Caught In The Crossfires - Spinoff

37

Chapter 37

Alessandro

I sighed through my nose, watching the bacon grease around the two sunny-side-up eggs sizzle in the frying pan on the stovetop. Not my typical breakfast, but I'd been hitting the gym extra hard lately with everything going on. So I needed the gains.

Sliding the heart attack onto my plate, I tried to keep my mind off what my brother and his new toy were getting up to this morning. Lucky for her, Elise had grabbed a quick bowl of apple cinnamon oatmeal before booking it back to the pool house as she pretended as though she couldn't hear them.

I couldn't help but find it amusing that my pothead dropout little sister couldn't even make eye contact with me as she waited for the microwave to go off with food. Though I couldn't blame her. I did, however, wonder if she knew it was her little friend in that room where all the noise was coming from.

Our older brother had become reckless over that girl. Some might see it as a good thing for an uptight asshole like Cristiano to let his hair down with a few mindless fucks from a useless whore. But she wasn't your typical plaything. It needed to end.

Just as I was about to take a hardy bite of my food, a voice I hadn't expected to hear echoed throughout the kitchen. "Mm, something smells good in here. What's for breakfast?" 

Looking up, I clenched my teeth as I let myself quickly take in Lola's freshly fucked state. Her wild raven hair framed her pale face, and her big blue eyes playfully peered into mine as a cool smirk played on her full pink lips.

"Arsenic." I deadpanned with a narrowed glare. Tilting my head, I met her smirk and slid the plate towards her. "If you're still interested?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head frantically, almost making me laugh. Shifting from one foot to the other, she pulled the collar of my brother's button down. She was in his white dress shirt from last night with a pair of black knee-high socks and nothing fucking else. "I think I'll pass." she scrunched her freckled nose.

Sighing through my nose, I adjusted myself in my seat. Mentally swearing for how responsive my cock was being for this fucking Mariano. "Good because it wasn't for you anyway." 

"Where the hell is my brother anyway?" I shoveled the last few bites of food into my mouth. "Finally treating you like the fuck-toy you are?"

"Forget it! God, I tried to be nice to you, but you're too much of an asshole." She threw her hands up in frustration and turned to march out of the kitchen.

Despite my better judgment, I found myself watching her ass as she went. "No." She whipped back around on her heels.

"You know what? Why do you hate me so much?" Her icy blue eyes bore into mine, and for some reason, I couldn't understand. I felt my mouth begin to dry.

"You don't even know me."

Clearing my throat, I crossed my arms over my chest and tried not to pay attention to how edible she looked at the moment. Her freckled cheeks were reddened with heat as she threw her hands on her hips. The more she stood in front of me, the more I understood why my brother had fallen prey to such a forbidden being. I couldn't show her the way she affected me. Because she didn't. So I looked away.

"I know your family."

"Excuse me?" Lola snorted in what sounded like disbelief before stomping around the island in the center of the kitchen until we were face to face with one another. "Then you know they've had nothing to do with me since my parents died."

"Doesn't matter." Because it didn't, they were her blood. Her loyalty would always lie with them.

"Doesn't matter?" She pulled her brows together in confusion and watched me rise from my seat. "What the hell does that even mean, Alessandro?"

"It means, Lola, that at the end of the day, they're still your family."

"So," she told me with an unconcerned shrug.

Of course, she didn't get it. No one ever stuck around for her. Why would she? I turned away, pushing my seat in and walking over to the sink before placing my empty plate in it.

With my back to her, I undid the cuffs of my sleeves, rolled them up, and began washing my hands. "So you'll choose them every time." I shut off the faucet and began drying them. "They will come first. And whatever you have going on with my brother will leave him exposed."

"Who the hell is asking me to choose?"

Cursing under my breath, I whipped around to face her. She couldn't be this fucking stupid. "Oh, you don't think they will make you when they find out you're fucking one of the men trying to extinguish their territory?"

Shaking her head, she gasped and took a step away from me. "No. T-They won't."

"Do you think this is some fucking movie where you get a happy ending?" I laughed. "Read a different book, sweetheart, because this ain't it."

"Is it a movie? Or a book, Alessandro? Because I thought it was real fucking life."

Lola snarked in that smartass tone of hers, and I clenched my fists at my sides to keep from wringing her tiny little neck. The back and forth was starting to tick me the fuck off, and I was losing my patience with her.

"Doesn't matter, princess, it all ends the same way... no happily ever after for you." I pointed towards the bedroom down the hall.

"At least not with my brother, so whatever ridiculous notion that you will become more than just a submissive to him needs to end now before you end up doing something stupid."

"Fuck you! You don't know anything about me or what I'd choose," she narrowed her hateful glare, making me swallow hard while everything in me fought the urge to walk over and wipe that look off her damn perfect face. "You have all these ideas about what you think you know about me. When, in actuality. You don't know shit!"

If looks could kill, I'd be dead right now.

Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes and snorted, void of any humor. She couldn't be fucking serious. It seemed she wasn't going to get the fucking message until I drove the entire point across for her. "I know at the end of the day. You will choose them without a second thought." I took a few giant steps forward until I was towering over the five-foot, nothing pain in the ass arguing with me. "Do you wanna know how I know that?"

"Not really," she smart-assed.

"Fine," I turned to leave the kitchen.

"Okay, how?" Good girl. I smiled to myself before turning back to look at her.

"Because I would do the same for mine," I told her truthfully.

There was nothing I wouldn't do for my siblings, whether we were at each other's throats or not. They were family. And they came first regardless of anything else.

"So hear me when I tell you, Lola." I leaned forward and reached up, twirling a lock of her long ebony hair in my large finger. "If I have to put a bullet in your fucking brain to keep you from destroying my family. I fucking will."

I smiled down at her as she stood quietly, her icy eyes gaping at me, stunned. I played with her soft hair for a brief moment longer before releasing it and clapping my hands—jolting her from her trance.

"I'm glad we finally had this talk." I whistled and turned, leaving her to mull over my words alone.

ツ    hope   you enjoyed  it.

Vote ♡ Comment ♡ Like ♡