A/N - sorry for the late update guys! To make it up to you, I've made this chapter a lot longer than usual!

Also there is a sweet Raphael and Alina at the end so keep reading!

ALINA'S POV

"Would you like some more space, Alina?" My mother asks me.

"Space for what?" I ask her, confused.

"Anything. I know this lovely house up north. I'm pretty sure it's address is 37 Rosehill Lane, Burkland Avenue" she tells me with a smirk on her face.

I raise my eyebrows in response. I'm utterly lost here.

"But.....that's our house. You can't have our house!" Lucia's mum almost screamed.

"Oh but I can. Does the name Jennifer Kingston ring a bell?" My mom continues.

The woman's face goes pale indicating she does.

"Yes, she's your estate agent, and considering she owes me a favour, if I stick in some cash, then the property is mine. I can also make sure no one in the world ever sells you a property again or worse if you say one more thing about Alina" my mom tells them.

Wow. What a move!

Dad isn't as discreet as mom with his threats.

"So I suggest you shut your mouth, or it's not only going to be your belongings and estate we'll take!" My dad tells them, basically threatening their life and their tongues as he shows them his gun in the inside of his blazer.

They finally catch on, and shut up.

"Who's weak and pathetic now?" Rocco rhetorically asks them with a smirk.

I can tell they want to reply to him but they hold their tongues.

"You either leave this country to never be seen again by any of our family members, or you'll leave this Earth!" Dad says as he threatens them again.

"If we leave how do we know you'll not come for us!?" Lucia's dad asks whilst shaking.

"You don't, but it's your best option. We've only given you this mercy because of our daughter. I don't want to cause a scene in front of her. Also I can't be bothered to clean up the mess I'd make" my mom tells them.

My dad smirked at my mom as she said that.

"Give me your phone" my dad asks Lucia with his hand outstretched.

She reluctant to give it but a stern look from her father and she hands it over, unlocked.

I see my dad remove all video evidence of the fight before he chucks the phone against the wall so hard that it cracks.

"You may go now!" My dad tells them.

Lucia looked pissed at me, but she holds her tongue, scared to loose it.

They reluctantly scurry out of the office as soon as they can, with Rocco moving out of the way to let them go as he gave them a finger wave.

My dad then turns to the principal before screaming at her, saying that she's fired.

He gives her some cash as well to help the deal go smoothly, so she wouldn't snitch and so she didn't have a problem being fired.

She actually kind of looked pleased.

Dad said he'd put one of his most trusted men as the principal for the time being.

"Let's go home" my dad says as he holds my hand as we walk out of that hellish office.

My 3 personal teddy bears protecting me.

They got rid of my enemy, whilst not breaking a sweat.

They supported me each step of the way, and we're proud of me, not embarrassed.

I couldn't ask for any more off of them.

I don't know if I want to see the rest of my brothers reaction to this though.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

As soon as we we get inside the house, my parents lead me to the living room.

The house is silent which I'm thankful for as it indicates that my brothers are not home yet.

I'm sat between my parents as they turn to look at me.

"Why didn't you tell us that you were having a hard time in school?" My mom asked me, emotion evident in her voice.

I sigh, before hesitantly telling then my reasons.

"I didn't want you guys to think I was weak, and that I needed my family to fight my battles for me" I tell them .

"Surely, you know that we'll do anything and everything for you?" My dad asks me.

"I do know that. It's just that I've always had to deal with these kind of problems by myself" I reply.

My parents simultaneously hugged me as they told me that I wasn't alone anymore, and that battles weren't meant to be fought alone.

"We're very proud of you for standing up for yourself, bambina!" My dad tells me.

I frown at that.

"What's wrong baby?" My mom asks me.

"Why does it feel like I was a bad person for hurting her?" I ask my parents.

"What do you mean?"

"I felt like I was acting like Emma and Jason. I was hurting someone, and I wanted to continue to hurt them even though they were down, defenceless on the floor!" I wail at them feeling the guilt claw at me.

"I wanted to protect myself, but I can't stop the guilt that's eating me up inside!" I continue.

"You have nothing to feel guilty about Alina. We will do everything in our power to reassure you of that!" My mom tells me.

"We'll work on it as well. We'll help you feel better about protecting yourself. Anything to get a smile back on you face bambina!" My dad tells me as he starts to lightly tickle me causing a big grin to form on my face.

They truly are the best parents.

And I'd do anything for them, just like they would for me.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

I'm currently chilling in the living room with Matheo and Adrian watching Moana, because it is such a great film, when the doorbell rang.

My whole family had made me feel a lot better about the situation, and as soon as my stupid bones were healed they all agreed to help me feel better about protecting myself.

They were all pissed, and so Luca went and tracked down Lucia and her family to make sure all evidence of the video was gone.

Somehow, and I don't want to question how, he even managed to get my pens back for me!

He hit the biggest hug after that and I knew the rest of my brothers were jealous.

I had the day off from school today, courtesy of my parents as they didn't want me to stress myself after the tough day I had yesterday.

Adrian was a little annoyed about going to school alone, but he ultimately went with a pout on his face.

As Adrian says he'll answer the door, I wondered about who was ringing the doorbell at 8pm on a Friday night?

I know the guards wouldn't have let anyone who they didn't know get this close to the house.

And if they were enemies, and had managed to get passed the guards, then they wouldn't make us aware of their presence by knocking, they'd storm in.

It's no one in our family either as they just walk straight in.

"Who could that be!?" Adrian asks us with a knowing look in his eye as he wiggled his eyebrows.

He's acting weird.

Too weird for him.

He hops up from his position on the sofa to go and answer the door.

Me and Matheo look at each other, both confused and oblivious as to what was going on.

I heard footsteps coming down the stairs indicating that my nosy brothers were also interested.

I hear multiple voices coming from the hallway, so I make my way over to them all with Matheo behind me

I come around the corner only to be face to face with Adrian, and all of my friends behind him.

"SURPRISE!"

"I invited them around for a sleepover, to cheer you up!" He tells me with a big grin on his face, looking proud of himself.

He really is so sweet.

"We heard about what happened! You're so badass Alina!" Elle tells me as she comes over with a box of chocolates.

"Thank you!" I tell her accepting the compliment and gift.

The rest of the group also say a lot of kind words, as well as asking if I'm ok.

After greeting the majority of the group, Raphael and Reese are the only ones left by the door.

Raphael stood there holding a bouquet of Roses, and a basket of snacks in which he was talentedly holding them both.

Reese stood there empty handed.

Just as I saw Raphael open his mouth c about to speak, Reese rushed over to me and took me in his embrace.

"I brought myself as a gift for you, babe!" Reese told me.

"Oh, thank you, I guess?" I told him, not knowing how to reply to that.

Alina's brothers all looked at each other in shock before rolling their eyes at this guys' behaviour.

As Raphael came closer I saw Reese snort at him.

I moved away from him to get closer to Raphael, wanting to hear what he had to say.

"If you wanted to impress her, you could have at least got her, her favourite flowers!" Reese told him cutting him off again.

"Roses are her favourite flowers" Raphael told him simply.

"Nope, they're daises, aren't they babe?"

"Reese, please let Raphael talk, and he's right, roses are my favourite flowers" I tell him.

I only remember telling Raphael in passing what my favourite flowers were. I didn't expect him to remember them.

"I'm pretty sure I know my girlfriends favourite flowers!" Reese continued.

"It's roses. Always has been, it's never changed. Maybe you should focus more on your girlfriend and not your looks" Adrian snapped back at him.

Reese was stunned into silence, as he shrunk back.

Adrian has a secret scary side!? But he's the kindest soul, ever!

"Hey Alina. I heard you managed to beat Lucia up! I'm proud of you! So I brought you some of your favourite things!" Raphael finally told me with a smile on his face.

The snack basket had all of my favourites in.

I feel as though he know me better than myself.

And considering I only goal to Elle about snacks and such, I wonder how he knew about them.

I thanked Raphael massively as he turned red.

I moved on to try and get the attention away from him, so he wasn't embarrassed any longer.

All of my friends were super excited to sleep over with us and wouldn't stop complimenting the house. My family even helped set up the living room so we could all sleep there.

I couldn't help but notice the looks my brothers kept giving Reese when they thought I wasn't looking.

I swear Luca almost lunged for him when he decided to place his sleeping mat next to mine.

Adrian was on the other side of me, as we all huddled up with snacks and drinks to watch lots of movies throughout the night.

Reese snaked his arms around my shoulder just as we started our movie marathon.

Adrian glared at him for it but ultimately said nothing for it.

All of the girls keep wiggling their eyebrows at me suggestively, at which I rolled my eyes in response to them.

Every time I looked over to Raphael, his eyes were always glued to the TV, never looking in our direction.

It was frustrating as I liked seeing his face, his dimples, his little freckles and the little mole in his eyelid.

Whoa, I guess I kind of know a lot about how he looks. Does he know the same amount about me?

Probably not.

As the night went on, I settled into my blanket, Reeses arms never leaving my shoulder until he fell asleep at around 2 a.m.

It seemed that most of the group were knows out by 2.30, so I tried to go to sleep as well.

For some reason, it was impossible, so I just layed there staring into the eh dark waiting for sleep to come.

Tonight was a pretty amazing night.

It started by us all gathering to play chubby bunny, in which Elle won.

We played a couple of board games, such as monopoly which got quite competitive towards the end which I found hilarious.

The boys also tried to start a food war that was quickly shut down after Reese almost got blinded by a Skittle.

And we finished it off by watching 3 great films.

I think it was one of the best nights of my life!

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

"Alina" a voice whispered to me in the dead of night.

"Alina, are you awake?" The same voice continues.

"Yes, why?" I ask Raphael back.

"I was hoping we could talk. I can't sleep" he tells me.

Thank goodness. I'm not alone in the darkness trying to fall asleep.

"Do you want to go to the kitchen and talk there, so we don't wake the others?" I ask him.

Everyone else was sound asleep.

Raphael agreed, so I started making my way out of the room, knowing what to avoid as I knew where they were.

I was hobbling to the door when I heard a big bang and a groan come from behind me.

I turn around and squint to see Raphael crumpled over a side table.

I can't stop the laugh that escapes my mouth.

I slap my hand over my mouth to try and stop the noise coming from me, but it's too funny.

My stomach starts hurting from how much I'm laughing, and I feel as though I might collapse from laughter as he tries making his way to me.

"Alina, help me" he whines to me as he almost bumps into the sofa.

A big giggle escapes me again.

"Please?" He adds nicely.

I take a deep breath after a couple of minutes to calm myself down before I come over to him and grab his hands in order to guide him out of the room.

As soon as we reach the light of the hallway, and we make eye contact I burst into hysterics again.

Raphael didn't seem to pleased at my little shenanigans, but I couldn't stop.

This big, muscly, brave mafia heir fell over a table trying to find his way in the dark!

"Alina, please stop. It's not funny!" He said pouting at me.

I complied after a few more minutes of me dying from laughter.

We made our way into the kitchen, and he sat down on a chair, facing me.

I hadn't had a sleepover before so I didn't really know how to entertain my guests in the dead of night.

"Do you want a midnight snack?" I ask him, the only thing coming to mind to do whilst in the kitchen.

I saw his eyes light up at the mention of food.

He obviously needs food to fuel those muscles.

We had some chips and some candy but I ultimately went for ice cream, as I was feeling a little hot from being crammed in close with everyone.

I got 2 tubs of ice cream, one for me and one for him.

I picked up a cookie dough and a brownie one, intending on giving him the brownie one.

I feel as though he is definitely a brownie guy.

He smiles at me in thanks as he takes the brownie ice and the spoon before digging in.

I sit down next to him, ready to eat mine when I see him give me a side look.

I turn to look at him.

"What?"

"Cookie dough?"

"It's the best flavour of ice cream!" I tell him.

Ever since I was introduced by Romeo I've been hooked on the stuff!

"Absolutely not, no way. Your's makes it seem like I'm eating something raw and that I might get salmonella!" He tells me with a serious look on his face.

I didn't know ice cream was such a sensitive topic.

"Raphael, yours literally has brownie pieces in. They could be raw for all I know!" I tell him, backing my claim.

"Nope!"

"Yes!" I tell him.

"Well anyway, at least my ice cream has flavour, yours is just vanilla with pieces in it. Boring!" He tell me.

"Yours in only chocolate. It's not the exquisite, is it?" I ask him sarcastically.

"Truce?" He asks me as he sticks his hand out for a hand shake.

I stare at him fro a second before agreeing.

What a weird little argument, it's as if he just wanted to hear the sound of our voices.

He nods in response happy with the truce he made, as if it was a world saving truce.

I see him focus on something in my backyard before his eyes widen in recognition.

"You have a trampoline in your backyard!?" He almost screamed at me.

I nod in response.

"Can we go on it, please!?" He asked me as he bats his eyelashes.

"It's the dead of night, Raphael" I tell him.

Surely, that an answer in itself.

"Pretty please! It would be the best thing ever! I'll literally do anything you want if you come out with me on it!" He tells me pleadingly.

Now that is an offer I can't refuse.

I hesitantly nod at him.

He flashes a massive grin at me as he takes my free hand and leads me outside with him as I carry my ice cream in my other hand, safe and sound.

I see the guards in the guarded turn their heads in our direction but they don't stop us.

As we reach the trampoline, Raphael stops me, as he hands me his ice cream.

"I'll go on first just to make sure it's safe!" He tells me as he climbs on.

I watch as he runs around the trampoline, jumping around with a carefree grin on his face, that makes my face mirror the same expression as I hear his laughs.

After spending a minute or two jumping, and trying to spin in the air, he comes to the entrance to take the ice creams off of me.

"It's safe for m'lady now! I have slain all the beasts, and dangerous obstacles!" He tells me seriously.

Why thank you, kind sir!" I reply to him as we both giggle at each other.

I knew he just wanted to bounce on the trampoline.

I think it was the first time I've ever seen him that carefree.

He places the ice creams under the trampoline before he helps me up inside so that I don't hurt my leg further.

"Sit down in the middle with your legs out straight, and I'll bounce around you!" He asks of me excitedly.

I can't say no to that face, even if I think it might be a little dangerous.

I know he's never hurt me.

He grins at me as I sit in the centre, and he starts running and bouncing in the outskirts making me bounce up a little

Any time I bounce too high, he slows down to make sure I'm okay and that I've not hurt myself before carrying on.

I join in with his carefree laughter as we play around on the trampoline like little kids.

I think we spend around 20 minutes bouncing with each other before he collapses from exhaustion beside me.

He sits up so suddenly I almost have a heart attack.

"OUR ICECREAMS!!!" He screamed as he rushed over to the entrance of the trampoline to get them.

He came back with a very sad expression on his face.

"What's wrong!?" I ask him, not liking the look on his face.

"Our icecreams, they've melted" he said as he showed me our liquid ice creams with a sad look on his face.

"Don't feel down Raphael, they're still good in this form, I promise you." I tell him

He looks at ne skeptically.

I stare at him as I pick up my spoon to eat my melted deliciousness.

He stared at me for a while before he hesitantly tries it himself.

A big grin makes its way into his face and we laugh at each other, on how silly he was being.

That's what being tired does to you. It definitely messes with your emotions.

I can act like a monster or a puppy when I'm tired.

He sits on the trampoline next to me trying not to bounce too much so we don't spill our ice creams.

After I eat almost the whole tub, I lie down because I feel sick.

"Ughhh! I feel like I might burst!" Raphael tells me as he slowly lowers himself so he's laying down with me.

I turn my head so I that I'm facing him, and burts out in laughter again.

"What's wrong now?" He also me.

"You've got brownie ice cream all around your mouth!" I tell him whilst giggling.

His face pales, as he wipes all around his mouth.

"Is it gone?" He asks me worriedly.

"Nope, you've got loads on your left side" I tell him

After he misses the spot time after time, I take his hand in mine.

I place his fingers on the spot where the ice cream is.

And when I realise what I'm doing, I quickly remove my hand from his face.

He looks down as he wipes his face as we lay in the trampoline looking at the stars.

We chattered mindlessly for as long as we could but it was not long before we were dozing off.

Neither of us could keep our eyes open.

The last thing I remeber was one of the guards placing a blanket over us and a warm hand encasing mine.

I felt like life was perfect.

Why can it never stay like that?

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— MORE ACTION COMING! A/N - sorry for the late update guys, it's been a busy couple of weeks.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did please let me know.

Things between Raphael and Reese will go crazy in the next chapters!