VENGEANCE.

three

andreas romano

Seeing my sister knocked out cold on the hospital bed was not a sight I wanted to see. Everyone loved Natalia. But ever since the incident, everyone turned against her.

Til this day, I'm still questioning whether it was real or fake. There's no way a 4 year old could do such thing... right? But being only 11 years old, I was powerless to do anything.

I had a bad feeling about Uncle Antonio since young, but that was something I had to keep to myself until I've figured out what exactly made me feel wary of him.

natalia romano

I hate hospitals with a burning passion.

"Doctor, she's awake." Was I?

"Open your eyes, Natalia."

I forced myself to open my eyes, the bright light being the first thing to greet me. No brothers in sight.

Why couldn't I have just succumbed to the void? Oh wait. I have responsibilities.

Suddenly, the weight of everyone's gaze made me feel exposed and vulnerable. The found the scars, discovering a part of me I never wanted to show. I averted my gaze to the white wall, avoiding eye contact with the people in the room.

"Natalia, can we discuss?" Doctor Mary's voice was gentle.

"No. Can I leave?" I replied, sharply.

"But-,"

"No buts. It's none of your f*cking business," I snapped, feeling the anger slowly rising.

I couldn't give two shits, I plugged out all the machines, ignoring all the protests from the people in the room before standing up and preparing to leave. So what if I died?

Before exiting, I glanced back, sending a warning to everyone in the room. "Mention any of this to my brothers—," I gestured to my body. "And the next thing you know, your body is ten feet under."

As I made my way back to my room, I couldn't help but notice all of my brothers huddled up on the sofa and a small, just a small pang of jealousy hit me. I've always wished to be part of them.

Feeling the anger in me bubbling up again, I made a quick detour to the gym still keeping my presence hidden. I had to release my anger, and what better than to unleash it on a punching bag, imagining it was my brothers— especially Dante.

I got too caught to even realise an hour had passed. When I turned around to take a sip of water, I was startled to find my brother, Andreas, standing there.

"Why are you here, Andreas?" I questioned, sipping my water.

"How did you learn how to box?"

"I asked you a question, Andreas." I didn't want to answer him.

He shrugged. "I heard some sounds coming from here and I was curious."

He was lying. His gaze kept going back and forth between the ground and me, making it so obvious that he was lying. Does he think I'm stupid? I knew that he had noticed when I was in the living room for a split second. After all, he was still a Mafia Don.