- A m a r a R u s s o -
One word to describe this trip to the mall?
Boring.
Let me tell you what that word means.
Boring is an adjective, that means not interesting; tedious. That was exactly how I felt as Sandeo was measured for his new uniform into said private school. A school that even I didn't know the name of yet.
"So... What is the school called?" I said, looking up at them. They ignored me.
"Um, why am I here?" I asked instead, and this time, Salvestro turned his head towards me.
"Cause you are going to the same school as them." he answered, and I made a confused face.
"But I'm in grade eight, elementary school. They are in high school." I told him, pointing to me, then to the twins and Sandeo.
"Don't worry. The school you are going to be attending is meant for grade sevens to twelves. You'll fit right in." Salvestro dismissed, before turning back to the dresser, talking about the most boring subject in the world.
Ties.
They spent thirty minutes already, talking about a suitable length for a tie for Sandeo, who was just playing on his phone, uninterested as they talked about his uniform.
Curious, I stood up from the chair to peek over at his phone, only to see the most scarring image ever.
"What the heck!" I screamed, covering my eyes as Sandeo eyes widened.
"Shoot. You weren't supposed to see that." Sandeo muttered as he put his phone away in his pockets, Salvestro narrowing his eyes dangerously at him.
"What was that?" Salvestro asked suspiciously as the twins started snickering behind him.
I was still trying to get rid of the image from my mind. That is just nasty and disgusting mixed together.
"It was nothing right, sis?" Sandeo answered nervously, giving me a nudge as he lightly pinched my arm, silently begging me not to tell Salvestro.
Sighing, I decided to be the better sister at the moment. "No, it's nothing." I lied, my heart beating erratically in my chest.
"Oh? Then what were you screaming about?" Salvestro said, raising a perfectly sculpted brow.
"Oh, i-it was n-nothing." I stuttered, biting my lips as Sandeo face palmed. I know, I sucked at lying but it was his fault anyways for asking me to play along.
"Right." Salvestro said disbelievingly.
"No, seriously. It was just a picture of a dying animal on Tik Tok." Sandeo said, and this time, I frowned. Why was he allowed to have Tik Tok and not me?
"Wait a second. Why are you allowed to have social media?" I interrupted, looking at them.
"Because I am an adult now. I am technically no longer under the rules of Salvatore though I still have to respect him." Sandeo answered.
"Oh." I said.
"Now's not the time. Bambina Sweetie, was what Sandeo said true?" Salvestro said, interrupting me from talking.
When Sandeo gave me a pleading glance, I sighed in defeat, nodding my head. "Yeah it was true."
Lie.
What I saw was nothing close to an animal dying. It was a picture of a female, naked on her bed, touching her... Vagina.
No matter how hard I tried to get the image out of my head, it was as if it was seared into my mind, and that the longer I tried to get it out, the more persistent it was in staying.
"Right." Salvestro sighed, "Whatever. Salvino it is now your turn. Come over here and let's get you the right measurements so that Ms. Adams over here can start with the orders as fast as possible." Salvestro said, waving Salvino over as he stood up.
Ms. Adams then proceeded to get out a measuring tape, wrapping it around Salvino's thighs, calf, arms, waist, hips, you name the body part, she did it.
"I'm going to need you to take off your shirts as well, Mr. Russo." Ms. Adams said apologetically. "I can't get exact numbers with the excess clothing on you."
Grunting, Salvino took off his shirt to reveal a clear six-pack, though it wasn't as defined as Salvestro's nor Sandeo's. You could see his abs, but they just weren't as prominent as they are on Salvestro. Compared to Salvatore? They were nothing.
"Thank you." Ms. Adams said, before getting out a thin piece of string, wrapping it around his chest area then his waist again.
"Now, I'm going to need to take your height. If you would come with me for a minute..." Ms. Adams trailed off, looking unsurely at Salvino who nodded his agreement.
"Alright. Then come over. I'm going to need to take your height." she said, and he led Salvino to the back, where he stood next to the wall, Ms. Adams marking his height.
"You are... Five foot eleven, almost six feet." she declared, and a smug looking Salvino smirked.
"I am way taller than when you were in Junior." he boasted, and a fuming Sandeo glared.
"So? You just had a growth spurt before me." he defended himself, cheeks burning red.
"No. I didn't." Salvino fired back.
"Boys," Salvestro warned, and they both backed down, but I swear I still saw smoke rising out of both of their ears as Santino watched, silently laughing. He was lucky as he went first.
"Alright. Amara, it's your turn now." Ms Adams said kindly, leading me to the middle of the room as she started wrapping my thigh around a thin piece of rope before doing the other one as well.
What was different though, was that she didn't bother measuring my calves and the width of my bicep, only doing the width and length of my shoulder area.
My confusion was short-lived though, as I later found out that I would be wearing skirts. Freaking skirts to school. It shouldn't surprise me though, as this is a private school for the rich.
"Alright. Now all that's left are your shoes. I take it all of you guys have the same shoe as last year, am I correct?" Ms. Adams said, a small smile on her face as she put everything away.
"Yes." Salvestro answered for us. "All of them have their things except for Amara over here. She's new." he told her when she raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, okay." she nodded her understanding. "Alright. For the school you are going to attend, the girls wear two inch heels. I'll show you what it looks like so that we can get a size that fits." Ms. Adams said, and ran to the back of the shop, coming out later with a pair of beautiful black shoes.
"That's our school uniform for shoes?" I said in shock, staring at the one, maybe even two-inches of heels that shoe had.
I wasn't going to lie and say that it wasn't pretty, but I'm going to be honest. I wouldn't last five minutes wearing those heels, nonetheless seven hours.
"Yes. It's mandatory for all females." Salvestro nodded towards the shoe.
"I can't walk in heels though. I'll fall." I muttered, and Salvestro stared at me sympathetically.
"It's fine. You'll learn." he said, and I nodded my head.
"Alright Sweetie. Can you tell me if this pair fits? If it does, then I'm going to have to order another pair of these." she said, and I slipped the two pairs of heels on, testing both of them out.
Surprisingly, these heels didn't dig into my pinky toe. Instead, there was a cushion in it, preventing the material from breaking and mauling my toes until they bleed.
"Are those comfy?" Ms. Adams asked as she checked and turned my feet for a better look.
"Yeah, they're fine." I shrugged, walking in them. "The heel sorta digs into my ankle though." I told her, and she agreed.
"Yes, it seems as if your heel is naturally larger than the balls of your feet. I can see that the sides are digging into your skin. You may take them off now." she told me, and I slipped them both off, getting back into my own pair of shoes.
"I think that's all for today, right guys?" Salvestro asked, and we all voiced our agreements.
"Alright then. Thank you so much, Ms. Adams. When will we expect the delivery?"
"You should get them a week before your first day of school." Ms. Adams responded, and I literally high-tailed out of there, tired of the fresh smell of clothes and tapes.
"So, what's for lunch?" Sandeo asked, patting his stomach as he looked around the mall.
"Let's go to the food court first, then we can talk about it." Salvestro said, and Sandeo ran to the escalator, only to be stopped by a chilling voice.
"I thought I told you to not run in the mall?" that someone said, and slowly, I turned my head to see the most massive person ever, holding a kid in his hand as he glowered at Sandeo.
Paling significantly at the sight of him, I involuntarily hid behind Salvestro, not trusting this man one bit.
"Ahh, uh, Ace!" Sandeo chuckled nervously, sweat dripping down the side of his face as the man drew closer, his circle of bodyguards surrounding him.
Wait a second... Ace? Ace Romano?
At this, my eyes grew as wide as saucers and I intentionally hid behind Salvestro, trying to make myself as small as possible.
"Tell me, Sandeo. What did I say about that?" Mr. Romano growled as he took an intimidating step forward, causing me to take a huge step backwards, trying to control my breathing.
"Y-you said to not run in the m-mall." Sandeo stuttered, noticwably pale.
The twins weren't even laughing at the predicament we are in, which just further proved to me how serious this situation was.
"And why did I say that?" Mr. Romano snarled, and Sandeo gulped.
"Because it would tarnish our reputation." Sandeo said, and Mr. Romano nodded his head.
"So you understand my orders, and and are still disobeying them?" he stated, and Sandeo looked unsure of what to respond with.
"Uh, no I just kinda, well, I sorta forgot?" Sandeo said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Sandy!" the little boy exclaimed, jumping out of his dad's hold.
The little boy waddled over to Sandeo and opened his arms wide in an embrace as Sandeo knelt down to his height.
"Hey squirt." Sandeo greeted, less pale. Picking up the boy, he gave him a big smooch on his cheek.
"Stop! You a boy!" the boy giggled, using his small hands to push Sandeo away.
"Aw, you don't like me?" Sandeo fake pouted, and the boy looked unsure, instead looking at Mr. Romano, like he was asking for permission silently.
Mr. Romano gave a barely perceptible nod, and the boy's face lit up as he gave Sandeo a kiss as well.
"We'll talk about this later." Mr. Romano sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"What are you doing here anyways?" Salvino asked.
"I need to talk with your brother about some business." Mr. Romano answered as he walked towards us, his five bodyguards following close behind him. "Is this your sister?" he asked me, peering down at my form.
"Yes. This is Amara. Bambina, why don't you go say hello to Ace?" Salvestro replied, and pushed me from behind him to the front.
Literally quaking in his presence, I looked anywhere but his face, instead opting to stare at his arms, and boy were they huge. If I had said that Salvatore's were huge, Mr. Romano beat him by a mile.
I swear, Mr. Romano's arms were as thick as tree trunks, and with his face staring down at me with no emotion, I felt lesser and intimidated.
"Uh, h-hello Mr. Romano." I said shyly, my hand barely moving from side to side as I tried to make myself as small as possible.
"Hello, Amara." Mr. Romano's deep, baritone voice said as he waved his hand.
"Daddy! I'm hungry." the little boy whined from the side, and Mr. Romano groaned.
"I swear I don't know how my wife deals with this guy. He has so much energy." he muttered, before plastering a small smile on his face as he regarded his child.
"We'll be going to the food court in two minutes, Alessandro. Be patient." he said, but there was a hint of warning in his tone, silently telling him to not push his limits.
"Ok." Alessandro sighed dejectedly, before perking up and running to the twins who both greeted him with smirks on their face.
"Vino! Tino!" Alessandro exclaimed happily, running to both of them and giving each of them huge hugs.
"Hey Ally." Salvino greeted, ruffling his hair.
"Hello." Santino said as well.
"Who's that?" Alessandro suddenly asked, pointing at me who was staring at them with wide eyes.
Blushing at the attention, I tried to hide behind Salvestro, only to notice that he wasn't even there anymore, instead next to Mr. Romano in the circle of bodyguards.
Not wanting to go near them, I decided I would rather go near the twins than be stuck with Mr. Romano.
"That's our sister. Her name's Amara." Salvino answered, and I'd be lying if I didn't say my heart didn't jump at his words.
He called me his sister!
"Sister? I want a sister too." the boy whined, his full lips turning into a full on pout, making him look absolutely adorable. Already, I can tell that he will be a huge heart breaker when he's older.
With hair as black as midnight and eyes the colour of... Wait a minute. Is his left eye grey and his right steel blue? I couldn't really tell at first cause the two colours are extremely similar, but it seems as if Alessandro had the rare two eye colour thing. I don't remember the name, but it was something called, heterochromia? I wasn't sure.
At his words, Salvino choked on his spit as he tried to contain his laughter.
"What's so funny?" Alessandro whined, and Salvino shook his head.
"If you want a sister, you'll have to ask your mom. She doesn't want another child." Santino answered for him.
"Can't you give me one?" Alessandro asked, his brows furrowing in an adorable manner.
At this, Santino's face pulled into one of both humour and horror.
"No, no. I can't give you a sister."
"Why?" Alessandro pouted.
"Because I don't have the necessary parts to make one." Santino tried his best to explain, but I really don't think it's working.
"What do you mean? We all have the long thing on our butt right?" he asked, and I almost burst into a fit of laughter.
Sandeo didn't even try to contain his laughter as he eavesdropped on our conversation from the side.
Face turning bright red, Santino fumbled for a response. "No, Ally. We don't all have the long thing on our butt."
"What? Why?" Alessandro asked.
"Because we were made that way." Salvino answered for Santino, noticing that his brother was getting too embarrassed to respond.
"Then how are babies made?" Alessandro asked.
"Why don't you ask your dad that." Sandeo interrupted the conversation. This was becoming awkward.
"Okay!" Alessandro said excitedly, and before we could even tell him to stop, he was already running over to Mr. Romano, his tiny body making it past the boulder bodyguards.
"Yes, Alessandro?" Mr. Romano said, turning his attention to his son as the four of us watched from the sidelines.
"Daddy, how are babies made?" Alessandro questioned, looking up at him with large, innocent eyes.
The question had Mr. Romano freezing, and he turned his attention towards us, a cold glare on his face.
"Who here asked him to ask me this?" he bellowed, and I flinched back, running behind Sandeo as I tried to calm my breathing. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I was seconds away from a panic attack.
Sure, I was not panicking at every single movement my brothers did, but Mr. Romano was different. He was tall, dark, muscular, had literally had a 'no bullshit' face on.
Gulping I tried to block out all the negative emotions.
Think about the good things. I told myself, and imagined myself in the place I wanted to visit with all my heart, Japan.
The beautiful scenery, the food, actually not so much the food, the culture, the-
"It wasn't me!" a voice interrupted my thoughts.
Turning my head, I saw the twins pointing their fingers at Sandeo who's face paled at Mr. Romano's narrowed eyes. The twins took every opportunity to rat Sandeo out.
"I-it wasn't me!" Sandeo stammered, looking around nervously as we started attracting a crowd.
"Oh? Then pray tell me who told Alessandro to ask that question." Mr. Romano said condescendingly, picking up Alessandro whose eyes were flickering around, waving at the cameras.
"Um, it was the twins!" Sandeo said, quick to put the blame on them as they both scowled in my general direction.
Shrinking back behind Sandeo, I gripped his shirt, trying to hide from the cameras and the glares of Mr. Romano and the twins.
Salvestro stood beside Mr. Romano, quiet as he waited to see how the situation would turn out. Though he still looked worried, for what I don't know.
"It was not! You were the one who told Ally to ask him!" Salvino retorted angrily.
"No! You brought on the subject about pregnancy!" Sandeo fired back, not wasting a beat.
"You told Ally to tell him!" Santino growled.
"And you brought on the subject in the first place!"
"An-"
"Enough!" the three of them stopped their bickering, turning their heads like synchronized owls to stare at Mr. Romano. "I asked you one f-"
The sound of his phone cut him off, and he growled his annoyance as he picked up the call without looking at the Caller ID.
"Who the hell are you?" Mr. Romano snarled, into the phone, and the voice from the other end of the phone had Mr. Romano paling.
"Yes, right." Mr. Romano stated, "Got it. Yeah, it's not my fault though. Blame the twins and Sandeo." he said, his tone indicating that he was defending himself from whoever was accusing him from the other end of the phone.
"Yes, yes, I got it. Yeah. Don't worry." Mr. Romano sighed. "Bye."
The moment ended the call, Mr. Romano turned his intimidating stare to the one person holding their phone up, recording the entire thing.
"Who do you think you are?" Mr. Romano sneered.
"My name is Rachel." the woman said confidently, stopping the video.
"And do you know who I am?"
"I don't know." the woman shrugged unfazed.
Chuckling darkly, Mr. Romano took a step forward, and the woman stared at him, a hint of fear now present in her eyes.
"Get her phone. Break it." Mr. Romano ordered one of his men, and without hesitation or questioning, one of the muscle men plucked the phone out of the woman's hand and broke the phone in two.
What the hell? There was no need to do that!
I was sure my eyes were as wide as saucers now, but it didn't end there as my heart started beating furiously.
"The next time you decided to record someone, think." Mr. Romano growled, and the woman opened her mouth, a look of anger and shock in her eyes as more and more people joined the crowd to see the commotion.
"You're going to be paying for my phone." the woman stated angrily, picking up the broken and left over pieces of her phone.
"You're rich. If you weren't you wouldn't be in this mall." Mr. Romano shrugged instead, and the woman glared, a look of pure rage in her eyes as she raised a hand, and slapped Mr. Romano.
The loud slap echoed across the room, and multiple gasps were heard. I started panicking as well for the woman.
"Did you... Did you just slap me?" Mr. Romano asked incredulously, and the woman nodded her head, no fear in her posture.
"Yes, yes I did."
"Do you know who I am?" Mr. Romano smirked, and she shook her head.
"Do you see this mall?" he asked, pointing to the entire mall.
"Yes. I have eyes." the woman answered sarcastically.
"Well then, you do know who owns this place don't you?" he said in a voice of mock wonder.
"Of course I do. Samantha Romano owns this place." she replied confidently.
"And who's her husband?"
"Ace Romano." the woman replied again.
"So who am I?" Mr. Romano asked, crossing his arm and peering down at her.
"I told you I-" she cut herself off as a look of realization dawned. "Oh shit."
"Oh shit indeed." Mr. Romano nodded. "Although my wife owns this entire mall, I still have control over it as well as I am her husband. The fact that you just slapped me, I can have you stripped of your life and have you living on the streets."
"I-I'm so so sorry." the woman gasped, "I was just angry that-"
"That I broke your phone?" Mr. Romano interrupted, before smirking. "There is a rule when entering this place, and that is that no one is allowed to record anything. Sure, many people break that rule, but it was just your luck that you broke it in front of me." he said smugly, and the woman gulped.
"As I said, I'm sorry." she swallowed, and Mr. Romano's face darkened.
"You are extremely lucky that I was not my wife. If you had slapped my wife..." he trailed off, eyes darkening as his grey eyes bore into the woman's head. If I were her, I would've fainted by now. No kidding.
"I know." she nodded her head fearfully as Mr. Romano's eyes darkened.
"You do know that there are consequences for your actions right?" Mr. Romano said, and she nodded her head again, not saying anything.
Even if I wasn't under his intimidating stare, I was still shivering in my shoes. His stare was intense.
"I think I'll leave the decision up to my wife. She is pretty protective over me y'know?" he smirked, and brought out his cell, dialling a number while waving a hand towards his guards, telling them silently to herd away the crowd.
"Come on. Let's talk civilly at the food court." he motioned his hands in front of him, and even I could detect the underlying anxiety in her steps though she tried to hide it.
"Come on, Amara. Let's go." Sandeo said, pushing me from behind him to the stairs as Alessandro followed obediently at Mr. Romano's heel.
Why did all of my trips to the mall end so badly?
***
It has come to my attention that today is Thanksgiving day for all of my Canadian readers, so I worked extra hard to have this chapter out for the lot of you. So, Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian readers! I hope you have an amazing day today because you are off school/work (I think so right? I'm pretty sure you guys are off, but I am not 100% sure. Let me know!). I am super thankful for all of my readers who read my book, so please continue reading! I really do hope that my book keeps you on your toes.
Thanksgiving days aside, thank you so much for 3.1 k reads and over 200 votes! I can't believe it and I am so happy guys! Please continue clicking that star button for me! 😜
Stay safe guys, and do make sure that you wear a mask. COVID-cases have been going up, and I'm pretty worried for your, and my health.
Stay tuned for the next update of FCF by adding to your library or/and following me! Peace out.
~ CRAZY40429 💋
QotC: Burgers or hotdogs?
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