RYAN'S POV
The next day, after the boys had all gone back to their respective houses, I was walking through the hallway to my room, which was at the very end because for whatever reason they decided to put their doors in age orders, when I heard quieted sobs coming from one of the doors I was walking by. When I looked, it was Marco's.
I barge in without knocking, thank my mother instincts for that one, and walk in to see my older brother sitting against one of his walls with shaky hands pressed against his mouth and he tries his best to silence the violent sobs racking through his body.
I close the door behind me and lock it so that nobody else comes in before rushing to sit in front of him. I make sure not to touch him, in case it was a panic attack.
"Marco, hey fratello." I get his attention as his blood shot eyes meet mine. "Hey. Is it okay if I hug you?" When I get a small nod in response, I engulf him in a hug, and he leans into me.
(Brother)
Never touch someone who may be having a panic attack because you might make it worse. When you are a state of distress as large as that, you tend to not notice someone coming near you and the unknown touch could stress you out more.
When Marco finally calms down enough so that he stopped hyperventilating, I give him my bottle of water I was carrying with me to my room so he could take a drink of water. His hands are still aggressively shaking, but at least he won't faint from lack of oxygen.
I wait for him to say the first thing. Let him decide if he wants to speak about it. I didn't, however, fail to notice the small knife he was clutching tightly in his hand before I came in here.
"You can speak Italian?" His voice is rough and scratchy, but his question causes me to pause. I realized as I was trying to calm him, I called him brother in Italian.
I nod my head. "Yeah."
"You didn't tell anyone though. We all speak Italian."
"Yeah, I know that. In the beginning, I wasn't sure if my- our- younger brothers would be safe here, so I thought if I could understand a language, you all talked in rather frequently in, I could get us out if it wasn't safe." I told him the half-truth...
"Do you still wonder if it is safe or not?" My older brother questions.
"No." I am surprised by how quickly I answer the question. "I am not worried about you guys hurting us. You are all good people, no matter what you have as a side job."
His head whips around in my direction so fast he for sure got whiplash, and maybe a headache. He looks at me suspiciously. "How much do you know about out 'side job'?"
I shoot him a mischievous smile. "Enough." My answer is simple and curt. I quickly move the subject away from this. "When was the last time you slept. And I mean you actually slept." I was obviously referring to the bags under his eyes.
"Dunno."
I stare at him for a moments before standing up and holding out a hand to him. He is confused but takes my hand anyway. "Okay get changed into pajamas. I will be right back in my own pajamas."
"Wait, what?"
I turn to look at him and pin him down with a strict stare. "We are having a sleepover, and you are going to sleep."
He squints at me but finally relents. "Okay, but only if you sleep too."
We shake on it and I quickly go to my room to put on a pair of sweatpants I probably stole from Rudy and a very baggy black t-shirt I probably also stole from Rudy. I grab a pair of fuzzy socks and put those on as well before I leave my room.
I knock and enter Marco's room without waiting for a reply, making me pause.
Damn boys are rubbing off on me.
Marco is in his bathroom still, so I tuck myself under the covers and watch TikTok on my phone. When he finally does come out, I look up to see we are wearing the same thing. I snort to myself before putting my phone down and scooting over on the bed.
"What?" He questions looking down at his outfit self-consciously.
"It's nothing. We are just wearing the same articles of clothing in the same color." I reply with a little smile.
He nods his head before getting into the bed and pulling me closer to him, almost like I was a teddy bear, and he was trying to protect me from the real world.
Awww he needs a teddy bear-
The effect was almost immediate. The man was out like a light.
I soon drift off after him.
♤♡◇♧
I wake up to muffled noises from the hall. It sounded like people were yelling, but I couldn't properly comprehend what they were saying.
It didn't sound too important.
I'll just go back to sleep.
"MARCO WAKE YOUR ASS UP WE DON'T KNOW WHERE RYAN IS!"
Sleep.
The door opens aggressively and someone comes over and starts shaking Marco, who I knew was awake because he started groaning at the loud noises about a minute ago. "Wake up you oaf, we can't find Ryan." The person who was speaking sounded frantic.
"Shut up idiot. Everything is fine. Ryan is fine." Marco rotates his body a little bit so he can face the intruder.
"We don't even know where she is, and you are saying she is fine!?" The person is now practically yelling now.
Can this man really not see me?
Am I really that small next to my giant of a brother?
You know what?
I'm just going to say that blankets swallowed me and that is why he couldn't see me.
"Bro calm down." Marco says in a sleepy voice with a yawn. He lifts up the blankets I was tucked under to reveal...me. With my eyes closed because sleep. "She is right here. Safe and sound. Now go away you disrupted nap time."
"Why do you get to take naps with her first?" The voice sound aggravated, annoyed, and offended.
Oh shit.
I know the voice now.
"Maybe if you stopped acting like such an asshole to her she might cuddle you too. I must say, she is quite warm. Now go away and tell everyone that she is safe and sound."
The voice stomps out of the room angrily muttering some very colorful words underneath his breath as he closes the door not so softly.
I shift around a little bit to get comfier.
"Go back to sleep sorellina."
(Little sister)
"That's the plan." I mumble back already half asleep before I fall asleep completely.
♤♡◇♧
"Look they are so cute!"
"Take a picture to send to papa!"
"Shut up or you will wake them up!"
I grumble something that even I couldn't understand before turning over and giving... all of my brothers a glare.
Why were they watching us sleep?
"Shut up." I mumble angrily as I turn back over and bury myself under the covers again.
A round of laughter came from the boys surrounding me, even Marco, who I now realize is awake, but just about how much awake as I am.
"Sorry, but it is time to eat dinner now." I hear Lorenzo say in a soft voice.
I groan out of annoyance before attempting to untangle myself from the blankets. Once I finally am up I glance around the room to see most people have already left.
I yawn before looking at Alessandro. "Someone said something about sending a picture to Alessio. That reminded me that I haven't seen him in a while. Where did he go?"
"He is traveling the world to try and find our mother." His gaze studies my face to see if any emotions end up slipping. And to be honest, one would have because I just woke up and am tired as hell. The only thing that stopped me was that I didn't feel an emotion from hearing the news.
"M'kay."
♤♡◇♧
Sneaking out of the house was a pain in the ass.
I had to put on comfortable shoes and clothing that I could climb from the balcony to the roof. After that, I had to go to the only tree that I could use to climb down, which would be the tree directly outside of Alessandro's office, and then hop over the wall from the tree.
Not to mention the clothing and other weapons in my bag.
However, I was able to sneak out of Fort Knox without being caught.
The reason for why I had to sneak out?
I have a mission.
As Karma's Mistress.
So in my bag, I have a long blonds wig, some red heals, and a red dress.
After walking along the edge of the woods on a beaten trail, I finally came across a car.
I hopped into the backseat to see my driver is... my brother.
Rudy, of course.
"Alroght go ahead and start driving and don't look back here I am changing." After receiving a nod from my younger brother, I start to take off my old clothing and put on my dress.
After my dress is on, I situate my heals so that they fit on my feet. I then fit my wig onto my head so that it looks like my natural hair. For my makeup, I go with a bold red lip to make my dress and a dark gold eyeshadow with cat eyeliner.
By the time I am done, I look nothing like me.
We finally pull up to the little run-down club and I get out of the car. Rudy leaves, probably to park the car across the street, and I put my earpiece in.
"Hello? Check, check. Can you hear me?" My other younger brother's annoying ass voice comes through the speaker.
I roll my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I can hear you loud and clear. I am about to head in, alright? You got eyes everywhere?"
I hear some clicking of keys before I get a response. "Yeah I have eyes everywhere inside. A quick briefing. The guy is 56 years old and he trafficks girls and women. He even trafficked his own daughter, disgusting peice of shit. Luckily his daughter got out. Anyways, has a thing for blondes I guess. He should be able to just drink his death. Yeah, it would make it nice and easy. He is currently sitting all by himself but he is scanning over the bar, most likely looking for a girl to take home for the night, possibly try to sell."
"Sick motherfucker." Rudy mumbles from another end of the call.
"Currently he is in a private booth. You know what he looks like, so just lure him over." Rico announces completely ignoring Rudy's comment.
I skip the line and walk completely through after nodding to the bouncer, who was one of my most trusted men, and walked over to the bar.
My eyes scan the room and catch on my target. He was an older man, probably 50, had was bald and had yellow teeth. He must have felt me staring because he glanced over at me. When he did, I bit my lip before looking away, pretending to be shy.
However, when I looked away, my eyes met with another set of eyes, but this time much more familiar. He looked nice, but you could see he was annoyed to be there. The Spanish Mafia twins were with him, and honestly, probably dragged him here.
He perked up a bit after seeing my eyes and scanned my body up and down with his eyes. When he met my eyes again, I gave him a disinterested glance, and that seemed to deter him.
Why the fuck did Nikolai have to be here?
I pick up my neat whiskey that the bartender gave me, given that he knew who I was. I nod at him.
I feel a presence next to me and look over to see my target. His gaze catches mine and I pretend to be shy and avert my gaze once again.
"So," comes his gravelly voice. "What is a pretty lady like you doing at a bar alone."
Barf.
Cue the waterworks.
"My boyfriend was cheating one me. And the worst part?" I allow more and more tears to fall as I gulp down some more whiskey. "I found out because I walked in on him." I allow a very, very fake sob through.
My target leans forward a bit. "I could make you feel better if you want?"
I actually have to stop myself from doing a mixture of laughing or barfing.
"Yeah, alright. I just want to finish my drink first." I sniffle and dry my eyes.
He nods and orders a drink. I look the bartender in the eye and nod to him, telling him to put the drug in the drink.
He gulps it down quickly just as I finish.
"I had an Uber called because I knew I was going to go home now, so we can just take that." I state in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Are you sure you want to take an Uber? I can have one of my drivers pick us up." He offers.
Rich men.
I am rich.
But I like to drive myself.
"Yeah it's alright."
Then a car pulls up and I sit in the back scooting over so that my target can have room to sit beside me. I look at the driver, cough Rudy cough, and nod at him just as the target passes out.
I quickly get into the passenger seat and he drives off.
♤♡◇♧
By the time we are done torturing the man, and by we I mean Rudy and I, he is missing his fingers, eyes, ears, dick, and has broken legs.
I quickly take a card which has my signature look and also matches my signature tattoo, and put it on his body.
"I'll be right back. I have to get changed." I say to Rudy while taking out my clothing from previously and going to the bathroom of the hotel.
ALESANDRO'S POV
They may think that they got away with sneaking out tonight, but I know something is up.
I noticed it a little too late, because by the time I realized they were gone, Ryan was already done the tree outside my window. I watched as she hopped the wall.
It is odd how closed off Ryan is. Especially considering she is rather young.
I was happy today to see that Sue and Marco had opened up to each a bit. They both need someone and if they can be there for eachother, than who am I to stop a good thing from happening?
It frustrates me how I can't get a good read on her though. Her emotions are completely closed off, better than most mafia dons.
One thing I did realize, however, was that she was incredibly protective of put little brothers. It seems as if the triplets have a 'us against the world' type of thing going on.
As I had finished thinking that, I saw a figure hop over the wall and start climbing the tree.
What are you hiding sorellina?