"Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair."
~
Athena was resting on her bed, thinking regarding what happened today. She was studying every one of them and have made few assumptions. Athena took out her laptop and started typing her remarks. Yes, she was treating her brothers as a character study. She learned to never trust, anyone. She lacked human behavioral qualities. It was troublesome for her to accept them and not just scrutinize them.
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Vincent - the oldest brother
33, black eyes, black hair
He seems like the alpha male of the house, has taken most responsibility. Put others before him. He doesn't sleep sufficiently. Most perceptive. He shows the traits of a leader. Examine everything (can be a future threat)
Reasons: dark circles, puffy eyes, strained neck, stiff muscles. Perfect posture. Confidence. Power
(Qualified Dad of the group)
Matteo - the second oldest brother
31, grey eyes, black hair
The softest brother. Mama bear of the group. He admires everyone, also loves cooking. He looks like the Advisor of the group.
Reasons - soft-spoken, good influencing skills, learned cooking professionally. He knows how to give space. (He didn't make any physical gesture towards Her)
(Qualified Mother of the group)
Finn - the third oldest brother.
31, grey eyes, dark brown hair
A sadist. Calmest among all. Observant. Most mysterious.
Reasons - eyes, more observing and less speaking, knows how to manipulate
(Study him the most)
(Qualified ?? of the group)
Ace - youngest brother.
29, black eyes, blonde highlights (dyed), natural hair color dark brown
Open book, reckless, adorable, hot-headed, big boy, childlike, loves tech, certified playboy.
Reasons - cute, latest gadgets, gen z language, doesn't think before talking, multiple girlfriends/boyfriends.
(Easiest brother)
(Qualified player of the group)
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She closed her laptop and started reflecting more. When she entered the dining area, she started inspecting everything. The servers bowed to us in respect but also fear. It looks like they are not as innocent as they display to her *insert smirk*. They all were well built. They were curious about her but didn't push her much. Maybe Athena's background info pleased them for now. One thing she fancied about her brothers were tattoos. They have multiple tattoos. Tattoos hold much influence in her life. (A/N I will explain that later.)
Ace was the most eager one of them- he kept taking glances at her. Matteo treated her like a baby. Maybe he still pictures Athena as the 5yr old girl they abandoned. That needs to change. They need to accept me as a 25yr old self-supporting woman. Yes, she is a feminist. Matteo loves praises as it appears like he rarely gets it. Athena made a mental note to appreciate him more. Vincent seems to be the most rational one among all. He agrees with her point of view. Most understanding. Typical boss attitude but seems to lose a bit around family. Finn is the most interesting one. She couldn't analyze him much.
They all have nicknames for each other -
Vincent - Vince, Vincey, V
Matteo - Matt, Mattey
Finn - Finn (seems like he has no nickname, ace who doesn't care offending Vincent is scared of Finn)
Ace - Acey, A, Mr. Hot Head (given by matteo)
Finn. He is the one who has caught Athena's mind the most. He was analyzing her the moment she arrived. His eyes were ice-cold but warm towards her. He is defiantly a sadist. She could tell it. Instinct, she guesses. He saw her knuckle scars. But did not question it. He was impressed with her professional answers rather than being hurt.
When he spoke to Athena, the rest seemed way too shock. It seems he is not a soft type. Most manipulative of all of them, guaranteed. Answers solely, but cunningly. He enjoys studying people rather than making rash judgments. He was the one who requested to help her pack. Ha - more hands the faster work *cue eye-roll* he wanted to study her space to learn more about ena's (A/N: Athena's nickname: ena/A) personality and learn about her past.
He is probably thinking of learning about her fav color by looking at the most color used in her condo. Her friend circle. Her life choices and more.
Yes, guys, the place you are living in can easily describe your personality. It's your replication in the forms of objects that holds significance for you.
Using that lame reason, he already told much about him too. Manipulative dickhead. She dislikes it when someone psychoanalyses her.
Ena is more of just- ask it to my face person. Well, umm, she knows she is a hypocrite. She is case studying her brothers, yet not letting Finn psychoanalyze her Athena means she doesn't give a fuck. They had each other to trust all these years. Ena on the other hand didn't have anyone to trust, to share, to love. She grew up on her own.
She never had a childhood and, that is her greatest regret. Every single person deserves a normal childhood. Bitch of mother of her ruined her childhood. And he destroyed her.
She could still feel those slaps, those words, Jaya said to her. Her birth giver blamed her for everything. She resented her. She made sure Ena was, starved, neglected, abandoned. She still remembers her 7th birthday vividly, when she engraved her body severely.
That was the day she started ruining her body. The scars she had given her are still evident. It's like her body doesn't want to heal them. They are a constant reminder of how broken she truly is.
As for the scars he gave - they are more like battle scars, she loathes them but is proud of them. They showed her that she survived.
Subconsciously she started tracing her first scar on my back neck, reminiscing those memories. Very few people have seen her scars, and even a few of them have seen her every scar. But no one knows who exactly she is.
She questions how her brothers will think of her if they knew her past. At this thought, she went to sleep. Welcoming, a dreamless night.
She woke up calm the next morning. Ena took a nice shower, did some emails, and headed to the kitchen to make some breakfast. She decided to make waffles with blueberries. She loves blueberries. They are low in calories but are high in nutrients and antioxidants. They are great for breakfast. She would recommend having some sugar intake in the morning. They are a great booster for dopamine. (Umm, sorry, the doctor side of her gets a bit health-conscious). She was about to eat and heard the doorbell. Looks, like her brothers, have arrived.
Athena opened the door and welcomed Ace and Finn in. They both started to look around.
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Ace smiled at her and said, "you have a cozy place bab- Avni" good. He listened to yesterday's request.
She smiled in agreement. Finn, as usual, was observing everything. She asked them if they would like to eat breakfast with her. They happily agreed and oh lord, they eat a lot.
They are fucking pigs. How do they have such a toned body after eating this much is a big question to her.
After a little small talk, they both started helping her pack. She gave them a warning not to touch her books and art supplies. She is very protective of them as book and art enthusiasts need to be handled, with care. Those books are her world and escape- from reality.
She didn't pack the entire apartment as she is planning on keeping it. So I packed around three suitcases of clothes and personal care products. And around two large boxes of her favorite books and discs and art supplies. Also, she took her guitar.
They helped her load it into a mini truck that she rented and moved towards the mansion. It was evening when they finally reached home. Could she call it a home? Not yet.
They placed her items in a spare room and motioned to her bedroom. It was big. And plain.
Finn said that she could decorate it as per her liking. Ena looked around her bedroom and was pretty impressed. She was exhausted. She told them that she will be taking a nap and not to wake me up for dinner.
She glanced up to Finn and said, "Thank you," she rarely use that term. She thought he did help a lot. She is not sure why she is polite to them. She despised them for years for abandoning her.
She should have stayed protected like all those years. She was simple enough to believe she could start a fucking easy life with her real identification. Ugh, this is so frustrating. It is the first time she was not able to understand her emotions.
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The next day
Athena woke up at 5 am, as usual, she did her usual morning routine. She was resigning from the hospital, so she doesn't have much work, just some paperwork.
She wanted to discover me more. She had plenty of working her butt off. She wanted to live now, after doing some administrative work. She googled 'Florentino Brothers' she can say she is pretty proud of the empire they have build-in these 20 years. Vincent and Matteo are the faces of the group. Finn and Ace's name is only known but their identity is not public. They seem more of work in background people. Hmm, interesting, she assumed Ace was a party animal and loves attention. (As per his persona) seems like he is not that easy as she first thought.
Florentino group has multiple ventures from making industrial equipment to a newly found tech hub. They are rising exponentially in the business world. They are supposed to be involved in some shady work. But the articles mentioning their illegal stuff are rare, or mainly gossip. Nothing mainstream.
It means they have a moderate amount of competitors against them. And no scandals. There can be only two reasons justifying this. 1) They are extremely lucky (rare) 2) They have threatened/killed/covered up their mess seamlessly. (most probably) They do have a great PR team covering up for them. *smirk* They have names given like - risers, kings, rulers, devils of the market. Cool, she guesses.
She just hopes they are not too much involved in the underworld. She was trying to leave the dark world, even though she might be the one ruling it. After all, she was the goddamn QUEEN.
With that thought, Matteo came into her room and called me down for breakfast.
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