We got to Rome at first for Sky to obviously fix her makeup and I gathered something useful before Sky managed to 'convince' the pilot to fly us to New York so we couldn't drive to our city. Sky convincing the pilot was really hard to watch. After that, we decided to leave my car and go with the car we were going with.
"Skyler. Please, I beg you! I don't want to hear about your sex stories with Dante." I said incredulously. "But you haven't heard the best part yet -" She was interrupted by the groaning of our friend at the back. He was waking up.
"Thank you." I said in one breath to the guy that was confused as to what the hell is going on here.
Sky stopped the car by one of the allies, and that familiar pathway we used tells me that we are finally in New York. I could see that it is colder than usual.
"Where the fuck am I?" He groaned as he was getting up. "In a car." Both Sky and I said at the same time.
"What happened?" He rubbed his temple, and I gave him some water, and he was paused before he took it, "It helps with the headache." I said to him, and he drank the whole thing. Just because I kidnapped a grown man does not mean I need to be less hospitable. My mom always taught me to be hospitable to even the most annoying people, and this is how I was able to put Matteo using my mom's words.
"Now that you're a bit refreshed. Who the hell are you?" Sky took out a gun and laid it upon his cheek. I guess we're moving right to the interogation part.
"I work for Lucas." I knew it. He was the one sending those texts. It all makes sense. He knew my every move, but how? How could I not realize that it was Lucas? Even Adrian warned me that night in the restaurant that Lucas knew.
"How is he able to track where I am?" I asked, and he shrugged, but Sky pressed the gun harder into his face.
"There's someone giving him information about you. That is about as much information as I could give you." And I looked at Sky, who was just as confused as I was. His voice was melodic, which made me want to believe him, but I did not trust anyone. I must not trust anyone.
"There must be someone working for him inside the family." Sky said, and her suspicion could be right. It might be even one of the family members. I put my hand by my chin to think which one of them could it be? It could be Alessia. Maybe I could contemplate further on that.
"Please. Just let me go." His Hazel eyes begged, and Sky didn't seem to listen. "We can't trust him." With that, she pulled the trigger, and he laid dead on the seat.
"Wow. Great idea, Skyler. Now, we have a dead body to take care of." I gave her fake jazz hands, and she glared at me.
We checked if he had something on himself, and he did. It was a phone that was probably also tracking his every move. I looked through the phone, and I found nothing that could help us. They're probably tracking him down. I smashed the phone into pieces.
"Now, what are we going to do?" I sighed, and Sky sighed, realizing what problem she just got us into. I zipped my black hoodie, and I had to admit that I looked very, very displaced.
"This is why you think before you shoot." I said, rubbing my temple in frustration. The sun was beginning to set here, and it was maybe 10 a.m. back in Italy.
"Whatever. We'll just go to the hospital by Central Park and say we found him lying on the floor with blood around him." She said, and I wonder if they'll believe that story. Although, now that I think about it, they might because the crime levels in Central Park are high.
"Yeah, I'm driving." I we swapped seats, and I drove on to the hospital.
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"Please help. We found this man lying down." Sky fake cried as the doctors rushed to take him. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes.
"Can you explain what happened, ma'am?" A policeman came to us, and I felt Sky stiffen up beside me.
"Um. We were driving at night -" He cut me off as I was explaining.
"Awfully suspicious driving at night." He wrote something in his notebook.
I touched Sky's clenched fist that was shaking, and I squeezed it for her to calm down.
"We just came back from a flight from Italy. We drove across a man who was lying dead on the floor, and we decided to -" He cut us off again. "To bring him here? Please give me your names, ID cards, and social security numbers and your passports." He said, and I furrowed my eyebrows towards the man.
"We were just helping the man. Now we're getting questioned?" I asked incredulously, and I met his blue stormy eyes. "We do not know how he got killed." He eyed us suspiciously.
"Well, neither do we." Sky snarled, and the policeman grabbed her hand harshly. "We might never know. Maybe you killed him." He said, and I almost snapped.
"Why? If a white lady came with the same problem, would you question her like you questioned us." I whispered lowly, not raising some suspicion.
"Woah. There's no need to fight unless... you're guilty for the crime." He said, and I scoffed.
"You're fucking crazy." Sky whispered lowly and I could see a vain popping from her head. Yup, her short temper is definitely kicking in.
The nurse approached us with a small smile on her face, meaning there might be some good news.
"We took the bullet out, so he is stable. He was not shot in one of his internal organs. Do you know if he has any family members and possibly his name?" The nurse asked, and I raised an eyebrow.
"We just said that we found him on the side of the road, so we know nothing about him." I said, exasperated with this Neanderthal of a policeman.
"Checks out. I'd watch your back if I were you." The policeman said, putting his shackles on his right pocket and letting go of Sky's hand. I would watch your back if I were you, I thought.
"Well. Thank you for bringing him here." The nurse said politely. Why can't the policeman be more like the nurse? I gave her a small smile before Sky and I left.
Sky and I walked away from the hospital and into the car. "I would have killed him right there on the spot." Sky gritted out and frustratedly ran her fingers through her hair.
"Leave him. Something might happen to him." I forget. We're back in America, and where most racism lives.
"Look." She showed me a text from Dante after moments of silence. It asked where she was, and a lot of apologies were sent after that.
"We are going back to Rome, but first, the riddle and maybe the hag." I started the ignition, and home was just another few blocks.
As she turned, my breath got hitched up throat when I saw the house I left a few months back. The yard was neatly kept, I could see, but the small house I once grew up in was barely standing. The architecture was almost integrated.
I got out of the car and Sky along with me. She took my hand as we walked, turned the doorknob to get inside.
The house was more dusty than I remembered. It was as how we left it, clean and untouched. Sky and I looked at each other while taking a deep breath.
"We should we start looking?" Sky asked, and I looked at the door we have not touched in years. "The place we have avoided for years. Mom and dad's bedroom." I said, and Sky gulped, but I hit her forearm. Why was she so dramatic about it?
"Ow!" She rubbed her arm, and I led the way.
We opened the door, and it smelled like nothing. The walls were still creamy white, the bedding was untouched, and so were their clothes. I held in my tears because I had not gone into this room since they passed on.
Sky went to the closet and started rummaging through the piles of clothes. I proceeded to go to the nightstand to look through the drawers.
The first drawer was pictures of us as babies, but a document was accompanied by the picture.
"I think I found something." I whispered as I blew the dust of the document to read the words clearly.
My eyes started scanning, then skimming, then reading the document. My whole body stopped moving as I read. My hands were shaking, and Sky came closer.
"Sky," I called out in shaky breaths as tears started streaming down my face, "Umm. O-our parents are." I gulped, and she came towards me with an eyebrow raised.
"Not ours." I turned to face her, but she seemed confused at first about what I was talking about, but then I gave her the document.
"We're adopted." I spat the words out. I couldn't believe it. All the times I thought they were my real parents, but they were not. When were they planning to tell us?
"I-I don't know what to say." Sky said quietly as she hugged me. My quiet sobs filled this echoey room.
"Neither do I." I hiccuped, my parents who loved and cared for me were not even my real parents. Our actual parents did not even want us. Our grandma might know something.
"We need to see grandma." I said, and I shuddered as soon as I said the word 'grandma'.
"Are you out of your mind?" She asked incredulously. "No. She might have the answers, and she is mom's mom." I said, and Sky frowned.
"You still calling her mom?" She asked, and I nodded. "She might've not been my biological mother, but she was still my mother, and I will always love her." I said because she taught me all the fundamental skills such as cooking and everything.
"So will I." She said, and we prepared ourselves to go next door to our lovely aunt Serena.
I knocked, and someone opened the door, and it was Aunt Serena. Her smile morphed into a frown.
"Oh, it's you two." She said, gesturing for us to come in. "If you're looking for your grandmother, she is down the hall, and on your right is the first bedroom." And for the first time, ladies and gentlemen, she did not even throw one insult at us.
We took the instructions, and we walked through the hall. Aunt Serena's house was bigger than ours, but it was a townhouse.
As we turned to the first bedroom as instructed, we opened the doorknob, and we saw our so-called grandmother lying I'm bed. Sick to her stomach.
"Oh my grandchildren, look grown up you are." She said as her neck turned to face us. Sky and I didn't even fake our happiness. We just stared her almost lifeless body. The irony in that statement was grandchildren, whereas last time, we were considered as strangers.
"Umm." She started before coughing really loudly. She was really sick.
Sky went beside her, pure anger relevant in her eyes. Our so-called grandmother is lying in bed in someone else's house.
A little girl came just about 7 or 8 years old. She looked really skinny for her age and she brown skin just like Sky and I. She had brown eyes, and her hair was messy but luscious at the same time.
"Gran, where should I put this?" The little girl holding up pills asked. Her voice was as smooth as honey.
"Oh Zoey, it's okay. Don't worry about grandma. Now leave us, please, I need to talk to them." She waved her off, and she gave us a small smile before leaving.
"Okay. I didn't think you would come and visit me." She said, struggling to sit up. It hurt to watch her try knowing she was going to die anyway.
"We didn't. We came here for answers." I took a chair, and I sat down. She nodded as if she knew what we were going to ask.
"Who are our real parents, and are they still alive?" Sky asked the question, and Grandma took a shaky breath.
"Well, about nineteen years ago. Your parents, the ones you grew up with, couldn't have children, no matter how much they tried. They decided to go to an adoption center, and that made me disown them. They went against everything we believed in. I didn't support their decision," she took a shaky breath and coughed a little bit before continuing.
"They found twins, and they were delighted. They raised you up into the people you are today, but they were so reluctant about telling you who your real parents are. They thought you would hate them. I investigated your real parents, and they live in those apartments. The rest of the answers you'll find there." She started wheezing, and I gave her some medicine.
She gave me a grateful smile, but it then turned into a sorrowful smile.
"The child who was just in here. She's your sister." She said, and then she just closed her eyes. Sky tried nudging her, but she wasn't moving.
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A/N
I can explain about the grandma. In the next few chapters. Anyways, yall don't forget to vote.