Trusting My Brothers

Chapter 24

A/N: I realized that I said she had her phone in the last chapter, but I forgot that she got it taken away so please ignore that mistake. Thank you!

When I wake up the next day, I feel Nic's arm on my back and my head on his chest. Looking up, I saw Lorenzo turn away and look at his phone with a smile. It was small, but it was still there, causing me smile to myself. He left, not seeing that I was awake, and I look at the clock, noticing that it was already 7:00am. I think that that was the first time I slept in since... well let's just say its been a while. 

Deciding to try to get a workout in, I reluctantly move out from under Nic's arm and grab a pair of workout clothes to change into in the bathroom. When I was done, I left the bathroom and saw Nico start to wake up. 

"Good morning, Nic."

"Good morning to you too, Lil. Where are you heading?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm going to the gym. You are welcome to come with me if you want."

He smiled at me. "Yeah, I will. Do you mind if we stop by my room really fast?"

I tell him that it's no problem and after he got changed, we made our way to the gym. We pretty much did our own normal workout routines, though he spotted me on weights. He also helped me with my fighting and we sparred for a bit as well. From what I can tell, he is a better fighter than Luca and Cole. He could probably beat me, which is a praise. Well according to Michael, it is. To him, anyone who can beat me is an amazing fighter.

We worked out for an hour, so it was around 8:00am, and then we went back to our rooms. I took about a ten minute shower, got dressed - wearing a comfortable purple sweater and leggings- and then went downstairs for breakfast. Once I got to the kitchen, I saw Lorenzo, Savio, and Nico sitting down by the counter

"Good morning, fratelli.(Brothers)" I say, trying to be civil, while I get a bowl of cereal. To be honest, I am sick and tired of being rude to my brothers. The whole talk with Nic yesterday sort of put things in perspective, mostly the fact that they do care about me. After getting my food, I go to sit next to Nico.

"Good morning, Bambina." said Lorenzo and Savio.

We ate in silence until I said, "Oh, before I forget, can you send me that photo you took this morning?" He looked a little surprised that I knew about that.

"Sure, but I thought you were sleeping. How did you know?" he asked while sending the picture.

"I woke up when you were starting to leave. By the way, you should smile more often, Enzo." 

He paused for a moment. "Wait, what did you call me?"

"Enzo. Is it not okay that I call you that?" I said.

"No, it's fine. I'm just not used to having a nickname." he says with a small smile.

"Unless it is Capo, stubborn, or intimidating." I said, trying to make a joke. They seemed to think it was funny and started laughing, even Enzo.

"Hey, I can't be that bad."

Savio says, "Trust me, you are . Literally anytime I offer my help, your like 'I'm a Capo for fucks sake. I can do it by myself.'" The last part, he tried to imitate Enzo, which causes us to laugh even harder.

We continued to make jokes and just generally have a normal conversation. While talking to them, I realized that they were actually really cool, if you got over the fact that they were in the mafia. I may not necessarily forgive them fully, but if they continue to act this way with me from now on, forgiving them could potentially be in the near future. It's funny how I seem to bond more with my brothers that are adults rather than the ones closer to my age.

Looking at his watch, Lorenzo said, "Sorry, Bambina, we have to go to work. We'll see you later." I said okay and waved them goodbye.

They start to walk away, but Lorenzo looks like he just thought of something and made his way back to me. He holds my phone out and gives it to me. "You are going to need this back. The picture should have already gone through." 

I give him a huge hug and say thank you over and over again. I eventually detach myself from him and go upstairs to put Val's number in my phone. I never really cared about phones, but now that I had a friend, I was excited that I could talk to her when we were not in school.

After putting her number in my phone, I go to the living room and text her. We ended up doing FaceTime and were talking about this cute dog meme when my younger older brothers rolled in.

"How the hell do you wake up so early?" said Luca sleepily.

"Well, let's just say I am naturally an early riser. Plus, it's 11:00am, which to me is considered waking up late." Val laughs a little, which draws the boys attention to my phone.

"How did you get that back? You are still grounded for a week." Matteo stated.

"Enzo gave it back to me early." I said simply. Looking at my phone, I tell Val that I would talk to her later, knowing that there was a chance of an argument occurring.

"What the hell did you do to convince him to give it back?" screamed Matteo. I totally forgot that he got his phone taken away on Thursday for the whole girlfriend incident.

"I didn't do anything. He just handed it to me this morning..." My voice drifts off as I hear footsteps coming in our direction. We all turn to see my three eldest brothers with a cold look on their face, the one that usually intimidates me, though it doesn't look as scary anymore.

Lorenzo is the first to speak, raising his voice. "Why the fuck are yelling, Matteo? We could literally hear you from the third floor."

"Well, why did you give Liliana her phone back and not mine?" said a furious Matteo.

"First of all, don't use that tone on me. I can keep your phone for much longer. Second of all, Liliana never once asked for her phone back; she accepted her grounding, whereas you won't stop complaining about it every five seconds. Now leave her alone and go to your room." Enzo said. 

"I'm not leaving. I have a soccer game to watch so she can go."

"Whatever. Since I can't trust you boys, Bambina, you are going to be coming with us to work. One of us three will be with you at all times for your own safety. I know that you know how dangerous our business is, so can I trust you to listen to us?"

I immediately say yes, anything to get away from Matteo. The three of us start making our way upstairs and I start to get more and more nervous. As if my brothers can sense my emotions, Lorenzo and Nico each grab one hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. I may have acted like I didn't care about their family business, but in reality, I was absolutely terrified. They wouldn't let anything happen to me though. That is something that I one hundred percent believe. Even if they were mean in the beginning, I knew that they would always try to protect me.