CHAPTERFIFTEEN
Stella
“Okay, your house is insane,” I announce, following Calli through the entrance hall after we made our pit stop at my house to pack a bag.
“It’s just a little over the top.”
“Who’s your father, Bill freaking Gates?” I joke.
The long driveway was beyond anything I ever thought I’d find in London. I thought it was meant to be cramped with people literally living on top of each other. But this place looks like it’s right in the middle of the country.
“It’s our family estate. We’ve had it for generations. It’s… a lot.”
“You don’t say. I thought I’d lived in some big houses, but this,” I say looking around the state-of-the-art kitchen, “is something else.”
“You get used to it eventually.”
She pulls open the huge refrigerator and grabs a couple of sodas.
“I thought we could order pizza before everyone arrives.”
“Sounds good to me. Where’s your brother?”
“Out causing trouble, probably.”
I look around, searching for clues. “Are you going to tell me who he is yet?”
“Come on,” she says with a laugh.
With my bags thrown over my shoulder, I follow her up the stairs but come to an abrupt halt when my eyes land on their first family photo.
“Your brother is Nico?”
“Unfortunately.”
I nod as I stare at the family of four smiling for the camera. It’s an old photo. Calli is probably eight, if that. She looks like such a sweet little girl with her golden hair hanging around her shoulders in ringlets.
Nico looks… less sweet. Even back then there seems to be a glint in his eye. Something that screams trouble. Their mom looks lovely, kind, like a mom from the TV, and their dad looks powerful, really powerful in his sharp suit and with a determined look on his face even while he’s managing to smile. He reminds me of my dad, in a way. No matter what we’re doing, there’s always something so serious about him.
“Wait… is this Theo?” I ask, my eyes jumping to another image and finding a set of green eyes I recognize staring back at me.
“Yeah, we’re all cousins. They’re his little brothers and sister,” she says, pointing to kids who are just babies and toddlers.
I continue working my way around the collage of family photos that line the huge wall.
“Shit,” I breathe, locking eyes on an image with six boys all dressed head to toe in black.
They look… wow.
Theo’s in the middle, standing slightly in front of the others, but it’s not him who holds my attention. It’s the boy with the dark, stormy eyes who stares at me like he hates me even in a photograph.
“They’re really something, huh?” Calli mutters, coming to stand beside me. “That was the day they all—” She cuts herself off.
“The day they all what?”
Calli hesitates for a few seconds. “Come on, let’s go to my room. We can talk there.”
She glances around as if she’s concerned someone might be listening.