𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 |✔

|Chapter 22|

|Álvaro Rodriguez|

Third person POV

Valentina didn't want her brothers to leave. She had this weird gut feeling that told her that something was going to happen. Something horrible. And it scared her. Especially because she could always trust her gut feeling. It had never let her down.

And although she had asked her brothers to cancel the dinner, they didn't.

♧

At 6pm sharp the four Romano brothers opened the door to the restaurant and went inside. A waiter -who stood at the front of the entrance- brought them to their table, where they sat down. They waited for Rodriguez, his father and brother to show up. Rodriguez' younger brother was three years younger than him and way nicer than both his brother and father. The Romano brothers had to wait for almost half an hour -knowing that Rodriguez was coming late on purpose. When, finally, they arrived the Romano brothers stood up, shaking hands with the men, wearing their coldest faces.

"You took your time, Rodriguez", Alessandro stated, his voice cold, absolutely no trace of emotion behind it. It annoyed Álvaro that he couldn't see if it annoyed his opponent.

"I had something to take care of. You understand what I mean. Right, Romano?", Álvaro Rodriguez asked him, seemingly unbothered by his own lateness.

"What is it that you wanted to talk about anyway?", Rodriguez' father, Pablo, asked after they had ordered their food and drinks. A moment of silence fell over the table before Lorenzo decided to answer his question -knowing full well that his older brother wasn't interested in doing so.

"It's about our sister, Valentina. I believe you know what I mean?", Lorenzo said, his voice calm but distant. He wasn't interested in explaining why exactly they were here when he knew that they knew what he was talking about.

"Absolutely no clue. What is it about her? Is she sick? Do you need financial help because of it", Álvaro was mocking them. He knew exactly what they wanted from him yet didn't bother it.

"Corta, Álvaro. Sabes de lo que están hablando. No hagas esta cena más larga de lo necesario (Cut it, Álvaro. You know what they're talking about. Don't make this dinner longer than it has to be)", his father said in a strict voice. Rodriguez grumbled something in Spanish under his breath which made both his brother and father roll their eyes. He could be so dramatic and childish sometimes.

"So what do you want with my future wife?", he finally said, coming straight to the point. Oh, how he loved seeing their tense shoulders and clenched jaws. It was so satisfying to mock them and observe their reactions.

"We want to talk about the contract", Alessandro said, calm as ever, whilst his brothers struggled to restrain themselves.

"We don't negotiate about that. Your sister will marry my son as soon as she finishes school. We didn't argue about this with her stepfather and we won't with you", Pablo Rodriguez said.

"So they live with you again?", Álvaro asked, his voice calm and cold yet there was something that hinted at his curiosity. The Romano brothers answered with the truth. Yes, they were in fact home again.

"Is it true?", Erik -Álvaro's younger brother- spoke up for the first time, "True, that she will be graduating next year in summer?" It was. And Álvaro knew that. That was the reason for his now very evident smirk.

Instead of answering, the Romano brothers told the waiter that they were done and ready to pay.

"Well then, gentlemen. Tell my soon to be wife that I'm seeing forward to meeting her", with that they left. And the Romano brothers were furious.

Maybe Erik wasn't the nice one after all.

♧

"I'll fucking kill him!", Antonio screamed as he punched the punching back again. He had been doing this for the last two hours and still hasn't come down. Not even after Ruby printed out a picture of Rodriguez and glued it to the punching back. Whilst the twin boys were in the gym, dealing with their anger, Alessandro and Lorenzo had thrown themselves into work. Lorenzo planning the twin girls first meet with the mafia and Alessandro dealing with a shipment that had exploded. Either it had been the Russians -like usually- or the Spanish -as a little warning. A warning not to do anything they might regret later on.

Valentina had locked herself in her room and started to play some classical music over her box. After a long time, she had decided to dance again. There wasn't really a dance style that she couldn't dance but still she usually only chooses the one. Ballett. It was her absolute favorite to dance. Moving her body to the sound of a piano playing. Or what she even liked more was the violin, though she only knew how to play the piano. Ruby knew how to play both the piano and violin. That's what they usually did together; Ruby playing one of the two instruments and Valentina dancing to it. It was their way of relaxing and sometimes helped them communicate as they both hated to talk about their feelings. It was the music that connected the two and spoke to them.

To be continued...