Opulent Influence

Forts

Auriella-11
Alexander-12
Ambrosi-11
Adelina-12

"And where are you going?" Azariah asks the eleven-year-old, seeing her put her shoes on and looking ready to head out the door.

"Umm, to see my friends," Auriella answers her father, he already knew this, this night had been planned since Wednesday, now it was Friday and she, Alexander and Adelina were heading out to spend the weekend at the Valiente Estate with Ambrosi. Azariah and Adriano had an assignment out of town and Lennox, Adelina's dad, had some meetings in a different country. So instead of bringing Atlas or the grandparents to look after the tweens Carlos and Maya Valiente were housing the three children.

"Without saying bye?" Azariah asks with fake hurt in his voice, he knew Ella wouldn't leave without notifying him but it earned him a big hug from his daughter who tightly wrapped her arms around his neck. Azariah stood up, easily carrying Ella with him.

"Of course not." Ella mumbled into his neck, holding him together for a few more seconds. "I'm going to miss you."

This never got any easier for the two of them, Ella was fully aware of what Azariah was going to do and the risks of his job and even though she's glad she knew she also kind of wished for the blissful ignorance everyone else her age seemed to carry. She had been let in on the horrors of the world too young.

"I'm going to miss you more, Princess."

"No, me more." Ella argues, squealing when Azariah peppers kisses on her cheeks.

"Impossible." Azariah refutes, soaking up the last few seconds of cuddles he had to go.

"Be careful, pretty please." Ella pleads.

"I always am." Azariah reassures, and he wasn't lying. His cautiousness had skyrocketed after he had taken Ella in and when he was on a case he never once let his guard down.

Afterall who would look after his daughter if something happened to him?

"You know something." Ella turned her head so her ocean blue eyes met his lighter ones. "I love you very, very much. With all my heart."

"I love you with all of my heart too." Ella replied seriously. "More than chocolate and ice cream."

Honestly, Azariah was honoured, those were her favourite things to eat.

"Bye Papa." Ella waved when she saw Alexander waiting in the driveway on his bicycle. Since it was just down the road the four children often cycled to each other's houses since it was faster than walking and very efficient.

"Helmet Auriella." Azariah called after her and she listened, putting on the black helmet covered in pink butterfly stickers on her head.

"Ready to go?" Xander asked and she nodded. Like her he had a backpack on his back and a helmet on and the two rode down the driveway, the gates opening when they got to the bottom.

"Race you." Ella challenged and Xander met the challenge, the roads were empty, they lived in an isolated area of the city meant for the richest of the rich so there weren't many cars around making it extremely safe but there were also guards posted around just as a precaution. The two peddled quickly down the road to the one right at the end but stopped when they heard a whistle from the right, Adelina came on her own bike to catch up to the two and the three raced down to the bottom of the hill where Ambrosi was waiting with an impatient look.

"What part of 'I'll be here in five.' was the truth?" He grumbled, and the four of them walked into the house. "My parents aren't home yet, they said they'll be here by dinner though."

Auriella rushes in front of the others and crashes into Ambrosi's massive bed, Ambrosi races after her following suit almost crashing into her. The other two look unimpressed though, they were definitely the more civilised of the two.

"Hurry up." Ella whines.

"We are going to be here all night, there isn't any rush, Rory." Adelina answers but her and Xander hurry like she asks. The four of them spread out on the bed, Ambrosi was laying across the bottom, Adelina was also sitting at the foot of the bed but sitting up cross legged. Xander was leaning against the headboard and Ella was laying on her stomach.

"So what are we doing?" Auriella asked, with wide excited eyes. If there was one thing the four of them knew how to do was cause chaos and there was no doubt tonight would be the same.

"Mom and dad aren't letting us leave the house tonight." Ambrosi grumbled, the four of them had wanted to go to the theme park that was being set up close by but it had been delayed as their security teams needed a chance to make a plan for their safety.

Being four of the richest children in England wasn't easy, there was no such thing as spontaneity for them.

"That's fine, we can just have a movie night or something." Adelina suggests with a shrug. As fun as the theme park had sounded they were all drained from the long week of school and their extra-curricular activities so a night in sounded great.

Auriella sat up quickly, excitement radiating off of her. "We should build a fort."

Ambrosi looked just as excited with the idea, and so did Alexander and Adelina. Alexander especially was looking forward to the idea, one thing he loved doing was creating buildings and making forts was one of his favourite things to do, besides drawing the incredible architectural structures his mind came up with.

"You can't do that, AJ." Auriella whined at Ambrosi as he tried to place something in a place she didn't deem correct.

"Can too." Ambrosi teased back in a mocking tone.

"Children, children." Adelina chided like she always did to separate the bickering pair. They got along great and considered each other their best friend but they could never seem to stop getting at each other throats.

Auriella rolled her eyes but left Ambrosi to mess up their masterpiece, her annoyance was soon forgotten as they continued to work on their fort and an hour later they had created something magnificent.

"It's beautiful." Auriella declared looking at their castle. With these four nothing was ever basic and their fort reflected it 

"Perfect." Adelina agreed.

They had taken all the blankets they could along with a mountain of pillows and the fairy lights that Maya had lying around for when she decorated.

"What are we going to watch?" Alexander asked as they entered the tent, they had created it in a way that encompassed Ambrosi's tv and they could still watch their shows. "No more Disney movies please." 

"But why?" Auriella whined, staring up at her closest friend, she was teasing him and he knew it. Alexander had been subjected to watching Disney movies with Auriella about three times a week since they had been adopted and he couldn't handle much more.

"Can I choose today?" Adelina interjects. "I think I have the perfect show all of us will enjoy."

Adelina had thought about the choice before bringing her idea to the table, she had in fact found a show they all enjoyed and captivated their attention that they had hardly even noticed Maya and Carlos bringing them pizza to enjoy under the comfort of their tents.

The kids watched episode after episode before they had had enough and fallen asleep.