- A m a r a R u s s o -
"So Amara," Salvatore started, raising a brow. "Care to explain who exactly you are meeting up with?"
"Just a boy," I said as nonchalantly as possible. "You know... Theo?"
"What's his name... Trystan? His brother, right?" Salvestro asked, snapping his fingers.
"Yeah," I replied, nodding my head. "His younger brother, Theodore. I just hung out with him today."
"Mhm," Salvatore nodded his head disbelievingly. "So you decided to hang out with Theo on your own, without telling any of us."
"I told Sandeo," I said, pointing at the guy.
He threw me under the bus, and I have no regrets doing it to him too. After all, it's what siblings are for, right?
"Sandeo?" Salvatore repeated, voice full of mock wonder. "And what did dear old Sandeo say?"
"He said okay." Santino piped in, smirking at a white-faced looking Sandeo. "He had no problem with it."
"Yeah," Salvino added. "When Amara went out today, Sandeo seemed perfectly fine with her going out. It sounded like he wanted her to too."
"Really," Salvatore murmured. "Is that true, Sandeo?"
"Nope," he answered quickly, feverishly shaking his head from side to side. "I was ok- not okay with Amara going out."
"No, he was." I jumped in. "He was totally fine with it. Didn't stop me or anything."
It's not my fault he brought up the subject. Now that he did though... I'm not going to be the only one going down tonight. If I was, he's coming with me. I'm such an amazing younger sister.
"So, Sandeo. Amara told you that she was going out, and you decided to not tell any of us?" Salvatore questioned. The question seemed genuine enough, but there was a menacing undertone to his voice.
"Uhh..." Sandeo trailed off, looking like he was a five-year-old caught red-handed eating a sugary snack he wasn't supposed to in the middle of the night.
"What is going on?"
Everyone whipped their heads to see Alicia coming into the room, her hands settling her purse onto the kitchen counter.
"Nothing, hun." Salvatore answered her. "Are Elena and Samantha going?"
"Yeah," she replied, looking at the room. "They left."
"Damn, they must really want to go home," he muttered.
"Somethings wrong." Alicia noticed. "What's happening? What's wrong?"
"Nothing much," Salvestro jumped in. "Just that Amara went out today without telling any of us."
Alicia frowned. "Well did she tell someone?"
"She told Sandeo," Salvestro nodded.
"So... what's the problem?" she asked, raising a brow. "She told Sandeo. Great."
"There is no problem." Salvestro shrugged. "Well, I don't personally see a problem."
"She went out with a boy." Salvatore stressed, staring at Salvestro, then looking at his wife.
"Okay?" Alicia replied, sounding unsure. "It's a boy. So what?"
"So it's a boy!" Salvino stated. "Nothing more to it."
"She's just hanging out with a guy." Alicia chuckled. "You guys don't need to worry, right Amara?"
"Yeah," I nodded. She had no idea how grateful I was for her arrival.
"See? As long as Amara's not doing anything stupid, it's alright." she laughed. "I'm sure she's not planning on getting babies anytime soon." she said, looking at her husband and the twins pointedly. "Unless you think she will?"
I felt my face turn red at her comment, and the twins both opened their mouth to object.
"That's not what we meant!" Santino spluttered.
"We don't think she's going to have sex!" Salvino added. "It's just-"
"Just what?" she interrupted, raising a brow. "Amara, why don't you go upstairs? I'm going to have a nice chat with your brothers."
"That's an amazing idea." Salvestro agreed, standing up.
He didn't hesitate to drag me out of the chair, completely ignoring Salvatore's words of 'sitting back down' and 'come back' as he towed me away.
"I swear, they are too protective over you." Salvestro muttered exasperatedly, shaking his head as he pushed me upstairs. "Salvatore, especially."
"You just realized?" I drawled, rolling my eyes.
"No, I've known since the beginning," he denied. "But what can I do?"
"I have no idea." I replied. "What can you do?"
"Nothing, to be honest," he said dryly. "I can't change them. It's in Salvatore's nature to be like this."
"Is it though?"
"Probably." he shrugged. "He's always been extremely protective over the things he considers as his. Even as a child. Obviously, not like you are property or anything, but like... you get what I mean? He considers you as family."
"Yeah, I get it." I nodded. "You don't have to explain it to me."
"Thank God." he murmured, giving me a wry smile. "I honestly would not know how to explain it to you."
"Eh, living with you guys means I got to understand how you guys work." I replied offhandedly. "But what do you think Alicia is going to talk to them about?"
"No idea," Salvestro grinned. "She'll probably scold Salvatore."
"In front of Sandeo and the twins?" I said disbelievingly.
"No no," Salvestro chuckled. "Salvatore will throw a fit if she did it in front of people. He'll be embarrassed as hell, and will be livid. Alicia will probably reprimand him when they're alone."
"I can see that." I agreed, nearly giggling at the sight of Alicia scolding Salvatore.
It just didn't paint the right picture in my head. Alicia, a small woman even with a fit, athletic body, successfully chiding Salvatore, a big man packed with at least two times the muscle mass Alicia has.
However, with Alicia being Salvatore's wife, I could see it happening. I could paint a picture of Salvatore putting away his pride. It just made sense, y'know?
Now if it were someone else like Elena who decides to try and scold him... he would definitely throw hands. I wouldn't know if he would win against a full on physical fight with Elena though. It would be too hard to tell.
While Salvatore did weigh and have more muscle mass than Elena, I was nearly a hundred percent sure Elena had skills Salvatore would never be able to match up with. Knowing her past history as an assassin, I wouldn't know who to put my money on if those two were to ever get in a physical fight.
"By the way," I started, turning to look at Salvestro. "Where's Ophelia?"
"She went out today." Salvestro answered immediately. "She wanted to make a lemon custard pie tomorrow, and since we didn't have the ingredients she needed, she went out to buy them."
"Ingredients?" I repeated incredulously. "You sure we don't have the ingredients she needs?"
"No, we do." Salvestro responded. "But apparently, she needed a certain type of lemon and butter?"
"What?"
"I seriously have no idea, Amara." Salvestro sighed, even while his lips tugged upwards into a smile. "Ophelia is extremely picky, especially when it comes to her cooking. Maybe it's just how chefs' minds work. They need explicit ingredients.
"It's kind of the same with medicine. You can't exactly replace a type of medication to a patient just because it's 'similar'."
"Those two are extremely different though." I pointed out. "Giving out the wrong prescription can be life threatening. Using a different brand of butter isn't."
Salvestro shrugged. "You seriously can't ask me, Amara. I have no idea. You can ask Ophelia when she's back though. She should be back within the hour, in which I'm sure Alicia will have finished talking with the rest of them."
"M'kay," I replied. "And also, about you proposing to Ophelia..." I wiggled my eyebrows. "Do you have a ring ready yet?"
Salvestro perked up. "Yes, I actually do." he smiled. "You want to see?"
"Duh," I answered, already excited at the prospect. "Where is it?"
"I put it in my desk drawer." Salvestro said, turning towards the direction of his office. "Since Ophelia is technically living in my room now, I can't have her seeing it by accident."
"Yeah." I agreed, watching Salvestro pull out a key and shove it into the lock to open the door to his work room.
I stared as Salvestro pulled out another key, this time, going behind his desk and unlocking one of the hidden compartments. It never fails to surprise me how many there are in this house.
"Here," Salvestro spoke, putting a miniature navy blue box right in front of me. The brand's logo was printed neatly on the top of the box. It was lavish-looking, to say the least.
"Wow," I murmured, gingerly picking up the box and turning it over. "It's so... soft. Velvety, if that's the right word."
Salvestro chuckled at my reaction. "Open it." he urged. "I promise the ring looks much better than the box."
"Yeah, I know it will." I agreed mindlessly, already starting the process of opening the small cube.
The moment I opened it, I could literally see the amount of 'bling' this ring had. It was extremely bright, and it was almost as if it caught every angle of light shown at it. If I had to guess, this was probably one of the most expensive things I've ever seen Salvestro buy.
"Did you buy a diamond?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "It's a round-cut-"
"Round-cut?" I cut him off, my jaw dropping in shock.
Salvestro stared at me as if I were growing a second head. "Yeah," he nodded slowly, raising a confused brow. "Why?"
"Those are expensive!" I exclaimed, and when Salvestro paid no mind, I decided to emphasize it more. "Very expensive."
"So?" he asked. "Does it matter?"
"No," I replied quickly, shaking my head. "Just... surprised. Actually, I shouldn't even be surprised. This is an engagement ring, after all. I guess I kind of forgot that your wallet is nearly as big as Salvatore's wallet."
"My wallet is nowhere near as big as his." Salvestro countered. "It's at least two times smaller."
"That's still a lot of money," I commented. "I know you're millionaires, but even so, that's a lot."
"Amara, out of genuine curiosity, how much do you think this costs?" Salvestro questioned.
"I don't know. A couple hundreds of thousands?" I replied, wincing at the sheer amount.
Even after living with them for so long, I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact that they were so rich. It's in front of my face everyday, but it never exactly hits home until I see the actual numbers right in front of me.
I should seriously get used to this. Unfortunately though, I'm not. My mindset is still stuck in the past, where I lived a very frugal lifestyle with my step-dad.
"No, this was more than a couple hundred thousand." Salvestro chuckled, raising a brow. "Guess again."
"A million?" I asked, and he shook his head.
He's kidding me... more?
"Two?"
Again, a shake of his head.
"Ten?"
"Lower, Amara." he replied, trying to hide his growing amusement at my reaction.
"I don't know, just tell me." I sighed. "It'd take forever for me to guess."
"It was four and a half million," he responded. "Quite a bit of money, actually."
"You think?" I drawled. "Not even I have that much money."
"Well you aren't working yet," he chuckled. "The only job you are working is paying you minimum wage. The moment you turn eighteen, you can start working with Salvatore, and he'll start paying you your fair share of funds. Until then, you're stuck with the couple of thousands of dollars you have in your bank account."
"Yeah," I murmured. "But anyway, how long did it take you to find this one?" I asked, holding up the ring. "It's so pretty."
"It took a lot of online browsing," he said wryly. "But it's worth it. I got what I wanted and what I was searching for in the end. Couldn't have asked for anything better."
"I can tell," I murmured, staring at the gorgeously cut diamond. "Ophelia is going to love it."
"You think?" Salvestro questioned. "I was debating between that one and another one."
"Which one?" I asked.
"I'll show you," he said.
Without wasting a beat, he took out his laptop, typed in the password, and was scrolling through his online shopping cart for rings. I wasn't even surprised at the sheer amount of rings he could've chosen.
"This one," he mentioned, showing me a picture of an enormous ring, with a beautifully cut emerald jewel situated in the middle.
"That's huge." I gasped, staring at the screen. "But gorgeous as well."
"Yeah," he nodded. "I debated between that one and the one I bought for quite a while. Which one do you like better?"
I shrugged, not knowing what to say.
In all honesty, both of the rings were carefully cut, an immense amount of detail put into each. However, whereas the emerald one was big and attention-worthy, the one Salvestro bought was small and elegant-looking.
The one Salvestro had bought was much more 'simple', in a sense. It didn't have any huge gems on it, and it definitely would not catch the attention of many. The one Salvestro could've bought was extravagant, and it would definitely catch the eye of many onlookers.
I loved both.
"I felt like Ophelia would have preferred this one." Salvestro mentioned, pointing at the one in my hand. "She doesn't like anything too flashy."
"True," I hummed offhandedly.
"Yeah, so what do you think?" he asked. "Should I have gotten the other one?"
"I don't know." I replied. "It's your engagement, not mine. But knowing Ophelia, she would like either of them."
"Yeah," he sighed. "If you ever get married, Amara, would you want a huge party?" he suddenly questioned, looking at me.
I cocked my head to the side. "Hmm, I don't know." I answered, unsure. "Probably not, though. I think I would much rather have a small wedding where the people closest to me are invited. No one I don't know."
"I can see that," he nodded. "Anyway, let's go back upstairs."
~
"Hey Ophelia." I greeted, walking into the kitchen.
It was early in the morning, and I had woken up early only to find Ophelia already in the kitchen. She had different stations set up, and there were multiple bags open with some of them half closed and near falling.
"Hey Amara." she hummed, wiping her cheek with a shoulder.
"What are you doing?"
"Making a pie from scratch." she replied nonchalantly. "Want to see?"
"Sure." I responded, walking over.
In front of her was a massive piece of raw dough, a piece of dough she was currently rolling out with a rolling pin.
"That's the crust, right?" I said.
"Yep," she nodded.
"But where's the baking tray thing?" I questioned, turning my head from side to side in search of the pan.
"The quiche pan?" Ophelia clarified. "If that's the thing you're looking for, it's behind me. It's near the stove."
"Uh, I think?" I answered, going for the stove. Unsurprisingly, the 'quiche pan' was right where she said it was.
I had no idea it was called a quiche pan.
I seriously learned something new everyday when I'm with Ophelia and within kitchen boundaries.
"This thing is massive!" I exclaimed, holding the thing right in front of my face.
This thing had at least a diameter of eight inches, and that was me putting it lightly. It pretty much covered my entire face, and I was not exaggerating. The pan was that big.
"It's not that big," Ophelia replied, rolling her eyes. "And I have to feed your entire family. It will be scarfed down in seconds when your brothers see it anyways. Also with Alicia's kids. They have a massive sweet tooth, so if it's not gone by your brothers, it's gonna be devoured by them."
"This is going to take you forever to make though," I frowned.
"I know, which is why I'm down here this early." she chuckled. "Stella used to wake up extremely early to help, but with her getting old, I need her to rest as much as she can."
"Yeah," I agreed, putting down the ceramic pan. "Here, I'll help."
"You want to help make pie?" she asked, raising a disbelieving brow.
"Sure, why not." I shrugged. "Never made one before, and with you here, you can stop me before I completely mess it up."
"I doubt you can mess up a lemon custard pie." she chuckled. "But you're right. I'll stop you if you mess up."
"Great!" I said, clapping my hands together. "Just give me a minute. I'm going to change into something more suitable for baking." I laughed, looking at my pyjama-dressed self.
"Yeah, you go do that." Ophelia agreed. "I'll prepare the ingredients for you while you're gone."
~
"Do I just beat it together?" I asked, looking at the bowl in front of me.
"Yeah," Ophelia replied. "So hold the bowl in place, and make sure you don't burn yourself, alright?"
"Mhm,"
"Then, you just gotta beat the eggs until it becomes fluffy." she stated. "And by the way, you see this bowl?" she said, pointing to a bowl full of white granulated... sugar?
"Yeah."
"It's sugar." she told me. "When you beat the mix, slowly add in the sugar. Slowly." she added, giving me a cautious glance.
"Okay..." I muttered, "What are you going to do?"
"I'll be right beside you." she answered. "I have my own batch to do too."
"Another batch?" I repeated incredulously.
"Yes?" she answered. "One batch won't be enough, so I multiplied the ingredients by two."
"Oh." I muttered. "Okay."
"Don't worry, Amara." she winked. "I'm literally right beside you if something goes wrong."
For the next few minutes, Ophelia brought me through the process of making the custard for the pie step by step while the pie dough baked in the oven.
She taught me to read the consistency of most custards, and how to use a hand mixer without creating a mess everywhere.
It was very useful, to say the least. Heaven knows the amount of mess I make whenever I hand-use one of these electric equipment.
"So, do we just pour the custard into the crust and put it in the fridge?" I asked, holding the bowl over the pastry shell and dumping its contents into it.
"Yep," she nodded. "Easy, right?"
"Eh, kind of." I shrugged nonchalantly. "It took a long time though."
"Yeah, it took longer than usual because we made more." she admitted. "But it's worth it, cause we'll be having this as an afternoon snack."
"It's supposed to be cooled for that long?" I asked, surprised.
"Usually four hours should be okay," she answered. "But the longer it stays in there, the better the texture, I guess."
"That's cool," I murmured, scraping the sides of the bowl in hand. "And what about the whip cream?"
"That we usually make a few hours before we serve the pie." Ophelia replied immediately. "It's really easy, and if you want, I can call you when I do make it."
"That'd be great." I nodded, walking over to the fridge with the pie in hand. "You know, I'm glad that you made the pie today."
"Oh?" She raised a brow. "Why?"
"Because I'm not going to be home tomorrow, so I wouldn't have been able to spend some time with you." I responded, setting the pie inside.
"Where are you going?" she questioned.
"It's Caroline's birthday," I explained. "I'm going over to her house tonight for a sleepover. I'll be staying there the whole day."
"Will there be more people?" she asked. "And are you driving there? By yourself?"
"Nope, just us two." I grinned. "And no. Salvatore asked Santino to drive me. I don't have a car at the moment."
Ophelia chuckled. "Right, I kind of forgot about that."
"Yeah," I nodded. "Salvatore doesn't trust me driving a car right now. I also told him I don't need one. I'm way too young for one, if you know what I mean. So, Santino will be my personal chauffeur for the evening."
"I don't think Santino was very happy about that." she said wryly.
"He wasn't, but I'm paying him. Anyway, he's not on Salvatore's good list right now, so he can't exactly object." I waved off.
"Not on Salvatore's good list?" she repeated.
"Yeah, apparently he's spending money on weird things. It's not my problem, so I'm not going to pry." I shrugged, dismissing the problem as I clapped my hands together. "Whatever, he can do what he wants to do. So, what do we do after this?"
"We clean." Ophelia deadpanned, and looking around the kitchen, I wasn't even surprised to see it in a mess.
There were powders everywhere, drops of batter on the counter, pieces of raw pastry dough smeared onto it, and more.
This is going to take a long time, to say the least.
- S a n t i n o R u s s o -
"Hey babe." Cameron greeted the moment I knocked on his door.
"Hey," I said, "How are you doing?"
"Same old, same old." he chuckled. "Been living with mum and taking care of her."
"She's doing fine, right?" I asked, walking in and dropping the bag of groceries I brought over onto the nearby table. I started to bring out the number of things I bought from the nearby market, from healthier food options, to just snacks and biscuits people liked to enjoy from time to time. Scratch that, a daily basis.
"Eh," he shrugged, a crease forming on his brow as he leaned against the counter.
I was concerned, to say the least.
"What happened?" I immediately asked, my movements halting.
"Nothing." he shrugged. "It's just... it's been getting worse."
"How bad?"
Cameron didn't answer me, instead facing the fridge.
"Tell me, Cam." I urged, suddenly extremely concerned.
"She's forgotten who I am, Santino. She doesn't even know she has a son anymore."
***
HAHAHA surprise! I'm a meanie I know, but that's just how your Author is :) More will be explained later on in the story, as always, lmfao.
Anyway, I'm sorry for the late updates these days. I've been extremely busy with school as my teachers decided to give me only five days to write and present a speech that is supposed to be 4 minutes long, create a personal profile page, present a final project and study for an upcoming test 🥲Talk about last minute.
But, I managed to squeeze in enough time to write this chapter, and I did all of those things previously mentioned just a day or two ago. I'm actually writing the test today, so hopefully I studied hard enough for this.😫Kinda worried but it's gonna be alright (not really).
By the way, please let me know if you liked this chapter! And if you want, start a conversation with me! I'd love to talk with you guys :) In the comments or my inbox, though I do completely forget I have an inbox sometimes 😅That's my fault...
I hope you all stay safe guys!
~ CRAZY40429 💋
QotC: If you could get rid of one thing in the world, what would it be?
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