Family

SIXTY-FOUR

My chest tightens as the house comes into view and the gates shut with a thud behind us as Alfonzo walks up to the front door before knocking.

The door is open within less than a second and Antonio's face comes into view, his hair visibly dishevelled, his suit tie missing and his shirt is all rumpled.

I've never seen him look so out of sorts.

"You're safe." He breathes, taking a step forward but stopping as I curl into Alfonzo.

Antonio clears his throat, turning around and motioning us to follow him back inside.

Alfonzo finally sets me down before grabbing my hand in his much larger one and gently dragging me to the living room.

Luca and Aiden visibly relax at seeing me, offering small waves and cheeky grins as they lounge back on the sofas.

Giovanni pushes himself off the wall, rolling his eyes as he walks past us and towards the staircase down the hall.

"What's his problem?" Luca mutters under his breath, raising his middle finger in the direction Giovanni walked in.

"Knock it off before I knock you out Lucien." Giovanni threatens, his voice loud and clear even though he's put quite the distance between us all.

Luca's jaw hangs open, the surprise of his full name being said getting to him.

I don't blame him, he's used to being called Luca, nobody ever calls him by his full name unless he's in trouble or something so I wonder why Giovanni seems so agitated?

Even though his gaze was stuck to me as soon as we entered the room, he was really quick to leave.

"Alfonzo you're back!" Sofia squeals, tackling Alfonzo from behind.

Luca and Aiden snicker at the look on Alfonzo's face as he stands next to me, his posture stiff and rigid.

"If looks could kill Sofia would be dead ten times over." Aiden laughs, smacking his knee out of spite.

"Only ten?" Luca teases, clearly enjoying Alfonzo's reaction.

Alfonzo shrugs her off, turning around to glare at her.

Sofia visibly shrinks under his gaze before her eyes meet mine, narrowing into slits at our intertwined hands before she scoffs and storms off, her hips swaying after her.

"How do you tolerate her?" Luca questions, an incredulous look in his eyes as he leans back into the sofa with a loud yawn.

Aiden shrugs, kicking his shoes off before leaning back, playfully shoving Luca away from him, "Beats me, I'm not even home much so it's Rachel who suffers the most."

As if on cue, all our gazes direct to Rachel, sitting on her own on the sofa opposite us, her knees drawn to her chest as she watches us, an unreadable look in her eyes.

"It's not that bad." She whispers after a beat of silence, turning her head away to face the wall.

I think we made her uncomfortable with all our staring.

Just then, the sound of the front door slamming startles us, me mostly, and I jump in my place before moving to hide behind Alfonzo as Father steps into the room.

"Is he alright?" Father breathes, his dark gaze immediately moving to my thin frame.

"Leo." Father says, his voice taking on that no-nonsense tone, "Come here."

Luca whistles under his breath, causing Aiden to scowl and elbow him, "You're not helping dimwit!"

Their bickering continues in the background whilst I squirm under Father's heated gaze.