Chapter 1
“Dad.” He said.
His throat closed as he felt his eyes well up with tears. For the first time since angel left.
“What happened, Lorenzo?” Francesco asked.
“I can’t do this, Dad. I can’t be the father figure. I’m not good enough.” Lorenzo said, sadly, trying hard to keep his voice normal.
“Why? What happened? I thought everything was going well, after what happened? Are you okay, son?” Francesco panicked.
“She started drinking. I know she was stressed after what that jerk did. But I was completely oblivious that she was coming home drunk for two weeks.”
“What? Oh, poor baby.” His Dad said. His voice held nothing but sadness and guilt.
“I let her do everything she wanted. I didn’t want to put restrictions on her. I regret that now. Maybe if I did put forward rules, we wouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t have allowed her to have a boyfriend.”
“It’s not your fault, Lorenzo. She’s a teenager. She’s supposed to have a love interest. There’s a difference between restricting and setting boundaries. You need to get a little strict. Don’t go too hard or too soft.” Lorenzo just nodded. He was going too soft, allowing everything.
“I’m sorry for stressing you out so much, Lorenzo. I’d be very happy to take my role anytime. I just wanted to give her some time so she could adjust and communicate with you, about us. But she seems to hate us.” Francesco said, apologetically.
“She doesn’t want to talk about you and Mom.” Lorenzo said. “How’s Mom doing?”
His dad sighed, making his eyebrows furrow in confusion.
“It’s getting worse. Her health keeps declining. We are trying our best but she can’t seem to come out of depression.” Dad said. Lorenzo sucked in a deep breath.
“I want to meet you both.” He voiced his wish. “I miss you.”
Lorenzo was so vulnerable at the time. He didn’t care if he sounded like a baby. He wanted nothing more than to be in his Mum and Dad’s embrace.
“We know. We’ll meet next month. I promise. We’ll meet Amelia too. We just didn’t want to barge into her life without her permission, but we can’t wait any longer than that.” Francesco said.
They chatted for a while, before hanging up.
Lorenzo drifted off, laying on the couch but woke up some hours later. It was 6 in the morning.
Lorenzo stayed flopped down on the couch and stared at the ceiling.
He was so sad. He just wanted to take away the pain she was feeling. He wanted his dad to support him in his worst times. He wanted his mom back.
When they found out, Amelia and his mom were gone, they thought she took her. But there was no reason she’d do that. They just vanished from the mansion.
After a month, one of them returned. His mom. Elena Costello. Severely injured and visibly assaulted. Not a great sight for her family.
She just showed up at the gates, breathless and scared. With torn clothes and no footwear. Her body was covered in blood. The guards recognized her and took her in.
What surprised them was she didn’t remember anything that happened in the past month. She just thought, she had her baby girl yesterday, who suddenly disappeared today and couldn’t be found. She ran through the whole mansion, looking for Amelia. She fell into depression.
Although she slowly got her memories back, she wasn’t the same again. Her health kept declining and she stopped communicating with them.
She never told anyone, what happened in that one month. It was just guesswork. Maybe she did take her away and ran into a bad situation.
Lorenzo snapped out of his thoughts when a small voice asked,
“Do you need a hug?”
He lifted his head to find Amelia standing in the doorway, looking guilty.
He opened his arms and motioned her to come forward. She walked into his arms and hugged him tightly. Lorenzo buried his head in her shoulder and let her cuddle him.
He needed this so much. He wanted a shoulder to cry on.
“I’m sorry, Lorenzo.” Amelia mumbled, snuggling into him.
*******
“You’re grounded for a month and you are not staying alone in your room. You lost that privilege. You will be with one of your brothers at all times until I trust you enough to not sneak out and get drunk.” Lorenzo said.
Amelia nodded. She didn’t argue. She wasn’t in the position to argue.
“You can have friends over but you’re not stepping out of this house.”
“I have something to tell you.” She mumbled. Her voice shook. She was scared.
“Go on.” Lorenzo said.
“Uh... I. Uhm..” She stumbled for words. She cleared her throat and said as quickly as she could.
“I got tattoos and a piercing.” She said too fast for him to understand.
“What? Repeat what you said. Slowly this time.” Lorenzo said. He was already glaring at her. She was guilty, so it was obvious she did something she shouldn’t have.
“I got tattoos and piercings.” She repeated, a little louder and slowly this time. She closed her eyes and bowed her head, not wanting to see his reaction.
“What the actual hell, Amelia?” He raised his voice a little and scolded her.
“Where did you get them?” He asked, anger swirling in his deep blue eyes.
“On my stomach.” She mumbled.
“If I ask you a question, I expect a loud and clear answer.” Lorenzo gritted.
“On my stomach.” She said, louder this time. She got up and lifted her hoodie to show the tattoos and the belly button piercing.
Lorenzo pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
“What am I gonna do with you?” He gritted out.
“I was drunk when I got them.” She said, defensively. Lorenzo looked up at her and glared dangerously.
“Go to the third floor, the second room in the left hallway. I want it cleaned until tomorrow.” He ordered.
It’s not that bad.
She got up and shuffled out of the room.
~Amelia~
I just have to clean. I’m good at that. It won’t be that bad. I pushed the door open.
My jaw, basically touched the floor when I saw the room. It was so big. Almost the same size as Lorenzo’s. It was dusty with some old furniture. All the things were placed improperly.
Don’t complain Amelia. You earned this.
I kept trying to reason with myself.
I started with putting everything in one corner and dusting the room.
After some time, I felt someone staring at me. I turned around to find Jace and Alex in the doorway. They were sitting cross-legged in the doorway staring at me while I worked.
“What?” I asked. They looked at me sadly.
“Do you need help?” Alex asked, quietly, making sure no one heard him.
“No.” I said immediately. “It was my fault. I made the wrong decision. Now I have to face the consequences.” I shrugged.
“I told you he’s gonna turn too strict. He caught me smoking once and stopped talking to me like he always does, something changed in his tone. Instead, he started going so hard on me.” Jace said.
“When you washed all the cars?” Alex asked. Jace nodded.
“But that’s too much. Way worse than what I got. There are like 30 cars, in the garage.” I exclaimed.
“I argued with him, cursed, and tried hitting Mason. I also told him that I tried taking drugs too.” They started laughing.
“Oh.” That was all I said and chuckled.
I kept cleaning as Jace and Alex kept telling me stories about them breaking rules and getting punishments.
I heard footsteps approaching the room. I turned my head to look at the doorway. Lorenzo appeared in the doorway, looking at us and smiling a little when he saw Jace and Alex there.
“What are you two doing here?” He asked, Jace and Alex.
“Couldn’t leave her alone with her thoughts.” Alex whispered. I know for a fact, it was not for me to hear.
“I’m fine.” I said. Their gazes snapped towards me.
“No, you’re not.” Jace said. “We both know you overthink. Don’t deny that.”
I just huffed and started putting stuff in their right places. On the shelves, in the wardrobes.
“You’re almost done so quickly.” Lorenzo said, looking at his watch.
“It’s just lunchtime.”
“I’m good at cleaning, I guess.” I shrugged.
“Let’s go have lunch.” He said.
“I need to have a shower first.” I said, looking at my dusty self.
“We’ll wait.” He said. I walked out and ran to my room.
Not wanting to make them wait for too long, I showered quickly and went downstairs without even drying my hair. I just wrapped a towel around them.
After lunch, I took two hours to complete cleaning the room.
Lorenzo was out after lunch because he got an urgent call. The way he looked at me, told me that call was somehow related to Ryan.
“It’s done.” I said as I entered Lorenzo’s office. He looked a little shocked, before gaining his composure.
“Is there anything else?” I asked, hesitantly.
“Yes.” He said. I looked up at him, holding back the urge to pout and whine.
“What is it?” I asked, wanting this to be over with.
“I want you to paint the second room to the left on the second floor.” He said.
I grinned at him.
That’s my room.
