The Ones Who Saved Us

Chapter 2

Officer Brent stared at me intently, his piercing blue eyes hardening when I refused to answer his questions. He had been trying to interrogate me for thirty minutes, but I had refused to say anything, not even my name. They would've called Alessandro immediately, and I wasn't in the mood to deal with a lecture.

When Hunter and I had arrived at the police station, we had been separated and taken to two different rooms. The officers had asked if I wanted to make a phone call, but I had said no at the time. I was too scared of my family's reaction, so I was stalling until it was three in the morning when Matteo would be home from whatever work he was doing tonight. He was by far the most easy-going of my brothers, and even if he was mad, he would hold back knowing that Alessandro would deal with me when we got home.

My eyes were focused on the clock as I waited until the clock read 3:00. "Officer Brent, I'd like to make that call now," I requested.

The cop sighed and walked over to my side of the table. Gripping my arm, he pulled me up and led me out of the interrogation room and down the hall where the phone was. "You have five minutes. Make it quick."

When Officer Brent left, I struggled to dial Matteo's number with my hands handcuffed in front of me. He picked up on the first ring.

"Hello?" Matteo said.

"Matteo?" I asked. "It's me Ava, your favorite sister."

"Aves, you're my only sister. When did you get a new phone number? And why are you calling me? We live together." There was a brief pause followed by the muffled sound of a door opening. "Unless you're not home. Ava, where the fuck are you? I'm coming to pick you up."

I laughed nervously, rubbing my neck. "Funny story, fratello. I'm at the police station, the one that's off of 52nd Street. I may or may not have gotten arrested."

"Damn, Aves. I didn't know you had it in you. What did you do?" Matteo chuckled. "You know what, I don't even want to know. I'm on my way." Matteo hung up, and I put the phone back before walking back to the officer.

"Can I trust you not to do anything stupid?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

When I nodded my head, he unlocked the handcuffs from my wrists and led me to a chair by his desk. "You have someone coming to get you?"

"Yes," I answered as I rubbed the area on my wrists where the handcuffs had been.

"Good," Officer Brent said. "Since we don't have your fingerprints in the system, I'm assuming this is your first offense. We'll let you off easy this time, but next time you do this, you might end up in juvie."

That wouldn't happen, not with the power that Alessandro possessed. The worst that would happen is a light slap on the wrist by the legal system.

What I should worry about is how Papa and Alessandro would react. The two had been co-parenting Teddy and I since rescuing us, but nothing this serious had happened for them to exercise it.

If I had to be honest, I was scared out of my mind. I had barely been punished by Alessandro except for those first months after Teddy and I had started our lives in New York. Whenever I snuck out to meet with my friends or Hunter, I was always careful enough not to get caught, but today changed everything.

I couldn't let my family know how often I had been sneaking out. The worst either Papa or Alessandro would do was ground me and tighten the security around the house, but I couldn't handle their disappointment, especially Papa's.

They had so much faith in me. They believed that I was doing so well, and I didn't want them to think any different of me. I needed to preserve this perfect image they had of me because if they didn't see me as this perfect kid, how could they love me? I sought for their approval more than anything, and I could already imagine the disappointed looks they would give me when they learned of my arrest.