Romeo Gianni Di Vittorio

"Where's Livia?" Martino asks, she hadn't been here all day, we had thought she would show up, but she hadn't. We had also been told that Adelina had left, so we had been training all day with Nikolai, Sebastian and Zion. They were cool, but I enjoyed hanging out with my little sister, she was enjoyable to hang out with.

"In meetings," Nikolai answers tersely. He looked stressed as much as he was trying to hide it but I had always been good at reading people. I had never used that skill as much as I had in the past few weeks.

"You sure she's not dipping out of training us? After all, she disappeared yesterday. She seems to slack on her responsibilities." Dante mutters, and Nikolai's eyes fall on my oldest brother. He wasn't giving the fiery glares I saw him give my sister. Instead, this one was an ice-cold, stoic gaze I was sure was making everyone in the room uncomfortable.

"If I were you I'd watch how you talk about Livia in her home territory. You might be Angelo's sons, but you still are the sons of a traitor. I'm sure Angelo won't take kindly to you insulting his heir, whether or not you are his son. Livia's patience is paper thin with you, so I would watch yourself."

"Is that a threat?" I stared incredulously at Dante. I don't know when he had become so bold, but he was looking less and less like the brother I had grown up with and depended on and more of a stranger than Livia was.

"Remember whose turf you're on," Nikolai muttered, the warning clear in his tone. "If you weren't standing on Italian soil, then you would come to find out exactly why I'm an heir as well. But unlike you, I respect your sister far too much to disrespect her on her grounds."

"Wait, you guys bicker like cats and dogs and you're saying you respect her?" Martino probably shouldn't have spoken, but his mouth got the better of him most of the time. And once he had questions, he couldn't keep them to himself. But fortunately for my brothers, the question seemed to relax the Russian heir. Seeing him calm down released a bit of the tension in my body. I didn't know what this man was capable of, but I wasn't naïve, and even though I held respect for my sister and her friends, there wasn't much I wouldn't do to protect my brothers.

"My relationship with your sister is complicated and no one will understand it but us," Nikolai answers. "But one thing is for certain is that I respect and trust Livia with everything in me. So saying that if any of you cross her, I will be right by her side as she destroys you."

Silence followed Nikolai's answer. None of us had any more to say. Dante looked like his tail was stuck between his legs, and not even Martino was brave enough to ask more questions. Sebastian stood on the side looking like he was enjoying the show and Zion was on his phone, not looking remotely interested in what had happened.

The silence was broken by the doors to the gym swinging open. There my little sister stood dressed like normal in black leggings and a t-shirt, but over her outfit was a black leather jacket which looked awesome. Just by looking at it, though, I could tell it was something I would never be able to afford.

There was something off about Livia today. She looked kind of jittery like she had built up energy in her body and needed to burn it off immediately. Nikolai picked up on her strange mood and moved over to her, the two of them talking in hushed whispers that were unintelligible from where we stood on the other side of the room. They didn't talk long though. I followed Livia's movements with my eyes as she moved over to a bench and shrugged off her beautiful jacket and picked up a pair of boxing gloves like the ones we used earlier. I could tell these were hers, though, and had been custom made for her. Nikolai said something to her I still couldn't hear, but instead of answering him she shot him a grin, a large animalistic grin that had him shaking his head with a growing smile on his face.

He picks up the gloves he had discarded on the side after we had done the lesson and the two of them hop into the ring, circling each other right away.

"Are they going to fight?" Matteo asks warily. We had seen Nikolai fighting over the last two days and he was amazing at it, and he was also not in the best mood because of my oldest brother, so I was feeling cautious for Livia.

"Oh, this is going to be good," Sebastian comments, the glee clear on his face. Even Zion was focused on the two of them, amusement clear on his face. Nikolai and Livia had just started circling each other, neither of them attacking yet, but rather scoping out the other.

"Isn't he going to hurt her?" Martino worries.

"You guys underestimate your sister." Zion comments, not sounding the least bit worried either. I knew he was right. Livia might not be overly accommodating and friendly to us past basic respect, but she hadn't gone out of her way to intimidate us or show us exactly why she was chosen as the heir of the Italian Mafia. "Nikolai might have the biological advantage of height and strength, but Livia is a vicious little thing when she wants to be. And besides, no one knows the other's weaknesses and those two do."

Nikolai strikes first, a punch that was aimed at Livia's jaw, but she instantaneously moves out of the way, counter-attacking, which this time Nikolai evades. When Nikolai punches Livia kicks them always moving just out of the others' reach before the hit could land, Livia manages a single punch to Nikolai's throat, a move that waters his eyes for a second but the next he's got her to the ground, ready to attack when she rolls out from under him ready with another fancy move, sending him a deadly smirk one which he returned. The two of them were enjoying this far too much.

It was like a lethal dance only the two of them knew how to perform and I was so transfixed I hardly realised when the door to the gym opened and a man walked in. I had to do a double take on the man. He looked so much like Angelo, but a lot older. Angelo only had a few grey hairs running through his black hair but this man had a couple of pitch-black strands running through his white hair. He stands by the ring, his arms behind his back surveying the fighting that hadn't stopped.

My eyes darted between the man and the fighting for a few more minutes until the man finally spoke up.

"That's enough." I don't know who this man is, but it was clear how powerful he was as Livia and Nikolai immediately halted, stepping back from one another, both of them out of breath. Liva takes a seat on the floor and takes off her gloves, Nikolai following suit quickly. The older man turns to us, surveying the group of us. "Sebastian, Zion, why don't you go and greet your families and get ready for tonight's festivities?"

Tonight's festivities?

Sebastian and Zion didn't hesitate either, both of them gathering up their things quickly. "Yes, Mr Di Vittorio."

So I was related to this man. I think a part of me knew from the moment he walked into the room. The Di Vittorio genes were strong, that was for sure.

"You need to use your upper body more. You like kicking and are good at it, but you need to use your legs to move around more. So work on your punches." The older man tells my sister and she nods. He was right, I hadn't noted it before, but Nikolai was the one punching the most. Livia only really used her hands to block punches. "Now I need to ask if you thought it was necessary to throw a knife at Edgardo's head."

The older man's voice was firm, and it made Livia sit up straighter, pushing away the hair that had fallen in front of her face. The older man was staring at her intimidatingly. Nikolai's reaction kind of surprised me. He was looking at Livia like he had never been prouder at that moment.

"You threw a knife at someone's head?" Dante proclaimed. Livia looked at Dante, irritation flickering across her face.

"Would you like to be next?" She deadpanned, looking done with Dante.

"Liva." The older man warns. "Lui è sangue." He is blood.

"Allora digli di tenere per sé i suoi commenti." Livia mutters, looking unintimidated by the scary man. Then tell him to keep his comments to himself.

The man studied Livia but seemed to think better of saying anything else. Livia stood up and exited the ring, grabbing a bottle of water. Then she turned to the man saying something else in Italian before walking over to us.

"This is our grandfather, dad's dad." She tells us. "Cosimo Di Vittorio, he used to be the head of the mafia before dad took over. It would be best if you never disrespected him."

"Don't scare them, Livia." The man ordered. He seemed scary, even scarier up close, but I could tell he had a soft spot for his granddaughter, but I don't think it extended to us just yet. We were still outsiders here, like Nikolai had said. The children of a traitor. "It's good to have you all back. Unfortunately, I have business to attend to and cannot stay to talk with you all. Livia, will you join me?"

Cosimo Di Vittorio had a very thick Italian accent like Angelo, and I guessed they didn't speak English very often. Livia's accent was fainter, but she still had it, from what I've been told it is because she went to an international school.

"Yes, Nonno." Livia nodded. The man walked out of the room not waiting for anyone else. Nikolai had slipped out of the room when we were talking to our grandfather, so it was only the four of us left. "There is an event I have to attend tonight with many of the elite families here in Italy. You are all invited to attend. You will meet more of the family and our close family friends if you choose to attend."

"Are all of us invited?" Dante asks.

"No, your mother and step-family cannot come. The invitation extends to the four of you," Livia tells us, looking like she needed to leave the room. "Ask Tabita for the details. She should have the things if you want to come. Be in the foyer before six."

She left the room quickly, probably not wanting to keep her grandfather waiting. I look at my brothers questioningly.

"Do you guys want to go?" I ask, Matteo and Martino both shrug, but I could see they wouldn't mind the outing. Dante, though, looked hesitant.

"I don't know," he muttered. "Mom might be annoyed at us."

"She was the one who brought us here. She can't be upset at us bonding with our family," Matteo comments. "Besides, what's the worst that can happen?

A lot can happen, but I didn't say anymore. I know it would piss mom off at us attending, but I didn't care anymore. I think it was time for the four of us to stop living to mom's wishes and instead live the life that was promised to us at birth.

It was time for me to step out of my comfort zone into a new world and I felt excited about it.

Happy Monday!!! I hope this update made your day a little bit better because let's be honest who likes Mondays.

Livia and Nikolai fighting each other has been a chapter I have been wanting to write for ages and I'm glad we finally got to it. Lot's of exciting things coming up soon in this book.

So what are we thinking of the brothers, I'm always seeing comments about Romeo and Dante but what so you think of the twins. I think I need to write some more Matteo and Martino content.

Please vote and leave a couple comments if you enjoyed this chapter. Happy reading

Ara <3