RUN

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟙𝟙: 𝕋𝕨𝕠 𝕠𝕡𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤

I have a private bathroom.
A private bathroom.

Theo is going to freak out.
In one of our old apartments we had to share the bathroom with a few mice.
I don't know why or how, but they somehow decided that our toilet's water is the best fucking drink they've ever had.

One day, Theo had enough.

He stormed into the bathroom with a cooking torch in his hand, slamming the door behind him.
Ares and I stood outside, completely shocked.
There were bangs and shoutings, but eventually Theo stepped out.

The top of his hair was completely burned, and bite marks covered his entire hands.
"They won." he whispered, looking at us with horror. "They won."

We moved out shortly after.

But now? Now I'm sure there are no mice in my walk-in closet.

Which brings me to my next question.
Why do I have a walk-in closet?

Who knows.

I've been wearing the same clothes for the past three days.

Looking around the room, I decided to just play along.

If there's one thing I know is that if people voluntarily give you things, you take.

Drugs included.

And that's exactly what I did.
I entered the bathroom and stripped out of my clothes.
They were dirty and covered in blood, but what's new?

As I turned towards the shower, I came face to face with the mirror.

Cocking my head with a slight frown, I trailed the scar. All the way from my left ear, slowly going down to my lower stomach.

I had others, but this... This one was different.
I thought I was going to die that day.

Dropping my hand angrily to the side of my body, I stepped into the shower.

°°°

I didn't have anything else to wear, so I just put my old clothes back on.

I tried sleeping, but my mind had other plans.
I kept going back over the events of today.

My family didn't abandoned me.

I was kidnapped. I was fucking kidnapped.
My entire childhood I kept hearing about how no one wanted me, until I finally believed it.
And now it's too late.

I don't know what family means.
All I have are Ares and Theo, and I don't even have a phone to call them.

I have to find Jace's home.

Our relationship with Jace is complicated.
I first met Theo and Ares when we were six, and he was twelve.

We grew up together, and he was always there to get us out of troubles.

I didn't know this at the time, but over the years he took the blame for a lot of shit we did.
He protected us.

But eventually he turned eighteen.

I remember Theo's cries.

He begged him to stay with him, but we all knew it was impossible.
Besides, only crazy people will voluntarily choose to stay there.

I can still hear Jace's promise.
"I'll always be with you, little brother."

And he kept it.

For two months, he came every evening. Standing on the other side of the fence and looking at us with his usual tired smile- like he was carrying the entire world on his shoulders.

Until he stopped coming.
A day slowly turned into a week, and so on.

Still, we stood by that fence.
We needed to keep Theo from believing his only brother was dead.
As I said before, in our life you only have two options: dying, or joining a gang.

When he showed up a month later in a new pair of pants and a leather jacket, we realized he took the second option.

He tried making us understand, but we were too far gone.
In this month too much had happened.

With black eyes and busted lips, we turned around.
And we never came back to that fence.

We escaped a few months later.

Over these past years we've met Jace a couple of times.
We told him everything, and he desperately wanted us to move in with him.
He said he could take care of us, give us a decent life uptown.

But he didn't understand that we were finally free.
We were able to live how we wanted to, even if it means sleeping on the benches.
For once, we could control our lives.

So, we declined.

He tried to get in touch with us over the past few years, but we just kept running.

I know Theo misses Jace, and I hope that moving in with him will do them good.

We deserve some quiet, don't we?

Someone knocked on my door.
Apparently not.

Should I open it? Tell them to come in? I can pretend I'm asleep, or dead--

"Hey, Olive. Dinner's ready." Amadeo's voice made me slump onto the bed.

Dinner? As in sitting around the table with my brothers and eat while chatting?

I think I'll just go with pretending I'm dead.

He knocked again. "Olive?"

Groaning, I made my way to the door.
Yanking it open, I watched him relax.
"Oh, good. I thought you were... Never mind. Are you coming?" he smiled, taking a step back so I could get out of the room.

I nodded hesitantly before doing so.
He wasn't in the suit he picked me up with. He wore black sweatpants and a white T-shirt.

Such a show off. I want to change my clothes as well.

Going down the stairs and walking through various halls in a heavy silence, we finally reached the dining room.
The entire time he kept glancing at me. It felt like he wanted to make a conversation, but just didn't know how.

Everyone was already waiting for us there, but still, no Riccardo.

Rivo was busy typing on his phone, and Santo was not so subtly peeking.

Once Alessandro noticed us, he cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention straight to us.

Well, that's not going to be awkward at all.

Chapter 11!!
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