"I can't believe we just did that!" Salvo said as he shook his head in disbelief and bent it down to slurp up the drink on the table. His words didn't make me believe that he was seriously worried, though. The glimmer of mischief in his eyes convinced me otherwise. He was probably feeling the adrenaline running in his veins, just like I was feeling it too.
"Father's going to kill us." Ares ran a hand down his face, sitting in the opposite seat of the booth we were currently in. sitting in. I sat at the window side and Salvo was next to me.
"Worth it." I grinned. I plucked a fry from a red bag with McDonald's logo on it and popped it into my mouth.
"Don't you want ketchup with that?" Ares asked for the hundredth time with a wrinkle on his face.
I sighed in frustration and looked at my annoying brother with a deadpan look. "As I said for the fourth time, no, I do not need any sauce."
"How could you not have any sauce?" Salvo chimed in with quiet outrage. "Fries without one is just plain."
"And you dipped your fries in your milkshake!" Ares cried out, wrinkling his face in disgust.
"It's delicious!" As if I could show them it visibly, I took a fry and dipped it in my Oreo milkshake, and swallowed it down in a bite. "You're all missing out. I feel sorry for you both."
"I feel sorry for you and your delusions," Ares muttered. Salvo nodded to agree with his brother's statement which I rolled my eyes at.
"Jesus, just fucking try it."
"Language, Ari," Ares said under his breath but both of us heard it.
"Don't be such an Elijah." Salvo retorted and I chuckled at that. We both received a glare from Ares.
Sneaking out was much easier than I predicted, which worked out in my favor. I merely disabled the cameras and I requested Ares to divulge the guards' attention to the other locations. No bodyguards had enough rank to disobey a Romano. Of course, he wanted to join us afterward which I quickly gave in earlier and easier than I usually would because I simply did not have the energy to argue with my annoying brother.
Salvo drove off straight to here once Ares jumped into the car with us. Once someone noticed the disabled camera, they would be setting off the alarms. With that problem in mind, we agreed we would be only here for an hour before going back to perhaps to be our demise waiting at the Romano residence.
Salvo and Ares began to bicker with each other and I, not being in the mood to speak anymore, darted my eyes away to explore my surroundings. There weren't so many people around but surprisingly a high number for the middle of the night. An annoyingly, giggling teen couple sat in a booth behind Ares where he sat. On the opposite side of the room to us, an elderly man sat alone, chewing his hamburger. A middle-aged woman was ordering something from the tired-looking cashier opposite front of me in the room.
The door opened and I looked over the two girls entering. I ran my gaze over them to move on to something else, but something deep in me halted and returned my attention to them. Both shared the same shade of brown hair, which I quickly marked off as sisters.
The older one's piercing gray eyes were framed by smoking black eye shadow and long black liner on the outside, making her eyes stand out. She wore a simple tight black long-sleeved crop top. Her long legs were covered with loose white pants with a gun and dagger underneath. It was barely visible but my mother a long time ago taught me to be observant.
She strode into the building with a confidence I don't think I even could possess in my lifetime and her heels on the floor were deathly silent. If I was blind, I would never have known she was in the presence even with these inches-long heels.
The younger sister was the opposite. Her face was deprived of any makeup or touch-up. The oversized glasses on her slender face matched her for some reason. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun.
They were so familiar yet I couldn't pinpoint how.
My heart stopped as I remembered, the memories slamming into me. Savoring the taste of strawberry lemonade on my taste buds as I gossiped with Diana. The smell of cookies that had just come out from the oven while I grinned in victory up to Cinzia who just taught me to bake. All of us sat in the seats in the computer room, trying to not fall asleep while our teacher taught us extra lessons about the illegal side of things. Me and Diana lying down in the training, watching in awe at Cinzia training with her weapons. I and Diana attempted to sneak in to steal some guns only to fail miserably, for we couldn't defeat my aunt's razor-sharp eyes everywhere.
Until it all stopped six months before I was taken - my mother and Aunt Calypso had the biggest argument and my mother kicked her out of the house only to never invite her in again. I remember tears streaming down my cheeks as Cinzia held me and Diana in her arms in the attempt of our loud cries. Cinzia had been just fourteen, Diana twelve, and me almost ten. Mother refused to allow me to say goodbye to my aunt before they all left, telling all of us that we would never see each other again. Both Calypso and Cinzia had to drag screaming Diana out.
I hated my mother with a burning passion after that but she managed to drive that hate and anger out with her sweet words, as always.
I nudged Salvo not so gently and he turned to me with a confused expression. I nodded my head towards the floor, signaling I wanted out. Salvo complied with a hesitation. I shuffled out of the booth and stood next to it. I took a step towards them but halted when one of their gray eyes made contact with my green ones.
"Ariana..." Diana's, my cousin, mouth opened and gaped at me. She squirted her eyes and leaned closer as if she had to make sure it was me. When she seemed to determine it was who she high me to be, her eyes widened.
"Cinzia!" Her hand shot out to tug her older sister's purse to gain her attention. Cinzia whirled around to give her sister an annoyed look. When the latter gave a pointed look towards me, Cinzia's gray eyes turned to meet mine. Her eyes widened and her mouth tugged upwards to show her pearly white teeth. A gleeful and disbelieving laugh escaped her.
"Brains!" Cinzia shouted her old nickname for me, not caring if the other people in the room heard her, and took a long stride toward me.
In a blink of an eye, Cinzia slammed into me and had her arms around me. "Ari, I missed you so much. You have no idea how much I thought of you in all these years. If you don't contact us again, I will hunt you down and murder you with my bare hands. Do you understand?" At the end of her rant, her tone had a sharp and feverish seriousness. She yielded away just enough to run her eyes over my face and shook her head. I could see the tears in her eyes.
I let out a bubbling chuckle, trying to ignore the prick of tears in my eyes and to get a grip on my overwhelming emotions. But for the first time in a long time, it wasn't bad but pure joy.
"You love me too much to do that, Zia," I replied with a shaky grin.
"That's right, I do." She gave a wet chuckle and bought me against her once again, holding me tight to the point where I could scarcely breathe. She grabbed my arms and pushed me to look at her again. "Seriously, though, why the fuck you haven't contacted us? You talked to our teacher and managed to not talk to us?"
"My memory isn't as good as it used to be." I gave her a sheepish look.
Her gaze hardened. "These Russians fuckers. When I found out..." she shook her head. "I'll kill them all. I swear. You and me both, we'll make them regret the day their mothers opened their legs. Speaking of that, why the fuck you haven't done that?"
"I have plans in mind." I offered.
"That's my girl." Cinzia patted my cheeks.
I snorted and she went on to add. "You know that's true. I had a hand in raising you. Oh, you're so beautiful! Look at these eyes. So green, you're lucky to have these pretty shades. It's wide, as always. You're still sharp as ever in there, too." She tapped my forehead with a pointed look.
"I guess you've heard about the submarine and all that..."
"Girl, even if I didn't hear about it from our teacher who you contacted to help you, I would still hear all that gossip going over of the infamous rescuing of so-called-oh-so-great Luca Romano and the undercover mysterious rescuer behind it all. I'd know it was you in a heartbeat, Brains."
My mouth tugged in a wide smile.
"Seriously," she shook her head. "I still don't know how the fuck you can do that when I can't even figure out how to multiply with more than the number six by memory."
"Zia, at least you're smarter than most idiots I live with." I rolled my eyes. But I caught myself hearing the hidden fondness underneath my voice.
Cinzia opened her mouth to reply but someone cleared their throat, cutting her off. Zia moved to a side to reveal Diana who was standing there with a shocked look still plastered on her face. Her chest was rising and falling quickly.
"Hi," I whispered.
She inhaled and exhaled. "Hey, Ari." She whispered back shakily, pushing up back her glasses unnecessarily. "We came here for you. I mean we didn't expect to see you here but...when we saw you enrolled into the school here and we thought we could-"
She was cut off when I put my arms around her, pressing my cheek against her. I could smell her shampoo. "I love you so much, Di," I whispered against her hair and pulled back to look at both of my cousins. "I didn't think I'd ever see you guys ever again."
"Me either." Diana sniffed.
"Ahem." The voice broke through our heartfelt reunion. I whirled around to see Salvo and Ares looking at us expectantly. They didn't look like the happiest people on the earth, either.
"Cinzia. Diana." Ares said through gritted teeth. "What the fuck are you both doing here?"
"Ares, Salvo, fancy meeting again, too," Cinzia replied a bit coldly and her glare was harsh. "We're just here to see my baby sister that I haven't seen for years. Any problems with that?"
I smiled at her calling her sister.
"Sister?" Ares scoffed and shook his head in disbelief, looking at her cousin with fury. "You're cousins by blood. Nothing more."
"You're not welcome." Salvo snapped and my eyebrows knitted. I'd expect this from Ares but not the cheerful and charming Salvo who got along with everybody. "Especially after lying to us."
"Back off." I hissed at my brothers. "I swear, if you say as much one more word to my sisters, you'll regret it."
Ares flinched and Salvo stared at me, a bit of hurt glimmering in his eyes. I felt bad but they had no right speaking to them like that. Diana squeezed my hand which I took as in grateful.
"Ari," Salvo began slowly and patronizing. "When Cata kidnapped you, we asked Calypso, which I assume you know who, if she knew where you and she were at, and she told us she didn't. Now here we are. You obviously know them very well."
"We were kids!" Diana defended. "That is between my mother and you guys. We just want to be here with Ariana. We love her."
"N-"
"That's enough," I told the brothers, showing them my palm. "Di's right. You have no right to be angry at them. We were kids and they'd done nothing. They're your family, too."
"Family." Ares sneered and I imagined that he was spitting on the name in his mind. "They're Cata's family."
"So are you." I retorted.
"We take more after our father's genes."
"So did Giovanni," I said coldly, spitting out words without my permission.
"What do you mean by that?" Salvo's brows knitted together and I felt my cousins' questioning gazes on me but I ignored it. I wasn't sure what they knew about that monster but I was put about to spit it now here.
"Where are you guys staying?" I asked Cinzia.
"We arrived here from New York two days and slept over the hotel ever since." She replied.
"We tried to sneak into the Romano mansion yesterday night but their security was too high." Diana's voice dropped to a whisper. "I had to stop Cinzia from murdering them all just to get through the gates. She really wanted to see you."
I snickered. Cinzia rolled her eyes.
"I would pay an entire fortune to see that." I had to strife my chuckles and shifted the topic. "You're staying with me at the mansion. You'll love my rooms. It's mind-blowing!"
They both grinned in happiness at my announcement. Diana bounced on her feet a little in excitement. Cinzia clapped her hands once in a silent agreement.
"Father and Ace won't allow that," Salvo murmured.
"No worries. I have an easy solution." Cinzia waved her hands at him. "Two mere swipes of a dagger on their throats will shut them up quickly, don't you think?"
"Zia," Diana warned.
"Sh, baby sis." Cinzia patted Diana's head. "Let your older sister take handle of it."
"Oh, please." She sighed as she nudged Cinzia's hand off. "The half of the world would have burned by now if I wasn't here. You need me."
"You should just let it burn. It's fucked up, anyway."
I couldn't disagree with that.
"Whoa, whoa." Ares held his palms up. "We haven't seen you for more than ten years and suddenly you think you can just waltz into our lives."
"Listen up, bitch." Cinzia growled. "I do not give a shit about you. And quite frankly, from what I see here, she doesn't give any for you either. The only person I'm interested in talking to is Ariana here."
"How long you'll be staying here?" Salvo asked, rubbing a hand on his forehead.
"Just until we find a good house nearby and we'll be out of your hair." Diana shrugged.
"You're moving here?" I shrieked, widening my eyes.
"Of course," Cinzia said. "Why else we would be here? Di is attending your school." She winked at me and I looked at Di with an exciting look which she returned with a wide gleeful grin.
"No," Ares said. "Absolutely not."
Cinzia opened her mouth and said something but I didn't hear her. Because of what I saw behind my cousins. My entire being froze and my heart stopped. Time stopped turning and everything seemed to go in a painstaking slow motion.
"What's taking so long- Ariana!" Aunt Calypso called out in surprise but I didn't pay her any attention. No, she wasn't the important being in this room.
Blond hair the exact shade as mine, piercing gray eyes that had once held both love and desperation for me were now wide, her skin smooth as ever - well, only on the only side. A wife of her face was beautiful as I remembered. The other side was scalded, burned, and scolded skin. Her left eye and corner of her full mouth were drooping down. The only physical demonstration of the rotted and poisoned soul she hid underneath her skin.
A scar made of my anger and hatred.
She's dead. She was supposed to be dead.
I killed her.
I remember how I pressed the fire on her face, watching how it scalded her skin. How I felt so powerful looking down at my mother, broken and pleading. I remember how her blood spilled on her hands, clothes, and face. My eyes when I looked into the mirror at myself. Crazed and unhinged. A blazing storm in my eyes. How my mouth trembled and my eyes filled with tears as it hit what I did to my own mother. How the dagger in my hands suddenly felt heavy as gravity and the loud clang it made when it slipped my palm to the concrete floor.
I'm a monster, I had thought to myself then. A child murderer, it was what the other monsters called me.
Stuffed into a closet where I was trapped with her corpse for weeks - forced to face what I was capable of.
Yet she's here, alive and standing before my eyes. Of course, it wasn't her corpse. I shouldn't have expected less from someone willing to kill her daughter to save her own life. Of course, she would always find the will to live and found a way to escape.
I've been pushing out the memory of what I did, even if I remember. I refused to acknowledge it. Now there's a living, walking evidence of my sins - carrying the fury I've caved in. Eyes always told the truth and I'm forced to face it right now.
I always carried the guilt inside me for what I'd done to her. I couldn't handle the remorse for it had suffocated and drowned me so many times like a big wave in the middle of a raging storm at an ocean.
Now? I regret all of the guilt and remorse that wasted my time because I want her to stay alive. To be erased from existence. I want to forget her.
I want her dead.
And I didn't care if it made me a monster.
I wasn't ten years old anymore. Not easily manipulated or swayed by sweet nothings anymore. Something snapped inside me down in that basement and there's no going back. Not for me and my mother.
When I found my voice, it was filled with resentment, hatred, and anger. I sat in the darkness for years, pondering on what she did. Again and again, I recalled the memory of how she tried to kill me. How she made me cry. How she left me alone for days or weeks when I was a child in need of her mother's love. How she made me work and work for her even when I was so exhausted. How she manipulated, shaped, and molded me into her perfect child. Until I was nothing but a pet in a cage, waiting on orders from her master. Desperate for treats from her master that she would do anything. Her long red nails curled around the gun. The pull of the trigger. My fear. The last shred of hope for my mother's selfless love once faded away.
I held on to that anger until the last shed of darkness ate it away, the memories fading away. Now, that it latched my mind once again - the pure fury is back in full force.
"Mother."
Hey, readers! I feel like the worst author in the world - not updating you guys. With the jobs and me being usually mentally unstable, I sleep and sleep in my spare time. Until today, I got the energy to finally sit down and write. I wrote this in one sitting so props to me!
I love writing this chapter so much and I hope you guys enjoy reading it.
What do you think of Cinzia and Diana??
I had their characters in mind from the beginning and I kept delaying introducing them until now. I felt like it finally was the right time to meet them now that she's starting school soon! School equals ✨drama.✨and more girl friends. Ariana needs more women and girls in her life.
For her love interest, I plan on making book two (standalone) which will focus on the romance between Ariana and her male love interest. It contains a small age gap (seven years gap), enemies to lovers, and smut. I'm not going to write about a fourteen years old girl having sex with a twenty-one years guy lol.
I'm planning to give Ari a girlfriend in this, though, but it won't be an endgame. Let me know what you think!