Youngest Heir

Chapter 8

Ash stared pleadingly at Dante. Don't leave me alone with him. But Dante was at a loss.

"Don't you have work to do?"

"We can't leave him alone to wander around, besides I don't need to go in today." After this Lorenzo turned to face Dante, "e qualcuno diverso da te dovrebbe creare fiducia con lui." (And someone other than you should build trust with him.)

"Fine." Dante gave in.

Fine! Ash couldn't believe Dante would leave him with the man beside him whose teeth shredded iron and eyes beat snakes in staring contests and whose skin writhed with ink like a can of centipedes with black carapaces that would turn their beady gazes on those around them.

"But... put away the work facade?" Dante asked almost sheepishly before getting up to walk away. Ash rose to follow, desperately trying to minimise the time he needed to spend with Lorenzo, but Dante beckoned him away, "I have to go get ready for school, stay with Enzo and just behave while I'm gone today. Okay?"

And like that, he was gone, the twins followed and Ash was alone with the giant and his unblinking green eyes. Slowly, Ash turned to face him. But Lorenzo just calmly finished his sandwich, his first one as far as Ash could tell. Every bite took a minute to chew, another minute to contemplate before the next bite. Finally, when the last bite was gone... chewed... contemplated... the man turned to look at Ash.

"Any good at puzzles?" He tapped the chair Ash was previously sitting on and pulled out his phone, tapping away at something before showing the screen to Ash. "Ever played Connections?"

Curious and quiet eager to avoid angering this man, Ash climbed onto the barstool, for with his height he truely did need to climb up the footrests while Lorenzo held the back of the chair to keep it from toppling over. Of course, Ash was cautious and constantly aware of the proximity between them as Lorenzo waited for Ash to be settled and showed the game to him again, explaining to objective to create groups.

"I, knows, hare... naval." He clicked in each word and they shifted to a yellow box at the top stating 'Homophones of body parts'. Lorenzo clicked his tongue in pride, turning to smile smugly at Ash. He appeared less intimidating when he smiled without malice or judgement.

Ash saw the challenge, turning to read the remaining words, Lorenzo shifted the phone toward him more as he reached out to click three words, seeing a pattern. Both paused, contemplating just like Lorenzo after a bite of food, before Lorenzo clicked a fourth, looking at Ash until he shrugged in agreement before submitting. The boxes shook. 'One Away...'

Lorenzo scoffed. Ash shifted his perspective, seeing the strongest links and different possibilities of connection. He clicked one to unselect it, replacing it with another. 'Board, Council, Panel, Cabinet'. They shifted together in a green box titles 'Advisory Bodies', causing Lorenzo to mumble about no one using cabinet like that. They continued like this until all were found.

"You're smart for a kid." Lorenzo acknowledged as he put his phone away and made to get up. "Come on, thats my warm up for work, now I actually have to do it."

Ash didn't want to follow him, despite the warmth he radiated like his brother and the calm rhythm they found during the game, this man's skin still writhed and his teeth were still pointed. Ash could have not followed, but considering Dante had no problem leaving him with his brother or forcing him to comply at breakfast, he would probably only suffer the consequences if he didn't play along. So Ash followed behind Lorenzo and his steadily thumping dress shoes, observing the surrounding thoroughly.

He was led to an office where cabinets lined the walls, the carpentry not the advisory body, and a large desk was piled with askew papers and pens and a laptop.