Their Broken Angel

Chapter Sixteen

"I've decided. It's time to go shopping!" Dante declares.

I stare at him for a solid second, trying to understand why he's so happy about this.

"We really don't have to, I'm okay with what I have." I reply.

"Nonsense, you barely have enough clothes to last three days and the ones you do have are riddled with holes. We're going shopping."

"But-"

"Ah! No arguments allowed." He interrupts, "It's been far too long since I had a new doll to dress up! The others don't let me anymore." He says with a pout. I almost fall for it before his words register in my brain.

"Hold on, did you say doll?" I ask.

"Oh, don't worry about that, you'll be fine. Now come on!" Dante cries, dragging me out the door, albeit gently.

"Don't we need to like tell someone where we're going first?" I hesitate. I really don't want to get in trouble right after getting the list of rules.

"The rule is to tell one of your brothers where you are going, I'm a brother so... I count!" He grins back.

We make it out to the garage where, yet again, I'm rooted in place at the sight of so much luxury. I mean, it's not like I know what any of these cars are, but you can tell by looking at them that they cost more than my entire house in Oregon.

"Are these all yours?" I ask, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, we have better ones back in Italy, but these do the trick."

"You have more?!"

"Well, yeah. Now come on, we're wasting daylight here!"

Climbing hesitantly into the car, I make sure to watch where I put my feet and hands. The last thing I want is to ruin his fancy car.

"Dante?" I ask, my voice soft and unsure.

"Yes, sorellina?"

"Please don't leave me alone?"

"Never." He replies earnestly, turning slightly to grip my chin in his gentle hands. I try to look down, embarrassed at making a scene.

"Hey, let me see those pretty eyes, micetta. Come on, look at me." He urges patiently.

Tilting my head up, I stare into his bright green eyes, meeting his gaze with one of worry and uncertainty. I've always tried to hide my emotions behind a thick mask, but it just doesn't feel right. Not right now at least.

"There they are. These eyes are proof. We both have our mother's eyes. We're family." His voice is low, soft. "I won't ever leave you. Not at the mall, not at the grocery store, and certainly never to go back to your old life. You're stuck with us now."

I blink rapidly, trying to clear the tears welling up in my eyes. "Thank you, Dante. You have absolutely no idea how much that means to me."

"Of course, anything for my scimmietta."

"What does that even mean?" I giggle.

"I guess you'll just have to learn Italian and figure it out."

*******

"Hmm, what do we think, the pink or the blue?" Dante asks, holding up a dress that I would never wear in a million years.

"Neither." I groan. We've been at this for hours and so far, all we have is one small shopping bag with some school stuff in it.

"Why don't you like this one?" He demands, crossing his arms and giving me a stern look.