Lail
Lail is 7
Laila is 9
Matteo is 10
They will be speaking in Arabic unless Lail says so in the flashback, I just don't feel like translating all of that. Once the flashback is over then it'll be English.
"Mommy please stop!" I cried "I don't want to, please let me go" I tried pulling away from her but she just grabbed my arm harder.
"Call him! He won't answer if he knows it's me" she said getting angry.
I always hated it when she was angry. She would be so mean. She would always yell at me and hit me when I didn't do what she wanted, mostly when Baba wasn't around. He yelled at her the last time she hit me but it only made it worse after he left. I stayed in my room most of the day. She just scared me.
I took the phone from her and called my baba I hoped he answered because my mom wouldn't stop looking at me.
"Lail?" He answered and I looked at my mom, she finally let my arm go.
"Baba, are you coming to eat with us tonight," I asked nervously
"Why do you sound like that? Did your mother yell at you again?" He said sounding angry.
I looked at my mom knowing she couldn't speak English "I'm scared, she keeps hitting and grabbing me baba I don't want to be here."
My mother's eyes got angry and she snatched the phone from me "What did I tell you about that!" She threw the phone at me and it fell to the floor breaking "Stop speaking that damn language!"
I saw one of the guards coming up and he pulled her away from me "I'm going to take him out for a while" He put his hand on my shoulder "Why don't you go relax for a while"
She looked at him then me "Fine" She looked down at me than the guard "Keep him out for a few hours, I don't care. Don't even bring him back" She walked away.
"Mama-"
"Come on"
"Sir?" We walked into the house and I heard kids running around. I looked up at him and he patted my back "Don't worry they'll like you"
"Who are they?"
"They-"
I saw a man walking up to me but he wasn't my father, he must have been my uncle that my dad was telling me about because they looked a lot alike.
"Lail" He smiled at me "How are you?"
"You speak English?" I asked him confused
"Most of us do around here, your dad prefers it."
"I won't get in trouble?"
"Not at all, your dad should be coming down in a second. Do you want to meet your sister and cousin?"
I nodded my head excitedly. My mom always told me my dad had another family and that he didn't love us but Baba said that wasn't true. That he did love me, I knew he did. He always spent time with me and was always nice to me.
A very pretty woman came out of the kitchen wiping her hands on a towel "Laila! Matteo! Come eat!" She was about to walk back into the kitchen but looked at me. "Hi, there" She smiled at me.
"Angela this is Lail"
Angela, my mom said this lady was the reason why Baba couldn't be with us. She said she was a home wrecker, whatever that was it didn't sound nice.
She came over to me and knelt down in front of me "Have you ate?" I shook my head and she looked at my arm "Well let's go eat and get you some ice. Sounds good?"
"Are you nice?"
"I try to be" She smiled "I promise I'll be nice to you. Everyone in this house will".
"Watch it twerp" I looked over seeing a boy pushing a girl out of the way.
"Fuck off Matteo" She pushed him back then he pushed her back "Teo! Stop!" She screamed. "You asshole!"
"Laila language," my uncle said looking at her.
"Sorry," she mumbled crossing her arms. Matteo or Teo smiled at her then flicked her off "You son of bit-"
My uncle grabbed her by her shirt and then looked at Matteo "Stop antagonizing your cousin"
I stepped back into Angela and she gently grabbed my hand, not my arm. "Hey, it's okay. Those two fight like cats and dogs but they love each other, don't let them fool you."
"Matteo come here," My uncle said
"Yes, baba?"
"This is your cousin Lail, don't talk to him how you talk to Laila understand?" He nodded his head "Good, you two get him acquainted with the house. I don't know if you two heard but lunch is ready"
"Come on," Matteo said "You'll like it here. Definitely better than that shit hole you were at"
"Matteo Mostafa, watch your mouth," Angela said "Why the hell are you two cussing so much today" She looked at them putting her hands on her hips giving them another look then walking back into the kitchen.
"Sorry auntie" He looked at me "Laila's gonna love you, she's the only girl here and usually tries to get me to play with her fucking Barbies and shit" He shook his head "Don't let her talk you into it"
"Barbies?"
"Yeah-"
I got pulled into a hug which scared me "I'm Laila your big sister" She pulled me to look at her and then hugged me again "You're so cute"
"Our names sound alike"
"Duh you were named after the greatest" She looked up "Second great woman in the world"
"You aren't a woman," Matteo said
"I am, well I will be soon. Some girls start their period as early as 10"
"Gross" Matteo said scrunching his face up.
"It's normal dumbass" She drew her fist back like she was going to hit him
"You hit me and I'll beat your ass"
"I'm telling my baba you threatened me again"
"Snitch" he reached for her but she took a step towards the door and he glared at her.
"Try me bitch"
"You guys are weird" I mumbled looking down at my arm. A bruise was already on there and I was wondering when Angela was coming with an ice pack.
Matteo started laughing and Laila hugged me again "We can't wait to break you in. You'll be weird like us in no time," my big sister said hugging me tightly.
"Lail? Lail, do you hear me?" I looked up at my dad "What were you thinking about?"
"Nothing" I sat up "What's going on?"
"I need you to go check on Aurora, I haven't heard from her guards"
"Me? Don't you usually send Karim for that?"
"I do but he's busy with Saif, Matteo's helping Alonzo with some debt and asked Saif to look into the guy. Apparently, he's good at disappearing"
"Matteo's listening to Alonzo?"
He chuckled shaking his head "Apparently Alonzo freaked out on him, and wanted him to look into the guy and his girlfriend"
"His girlfriend? Is she helping him?"
"No, but she just popped up too, 2 months ago. A DON"
"That is strange, you thinking she faked her records or something."
"We don't think so, she knows what she's doing. Good staff, healthy residents, well as healthy as one can get in a nursing home" He chuckled.
"I'll call Matteo" I sighed "Talk to him about it. See what he says, then I'll swing by and check on Aurora"
"You have a long flight ahead of you, don't let your thoughts stop you from getting any rest Lail"
"What?"
He took his glasses off and looked at me "You've been going to therapy for years Lail, despite me telling you it's not your fault."
"I'm going to go. I'll call you when I land" I started to leave but he called me again.
"Lail?"
"Yes baba" I sighed
He looked me over "Have a good trip son"
I pulled out my phone pulling up one of the only videos I had of my mom, it was after my graduation and she couldn't stop recording everyone. We had just got one of those recorders and she barely knew how to work it, baba had got it for her because she was upset that she didn't get any good pictures for Laila's graduation.
"Lail look at the camera," My mom said laughing "Baby look! Babu look how handsome he is with his cap and gown"
"Mom," I said embarrassed, I looked at the camera and gave a fake smile.
"Lail I'm gonna beat your ass, smile. A real one, Laila get over here and make your brother smile."
"No, don't come over here"
"Here I come!"
She handed the camera to my dad and came over giving me a kiss then shaking me "Smile Lail" She looked at the camera and put her arm around me "Give ya mamma a smile baby" She pinched my cheeks and I couldn't help but to smile.
I smiled watching the video but it quickly went away knowing she died a few weeks after this video was taken.
I was broken out of my thoughts by Alonzo calling me "Yeah?"
"That man is infuriating" He yelled "He's talking about killing her, he put me in charge and now he won't listen to anything I say."
I scratched my head looking at the nursing home Aurora worked at and noticed her car wasn't there. "What happened now?"
"I got the girl and she has a fucking kid so I let her go, I didn't tell him, and fucking Lorenzo did. Now he's on his way back here, he told me to back off and he would handle it. I asked for help 2 days ago. He goes off the fucking map so I handled it" He said angrily "He's gonna kill her"
"Listen, just calm down. I'll talk to him, when did he leave Italy?"
"About an hour ago"
"I'll talk to him, just watch her. Make sure your dad doesn't have people already gunning for her, I have to go. I'm a bit busy."
"Watching your niece you never met?"
"Exactly that" I chuckled "I don't see her car though. Listen I'll have his dad talk some sense into him"
"What's with all the secrets? Why can't I know who his dad is?"
"Because he doesn't want you to know Alonzo" I rolled my eyes "It's personal to him"
"I'm his son how much more personal does it get?"
"He'll tell you one day if he wants to. I have to go." I hung up the phone and decided to go into the home, it was still early so maybe she went to lunch or something.
I walked in and was greeted by the receptionist "Hello how can I help you?"
"I had an appointment today but haven't heard anything from Aurora King, she was supposed to call but never did."
Her face got a bit sad "Oh Miss. King was in an accident last night. She won't be in for a while, it was pretty serious. She's in the hospital"
"Shit" I mumbled and pulled my phone out "Thank you" I rushed out to the car and called my dad.
"What is wrong?"
"Aurora's been in an accident, she's in the hospital."
"I'll call you back with the name."
I was walking down the hallway and someone bumped into me "Sorry" She looked back looking at me "Gotta get to the wife and kid" She ran off down the hall. She was beautiful but apparently gay.
"Everyone's gay now" I mumbled to myself. "Especially the cute ones"
I walked down the hallway and was surprised to see the cute girl I had bumped into was in Aurora's room. I wasn't surprised to see Tina but didn't know Aurora was gay. Laila mentioned that she had been with this girl that was supposed to be her best friend but I just didn't know. She told me her best friend ended things and that was that.
It felt painful to keep up with Aurora. Especially after Laila died, not being able to be an uncle to my only niece was heartbreaking. Then it got even worse when I found out she was pregnant. I missed everything in Aurora's life. Now Enya's.
It didn't help that Matteo completely shut the family off after Laila died. He was already struggling after my mom passed but once Laila died, I think that killed the little heart he had left. It was always the 3 of us then 2 and now, now he barely kept in contact with me. I think it's just painful for the both of us. I think it's easier for us both to just keep bare minimum contact.
Tina looked up and saw me, Enya was sleeping in her arms. She said something to Aurora then kissed her head walking out. I backed away from the door and she came out "I'm surprised to see you here, I was expecting Karim"
"Karim is busy with Uncle Saif so Baba sent me"
"Did he get the message I sent him? About killing Curtis" She said lowly "I want him out of their lives. It's one thing to pop in and out but she almost died Lail. What if Enya was with her, you know she takes her to work sometimes."
"I know, I know. He isn't happy, he'll find him" I looked at Enya who was sleeping on her shoulder. Didn't even budge a bit. "She looks like Aurora and Laila"
"She favors Angela too" She looked at me, and she turned to the side a bit so I could see her better "Do you want to-"
"I just came to check if Aurora was okay, I'll be here all night until the rest of the guards come, should be here in an hour or so."
She nodded her head "Good, I'll see you around then. If I hear anything about Curtis I'll let you know." I nodded my head and she walked off.
"Hey, Tina?" I called after her.
"Yeah?"
"Aurora's gay?"
"What?" She looked at me like I was stupid then looked at Enya "No, I mean I'm not sure. She's not dating these days since" she trailed off then shook her head.
"Well I bumped into the girl in there and she said she was getting to the wife and kid I just thought-"
She started laughing "That's Asia. They used to kind of be together but were better off as friends." She looked at me "No" She shook her head "She was like a daughter to Laila and Brandon, and how would you explain to your niece-"
"Alright Tina shut up damn" I waved her off "I don't know how Sante puts up with you"
Her eyes widened "I-I don't know what you're talking about"
"Have a good night Tina" I smiled at her and she glared at me before walking off.
Fucking Wilson's.