Athaliah Kensington’s Pov. 

This room. They have changed my old room a lot. It is like I have actually been living here. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought that they designed it personally to make me feel at home. 

The room has a neutral colour palette; highlighting brown, beige and white tones. A neutral-colored bed frame and a soft, inviting comforter with muted tones that match the rest of the room's color scheme, are positioned centrally in the space.  

A comfortable couch is placed to the right side of the room. Behind the couch, natural light pours through large windows, brightening the room. Stairs were also placed beside the bed which I guess leads to the closet. 

It does not matter how alluring the interior is, I am not living here for any longer than I intend to. I will make them pay for what they did to me. I will let them know what they have missed for all these years. Might I add, painfully.  

—————🌸————— 

After taking a long shower that helped me relax my mind, I am heading towards the dining room to fill my stomach.  

And for some chaos. 

When I used to live here, there were certain dining rules like no phone allowed on the dining table. Punctuality is most important when it comes to meals.  You should be on time, especially for dinner. 

However, I want them to know that I am not obliged to follow such rules. That is why, here I am, twenty minutes late for dinner. I know my blood relatives will be pissed because among those rules, there is one more that is dinner will not start until everyone is present at the dining table. 

Opening the door of the dining room, I walked towards the dining table. The moment I enter, I’m confronted with angry stares directed right at my soul. There was only one seat left that was located to the right of the head chair at the dining table. So, ignoring the angry looks of my brothers, I took that seat.  

The seating arrangement was from oldest to youngest which technically meant that I should be sitting beside Kaelen at the end of the table. It was always like this when I was younger. I guess things have changed a lot.  

Or they do not trust me at all. 

Aldric was occupying the head chair at the dining table. Beside him, on the left side of the table seated my second eldest brother, Ezekiel. On my right side, Zephyrus and Royce were seated respectively. Besides Ezekiel was the seat of Reuben and Kaelen, with Kaelen sitting at the end.  

As soon as I sat, Aldric spoke, “I hope you are aware of the dining table rules. You are supposed to be at the dining table on time. Sharp at 8 pm.” 

“Oh! I am sorry, I did not know I was bound to be here on time. There were no such ridiculous rules back at my home. We used to communicate or call each other when the food was ready. That way, we could relish the hot meal in a more familial way.” I replied. 

“You were aware of the rules.” Zephyrus spoke with absolute certainty. 

“And you are not sorry.” Reuben said with a sense of knowing.  

“There’s no escaping it; you are right! I am not sorry.” I replied with a smug grin.  

“This is your home sweetheart. It was, still is and will always be. You can travel the whole world, but nowhere will you find the embrace of a family. This is where you truly belong.” Ezekiel intervened. 

“I am sure I have not earned enough bad karma to find the embrace of your family. My good deeds are enough that I was surrounded by the care and warmth of the best family from where your eldest brother dragged me out.” I snapped back with malice.  

“What a shame! Your loving family could not even reach the police station to get you out of here,” Reuben retorted with fierce anger.   

I was about to retort his reply when Aldric cut in-between, “The main thing is that you are expected to be here on time.” 

I replied while attending to a notification on my phone, “Fine.” 

“And no phones allowed at the dining table.” 

I sighed and was about to put my phone down when it rang. It’s dad. Oh my god. Among all the chaos that happened today, I forgot to notify him about my whereabouts. He still thinks that I am at the police station and when I am shifted to an orphanage, he will adopt me again.  

We have done this many times. It is to keep our profile low. He cannot come in the radar of the cops. There is a high chance of his enemies finding him that way. Whenever I get arrested, I am put to the orphanage. But this time, those police officers had to get out of the way to make me have a happy reunion with my family.  

Dad must be pissed now.  

“You know there is a rule that if your phone rang at the dining table, you are to put it on speaker. That is one of the reasons why no one of us bring our cellphones here.” Said my dearest brother Reuben. 

I answered the call and put it on the speaker. It will be waste of time if I argue with him right now. My main priority is to calm the storm i.e. dad. There was a thundering voice from my dad when he spoke, 

“Zahra Valkryie, you are in a deep trouble young lady.” 

“Hi dad,” I replied chuckling nervously to lighten his mood. 

“Don’t hi dad me. You disappeared for a whole day without informing anyone and you didn’t even answer my call until now. I was about to send an army to find you.” 

I need to alarm dad that he is on speaker or else he would say something that I don’t want my blood relatives to know. 

“I was eating fish before I was dragged to the police station. They called my blood relatives and here I am, in their house.” 

Eating fish was our codeword if I ever needed to tell him that someone was listening to our conversation or if he was put on the speaker. It was kept so because I am severely allergic to fish. So, it was easy and secretive for both of us. 

“I hope you are safe and for god’s sake call me regularly from now onwards. I need to know you are safe.” He paused before continuing, “Your mom misses you.” 

“I will call her later.” 

“Take care junior. Love you.” 

“Love you too dad and tell mom that I am okay.”  

“Will do.” 

After hanging up the call I looked up to see some hostile and some envious gazes.  

“Who was on the call?” Royce asked the question his twin brother was dying the answer for. 

“I am 103% sure you all heard me. It was my dad.” 

“He didn’t sound like dad,” Kaelen joined the conversation. 

“Not your dad. My dad. My real family.” I spoke. 

“Your family—  

“Okay, let’s just have our dinner now in peace.” Reuben was cut short by his eldest brother. 

For the rest of the dinner, no one said anything. Zephyrus was strangely quiet this entire time. His eyes display no emotions. He was observing.  

I wonder how he kept his short temper in check when he is known to be the most lethal Sniper in the underworld. He is as lethal as a snake.  

Powerful, subtle, unpredictable.  

OfCourse, besides being a veterinary doctor. It served as the best camouflage.  

It didn’t come as a wonder that my blood relatives are Italian mafia.