Athena gets to know in the evening that the oldest Vincenzo and Luciano are away, out of country for some business conference. It leads Alexander to be in the charge of everything and he surely pretends to be more bossier than Vincenzo.

"Crybaby, finish your breakfast. I want the whole plate to be wiped clean." Athena frowns at his words as she hears Vittorio's chuckle and Romeo shakes his head, amused.

"But I not eat much and I am no crybaby." She mumbles under her breath, with her lips puckering slightly.

"Oh really? Then we will have to shove feeding tubes down your throat to make sure that you eat everything!" Vittorio exclaims back sternly. The way she speaks in the broken english is almost too cute. He wants to hear more and more of her voice.

"That bad."

Romeo tries hard to resist the urge to coo at her as her eyes fills with unshed tears. She is like an adorable baby, his heart cannot help but melts.

"It's ok, Ariana. Ignore them, they are lying. Go and bring your backpack." He finally speaks, deciding to save her from his brothers' teasing.

Athena gives him a small smile and quickly runs upstairs.

"Bruh! It was fun teasing her. You just had to ruin the fun." Vittorio rolls his eyes. Romeo ignores him and waits for Athena to get back.

Alexander does not say anything but in his mind, there is a worry. He is worried for Athena. The surveillance footage was wiped out before they could even get access to them. He cannot ignore that this person is targeting Athena while considering her as Ariana.

Soon, Athena arrives in the garage and they are off to their school. Athena is anxious to face that girl Aurora. She is so mean and scary.

Romeo opens the door for her indicating her to step out as they have arrived at their school already. Athena gets out and looks at the students standing in groups. They all are staring at her.

Romeo is about to take her inside but stops when the sound of motorbikes reaches their ears. Athena looks back while scrunching her eyebrows together. Yesterday there were three for them and today, there are five.

In front of her, there are five guys. One of them who is in the center is staring more like glaring at her. Directly at her. He is so scary and looks so angry. She flinches back a little in fear that does not go unnoticed by Ariana's brothers.

Romeo grabs her hand and pulls her inside.

The classes are ongoing with difficulty. Athena has definitely noticed the concerned looks that almost everyone is giving her. Mostly Sarah and Max, they look extremely stressed out and worried.

Few of the students are secretly laughing and Athena knows that their laughs are pointed at her.

"I already feel pity for her. I thought maybe he has forgiven her but he is not the one who easily forgets the betrayals." Someone sitting nearby, whispers in their friend's ear. But it was loud enough for Athena to hear her perfectly. Her words makes her stomach churn uncomfortably.

She is aware that they are talking about Ariana but here Ariana is her. Considering this, the problems are hanging like swords on her own neck.

The class ends and Athena rushes to get out. She really needs to get out of here. It totally slips out of her mind that Romeo has especially told her that she needs to wait in the class room. He will himself take her to her another class.

Suddenly, her wrist is grabbed from behind by someone and she is dragged into a vacant classroom. She is roughly pushed against a wall.

Aurora and her friend group stands in front of her with menace in their eyes.

'S-scary!'

"YOU FUCKING SNITCHED, WHORE!" She wraps her hands around Athena's neck, strangling her. Athena gasps, struggling to get out from her grip but Aurora does not budge a bit. Athena lets out a loud cry as Aurora slams the back of her head twice against the wall.

While struggling, Athena's hand unconsciously goes down and harshly collides with Aurora's cheek.

Aurora freezes and her friends' group gasps, completely shocked and stunned.

"Did you just hit me?" She whispers in a low tone.

"You are going to regret this, Ariana!"

Aurora leaves her and without next word storms out. Her group follows behind her with a look of concern on their faces.

Athena slumps down on the floor and greedily takes huge gulps of oxygen. Her lungs are starting to hurt and she could hear her loud but slow heartbeat.

As Aurora takes a first step out, someone grabs her throat. Aurora gasps as they slam her back against the wall. Looking up, she tries to hold back a whimper in as her eyes falls on Alexander. He is glaring down at her with rage filled in his own eyes. Her group of friends are staring at Vittorio and him with wide, fearful eyes. At this moment, they know that they are in a huge, life-threatening trouble.

"Now how does it feel like to be strangled." Alexander whispers coldly in her ear.

Athena is still trying to cease her cries when suddenly the door opens and a voice of worried Romeo reaches her ears.

"Ariana!"

At this moment, Athena is not in the right state to think. She throws herself in his arms, letting out loud sobs.

"Shh. You are fine, Ari!" Just like her, at this moment, he forgets completely that this girl is not the real Ariana, his sister. She is not his Ari but still, he has started to unconsciously consider Athena as his family.

You can get early access to the full completed book 'Her Five Protectors' on patreon. Link is in my profile....