Cortello - D'Angelo

c h a p t e r f i f t y t w o

𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚: 𝖳𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖻𝗈𝗈𝗄 𝖼𝗈𝗇𝗍𝖺𝗂𝗇𝗌 𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇 𝗈𝖿 𝖽𝗋𝗎𝗀 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖺𝗅𝖼𝗈𝗁𝗈𝗅 𝖺𝖻𝗎𝗌𝖾, 𝖺𝗌𝗌𝗎𝗅𝗍, 𝗏𝗂𝗈𝗅𝖾𝗇𝖼𝖾, 𝖽𝖾𝖺𝗍𝗁 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖼𝗈𝗇𝗍𝖺𝗂𝗇𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗆𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗌 𝗂𝗇 𝖺𝗌𝗌𝗈𝖼𝗂𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝖫𝖦𝖡𝖳𝖰𝖨𝖠+ 𝖢𝗈𝗆𝗆𝗎𝗇𝗂𝗍𝗒. 𝖨𝖿 𝖺𝗇𝗒 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗌𝖾 𝗌𝗁𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽 𝖻𝖾 𝗍𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗀𝖾𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝗋 𝖽𝗈 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖽𝗈 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝖺𝗀𝗋𝖾𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗆, 𝖨 𝗐𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽 𝖺𝖽𝗏𝗂𝗌𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗍𝗈 𝗌𝗍𝗈𝗉 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗀.

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘍𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘺 𝘛𝘸𝘰 - 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴

adrian

The silence stretched on for God-knew-how-long after Darius' revelation. I was frozen in shock, staring at the little boy who was supposedly my brother. He looked the part. The same caramel brown hair, just longer and curlier, forming what looked like a mop on his head and mossy green eyes blinking every time it was required.

I just couldn't find it within me to believe he was there. I was at the funeral, his and my mom's. They were buried side by side, they had a joined ceremony and wake. As far as I had known, he was gone. Long gone.

But then I was back to analysing him and it occurred that he was already two years old. He turned two only a few weeks before I moved to LA. Then the realisation struck that I missed everything. I missed the first time he smiled, laughed, crawled, walked, I missed his first words and his first birthday, hell, I missed his first everything. That might've not sounded all that significant for me to witness since all I was was his sister but considering I had spent the past two years believing he was dead, it was all that significant to me.

I then realised that I was still silent. I was too numb and confused and- and just everything to have any type of reaction.

"I don't get it." I spoke out quietly in the silence, "How is he here?"

"It's a long story." Darius' quiet tone matched mine.

"We have time." I grit my teeth.

The reluctancy to tell my what was happening triggered me. Everything came bubbling up at once, anger, sadness, frustration, irritation, annoyance, and worst of all, the over-bearing urge to just cry it all away.

"When you're calmer, yes, we will tell you everything." Darius nodded.

"I'm as calm as anyone would be in this situation, Dari." I growled, "And. I. Want. To. know. Everything." I punctuated each word.

The calm shadow Darius was covered by disappeared as we made eye contact and his eyes narrowed, "Later," he instructed sternly, "when you don't have the same explosive duration as a ticking time bomb ready to blow."

I knew there was no wining and the rational, better, part of me didn't want to engage in a screaming match in front of everyone, most of all Tyler, Alex and Seb.

Alex and Seb. They had no reaction to anything being said or done.

My head cocked to either side, remembering the way Alex avoided my gaze with a guilty expression on his face and Mateo stared at me apologetically.