Capo Dei Capi (Secrets of the Famiglia Part 1) novel Chapter 14

Which is why Papa did not take me to functions that weren't compulsory. Most of the time, he sent his wife and Guilia. When people asked for me, they simply said the invite wasn’t unlimited. Code for ‘mind your own fucking business.'

Guilia walked into my room an hour before we were due to leave. She lost her shit upon seeing the state of my room and my messy clothes. To say she started rushing me for time is putting it mildly. But all her yelling and pestering flew out the window when I got a call first from Ren, then Mero.

Ren sounded disturbed, which had me worrying about him. He wasn’t the happy Ren, who left Azure with promises of a goodnight. No, the Ren on the phone was the Ren who at 15, put a gun to my science teacher's head when Mr. Rajan offered me a higher grade if I’ll let him ‘touch’ my ass.

Mr. Rajan vanished two days after.

Mero called soon after Ren and stole what time I had remaining to get ready.

Mero was the chatty one in our group. He’d hold me in a conversation that flowed so smoothly from the time he said hello.

I was always left stunned at how many hours the two of us spoke every day. Ren preferred text and always about something relevant, but today was something else.

Michel was the ‘I’ll call you if it’s important or when we going to meet up?’ kind of guy. Gabriel was a show-up, and let’s talk face to face. He knew where I was, and if he did text, it was usually to tell me to open the gate or hurry up.

Mero was the glue that kept us attached when we would have got caught up in life. He called all of us, every single day. He’d talk more to me than the guys, but he’d meet Gabriel at least once a day if they weren’t spending the day together already.

With me, it was a call whenever he had something to tell me, which was every single day or the others wanted to meet. Today was no different. The timing HOWEVER sucked. Not only did I miss the alarm clock I’d set to remind me to get ready, but after my sister took it upon herself to play the whining mother, I still managed to be 30 minutes late. Well, maybe 40 minutes, or an hour.

My stepmother knew that I wouldn't be ready by 6 like she knew I’d forget to put make-up and tie my hair. The paint on my cheek wasn’t anything new, either.

When I was growing up, I wanted to have a hobby. Papa suggested painting, and after that, it stuck.

I was good at it, so Papa sent me for professional classes, and before I knew it, I was painting pictures that most people thought were taken from a camera.

Painting is the one hobby I enjoy doing. My pass time when I am not with my friends. I suck at sports, so art became my sport.

But on days like these, it consumed me.

I hate pretending and acting like I care how big your bank balance is or how much your shoes cost.

Pretending to care about whether ‘she’ had a nose job or not.

But missing Guilia’s engagement announcement and the Catelli brother’s choice of a queen is not something I could do.

My Papa hardly asked me for much. He gave me everything without complaint.

On a few occasions, he told me to do something, I did. No questions asked.