The Ones Who Failed Us

Chapter 31

Just ten more minutes until midnight, ten more minutes until New Year's Day, ten more minutes until my fifteenth birthday.

Alessandro had Teddy and I make a list of everything we wanted to do while we were in Hawaii, and he was determined to fulfill every single one of our wishes. We had spent the week snorkeling, swimming, and hiking. This morning, we even had a surf lesson. Let's just say the twins were covered in bruises from the force of the waves.

"Ouch, Lijah. Stop it," Emilio complained as Elijah replaced the ice pack on Emilio's ribs.

Leo held an ice pack to Matteo's hip, causing his to mouth to form a grimace. "Yeah, this fucking hurts," Matteo grunted.

Alessandro looked up from his computer shaking his head at the twins' whining. "Boys, be quiet. I'm trying to work over here, and you're distracting me. I don't hear Ava or Teddy complaining," he smirked.

"They barely got bruised," Matteo retorted.

I smiled smugly at the twins as I said, "Maybe you should have tried staying on the board for longer than a few seconds at a time."

Emilio narrowed his eyes at me and said, "We did try."

"Really?" Teddy asked with a mischievous grin. "I couldn't tell."

Before Emilio or Matteo could tackle us, we ran to our oldest brother who was sitting on the couch for protection. As we jumped onto him, his laptop fell to the ground, and a look of annoyance crossed Alessandro's face. "Don't let them get us, Sandro," Teddy giggled.

"Bambinos, my computer."

I looked up at Alessandro and stuck my bottom lip out. "Aren't we more important?"

"That might have worked when you were four, but you're basically fifteen. It's not cute anymore."

"Sandro, please," I whined when I saw the twins out of the corner of my eye.

I tightened the grip around my older brother's neck as he groaned in pain. "Fine, Aves. But you two owe me," he whispered. Alessandro wrapped his arms around Teddy and I, pulling us into his chest and kissing our heads.

"Come on, fratello. We were just having some harmless fun," Emilio pleaded.

"We'll never ask for anything ever again," Matteo promised. "Just let us deal with them."

I felt Alessandro's chest rumble beneath me as he let out a chuckle. "Boys, not on Ava's birthday," Alessandro said. "I'll let you at them the minute her birthday is over." I could almost see the smirk that was no doubt present on his face. It was irritating.

"January 2 at midnight. And not a second later," Emilio ordered.

"Deal."

Once the twins had retreated back to where Elijah and Leo were, Alessandro pushed us off of him and walked to the fridge, pulling out the champagne he had left to chill before the New Year's countdown. "Who wants a glass?"

"Can I-"

"Hell no," Elijah yelled.

"Sorry, Aves," Leo said, "You are way too young."

I looked Alessandro with wide eyes, begging silently. Sighing, he said, "You can have a few sips from my glass."

"And me?" Teddy asked.

"Absolutely not," Elijah said, leaving no room for discussion.

Leo turned on the TV for the New Years' countdown while Alessandro poured five glasses of champagne. Taking a sip from Alessandro's glass, my nose wrinkled in disgust. "This is gross. Can I have some water?"