When In Rome (WIR Book 1. Unedited)

Bonus Chapter-Ricardo Raises Rome and Romeo

Ricardo

"Rome! Get out the shower!" Romeo whined

I rubbed my temples and looked at the time, it was almost 5 and Rome had been in the shower for almost two hours. I stood up going to the bathroom door and knocked on it "Rome it's time to get out of the shower, let your brother have a turn"

"I'm coming!" She yelled and I looked at Romeo

"She said she's coming"

He scoffed and flopped on the couch "I might as well go to sleep" He laid down on the couch "We been washing our asses in gas stations and shit, we haven't had a real shower in weeks and it ain't a shelter shower, so I know she gone be in there forever"

"How long have you two been living like this?"

He shrugged "In new york, about a year"

"And what happened to your foster families?"

"Foster care ain't all smiles and shit like they show on the commercials" He hugged a pillow "So we left"

I nodded my head "And school?"

"Rome usually takes us to the library, we can't rent anything out but it's good for killing time and staying warm when it's cold or keeping us out the heat when it's hot"

I nodded my head feeling sorry for the two siblings "We'll at the very least you two need to be in school"

"We ain't going back to foster care, I'll tell you that."

"You two are something else" I chuckled. I heard the bathroom door open and Rome came out in clean clothes and a towel on her head. I had some of my men go grab some clothes for Romeo and Rome that didn't look like they were from the goodwill.

"This shirt soft as shit" Rome rubbed the sleeves on the shirt "And these pants all fluffy as fuck" She smiled "I like it" Then looked at me "I'm keeping these"

I shook my head smiling "Go ahead, they're yours" Romeo jumped up and ran into the bathroom, she looked at the shut door and came over sitting down on the couch "You hungry? I told your brother he could eat after he showers"

"Why you being so nice to us" She crossed her arms looking at me with her chin up.

"Because I'm a nice man"

She poked her lips out and rolled her eyes "Mhmm"

I got up walked to the other side of the room and pulled my phone out, I hovered over my wife's name and called her voicemail.

"It's Gina! If I didn't answer the phone then I'm away or dealing with my idiotic husband -I heard that- Bye!"

I sighed hanging up the phone and looked over to the girl who was changing the channels on the tv. I went over and ordered them some room service and grabbed a blanket handing it to her. She looked up at me and mumbled a quiet thank you before turning her attention back to the tv.

I was on my phone when I noticed that every few minutes she would look over at me then back to the tv "Question?"

She turned and looked at me warily "I don't know"

"Well," I looked down not sure what to say "Are you okay?"

She nodded her head and pulled her knees up to her chest then looked at the window "I am. Yeah. I am" She looked at me then at her feet "I know it's weird but it's the first time in a long time that I've felt...safe. Crazy since I stole your stuff"

I chuckled and nodded my head "I promise you, nothing bad will happen to you or your brother while you two are with me"

"And after?" She finally looked up at me