Hidden Away [Mafioso Book#2]

Chapter VIII: 3 A.M.

"Reena," A voice hissed over her followed by the shaking of her shoulders.

Startled, Serafina sat up in bed, blearily looking around her room as her vision adjusted to the darkness of the interior. Salvatore stood beside his twin's bed in a pair of sweatpants and hoodie, bracing his knees and looking at her expectantly.

"What?" She pouted and rubbed her eyes, looking like a petulant child with her disheveled hair and half-open eyes.

"No, please be a bit louder, I don't think China heard you," He snared as she glared at him.

"What?"

"It's 3 a.m."

"Okay? So?"

"And we're not grounded anymore, and to be honest, I could use with something to eat about now," He resumed suggestively, her face lighting up with realization. "So...what do you say?"

"Yes," Serafina grinned and got out of bed, pulling on a cardigan and her shoes before following her twin brother out the room, ensuring to have their phones on them before bounding down the stairs with her hand in his. The moment the guard's backs were towards them, they slid out the door and into the dark, getting into the BMW, Salvatore starting the car and driving off, a Range Rover close behind.

The drive was a quick one and they were soon at their destination. Getting out of the car, Salvatore locked the car with a beep and took hold of her hand as they walked across the street and into the apartment complex. They rode the elevator to the 8th floor before stepping out on the landing.

The hallway was desolate and quiet while they made their way to the apartment door, unlocking it, they maneuvered their way into the dark and stood before the bedroom. Slipping out of their hoes, the door opened noiselessly as they grinned at the sleeping figure on the bed. Counting to 3, they both jumped on the bed with a scream.

Soon 2 more voices joined into their screaming as their shrieks morphed into frightened ones rather than the deliberate ones they had begun with.

The lamp suddenly turned on as the twins jolted back at the sight of 2 faces. A girl with beautiful blonde waves sat before them, her hair tousled with a long face and fair complexion, her grey eyes looking at them with panic and fear as she clutched the sheets to her chest, her breathing erratic and uneven. The second face was that of their elder brother, his black hair standing up in odd angles with his blue eyes wide, staring at the twins in disbelief as his face was red with either anger or something close to it.

"You two!" He sighed, covering his face with his hands and shook his head at their antics.

"Bro, you didn't tell us you had a girl over," Salvatore stated. "Hi, Angelica," They grinned in sync, waving at her as if though they hadn't just given her a heart attack.

"She lives here now,"

"Oh! The next milestone," The twins spoke n sync once more. "Mom would be so happy,"

Arsenio only rolled his eyes at them before kicking them off the bed, both of them whining in indignation.

"Let me guess, you two suckers are hungry." He sighed, knowing his siblings too well as they grinned and nodded in confirmation. "Alright, give me a minute and I'll join you two in the kitchen,"

The two left the bedroom and settled onto the barstools of the counter, swiveling in their seats and waiting for Arsenio to join them and make breakfast for them.

Since their eldest brother bought his own apartment 3 years ago, Salvatore and Serafina mad frequent visits – but not necessarily at socially appropriate timings that is. Being an airline pilot, he was traveling a lot, but on the days he would get back early or didn't have to fly out, the twins were bound to be in his hair. Sometimes even dropping by when he had just woken for work just so that he would make food for them, and then on some occasions, they'd be at his home 3 times in a day.

None of them realized when but at 3 a.m. Salvatore and Serafina would show up at Arsenio's apartment and make their way into his apartment by using his spare key – if he hadn't changed the hiding place, or used their own copy – whose existence Arsenio was unaware of, or they'd simply break in by disarming his lock – having mastered the art of break-ins at the tender age of 10.

Once inside, they would always enter his room and wake him up by screaming and pouncing on his sleeping figure. The first time they did that, Arsenio had gotten so terrified that they gave him palpitations for the next 2 hours.

On more than one occasion the police were called because the neighbors thought they were getting murdered. The police coming over was so frequent that Arsenio often turned on the coffee machine for them and took out scones to feed them so that their time wouldn't have gone to a complete waste.

Either way, the twins had developed the tradition of showing up at Arsenio's place at 3 a.m. and have him cook for them as they talked about mundane matters until they left.

"So what do you two want?" Arsenio's voice brought them out of their thoughts as they turned to be facing him, watching him step out of the room in a t-shirt and pajama bottoms.

"Your special," The two grinned as he rolled his eyes in half-hearted exasperation, a smile evident on his face.

"Two Arsenio specials coming up," He chuckled and made his way across the counter, setting out the ingredients. "So, how come you guys are here today? Weren't you guys grounded for shooting at each other?"

"Our grounding is over," They grinned.

"I see," He nodded, cracking eggs into a bowl and whisking away. "So the moment your grounding is over you decide to pay your brother a visit by giving his girlfriend a heart attack?"

"You bet,"

"Man, you two really are something," He chuckled and worked around the kitchen. "Angelica would have to get used to you 2 making surprise appearances if she wants to live,"

The three laughed at his words as they knew he was saying the truth given that they didn't plan on stopping this anytime soon. With the twins being 17 and Arsenio 27, people had always thought the age difference would cause a rift between them, but that wasn't the case. They were just as tight with Arsenio and Marco as the twins were with each other.

"Say, Arsenio," Salvatore called out to their elder brother who hummed in question. "What's the worst thing you've been grounded for?"

"Huh..." He chuckled under his breath, pouring the egg into a pan. "I was probably 12 and for some odd reason I was giving our dad's suits for rent,"

"What?" They both exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah," Arsenio laughed at the memory. "Dad only found out about it when he realized his tuxes smelt weird and found a folded note and condom in one of their pockets. The note stating the total amount the guy wed me with his number. So dad called the guy and asked him why he had his number in his tux's pocket, and the guy told him the entire story,"

The twins laughed and winced at imagining their father's reaction.

"2 days later when I went to get another suit out of dad's closet, it had all been emptied out. For a moment I freaked out and thought dad was leaving – it was that empty. So being 12, I got scared and thought my parents are getting a divorce and when I entered his office, mom was standing with crossed arms and looked really mad and I thought 's**t, they're getting a divorce',"

Arsenio continued to tell the story as he placed two cheese stuffed omelets before them with sausages, toasted buns and their coffee.

"I had asked them what's going on and dad said that he found out what I'd been up to renting his suits and tuxes for a 2000 euros per hour."

"2000 euros!" The twins exclaimed in shock.

"Have you seen dad's clothes?" Arsenio rebuffed. "Gucci, Armani, Versace, Louis Vuitton, whatever brand, you name it and dad has it. Dad's clothes are all designer and hell expensive, tailored specifically for him. And I go renting off Armani suits and don't get to reap the benefits? I think not," "

Anyways, dad told me he found out and when I asked what happened to all his clothes, I was half convinced he burned them, instead, they were all gone for dry cleaning. Every. Single. Thing. From coats and jackets down to socks," He resumed. "Anyways, Dad took the money I had gotten from this and grounded me for 2 months."

"What'd he do to the money?" Salvatore asked in curiosity, sipping his coffee.

"Put into my college bank account."

"Wow. We would have never thought of renting out dad's clothes."

"Hey, renting designer clothes is a good business." Their brother defended with a shrug, sipping his coffee. "The guards thought I was taking them for dry cleaning because that was the meeting point for me and the client. I would go into the shop with the tux, hand it over and get his number and leave without the tux, getting it back a day or two later "dry-cleaned" with the money and the suit."

"Smart."

"I learned from the best."

With that the three ate in relative silence, Arsenio looking over their heads and out the window to the slowly approaching dawn breaking and painting the sky in hues of pink, purple and blue.

"Say, Arsenio..." Serafina spoke up uncertainly wanting to tell him what has been going on.

"Yeah,"

"Have you ever heard something which you weren't supposed to?"

"Deliberately eavesdropping?" He questioned as she nodded. "No. Never. It's dangerous to eavesdrop in our household, one can never know what information can be life-threatening. You guys know that,"

"Yeah, but..."

"Say, you heard it by accident," Salvatore caught on. "Say you were hiding in the closet and heard something that wasn't meant for you."

"What did you guys hear?" Arsenio asked, his entire mood changing as he put away his coffee mug, standing straight as the smile left his face, his blue eye hardening in a stern expression. "Who did you guys hear?"

"Well..." The twins trailed uncomfortably, squirming in their seats. "Mom and dad?"

"Mom and dad?" He sputtered incoherently. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah..."

"And you guys were in the closet? Let me guess, munching away on dad's Belgium chocolates, huh gluttons?"

"Well...yeah..."

"Great going," He spoke sarcastically, shaking his head. "So you two-"

"-And Paolo," Serafina added, watching her brother tense up as he curled his fingers into fists as she instantly regretted revealing that.

"Paolo?" He spoke slowly. "Paolo Valente Costa? Ricardo's son? Heir to the Costa Mafia? That Paolo?"

"Yes...?" Salvatore trailed slowly, gauging his brother's reaction.

"You guys let a f*****g Costa hear a conversation between our own parents?" He demanded with wide eyes, staring at them in disbelief as they winced at his tone, knowing they were in trouble if Arsenio was reacting like this. "Don't you guys know anything?" He laughed humourlessly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I mean...I've left the Mafia life behind me and even I know," He shook his head in disbelief. "How do you two not know? Okay, Serafina is daddy's little princess so I don't expect her to know, but f**k, Salvatore you're the godforsaken heir! How could you let this happen!?"

"What did you expect me to do?" Salvatore rebuffed in agitation. "I couldn't do anything. I couldn't just slam his ears shut or knock him out!"

"The moment you guys realized you were going to eavesdrop on a conversation between mom and dad and figured out it wasn't for you, you should have slid open the closet door and yelled 'surprise' or something! Some form of indicator that you guys are there! Some sign to let them know that they are not alone, but you guys didn't do that did you? You let a Costa of all people listen in on the conversation, for all you know, he's recorded it."

"Hey! He wouldn't do that!" Serafina snapped in defense, knowing what her brothers thought. "He isn't like that!"

"Oh, you're acting like he's your boyfriend." Arsenio laughed humourlessly, shaking his head before his gaze suddenly snapped up at her silence, his eyes widening as she glared at him. "No. Serafina, no, please don't say it..."

"He's not Ricardo, okay?"

"Fuck." Arsenio hissed gripping at his hair. "Does dad know?"

"No."

"Salvatore." Arsenio beckoned him as the two went out to the balcony closing the door behind them and leaving Serafina to sit on the barstool and watch them from the window.

What looked like a heated argument breaking out between the two, both of them getting more and more agitated by the second until Arsenio let out a sigh of defeat, standing with his hands on his hips and looking up at the sky.

Seeing the two like this made Serafina's blood boil. This is Paolo they're talking about. He's not like Ricardo.

He's not Ricardo, he's Paolo.

He's not like his father.