We Were Villains

13

I bought a black dress with white flowers to wear at the funeral. I'd never been to a funeral before, I didn't know what to expect.

"Mattia?" I stepped out of the bathroom and peered around the bathroom door to find my brother. He glanced up from the bed, phone in hand. "Can you zip my dress, please?"

He smiled. "Of course," he came over to stand beside me, zipping the back of my dress. I should have thought about my dress a bit more, should have wore something other than a zip up dress. My anxiety buzzed as I fixed my sleeves. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you."

"Are you ready to go? Angelo and Julian are downstairs waiting." I raised an eyebrow. They said they'd wait for us to go down, not twenty minutes ago when finished breakfast. Mattia sighed, grabbing his wallet and the room key from the dresser. "They're impatient idiots. Don't mind them."

I chuckled a little and nodded, slipping on my black flats. "I'm ready," I announced quietly and Mattia opened the door for me. I ducked under his arm, heading out into the hallway. We met Julian at the front desk, where Angelo was no where to be found. Mattia grumbled something under his breath and Julian smirked, leaning on the counter. He wore a leather jacket with dark jeans and boots, his low v-neck shirt showing tattoos climbing up his neck, something I never noticed before.

"He's on a phone call with Abel," he said and Mattia clicked his tongue. "Something about Luca getting into a fight with - "

He trailed off and I noticed Mattia giving him a cold glare. "I mean Luca ruffled some feathers with a fellow student."

"Luca got into a fight?" I asked, widening my eyes. "With who?"

"No one. He likes to challenge his professors and likely insulted someone," Mattia spoke before our oldest brother could answer. "Luca may be the evil genius in the family but he's got one hell of a temper too."

I raised an eyebrow, looking up at Mattia. "You're a doctor," I said, "aren't you the evil genius?"

"Nah," Julian said, smirking. Mattia gave him a playful jab on the shoulder. "I mean, Matti may be a genius, but Luca is the devil in disguise."

I scoffed. "You must be kidding. Have you met him?"
Luca had a chipper, playfulness about him, I couldn't believe my ears that he was the devil in disguise.

"You wait and see," Julian said, chuckling. "Your brothers are a force to be reckoned with, bambina."

I didn't know what to say, really. The fact was there, I didn't know my brothers. Not yet, anyway. I would someday know them like I should have always. Angelo finally came out from under the window, tucking his phone into the back pocket of his jeans.

"Ready to go? We'll grab lunch on the way."

"We just had breakfast, Angelo," Mattia muttered, shaking his head.

Angelo shrugged and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, glancing down at me. "What about you, Alessia? Are you still hungry? We could stop and get doughnuts on the way. Oh. And Starbucks."

I smiled. "Sounds good with me."

+++

We entered the funeral parlour, my eyes scanning for Charlotte, my moms best friend. I noticed there was no casket, and it settled into my thoughts that this was actually happening. My mother was dead and there wasn't even a body to see.

I covered my mouth with the back of my hand to keep the sobs in, not wanting to draw attention to myself - but as Angelo entered the parlour and the door swung shut behind him - everyone inside turned towards us.