𝑹𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏

C H A P T E R 17

RAVEN

I stretch across my arms, groaning a little. Although I had a nightmare last night, I slept like a baby. I look toward my alarm and saw that it was seven-thirty am. I felt around the bed for my phone, scoffing to myself that I had fallen asleep without charging it.

That is the worse feeling in the world.

After I fell asleep last night, Domenico had left me and I had woken up at around four in the morning. I was up on my phone until I fell back to sleep around five am.

I went to the bathroom and did my business and shower at the same time. After exiting the bathroom and dressing, I went downstairs to have breakfast. When I entered the kitchen, I saw only Domenico, Dimitri, and Damon sitting at the table eating pancakes. An extra seat was next to Damon where a stack of pancakes sat. He patted the seat and told me to sit.

"All your brothers are already at school and we won't be home either. We have a business meeting and won't be back home til' late, so you're gonna be home alone. I hope you're okay with that?" Domenico announced.

"Yeah, I'm okay with that," I nod my head, stuffing my face with the pancakes. After finishing the pancakes, they all left saying their goodbyes and farewells. Dom seemed to be the most hesitant of them all when leaving. He looked as if he wanted to say something before he was whisked away by Dimitri and Damon.

And now, I was all alone in a huge mansion.

With nothing to do.

I pondered whether or not I should bother the guards to play a game with me but decided against it. I then thought about exploring around the house some more since I was now alone without someone there to snitch on me.

Stupid Luca.

I had once snuck into Domenico's office to find some information that I could blackmail him with any time he had tried to ground me again; I ended being caught by Luca who then snitched on me and I still ended up getting grounded.

And you know what they say 'snitches get stitches and end up in ditches'.

And that's exactly what I did. I pranked Luca for an entire day which made me get grounded even more;  for two whole weeks, I had to go everywhere he went and helped him with whatever he wanted. And let me tell you, it was a nightmare.

The first room that I checked happened to be Domenico's room which none of us were allowed to even step foot in. He would even go so far as to keep a passcode on his door, which I found out but he doesn't need to know that.

I enter the room swiftly and was met with a dark room. No light whatsoever was shining inside except for the dim light that could be seen behind his curtains, barely letting in just a speck of sunshine.

I draw the curtains away from each other and looked all around the room. The walls were a dark blue color, highlighting the sheets of his bed, which were the same color. I continue to look around the room and finally spot a book neatly hidden behind the pillows on his bed.

I pull it out from its hiding space and open it. The first thing I saw when opening the book was a picture, the same size as the page. The picture showed my mother and my father with all my brothers; only this time, I was not born yet and only showed up as a tiny bump on her stomach.

Here she was, smiling as if she was the happiest woman on earth, without even knowing that wouldn't even last a few more years seeing all her children grow up.

Only one person was to blame for all this.

Alessandro.

A murderer.