Elegance with Expense

65. Niagara Falls

'Santiano?' I spoke into Armani's phone, not removing the confusion from my voice as I made sure that the person I was told was on the phone, was actually on the phone. It was early morning here in New York, and I was preparing a chamomile when my brother approached me, saying my father was on the other end of the receiver. 

'Buon giorno' He responded, greeting me for the morning politely.

'Buon pomeriggio' I said after, to greet him for the afternoon he was in. I had hardly spoken to my brothers over the past couple of weeks, only when I really needed to get a word or two out. Vince had formally made the decision that I was to stay at home, revising for my exams rather than be at school and redo the content I already knew. He also added that I would be safer in this environment.

I also had Claude, my new and permanent bodyguard, around every corner I would turn. He was overbearing but polite, and I appreciated that he had no intention of getting closer than his professions allowed. He looked young, but still, it must have made him at least 30.

Everyone carried on with their lives as normal, the boys went to school, and the men continued to work. I felt lonely, in an abandoned way. Not that I literally had been abandoned, I knew that some of my brothers were just a floor above me, but even since Michele and Luca returned from wherever they went with Rico, who I hadn't seen in a while, seeing them was a rare occasion. It only suited their needs. Even Juliet had left to stay with her brothers again for a while, once again, I'm the last girl standing like a lone wolf.

I didn't even feel like I could talk to them by choice, but then again, it always felt like that, they are the furthest thing from being deemed as approachable.

Armani left the kitchen, asking me to return the phone once I was finished, I nodded and kept the device close to my ear. 

I waited for the next words from him, I was very unwilling to keep the conversation going. Even though I figure he had little involvement in the entire young bodyguard situation, I don't doubt for a second that if he could live with us, he would triple the number of people surrounding me, even just for going on a walk around the security filled property. 

There is no mystery anymore as to why the name comes with so much protection, however, it is questionable why it is only myself who receives the majority of it. 

A question I am not planning to bring up, ever, because although I don't know the exact answer, I do know that it will be a sexist one. 

Those frustrate me, because why should I have to be handled differently because of something uncontrollable. The discriminatory oppression lingering in this household is shocking, but it's normalised for them, meaning that being the only female, all of what they are taught about girls is typically pushed onto me.

Especially asking my father, he would come up with a ridiculing explanation about the days where he was a young man, growing up in a capitalist state, with the decreasing equality, and increasing male domination.

'I heard what happened.' He started. I only hoped that he wouldn't bring it up, and all I could stomach right now was an answer I wouldn't be brave enough to say to his face. I used the fact that he was a couple thousand miles across the Atlantic. 

'Yes, and did it satisfy you? Did you snack on popcorn, smirking as you listened to your son explain his scheme to betray my trust, without making a plan to ever tell me?'

'Now now, it's not like that at all.' He paused. 'I will not waste either of our time, telling you that they did it for you, and so on. I will tell you something, and it's all I will say about this matter; Vincent never finalises a decision without thoroughly thinking it through, it's just how he is. Sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes it's less of that, but, you cannot shame him for what is already done. I can't be having my children argue over something so misunderstood.' He spoke with formality in his voice.