SHAMELESS, billy russo.

01. DID YOU CRY SO HARD THAT YOU COULD BARELY SEE?

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— 01. DID YOU CRY SO HARD THAT YOU COULD BARELY SEE? —

       PAULO WAS DAMN NEAR SURE that his sister had lost her mind. He gave her an absolute look of confusion and concern as they weaved through the throngs of people swarming the airport. If Allison hadn't had a tight grip around his wrist, they would have been separated by now.

       Eight hours ago, Allison was supposed to be married off to a lowly, good-for-nothing douchebag all because of their father, and for the sake of their unborn child. Marcus Bonne had the wealth, the power — the only things that their father actually cared about. Allison had suffered years of torment alongside Paulo mainly for being a woman, she was simply a pawn while Paulo had been the spare. She didn't even have a choice with her pregnancy (except Bonne was not the far, thank heavens) but they all thought Bonne was the father and had wanted it gone.

        And then Allison decided to take her life in her hands, sabotaged her own wedding and now here she was, a runaway bride with her brother in tow, now a lost heir. A very pregnant heir.

       They had no doubt that their father would be spreading seeds of well-worn facade of worry by now, claiming his children have been kidnapped. This had been the first time they succeeded in getting away — to say they were afraid was an understatement.

       They were scared shitless.

       "Allison," He tugged her back into him and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her away from the road after she nearly got ran over. She simply huffed in defeat and wrapped her weary arm around her baby bump, now at eight months. "Where do we go now?"

       "Someplace Father will never find us," She gave him a weak smile. Paulo had always been awful in dealing with his anxiety. They had been quite the pair, so close to each other as if they were twins. "I'm okay. We're okay."

       "You nearly got hit by a car," He glares at the cab that went straight on with its journey, never once stopping to see if one of them were alright. "The bags under your eyes do not fool me. You're harboring another human inside you, surely you will both need to rest."

       "I promise I will rest once we are safe," Allison assured him. "For now, we will go by nana's maiden name. Rowan, for our mother's name will always be more honorable than Father could ever hope to be. I don't want my child to be burdened by the weight of being a Vollard. I don't want him or her to inherit years of enemies made by our family."

       "It's been a glorious ride then," Paulo smirked slightly. "Being a Vollard and all, but we just weren't made for it."

       "We should go home," She smiled weakly. "We have a baby daddy to find, after all."

       Paulo pressed his lips firmly to her head, and his hand to her bump. "My home," He says sincerely. "Is wherever you go, sister."

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       THEY FOUND THEIR NEW HOME near the outskirts of Manhattan, just beside a warehouse. The landlord had been so surprised once the two siblings presented him the downpayment on the spot despite their worn out — and very much stolen — clothes.

       Luckily, Paulo had transferred all of their saved up money from their bank account to another one that they set up should things like this happen. Allison had thrown their Vollard credit cards into the nearest fire pit before they set off for Nevada, and then hopping on a roundtrip to Manhattan.