Alexia POV

They all walked out to the food court where they found a table that would fit them all. They couldn't agree on what they wanted. Luca and Emilio wanted pizza. Santino, Matteo and their uncle Alessandro wanted Chinese and their father and Lorenzo wanted burgers. Alexia wasn't hungry but knew she needed to make it look like she ate something so she opted for Chinese as well. She could eat a little there and make it look like she ate more than she actually did. Chinese food always seemed to multiply when you ate it. Leo didn't know what to pick and wanted to look at his options. But if everyone left, they would lose the table. So Lorenzo, Emilio and Alexia ended up staying at the table while the rest went to go get food and drinks. There was an awkward silence at the table amidst the otherwise loud and lively chatter that surrounded them. Not long after Emilio excused himself. He had spotted some of his friends and wanted to go talk with them for a few. A minute later Lorenzo got a call. He looked at the caller ID, frowned, then looked at Alexia. "I have to take this. I will be right back. Stay here." He said before getting up and leaving the area. It didn't take more than a minute for three other people to sit down at the table. Alexia didn't know who any of them were and her senses were screaming at her to run. "I can't believe the Romanos just left you all on your own." The man who'd sat down in the chair next to her sneered. "By the time they come back, you and I will be long gone." He said looking at her hungraly. It made her stomach turn. She knew that look. Before she could do anything she felt something poke her side. "I wouldn't make a scene girly. Or I will stab you and then go after your family." He hissed at her. Leo... He was all she could think about. The man leaned in and took a deep inhale of her hair. "Oh you smell so good." He whispered. "Like a pure little girl." He sneered as he licked his lips as if he was tasting something good. His eyes were full of lust. A shiver of disgust ran through her body. "Now, we're going to get up and you're going to walk away with us nice and quietly." He commanded putting a hand on her upper thigh. His touch made her want to throw up. She wasn't about to go with these guys though. Leo was surrounded by a bunch of big hulking guys so he would be safe. Before she could do anything the man next to her pulled her out of her chair by her hair and his knife was instantly at her throat. It took Alexia a second to realized that her father and her oldest brother was each punching one of the other guys that had sat down at the table with the man now holding her. "Stop it before I slice her throat!" The man said dangerously. "Lasciala andare. Lei non ha niente a che fare con questo!" Her father said sounding cold. (Translation from Italian - "Let her go. She has nothing to do with this!") "I don't think so Romano!" The man hissed putting more pressure on the knife. Alexia let out a hiss due to the sudden paid. The man started backing away from the Romano family, pulling Alexia with her. Alexia let her eyes roam around the people in front of her before her eyes locked with Leo's. "Leo." Alexia started but was harshly yanked back into the mans chest. "Shut up bitch!" He hissed at her. Alexia was still looking at Leo. "Look away." She said. Leo's eyes widened and filled with tears, but he did as she requested. She then looked at her father and mouthed "get ready". She saw him register it and so did Lorenzo and Alessandro at the same time as she slowly started moving her arm in front of her body. Seconds later her arm swung back and his the man's crown jewels which made him loosen his grip on her and the knife moved slightly away from her throat. This was enough for Alexia to fling her head backwards, landing on the mans nose. The satisfying sound of the man's nose crunch was quickly followed by his groan and him letting go of Alexia more. And just for the hell of it Alexia sent her elbow into the mans throat making the man crumble to the floor. Alexia walked over to Leo and wrapped her arms around him and he instantly turned around and hugged her back, crying into her chest. The men Alexia assumed to be bodyguards was busy securing the three men. Alexia felt arms wrap around her and she tensed. "I'm so sorry sorellina." A voice whispered from behind. Emilio... "I'm okay." Alexia said feeling awkward. She didn't know why he was apologizing. "Let me see your neck." Emilio said as he let go of her. Alexia let him look, still holding Leo in her arms. Emilio frowned when he saw the blood from the cut. "I'm fine. It's just like a paper cut. No big deal." Alexia assured when she saw his expression. Matteo came over with a first aid kit he had found somewhere and started cleaning the small cut she had on her throat. Much to Alexia's annoyance he put a band aid on when he was done. "Does it hurt a lot?" He asked. Alexia shook her head no. This was nothing to her. "They still need to get phones, so let's go to the Apple store. They can pick whatever they want and then we can go home where you, Matteo, can look her over properly." Their father said. Alexia frowned. "What about the food?" She wasn't hungry but knew Leo would be. "It's already cold." Alessandro explained. "We will pick something up on the way home." He smiled at her and ruffled Leo's hair. Alexia nodded and started walking behind her father. She hadn't realized it but the way they were walking now, it was like a tight formation around her and Leo. Almost as if they were her body guards.

"What kind of phone do you guys want?" Alessandro asked when they got to the Apple store. Alexia shrugged. "I don't care. A phone is a phone." Leo nodded in agreement but his eyes were sparkling with excitement. "You don't care?" Santino asked sounding hurt. "Not really. We've never had a phone before so it doesn't really matter if we have one or not." Alexia answered. Just then a sales clerk came over and greeted them. The man looked afraid of the group of large men in front of him. "Hi." He squeaked out nervously. "My name is Eli, is there anything I can help you with today?" He asked having found his voice. "Yes, we need two iPhone 16 Pro Max." Luca said. "What color do you have in stock?" Eli visibly lit up. "We have all four colors, Sir." "Could we see them please." Alessandro asked. "Of course. Right this way." Eli said and led the way over to a counter and pulled out 4 display phones. "This is the neutral titanium. This one is the Desert titanium." He started showing what looked like a silver and a bronze colored phone. "And then this is obviously the white and black." He said showing the last two. "Which color do you want Leo?" Luca asked directly. Leo studied all the phones as if they were filled with secrets. After several minutes Leo still hadn't said anything. "The iPhone 16 Plus comes in blue and teal." Alexia said softly next to Leo making his eyes widen. Alessandro chuckled. "Could we see those please?" Eli quickly found 2 more display phones and he had barely placed them on the counter before Leo spoke up. "This one!" He pointed towards the blue one. "What about you Alexia?" Alessandro asked. "The silver one is fine." She shrugged. "Excellent." Alessandro said. "We will take what the kids asked for. We also need iPads." "Of course Sir!" Eli exclaimed. "We happen to have a blue iPad, would you like to see it?" He asked looking at Leo who nodded. "We'd also like to look at other iPads please." Luca said. Luca ended up picking two iPad Pros with 2 TB space. A silver for Alexia with a white keyboard while Leo's was black with a black keyboard. Leo picked out a blue case for his and a transparent phone case while Alexia picked transparent for both. "They also need watches." Santino said. "Lets get two of the new Apple Ultra watches. One of each color." "Don't forget laptops." Emilio said. "We don't need that." Matteo spoke up. "I got them some before we left the house. They will be at the house tomorrow." Alexia's jaw dropped hearing that. She had customized the laptops. There should be no way they would get there that fast. Matteo saw her shock and winked at her. "Lets get some Beats Studio Pro headphones as well. Blue for Leo and what? White for you Alexia?" Santino asked. She just nodded. It was overwhelming to her how much money they were just dropping without a care in the world. On top of all that Santino also asked for 4 Apple pens to go with the iPads. Two for each of them. And he found various of other things he thought they'd need. Mag safe cases, chargers and accessories. Extra watch bands. Leonardo swiped his card and then the family left the mall. On the way home they stopped to get McDonalds. While they were eating Alexia and Leo's new phones were passed around and everyone put in their own numbers. "If either of you have any problems with any of the stuff you just got today, come find one of us and we'll help you. If we can't we'll find someone that can." Matteo said. "Okay." Leo said while Alexia just nodded.

"Excuse me, I have some work to do." Lorenzo said getting up from the table. "Unfortunately so do I." Leonardo said before following Lorenzo and leaving the dining room. "I do as well. Will you two be okay?" Alessandro asked looking at Alexia and Leo. They both nodded. Alessandro smiled at them. "Call any of us if you need anything or if you have any questions." He said before getting up and leaving as well. The rest made excuses to leave as well until it was only Matteo, Leo and Alexia left. "I'm sorry." He said. "We all have a busy schedule. I too have some patients I have to go check on." He explained after having looked over her throat in the car. "All your stuff is already in your rooms and whatever was ordered online will be here either later today or tomorrow. If you find you need or want something else send it to me and I'll get it for you." Matteo said getting up from his chair. He walked over to Alexia and kissed the top of her head which made her stiffen. He then did the same for Leo. "Do you two remember the way back to your rooms? Or would you like to maybe go to the game room or entertainment room?" He asked looking at them. "We'll probably go back to our rooms and get familiar with our new phones and stuff." Alexia said. She knew Leo would be itching to use some of the new stuff he got. Matteo nodded. "I will see you for dinner then." He said before walking out as well.

Leo and Alexia got up and walked up to Alexia's room. "Let me see your phone for a minute." Alexia said as the door closed behind them. Leo handed her his phone and started fiddling around with it. "Your passcode is Kaprekar's constant." Alexia said. The 4 digit code would be safest to use and easiest for Leo to remember and someone would have to know Leo inside and out in order to guess it. She set up some more security for the phone so now no one but her could hack or track his phone. "Here." She said giving him back the phone. "Hand me your iPad." Leo gave it to her and started playing around on his phone. Meanwhile Alexia set up the iPad with the same security as his phone as well as synced them. "Passcode for the iPad is Hardy Ramanujan number." Alexia said earning a snort of amusement from Leo. "You really just made sure no one in this family would snoop through my phone and iPad didn't you." He chuckled. "You have a right to privacy." Alexia shrugged. "Just don't abuse the trust." "And you can always change the passcodes if you want." She said looking at him. She knew he wouldn't though. Not till he trusted this new family of theirs. She pulled out one of the 500 dollar gift cards they had gotten and loaded it onto his Apple account. "Spend your money wisely." Alexia said. "Just because they have a lot and they just dropped a bunch on us doesn't mean we need to spend the money on random shit, okay." She looked at him. Leo nodded seeming to understand. Alexia was satisfied with that. It would take her a bit of time to earn enough for her not to worry about spending limits for Leo. She'd do what needed to be done though. She would make sure he had everything he wanted and needed. Even without relying on their cold father. "Do you need help with anything else?" Alexia asked as she gave the iPad back to Leo. He shook his head no. "Can I stay in here for now though?" He asked sounding nervous. "Of course. You can be in here whenever you want." Alexia answered as she pulled out her own phone and started setting it up like she did Leo's. Where Leo was more interested in his phone at the moment, Alexia focused on the iPad so after setting her own up and loading it with the gift card she had gotten, she got on the app store and bought Procreate, and then she started drawing.