After finding out her grandparents were visiting, she was nervous and then they finally got home and he asked if she was okay, she had nodded, not feeling comfortable talking. He had them asked if she wanted to be alone or have some company. She chose alone.

So that led her to panicking in her room. All the things that could go wrong probably will go wrong. Would they even like her? What were they like? Would they hurt her?

A knock at her door stopped her spiralling further.

She opened it and saw a concerned mason.

"Hi I just came to check on you, may I come in"

Emilia slowly nodded.

"Dad said you seemed a little nervous when you found out is that still the case" mason said.

Emilia nodded.

"Oh don't worry about it, want me to tell you about them"

Emilia nodded.

"They are both great people, they travel alot so we don't see much of them. Our grandmother is an amazing cook, she taught dad to cook so her food is even better than dad's, She's the sweetest woman ever. Our grandfather isn't as sweet though, he's great but he's very very strict" mason explained, he Sawa look of fear "he's strict but he's harmless,don't worry about it"

It didn't help

"I'm sorry Emilia, I really didn't mean to make you so sorry, it's just that's who he is but he wouldn't do anything. God I fucked up again" he muttered the last part to himself.

"Look I know we arent that close and that's my fault but maybe we could change that" mason said.

(

Emilia just nodded

"That's great, come on Lia, let's go downstairs, they will be here soon"

When they went downstairs, Damon was there talking to Alesandro.

Emilia had no idea what they were saying but they didn't look happy.

Noticing Emilia's fear, Mason who could just about hear decided to translate "they just talking about school and the boys"

Mason kept it vague because in reality, Damon was telling his father about Matteo's lack of eating. And Alesandro who had already noticed he was distant and barely ate was even more concerned.

Mason knew he hadn't been eating as much but didn't think it was serious. He would have to talk to Matteo later.

They didn't notice Emilia and Mason because they were on the stairs still however they quickly shut up when the door opened and in walked Lexi and Matteo home from school.

"Go get yourselves ready, your grandparents will be here soon" Alesandro said.

"Sure, Dante might be a while"

"Why" Damon asked.

"He took a longer route but unfortunately it also meant getting stuck in traffic"

"Ok just go get ready" Alesandro replied.

Mason took this as the moment to start heading down again, so Emilia followed.

Damon and Alesandros attention went straight to them both.

"Are we sure this is a good idea" Damon asked.

"She said she was okay with it, if it turns out you feel uncomfortable at any point Emilia, please let us know and we will sort it" Alesandro said.

"She speaks?" Mason asks.

Emilia shook her head. If she talked to mason, she would have to talk to Matteo and she wasn't ready.

"She nodded that she was okay with it" Alesandro corrected himself.

"Ok well I haven't seen Emilia all day, it's time to give her back to me" Damon said, looking at how Mason and Emilia were stood next to her.

"But I never get time with her" Mason said.

"Not my problem"

"You're all wrong, She's coming with me, come on bambina let's go away from these stupid boys" Alesandro spoke and held out his hand.

Emilia happily took his hand and both Damon and Mason were left to watch their father walk away with their sister.

"Wanna help me cook bambina" Alesandro asked as he began to get out the ingredients.

Emilia nodded, she loved when Alesandro cooked.

"Great. How about you start chopping the vegetables up, is that okay" he asked.

She nodded and he put a range of veg out and placed a chopping board with a knife in front.

"Are you sure" he asked again and she nodded.

He left her too it and began working on prepping and cooking the meat.

He smiled knowing she enjoyed helping. He taught his boys to cook when they were younger but they never really had an interest in it but he saw that Emilia quite enjoyed it. At least he had one child who enjoyed cooking. He knew he should teach Lexi, she wasn't a good cook but he saw she had no interest in it at all.

Time went on and just as they had put the food in the oven, the door bell rung.

"Ok Mia bambina, if you get nervous anytime, just squeeze my hand or even one of your brothers. My parents are nice and they are going to love you" Alesandro said.

They then went to the main hallway and everyone but Dante was gathered.

"There was a crash on the road so Dante might be a while" Damon quietly informed his father.

Damon saw the look of horror on Emilia's face "everyone is okay, a few minor injuries but they have to move the cars before the roads get reopened" he told Emilia.

Alesandro went and opened the front door knowing not to keep his parents waiting. They entered, Rose gave her son a big hook whilst Carlos looked around, silently scrutinising his sons home.

His eyes fell on the two girls, one was stood with Matteo and the other with Damon.

Damons demeanor changed as soon as they entered, his expression became cold and closed off, he approached his grandfather and they shook hands.

It's good to see you again

Damon was so formal that Emilia lost all confidence especially when she saw the man, he looked even more cold than Damon.

"anche tu. Loro chi sono" Carlos said looking at the girls

"Ah yes father, these are the twins, we finally have them back" Alesandro said, he had been talking to his mother but had stopped when he heard his father ask.

"bene ragazze venite qui e presentatevi"

"They don't speak Italian yet" Alesandro said.

"And why not" Carlos asked switching language so everyone would understand.

"They have only been here a month" Alesandro said.

"That may be so but didn't their mother ever teach them"

"No" Alesandro replied bluntly.

"Ho sempre odiato quella donna" Carlos muttered

I always hated that woman

"Very well, girls come here, introduce yourselves"

Lexi was quick to go to him, she found him intimidating but she also saw everyone else did, she needed them on her side.

"Hi I'm Lexi, it's good to meet you" Lexi said batting her fake lashes.

"It's a pleasure to meet you but I distinctly remember your name being Alexia not Lexi" Carlos wasn't one for nicknames. He always used the child's full given name.

"It's good to see you again" Rose said and pulled Lexi into a hug. She had missed the twins and unlike her husband, she wasn't as formal.

It was Emilia's turn and she was almost shaking. Mason who was now the closest quickly grabbed her hand "I'll come with you, I promise he's harmless" he whispered.

"Dad this is Emilia" Alesandro said once his children came forward.

"Can she not introduce herself now" he asked.

"Actually she can't, she's mute" Alesandro said.

Carlos wasn't impressed by this. "Is there a physical reason because if not I expect her to speak"

"No there is isn't but..." Alesandro started.

"Then I won't have any of this nonsense about her being mute" he interrupted.

"No. If she doesn't want to speak she will not be speaking. In fact if you can't accept she doesn't talk then I think you should leave my house, if I find out you have forced her to speak then i will make you leave and I won't have anything to do with you" Alesandro snapped. He was protective of her and he would definitely go against his own father if need be.

"Of course we accept she can't speak. Is she okay to hug" Rose said.

Alesandro looked at Emilia who hesitantly nodded.

Rose saw this and immediately pulled Emilia into a hug "don't mind him, he can be like that but its okay...he will be sleeping on the sofa If I hear one more negative word from him" Rose said making sure everyone heard the last part.

"You can't do that" Carlos replied.

"Oh yeah? Why don't you apologize to Emilia and I might change my mind"

"Anyway how did you get them back" Carlos said.

"Their mother and stepfather were arrested"

"Oh really? What were the charges" Carlos asked taking an interest, a smile appeared on his face. He never did like Alice.

"Drugs" Alesandro really didn't want to talk about Alice or Henry.

"You mean to tell me that they grew up around drugs? Why the hell didn't child services remove them, clearly she had no regards for their safety" Carlos wasn't pleased hearing his two granddaughters grew up around drugs.

"It wasn't that bad, we didn't know they were druggies, they must have done it out of the house" Lexi defended her parents.

"I don't care where they did it, they still endangered you both by getting high" Carlos replied.

Mason who was stood near Damon leaned over and whispered"you heard that right"

Damon nodded "she knew they did drugs, he asked if they were buying or selling and she confirmed they were buying " he also whispered.

"Matteo why are you all the way back there, come give me a hug " Rose said noticing Matteo was stood a bit away on his phone.

"Oh right, yeah" Matteo came forward and Rose pulled him into a hug. "It's good to see you all again but where is dante" rose said.

"There was an accident, hrs stuck in traffic" Alesandro replied.

Carlos silently watched his family interact with each other, mostly Matteo and Lexi telling Rose about school. They had all moved to the living room. Mason and Damon mostly talked amongst themselves with Damon asking Emilia if she was okay every now and then. Alesandro had left to check on dinner.

Carlos looked over at Emilia, she was nervous, that was obvious.

He wasn't a fool, he had been the Mafia boss before his son and he had learnt alot. He was smart and demanded respect from everyone even his family, he was a no nonsense man and maybe overly strict.

He couldn't help wonder why his youngest grandchild didn't speak.

There was something going on and he needed to find out.

"Emilia could I have a word in private" he spoke up. Everyone's attention was on him. He stood up.

Emilia just nodded not wanting to anger him, she also stood.

Seeing that she nodded, Damon also got up. "I said private Damon" Carlos told him.

"Yes it will be private, you me and Emilia, let's go" he wouldn't let her out of his sight if he didn't have too. It was that he didn't trust his grandfather, he just saw how it wouldn't be good for Emilia her nerves were a mess.

"Very well" Carlos said.

The three of them left and Carlos chose Damon's office to talk.

"This better include an apology" Damon said standing right by Emilia.

"I'm not an idiot Damon, she doesn't talk, and clearly she was brought up around drugs. I want to know what has been going on"

It made Damon feel worse, if his grandfather could spot something was up after half an hour why couldn't he. Well he did but he didn't look further into it.

"Why must something have happened"

"perché voglio sapere perché la cagna è ancora in prigione se è successo qualcosa"

because i want to know why the bitch is still in prison if something has happened

Carlos had always had a soft spot for his only granddaughters and although he was super strict, it just meant he wouldn't take the truth lightly.

"He wants to know if anything happened to you since Alice and Henry are druggies" Damon told Emilia, after all it was her choice whether he knows.

Now Emilia didn't want to lie but she wasn't ready for the truth to come out so she shook her head.

"Very well. I want to apologize for my behaviour before, I do not know the reason you don't talk and I should not have pressured you into talking" Carlos said, he knew he had been wrong to do it and so he didn't think she would forgive him.

"Forgive me?" He asked and was surprised when she nodded.

"Now I must ask, why is her arm in a sling" Carlos said.

"Oh she fell" Damon decided not to go into detail.

"That must have been painful" Carlos said. Before he could ask more, Matteo called out dinner was ready.

Meanwhile

Dante had just got home, he was pissed, the school nurse at her old school had said she didn't have any attacks, the old hospital didn't have any concerns about an allergy.

His theory might have just failed.

He got out of the car just as his phone rang. It was one of his friends and he had a good mind to mute it but decided to anwser.

"What is it, you know I'm busy with family tonight"

"Yes I know but there was some girls and we decided to go out with them" his friend slurred.

"I don't fucking care what you did" Dante was in no mood to hear his friend discuss some spoilt cheerleader.

"But we went swimming"

"Does it sound like I care"

"The lake was to far so we went to the river" he slurred.

"Good for you, I'm hanging up now"

"Waitttt. When we were at the river we found something "

"Clearly it wasn't your dignity"

"Oh shush, everyone knows what happened to your sister, well we found a knife"

Dante's annoyance soon vanished. He was fully focused on the conversation. "A knife? You better not be messing"

"Nope"

"Where is this knife now"

"Oh it's next to me, I said to Billy that it could be the knife used to stab your sister and the person disposed of it, I can take it home and give it you tommorow"

"No need, I'll tell my family I'm going back out and come get it"

Dante hung up and a bright smile appeared as he entered the house "Damon" he called a few times until he reached the dining room where everyone was sit.

"Use your inside voice" Carlos told him.

"What is it? Did you do that thing" Damon asked careful of his words

"No, but I need to go back out"

"It's a family meal, you can't be going out now" Alesandro said.

Knowing he couldn't say the truth as Lexi was here he decided to choose his words more carefully "fine I'll just go get a chair" they were one chair short, so he would just bring one from the table in the kitchen. He looked at Damon as he spoke and once he saw Damon had his attention on him he casually spoke again "thanks I see you have already laid out a knife and fork for me,I'll just grab my food " he gave Damon a look as he said knife.

"Don't be silly, you can't possibly carry your food and a chair, I'll help you" Damon said and followed him out.

Once they got to the kitchen, Damon shut the door. Dante could barely contain his excitement, he wanted the person caught responsible.

"What happened"

"Ok so I'm still working on my theory but my friend called he's kinda high or drunk right now but he found a knife in the river" Dante said.

A smirk appeared on Damon's face as he realised what he meant "it won't have fingerprints on but we can track the serial number to where it's been bought and get CCTV and find out who bought it" Damon was thrilled with this news.

"I can't wait"

"Whatever you two are planning can wait, we are eating as a family" Alesandro walked in.

Damon had a sinister grin on his face that made him wonder what they had just been discussing. "A knife was found, we need to go get it, it could be the weapon" Damon said quietly.

Alesandros eyes lit up, he could wait to find the person responsible. "Yes,go now I'll tell them you had work stuff" Alesandro happily let his boys leave.

When Alesandro went back into the dining room. "The boys had to go out, work stuff" Alesandro announced, his family got the message that it was mafia stuff, Alesandro wasn't about to say mafia stuff and let the girls find out about it.

"Okay well hopefully they are done by tommorow"

"Why" Alesandro asked taking his seat.

"Oh we had a suprise stop in Spain and when we mentioned we would be going home instead of traveling more, Adrian insisting on joing us, they are staying with us for a week or so, I think they will be round tommorow" Carlos explained.

"Okay fine" Alesandro knew his brother had come because he wanted to meet his nieces.

"Yes it's been a while, luckily Zach is on a half term break, so the boys are also with Adrian" Rose added. She just needed Leo and his family to come back and all their family would finally be together again in over a decade. The brothers all saw each other several times a year but they had the girls back now and so they could all finally be together in one place.

"You know what, I think I'll host a family barbeque tommorow instead" Rose was determined for her family to be together.

"If this is some trick to have Leo and his family come too, he lives 10 hours away, he won't be coming up for a barbeque" Alesandro said.

"We shall see, either way there is a barbeque and you guys will be coming. Besides I want to show the girls my amazing food"

Alesandro nodded "we shall see" he knew his mum was an amazing cook but he wasn't ready for Emilia to think of her as a better cook than him.