I Am My Father’s Daughter

JOYS POV

I entered the living room to find all three of my brothers, conversing with a man. Yes, the very same man I had just seen holding a gun. I could now get a better look at this threat of a stranger. He had dark hair, piercing blue eyes with a cold expression plastered on his face. He had a nose ring and quite a few piercings on his ears, I also didn fail to notice the tattoos all over his neck, I could see some more on his hands. This dude looks scary. One thing was for sure though, he was young. Around his mid twenties, I think.

He was obviously ripped, I could see it through his suit.

”So whens dad gonna get here? ” Liam was the one who had asked the man. ”Him and Delores should be here soon. ” The man answered quietly and Liam nodded in response.

I couldn help but wonder who Delores was. Oh well! Ill just meet him- or her, when he or she gets here.

The closer I got to them, the faster my heart started beating. What was this man planning on doing with that gun? Was he going to harm them? They seemed to be close, was he a relative?

”Oh! There she is! ” Liam grinned upon seeing me.

So far, since Ive been here, Liam was the only one who seemed to be interested in getting to know me. Sure, Walter also talked to me but it was more forced than genuine. Like, the- my situation was forcing him to talk to me. I could tell that me being here was an inconvenience for all of them, though they would never say it out loud… I think.

The man turned to look at me and in panic, I shouted. ”THIS MAN HAS A GUN! ” I covered my mouth immediately after realizing my mistake. The man raised an eyebrow, his cold eyes glaring at me. Upon hearing my outburst, Walter started from the man to me and Harry looked up from his phone, a slightly amused look on his face, though I didn get why. This was a serious matter.

Liam cleared his throat and stood up, coming over to grab me. ”Joy, this is our other brother, Lorenzo. He is a police officer, thats why he has a gun. ” Liam explained, trying to reassure me when he saw the worried and frightened look on my face.

Oh, that makes a lot of sense!

”Phew! For a second there, I thought he was some criminal. ” I chuckled awkwardly. Liam, Walter and Harry let out light chuckles as well, but the man just glared at me. Something about the way all four of them looked at each other, told me they were hiding something. It was as if they were communicating with their eyes. Hmm, weird.

There was tension in the room, so I decided to break it. ”Well, its uh- its nice to meet you, Lorenzo. Im truly sorry about my outburst. ” I forced a smile, trying to be polite, like my mom had taught me.

Gosh, I miss her so much.

I think Im gonna cry.

No Joy, pull yourself together!

The man glared at me. ”That mouth of yours will get you killed. ” He said coldly before turning back around.

__________

I couldn stop the tears from falling down my cheeks. I was in my bedroom, sobbing as I thought about everything. I didn feel welcomed here. I truly felt the sense of not belonging, I felt so unwanted. But what made me cry even more was that even if I wanted to leave, I couldn . Where would I go? Mom was gone. Jamie was gone. Moms sister, Alicia, didn want me. Moms older brother was in prison. I had no one.

A knock sounded from my door and I quickly wiped my tears.

”Juliet, sweetheart. Your dad is here, come meet him. ” Irma spoke cheerfully from the other side of the door. ”Uh- Ill be right there! ” I shouted then I heard her footsteps moving away from the door. I went to the mirror to try and collect myself.

Its okay Joy, you
e going to meet your father now. Hes a good man, don worry! I tried to reassure myself.

I entered the living room to find all four of my half brothers still there, except now, there were two other men. The first one, who was obviously younger than the second one. He looked to be around his late twenties or early thirties, he had blue eyes, just like Harry and Leronzo. Hmm, the twins seem to be the only ones with brown eyes.

The man had dark hair and was wearing a suit, he had a masculine body, just like every male in this house. The second man, the older one, was sitting next to him. He didn look that old. He had dark but gentle, brown eyes and dark hair that was slightly graying, he had on a suit as well.

All six of them were conversing with each other, even Harry was laughing and chatting. They must be really close. Harry never smiled or laughed, let alone talk when I was around and although I hated admitting it, it bothered me. It bothered me so much. Because having my new family like me was something I wanted more than anything right now.

”My, my! ” The older mans neutral expression broke into a happy one with a huge grin, as soon as he saw me. ”Would you look at that? ”

”Good afternoon. ” I greeted them all. Without any doubt, the older man was my father.

”Come here, kid. ” The man requested, the grin remaining on his face. He had quite a deep voice and an accent, he kind of sounded like sunny from that movie called A Bronx tale. Gosh I loved that movie. Jamie and I used to watch it together all the time, we knew it from A-Z, it even came to the point where we knew all the lines and phrases.

I looked at my brothers. Realizing that there was no way, my relationship with them would get to that point. I mean look at them! Them and I belonged to two different worlds. They were these rich kids from New York and I was just this low life from a poor neighborhood in Portland. I would never fit in here.

I stood in front of the man like he had asked. ”Thats your oldest brother, Delores. ” He said oddly, pointing at the man he came with.

Jesus, how many brothers do I have?!

”Do you have any idea of who I am? ” He asked with a genuine smile.

”Let me guess, another one of my brothers? ” I accidentally blurted out sarcastically. My hands instantly flew to cover my mouth. Tell me, I didn just say that out loud!

I thought for sure I would be scolded for being disrespectful, but to my surprise, all of them laughed, genuinely! That brought a smile to my face.

The man chuckled. ”Quite a sense of humor youve got. Just like your mother. ” He said the last part in a low voice, probably thinking I didn hear. But I did, and I also noticed the frown on his face when he said that. But it disappeared so fast that youd swear it wasn there.

He smiled and held my hands in his. ”Such tiny hands. ” He muttered, chuckling slightly.

”Im Giovanni Morelli, your father. ”