The family I have been searching for

Chapter 9 - At Italy

Alexander's Pov:

We're on the jet right now and I was playing a game on my phone when I started thinking about what happened these past few hours.

We had just gotten my baby sister back and it feels like a relief. I missed her so much, she was so small back then and seeing her all grown up just breaks my heart. I missed out on twelve years of her life and I hate it.

I and Lea had a strong bond back then. I never left her side and she rarely left my side. One time she had told me I was her favourite and made me promise not to tell the others for fear they'd get sad.

I miss the times she'd come to sleep in my room saying her bed wasn't as comfortable as mine. Then the next morning everyone would get worried thinking she was taken until they would come to my room and see us cuddled up.

But now I'm confused, at the station when I went to hug her she flinched in my arms and I understand she may not remember us. But her flinch was very violent, almost as if I hit her instead of hug her.

I hope nothing's happened to her, I won't be able to believe it if something did. I mean she looks fine her body looks to be in the right shape, and her height is perfect between 5'11 and 6'0. She walks just fine and there are no visible marks that she's hurt.

At first, I didn't know why my mom took Lea since I didn't know about the mafia and I hated mom for doing what she did. When I was told it started to make more sense, I understood why she took Lea and since then I just felt sad that she thought Lea wasn't safe with us.

But from what I picked up is that mothers know best. I mentally laugh at my thought and continue playing on my phone. Some time passes and I hear dad's voice saying he needs to tell me something about my mother.

I just look at him waiting for him to continue. He explained mom had died in an accident 3 years ago and my heart broke. I felt tears welling up but I refused to let them fall. I don't want Lea to see me cry, so I got up and went to the bathroom.

I get in, close the door and start crying lightly. I miss my mom so much, I miss her cooking, how she would get worried about little things and mostly her angelic voice that she used to sing me to sleep.

My thoughts are cut off by a small knock on the door then I hear Eleanor's voice "Al, Alexander are you okay?" She asks worriedly which sounds like is trying not to make it noticeable.

I push it aside and answer her with a shaky voice "Ye-yeah I'm fine."

"Doesn't sound like you are. Look I understand if you don't want to talk about it but I want you to know I'm here if you ever need to." She tries to reassure me I decided to let her in needing someone to comfort me right now.

I open the door and she comes in. She sees my dried-up tears, my new tears flowing down my face, my red puffy eyes and my shakey breath. She wraps her hands lightly around my waist in an attempt to comfort me.

I wrap my hands around her body as well letting us embrace each other while I take small breaths to calm down my breathing. My breathing starts to slow down to normal and we untangle from each other.

"What happened?" She asks while signalling me to sit down.

"Well, you see at the police station they told us that our mom had died and it just brought back memories of when she was with us. When you were little, it hurts. How did you do it? How did you survive 3 years without her?" My voice brakes a little by the end.

She looked taken back but recovered and told me "I know it's hard but you just have to pull through because it's the good memories that keep us going." I nod understanding and hug her one last time.