38. Alexander

“Good evening. Do you have reservations?" the hostess asked as we entered the restaurant.

"It should be under De Luca," I replied. She looked down at her notes before smiling and grabbing six menus, leading us to the back of the restaurant where my parents were already seated. They looked up when they saw us enter, with my dad standing up to greet us with a smile.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting," Kat was the one to speak up, but they shook their heads with warm smiles.

"We haven't been waiting long," Mom replied as we sat down, her eyes not leaving Ella, Vanessa, or John, who looked at her with unsure expressions. Hayden was next to greet them, introducing himself as Kat's younger brother. “It's lovely to meet you, Hayden."

"Your waiter for the evening will be with you shortly," the hostess said. We nodded, thanking her before she walked away, leaving us alone.

The table was silent, minus the soft snores of Savannah in her car seat next to Kat as she slept away without a care in the world.

"Why didn't you ever come forward sooner? Why didn't you come back home?" Ella asked, breaking the silence. Mom gave her a small, sad smile that had me looking away.

"We were always home, Ella, even if you never knew we were there. Remember when you fell off the tree in the park when you were five?" she asked. Ella blinked before nodding her head. "Who stayed with you until they arrived?" They being Angelo and Margaret. I remembered that day as if it had happened yesterday. It was 15 years ago, yet it was still very present in my mind. I had been 12 at the time, playing catch with a couple of my friends in a field a few feet away. John and Vanessa, who were 15 and 14 at the time, had been at practice since John was on the soccer team and Vanessa was in cheerleading.

Margaret and Angelo had demanded I take Ella to the park because she wanted to go. Since I was going there to meet friends, I brought her with me, making her promise not to do anything stupid like climb a tree, which was her favorite thing to do.

So I went to meet my friends, leaving her in the playground to play with a couple of kids around her age. I couldn't even concentrate on the game my friends and I were playing because I kept looking over at the playground where Ella was. I felt my heart sink when I didn't find her anywhere, not until I heard a loud scream. I looked towards the trees and saw a familiar blonde head sticking out from the ground. I ran towards it to find Ella lying on the ground, crying.

That was when I saw two unfamiliar people run towards us. The woman—my mom, as I now realized—had her partner call an ambulance while I sat on the ground crying, knowing I would be in trouble with Angelo and Margaret for letting Ella climb the tree instead of watching her like I was supposed to. I was right. The moment they showed up at the hospital after the ambulance had taken us there, I felt a sting on my cheek as Margaret slapped me while Angelo yelled at me for being stupid and not watching Ella when I was supposed to.

That was the day I made a vow to myself that I would never let him or anyone else walk over me again and that I would never let them lay a hand on me unless they wanted the same punishment.

"You were the ones who called the ambulance," Ella whispered, bringing me back to reality. I watched my parents nod. "But why didn't you stay with us? Why did you leave?"

"Because we had no choice," Mom said, but before she could continue, the door to the private room opened. A young girl in a black and white waitress uniform walked in and stood at the end of the table with a small smile, her eyes lingering a little too long on John, who didn't even pay attention as he was focused on his older sister and brother-in-law.

"Hello, my name is Ariana, and I'll be your server for the evening. Have you decided on what you'll be getting?" she asked, holding a notepad in hand. We shook our heads. "Can I get you started on anything to drink while you still look for three menus?"

And so we each gave her our orders before she was gone again. Mom sighed. "You said you didn't have a choice, but you just didn't want to," Ella spoke up, making my mother shake her head with a soft sigh.

"You have no idea how hard it was for us to stay hidden in the shadows instead of coming home. But we had our own reasons. Reasons that kept you all safe from harm. We knew that if word got out that we were still alive, Margaret and Angelo would have done anything and everything in their power to keep their crimes hidden. That includes killing or getting rid of you," Mom said, making Ella shake her head.

"They'd never hurt us," she whispered.

"Yeah, they would," John said, clenching his jaw. "I've seen them hurt Alex for no other reason than him speaking up against them. Margaret slapped him when we arrived at the hospital after you were rushed there following your fall from the tree."

"And that's not even the first time he's gotten hurt by them either," Vanessa said, making me clench my jaw. My parents looked like they wanted to kill Margaret and Angelo for laying a hand on me. For the first time in my life, I felt as if I was loved by the people who gave me life. "He always took the blame for things he wasn't at fault for because that's the person he was and still is. And God, Alex, I shouldn't have allowed them to hit you. I should've stopped them, but I was terrified."

"Me too," John said. "God, Ella, you have no idea the type of people Mom and Dad were because you were only a child. They were always so gentle with you because you were the baby of the house. They always overlooked everything you did because, to them, you were an angel. They always protected you more than they protected Vanessa, Alex, or me."

"They're dangerous people, and I'm glad that they got what they deserved yesterday," Mom said before adding, "You're a child, Ella, so of course, you will continue to see them as nothing but caring and loving parents. But that's not who they are. They were never like that with me, nor with my son, as you heard."