"She's being a bitch."

Dante sighed, slumping down on his seat. He nursed his aching forehead while he watches Romeo seethe in absolute hatred.

"Romeo——"

"No, I don't need you telling me to calm down." He said aggressively, stopping his pacing to glare at the man. "This isn't okay, Dante. She's hunting us down for fuck-knows what. She's killin' our men, boss. She's usin' them to find us and if we can't stop her then she's going to stop us first."

Dante knows that. He knows that Isabella's mother's not going to stop until they're all dead.    She's vengeful. And because what? Because of who?

What has Dante done to make her so vengeful?

"She has to be put down." Romeo gravely said, clenching his fist. He nodded slowly, as if they had already agreed on what he said. "It's the only way——"

"We're not putting her down." Dante growled, glaring at his right-hand man in anger. Just the idea of it makes him want to oddly hurt someone.

Romeo paused. His eyes slowly drifting towards him, his gaze painting in utter disbelief. His eyes blown wide, as if he'd seen something he's not supposed to see.

"You love her." Cold and emotionless as he said it. Dante was not ready for the truth his words had held.

Dante shook his head, trying to deny it. Wanting to deny the fact that it was true. The guilt ate him sometimes and the fire that burns from his wife makes him yearn for the pain it has.

How could Dante love such a person?

His wife wasn't always like that. She wasn't someone who'd hurt somebody. She was kindhearted and would fight for anyone's sake no matter what. She was beautiful, inside and out.

And he loved that side of hers.

He loved that woman and now he's just looking for that woman, knowing that she isn't there anymore to cure his aching soul.

"Dante..." Romeo said somberly, already spotting the lie. It was a bad lie in the first place. It was so obvious that they couldn't help but wince at the obvious truth laying between them.

Romeo's eyes looked at him in pity before his eyes clouded and then it turned into anger once again. This time, his eyes were blazing with it.

"I can't fucking believe you." His tone was sharp that it could have cut a person in half if it were a knife. Dante felt like he'd been sliced repeatedly with every word he uttered. "Fucking snap out of it, will you? Are you seriously thinking of your pathetic love life than this? This is serious, Dante! She's hunting down Isabella!"

"Since when did you care?" Dante barked, suddenly glaring at Romeo as if he'd killed his heart and buried it on the ground where no one could search for it. "No te importó cuando mi hija casi fue asesinada, ¿por qué el cambio repentino?"

(You didn't care when my daughter was almost killed, why the sudden change?)

"Because I'm her uncle, damn it!" Romeo slammed the palm of his hands on the table, causing a few things to rattle.

Dante's eyes turned wide in surprise. Romeo wished that he could paint that look because the satisfaction that rumbled from deep within him while Dante looks at him as if he'd outsmarted him was insanely gratifying.

His expression darkened when the realization flashed in his eyes. "You told her."

"Nobody would." Romeo sneered, grabbing Dante by the collar and the big man allowed himself to be pulled. "You wouldn't."

"I wouldn't." Dante spat in agreement. "You're anything but family, Romeo. You know that and you made that absolutely clear with my sons and with me so don't act as if you're suddenly the good one here."

Dante aggressively pushed him back, causing Romeo to stumble from the sheer strength of it.

Romeo laughed acrimoniously. "I ain't the cat's pajamas boss and m' sure just a good-for-nothing palooka. Leaving the kid in that dirty motel for slaughter was one of the worst things I've ever done and I can admit that loud and clear." He said a little softly this time but he still looked sharp and mad. "But, I have a chance to make this right and you're not cooperating with me, boss."

Dante stayed quiet so Romeo took this chance to continue.

"She called me tío, boss. She didn't care if I was that bitch's brother. Now, if it were one of your sons sitting in your daughter's position, they would have hated me like how they did when I told them who I was when they were little." Romeo then said, softly this time, "everytime you look at me, you look at me as if I could bring out the lady of your dreams and somewhere deep inside you, you probably don't like me that much because I'm the brother of your lover and then you'd probably think of where and when your relationship went to shit."

Dante sighed loudly. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's not true."

"I'm starting to think otherwise." Romeo huffed, rolling his eyes. "I'm just saying, Dante. If it is true, if you think that I could magically bring out the love of your life, if you think that you could fix your relationship with her then please, for the sake of everyone, stop. End this farce with her. This isn't good. This isn't healthy. We'll all get killed if you let her find us like this."

"I know..."

"Do you? Because your little followers are getting killed one by one by her own little followers and you seem like you don't care." Romeo informed before massaging his temples. "We're going to lose at this rate and if we come close to losing then we'll have no choice but to give the authority to your mother."

Dante tensed. "No, that's not allowed." His mother was the last thing he'd want.

"Yes, it is. It's one of your mother's 'laws', remember? 'If you're is losing the game, then pass the game to someone who knows the game'." Romeo stated Dante's mother's law.

Bella, Dante's mother, created these 'laws' inside their house when he were little. It should definitely be abided or else there would be major consequences. Romeo knew of this because Bella extended those laws to his sons and to Romeo and Dmitri. Now all of them should abide it no matter what.

"This is my issue, Romeo! Don't you dare report this to her!" Dante roared, standing up abruptly in rage. He slammed his fist on the table.

Romeo laughed at him. "I will if you don't get your shit together."

**

"Baby?" Anthony asks, knocking on her door before he heard his little sister's permission. He slowly opened the door and he already saw his two brothers inside. He looks at them in confusion. "Why are you two here?"

"Bored." Lucius answered, his eyes closed and he was just sprawled out in the bed while Elois sat in a rocking chair at the corner of her room.

Elois smiled sunnily at his brother. "This is where I'm usually at, Tones. I don't know why you're asking that question."

Anthony chuckled, shaking his head. "Well, alrighty then." He then entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"Can I now ask the question as to why you're here? You're usually with papa, doing who-knows-what." Isabella asks, looking at him in concern.

Anthony suddenly grimaced, a wry smile painted on his lips as his eyes stared back at Isabella's worried ones.

"Tony?" Isabella asks, concerned for the sudden silence. The look on her brother's face was somehow odd to the point where it made her uncomfortable all of a sudden. It was such a rare sight to see the eldest so uncontrolled of his emotions that the others were already starting to worry.

"Honey." Anthony started, walking towards his sister's bed. His steps were quiet and yet with the weird atmosphere floating around, his footsteps were like thunder drumming on the ground. Anthony then sat at the edge of the bed.

"You're freaking me out, Tones" Elois chuckled. "What's with the sudden silence?"

Lucius remained quiet, waiting patiently for the eldest to talk. If Anthony were acting like this then it must be serious.

"Do you remember why we left our old house?" The question was what came out of Anthony's mouth first. It was an unusual question for him to start.

Isabella looks at him for a moment, wondering why he asks before she hesitantly nodded her head. "Because it was... Starting to get dangerous."

"Elaborate dangerous, Bella. Why was it dangerous?"

Isabella tensed at the question. She was baffled by her brother's words. His question felt more like an interrogation and his tone wasn't the warm tone that she'd been used to.

Lucius and Elois tensed, clearly knowing why they left their previous home and yet, they said nothing. They closed their mouths, as if deciding that Isabella deserved Anthony's unwavering attention that felt so intense that she could feel it burning holes through her.

"Someone attacked me." Isabella said quietly, hoping for him to stop letting her remember such horrid memories. It wasn't such a fun memory to come back to.

Anthony nodded. "That's right, Isabella." He said slowly, as if emphasizing his every word. "You almost got hurt. Right?"

Isabella gulped in fear. "Y-Yes, I did, Anthony. Sir."  The way she said sir sounded angry, like she was mad at the authority that was oozing out of her brother. Like she was mocking him——which was not her intention at all. Isabella answered him as gently as possible as to not anger him in any way possible.

She knows that Anthony doesn't get angry at her. He never gets angry at her. He does get extremely agitated to the point where it affects her as well. Sirs were just something that they blurt out whenever someone appears to be angry or perturbed. It makes them calm down a little.

Dante's grandmother always liked the it when family member calls another family member as sir or ma'am out of fear or if someone wants to calm somebody down. Her teachings were engraved in everyone's heart. Even Isabella's.

Anthony's icy gaze turned warm for a moment. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and gave her a gentle smile. "That was our mother trying to hurt you. She was trying to reach out to you."

Isabella flinched at the word mother. Isabella never considered her mother as one. That woman left Isabella when she was a baby, that woman made their father weak, that woman broke something in her brothers.

She broke family.

"She can't." Isabella muttered, looking at Anthony, yearning for the warmth that he had showed her. "She can't get me, Tony."

"And why's that?"

"Because you'll keep me safe." Isabella answered quietly. That answer was always engraved in her heart because she's always reminded of it. "Because everyone won't let me get hurt."

"And what's our mother to you?" Anthony asks, placing his hand on her cheek. She leaned towards the touch. Her brother's hands were warm. Safe.

"She's a danger... She's dangerous." She answered him obediently, not wanting to anger her brother any further.

"And do you know who exposed you to such dangers?"

"Anthony." Lucius warned and Anthony looks at Lucius with a blank look now plastered on his face. Lucius glared at him. "Don't."

"It was going to happen sooner or later, Luce." Elois stated almost pitifully. He avoided eye contact when Lucius turned to look at him. "It's better to do it now."

Do what now?

Lucius clenched his fists but stayed quiet this time. Isabella doesn't understand why she needed to answer his question.

"I don't..." She shakes her head in confusion. "I don't understand. What are you trying to sa——"

"I'm talking about Romeo, Isabella."

Isabella, already knowing where this was headed, shook her head, wanting for the conversation to die. "Anthony, it's not his fault."

Anthony narrowed his eyes at his sister. "Isabella, you can't honestly think that, right?  You have to understand that it was his——"

"It wasn't his fault!" Isabella answered back with urgency. The little girl leaned away from his touch. She was starting to get upset with her brother and she was not appreciating the sudden attack on Romeo. On their uncle. "He was just——"

"Not doing his job." Lucius finished and Isabella gave her brother a betrayed look. She couldn't believe that Lucius would side on Anthony. She should have known it would turn out this way. "He wasn't doing his job, Bella. You do know what happens to people who don't do their jobs well, right? They get killed."

The little girl flinched but she clenched her fists and looked down. She was helpless because she knows that they're right. They were just merciful to Romeo because of her. To be honest, she should be thankful for them for letting Romeo live but she doesn't want them talking bad about her uncle.

"But dad had let it slide because he's our uncle." Lucius continued but then he glanced at her. "But you know that already, don't you?"

Isabella was nervous because they know. They already know that she knows that Romeo is their uncle.

"Of course I do." Came her meek reply. She was too nervous to look at them. The conversation was nerve-wracking enough but how about having the conversation while looking at them? Isabella can't do that. She can't face them without having the confidence and bravery to face them.

"Isabella, you shouldn't trust people. Especially him." Anthony started, giving her a sad gaze that almost looked pitiful. "Even if he's our uncle, he's still something we should watch out for. He could kill papa if he wanted with how he's his aide. He's an enemy."

"Everyone's an enemy for you, Tony!" Isabella argued, glaring at the eldest this time. She was mad. She was mad because they keep telling her not to trust the people that protects them from others? People who have been serving her family for so many years? Why was there still no trust?

"Everyone but family." Anthony corrected, giving her a pointed look that made Isabella roll her eyes in exasperation.

Isabella shakes her head. "He's family. He's our uncle!"

"Don't trust him, Bella." Elois said, sounding like he was pleading. "He can be a friend and he can be a colleague but he can't be family. Family's us five. You, me, Tones, Luce and papa. That's family."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "That's not true! He is family! Besides, papa trusts him. That's why he's his aide! He's not just a friend, he's family!"

"Do you think trust lives in a world like ours?" Elois asks her gently. "Do you think we trust all the people who would sacrifice their lives to protect us? They could kill us if they wanted to, Bella. You should remember that the people who's protecting you and us were are still are murders. Skilled people who could kill you easily if they wanted to. The only one you should trust is us and papa and that's that. Other than that, other people's dangerous."

Isabella huffed. "He's our uncle."

"From whose side?" Lucius asks harshly, grabbing her shoulder to make her turn to him. "From whose side do you think he's from?"

Isabella remembers Romeo. She remembers how he hated being her brother. He hated it. He hated it so much.

And Romeo was in so much pain despite trying desperately to hide it from her.

"I don't care. They're different people." Isabella defended, shaking her brother's hand off of her shoulder. "I don't care, okay?"

"He told you that he hated being her brother, didn't he?" Elois asks, causing Isabella to flinch, surprised. Elois scoffed. "He's playing with your head."

Isabella shook her head in denial. "That's not true."

"Isabella, listen to us." Anthony urged. "He loved her. He protected her so much. They were close, okay? He didn't hate her and they didn't fight."

"Then, why did he choose to stay with papa if he didn't hate her?" Isabella was starting to tear up because she was starting to get confused. She didn't know who she should trust anymore.  "Why——Why stay? Why stay with people like us if we're someone he hates? This isn't fair. It isn't fair with him——"

"Because he's got a debt to pay. He's paying it instead of our so-called 'mother.'" Lucius said with a sardonic smile. "He may not like hunting down his own sister but he's hunting her down, not to kill her but to let dad kill her. Because that's the only way he'll get to pay the debt."

This time, Anthony did give Isabella a pitiful look.

Was the debt that big?

"This is why you shouldn't trust people. They'll only hurt you in the future." He said before standing up. "Let this be a lesson for you, Bella."

Elois sighed but he didn't say anything. He didn't also say anything when Isabella began to cry silently as she dwelled on the new fact.

Lucius now stood up as well and followed his brother to the door but not before looking at his sister. "You know, you'll get used to it. You won't like it but... But you'll learn. You're a fast learner, after all."

Elois hummed. "I won't get used to it but it's a must in this life of ours." He looks at Isabella. "You'll just get hurt if you trust so much, Bella. It'll be the death of yours someday."

_____

I'm sooooo so sorry for not updating. I haven't updated in so long. I know it isn't fair for you guys to wait. But life's just been keeping be busy.

For those who waited, then thank you for waiting  (◍•ᴗ•◍)

Anyways, it's starting. The evil parts of this story is starting ಠ ͜ʖ ಠ

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Now, we don't know who to trust anymore, don't we? Who should we trust? Do you think Romeo's actually evil? That he's just siding with them because there's a debt to pay?

Who knows XDXD