"Ella ." My aunt Rina called from my bedroom door, knocking softly.

"I'm almost ready." I stared at myself in the mirror, stared back at me is a girl with soft brown hair and big brown eyes.

My hair almost had a red tinge to it, my aunt always said it reminded her of someone she use to know so she over obsessed with it, especially when I curled it the way I did tonight. It reached just below my waist, and although I wished to cut it shorter, she always refused to let me. I didn't complain much considering it was pin-straight and easy to manage.

"You know our reservation is at 8:30 pm right? it's already 8:05." She sighed, and I could feel her playful eyeroll through the door.

"I know, two more minutes." I adjusted my dress, and quickly put on my small and dainty gold jewellery she had gotten for my 18th birthday today.

The jewellery is a matching gold rose set, a single rose on a chain for a necklace, a tennis bracelet and stud roses for earrings.

They're beautiful. I did a quick once-over of the completed look, mentally smiling at the end results, the plain black strap heels going perfect with my all black halter neck dress. Makeup minimal, with a glossy lip.

"You look so pretty." My aunts hands flew to her mouth. "You look just like her."

Dramatic like always, I smiled mentally.

It was just me and my Aunt, us against the world she always said. My birth mom died giving birth to me, they were best friends in high school. They were both in the system, no parents, no siblings, no extended family they knew of and no father in the picture. Aunt Rina was my mother's next of kin, her emergency contact, so at two days old I was placed in her care with full custody. She has always been open about my mother and shared as much as she could about her.

"With twenty minutes to get to the restaurant, you're spoiling me." She faked sincerity. "You shouldn't have Ella."

"Ha ha, I'm working on my time management okay." I rolled my eyes, getting into the passenger seat.

"Ren is coming?" She asked, focused on her driving.

"He said he was." I nodded, sending him a quick text message as a reminder.

We pulled up at the fancy restaurant, it was more posh than I could imagine. Valet waited as we exited the car and handed over the keys. Aunt Rina quickly thanked the valet before looping her arm through mine, something we've been doing since I was young.

"When you said fancy, I didn't think you meant this fancy." I stared into the large dining room filled with people who looked to be worth quite a bit of money.

"It's your 18th, I wanted it to be special." She hummed, "It's what your mother would have wanted, you're officially a woman."

People stared as I took in my surroundings, making it obvious that I in fact didn't belong in their presence. Pricks, mentally rolling my eyes at them, the small smile never leaving my lips.

"Good evening." A blonde woman smiled. "Do you have a reservation with us?"

"Under the name Ella." My aunt smiled, making small talk with the woman, she seemed nice enough and lead us to our table.

"He must be running late." I shrugged as the waitress placed menus in front of us.

"Valentina." A small fragile white haired woman smiled as if stuck in a trance, reaching to touch the hair falling across my eye. "Where have you been." She smiled softly.

"Valentina?" I choked on the water that failed to go down my throat.

Aunt Rina shot up out of her chair, looking around frantically. "Can someone come get their crazy grandmother!" She yelled in fright.

I shot her a look, she normally wasn't so rude like this so it shocked me at the words she used to describe the small elderly woman. "Rina!" I stood rubbing my palm in circles against the elderly woman's arm to try soothe her.

"Valentina, you haven't aged one bit." She ran her fragile hands through my curls. "How have you been my Val?" She asked innocently.

"I've been good." I played along, searching the dining room for the someone who might know who she is, clearly she isn't well and shouldn't be wondering on her own. "Who did you come with tonight?" I smiled.

"I came with your husband, we came to watch your daughter celebrate her 18th birthday."

"STOP!" Aunt Rina screamed, slamming her palm against the table once more.

To say I shot her the most feral look I've given someone, she was being so out of character. What's your problem? I mouthed to her.

"Ella, leave her be." She replied, pushing the fragile women towards someone else's table. We watched as someone rushed to her side helping her waddle her small frame out of the room.

"What the hell was that!" I seethed, my eyes followed the small women in worry.

"Nothing." She sat back down blocking my view. "Crazy people these days."

I stared at her with distaste but dropped the subject, not wanting to make our night bad between us over someone we didn't know, pushing the thoughts of the small fragile woman out of my head.

"He's not replying so I guess he's not coming." I got up and excused myself to go to the restroom.

Aunt Rina looked so panicked but I ignored her and left the table, following the directions of the waitress, I made my way through the rest room and quickly did a once over in the mirror, I've never seen such a huge public rest room, it's the size of our two bedroom house.

After doing my business, I made my way out, forgetting which door of the five that lead to the dining area. I opened two of the five which only lead to empty private rooms, both set the same with a large 12 seater table in the centre of the room.

"Ren?" I called out puzzled as I opened the third door, he sat with his back to me but I could spot his big head from a mile away, what gave it away was his black ink tattoo that sat on the back of his neck.

"Valentina!" The old lady from earlier gasped, jumping from her seat as if seeing me for the first time all over again.

Okay you're definitely loopy. I thought, mentally laughing as she got up from her seat clapping happily.

By this point all eyes were on me, their gazes piercing surprisingly comfortable, like they weren't strangers. Maybe Rens family. I thought, although I've never met them before.

I stared at the back of Rens head what felt like forever and he made no move to turn my way, so like any other best friend, my hand smacked the back of his neck without thinking causing someone in the room to chuckle and Ren to scream out in pain. "Are you just going to sit there and ignore me?" I asked raising an eyebrow at him as he shot up from his chair rubbing the back of his neck jumping to numb the pain.

"What's wrong with you Ella!" He yelled, still trying to numb the pain.

"I'm not the one ignoring me." I faked hurt by pulling a sad face and holding my hand to my heart, causing the same person in the room to continue laughing.

I finally turned my attention to the rest of the men in the room, shocked faces and some sad stared back at me, as if stuck in their own train of thought. Why is everyone in this room so handsome. I thought as I took in their presence, offering them a small smile in return.

The seven men sitting at the table all held a resemblance in their face structure, strong and attractive features other guys would be jealous of, they had chiseled jawlines and the contour of their faces were perfect. The longer I openly assessed them, the clearer their features got and the younger they looked.

"Rosabella." An older version of the men in the room stood, holding a hand out to me not for me to shake but one as if reaching out.

Power radiated from him, self certainty and importance rolled off of him in waves. It wasn't the kind people acted to hold or be, but the kind who had your respect by a single look or passing. He didn't intimidate me but he did intimidate the rest of the men in the room that was easy to tell by their body language and the way they held themselves below his statues.

"I'm Rens best friend, Ella." I corrected with the same small smile, pointing at Ren who now stood with his head down. Why are you acting like that, I stared side eyeing his weird behaviour.

"Your name isn't Ella." Someone else spoke up, staring at me with tear filled eyes. "It's Rosabella." He continue to say, and only then did I realise their thick Italian accent.