Not on My Watch ✔

Chapter 1

Katalina's pov

13 years later

In my family, there is my mom Alisha. She is 38. She has long brown hair and hazel eyes. My sister, Emory, and I have the same eyes as our mom. Our hair was a light brown and ended past our breast. Then there is our dad, Emilio. He is 39. He has black hair. His eyes are brown with silver flecks. He is muscular and frightening. Just as I remember him as a kid. I remember little from being a child. His scary features are what I remember the most.

Next is my younger brother, Marco. He is 13. He has the same black hair as our dad. Marco has hazel eyes like the older females in the family. Lastly are the twins, Carmen and Luka. They are 8. They both have black hair. Carmen's hair ends a little past her shoulders. Luka's hair is ear length. Carmen and Luka have the same brown eyes with silver flecks as our father.

Everything in the last 13 years has been as normal as it can be when your father runs a gang. Mom and dad got married when Emory and I were 10. It was a beautiful event. One day I want a wedding as cool as theirs was. 

Uncle Lewis is finally married. He got married last year to his longtime girlfriend of 9 years. Her name is Kelly. She has Ash brown hair and sapphire blue eyes. Kelly was a fairly pleasant woman. Though she can be a little rude. I'm pretty sure that was one reason Uncle Lewis took so long to marry her. 

Uncle Acario and Aunt Miriam stayed in America ever since they moved here 13 years ago. Uncle Acario's Italian accent is still heavy. Sometimes I have a hard time trying to understand him because of it. Uncle Acario and dad have taught us Italian. Learning Italian at a young age made things easier in high school. Now we don't need to take a language class for credit.

This year, Emory and I were starting a new high school a few weeks after the school year started. Our old school caught fire last week, and we needed to find a new school for the rest of this school year. We start school tomorrow. I'm excited because my friends go to this school.

Emory and I met Abbie, Evie, and Kira through the gang. All three of their older brothers are a part of my dad's gang, Emerald crows. We've been friends for years.

My eyes lock on my brother, Marco. He was trying to sneak into my room. He goes over to my dresser and pulls open my sock drawer. I let out a sigh.

"Quit taking my socks!" I shout at Marco, causing him to jump. He grabbed a pair of my socks and ran out of the room. I chase after him. He runs into the living room where my mom and dad were. They were rearranging the furniture. 

"Help mom," Marco says, running over to my mom. He hid behind her. Mom and dad both looked at me. 

"Dad, he's taking my socks again!" I whine, walking over to my dad. I wrapped my arms around his waist. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and started playing with the end of my hair. 

"Marco, stop taking your sister's socks. If you'd stop wearing yours outside, they wouldn't look like shit," Dad says, causing my mom to look at him with a stern look.

"Emilio, watch your language," my mom says. She turns to my brother and grabs the socks out of his hand. She hands them back to me. Marco stared at her with wide eyes. He turned to me, giving me the stink eye. I send him an innocent smile. 

"You have a new package of socks in your room. I got black this time, so if you wear them outside, you can't tell they are nasty. But I can't do anything for the constant holes you get in them. Wear shoes or go barefoot," my mom says. Marco nods his head before walking away. "Katalina, we were in the middle of something. If you don't want to help, leave the room so your father and I can get back to work."

My dad looks down at me with a smile. I let out a dramatic groan. I let my dad go and walked away, throwing my hands up in the air.

"You guys have no time for me anymore!" I shout, stomping to the stairs. 

"Kat, we spent every waking hour Wednesday through Saturday with you. That's four whole days with you. What more do you need?" my mom asked. I turn around and look at her. 

"Another day, obviously," I say. Dad let out a little laugh while moving the end table to be next to the couch. 

"Well, get over here and help then." I give my mom a look before sighing. I walk over and pick up the other end table and put it on the other side of the couch. 

Once the end table is in place, I plop down on the couch. I let out a deep sigh and wiped the imaginary sweat from my forehead. 

"Woah, that was a lot of work," I say. My mom rolls her eyes at me. I lay down on the couch and watch my parents finish moving things around. Once they were done, the area was more spacious. 

"See, I told you it would give us more room if we moved the furniture like this," my mom says. My dad smiles down at my mom. 

"I didn't doubt you, love," he says, placing a kiss on my mom's forehead. The door opens and Emory walks into the house. 

"Finally!" I shouted, jumping up and rushing over to her. She hands me a bag and I take it. She went to get us food an hour ago. "Woah, hold up. Those are not the clothes you left in," I say. Emory placed her hand on my mouth, keeping me from saying something else. She pulls me along upstairs. Emory shuts our bedroom door behind her. 

"Vio and I hooked up," Emory says. My eyes widened. "You can't say anything because you know what dad will say. Not on my watch," Emory says, making her voice deeper to imitate our dad. I let out a laugh at how accurate her impression was. 

"I won't say anything. Now, are you two getting serious or not? This is your 5th time running off and sleeping with the dude," I muttered, pulling out my chicken nuggets. I open the container and the sauce packet.

"I don't know. We don't talk about getting together. I don't know if I want to date the guy. He is more of a game at the moment," Emory says. I nod my head while eating my food. Emory grabbed a few fries before shoving them in her mouth. I glare at her before moving over to my bed so she can't eat my food.