Undesired Family

The De Santis

POV: Breanna

I wake up in a soft, comfortable bed and sit up, sleepy and disoriented.

It takes me a few seconds to get my bearings. I look around and see a room with shades of purple and sky blue, with long white curtains covering a huge window.

I see three closed doors and I imagine that one of them is the exit.

I get out of bed carefully, because my body is hurting a lot. I open the closest door and see a huge bathroom with a whirlpool tub, a place to put on makeup and a shower that I don't even know how to turn on.

I close the door and open the next one. I see an empty closet with space for shoes, jewelry, clothes and many other things.

Finally I open the last door and find myself in a huge hallway.

I look at the doors and see that each one has a name. I read my name on the door of the room I'm in.

I realize that my room is the last one.

I read the names on the other doors: Matteo, Marco, Alexander, Damon, Thomas, Elijah, and Leonardo.

Eight doors in total and seven boys, five of whom were the boys who were at the cafeteria.

What could possibly go wrong?

I wander down the hallway until I find a staircase. I walk down the steps, trying not to make any noise. Luckily, the wood is covered in red carpet.

I look around and realize that the house looks like an old palace. Most of the house is covered in dark wood and iron decorations that look like they're polished every day.

I reach the bottom of the stairs and stop in another hallway.

I look from side to side and decide to go left. I find a game room, a huge library, and a music room.

I retrace my steps and go right. I find two offices, a conference room, and finally a staircase.

I go back down and end up in a laundry room. Luckily, a maid is taking care of the clothes when I show up.

"Hello, how are you?" I ask and the woman looks at me suspiciously.

"Who are you?" she asks coldly.

"My name is Breanna," I say, and she looks at me suspiciously again before telling me to follow her.

We walk through a few hallways until we reach the front door.

"They're in the living room," the woman says simply and leaves me alone there.

I walk towards the voices and manage to catch part of the conversation.

"She clearly doesn't want to be here," I hear the voice of the boy who complained about not going to McDonald's.

"But now she is, and she'll be safer if she's with us," Serena says.

Safe from what?

"We went to Wisconsin to check on her and, at the slightest sign of danger, the plan was to bring her back," Vicente says.

"But where did we go wrong?" I hear one of the boys say, "She was working at that restaurant instead of being in school and living with drug dealers."

"I'll talk to Dion about it, after all he was the one responsible for taking care of her," Vicente says, and I decide it's time to go in.

I walk into the room as if I hadn't been listening to their conversation for a few minutes.

I look around and my jaw drops. The living room has a large stone fireplace, a television that looks like a movie screen, a couch where my brothers are sitting, and a large wooden table in the other corner.

What do they do for a living?

I hear laughter and realize I said that out loud. My cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"She's so cute," one of the boys says, and I stare at him. "Definitely cute."

Vicente stands up with Serena. They smile at me and come closer.

It takes all my strength not to pull away.

"Boys, introduce yourselves," Vicente says, and the boys stand up.

"My name is Leonardo, and I'm 28 years old. I'm your oldest brother." Leonardo introduces himself, but he shows no emotion.

"I'm Elijah, your second oldest. I'm 26." He smiles at me.

"I'm Thomas, the third brother and your favorite, I'm 24 years old." Thomas smiles at me and I can't help but smile back.

"Marco, I'm 17." Marco doesn't smile or try to be nice, he just doesn't like me and honestly, f**k it.

"I'm Matteo, I'm 17 years old and I'm the fifth oldest." Matteo looks nervous, almost anxious, as he talks to me.

"Damon and Alexander aren't home," Vicente says. "They're on a work trip."

I look at each of them and assess them carefully: one already hates me, two seem to like me, one just seems cold and another looks like he's about to have an anxiety attack.

And there are two others I haven't even met yet.

I look at Vicente and Serena, who have happy smiles on their faces. It irritates me.

"When can I leave?" I ask, looking at them both and seeing their smiles diminish.

"Breanna, you're going to live with us now," Vicente says calmly, trying to hide his hurt.

"Do I have a choice?", I ask, even though I know the answer.

"No," Leonardo answers seriously.

"Then tell me the rules I have to follow to live with you and then I'll go back to my room," I say calmly, trying to control my anxiety.

They must have rules, they had rules everywhere I lived, and punishments if I didn't follow them.

With Joel and Susie, I was supposed to cook, clean, and work. The punishments for being late or if they didn't like something were beatings and torture.

It was at the orphanage that I discovered that the world worked like this, some rule and others suffer. I suffered enough.

"Let's talk about it after dinner," Serena says with a slight smile.

"I'm not hungry," I say, and it's true.

"You haven't eaten in over a day," Elijah says, "And it was a long trip here."

I look at him in confusion and then realize that we're not in Wisconsin anymore.

"Where exactly are we?" I ask with a frown.

"Italy, that's where we live," Matteo answers, and my hopes of getting out of here die.

I sit down in the nearest chair, reevaluating all my plans.

My old life is over, I left everything where I lived, all my savings, Mari and Henri.

"Italy," I repeat, still in disbelief.

"Will she freak out?" Marco asks as I try to digest this new information.

"Breanna, I know it's a hard change, my dear, but we promised to try to help you adapt," Serena says affectionately, and I just nod.

"Let's go eat dinner and you can at least try to eat a little," Vicente says calmly.

I look at them and sigh.

I can try to get used to living with them, it will only be for three years and until then I can save up money again and run away as far away as I can.

How I wish it were that simple.