𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 |✔

|Chapter 12|

|Killer machines|

Lorenzo POV

"Ice cream? Really?", Val asked, a bit annoyed. When Alessandro came back yesterday and we had heard about their day I thought I could easily make them comfortable with me too. But it seems it is not that easy after all. Apparently Valentina woke up on the wrong side of the bed today and was in a really bad mood.

"Yeah, I thought you would like to get ice cream", I tried to hide how unsure I was and that her annoyance actually hurted me. But they seemed to notice.

Valentina rolled her eyes and stepped out of the car without another word. Ruby didn't. "I love ice cream!", she exclaimed excitedly. At least I could please one of them. "Don't worry Enzo, she is on her period", she whispered in my ear before exiting my car. I followed her with a smile on my face. She had called me by my nickname, something I had longed for them to do again. Before the twin girls were born no one really had a nickname -besides the twin boys insult names. And to hear them -or one of them- call me Enzo again made me really happy.

We stepped into the ice cream shop and placed our order. Together with our ice creams we left the shop again. "How about we go to that park that we just passed on the way here?", Ruby asked. Immediately I nodded, leading them to the park and sitting down onto a bench.

"What do you two think about New York?", I asked, wanting to ease the atmosphere. Val again only rolled her eyes and turned her back to me. It hurt, but maybe she just needed some space, especially now that she was on her period.

"I don't really know what to think of New York. We haven't really seen much of it since we got here and we haven't ever been here before", Ruby said with a smile on her face. ,,Maybe you could show us around sometime?", she added, looking at me with her brown, almost hazel eyes. I nodded excitedly whilst scooping some more ice cream on my plastic spoon and shoving it into my mouth.

"And you Valentina? Do you like it here? How do you like school?", I was trying to make a conversation, desperate for her to speak to me just as carefree as her sister did. But she only shrugged in response. It hurt, it really did. But after all that time apart I could understand if it was hard for her to warm up to me; to be the happy and bubbly girl she used to be. Ruby didn't seem like she was liking Val's mood and the way she ignored us.

"Bitch, he asked you something! It's not our fault that you're on your damn period; besides I am too and I am not acting like I was the only one here. Suck it up before I'll punch you in your fucking face", after her speech -or lecture; or whatever that was- she turned back to me and smiled. She smiled. Val huffed but turned towards us and started talking to us. Well, that didn't seem that bad.

Ruby's POV

Yesterday, after I had lashed out on Valentina, things got better. We talked and laughed a lot. We sat on the bench for quite a while before walking through the park and then finally deciding that we should drive home. I didn't quite understand myself. I wanted to stay away from my brothers; to keep up my walls. Val had told me not to trust them and let them in and here I was doing just that -though she wasn't doing any better than me. But I enjoyed their company so much; spending time with them felt good. I had missed them so much, longed for their comfort and stupid jokes. I didn't mean to call any of them by their nicknames but seeing them so happy when I did, I couldn't stop myself from doing so. But whenever we get home and Val and I leave to go into our rooms, whenever I am alone, I think about how they left us. How they did nothing but watch when two guards dragged us both to the car and threw us in; our mother right behind us. They did nothing to find us; to save us from this cruel world and even crueler people. We had gone through everything by ourselves, watched our mother turn against us and lose herself. We watched people being tortured and murdered, and were forced to do it ourselves until we learned that we were nothing but machines. Killer machines; that's what they wanted and got.

But then I reminded myself that they couldn't have done anything. Over the years I learned that Rocco -our supposed to be father- was one of the cruelest people on earth. He didn't care for anyone, not even my mother. She had given him everything; a heir -Alessandro- and more children -the other boys- to turn into monsters. But when Val and I were born it was over. He had never wanted daughters; for they were too weak and naive for this world. So he did what he had to do: he sent us away. I don't know exactly what he told the boys but it must have been a good reason. The only one I know is to protect us. It didn't really protect us in the end but why would Rocco care? He never did.

Sometimes I wish that my father would still be alive. Just to show him that we weren't weak and naive like he thought. To have my revenge on him. And to show him that women were superior to men, regardless of what they'd do. Men might have more strength than women -though that wasn't always the case-, but women had brains and techniques. We weren't to be messed with. But now I would never get a chance to do so. I hope that he at least didn't hurt my brothers. However, deep down I knew that he did.

To be continued...