Their Treasure [COMPLETED][UNEDITED]

Twenty Eight - Oliver

Forlap slept on my lap as I stroked his fur, My girl was talking to the psychologist, Ryan was Icing his nose, Milo and James had run off to a bedroom together and Liam was cooking the dinner. I felt exhausted and drained. I'm so tired.

"Bug?" Liam called my nickname from the kitchen and I groaned as I got up to go and assist him

"What do you need?" I asked, hiding my exhaustion.

"I just needed the table extending and laying, are you able?" He asked and I nodded, internalising the sigh.

"Yes of course, I'll get on it now" I told him and he thanked me with a kiss

"Alright. Ten people please" he reminded, heading away before rushing back and kissing me quickly "I love you, alright?" He mumbled in my ear and I nodded

I laid the table after extending it, adding the nice plates that we use for guests as I heard Trins come out of the room and she looked like she'd had a meaningful chat, so that's good, I'm glad we have her now, but I regret not looking for her, we could've found her much earlier and minimized the trauma.

I hate how we didn't look for her, and right now I feel so useless with her. I can't help her, I can't make her better. She struggling and I can't take the pain away. It hurts that she can't even find peace in her sleep.

If I hadn't of been kicked in the balls by her that night and followed her I wouldn't have even been aware she had left the bedroom. I couldn't even take the knife off her when she was about to rid the world of her light. I froze up, she could've killed herself right there and I wouldn't have done anything. She was asleep, not even conscious, and wanted to end herself.

Ryan sorted out the payment details and any other forms for the psychologist as our girl wandered around the house and I finished setting the table. They decided against bringing up the situation regarding her blood family.

I took a deep breath, calming my thoughts down - externally at least. I don't have the luxury of going to the warehouse, not when we have guests.

I went upstairs to change and get ready before they arrived

The front doorbell went and I put on a smile and went to greet them. It'll be nice to see the Potente's again, especially since I've not seen them for ages. The dogs started to bark loudly, alerting us of the guests. I went to open the door before realising than Milo and James still weren't down.

I yelled up to let them know that they better be down here and ready soon, before opening the door I looked at the dogs. Forlap sat next to Dandelion and the rest just stood expectantly as if I was taking too long

Eventually, I opened the door and the dogs stayed calmer than I would've expected them to as Antonio came in first with a smile and a bottle of wine and greeted me

"Bruno and Armando are heading in with aurie in a moment, she insisted on bringing each of you a plant from her personal collection so they're helping her bring them in" he explained and I smiled. I've not seen Aurelia since I was seventeen and she was four. She was such a sweet child, always curious and filled with childhood innocence. I remember finding out she had 'died'. It was horrible.

The dogs immediately got up and walked slowly as they followed us into the living room and I passed the wine to Liam.

"Drink?" I asked Antonio, he nodded as I went and poured some scotch.

"Thanks for hosting us, Aurelia has been itching to get out every chance she can get since papà finally agreed to let her out and involve her in the mafia." He smiled as I nodded

"Why did he hide her away in the first place?" I asked, I'm curious as to what provoked such a strong reaction from their papà. He sighed sadly

"Her life was threatened a few times, she was diagnosed with autism and ADHD where they obviously placed all the limitations on her, he got scared and all that. I tried a few times to get him to let her out but he refused" he sighed and I nodded.

"She would've been four...that's early, is it not?" I wondered, for boys an early diagnosis like that is highly common but for girls that's a very very early diagnosis.

"Yea, papà noticed very early that something else was going on and wanted to get to the bottom of it, so he went to a doctor who specialised. She did assessments and all that before diagnosing her." He shrugged, and we settled into an easy conversation - the stress taking a backseat - before there was a knock on the front door. Forlap and Dandelion stayed with Antonio - with Forlap sniffing at Antonio's leg, whilst the other dogs started getting overexcited as I got up and went to answer the door.

I put the dogs in the other room and shut the door incase they overwhelmed Aurelia before going to answer the door.

"Hello! I'm Aurelia - but you know that from my brothers. I wanted to say thank you for inviting us round!! It's so nice of you, I brought you some of the plants I've grown - don't worry I have loads more back at home - as a thank you! We had to get them on our plane which was okay because we didn't have to do anything special, my brother said you have do-"

"Aurelia" Bruno smiled as he cut the woman's rambling off and put the box of plants in his hands.

"Oh right, sorry. Thank you for inviting us over" She smiled gently and looked up to Armando, who gave her a nod of approval which lit up her face with happiness

"Nice to meet you, Aurelia, come in" I smiled at her as I opened the door a bit wider and the three came in with the boxes of plants.

She was visibly bouncing on her feet as she saw dandelion and Forlap with Antonio

"You can say hello, the other dogs are in the other room so they can calm down a little - I didn't want to overwhelm you, they like to lick and jump" I said and she nodded before rushing over and making a fuss of dandelion, who immediately rolled over to allow Aurelia to give her stomach rubs.

"Good to see you again Oli" Bruno smiled as he finally greeted me before Armando did. It wasn't long until Ryan came down - Milo and James not far behind. They exchanged plesentries before we settled into conversation and I spotted Aurelia's bright green eyes looking around and fidgeting

"Trinette should be down - I'll go and see what she's up to." I smiled to everyone, but directing it to her as I got up to go and see what Trinny was up to.

Forlap followed, but dandelion was distracted by the new people, and the other dogs were allowed out since they'd calmed down so were greeting everyone.

I headed up the stairs and was about to knock on her door when I heard her tell-tale sniffles that come out whenever she is crying.

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Posted: 15.01.24

Crossover with Aurelia Potente! AP is getting Rewritten, this book contains the rewritten version of the characters in crossover chapters. Rewritten version isn't out yet, but first draft has been out and is still up.