Born a ROMANO

10

Gabriella's POV:

Walking through the front door with Matteo, we immediately interrupt Leo and Max kissing.

EW. MY older brother kissing someone?

WAIT. Max??

Awww omg stop that's so cute.

Wait but he's my brother-...

How did they manage to kiss after only meeting a few days ago?

"I- um. Sorry-" I stutter out after both their heads turn towards mine. I awkwardly shuffle past them but Leo grabs my arm gently

Matteo walks right into the kitchen so I assume he already knew about this.

"Gabby, I know this is weird to see us like this after a short period of time but please know I'm really happy with Max" Leo explains and my heart instantly warms. The only reason I thought of it as weird was because he's my older brother. No other reason!

I softly smile at them both, "of course. I'm just a little shocked at how fast your relationship progressed but I'm happy for you both!"

They both smile warmly. Max and Leonardo. Very cute!

They start giving each other longing looks and I take that as my cue to head on upstairs so I do. However, I'm half way up the stairs when I hear my name being shouted. Ugh, now I have to go all the way back down and all the way back up again!

I leave my bag and shoes by the small closet we have near the front door and I walk to the kitchen where my name was shouted from. "Yes?" I mutter, walking in

Sandro is sitting at the table, his laptop open in front of him. Matt is grabbing a banana from the fruit bowl.

"How was school?" Sandro asks. I roll my eyes, knowing he's going to question why I didn't want to go this morning.

"Good"

"Was it?" he asks suspiciously but I bite back a smile. Today was a really good day in fact. I thought it would be awkward between Jay and I but it really wasn't. We spoke as if yesterday never happened which I can confirm was a little confusing for me but I know he put off that topic because I was embarrassed yesterday. 

Not 'embarrassed' but shocked.

He sighs and drops the subject but tells me to sit down nonetheless.

"Bri, I need to tell you something. It's really important and you need to promise you won't tell anyone." he starts

I glance at Matteo who seems a little nervous but once he catches me looking at him, he puts on a comforting smile. He takes a seat beside me and grabs my left hand, stroking it with his thumb

"What's going on?" I announce my thought

"Eccolo qui" he mutters under his breath

(Translation: Here it goes)

"Start from the beggining" Matt suggests and Sandro nods.

"You know dad?" he starts off and I nod. He wasn't much of a dad to me but whatever, that's a story for another time...

"He was the don of the Italian mafia. When he passed away, I had to take on a lot of his responsibilities, like caring for our brothers, the house, ... and the mafia." he explains

My eyes widen. He's the Don of the Italian Mafia?

I always expected something like this would fill my suspicions but I never would've guessed a mafia. "I- wow..." I trail off, not really knowing what to say