritating voice fills my ear.
"What?"
"We've got a slight problem."
"What?"
"Okay so, we've all been busy fighting— obviously— so we weren't exactly observing the best we could because we've been trying to protect ourselves from harm so don't be mad when I tell you—"
"What?"
She sighs. "Ava and Luca have escaped—"
"Wha—"
"I know, let me do it for you." She does her best me impression when she says, "What?"
"I don't sound like that."
"Whatever, we managed to put a tracker on the both of them, though. The sooner we get home, the sooner we can set it up."
I realize the teenagers are slowly trying to get away before anything happens to them now noticing their boss has left. An idea blooms in my mind.
"Dominic?" I say.
"Yeah?"
"Grab a teen."
"Kidnapping, Angelo?" Alessandro sounds annoyed. "Really?"
"We're just taking them hostage for a day... maybe three or four... weeks." I glance at Matteo to watch him shrug after saying that.
Well, we managed to put a tracker on them and we got a teen.
I'd say mission failed successfully.
>|<|>|<|>|<|>|<
Word count: 5757
Anywayssssss
How r y'all?
How was stripper Ang n V?
Iris would be proud
I'm so ready for five y/o Sy to grow into teen Sy because it gets so much more fun
And sad 🥳
Boat
😚
Anywaysss ignore that cuz u won't understand TIL the book is done
I don't have much to say honestly but since Kenji Kishinoto, Nazeera Ibrahim, Juliette, and Aaron Warner are so amazing I just can't wait for a TV adaption of it
I'm always thinking bout these peeps like I love them way too much
Anywho
Ideas/feedback?
Honestly I forget which way it goes.
Ideas/feedback or feedback/ideas
#2 sounds better idk
Okay bye my lovelies <3333
I talk too much
8/19/22 it's 1:30am so idrk if that counts as the 19th yet cuz it isn't until I fall asleep pour moi