Lina and Alessandro sat on the couch with gentle smiles, watching the younger crowd fuss around with bags, jackets, and goodbye hugs. Nonna pressed a hand to her lower back with exaggerated drama.
"È troppo long!" she declared. "My back will break before you even reach the next town. You young people go, go! Enjoy yourselves. Laugh, dance, run around. Old bones are not made for camping."
She kissed Bella’s forehead, muttering blessings, then waddled off toward the kitchen, complaining lightly about youth and their endless energy. Lina added that she and Alessandro would stay behind, insisting the road trip should be "purely young fun."
And just like that, the entire adventure beca a youth-only trip.
Leo had already packed Bella’s bag early in the morning, carefully folding her clothes, slipping snacks inside, even packing her warm socks without her noticing. Bella dressed in cute, soft-colored casual clothes, her hair tied in a playful ponytail. Everyone had breakfast together, the table filled with laughter and clinking forks, and Bella’s excitent was bright enough to light the whole house.
But the real chaos began the mont they stepped outside.
"No," Leo said through clenched teeth, his jaw tight as Scarlett imdiately latched onto Bella’s arm, clinging like a koala. "Bella is sitting with ."
Scarlett rolled her eyes dramatically. "Nooo, you can sit with Dom, or Jason, or Casper... Oh! Or Zion!" Her voice turned suspiciously sweet at Zion’s na. "And look how pitiful your brother looks."
They turned just in ti to see Jay hanging onto Jace’s arm, whispering sothing in his ear. The two looked suspiciously close.
"Uh... no thanks," Jay said quickly when he realized everyone was staring. He sprang away from Jace like a guilty cat. "Brother can sit with sister-in-law. I’m fine."
Jason, Dominique, and Leo all narrowed their eyes at Jay and Jace, their combined suspicious energy filling the air like a silent interrogation.
Jay coughed and shuffled a respectable distance away.
Scarlett clapped her hands. "Enough testosterone. Let’s go, Bella!" She tugged Bella into the car like an excited tornado.
Leo’s entire aura went dark.
He stood there watching his wife being dragged away, looking like he wanted to set Scarlett’s hair on fire.
Zion suddenly appeared beside him, hands in his pockets, voice calm. "Don’t worry," he murmured. "Scarlett gets motion sickness if she sits too long in a car. She’ll puke in ten minutes max. We can shift to the back seat then."
Leo paused.
Then nodded slowly.
"...Good."
Dominique and Jason, anwhile, held up matching thumbs-ups from behind the second car. They looked like two soldiers ready for a secret mission. Since Leo approved of Dom (thanks to the hacking information about Jessica), Dom felt victorious. Jason simply lived for chaos.
They were all prepared.
Enemies would be distracted with bugs in their systems.
His IT team was on standby.
His bodyguards were arranged in strategic formation.
Leo had planned this road trip like an army general preparing for war.
And all because they were taking Bella out.
Two six-seater cars were arranged.
Car One: Casper, Dominique, Jay, Jace, and Jason.
Car Two: Scarlett, Bella, Leo, and Zion.
Behind them, four more cars assembled—two for Leo’s bodyguards and security team, two filled with bags, food, extra blankets, portable stoves, and camping gear.
The first car felt like a small festival on wheels. The mont the engine started, the vehicle filled with laughter, loud conversations, and Jason’s dramatic voice echoing through the car. Casper, who never ran out of things to talk about, was enjoying himself far too much; he kept bouncing in his seat, excited by every tiny thing Dom and Jason said. Jay and Jace sat together at the back, leaning slightly against each other, occasionally whispering and then pretending they weren’t.
Jason, anwhile, looked like an overcharged battery.
"Let drive!" he announced suddenly, half-standing like a child trying to grab a cookie jar.
Dominique nearly choked. "Son! This is not your racing arena. You drive like a man running away from tax officers," he scolded, patting Jason’s back with exaggerated annoyance. "I love my life. I want to see tomorrow. Thank you very much. Sit down and let the professional driver drive."
Jason scoffed dramatically, flipping his hair. "Tch. You all act like you’ve never seen talent."
Casper blinked curiously. "You race?"
Jason puffed up instantly, chest out, chin high. "Of course I race. I’m the most popular, most charismatic, most dazzling car racer in the whole world—though absolutely nobody here appreciates my greatness." He pouted.
Dominique rolled his eyes so hard it could’ve cracked the glass. "Ignore him. He once hit three cones and blad the cones for existing."
"That cone was suspicious!" Jason protested.
"Shut up," Dom muttered, fighting a smile.
But sothing felt off.
The usually talkative Jay and Jace had gone strangely quiet. They sat huddled in the back like two guilty schoolboys who had done sothing questionable and didn’t want the teacher to find out.
Dom turned around, eyes narrowing. "What is wrong with you two?"
Jay’s head snapped up as if he’d been caught stealing cookies. "Wha—what? Nothing. We’re fine!" he said too quickly, his voice jumping an octave.
Jace sat perfectly straight, staring at the car ceiling like the answers to life were written there. "Bugs," he said seriously.
Dom blinked. "Bugs...?"
"Yes," Jace continued solemnly. "The garden had a very big bug yesterday."
Dominique frowned. "Why are you talking like soone just broke your heart?"
Jay slapped Jace’s arm lightly. "He ans he didn’t sleep well."
"No, I ant the bug," Jace said again.
Jason leaned over the seat, eyebrows raised, grin wicked. "Suuure you were talking about a bug. Not your little whisper-whisper mont earlier."
Jay’s soul left his body.
Jace turned red up to his ears.
Casper blinked innocently. "Did you both see a bug together?"
"YES!" Jay and Jace said at the sa ti, practically shouting.
Dom collapsed back into his seat. "God save ," he muttered.
Jason smirked triumphantly, tossing imaginary hair over his shoulder. "I knew it. Sothing is up between you two."
"IT’S NOT!" Jay yelled.
"BUG," Jace whispered aggressively.
Casper nodded seriously. "Must’ve been a very big bug."
The car exploded into laughter.
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