UPSIDE DOWN

~ 14 ~

Nico 

My flight landed at 5am in the morning, I decided to stop by a diner nearby before making my way over to the Bernardi house. 

I didn't bother calling Andrea assuming he might be sleeping right now, he usually sleeps from 2-6am. And he sounded burnt out when I talking to him last night. 

I know this one diner nearby which opens at 4am everyday, so I stop by there to grab something before I go home. 

Sylvie was a baby when she left, she was like the sister I never had. Growing up I was the only child and after my dad died during a mission and my mom due to cancer, the Bernardi family took me in as their own. 

I've grown up among them, like them, they are my family. 

Leonardo Bernardi was like my father figure growing up, he treated me like his son. And Nonno never differentiated me from him other grandkids. 

I park outside the Bernardi house at exactly 6.15, knowing that Andrea will be awake by now I give him a call before entering. 

"Hello" I hear a girls voice across the phone, I pull back rechecking the caller ID. After confirming that I indeed am calling Andrea, "Who am I speaking to?" I ask curiously. 

"Sylvie, umm... I'm Andrea's sister," She speaks up more confidently this time, "Andrea is preoccupied at the moment, can I take a message for him" preoccupied? 

He'd never leave his phone with Sylvie under any circumstance, especially knowing I'm about to arrive. 

"That won't be necessary considering I'm standing right outside your house" I explain, I don't understand what's going on right now. 

"Do I know you?" She asks from the other end of the phone, "I don't know if you remember meeting me, but I'm Nico, Andrea's best friend" I mention. 

"Ok, the door is open, help yourself" she cuts the call after uttering those words. 

I place my hand on the gun in the back of my jeans, steadily making my way towards the door. 

Something doesn't sit right, I pull the door open only to find everyone passed out on the couch in weird uncomfortable positions but with a blanket laying over them. 

I look around and find Sylvie sitting near the window with a blanket covering her legs and what seems like a cup of tea in her hands. 

She has the same wavy hair as I had last seen on her, "I drugged them," She says keeping her gaze on the view outside. 

My brain jumbles up into a bunch of thoughts once I hear her utter those words, what the fuck?

"They probably won't wake up until 11am" She takes a sip of her tea before turning her head towards me. 

"Why would you drug them?" I question, walking towards her and taking a seat in front of her. What is going on here? 

I look into her eyes and it looks like she'd been crying, a distant look in her pupils as he tries to tear her gaze away from me and look anywhere else. 

"I was trying to escape after I found out they were in the mafia" she explains, looking out the window, I follow her gaze towards the swings attached to the tree outside. That used to be her favorite place in the house. 

"Why did you come back?" I realize I've missed a lot in the past few weeks of her return. She looks lost, an emptiness surrounding her. 

"I don't know." She clearly has nothing to say, probably confused herself. Trying to push her to answer my questions won't help right now.