Seven brothers

10

*Many years ago*

Two young adults were looking at each other from afar. They couldn't keep their eyes from meeting for the whole night.

The daughter of the Italian mafia and a son from the Russian one. Families who are enemies and always will be.

They knew it's wrong but their love was much stronger.

They started seeing each other in secret, sending letters to each other, but it didn't last long. Melanies father found out. He took her far away and made sure never to meet Vitaly ever again.

The young man never stopped thinking about his love, so he wrote a book. Vitaly knew how much Melanie loved to read, so he hoped maybe one day his book would reach her, and after reading the author and to whom the book is dedicated to she will know.

Malanie had given Vitaly a nickname that only they knew about. That became his pseudonym, and he dedicated the book to the one who was supposed to be my enemie but ended up the other way.

The books title was "The beautiful one."

At the book store, it caught Melanies attention, and seeing the authors name, she was a bit startled. She bought the book and, after a few sentences, realized that she loves Vitaly as much as he loves her.

"Her smile was beautiful, her freackles were so beautiful, her black wild hair was beautiful, her green green eyes were even more beautiful, her little nose was beautiful, her ears were beautiful, her soul was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful."

Melanie ran from her family. She didn't care. A young woman who wanted to be selfish at least once.

After their reunion, they quickly and quietly got married. Vitaly had hidden her far away, and no one even knew they were together. Then Melanie got pregnant. It was their first boy. And then came the second and third...

The family had grown big with 7 brothers. Melanie had made a tradition to take a photo every year so later she could show her grandchildren how their dads changed by the years.

At that moment, the youngest boy, Angelo, was only a year and a half old. Mom made everyone wear white shirts for the photoshoot, and then when everyone was in their positions, he was heard a *click* the camera snapped a picture of a mother, father, and 7 brothers.

Melanie put Angelo to sleep in hers and Vitalys' bedroom and went to her other sons to wish them a good night and give them a good night kiss.

After some time, Vitaly stepped into their bedroom. As a normal father reflex, he shot a look at Angelos' little bed, but his heart sunk. It was empty.

He ran to the window that was slightly open and looked through it, struggling to breathe. 'Melanie wouldn't be able to take it,' he thought and ran out of the house.

When he was out, he started running looking for tracks of a car or a trace from stranger boots. There were none. He ran through the wood yelling and trying to hear at least something, but there were no other sound than some branches braking under his feet.

After coming back to the house, he already saw his wife with red eyes full of pain from crying and sniffing and the fact that her son is now gone.

Many years passed, and nothing changed. No news, no traces found. No matter how many detectives took over the case, no one could find the real kidnapper.

But the life kept going, and the family just had to accept it. The boys had grown up a lot. Alexander was already working with his father. Everything was going well, but one day, Vitaly thought that something bad is about to happen. He didn't know what, but he felt it coming.

"Honey, can you take Nico from school? His teacher called saying he's sick." Melanie said through the phone to her husband. Nicolas was 14 at the moment, and since a young age, he had weak health. "If you're too busy, we can send a driver." Melanie continued.

"It's okay, I will get him right now." Vitaly answered.

On the way home, Nickolas was telling his dad how his day went, and soon they arrived at the house. Just as Nickolas got out and slammed his doors shut, he heard a stronger sound. It sure wasn't his doors.

The boy then heard his dad fall. He ran around the car and saw his father on the ground with a big red spot on his chest. Nickolas' eyes widened and became full of tears as he ran and wrapped his arms around his dad.

At that moment, Melanie rushed out of the house together with Dominic, who had gotten home from university as a surprise. Melanie gasped and yelled "Nico close tour eyes! Don't look and come here!" She started moving to her son, but Dominic gently pulled her away. "Get into the house." He said and ran to get Nickolas off of his already dead father.

"No! Dad! Dom, dad- *sniff* he's-!" Nickolas was crying so hard it was hard to breath but with Dominics strong arms he was pulled off and they ran into the house so that their mother doesn't have to loose any more precious people in one day.

After Vitalys death, the home became cold. It stopped feeling like home at all. Alexander found a new house, and the family moved.

Not long after, Melanie became sick. Doctors said it's because of stress. Her heart wasn't young anymore, and her husband death was a big strike to her.

The boys needed to be careful because if one of them showed up with a bruise on their face, Melanie became stressful, and the doctor said that one day, it could lead to a heart attack.

Some months went by, and the boys' mom was staying in her room all the time. One day, Daniel wanted to show her his amazing football skills he had learned.

"Hey, mommy. Do you want to see what I learned today?" Daniel said, walking into the room. 'She's sleeping,' the boy thought and walked up to her, shaking her lightly.

"Mommy, wake up." Daniel said. 'She's cold.' He thought, pulling the blanket up a bit more. "Hey, Danny, what are you doing?" Alexander asked as he came into the room. "I wanted to show mommy my new football skills, but she's not waking up. She must be tired." Daniel said, pouting.

Alexander froze. After some seconds of silence, he said, "Daniel, come here." Daniel did.

Alexander took him into arms with tears in his eyes. "We have to let mommy rest now." He said, letting his tears slip. "Say goodbye."

Daniel didn't think much about it and said, "Goodbye, mom. I'll see you when you wake up." Alexander broke into tears and sniffels and buried his head in Daniels neck. "Why are you crying?" Daniel asked.

"Goodbye, mom." Alexander whispered and left the room with Daniel in his arms, quietly closing the door.

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Short chapter about their parents and families past, but I wanted to end it right there. I hope the next chapter will come faster, and we're almost at 10k reads! Thank you all!!!

-z