Raising The Mafia [Twisted Minds Book 2]

Part Two

"He needs anger management," I said to Val as he sat behind his desk, barely paying any attention to me. He never took Luca's temper as seriously as I did, but I was stuck between a wall and a hard place. Things had gotten out of control and Luca was slowly losing any kind of emotion he had in him.

Val only mumbled, "You're overreacting."

Unbelievable. Was he not seeing the things I had been seeing?

"Of course you would say that, but our eight year old son keeps weapons under his bed, for god sakes." I raised my voice, "If someone upsets him, he threatens to pull a knife on them. Do you have any idea how many complaints of aggressive behavior we've received from his school?"

Val sighed heavily and closed his laptop before looking up at me with little interest, "Weapons are used to protect, so if he keeps them under his bed he's just trying to stay safe. The threats are just a childish lash out, I will talk to him about the words he uses with people. As for the school, they can take their opinions about my son and fuck off."

He was truly impossible. Val seen no bad in Luca whatsoever, if anything he was proud of the courage and strength that Luca carried himself with. The Acerbi strength. It was exactly how he wanted Luca to be raised.

"His teacher called and requested to see us when we pick the kids up today," I told Val, knowing very well that Luca was up to no good again and we would be told.

Val rarely came to pick up the kids from school, he had wanted them home schooled but I urged for them to have some kind of normal routine in their lives and eventually he agreed. It was coming back to bite me in the ass now, though.

Val stared up at me with a slightly irritated expression, "I told you it wouldn't be good to send them to public school."

"I don't need an I told you so right now, I need you to come with me and discuss the issues that our son clearly has."

"Elaina," He said my name loudly, almost in a warning tone.

Val was completely done hearing me claim that Luca had issues, him raising his voice was his way of letting me know that. By the time Val would see what I was seeing it would be too late and Luca would be too far gone to repair.

***

At 3:00 Val and I walked into the school where both Luca and Ariella attended. Kids were running everywhere, preparing to go home and laughing with their friends in the hallway while pulling their jackets on.

I couldn't help but smile, this was what I wanted our kids to experience - having friends and being happy without violence getting in the way. Once I spotted Ariella leaving the classroom with her friend Poppy I was reassured that public school was a good idea. She was smiling and having a conversation with Poppy that best friends do, something that she wouldn't have if we isolated her.

"Ari," I said her name as we approached her.

"Mom! Dad!" When she spotted us, she eagerly ran over and gave hugs before beginning a rant about her day, "We're learning fractions and I really hate it. Ms. Bebster said that if I don't catch on after the next lesson I may need a tutor."

Ariella was a bright young girl, she struggled just like any other child her age whereas Luca was extremely advanced. How he managed to get that way, I had no idea.

"Maybe your brother can explain it for you," I suggested before looking around for Luca.

Ariella continued to talk to Val and I looked through the crowd of kids running around laughing, searching for my mischievous little boy. I walked forward a few steps past the line of book bags and peeked inside the kids' classroom that was now empty.