When we got to the house, I looked over at Haidyn, who was silent the whole ride. She had changed. The death of her father must have hit her harder than I could ever imagine. Her once happy face had changed to an emotionless, tired expression. One that she wore all the time. One that I wear.
We pulled into the garage and got out. I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder. I walked into the house with Haidyn following behind me. "We can go upstairs to my room or we can stay in the living room." I told her over my shoulder.
"Can we go to your room? There are a few things that I want to talk about." Haidyn responded.
I nodded and started up the stairs to my room. We were walking down the hallway when the door to the hidden staircase opened. Orlando and Vincenzo appeared. "Marlowe. How was your day?" Orlando asked when he saw us.
"It went better than I thought it was going to go." I turned to Haidyn. "Uhh, this is Haidyn. Her mom is Julia. She was going to hang out for a little bit, if that's okay."
He nodded. "Yeah, that's fine."
They started to walk downstairs when Vincenzo stopped and turned back to me. "Oh, Alessio was hoping to talk to you after you got home. I would show your friend to your room then go to his office."
"What does he want to talk about?" I wondered aloud.
"I'm not sure, kid. I just know that he wants to talk to you." Vin said before going down the stairs.
I looked at Haidyn. "Alright, let's go." I led her to my room. We walked in and she sat down on my bed. "So, what did you want to talk about?"
Haidyn gave me a weird look. "I thought you were supposed to go up and talk to your brother."
"He can wait for a minute."
She nodded. "I wanted to ask you a few questions. How did you get out? Sebastián kind of had you under lock and key, didn't he?"
I sat down beside her and sighed. "I was able to get out through a window. Remember Eric from school?" She nodded. "I ran to his house and he got me a ticket to New York. It took a few days, but I was able to get from Houstin to here. Then I lucked out and found my brothers. I was going to ask you a question, too. When did Luciano get here?"
"He showed up at school like, 2 years ago. I never said anything to him because I didn't really know him in Texas. I always wondered why he left you. Have you talked to him yet?"
I nodded. "He's actually best friends with Antonio. I saw him the other day and talked to him."
"Why did he leave?" Haidyn asked, looking around my room.
"I'm not sure. He gave me a reason when we talked earlier, but I'm not sure I believe him." I told her, starting to overthink.
Haidyn looked at me with wide eyes. "Wait, he didn't tell you why he was leaving?"
I shook my head. "Haidyn, he didn't tell me he was leaving at all. He just disappeared one day. I spent 2 years wondering what happened to him."
"And you still want to be friends with him? After he left you without saying goodbye?" Haidyn asked me, appalled that I was still trying to make an effort in our friendship.
I looked down at the floor. "He saved my life. I can't just ignore that. No matter how much he hurts me there will always be a special place in my heart for him. When he left, a piece of my heart went with him. And now, it's like that piece came back. I don't know if I can just ignore him."
Haidyn nodded. "I can understand that, I guess. Just be careful."
I nodded. "I better get up to Alessio's office before he send someone down here to get me."
Haidyn nodded. I got up and walked out of the room to Alessio's office.
I knocked on the door and heard a low grumble. "Come in."
I opened the door. "Do you want the door open or closed?"
"Closed."
I walked in and closed the door behind me. I sat down in a chair and looked up at him. He was typing something on his computer. After he was finished, he looked at me.
"When I tell you to come up to my office to talk, I expect you to be there as soon as you can. Not 20 minutes from then. Do you understand?" Alessio told me sternly.
What crawled up his ass and died?
I nodded.
"Eye contact and verbal confirmation." Alessio demanded.
I sighed and made eye contact with him. "Yes, I understand."
"Good." Alessio said. "Now, how was your day at school?"
"It was fine." I told him, kind of pissed off at how he was talking to me.
"And what's this I hear about you bringing home a random girl from school?"
Ok, now I'm actually starting to get mad.
"She's not just a random girl, Alessio. I knew her from Texas." I explained to him.
"Why didn't you ask one of us if she could come here? Marlowe, you can't invite people over to the house without asking us. We need to do a background check on her. Where is she right now?"
"In my room, why?" I asked.
Alessio sighed. "You need to tell her that she has to go home. You have to use your head before you get yourself killed."
I stood up and raised my voice. "Alessio, what the hell? Haidyn is my best friend. She's not going to fucking kill me!"
As soon as I said it, I stopped. I realized what I had done and instantly regretted my choice of words. My stubborn ass didn't back down, though. I kept my composure and held eye contact with him as he shot up from his chair. I flinched and felt panic run through me.
Please don't end up like Sebastián.
"Do not speak to me that way." He said eerily calm. "Listen to me. You have two choices. Either you go down and tell your friend that she has to go home or I will do it myself."
I stared at him, ways to get out of this situation running through my mind.
I went with a simple one.
"No." I told him, with an equally calm yet shaky voice. "I am going to go with choice 3. Haidyn is staying here and she will go home as planned."
Alessio laughed. "See Marlowe, the funny thing is you don't have a say. And since you are being so defiant, I am going to call Vincenzo and he is going to come up here and watch you while I go deal with your friend. After that, I want you to stay with either me or him for the rest of the day. Do you understand?"
I nodded. "Fine."
I watched as he visibly relaxed before he pulled his phone out to call Vincenzo.
I immediately bolted to the door. I swung it open and ran down the hallway to the stairs. I heard Alessio shouting behind me.
I ran down the stairs and sprinted to my room. I threw the door open and scared the shit out of Haidyn who was still sitting on the bed. I ran to the balcony doors and opened them. I turned to Haidyn who was standing up. "We need to go. Now. Forget your stuff."
I ran to the bag where I still had the burner phones. I pulled one out and threw the phone Lorenzo got me on the bed. Knowing him he probably put a tracker in it or something.
I ran onto the balcony starting to climb down. Haidyn followed my move. When we both got to the bottom, we sprinted to the woods. I ran to the place where I got out before to go to the fighting ring. It was light outside, so we were going to have to be careful. I climbed over the fence and waited for Haidyn to do the same.
I stood there for a second thinking about where to go. I didn't know many places. Haidyn walked up to me and grabbed my arm. "I know where we can go."
I nodded. "Lead the way."
Haidyn starting jogging and I followed her. We ended up by the warehouse. We walked past it and stopped at a building that was very familiar.
The fighting ring.
"Haidyn, wait. Antonio goes here all the time. He caught me here once. This could be one of the places that they look." I tried to stop her.
"I know someone here. Trust me." Haidyn persuaded.
I hated myself for the thoughts that started running through my head.
I haven't seen her in 3 years. How do I know if I can trust her? What if Alessio is right?
I nodded. "Ok."
I followed her into the building. She took me down a hallway and stopped at a door. "Before we go inside, you need to know a few things. She's the donna of the French mafia, therefore she's very powerful. But if you're having trouble, she will help you. She helped me."
I gave her a look. "How did she help you?"
Haidyn smiled. "Save your questions for later."
She didn't give me time to respond before knocking on the door.
"Who is it?" I could hear a voice from coming behind the door.
"It's me, Phine." Haidyn talked through the door.
I heard a chair moving across the floor and shuffling inside. The door opened and I saw a beautiful woman standing in the doorway.
She smiled and looked at Haidyn. "Hey, sweetie. How are you?"
Haidyn smiled back. "I'm doing good." She looked at me. "This is my friend Marlowe."
Seraphina looked at me. "I'm Seraphine Chevalier. If you don't mind me asking, is your last name Angeli?"
I was taken aback. "Yeah, that's my name. How did you know?"
She looked at me warmly. "Darling, you look a lot like your brothers." She looked at Haidyn again. "Come inside, girls."
She walked back into her office and sat down beside her desk. "Have a seat. What's the issue?"
I looked at Haidyn who gave me a reassuring smile. I took a deep breath. "It's my brothers. Well, brother. Alessio. I screwed up. I invited Haidyn over to the house without asking him and he gave me a lecture about safety. He was basically saying that he thinks that Haidyn was going to kill me. I raised my voice. And I may or may not have dropped the f-bomb. Then things got heated. I ran and took Haidyn with me."
Seraphine looked at me with a serious expression on her face. "Why did you run?"
I didn't know how to answer her question. "Honestly, I think I was scared."
I don't know why I was telling her this. I've never met her before.
"What were you scared of, sweetie?" Seraphina asked me kindly.
"Before I found my brothers, I was with my uncle. In Texas. He didn't like me very much and he made that very known. When Alessio was talking to me, he was mad. Really mad. I couldn't help but think 'what if he turns out like Sebastián?' I didn't know what to do, so I did what I always do. I ran."
[authors note: i'm really sorry for what's about to come]
I didn't run away this time.
Seraphine nodded. "Maybe you should talk to your brothers about this. And let me give you some advice from someone that has been through the same thing. Don't let your past affect your present. And if the past comes up, which darling I'm afraid it will, don't run. Face it. That's the only way to heal. It's a process. A hard and difficult process. But you don't have to do it alone. Let me give you my phone number. You can call me anytime."
I nodded, taking in the information that I was just given. Seraphine took out a pen and paper and wrote something down. She handed it to me. I looked at it for a brief second and then stuffed it in my pocket.
I looked back up at Seraphine. She pulled out her phone. "I need to call your brothers so that they know you're okay. Which one do you want me to call?"
I thought for a minute.
Alessio would yell. Orlando would probably be silently disappointed. Vincenzo would sternly lecture me the whole ride home. My best bet would be Lorenzo.
"Lorenzo. Call Lorenzo." I told her.
She nodded and typed something into her phone. Within seconds, the phone was ringing and the call was picked up. Seraphine put it on speaker so I could hear the conversation.
"Chevalier. How can I help you?"
"Your sister is currently sitting in my office. Are you with your brothers right now?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Leave the house and come pick her up. Don't tell them where you're going. And stay calm when you get her. Don't overwhelm her."
"Alright. Understood. Bye."
Seraphine hung up and looked at me. "Those boys love you more than you could ever know. And if they ever hurt you, come to me immediately. I will put them back in their place."
I nodded. We all talked about random stuff until Lorenzo came and picked me up.
I can not wait until I get home.
That was sarcastic by the way.
-
and that's chapter 15! I might post 16 later tonight to make up for missing on Tuesday. Then I think that only puts me 1 chapter behind. So maybe another chapter tonight and then a chapter on Saturday and Sunday.
Question of the chapter: If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?
I would definitely go to either somewhere in Alaska or Canada. I absolutely love snow and the winter.
Alright, that's all I have.
Bye!