I don't regret any things I said that night at the party. They deserved my harsh words. Because they messed with my family. And if they mess with my family, they mess with me.

The girl Max was with at the party, those three girls told her that Max is a bad guy. That girl named Zeta said to her that Max was only trying to use her for the night.

Ridiculous.

How could they say anything mean like that?

That's why that girl left him alone and went with another guy. Max was all alone there, so he started drinking. He was so drunk that we hardly managed to console him to come back.

What I said to them wasn't enough for those mean humans. But if I ever find them doing such a bad thing again, I would not hesitate to attack back.

As I have been seeing, Max seemed okay now. He was fine the next day. Because he forgot every little thing about that girl and him drinking all night.

We were in the middle of a boxing ring where I had to fight against Max. They told me that Rome was a champion in boxing so I should have my first match with him. But he was not here for now, so Carlo suggested doing this with Max.

The monster and Galen had left for some personal reasons, they didn't want to tell Carlo either. But before leaving me to fight, the monkey monster ordered that I must win.

Now, the fight began.

"Relax, sissy. I won't beat you. If I did so, Enzo would beat me to death. That's why I want you to beat me." Max said with a grinning face.

These days he was teasing me a lot by Enzo's name. Not only him but all four of them. One time they would be on my side and the other time they switched to Enzo's side at a fast speed. But I never heard Enzo usually telling them to shut up like he used to do. Now I was only seeing that Monster staying quiet with an unreadable face when they teased us.

Us? Sounded weird.

Whatever. Let's focus on the match.

"Then, you come first, brother." I offered him to attack me first while keeping my fists like a punching style.

"Woah! You have the nerve to give me a first chance." He chuckled but it wasn't sarcastic, it was gentle.

"Come on little miss... punch him in his face and make him an ugly duckling. You can do it!" Carlo shouted from down the boxing ring.

"Thank you, Carlo." I shouted back with a grin.

"Okay, if you succeed in punching me in my stomach, you pass and win."

"Let's start."

Max stepped towards me and tried to punch me in the face. I got back and succeeded in defending myself from that punch. Then again he came and this time he got the chance. Max punched me on the left side of my waist. It was a light attack. I tried to attack him back but he moved to the right side and got saved from my attack.

So, I observed his foot pattern and his movements to defeat him. When he came again and tried to beat me up, I looked down at his foot and moved to the right a little, as he turned to my side I punched him in his stomach.

Just like that, the fight already ended up here.

"Well done! Woohoo..." Carlo shouted as if he was the one who was fighting.

Max took off his gloves and came towards me. First, he messed up my hair by rubbing his hand and then patted me on my head by saying, "Good job.”

"Thank you, Max." I grinned like a kid.

"Hey, sorry for that punch. Did you get hurt?" Terror overtook his whole face.

"No, I am fine. See?" I spun around to show him that I was alright.

"Alora... did you get hurt anywhere? Tell me exactly... we should call the doctor." Carlo examined me from head to toe, left and right.

"Carlo! I am fine. Don't worry, nothing happened to me. His punch was light."

I never thought I would find any people like them who would care for me, who would be worried about me. After Mom and Dad, Tim was the only one who was always worried about me. Even after I stayed with my Uncle and Aunt for four years, they never really cared if I got home safely from school, how I was doing in school, if I needed something, or even if I was alive or not.

But now I think God sent me to Carlo, Rome, Max and Galen to give me a new family. To show me that family is not all about blood relations or family ties. It is about the bonds between the members.

The blood relation never gave me a single feeling of affection. On the other hand, only a few days of meeting with dangerous mafia men gave me the whole feeling of family's love and care.

After an hour, Rome came with a serious look on his face and informed us that Enzo was calling for us. Well, not us but only Carlo and Max. They took me with them but then Carlo told me to wait outside their meeting room.

Was something really serious?

Then they suddenly opened the door and offered to enter and join them. So here I was sitting like a child around these giant men.

"I got a couple of shocking news. First is, at Luciano's party, someone injured Luca. He was harassing a lady when that unknown person came from behind and broke a bottle of alcohol on his head, which made him unconscious." Enzo informed us.

Everyone's expression was normal as if they didn't care about it. But Enzo... he glared at me with a strange look.

"I am glad that Luca couldn't see the person's face, otherwise, he would have been in trouble by now." Enzo spoke again.

An unfamiliar smile formed on his face. He showed me a different kind of look. I kept my gaze on the glass table before us.

"We don't care about him. What's so important about his condition?" Carlo asked him with a confused yet serious face.

"Nothing. It's just that he was trying to drug that lady. I guess, someone paid him for his bad deed." Enzo replied to him but his eyes were now on his intertwined hands.

"I still don't understand what is so shocking about that. Whoever did that, he did the right thing by stopping him and that person has my respect." Max breathed out.

Rome and Galen were sitting quietly as if they already knew about the news. Yeah, they might know as they were with Enzo.

"And what is the second news?" Carlo asked curiously.

"Oh... the second news is more interesting than the first one. And it is truly shocking." Enzo answered with a smirk on his lips while he shook his head.

"Then tell us fast. What are you waiting for?" Carlo spoke impatiently.

"Groves is under arrest. He is in prison." He finally shocked them.

I turned my face to the blank faces and found them releasing a relaxing laugh.

"Wh...what? He is in prison now?" Max asked with eyes wide open.

"Yeah. It's all over the internet." Galen replied to him with a chuckle.

"It all happened at that party. Groves were there to crack a deal of increasing the votes of a candidate. He was offered millions of money. And when he was taking a suitcase of money from that man, hand to hand, someone captured the moment by taking a photo. He is framed for distributing illegal votes." Enzo started laughing which made my heart beat fast.

Their expression showed how relaxed they were by that news. They were beaming and sighed out a lot of tension within.

Finally, that old frog got out of the story now.

"But didn't he protest at all?" Max questioned him.

"The picture was clearly showing that he was taking the suitcase of money because it was open and the money was being shown. But when the police inquired about that, he said later that the candidate himself took it back from him."

"Is he claiming that he doesn't have the suitcase of money?" Rome asked, narrowing his eyebrows.

"Yes. He is saying that the candidate frauds him by stealing the money. But you know what is more doubtful?" Enzo said while he leaned forward on his seat.

Three of them nodded their heads to know the answer and I also said yes to know about that money. Enzo's face was stilled but only his eyes moved to me. He looked at me and then looked away.

"Feleti informed me that the candidate said that he doesn't have the suitcase either. Both of them are blaming each other for the disappearance of that suitcase." Enzo replied with a chuckle that sounded 'amazing'.

"Wait, wait, wait. If Groves doesn't have the money and the candidate also doesn't know where the money is, then who has the suitcase?" Rome made a thoughtful face.

"There's no suitcase. Because that money has now been donated to an orphanage."

His reply made their jaws drop. Everybody in this room was shocked except Galen and Enzo. Even if Rome knew some of the things about that news, it looked like he didn't know about this one. They stayed silent for a few moments.

"Whoever stole the suitcase, he wasn't going to take that money for himself..." Rome made a point from his opinion.

"Has Feleti given you all this information?" Max asked Enzo.

"He has given us, though a text which I got this morning, made it all clear." Enzo laughed happily and looked at Galen who also laughed with him.

We all were looking at them Confusingly. When I signal a question to Rome about 'what is happening', he shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't know. Maybe, he didn't know about this matter. But Galen seemed to know a lot.

"Enzo, just tell us." This time I requested to know what this confusion was about.

"This morning I got a text from an orphanage organization. The message was saying that... no wait, let me show it to you." Then he took out his phone from his pocket and after a few seconds, he extended his phone to us.

'Thank you so much for your support. We appreciate your kindness for our children.' It showed a donation acknowledgement letter from the organization.

After that message, there was a confirmation of the amount of money.

"You know, it was donated by the Mafia boss– Enzo Ferrante." Galen smiled and informed us.

Carlo looked as if now he understood what was the confusion. Max looked like he was even more confused than before after understanding the whole thing. We all looked up at Enzo for a better explanation even if we got his point.

"How did you know that it's the same money which they are claiming to be stolen by one another?" Carlo questioned him.

"Because the date of donation is the next day after the date of that suitcase being stolen. And Feleti gave me the amount of their money which is the same amount as the donation."

"Oh God!" I gasped after listening to his answer.

"Who could be the mastermind behind this?" Rome turned to face all of us at once.

Enzo breathed out, leaned in more to face us and said, "I think it's done by that same stranger, who earlier helped us by catching those goons."

"Why would he do something like that? And why would he even donate Groves's money by your name?" Carlo asked him.

"I am thinking about the same thing." Galen replied with a nod.

"Maybe he is just trying to help us." Max said.

"I don't think so." Rome shook his head at Max's comment.

"Enzo... do you think that boy helped us by knowing that Groves was blackmailing us to frame you in front of the government, that's why he stole his money to frame him in his plot. And then after that, he thought about sending that money to an orphanage." Carlo said to Enzo.

"But isn't it a bit strange that that boy donated Groves money by Enzo's name and not his own? While he also could have kept that money for himself." Rome tapped his fingers on the table.

"The question is why did he give Enzo's name and that too with his number?” Galen tried to think about the real reason why any stranger would do something like this for a mafia boss.

This was exhausting. They were making me more confused.

*****