‼️‼️This is Book#2 of the Lombardi family and Book#3 of the Knight family.‼️‼️

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*** Third person ***

"Is Marco having dinner with us Jason?" Stella asked placing the lid on the pot.

"Marco has a date. He'll just drop some of my stuff off and leave."

Elena sat up straight as soon as the words left her brother's mouth.

"A date?" She asked before standing up to stand in front of his towering frame. "I want to go on the date too."

"A date is for two people, Elena." He retorted looking at his eleven years old sister.

She crossed her arms looking up at him. "Says who?"

"You can't go." Jason smiled placing a hand on top of her head.

"I'm sure Marco wouldn't mind me coming." She pouted looking at her mother. "Mom, can I go?"

Her mother shook her head. "Don't look at me little girl. Your brother's right."

She shifted on her feet. "Mom, please."

"Please what, honey? There's nothing I can do." Her mother said placing her arms on the counter and looking down at her.

"Can you ask him to take me too?" Elena asked moving closer to her mother.

Stella looked down at her daughter with a fond smile, knowing exactly why she wanted to go so bad. But she just didn't know her daughter's intentions if she gets what she wants. She was just hoping her daughter wasn't crazy enough to go just to sabotage Marco's date.

Then again, she was her husband's daughter. And sabotage wasn't something she would put past Hunter.

"You're only eleven. You're not going anywhere." Jason said.

"I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to mom." Elena said narrowing her eyes at him before looking back at her mother. "Mom please?"

"I can't do that, baby." She smiled trying to make Elena understand.

But Elena instead, turned to her brother with pleading eyes. "Can you just ask Marco, please?"

Jason stared at her for a few seconds before looking at his mother for an answer, but she just shrugged with a knowing smile before walking out of the kitchen, leaving him alone to deal with this.

So much for parental support.

He looked back at his sister who was still looking at him with her doe-like eyes.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Jason smirked looking down at her as she sent another glare his way.

"Jason, please." She pleaded jumping up and down. "He's going to be here soon."

"It's a date, Elena." He said walking out of the kitchen. "For two people."

"Just ask him?" She pressed following him closely.

"Elena, no."

"Why not?" She whined moving faster to walk alongside him.

They walked into the living-room and he stopped abruptly causing her to bump against his back. He turned to face her.

"Because it's a date. You have no business there." He said crossing his arms over his chest. "You don't want to get on Marco's nerves. Trust me."

She imitated his stance staring back at him. "Marco is nicer than you."

Jason laughed shaking his head. "You really don't know the guy."

She huffed in annoyance. "Aren't they just going to eat and have fun." She said exasperatedly. "I want to eat and have fun too."

"Then why didn't you go with Seb and his friends?" He asked raising an eyebrow at her.

"They are stupid. And Marco isn't. I want to go with him."

"Elen-"

"Please, just ask him. Dad is out of town too. I'm bored here. Please ask him?" She clasped her hands together in a pleading manner.

"What do you think?" Jason asked looking at something behind her.

Her whole body tensed up as she slowly turned to find their subject of conversation right there. Marco stood by the entrance of the living-room holding a box in his hands. He placed the box on the ground before looking back at the sibling.

Elena practically felt her heart beating in her ears and heat went straight to her face, as she wondered how much of their conversation he heard.

Why didn't Jason say anything?

Her head snapped back toward Jason when he let out a small laugh. He gave her a teasing look and he moved to the side. She clenched her fists being two seconds away from jumping on him and hopefully rip his eyes out.

"You can come but I can't promise you that's it's going to be fun." Marco said.

She glanced at Jason when he snorted and her face took a deeper shade of red. She let out a long sigh as she heard her mother make her way toward the living-room.

"Marco, dear." Stella walked into the living-room with a bright smile. "Hello."

"Hello, Mrs. Knight."

"Heard you had a date tonight. Aren't you going to be late?"

"Your daughter decided to cockblock him." Jason laughed causing both his mother and sister to narrow their eyes at him, but for different reasons.

"I told you to watch your language around your sister, Jason." Her mother said sternly before turning toward Elena.

Elena moved closer to her mother. "He said I could go." He said in the lowest voice she could manage for only her mother to hear.

Stella looked at Marco in surprise. "Are you sure, Marco?"

"Yes." He nodded.

"Okay, then." She said looking at her daughter, who was trying her best to hold her smile. "Go grab a cardigan or something."

Elena nodded and quickly moved toward the stairs to go to her room. Stella followed her daughter toward the stairs.

Jason shook his head from his position on the couch with a small smile. "It's things like this that make people think that you're the nice one out of the two of us."

Marco crossed his arms leaning against the wall. "I am the nice one."

"Say that to someone else. How long have we known each other?" Jason scoffed giving him an unimpressed look. "You're really taking my sister to your date."

Marco shrugged as he heard them making their way back down the stairs. "Elena and Sebastian are entertaining."

Stella and Elena came back to the living-room causing Jason to stand from his seat.

"Well you guys have fun." He said shoving his hands in his pockets.

Marco looked at Elena who was shifting from foot to foot nervously.

"Are you ready, Elena?" He said and she looked up at him before nodding.

She walked toward the front not wanting to give him a chance to change his mind, or have her father come back from his travel out of nowhere. That's something he would definitely do.

"Marco. Wait a second please." She heard her mother say and that made her walk even faster out of the house and toward his car.

She didn't know what her mother wanted from him but she wasn't going to wait for her to give him a reason not to take her with him.

She opened the passenger's car door and got in before looking back toward the front door to see Marco coming toward the car. Her mother stood by the front waving at her slightly before going back in the house, closing the door behind her.

She let out a small sigh of relief as the door opened on the driver's and Marco got in before looking at her.

"What are you doing in the front seat? Go at the back." He said.

She frowned. "Why?"

He looked at her as if she was the one asking silly questions. "So, you want my date to sit back there?"

"What difference does it make? S-She'll still be in the car." She said.

"Elena, go to the backseat."

She clutched onto the seatbelt stubbornly, not budging and staring down at her lap. Silence followed for a few seconds as her hold tightened around the seatbelt she was holding onto. She chewed on her bottom lip nervously knowing that he could just carry her at the back if he wanted to.

He sighed starting the car. "You're difficult."

Her grip loosened on the seatbelt the moment he started driving. The drive was silent, and that did nothing to calm her anxiety as she realized the kind of situation she put herself into.

What even happens during dates? What do people do? Just eat and talk?

The drive was fast. Before she knew the car slowed down and she sat up straight looking around. This neighborhood was a little different from theirs.

What's so special about dates anyway. They must not be that big of a deal if he was letting her come with them. She thought.

"Her name is Carol." Marco said parking the car in front of a house. "Be nice." He added and she looked at him before nodding.

Be nice.

Would he take her back home if she wasn't?

As soon as the car parked, the front door of the house in front of them opened and an older came out. Marco got out of the car, mentioning for her to stay put.

The only thing Elena paid attention to was her face and her blond hair cut into a straight bob.

I'm prettier. She thought playing with her raven hair before crossing her arms over her chest with a frown as the blondie's eyes landed on her when she got close enough to the car.

Elena rolled the window down enough.

A look of confusion appeared on Carol's face as she looked at Elena carefully. Elena stared back unbothered by the older girl was scrutinizing her.

"Is she your little sister?" She asked looking at Marco before glancing back at the girl in the car.

"No. Jason's." Marco said moving to go back to the driver's seat but the girl's voice stopped him.

"And why is she here?" Carol asked.

"She wanted to come."

Carol gave him an even more surprised look. "And you agreed?"

"There aren't a lot of people who can say no to her." Marco said making his way to the driver's seat.

Her surprised face turned into a displeased one. "So, she just comes along. "

"She won't cause any problem. She's a nice girl." He said as he opened his door to get in. "Sometimes." He added under his breath but Elena heard it.

Carol frowned. "But that's not the point."  She said before looking at Elena with the most forced smile Elena has ever seen on anyone. "Little girl, why don't you go to the back?"

"My name is Elena." She said uncrossing her arms and looking straight ahead. "And I'm fine right here."

"Okay, Elena. You're too young to be out this late anyways. So just go sit at the back okay?"

"And you're old enough to know that you should greet people before talking to them." Elena said looking at Carol through the open window. "Hi."

The girl straightened up looking taken aback by the words that left Elena's mouth. She looked toward Marco and almost missed the way the corner of his mouth was turned upwards for a brief moment. But she saw it.

"Elena is very stubborn. I apologize. Please just sit at the back." He said.

Not having any other choice, Carol gritted her teeth and opened the car door to get in herself.

*****

"Why did you paint your face?" Elena asked looking at Carol, over her menu on the table the three of were currently seating at.

Carol, still annoyed about the car incident, sent her an icy look as her fingers taped on the menu impatiently.

"It's called makeup." She answered and Elena shook her head looking unimpressed.

"That's not makeup, that's makedown." She shrugged. "You should ask makeup advice from my mom. She's amazing at it."

"Elena." Marco called looking at her warningly causing her to bite the inside of her cheek. "Stop it."

"I'm just trying to help out." She said.

"When is your bedtime little girl?" Carol asked keeping her icy stare on her.

"When is yours?" Elena shot back with a calm tone.

She gritted her teeth slightly. "How old are you, again?" She asked again.

"How old are you?" Elena asked back.

"Sixteen."

Elena furrowed her eyebrows as she let her eyes roam over the girl's face. "You look thirty."

"Elena." Marco intervened once more.

"Sorry." She mumbled as her eyes went back to her menu.

And the whole dinner went without the tension leaving the small group. Elena made most of the conversation, unbothered by the fact that Carol barely touched her food out of pure anger, or the fact that she was obviously hoping for a normal date with Marco but got Elena instead.

After dinner, they walked out of the restaurant but instead of going to the car, they started walking toward the opposite direction. Elena didn't know where they were and she couldn't care less.

"And then the coffee spilled all over the dress and then she got mad at one of my mother's employees b-" Elena words were cut off as Carol let out an exasperated sigh.

Right now, she was in the middle of telling a story about something that happened at her mother's shop when Carol lost her patience.

"I've had enough." Carol hissed stopping dead in her track causing the two others to also stop to look at her. "She talks too much. Either you take her home, or I'm leaving." She snapped.

Elena furrowed her eyebrows now in annoyance as those words left Carol's mouth. She didn't want to go home and she sure wasn't talking a lot. If Carol was mad and didn't want to make conversation, then why would she get mad that Elena was telling her story.

Elena moved her big azure eyes to look up at Marco then back to Carol.

"Then I'll drop you off." He said.

Carol gasped clenching her fists tightly by her sides. "Are you serious, right now? Didn't you hear all the little comments she's been making all night?"

"She's just a kid. Who is she hurting?"

I'm not a kid. Elena scrunched her face.

"Who brings their little sister to a date anyways?"

"I'm not his little sister!" Elena snapped before she could stop herself causing the two others to look down at her. "I'm Jason's sister." She added before looking, as her cheeks flamed red, embarrassed by her outburst.

"I can take you home if you don't want to stay." Marco then said causing Carol to tighten her fists even more.

"I can go home by myself." She said eyeing Elena and turned to walk away. She only walked up a few steps before turning back to face them. "I'll call you."

Elena gave her a cheeky grin and a discreet wave before Carol turned back and stormed off. She quickly wiped her smile off her face as Marco looked down at her with a straight face.

"You're a brat."

She frowned and clasping her hands in front of her bashfully dropping her gaze to the ground.

"When is your bedtime?" He asked and she fought the urge to glare at him.

I'm not a kid!

"At 11." She muttered knowing he was waiting for an answer.

He nodded. "We still have time. What do you want to do now?"

"Ice cream." She muttered.

He nodded placing a hand at the back of her head to push her forward as they started walking toward the car.

She didn't regret making Carol leave, but she didn't want him to be upset with her. She glanced at him while putting her seat belt on. He wore his semi-permanent neutral face so she couldn't tell if he was angry or not.

"A-Are you upset?" She asked looking down at her lap.

"No." He said placing the key in the ignition to start the car. "So, what happened after the woman spilled the coffee on the dress?"

She gasped looking up and excitedly continued telling the story she was telling before she was interrupted by Carol.

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This first chapter is just a small flashback. More will come after the events of MLMM. Love you!