Dominic woke up in the morning, feeling a little shaky. He had probably had too many drugs injected into his system and it was messing with his body. He robbed the dizziness off his face, got up from the bed, and checked on his children. They were still fast asleep and he didn't want to disturb them. He wondered where Adrienne was and why she wasn't yet awake. By this time, he always met her in the children's room, either arranging the room or preparing them for school. He went into the room, made sure his children were all okay, then went out of their room.
While he hated the woman who had birthed the three boys for him, he loved his children very much. He hadn't given much thought to having children in the past, but since they were here now, Dominic was ready to give them the very best money could buy. They also have all of the love and affection he could ever feel for another being. They were his legacy. The fulfillment of his very existence. He wasn't sure he could ever picture his life anymore without them in it. Every decision he had been taking since the birth of Matteo almost six years ago had been what would work in the best interest of his children. The houses and other properties he bought were in their names. He wanted to feel his love for them even if he wasn't with them.
He dressed up and left the house before 9 a.m. since he had a business meeting with a man who intends to be a major shareholder in his coffee and cocoa powder production and he didn't want to be late even for a single minute since he had a reputation to uphold as the owner of the large business. As he walked out of the house, Dominic still found it strange that Adrienne wasn't at the door, holding a tray containing a cup of tea, some slices of bread, and fried egg like she had always done. He had never eaten any of them before. Thinking back now, Dominic wasn't sure if he had ever eaten a meal prepared by the woman before.
He got to the office a few minutes to ten and went straight to his desk. He sat down and readjusted the tight rein the tie had on his neck. He wasn't used to wearing suits and ties a bit. He loved having his polo shirt and jeans on his body, but still, he had to do what was necessary for the safety of his children. The intending shareholder came in at exactly ten and they began to talk. By noon, Dominic had succeeded in making the young man sign a contract with his company. After the man had left, he took a walk around the company to make sure everything was moving smoothly. Even though the coffee and cocoa powder production company was only a facade to cover up his hard drugs business, the C&C company still fetched him cool extra cash he used in acquiring and developing properties around the world.
When it was 3 pm, he got a call from the house telling him that Adrienne had been missing since morning and he rushed home. When he got to the house, he met Matteo trying to console his brother Jamie from his tears. Ricky had Elio in his arms trying to shush the young boy too. Dominic walked to his second son and picked him up into his arms, the boy stopped crying immediately. After the children had been fed and put to sleep, He and Ricky searched the entire property for any signs of her but couldn't find anything or any clue to suggest what had happened to her. When he and Ricky finally saw her leaving from the CCTV footage, it was clear to Dominic that she had left and wouldn't be back again. The next morning, he employed three different maids to take care of his children's wellbeing. He also hired two extra drivers to take Matteo and Jessie to school on days Ricky couldn't. He ignored every question Matteo kept asking him about their mother. He also limited his amount of traveling, so that he could monitor his children. But, still, there are days he just couldn't evade leaving them.
Matteo was only five years and six months old. But even at such a young age, he understood the fact that his mother had abandoned him, his father, and his younger siblings. He also knew that she wouldn't be coming back the moment his father had hired people to take care of them. If he had known that she was abandoning them, he would have stopped her that night when he saw her sneaking out the door. And since he was the oldest, he knew that he had to start behaving like one and look after his brothers each time their father was away on his business travels.
On one of those days his father had traveled, Matteo saw one of the nannies pinching little Elio who was no more than just a year old. The boy had begun to wail loudly and the nanny had just dropped him on the bed to continue crying while she slept. Matteo had picked up his youngest brother and calmed him down. He had made some food for him also the way he always saw the nanny did. Once he had fed little Elio, the boy had slept off for most of the rest of the day. From that day on, Matteo took charge of the care of his brother until their father had returned. Matteo reported the nanny to their father and the man fired the woman straight away without listening to any explanation.
Another time, Matteo had caught another nanny calling Jessie a dull boy who knew nothing about what he was being taught either at school or home. The three years old had burst into tears at the hurtful words the nanny had said. Matteo had rushed in to defend his brother by telling the nanny that she was the dull person who doesn't know how to teach a little boy. Matteo had taught his brother the school work and the boy had grabbed it perfectly. Matteo had raised his brows at the nanny to prove that he was right. The nanny had puffed and stomped away angrily.
Before Matteo was ten years old, Jessie seven years of age, and Elio five years old, Matteo lost counts of the number of nannies who had trotted in and out of their homes. None of them had ever lasted for six months before they did something either Matteo or Ricky or even their father would notice was a bad decision and fired them. At a time, their father had given Matteo authority to fire any maid he found misbehaving with him and his brothers. Over the past few years, the brothers had learned to look after one another and guard each other's backs.
There was a day Ricky had been so busy to get the boys to school, and one of the other drivers had taken charge. The man had driven roughly and caused their car to hit a building. While hitting the building hadn't done any damage to them or the car, an iron rod had fallen out of nowhere and hit the glass of the car at the back. The impact had caused the glass to shatter into different tiny pieces. Matteo had shielded his two brothers from the shattered glass. The iron rod had hit him in the back of his head and he had fainted. When he woke up, he was in the hospital. His head was bandaged and so also was his right arm. He found out later that a piece of the broken glass had embedded itself in his arm. His brothers had refused to go to school or even leave his side throughout his stay at the hospital. He also learned that his father had had the careless driver arrested for endangering the lives of his children.
Another time like that, they were at school and a boy from Matteo's class had insulted him. He told Matteo that he had no mother and that his father was always running away from the house from him and his brothers with the pretense that he was busy. The boy went on to more hurtful words to Matteo than his twelve years old self could handle and he began to cry. Elio had come to Matteo's class to check on him and had seen his older brother crying. Six years old Elio had climbed up the desk so he could get to the height of his brother's insulter and slapped the boy hard across the face. Both brothers and the other boy had gotten detention but Matteo felt better after the whole incident.
Their father changed their school the next semester and enrolled them in a school at one of the best boarding schools in Miami. There, a senior from Jessie's dorm confiscated his iPad. When Jessie told the rest of his brothers, they made a plan together to teach the senior a lesson. One night when everyone was asleep, Jessie got all of the senior's gadgets, including the wristwatches and his own iPad, and drowned them in a pool of water. When the senior woke up in the morning and began to weep over his damaged properties, Jessie had a good laugh with his brothers over the matter. Next, Matteo had Jessie report the senior to the dorm teacher about his iPad. When the senior couldn't produce the iPad, he got suspended for his acts. When their father got to know about what the senior had done, he withdrew them from the school again and enrolled them into an international school in Hawaii.
There, Matteo and his brothers had a communication problem with other kids at the school since they didn't understand their language. So, they stuck together at all times. By then, their father had made sure the three of them had a dorm to themselves, so there wouldn't be more trouble. And for a whole year, there wasn't any. Until the day Matteo picked up a fight with two boys who had called him a bastard in the language, thinking that he wouldn't understand. Jessie and Elio had met him in the middle of the fight, and without demanding to know what was going on, they joined him in the fight. The boys joined forces and beat up one of the boys until he fainted. The other one seeing what had happened tried to run away but Elio flipped him down with his leg. Jessie rushed over, picked up the boy, and wrapped his arms around him to ensure the boy wouldn't run away.
"Quick. Matteo. Elio. Beat him up," Jessie told his brothers.
Matteo and Elio beat up the boy until he also fainted. The school management invited their father over because of their behavior. When the older man arrived and the chancellor had tabled what happened to him, their father had turned to look at them. He asked Matteo what had happened before he even said anything to the chancellor.
"I picked up the fight with them, dad. Jessie and Elio had nothing to do with it," Matteo told his father in defense of his brothers.
"That's not true, dad. We all ganged up against them," Jessie told their father and Elio nodded in affirmation to his brother's words.
Their father looked from one person to the other, then settled his gaze on Matteo before he repeated his question.
"I said what happened, young man?" Their father asked again.
"He called me a bastard," Matteo told his father solemnly.
Dominic turned back to the chancellor and spoke.
"You heard him. The boys weren't at fault." He told the woman who looked at him like he had lost his brain.
"It doesn't matter who started it, Mr. Sanchez. The point is fighting is not allowed in the school. Besides, the parents of the boys aren't pleased about the state of their sons." The chancellor told him.
"So, what do you think should be done?" Dominic asked. He placed his hands on the table and stared at the woman intently.
"The three of them would be getting two weeks suspension from class while doing volunteering work. Then, they have to apologize to the boys they assaulted." The woman told him.
"Okay. But what punishment do the other boys get?" Dominic asked.
"You don't get it, Mr. Sanchez. Your sons beat the boys to a pulp." She said to him.
"So?" Dominic asked, his eyes turning dark.
"Well… the school has decided to exempt them from any punishment." The chancellor said.
Dominic slapped his hands on the table and the chancellor jumped, frightened by the sudden sound.
"You must be out of your mind if you think my children are going to be punished and those boys aren't. I don't care who the parents of the boys are and if they want to file a lawsuit, let them. But if you think my son is going to apologize to those little rats for defending his dignity, then be prepared to wait forever," Dominic told the woman in an angry voice.
"But…" The woman started. But Dominic cut her off.
"As a matter of fact, I'm withdrawing my children this instant. Please prepare their transfer letters." He told the woman.
The chancellor thought their father had been joking about the threat, but when she saw that he was serious about the whole thing, she prepared the papers. Dominic warned her that if he found even one word tarnishing his sons' record, he would make sure the school was closed down. When the woman was done with the papers, their father checked it thoroughly to make sure it was perfect. Dominic wrote a check and flipped it on her table.
"For the boys' treatment." He told the woman.
After they had gotten their things, their father had driven them straight to the airport to board their flight. While they were all seated, waiting for the plane to move, Matteo apologized to his father for causing trouble. Dominic took his time to explain to his children how he thought it was a good thing that Matteo had defended himself against injustice. He told them he was even prouder of them for sticking together and having each other's back. He encouraged them to always continue in such unity even in the future. And that was the way Matteo, Jessie, and Elio stuck together.