Chiara Romero
A young, sweet little six year old girl that was ripped from the place she had lived in for not only a year, all because of her parent's choices. She had to live with the consequences of her parents choices.
She had to be re-stitched...
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- Angelo Romero -
I stared down at the little girl who was drinking her milk from the baby bottle as she laid on my bare chest. Initially, she had hidden under the shirt I was wearing, so I had to take it off because I didn't want her to suffocate or to roll onto her without noticing.
I've noticed that she prefers skin-on-skin contact rather than when we have shirts on. It seems to soothe her, and it always had.
I always remember Leo or Al having to take their shirts off just to try and get her to sleep. When Leo got his first tattoo on the middle of his chest, she traced it for hours on end as she just lay there.
But right now, I was content that she was with me, doing the same thing that she used to do with Leo and Al. My heart had melted when she clutched onto my arm as her eyes closed.
I feel like I can just be me when I'm with her. I don't have to try and be this 'bad boy' that everyone at school believes I am. I can just be Angelo, the boy with a baby sister who he would do anything for. I can Lolo.
I don't know how she got that nickname, but I vaguely remember her trying to say my name when she was very little, but she then decided on Lolo.
Leo and Enzo were the easiest for her, somehow, while Al got bubba and Rocco was bubby. Gio was just G and Luca was normally Lulu, but I hadn't heard her say that in a while. Just hearing her voice was like angels singing in my ears.
I had really missed her, and I cried every night just for her to come home. I never allowed anyone in my room, let alone my bed. I didn't want them to see this side of me. If I had built up that 'bad boy' persona at school, it led to it being shown at home.
I drank and smoked, even openly in front of Leo, no matter how many times he openly told me he was displeased and disappointed with me. But nothing stopped me. I was hurt so badly, not only from Chiara's disappearance and my parents abuse, but I had lost my childhood best friend to abuse and depression.
Freddie was supposed to be my best man at my wedding, our kids were supposed to grow up together with Gio by our sides. We were supposed to be the unbreakable trio.
We always had been that way and we always were supposed to be that way. It was just how we had planned things to be as kids.
But over 2 years ago now, he was beaten and bruised so badly by his drunk father that he bled out before any of us could get to his phone call. We all knew that the day was coming as a few weeks leading up, he had spoken about how his father had gotten worse and he had wanted to end his life.
I had called him every night after school to check up on him, but that one night he called me first and that's when I knew something was wrong. He only called me at night when something was wrong, and it was at 10 at night that he had called me.
So, I raced out with my brothers to find him, but we were all to late. He had been forced to stab himself in the heart, while his father stood there, manically, a gun pointing at a wall while he spoke to his dead son, apologizing.
