Forever family

Chapter 4

Sofia P.O.V

"Hey, calm down tesoro. That's just Antonio, your oldest brother." Dante says to my big sister. I think she's just scared that he'll hurt her like Carter did. When I look at my biggest brother, I see that he's sad, because Emmy is scared for him. I jump down from the island, and hug his leg. Emmy told me that whenever Carter hurts her, if I give her one of my hugs, then she won't be sad anymore, because my hug makes her all better. Antonio looks at me, and then he picks me up. I hug his neck, and he gives a kiss to my cheek. I like him, so I give his one, too.

"You must be Sofia." He says, and I nod.

"Yes I am, but you can call me Sofie." I say, and he smiles again. I don't think he smiles a lot, so I might need to give him a lot more hugs. Everyone here is so nice, but my sister is still scared. "I think my sister needs a hug," I whisper in Antonio's ear.

"Well, then you should probably give her on Tesoro," he suggests, and lets me down. I give my sister a softer hug, because she still has a lot of ouchies from Carter.

"I promise he's like a teddy-bear." I say, trying to make her feel better. All of my brothers laugh at this, except Antonio. Maybe he doesn't like teddy bears. Emmy says hello to Antonio, and I think she isn't scared of him anymore. He asks us to see him in his office, and we follow him into a room with a big desk in it.

"Have a seat." He says, pointing to two chairs. I try to get on, but it's too high. Antonio lifts me up, and places me on the seat. I say thank you to him, because Emmy says it's very important. "Firstly, I would like to say I'm very sorry for your loss. It must be hard to lose your mother and step-father at once." I tilt my head to the side, and scrunch my eyebrows. I'm very happy that they are gone. Now they won't hurt my sister. "Now, there are a few rules that I would like to go over while you're living here. Firstly, no boys or boyfriends." I scrunch up my face in disgust.

"Emmy doesn't want a boyfriend. She says I can't have one until I'm thirty." I say. Antonio chuckles.

"That's right. You should listen to that rule." He says, then smiles at my sister.

"I don't want one even when I'm thirty, because he going to hit-"

"You don't need to worry about either of us having a boyfriend." Emmy cuts me off.

"Okay then. Number two, I have no reason to address this issue after seeing your last report card, but you will keep up your straight A's." This one was for Emmy, and she quickly agrees. "Number three, the third floor is where we work. You aren't allowed up there. I don't think this will be an issue, because the staircase leading up is locked and can only be opened with one of your brothers' fingerprints." We both agree to that. Carter used to have a room for his drugs. When we went in there once, he hit Emmy so much that she fell asleep for a bit.

"No swearing is permitted, nor is attitude towards your brothers. You will respect them."

"And love them." I added, because we have to love them, too. Antonio's gaze softened further.

"Yes, sweetheart, and love them." Emmy also smiled at me. Emmy is the prettiest girl in the whole world, even if she says I am. I always try to make her happy, and she never gets angry at me like Carter did. "Now, tomorrow Enzo will take you shopping for school supplies, as well as some ore clothes and shoes."

"But we don't have any money." I say. He is silly. You need to have money if you wanted to buy something.

"Sofie, I promise you we have enough money. If you ever need anything, then you just need to ask us, okay? Don't think you should go without anything because of money." I nod my head, and Emmy's eyes fill with tears.

"Emmy? What's wrong? Are your ouchies hurting you?" I ask, and her eyes snap to mine.

"No, I'm just happy, that's all." She says, rubbing her fingers on my cheek.

"What ouchies?" Antonio asks.

"The ouchies in her tummy." I say. I saw them, they look like they hurt.

"It's nothing, it should pass in a day." Emmy says. Antonio doesn't look like he believes her, but he doesn't say anything, just that she should rest, and she would be called when it's time for dinner. This is so cool. We get to eat more than once every single day!

After all my brothers give me a kiss and leave my room, Emmy pulls out Rainbow for me to sleep with. She sings my favourite lullaby and I fall asleep before she's even finished the song.

When I wake up, I hear my sister screaming from her room. It must be another bad dream. I open our door, and see Dante, Gio, Luca, and Enzo holding her down. They're hurting her!

"No! Stop hurting her!" I shout. I can feel myself crying. I try and run to save Emmy, but Antonio picks me up before I reach her. "Let me go! They're going to hurt her!" I shout, more tears running down my cheeks.

"No, bambina, they're not hurting her. They're just trying to wake her up. Let's let them deal with this. I'll tuck you into bed." He says, wiping the tears on my face.

"That's not how you do it." I say. "That's not going to help her wake up. They're just going to hurt the ouchies in her tummy that Carter put." I cry.

"Tesoro, what do you mean o-" Antonio is cut off by another one of Emmy's screams.

"Please, Antonio, let me wake her up the proper way." I beg. After a moment, he nods. I walk towards my sister, but Dante stops me. "She won't hurt me, I promise, but you need to let her go." Antonio nods at my brothers, and they finally let her go. She begins kicking thin air.

"Emmy, if you don't stop fighting, I'm going to come out of the closet." I say, and she stops kicking. My brothers look confused,  but I ignore them.

"N-no Sofie, stay in the closet and close your eyes." She whimpers. I get in the bed -well, Dante lifts me because I'm too small- and cuddle up next to her. I lean down so that my mouth is by her ear, and begin singing.

"You're my honey-bunch sugarplum"  Slowly, she opens her eyes, and blinks a few times.

"Sofie?" She asks, then looks around the room.

"I think they want to talk to you, Emmy. I'm going to go back to bed." I whisper.

"Thank you for helping me, Sofie. You're the best." She says, kissing me on the forehead. Luka brings me back to my room, and waits until I'm asleep, after telling me what a good job I did.