His statement, as it turns out, was false.

We were not, in fact, going home. We were going to his home. After he spent an hour talking to Officer Johnson.

"Aurora, will you go wait in the hall for a minute? I have some legal things to sort out," he had said.

And sixty-three minutes and fourteen seconds later he emerged from the office again and held his hand out.

I hesitantly take it.

I know better than to disobey.

He leads me to his car and opens the door for me. He gets into the driver's seat and starts the car.

"I'm sorry about your mom, Rora."

"Was she your mom too?" I ask, my voice small. I silently curse myself for how weak I sound. But mainly I'm scared of how he will react. I just broke rule three. Never ask questions.

Alex sighs. "Legally, yes. Biologically, yes. But we stopped considering her family a long time ago, Rora."

I pick at my pajama pants, the fraying fabric coming apart between my fingers.

He looks over at me. "Do you want to go first or should I?"

I blink, confused. "First for what?" I pinch my arm. "Sorry."

He gives me a puzzled look. "Why are you sorry, Ror?"

I shrug.

"Well, introductions. I can tell you about me and the guys, or you can tell me about you."

I frown. He's letting me decide? This is a trap. It has to be.

He seems to see my reluctance to answer, because he keeps talking. "How about I start? I'm the oldest in the family, I'm twenty-eight. I own a hotel chain. I'm the boss of the house-"

Fuck. I know what that means.



"I'm the fucking boss of this goddamn house, you little bitch," Nathan snarls, yanking my hair.

I whimper and nod. "'m sorry, daddy..."

"You should be. What I say goes. Don't you fucking disobey me again, Aurora Raine."

My mom just sits there, her cigarette between her lips as she clicks her tongue in disapproval. Whether because of me or Nathan, I'll never know.



"-so if anything happens, you tell me, okay? I'll make sure you're safe and comfortable," Alex finishes.

That... is not what he was supposed to say.

"Antonio is twenty-six. He's a lawyer, and a damn good one at that. He's an analytical thinker. If you have a problem, I'd recommend going to him."

I nod, trying to commit this to my memory.

"Nico is twenty-three, he's a bartender. A heads up, his people skills vary from amazing to God awful."

I actually smile at that. A fact I can relate to.

He seems happy to see me smile.

"Michael is mathematical, he's an accountant. He plans everything out and wants things to be meticulous. He's twenty-two." He pauses. "Then there are the twins. Emilio and Elias. They're seventeen. Milio is... He's slow to trust, very protective, and kind of a dick." He smiles apologetically. "Sorry about the language."

I give him a small smile to let him know it's okay.

Nathan was kind of a dick. Hopefully my brother is nothing like him...

"Lias is really sweet, he's much faster to trust. I have to stop and pick them up from school before we go home, but if Emilio does anything rude, you have my permission to break his nose."

I smile again, mentally weighing the pros and cons.

He doesn't speak again, apparently waiting for me to start talking.

I stay silent.

"Rora, are you doing okay?"

I look up in surprise at the sudden question an hour after silence.

"I'm fine," I answer automatically.

"Ror..." He sighs sadly. "Okay. But if you want to talk, I'm here. I'm your brother after all."

"Why didn't my mom tell me about you?" I whisper.

He glances over at me. "She's never been... maternal. She tended to leave us in the care of our father rather than watch us herself. Then she had you, and you were her only daughter. She had high expectations. Expectations no one could reach, let alone a toddler. We all loved you. Our very own sister, the only girl. The baby of the family. For a while, even she seemed to love you, and she seemed to love us too. Then my dad found out she cheated. With someone he hated. And he got her pregnant with a girl. My dad was furious, and he was going to kill Mom. She took her and fled in the middle of the night. We've been looking for you since, but she was always a master at hiding. She never loved us, Rora, she wouldn't want you to know about her sons."

I don't respond, my brain processing his words far too slow.

He gave a lot of information, and forming something I can understand just doesn't seem to be easy right now.

"Oh." I reach up and play with my hair. "Was my dad a man named Nathan?"

Alex shakes his head. "His name is Romeo. Why?"

"My stepdad is named Nathan. But my mom always said he was my dad."

"Can I ask you something, Aurora?"

I nod.

"The officer said you weren't answering any questions. You kept repeating a rule, something about never asking questions. Why are you asking now?"

I give him a panicked look. "I'm sorry."

"Wait, hey, no-" he quickly backtracks. "No, I'm not upset at all. I'm just curious."

I look down. "You called me Rora. I vaguely remember being called that when I was really little. It's just... I liked it. It was comforting."

He nods, looking thoughtful.

His phone ringing prevents any response from either of us.

"Will you answer that, Ror?" he asks, not looking away from the road.

I hesitantly grab his phone and answer the phone. "Hello?"

"Who is this? Where is Alex?"

I flinch back. "Uh..."

"Put it on speaker, Ror," Alex gently orders.

I nod and do as he says.

"Hello?" he asks.

"Alex, thank God. Where the fuck are you? You fucking got up and walked the fuck out, no one has heard from you in several hours!"

He winces. "Sorry, Ant." He looks at me. "This is Antonio. Ant, I found Aurora."

There's a long silence on Antonio's end of the phone. "Aurora? Our Aurora?"

"Our Aurora," he confirms. "I got a call, I went to pick her up and get legal custody of her. We're on our way home now."

"Rora...?" He sounds almost reverent. No one ever sounds like that talking to me. "Oh, my precious girl... What happened?"

"I'll fill you in when I get home. It's best if everyone is there."

"Okay. Michael is off on a... He's at work. He'll be home in the evening. No phones."

"Got it. And Nico?"

"With him."

He curses under his breath. "And no one thought to text me the details?"

"Sorry, Alex. Next time you fucking vanish, I'll be sure to text you about Michael's whereabouts." He pauses. "Your girlfriend came by."

"Quinn isn't my girlfriend, she's just a friend. I have plenty of female friends."

"Yet you immediately knew I meant Quinn."

Alex opens his mouth and closes it again.

I bite back a laugh, not wanting to get in trouble.

Alex hangs up and puts some music on.

All I can think is soon I'll be at my new home.