Family First | *Rewrites in Progress*

Panic Attacks

Anastasia's POV

The panic attacks started on a hot, humid night.

The boys were all out in town, leaving Hazel, Carlotta, Evelyn, Astrid and my mamma home to have a girls night. We had stolen Grayson's apple juice and used the best china set that had belonged to one of my great-great grandmother's.

I had started to wear Nonna Valerie's pendant more often, using it as a stress reliever when family meetings got tough. The mafia world had been surprisingly quiet since the rescue mission of Aurora and I, causing my family to relax slightly. I would fiddle with the chain of the pendant and clutch the stone, raising an eyebrow from Quinn.

Right now, however, I wasn't touching the pendant. 

I was winning in monopoly.

Astrid opted to play with my mamma, so she sat comfortably on her lap half-asleep. Carlotta's hair was wild as she shouted and jeered at Evelyn, who had just landed on one of Carlotta's many properties.

I was leaning against the one of the chairs outside, smiling at the money pile beside me. Hazel was in the kitchen, getting her cupcakes out of the oven. The aroma of the sweet chocolate inside the cupcakes wafted outside, and Astrid immediately shot up, running to steal the first one.

We all laughed. In the month and a bit she had been here, her health, both mentally and physically had improved immensely. Sometimes, after everyone had gone to bed, we swam together in the pool, doing our rehab exercises together. Turns out she had been injured when she was younger causing a limp in her left leg, but now it was barely visible to the naked eye.

She didn't flinch at anything anymore either. She smiled like a bright star, always aiming to please and make us laugh. Her blonde hair had grown out, and it now shined in the late summer Italian sun. 

My father had enrolled her into a school in Australia, and even though it would be late in the year, we all decided it would be best to give her a normal life with us.

That was another thing. 

I had skipped so much school that my marks had dropped and the threat of summer school by my teachers had been instated. I had always been an A+ student, so now I was doing hours and hours of essay's and presentations during the day to up my mark. 

I skipped a grade when I was younger, so I would be graduating with Jacob in October if my final presentation was satisfactory. I was going to take a gap year next year, to explore the world and life with Quinn. 

My father fully supported this and had even helped us set up a list of places we wanted to go. So far it had England, Scotland, Japan, Fiji, New Zealand and America.

A loud bang jolted me from my thoughts.

And it triggered something inside of me. Maybe it was the sound of the boys talking, maybe it was the bang.