chapter 10

Elizabeth POV:

It's been two weeks now, and I was enjoying school. Anna and I have gotten close together, and we finished our book. As for the boys, I and Teo also got close; I saw him as an older brother. For Mikey and James, we did talk once in a while. James did try to flirt with me, which got Zack angry, but I laughed so hard I almost fainted.

My therapy session was going well too; Mrs. Brown was surprised when I finally spoke to her. Then there's Austin, who was confusing, to be honest. Sometimes he could look at me and just walk away. We haven't had a conversation before, though, but I was hoping one day we could.

Today was a sports tryout in school, and I was applying for basketball. My brothers have been teaching me a lot of basketball moves, and I suddenly fell in love with it.

"What's your name?" a black lady with funny hair asked me.

"Elizabeth, Elizabeth King's," I said to her quietly. She made a "hmm" sound before giving me a paper.

With that, I walked away, still looking at the paper. I was busy reading, not looking where I was going before bumping into someone's body.

"Ouch," I whispered while holding my nose. I looked up to see Austin glaring at me; he looked really angry, though.

"Watch it, Elizabeth," he mumbled at me.

"Sorry, Austin, didn't see you there," I said to him while my face turned red from embarrassment.

He just nods his head before looking at me and then at my paper.

"You trying out for basketball too?" He questioned, and I gave him a quick nod. I looked back at him before noticing he also had a basketball uniform.

"You play basketball!" I said excitedly, making him chuckle.

"Yes, Mama, I do," he said with a smile.

"Mama," I echoed in my head but realized I said it out loud.

He smiled softly at me, but just as he was about to say something, a fat man called out to him.

"Yo, Austin, we need you," the fat man said, not waiting for Austin's reply; he just walked away.

I looked back at Austin, only to find his eyes on me, making me blush deeply.

"Catch you later, Mama," he said quietly with a wink as he jogged away from me.

"Well, that's a first," my mind said while I gave myself a confusing nod.

With that, I walked toward the girl's basketball team.

When I finally got home from tryouts, I rushed into my bedroom, eager to have my bath because I smelled so bad right now.

Stepping into the house, I noticed how quiet it was, making me frown. It's normally noisy and crazy here.

"I wonder where everyone is," I mumbled to myself before walking around the house but saw no one.

When I finally got to the last staircase, I looked at each room before walking to the other but saw no one.

Then I finally saw a door that was a little bit open. I walked closer to it before hearing small voices.

"When are we going to tell Eli about the Mafia, Dad?" I heard Levi say.

"I don't think we should because she has been through a lot. How do you think she will feel when she finds out we kill people, huh?" Dad said to him.

My eyes widened with fear before slapping my hand over my mouth.

"We should leave it this way. We finally have her back, and she finally trusts us, so we shouldn't talk about it next to her, got it?" Dad said again, but he sounded angry.

I looked at the door before backing away from it slowly. With that, I turned back and walked to my room, before shutting the door softly.

"Mafia," I echoed around the quiet room.

I thought those things were not real. I mean, from the little books I read online, I figured it was just made up. One thing I learned from my stories is that Mafia people are pure evil; they don't think of others, only themselves.

But this is my family. If they wanted to hurt me, they would have by now.

Shaking my head, I let out a tired breath before taking off my clothes and heading to the bathroom.

When I was done bathing, I walked towards my bed, before thinking.

"What if other mafia people take me away from them?" I mumbled.

I don't want to go back to my old life. I like it here.

Shaking my head, I let out a breath before standing up and heading toward my door.

I walked quietly to the living room, only to see my Dad with two men. They didn't notice me, which was a good thing because I didn't want attention.

I walked towards the kitchen fastly so I won't get caught. But just as I was about to go in, I heard my name being called, making me curse under my breath.

"Yes, Dad," I mumbled before looking at him.

He gave me a little smile before telling me to come over.

"Sweetie, meet the Knight Family," my dad said, pointing at the two men. Then my eyes finally landed on Austin, who just smiled softly at me.

I blushed deeply before mumbling a "hello" to them.

Turns out Austin's Dad has been friends with Dad since they were kids.

Austin's Dad was nice; he hugged me and commented on how beautiful I looked.

While his son stared at me, not saying anything.

I looked at him confused, wondering why he wasn't talking to me anymore, but he just raised his eyebrows at me.

Rolling my eyes, I turned around and walked to the kitchen to get myself a snack.

"We are still going to ask them later about the mafia stuff, right?" my mind said while I nodded my head softly.