Cortello - D'Angelo

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

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 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘳 - 𝘚𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴

adrian

My day had been well-spent but eventually I had to go home. That was what brought me to the moment at 1 AM in the kitchen staring into the microwave. Everyone else had either taken to their rooms or some other room in the house, or they were gone out. The maids were already long gone and while the guards were still in the house, they steered clear of the kitchen. Quite honestly, it made me highly uncomfortable having strange people roaming around our house at all times of the day, but it was for "protection" as my brothers had said.

My nachos -literally just spicy Doritos sprinkled with cheese and shredded chicken from Reece's chicken fillet burgers- were out of the microwave in less than a minute and I got to getting comfortable at the table, using my phone to watch netflix as it leaned agasint my iced-coffee glass.

I couldn't sleep, naturally, so I took to food and Friends as my sources of entertainment. For once, I was trying not to pine over on the ticking time bomb that was my sanity, or the bizzareness of the drama and scandal surrounding my family.

Keyword being 'trying'. As soon as I had gotten home that day, Dari and Luci sat me in their office and we had a long talk. Hours later and all of that was still playing around in my head.

"Us, Adrian."

"Compensation for the money they're still owed."

Dari's words were still floating around in my head, even a whole week later. After a substantial amount of arguments of the unfairness towards me from all the secret-keeping in this family, I was finally offered an explanation. After hearing what Dari and Luci had to say, understood to some degree why they kept it from me. The extent that I stopped understanding is when they started lying, specifically about Tyler, Keanu and Mateo, and when I found out that everyone else knew but me.

That was fucked up. Everyone else going along with it was worse.

The story they ran with it -well not actually a story considering there was proof to the claim- was that their dad's -my dad- were bad people involved with people even worse than them. Back before even Avery, Hayes, Blake and Kaden were even afterthoughts, Lorenzo Ricci and Angelo Cortello were partners in every sense of the word, except the romantic sense. Business partners and best friends to the point where they were each other's best man at their weddings, the two were inseparable. Back to the business partner thing, they had plans to be one of the most successful businesses in whatever industry it would be and they went in, no plan in mind. Fast forward a couple years, their hospitality business had taken off, but not without the help of some high-end coughing up the dough for funding.