The Ones Who Saved Us

Chapter 12

Avalee's POV

The first two things I noticed when I woke up were that Papa wasn't next to me and I was really cold despite the numerous blankets that were wrapped around me. I swept my feet over the side of the bed with my arms holding the blankets over my shoulders, but immediately pulled my legs to my chest, flinching from the frigid temperature of the floor. Looking around the room, I soon found Papa's slippers that were on his side of the bed and made the trip downstairs in hopes of finding the cause of this.

As I neared the kitchen, the sound of yelling filled my ears. "You need help, Dad," Alessandro shouted. "Why won't you listen? Do you want to put Ava and Teddy through this shit? It's not fair to them."

"And why won't you listen to me when I've told you a million times that I didn't do it?" Papa retorted. "I swore I wouldn't, Sandro. If you don't believe me, then that's your problem."

Alessandro was about to yell back but stopped when he saw me, his eyes softening. "Morning, Aves. Sleep well?"

I narrowed my eyes at him and walked towards Papa, almost tripping over the shoes that were too large on my feet. Papa laughed at me as he wrapped his arms around my torso, the tension from the fight dissipating. "Why are you wearing my slippers, love? Don't you have your own?"

"Cold," I muttered.

"I'm sorry about that, Aves," Alessandro said. "Our heater broke, but someone should be coming here soon to fix it."

Thank God.

I stepped away from Papa and raised an eyebrow. "Why were you two fighting?"

The two glared at each other before turning back to me. "Dad and I were just having a small disagreement. Don't worry about it," Alessandro answered.

"Okay," I said, drawing out each syllable. "Papa, you want to go for a walk?"

"That sounds great," Papa smiled. "Let me get my coat and-"

"No," Alessandro said. "Aves, I told this to you yesterday, but I'll remind you again. You and Dad are not allowed to be alone until I say you can. I'll make an exception for last night because these rules are new, but that can't happen again. Am I understood?"

My confusion soon turned to anger as I pulled the blankets tighter around my shoulders. "Why the fuck not?" I yelled. "First you tell me not to worry about your argument and then you say I can't be alone with my own father? Make up your fucking mind!"

My yelling seemed to alert two of my brothers as Leo and Elijah ran down the stairs to the kitchen, eyeing Alessandro and I with caution.

"Tesoro, I understand you're upset-" Alessandro stated.

"Of course I'm fucking upset!" I took a few steps towards my eldest brother and spat, "You know, sometimes you're such a fucking asshole, Alessandro. At least give me a reason why you're being like this! I deserve an explanation."

My brother gently placed his hands on my shoulders and said, "Aves, I think it would be best if you went to your room and cooled off. We'll continue this at a later time." When my face hardened and I showed no sign of retreating upstairs, Alessandro tightened his grip and said, "I wasn't asking. You can come find me when you've calmed down, but I need you to go upstairs before this escalates even further."

"No."

Alessandro dropped his hands to his side, his eyes darkening. "Excuse me?"

"I. Said. No." I tightened my grip on the blankets and said, "You're not my father. I'll go to my room when Papa tells me to. Not you."