Athena

17

Athena's Pov:

Groggily my eyes open. I take in the quietness of my surroundings, as I look further I find that it's dark when I look out the jet window and with that the majority of the family are fast asleep. I say majority as there I the light of a laptop screen on the other side of the cabin.

"Hey bambina, sleep well?" The muted voice of Marcus says to me as I rub the sleep from my eyes. I nod to him walk further in his direction. He has moved seats since I fell asleep, now sitting on one of the couches a leg thrown over the other.

His laptop settled in hid lap and an arm thrown over the back of the couch. "Why are you up?" I whisper, wrapping my blanket more around myself. He shrugs my question off with a shake of his head before pointing the spot beside him, asking me to sit with the gesture.

I do, bringing me feet up I rest my head on my knees. We sit in the quiet only our breathing audible for a few moment when there is a ping on the laptop. The home screen lights up and with that a picture of a little girl in a dress appears.

"You were such a force when you were young. Always wanting to know more." Marcus chuckles. "You would correct adults when you knew they were wrong. I remember a few weeks before easter one year Mama wanted to take family photos to send out and your little brain thought the idea of a large bunny coming to our house to lay chocolate eggs in the back garden was absolutely preposterous."

Leaning towards me he continues. "It got so bad and you wouldn't let up, how could people be okay with this bunny sneaking into your gardens? 'I thought I wasn't supposed to take sweets from strangers but I'm allowed chocolate from a big bunny?' you'd say. In the end we just had to tell you it wasn't a real bunny but Mama and Papa. We had a good laugh until you made Mattio and Tomas cry when you told them the easter bunny wasn't real."

I smile listening to the story. Marcus flips through more photos some of the others some of me. I looked so happy back then. "I hope you know how happy I am to have you home. Don't ever leave us again." Marcus hooks his fingers under my chin making me look him straight in the eyes.

"I promise. I won't leave again." My voice is low but the words were meant.

~~~

The rest of the way to Italy was spent getting to know Marcus better. He did most of the talking which I was thankful for and she showed me many more pictures of all the boys growing up. There was definitely an ache in my chest at seeing them all growing up together and knowing we missed out on growing together but I'm also happy that they all had each to rely on.

As the jet starts to descend the rest of the family start to wake up one by one. By the time we are settled on the ground everyone is officially conscious and it's about 7am. "Welcome home bambina." Silas kisses the top of head and helps me down the steps to the ground where a row of four black SUV's wait with many men in suits.

Elijah, Silas and Marcus head off to do some 'work' in one of the cars. Kaden and Finn take another to see friends leaving Gabriel, Luna and I in the last vehicle. Gabriel crawls into the back seat with me as Luna take the passenger seat and a man who I'm told is Derek the driver, a middle aged man originally from the UK.

"So my loves where would you like to go? I was thinking since the men are bringing the luggage home maybe we would pop out to the mall and do some shopping and get some breakfast. How does that sound?" Luna turns to look at Gabriel and I.

I also turn toward Gabriel to see what he thinks. With a shrug of his shoulder and a nod to me I also agree and we start to drive. The scenery is drastically different from what I am used to. Italy is full greenery and magnificent houses.

We drive for about two hours as Luna tells me more about the area and the home. It turns out the live in a gated community, the other houses contain many friends and family of ours. The house we live in is at the back of the community up a drive way with it's own gate.

Luna goes on to tell me about the high school. A preparatory academy as she says is a private school that will help catch me up on the school I've missed out on, she told me that she has already been in contact with them and they are wiling to give me anything I need to help me with the missed classes.

I can see Gabriel fidgeting with his hands next to me and one look at his face and I can tell he is anxious, about what I'm not sure. Maybe he isn't a fan of school or he hate the mall? Either way, pushing through my own nerves I take his hand in mine surprising him.

His cheeks redden slightly like he was embarrassed I caught him but I just give a shake of my head and ease his with a gentle smile to tell him that everything was okay. Every now again Luna will give a snippet about something else she wants to show me or point to a place we absolutely have to go sometime but other than that the rest of the ride is listening to soft music or Gabriel showing me a funny video on TikTok.

We finally get to the mall and Derek swipes his ID at the barrier. The machine loads for a moment before saying that access was granted. Weird mall. It was only when we are pulling into the valet do I realise this is a rich person mall. Only the bast brands for the most VIP.

Well shit.

I look out the window, slightly leaning over Gabriel who laughs and whisper in my ear, "You better get used to it, only the best for you always."