- A m a r a R u s s o -
"You are coming with me. We're going to have a nice long, civil chat together." Mr. Romano said with a smile, but all of us could tell that it was fake.
With a confidence not even I had in Mr. Romano's presence, the lady shuffled forward and went to the side, Mr. Romano following.
Hushed whispers were exchanged, and I can literally see the woman's face blanch with the words Mr. Romano whispered into her ear.
"Amara!" Someone shouted in my ear, and turning, I could see Sandeo right beside me.
Panicked, I jerked back, almost falling on my butt.
"Since it seems as if they're going to be having a... Long chat with each other," Salvestro started, his eyes flitting over to the two of them. "tell me what you want to eat. I'll order for Ace as well."
"I want Greek food."
"Italian."
"McDonald's!" Alessandro shouted happily before Sandeo could say his opinion.
"There's no McDonald's here, Ally." Salvestro said gently, and Alessandro pouted before crossing his arms grumpily.
"No." Salvestro pried Alessandro's arms away from his chest, reprimanding him softly. "Don't throw a tantrum, Alessandro." he warned.
When it seems as if Alessandro wasn't going to listen to him, Salvestro sighed. "Your father will be extremely angry if you throw a temper tantrum here of all places." He reminded Alessandro, and that got the boy out of his haze.
"Okay." He sighed, and plopped onto the chair, still frowning.
"Now what did you want, Sandeo? Bambina?" Salvestro said, turning to us.
"I want Chinese." Sandeo shrugged, and all eyes snapped to me.
"Amara. What do you want?" Santino asked.
"I'm not picky." I replied.
"So what do you want to eat?" Salvino repeated, raising a brow.
"Food." I answered carelessly, and I swear, the twins both sighed.
"We're not going to ask again. What do you want to eat?" Santino said, face hardening.
"I-I don't know."
"Amara." Salvino warned.
"I'm serious. I don't know!" I exclaimed, "Greek?"
"Okay. We'll eat Greek food then. Problem solved." Salvestro said, and walked away, holding Alessandro with him just as Mr. Romano came back, the lady now gone.
"What did you do this time, Ace?" Sandeo grinned, and Mr. Romano's icy glare turned to Sandeo.
"Don't think I haven't forgotten about your mistake half an hour ago." Mr. Romano growled, and although Sandeo paled considerably, he still shrugged it off, and slung an arm around Mr. Romano's shoulder.
It didn't work though as Mr. Romano was so much taller than Sandeo, about five inches taller, causing Sandeo to have to tiptoe to reach his height. It didn't look comfortable at all.
"Tell me. Have you guys finished your excursion around the mall yet?" Mr. Romano said, slapping Sandeo's arm away as he grabbed a chair.
"No. We still have a few things to buy." Santino answered respectfully, none of the taunting that was usually in his voice present. Looks like there was someone who could get the twins to stop their constant teasing and fun of getting under people's skin.
Considering his words, Mr. Romano's face tilted to the side as he rubbed the scruff on his jaw.
"Hmm," He hummed, crossing a leg over the other. "I'll be leaving Alessandro with you then while I go handle some business." Mr. Romano said out loud, intentionally or unintentionally, I couldn't tell.
"What business?" I bud in, my curiosity getting the better of me. When his piercing grey eyes narrowed onto me, I shrank back into the chair, immediately regretting that I opened my mouth.
For a moment, I thought that Mr. Romano wouldn't answer me, but consider me shocked when he said. "Business that you don't understand." Mr. Romano answered after a beat of silence.
"W-what do you mean?" I stammered.
"It's about stocks and shipping. You weren't taught these things yet." Mr. Romano dismissed, and I nodded my head.
Stocks? I know a little about them.
I know that stocks are like things that you invest in right? Or at least, I think it is.
"Anyways, I don't think we've had a former introduction." Mr. Romano said, turning to me. "My name is Ace Romano. I am their... Brother of sorts." He said, giving me a huge hand.
Taking it hesitantly, my hand wrapped around his as he tightened his grip around my small pale hand.
"Uh, hi." I whispered shyly, ducking my head in between my hair. "Uh, my name is uh, A-Amara." I spluttered, silently cursing myself for my stupidness.
"Nice to meet you, Amara. Alessandro over there is my son." he said, nudging his head to the restaurant where Salvestro and Alessandro were, ordering food.
"Okay." I said quietly.
"Now, how is your life with your other brothers?" he asked me, resting his elbows on his lap as he stared at me.
"It's fun." I answered as nonchalantly as possible. He did not need to know of the first two weeks there. Nope.
"Great." he said, and for the first time, a genuine smile let up his face.
~
"WEEEEE!" Alessandro shouted, as Sandeo lifted him up by the shoulders with his forearms and started swinging him around in circles.
"Careful." Salvestro warned, a hint of worry in his tone.
Honestly, if Sandeo accidentally let go of Alessandro, it would be the end for him. Although you can see that Mr. Romano was strict with his son, it was blatantly clear that he loved him with all his heart. If I even made one move to his son with the intention of hurting him, I wouldn't doubt that Mr. Romano would have me killed.
Yea, sure. It was illegal. But, I have no doubt in my mind that if he really wanted to, not even the president of America could stop him from going on a killing spree. Not because the president wouldn't want to, but more because Mr. Romano had too much money and influential power to be stopped by a measly president.
I hope I wouldn't get arrested for thinking that, not that I would say it out loud.
"Don't worry, Salvestro. It's not like Mr. Romano could do what he did to the lady to me." Sandeo shrugged, putting Alessandro down as Alessandro pouted, lifting his arms up in a 'up' motion.
Yes, the lady situation. Let's just not talk about that.
"Yeah, and I'm in charge. If something happens to Alessandro, it would be my fault." Salvestro retorted, crossing his arms as he leaned back on the sofa.
It was after dinner, and Mr. Romano was gone to who knows where, leaving his son in our care. Salvestro was obviously the one in charge while the older two were gone doing whatever they had to do.
"It's fine. I would never drop Ally." Sandro shrugged off Salvestro's words, and picked up Alessandro again, swinging him back and forth in between his legs.
"Yea. Just watch him drop Ally." Santino whispered loudly. Right on cue, Alessandro jumped out of Sandeo's arms in the air, and fell to the ground.
Bless my soul, I nearly vomited when I heard the familiar pop of a bone popping out of its' original place.
"Alessandro!" Sandeo shrieked, and rushed over to the kid, the rest of us following behind him as I saw Alessandro crying and holding his left shoulder.
"Damnit Sandeo! I told you to not do it!" Salvestro shouted, true panic shining through his features. "And you Santino and Salvino! You jinxed him as well!"
"What! How is this my fault now?" Santino yelled, eyes wide.
"Yeah! We didn't do anything!" Salvino added.
A loud wail interrupted the argument, and I knelt down to Alessandro, trying my best to comfort a child I had only known for a few hours.
"Shh." Salvestro hushed, and knelt down as well, touching his shoulder.
"Twins, go to the medical bay and get one of those green whistles. It'll help with the pain." he ordered, doctor side showing. "Sandeo, go make the call to Ace."
"Why me!" Sandeo shouted as the twins hurried away before Salvestro could change his mind about who should call the infamous, Mr. Romano.
"Because you were the one who dropped him." Salvestro retorted through the loud crying of Alessandro.
"I didn't drop him though! He was the one who wanted me to swing him and so I did it because who can resist that cute pouty face of his and then, when I swung him, he was the one who decided that it might be fun to jump off! Not that it would be fun to fall, but his child-like thinking obviously wouldn't be able to tell the difference between good fun and bad fun an-"
"Enough." Salvestro ordered, cutting Sandeo out of his rambling as he set him with a hard stare. "Go call him now. Bambina, why don't you follow him as well."
Already dreading the call but unable to refuse Salvestro, I followed a grumpy looking Sandeo out of the living room to a secluded part of the hall, the cries of Alessandro now distant and barely heard.
"Do you want to call him?" Sandeo asked me, and I shook my head without much hesitation. Nope, not now, not ever.
"Alright." He sighed fearfully, and dialled a number on his phone, putting it on speaker.
"What is it now?" a voice said through the speaker. "What's so important, that you had to call me?" He growled as distant voices were heard from the other end.
"Uh, well, you see, I sort of, well, not sort of. But, like I kind of did something that you might not like, and I uhh, I don't know how to say it to you cause like you'll get angry and like-"
"Cut it out and say it." Mr. Romano growled.
"Well, I sort of droppedyoursononthefloorandhenowhasadislocatedshoulder." Sandeo blurted out.
"What?"
"I dropped your son on the floor... Andhenowhasadislocatedshoulder." Sandeo repeated.
"You dropped my son and what?"
"And Ally now has a dislocatedshoulder."
"Alessandro now has a desolated holder?" Mr. Romano asked, "Stop playing with me, Sandeo. I'm busy."
"Ally now has a dislocated shoulder." Sandeo finally got out of his mouth.
"..."
"Uh, hello?" Sandeo asked, "Testing, testing. Can you hear me?"
"Of course I can hear you, you idiot." Mr. Romano snarled, "Would you care to repeat what you just said?"
"Uhhh, I don't really want to." Sandeo said, shuffling his feet.
"Sandeo." a warning tone was now in his voice.
"Amara can tell you right?" Sandeo questioned, and shoved the phone in my hand before he could answer.
Shouting was now heard from the phone, and I had to cover my ears to stop myself from hearing all the profanities shouted.
'Talk to him!' he mouthed to me, and shaking my head, I opened my mouth.
"Uh, hello?" My voice was shaky as I answered the phone as the yelling stopped abruptly.
"Amara?"
"Uh, hi." I murmured quietly.
"Hello, Amara. Would you please give the phone back to Sandeo?" Mr. Romano asked in a gentle tone that had an underlying tone of deadness.
Shaking his head no, Sandoe made big hand movements and started jumping in the air, waving the big 'No' in my face.
I'm not blind.
I really wanted to shout that in his face, but my insecurities and fears won't let me.
"Uh, Sandeo isn't with me." I lied, hoping Mr. Romano wouldn't detect the lie in my voice.
"Lies." I shouldn't have hoped. "Sandeo, you are a coward for having your younger sister deal with me. Now tell me right now, that you are bullshitting me about the fact that you dislocated Alessandro's shoulder."
"Why is it always my fault! I didn't do anything!" Sandeo shouted in frustration, before clamping his hand over his mouth, realizing that he just gave himself away.
Sighing at the idiot, a dark chuckle was heard from the phone.
"I presume that you aren't lying. I'll be back in a few minutes. I expect for Alessandro to be back to normal by the time I am back." He hung up the call before we could answer him.
Rushing back to the living room, I can see that Alessandro was now seated on the couch, a green thing in his mouth with a dazed look on his face as Salvestro felt around his arm.
"I can probably fix the dislocation right now. Do you think he'll need anesthesia?" Salvestro asked us, finally turning to me as he stood up.
"Uh, I don't think so." I replied, shrugging my shoulders as I tried my best not to puke my guts out.
"Okay. What did Ace say?"
"He wants Ally back to normal by the time he gets home." Sandeo replied.
"That's not possible. This dislocation will take at least six weeks to heal, if not more. I don't have x-rays with me right now, so I can't tell. They'll have to go to the hospital for that." Salvestro frowned. "Ace probably said that in the heat of the moment."
"Okay, well you should set the shoulder before he gets home then." Santino said.
"What? But I need parent or guardian's consent to actually reset his shoulder." Salvestro protested. "And I need Ace to confirm with me that he doesn't need anesthesia. I don't know if I should be giving a child anesthesia. It's damaging to their brain."
"What do you mean?" Salvino asked.
Sighing, Salvestro started explaining all the medical terms and the side effects of anesthesia.
"I won't go in depth into the subject as you aren't in medical and won't understand, but look at it this way. Anesthesia can mess with someone's brain, especially someone who hasn't fully matured yet. So, it is usually best to not inject someone with too much, which is why many surgeries are done with the people awake, but the area where the surgery is performed numb.
"Why else do you think so many surgeries are performed with the patient awake? Everyone would obviously prefer to not be awake while they are being cut open, but anesthesia can really damage someone's thinking skills, which is why many patients would rather suffer for their surgery awake then have their brain permanent damage, although the chances aren't that high." he explained.
"Oh."
"There are definitely many more factors that come into play when putting a patient under anesthesia, but this is the basics of it." Salvestro nodded.
"Welp. Looks like we learnt something new today." Santino said as he sat down beside Alessandro, looking at his shoulder.
Just then, the sound of footsteps were heard, and the four of them stiffened as their bodies went on the defensive. It wasn't until the face of Mr. Romano, or Ace as he liked to be called, and Salvatore was known.
"What happened?" Mr. Romano demanded, striding over to his son's side.
"A dislocated shoulder. What do you want me to do?" Salvestro responded, professional in the face of injuries.
"Obviously I want you to reset it. I would reset it but it would cause way too much pain." Mr. Romano muttered sarcastically.
"Well, how do you want me to reset it? Do you want me to numb the entire area as he is still a child or..."
I tuned them out at this point as the topic was getting boring.
Examining Alessandro's shoulder though, it honestly looked extremely disgusting. Although no skin broke, the entire shape of the shoulder was off, and there was an extra piece of meat at the front of the shoulders.
"Does it hurt?" I asked softly, and Alessandro shook his head.
"Not anymore." he responded, and I nodded my head.
"Okay. Does it feel weird?"
"Yeah. It's like a puffy thing on my shoulder." He admitted, and although this was an extremely serious situation, I almost burst out laughing.
"Okay." a voice interrupted me right when I was about to open my mouth.
"Alessandro, do you want to go to the hospital, or do you want Salvestro over here to help with your injury?" Mr. Romano asked him, kneeling down onto one knee, his polished shoes getting creased.
"Salvestro." Alessandro replied, and his dad nodded his agreement.
"Okay, why don't we bring you to the medical bay where Salvestro can actually treat you?" Mr. Romano said gently and picked up his son bridal style, making sure that he supported the arm but didn't move it as he walked out of the living room.
"Do we come with or..." Sandeo trailed off, and Salvatore twisted his head back to us.
"Go to bed. You all need to get your sleep schedules back on track as school starts in a few days." he answered, and all three of my youngest brothers groaned out their annoyance, but a silencing glare from Salvatore had all of them snapping their mouths shut.
"Exactly what I thought. Now go to bed." He ordered, and I nodded my head obediently, getting up from the couch and walking to the stairs so that I could get to the third floor.
It's been almost a month since I started living here, and I was only starting to get used to the amount of room and space there was in this house, or mansion as I like to call it.
I have only managed to remember the first floor layout and the third floor layout of the entire mansion, and that was so little, compared to the other two floors that I haven't even tried to remember yet.
I'll get used to it. Eventually.
Going up the stairs to the third floor, I entered my room and went to the bathroom, taking off my clothes.
Looking at the mirror, I couldn't help but be proud of the life I am living now. Sure, I still had a few anxiety attacks here and there, but I didn't receive any more nightmares. Although I hate to admit it, the therapy sessions with Salvestro have really helped me open up and learn to accept my past. I almost look forward to each session now.
My stomach was still bruised and skinny, but I looked so much better. My ribs didn't protrude as badly as before, my bruises were healing, and the best part was that my hand was healing as well.
I still couldn't hold much with it, but it is so much better than before where I couldn't even touch anything with that hand. I don't even know how I managed to cut up food with one hand and an elbow. Looks like living with Jake had me learn to work without having all of my body parts available for use did help me learn and pick up on a few skills.
My ankle was also recovering nicely. Sure, I still had my brace on, and I still couldn't walk too much on it, but at least I didn't limp like my life depended on it anymore.
Stepping into the shower, all I could do is hope that my life remains the same. What I didn't know was that when school starts, I'm going to be receiving something called teenage drama thanks to my brother's popularity in school.
I wouldn't be the invisible kid anymore. Instead, I'll be becoming what they call, the popular kid.
***
I can't thank you guys enough for staying with me for this long into the book. I honestly thought that this would be a one time read for many of you, but you have proved me wrong! Thanks so much for 4 k views by the way. Love y'all!
Anyways, how was the chapter? I know that many of you want the voices to come back, and you don't have to look too far because it is going to be coming soon 😉, so don't worry!
By the way, I have managed to figure out an update schedule for my book, and I would like your opinion on it. Comment on which one you would prefer!
Option #1:
Wednesdays from around 1-5 pm Pacific Time
Saturdays from around 7-11 am Pacific Time
Option #2:
Wednesdays from around 1-5 pm Pacific Time
Sundays from around 6-10 am Pacific Time
Option #3:
Mondays from around 1-5 pm Pacific Time
Fridays from around 1-5 pm Pacific Time
Option #4:
No dates at all. I will post immediately after I edited, which means that you can have up to four updates a week, or only one update per week.
I am open to either of these options, and if I do miss these times (for the first three options) or don't post it on these dates, it probably means that I am not able to post the next chapter. However, if I am not able to post it, I will try my best to make up for it with the next update which will most likely be a double update.
Thank you so much for sticking with me and stay tuned for the next chapter of FCF!
~ CRAZY40429 💋
QotC: What's your favourite clothing brand?
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