John Paul is sitting at the table, at the far end of the kitchen, near the terrace doors. He's slicing through an apple in his hand, with the blade he always carries on him; it's the same one I gave him on this eighteenth birthday.
I notice his dress shirt is unbuttoned and opened; the moonlight shining through the doors and windows next to him makes his tattoos appear more like shadows on his defined chest and abs.
John Paul is the only son of my Uncle's underboss, Anthony "Tony" Toretto.
We have been raised together like a family, living in the same household, since I moved in. He's a year and a half older than me, but we quickly bonded over the fact that both of our moms had passed away.
His mom died a year before Giovanni's men killed my mom, and over the years, he has become my best friend. When he's not giving me a hard time about pretty much everything, we enjoy being around each other, hanging out.
When we were younger, we would spend a lot of time complaining about the common dislike for the life we were a part of, unwillingly.
For example, he hated how his dad's work always kept him away. Or how his dad was always using every opportunity they spent together, to train or he'd lecture him on loyalty and different aspects of the family business.
On the other hand, I didn't feel like I could be a normal kid and hang out with kids from school, go to birthday parties or sleepovers, and always had to be escorted by guards. And I hated that I had to change my name and my hair color.
"What are you doing up, JP? And why are you sitting in the dark?" I scowl at him for scaring me. He pushes his dark hair back from his dark brown eyes and grins at me.
"Just got home. And I can see just fine, so why bother with the lights?"
I roll my eyes and sit across from him. So he just got back from partying? On a Thursday?
"How are you going to be ready for finals next week if you don't make time to study and ease up on all the partying?" I scold him, taking a bite of my cereal. I like my cereal dry, rarely eating it with milk.
"Gee, thanks for the reminder, mom." He teases while chewing on a slice of apple. "I don't need to study, princess. Plus, everyone knows I'm going to be part of the family, so it's pointless. But..." He pauses as he sighs deeply, "I still plan on finishing since it's so close to graduation, so don't worry."
We are both set to graduate from Columbia University soon. I'm getting my degree in Business, and he took a little longer to get a degree in Civil Engineering because he's also been finishing his training to work for my Uncle.
"I'm just not going to make myself crazy with studying and miss out on having a good time. You only live once, remember?"
"Easy for you to say. Everything comes so naturally for you." I grumble as I continue to eat my cereal.
"You overthink everything, Char."
"No, I don't. Well, not always. I just like to weigh out my options, and I like being thorough." I defend myself and the way I tend to overanalyze situations.
"You'll look back one day and realize how much time you wasted worrying about things that don't matter and regret not living in the moment. We're young Char; this is the point in our lives to make mistakes." He smiles while lecturing me.
I frown as I watch him wipe his knife clean on the sleeve of his shirt before he retracts the blade and puts it back in his pocket.
"I like to have fun...but...mistakes can change the course of your life drastically or get you killed," I argue.
YOU ARE READING
For the Empire - Inganno
General Fiction[Book 1] Stella and her father had no choice but to move in with her Uncle Timo, in New York, in refuge, after witnessing her mom's murder, as a child. She feels a connection to her Uncle, but his responsibilities as the leader for one of the large...
