By Honor I Crumble

Chapter 6

*I don't own any of these characters. They all belong to our queen Cora Reilly*

Song Rec: Thing of Beauty by Danger Twins

4 Years Later

Aurora

Beautiful, gentle, caring, kind, Aria Vitiello was one scary lady. An hour after my arrival in New York, I was ambushed with presents from her and my other aunts, including jewelry, clothes, furniture for my dorm and apartment, a suture kit (which I love dearly), a real human skeleton (that scared the shit out of me for months, which apparently Gianna and Isabella thought made for a good prank and learning moment), a CPR Annie (that Valerio had renamed Chucky) and a non negotiable spot at Sunday dinner. Unfortunately, a new freshman in my lab ended up 'accidentally' damaging all the agar plates I had prepared for him and fucked up three Western Blots. Seriously? I understood the Western Blot, but the culture on the agar plate? How stupid do you have to be? Being the kind senior that I was, I spent hours helping the stupid undergrad clean up his mess and prepare new plates for tomorrow. Did I mention it was Sunday? Well, it is Sunday and I am very late to dinner. I had never been late, but I had seen what happened to Sara when she was late once. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of Aria's silent treatment.

As I turned on my phone after leaving the lab, a stream of notifications came pouring in. It wasn't unusual, especially with my dinner tardy. The unusual thing was five missed calls from Nevio and six "Call me rn!!!!!" texts. I was a nice person so I did.

He greeted me with a loud "Greta has lost her fucking mind. What the fuck is wrong with her?"

I cringed away from my phone to save my poor cochlea from his abuse. This was weird. I'd never heard him panic like that, even when Aunt Serafina found his secret pocket pussy collection.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Greta has decided that she wants to live in New York because some stupid ballet company saw her perform in Vegas and decided to make her the a soloist. Apparently it's a big deal or something."

"Are you serious? That's amazing!" I screeched. Greta was finally getting her dream. Saying that I was happy for her would be the understatement of the century.

"No it's not! I can't have her so far from me! She needs me and I can't go with her any time soon. She can't take care of herself,"he said in a rush. He sounded really out of breath. It was a little alarming.

"First of all, she can take care of herself. She is only an hour younger than you and doesn't need you to baby her. And second, why not? You could just come live in New York for a few months until she gets herself sorted out. What's the big deal? Didn't Adamo stay here when he was a junkie?" This was really strange. It wasn't even a real issue. Remo would do anything for his Cara, even send Nevio and half the Camorra to New York for as long as Greta needed.

"The problem is dumbass, that I may have given Will Renyold's son a one way ticket to the afterlife because the motherfucker wouldn't stop pestering Greta about a date. Will Renyolds, in return, threatened to expose us. He was silenced of course, but as punishment dad is sending me to LA for five goddamned years to work as a fucking enfocer under Nestore Romano."

A laugh burst out of me before I knew it. It was so typical of him to act without thinking that it was funny. "You are twenty five years old. How do you fuck up so easily? Anyways I still don't see the problem. Anyone who gives a rat's ass about their life will think twice before even approaching Greta."

"That's what dad and Nino said. Apparently they asked Luca to do something about her protection in New York. Did you know that your dear cousin Amo is also a dipshit? Well he is and he did something that got him caught up in guard duty with Greta. Dad obviously agreed and now all these assholes have lost their minds."

"Calm your tits Falcone, she's joining a ballet company not the army. The only unsensible one here is you. Maybe because you know she's your better half and you need her more than she needs you." I was a real bitch for saying that. But his misogyny was infuriating.

He bit out a sharp "You don't know what you're talking about" and hung up.

Typical. Knocking on the giant lion's paw that made up the door knocker of the Vitiello mansion was like signing a DNR. I could already hear the boisterous noises that came with family dinner. There was no going back. I tried to tiptoe quietly into the dining room so that no one would notice me.

But then she said it, really loudly."Nice of you to join us, Aurora, look who's here."

Gianna really had no filter. I could see why everyone hated her. Everyone stopped talking and all eyes turned to me. I was about to bolt, saying I have an exam tomorrow. But then I saw the real problem at hand. There sat the asshole himself. My best friend. The bane of my existence (but he didn't need to know that). Nevio.