"Oh! So hacker ans very smart girl!" she declared proudly. "Very good, Bella. You are the lucky charm of our family."
Bella’s face flad even more. She didn’t know whether to hide behind Leo or disappear under the chair.
anwhile, poor Jay took the blow straight to his soul. He leaned back, eyes hollow, whispering to himself as if questioning his entire existence.
"Oh my goodness... Bella Bell was so smart... so so smart... and I... and I just breathe..."
Jace patted his shoulder like soone comforting him.
Leo leaned back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other, satisfaction glowing in his eyes as he looked at Bella.
Alessandro leaned a little closer to the screen, his brows softening, his usually firm voice trembling ever so slightly around the edges. "So, child... you were the one who helped us when our system nearly collapsed that day?" he asked, sounding more emotional than Bella had ever heard him before.
Bella swallowed, her fingers curling into the hem of her top as she nodded. "Yeah... yeah. That was ," she murmured.
Alessandro exhaled slowly, the kind of breath a man releases when he finally understands sothing that bothered him for ages. A small smile touched his face, warm and full of affection. "We searched everywhere for the person who saved us," he said, shaking his head at the mory. "We assud it was so outsider, so ghost-like expert. But you... you were right in front of us all along. And now that I think about it, who else would help selflessly like that? It had to be you. It’s exactly the kind of thing you would do in your Bella way."
Bella blinked, cheeks warm, her voice tiny. "Yeah... I guess."
Leo squeezed her hand under the table. Pride radiated off him like heat.
He cleared his throat. "Dad, Bella also helped locate Pablo’s hidden warehouses. And currently, she’s working on identifying the East Mafia’s movent patterns." Leo turned toward Jace and motioned toward him. "And this is Jace. He was Bella’s friend. He’s also a hacker."
Bella nodded quickly to confirm, while Jace gave an awkward wave at the cara.
Lina and Alessandro stared at the young man with wide eyes. They had known Jace for months, had eaten with him a few tis, talked with him, but they had never imagined he was a hacker too. It felt surreal, but not unpleasant. If Bella trusted him, that was enough.
The discussion continued gently for a while, with plans, updates, a bit of scolding for Leo for hiding things, and a bit of praising for Bella for being secretly talented.
Then, suddenly, Nonna, who had been listening with suspicious silence, straightened her back.
"Alright, enough," she declared, pointing at the screen. "Baby chick, listen to Nonna."
Jay froze mid-sip of his water.
Nonna narrowed her eyes. "Your older brother married such a beautiful, smart, sweet wife without even informing us properly. And now I want to know when you are going to marry."
Jay choked. "Nonna, what?!"
She ignored him completely and continued, "And thank heavens that Stella or whatever her na was ran away. Brain-dead girl. If she had married into this family, imagine the chaos. Poor nardo boy would have been miserable. Thankfully Bella dropped from heaven and replaced her. But you," she tapped her screen, "I want to marry you properly. With full celebration."
Jay’s entire soul left his body.
"I don’t want to marry!" he protested imdiately, arms flailing. He turned to Jace for backup, but Jace was already staring at him with raised brows, thoroughly entertained.
Nonna scoffed. "Who cares what you want? If you don’t marry, how will you live? Do you want to stay alone forever? When your brother goes on romantic dates and your friends have girlfriends, you will cry alone in your room. Pitiful."
"Nonna!" Jay gasped.
But Nonna was already scrolling through her phone with determined energy. "I have a list. A very good list. I collected nas for you." Her eyes lit up. "First girl, Kathy. Very pretty. Warm personality. Works at XYZ Company. Then there is Sophia, she bakes cupcakes. And then..."
Bella’s eyes sparkled with excitent. "Cupcakes?" she whispered to herself.
Jay dropped his head on the table like his life had ended.
anwhile, Bella leaned closer to the screen excitedly, almost bouncing. "Nonna, show ! Show ! Show the list!"
Lina leaned in too, suddenly enthusiastic. "Yes, show us. Let’s see who suits him."
And just like that, Bella, Lina, and Nonna started discussing Jay’s potential future wife with the sa excitent as planning a festival.
Jay let out one last broken whisper.
"I didn’t ask for this life..."
Leo leaned back in his chair, the corner of his mouth lifting with lazy amusent as he watched his little brother sink deeper into the couch, his face filled with horror.
Bella was giggling with Nonna over candidate number three, who apparently owned a dog bakery, and Lina was giving thoughtful nods as if she were picking gemstones instead of daughters-in-law. But Leo looked like he was having the ti of his life.
"Hm," he drawled, tapping his fingers on the armrest as if analyzing a business proposal. "He acts like a teenage child half the ti. Maybe a strict, mature woman would suit him."
Jay’s head snapped up with the force of a man struck by lightning.
"Bro?!" he hissed.
Leo didn’t even look at him. He simply reached for the water glass on the table as if his younger brother’s suffering was background music to this family eting.
"Soone who can handle his tantrums," Leo added calmly. "And control him."
Bella burst into soft laughter, Nonna clapped her hands as if she had found her newest favorite idea, and Lina nodded thoughtfully as if Leo had spoken sacred wisdom.
Jay stared at all of them.
"Are you all crazy?" he practically shouted, his voice rising an octave as shock and outrage blended on his face. "I don’t have tantrums! And I don’t need controlling!"
But the most humiliating part was that not a single soul in that room even bothered to look at him.
Nonna was scrolling through her phone with the determination of a general choosing soldiers for war, happily listing out girls she approved of. Lina was nodding thoughtfully. Bella leaned forward with bright curiosity, asking gentle questions about each girl as if she were helping choose flowers for a wedding instead of watching Jay’s sanity crumble. And Leo sat with arms casually crossed, eyes shining with wicked entertainnt, looking as if this was the best family eting he had attended in years.
Jay stared at them with wide, wounded eyes.
Nothing. No guilt. No pity. No rcy.
Just pure, united betrayal.
Finally, with a strangled sound of disbelief, he pushed his chair back and shot to his feet. "That’s it! I’m leaving! None of you care!"
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