Sawyer's POV
Avery joined us as the movie ended and soon after the fire alarm went off waking Quinn however Remo told everyone it was a false alarm due to Cesco not making something correctly. Quinn, obviously knowing more about things in the kitchen, rolled her eyes and flopped back against me. Avery and I gave her questioning looks and she just shook her head in exasperation making the two of us laugh.
Why they would let him in the kitchen let alone near something that could cause a fire is beyond me.
Leonardo was the one to look into the room next and smiled when he saw all of us taking up space on the couch. I wasn't sure if it was more surprising to see him here or that he is happy that all of us were watching TV rather than doing something productive like all adults preach as if they were the perfect studious kids when they were actually young. Although Leonardo probably was the serious student as a kid more focused on the future than his own present.
Leo cleared his throat grabbing the attention of the zombies who were too engaged in the movie to notice his presence. "Dinner's ready and the whole family is here."
Quinn tensed, nervous for the confrontation of all the people especially after what happened last time we tried to do one of these dinners. I squeeze her hand and the three of us follow our brothers out of the room to the bigger dining room where lots of voices could be heard talking.
We went from barely seeing most of our family to a giant family dinner in less than a day. We sit towards the end of the table Avery and I on either side of Quinn with Samuele and Cesco across from us and Leonardo and Dante sitting close as well. It seemed that our brothers were intentionally keeping a little distance between the three of us and some of our relatives we didn't know all too well. It was a strange dinner. The food choice was interesting however it was the joking nature of people teasing Cesco for managing to set the rolls on fire somehow.
The three of us spent most of our time eating and observing our family as they interacted with one another. The younger kids seemed more jovial and unguarded and while the older people at the table played along and joked around with them it was clear that like us they have seen the darkness of the world. With their profession though I wasn't sure if they were the perpetrators or the victims.
We weren't dumb they were mafia not charitable, God-loving, innocent people. They've done bad things. The question is if we are okay with it. Avery is, she has always been one to advocate revenge as long as innocents aren't hurt then it's fine. I thought I was fine with it but sitting at a table with people who have most likely been part of the type of death and pain I spend hours listening and reading about is different.
When Remo leaves the room to grab what he claims is for dessert dad stands bringing all the attention to him. "As you all know there was a threat made against the younger kids in the family. We believe we have found the people responsible for it and are handling it; however, we will still keep the increased security for everyone 18 and younger as a precaution."
"Handling it?" Avery questions sounding more intrigued than anything.
"Yes, we have everything under control."
My twin hummed to his answer and didn't contest his words any farther. Remo brings out a tray full of ice cream and then leaves the room giving strict instructions for no one to touch the ice cream. Grandpa, Dante, Luigi, and Luca all neglect to listen to his instructions; however when Cesco moves to take a bowl of ice cream he is told no which leads to Dante sticking his tongue out at his little brother making some people laugh. When Remo returns with a tray full of ice cream toppings he frowns at the fact he wasn't listened to, however soon he lets everyone take what they want from the two trays.
Avery signals for us to hold back while all the rest of the family swarm the trays and we wait a few moments for people to back away. The three of us then move to get what we want. It seemed to surprise some people as we only take one bowl as we decide to share and we nominate Quinn to pick the toppings. Somehow the conversation moved to conversations about birthdays as Cesco's, our's, and a few other family members' birthdays will be coming up soon.
Cesco votes that the three of us and him share a birthday party which we easily agree to hoping that would mean we can push all the attention off onto him. The three of us never cared much for our birthday from what I could remember. Papi would always find something special for us to do on that day but it felt like a day to celebrate our small family instead of another year of our lives going by. Once Papi was gone we stopped acknowledging it most of the time.
Cesco began to ramble about how we can all get cars as our birthday presents making the three of us freeze. We did not need any expensive gifts, much less a car each. Luckily before one of us had to take the excitement from his plans Adriano cut in reminding him that he couldn't drive. Which led to Cesco arguing with the other teenagers with Samuele attempting to back up his partner in crime.
Uncle Orlando cut into the conversation adding that no one would be getting a car until they learned how to drive per the family rule so it seemed we were safe from having cars forced on to us. Until Cesco jumped to defend our honor telling him we knew how to drive and Avery had to cut him off explaining why we knew how to drive in order to stop the blabbermouth from telling everyone I drove to school without permission. One of the things we have grown to like about Orlando in the small interactions we have had with him so far is that he doesn't question much.
Avery manages to get us excused from the room pretty easily and the rest of the high schoolers are sent off to do our homework. We grab our bags and head upstairs. We don't have any homework but we haven't had much time to talk alone so it will be good to catch up especially because we split up for a while today which was a first for us living here.
Once the door to our room is closed Avery collapses on the bed moaning about being exhausted and Quinn cuddles next to her giggling. "What happened when you ditched class, Aves?"
"Left, found the roof, fucking Viktor the asshole found me, we fight, I get emotional and shit and then nothing."
Quinn looks up to her, "You okay?"
She smiles silently proving she is fine but she still answers, "Yeah, I'm good."
"You guys have any problems with the whole thing with them handling the problem at dinner or whatever?"
My sisters glance at me, "I don't know Sawy, it's not our world, it's how they operate for now we have to accept it."
I sigh at Avery's word but nod nonetheless, Quinn moves on from this topic and motions for me to sit on the bed, "What happened again with that guy who tried to fight you?"
I give her a questioning look as she busies herself looking through her backpack Avery shrugs and I repeat everything I can remember from the situation. Quinn hums as she types something into her laptop and then when I'm done I wait to see what is going on in that head of hers. She sighs and then flips the computer so Avery and I can see it showing all the info she has found on this guy. We all knew something was off but leave it to her to take it farther.
"Something is wrong about him but I can't figure out what."
Avery makes a noise of agreement as she scans Quinn's research again and then pulls out her phone. "Let's see what Nikolai and Viktor think they've been at the school longer and might know more rumors about the guy that isn't in the files."
Mentioning coding and Nikolai makes me think of Elliott and talking to him today. I pull out my phone checking for messages from him. We all exchanged numbers with Willow, Addison, and Elliott during lunch and Elliott mentioned that he might text later about the book. When I saw I had no messages I texted him asking about how the writing is going.
Avery gives me a look wanting to know what I'm up to, "Texted Elliott, he's writing a murder mystery and I helped during our study hall so I'm just asking about it."
Aves hums in acknowledgment and Quinn gives me a weird look. I roll my eyes at her and she giggles. Leo, Dad, and Remo come and tell us goodnight and Leo and Dad stress that we need to go to sleep. For once I am actually tired and I suspect that the workout I did with our brothers wore out my body. Once they are gone Quinn heads into the bathroom to shower and Avery continues to look over the info Quinn pulled out looking for whatever.
A few minutes later Remo comes back, "I know you three probably aren't going to bed anytime soon because you usually don't so I was wondering if you maybe want to join Luca, Luigi, and me as we watch TV for a little while before we head off to bed."
I shrug telling him I am going to go to sleep however Avery agrees to go surprising both of us. I tell them that I will let Quinn know about the offer and they head out of the room. My phone goes off and I see Elliott sent me a document with the beginning of the story we talked about. I read it as Quinn came out of the bathroom, "Elliott?"
I nodded and relay Remo's offer to her but she shrugs and cuddles up next to me. I play with her hair as I send back my thoughts on what he has written so far then get up to use the bathroom and then I turn the lights out. Quinn is on her computer working on one of her codes but I call it a night and murmur goodnight to her before drifting off.
Avery's POV
I am not sure what possessed me to agree to Remo's offer but watching the terrible reality TV version of people renovating a house with him and his twin counterparts leads me to question my sanity.
I roll my eyes as the three grown men groan when the leads in the show find something wrong with the house that will cost a lot to fix. I laugh quietly as the trio compliments the one women's outfit and then continue to critique the interior design the people decide to go with. I question my sanity, even more, when I join into the conversation telling them my opinion when I am asked. There is something about watching other people's chaotic lives that make me feel a little more normal as I sit next to my brothers as they completely invest themselves in one house only for the couple to choose the other one.
After two episodes, the exhaustion from today and not sleeping begins to kick in but instead of getting up, I lay back on the couch. Remo's arm soon replaces the couch and he pulls me into his arms and for the first time since Papi died I trust an adult enough to fall asleep knowing he won't hurt me when I don't even have a chance at defending myself.
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Thanks for reading, voting, and commenting
Sorry for the shorter chapter but it's mainly a filler for the plot to come although there are some hints of character growth throughout the chapter as well especially at the end with Avery.
I don't know how long this book will be but expect a book two I love the triplets too much to end their story anytime soon. I know how this book will end but I don't have much planned for book 2 yet so if there is anything you want to see let me know and I will do my best to fit it in I love getting suggestions
Also two questions: should I post on my discussion board thing when I update both books or do you get notifications anyways? And do you like the cover for this book? I don't know how much I like it but I also suck at art so if anyone has ideas for it let me know.
Feel free to message me I am open to talking about literally anything
-Lovefire