Luca led me to the door under the left staircase, and down a long hallway to a large wooden door. He knocked once, and opened the door and ushered me inside. Then he closed the door and left me there, alone, with Emiliano.
"Sit," Emiliano held his hand out towards the chair on the other side of his desk that he wanted me to sit in. I did as I was told, and clasped my hands together, waiting for whatever he needed to talk to me about.
"First, I would like to apologize for making you eat so much that it made you sick. I should have listened when you said you were full. But, you are a tiny girl, Alessandra, you are far too skinny. It's unhealthy. I'm assuming that Emilia didn't feed you well, as you probably didn't have much adult supervision in your last home," he looked at me like he was analyzing my every move, trying to observe if I was going to lie or tell the truth.
I desperately wanted to look down at my hands, but I remembered how he told me to look at him when speaking, so I forced my head to stay up.
"No sir. She didn't feed me well, as she spent most of her money on drugs. And she and Jason were rarely home to supervise me. I am used to taking care of myself," I said proudly looking him straight in the eye, and then quickly looking away.
"Well rest assured that will no longer be the case. You will be fed at least three times a day, and snacks if you wish. I will be hiring a dietitian to set up a special diet to help you gain weight in healthy way. And you will most definitely be supervised, as you have 6 brothers who will definitely make sure that you eat all of your meals and help you with anything you might need. You are no longer taking care of yourself. You are now allowed to be a child, and let the adults worry about taking care of all your needs."
A child!?!? Was he serious? I haven't been a child in many years, I was done with childhood. I looked up to see his face, and he was in fact, dead serious. I clinched my jaw, to keep my mouth shut. I wanted so badly to correct him, but his cold tone, and look on his face said that he would win, even if I tried to put up an argument. So I bit my tongue, and kept my opinions to myself.
"Now there are a few things we need to discuss. The first being your wardrobe." Great, I knew this was coming, I knew my clothes would never be good enough for him, as his suit looked like it cost more than the rent at my last house for 6 months!
"Well, I'm very sorry my clothes are not in very good shape, and they definitely didn't come from Armani or any other fancy store. But at the moment, I don't have the funds to buy anything from Walmart much less Armani," I explained to him, rolling my eyes. I was irritated and insulted now, and I wasn't going to let him talk down on me just because I was poor.
His eyes narrowed at me, and I saw a glimpse of anger in them for a millisecond, and then he snapped back to his cold look.
"Alessandra, DO NOT roll your eyes at me, or anyone else in this house. In fact, drop that habit all together. It's rude and will not be tolerated. Do you understand?"
I looked at him to see that his resting bitch face was back, so I nodded, and quickly added a "Yes sir," to go along with the nod.
"Now, I was not insulting your wardrobe, only trying to explain that it needs to be expanded quite a bit. And as for your 'funds', you never need to worry about money again. I will always buy whatever you need, and most of what you want. Tomorrow morning, you and I will go shopping, and I will buy you new clothes, shoes, and anything else you might need, toiletries and such. And then after that, we will go to the school and get you registered and get your school uniform, so that you can start school with everyone else next week."
New school? New clothes? Tomorrow is gonna be a busy day, I guess. I can't deny that part of me is really excited to get new clothes, and especially new shoes! It would be so nice to have shoes that actually fit my feet. The thought of a new school however is terrifying. At least, I would be wearing a uniform, and people wouldn't be judging me by my clothes anymore. But would I be able to make new friends? Would they accept me or treat me like they always did at my old school?
"School?" I wanted to know more about this school, but I wasn't sure what exactly I wanted to know.
"Yes, New Haven Hills Academy. It's a prestigious private school that we have all attended since we left Sicily and moved here. It's a small school that teaches ages Kindergarten through Seniors. You will start the 7th grade. The twins will start as Sophomores, and Matteo will start as a Senior. They will be like your own personal body guards."
"Prestigious? Then how will I get in? I'm not gifted or extremely smart," I suddenly felt very inadequate.
"The Mazzanti family has donated a lot of money to the school over the years, other than the outrageous cost of tuition. You were pre-accepted. And, I have seen your transcripts from your last school. You have a 3.5 GPA, which I expect you to raise to a 4.0, and keep it there. You will also be required to pick at least one after school program or academic to get involved in. Whether it be a math club, a dance class, learning some instrument, or playing some sport. Something that will look good on a college application, as you will be expected to attend one of the best colleges in the country."
I'm 13 here! Hello!? Why are we all the sudden talking about college, I haven't even made it to high school yet! And he has got to be kidding about a 4.0 GPA, seriously, I killed my self to get the 3.5 in the first place.
"I will try my best," I sigh, defeated already. Are we almost done with this conversation. It's been a long day, and I'm ready for bed, but we haven't even had dinner yet.
"Yes you will do your best, and if you have trouble raising your GPA, then we will hire a tutor to help you to do it. But I will not accept anything but your best. Is that understood?"
He narrows his eyes at me, as if daring me to defy him.
"Yes sir," I simply reply, hoping that we are almost done with this exhausting conversation.
"Good. Now, did you find your room to your satisfaction? Obviously, we took the toddler bed out, and switched it to a king size bed, but other than that we left it how you left it."
"Yes sir. The room is very nice. Thank you for taking me in, and giving me a room of my own," I answer honestly feeling very grateful for his generosity.
"You are my baby sister, Alessandra. You may not remember your brothers, but we very much remember you. You are famiglia, and that means everything to us. It's part of being Italian, it's built into our systems from day one. We will never turn our back on our family. It's not an obligation, it's a pleasure. I may not say this much to you, but I am very happy to have you home, and I've missed you so much all these years," he had a glimmer of what I thought might be love in his eyes, but it was gone faster than it appeared. I could tell compliments and emotional moments weren't his thing, so I appreciated the little one we just had.
"Well, thank you Emiliano," I didn't know what else to say, so I just left it at that.
"Now, we have some other things to discuss," he says back to his normal cold look. And here I thought we were done with this conversation, ugh! "In this house, and outside of this house, there are rules set in place for you..."
"Wait! What do you mean rules?" I all but scream interrupting him, "I am 13 years old, I don't need rules."
His eyes narrow, and I can definitely make out the blue darkening. He's definitely angry, but he doesn't raise his voice, he just looks at me calmly, and coldly says, "Lower your voice, and watch your tone. You will not speak to me or anyone with a raised voice, I don't care how angry you think you are. Is that clear young lady?"
I could feel myself narrowing my eyes at him as well, my temper all but ready for a fight. Everything in me was screaming at me to argue back, and tell him that he had no place telling me what to do, or that I was not a young lady, I was practically grown! However, the look on his face was actually terrifying, and he was quite a bit bigger than me. I wasn't sure what he might do to me if I did tell him how I really felt. So I did what I always do, and I immediately backed down. I clenched my jaw, and told him, "Yes sir," through very gritted teeth.
"Don't speak to me through gritted teeth either. You've got a lot to learn about respect young lady. It's not all about just saying 'yes ma'am' and 'no sir'. I am your oldest brother, also your legal guardian, and you will respect and obey me, as well as your other 5 brothers. There will be consequences if you choose to disrespect anyone of us, or anyone else in this house. Also to be included, your teachers and other adults. Are we clear?"
I so hated this shit. Legal guardian or not, he shouldn't be able to tell me what to do and my other brothers shouldn't be allowed to either. This is crazy! But of course, I surrendered, unclenching my jaw, and muttering a quiet "Yes sir."
"Good. Now onto the rules. I had them printed on paper for you to keep a copy in your room, but I'll go over them with you now. First, no back talking, smart mouthing, temper tantrums, rolling your eyes, or anything else disrespectful. No lying. Absolutely no cursing.
On school nights, you are to be in your room with the lights off by 10 pm, you shouldn't be caught anywhere in the house after that time. You will have a dorm refrigerator in your room to keep water and drinks only, no food. So if you get thirsty, you won't need to come to the kitchen after 10 pm. On weekends, you can stay up until 12 am, but no later. You are to hand your phone into me, or one of your other brothers before bed, and you will get it back the next morning before school.."
"I don't have a phone," I deadpanned, I was already through with these rules and I was ready for him to shut up.
"Don't interrupt me, Alessandra. It's rude and I will not allow it. You will get a phone tomorrow while we're out shopping."
Well this whole conversation just became a whole lot more interesting. Yes! I couldn't wait to start social media accounts and maybe find new friends. This is awesome!
"Oh wow! Thanks!" I said, a little more eager than I meant to.
"Your welcome. Now to continue on with the rules. When you get a phone, you are not to set up or sign into any social media accounts..."
"But I'm 13! That's the age to sign up for them. Why can't I have them?" I whined.
"Adding to the list of rules, no whining. And I don't care if you're 18, you will not have social media accounts. If I decide in the future that you can have them, then I will let you know. And trust me, I will find out if you have them."
What's the point in having a phone if I can't have social media accounts? Now I don't even want the damn thing.
"Your phone will also be checked periodically for texts and strange phone numbers. Which brings me to the next rule. You are not to have any boyfriends, boys texting you, or calling you." He looked me dead in my eyes, he was wanting me to back talk so he could threaten me again. I wasn't worried about that anyway, boys had always steered clear of me. I wasn't pretty, I didn't have any redeeming qualities that attracted the opposite sex. "If you happen to have a class project where you are assigned to work with a boy, then it will be done in this house under our supervision. Understand?"
I shrugged, "Yes sir." Ok, so are we done with rules now? I'm really really ready for a nap. I feel like I've been under intense interrogation for hours!
"Now, let's finish this up shall we? During the week while you're in school, you will be expected to be up, completely ready, and in the kitchen, ready for breakfast by 7 am every day. School starts at 8 am. You will ride with one of the boys, they usually take separate cars. Every day after school, unless you have an after school activity, you will ride with one of your brothers straight home. You can have a quick snack, but after that you are to immediately go to your room and complete all of your homework, that includes Fridays. I don't want your homework hanging over you the whole weekend. That is all the rules. Keep in mind that if you break any of these rules, or choose not to live up to our expectations, you will subject yourself to the consequences, which will be some form of punishment."
"What do you mean punishment? What are these consequences?" I asked, my curiosity peaked. Surely the consequences couldn't be any worse than what Jason would do to me. On a good day, he would take a belt to me. Bad days, it got much worse.
"You will find out if or when it comes to that," he said looking at me with those cold emotionless eyes.
"O-okay," maybe I will just try to stay out of trouble. Or at the very least, I will just make sure they never find out what kind of trouble I get into.
"Okay. Those are all the rules. We may add on to them if need be, but for right now that's all of them. Now you have some free time, you can go to your room, unpack your suitcase and get comfortable. Also, I would like to ask you not to go to the third floor, it is off limits to you, but you may go anywhere else in the house."
"Why can't I go to the third floor?" I ask with genuine curiosity.
"That is where all of our home offices are, and it's all business up there. There's no reason for you to venture up there. Understood?"
"Sure," I shrugged. I don't wanna go to the third floor anyway.
"Okay. You are dismissed. Dinner is served at 6 pm. Don't be late."
"Yes sir," I replied before making my way out of his office, and back up to the safe confines of my room.
I think this room will be my safe haven away from those mean monsters, I call brothers.