Beyond The Lies Novel – “I’m very sorry to inform you of your mother’s death but your brothers agreed to adopt you immediately” Music prodigy Sofia’s abusive childhood ends when she finds out her mother is dead. And now she is to live with six brothers she’s never met before. SHE DIDN’T KNOW THEY WERE THIS RICH! The eldest brother, Vincent, is the first to notice that she has been abused before, and her nominal guardian vows never to let her be hurt again. The second brother, Luca, runs their brothers and loves her, the new little girl, like a mother. Lumo, the third brother, the smartest one in the family, was given all the homework she didn’t know how to do. Fourth brother Dante, the cranky older brother with tattoos, but extremely patient with her. There are also two twin brothers who love to play pranks. The family of six brothers warms Sofia’s broken heart.
It was lunchtime, but Sofia was not in the school’s cafeteria. It was always too crowded and noisy, and the food wasn’t the best anyways. Instead she preferred playing intruments to her heart’s content in one of the empty music rooms. Today it was one of her favourites, an acoustic violin. It was one of the school’s few undamaged ones, so she handled it with care and hoped no other student would accidentally break it. Her stomach growled, but she knew the money she had on her wouldn’t be enough to buy even a cheese sandwich. To make matters worse tommorrow would be the last day of school before the one week of school holidays, she had no idea how she would be able to survive being home with her mother for the entire time. She would just go to the library for the entire day or something, was what she concluded. Maybe she could read up on other types of guitars like last time, or just indulge herself in a random story. For now, she made the best use of time by practicing a difficult piece she memorised on the piano in preparation for a competition in a few months time. It was being hosted at some rich private school, but she was easily able to enter. After all she was considered a musical genius.
If she was able to at least place in the event then she would win a large amount of money as well as being sponsored by a famous musician who was to attend to be a judge. That would mean she could finally get away from her mother for good once she turned 18 and could go anywhere without a guardian. A ringing in her pocket distracted her from her thoughts, and Sofia rushed to pick up without even checking who it was. “Hello?” “Hey…Are you Sofia Jones by any chance?” “Erm yes? Who are you?” “I’m Officer Ross, I’m very sorry to inform you of your mother’s death.” “W-what? How?!” “A hit and run case I’m afraid.” So it wasn’t overdosing after all. “Am I… going to an orphanage then?” “Well that hasn’t been decided yet. My team found out you have other existing relatives, so we’ll contact them to ask if they’re willing to adopt you.” She had other family? Her mum had never told her that. “I-I see…” “You’ll be picked up after school by me, and once again, I’m very sorry for your loss.” Officer Ross then hung up, and Sofia thought she hadn’t sounded very sorry at all.
Then again, Sofia didn’t feel very upset after hearing about her mother’s death. Instead she was relieved. Relieved that she wouldn’t come home to a woman who would beat and yell at her for being a terrible daughter. Relieved that she wouldn’t have to live in a home drenched in the revolting smell of drugs, or a ‘mother’ who would try and make Sofia sleep with men she owed money to. Relieved that she wouldn’t have to live off a few notes and coins she would take from her mother’s wallet. For now, her only worry were these so called relatives. Sofia knew she had a biological father, but had been told once that he had died years ago. A few hours later. After school had ended, Sofia waited by the school gates before getting in a police car which pulled up, she was glad it was late since she didn’t want to attract attention. The driver was a petite female who seemed to be in her early thirties and wore a blank face; Sofia assumed she was Officer Ross.
“Hello again Sofia, I have some more news to tell you, positive this time.” Her other family decided not to adopt her and she could stay by herself? “Your brother agreed to adopt you immediately, and even paid for your flight ticket to the city he lives in for tommorow!” Dang it. Wait a second… “I have a brother?” “Yes, six older brothers to be precise, I just contacted the eldest one.” After seeing Sofia’s frown she added, “I’m sure it won’t be bad.” You try having lots of older brothers you’ve never met before and see if you like it, lady. “Anyways, for now, let’s go to where you live and you can take what you need as quickly as you can.”
Sofia had a member of the airport staff assist her, so getting through the airport was no problem. Now came the toughest part, meeting her brothers, that’s assuming that they would come all the way to pick her up. She checked her phone to see a message from an unknown number. Come to where the car park entrance is…? Like she had any idea where that was. Luckily, a nice staff member gave her instructions and she made it without getting lost. Just as she reached, she noticed a tall, handsome man wearing a suit standing there. He had light brown hair, but Sofia couldn’t see his eyes since he was wearing sunglasses. There was no way she could be related to him, so she decided to look around for who was going to pick her up and walked straight past him. “Hey! Wait!” Sofia continued walking, he must be calling someone else. “Sofia!” Ok, maybe he was calling her.
She turned around to see the man had taken off his sunglasses and was waving frantically at her, so she slowly walked back to where he stood, still feeling suspicious about him. “Sorry I should have told you how I looked like or something. I’m Luca, you’re second oldest brother.” He smiled and before Sofia could even respond he hugged her tightly . “I-it’s fine.” Was the only thing she could say once he let go. She felt a bit embarrassed yet safe in his presence, but told herself that she still can’t trust him or anyone else yet. At a closer look, Luca had a similar eye colour to her mother, although his was a more beautiful emerald colour whilst her mother had a more murky shade of green. He also had a charming smile, and she could tell it was a genuine one towards her. He immediately took her suitcase and bag from her and ushered her towards the front passenger’s seat in a very expensive looking car before getting in the driver’s seat. Once he started the car and drove them away, he began to talk.
“How was your ride on the plane?” “It was…nice.” “Vince said to tell you that he’s sorry he could only book an economy ticket, it was one of the last ones left and he wanted you home as soon as possible.” An apology over a plane ticket? Sofia wondered how rich her brothers were to think something like that. “No I didn’t mind at all. And…whose Vince?” His eyebrows were knitted together in confusion. “You don’t remember Vincent? He’s our oldest brother, the one who adopted you.” Seeing his sister’s blank face made Luca frown, did she even know about the rest of them before yesterday? “Hey Sofia, did you know you had any brothers before?” She shook her head, and his thought was confirmed. “Right…By the way I’m sorry about Maria’s death, this all must be so sudden for you.” “It’s fine, I’ll get over it.” Well that was not the response her brother expected, he thought she would be a lot more upset, so was surprised so see her so nonchalant about it.
Luca sensed Sofia wasn’t enjoying talking about Maria, so he once again changed the topic. “You’re not much of a talker are you sorella.” “I guess.” Sofia noted that her family must be Italian, however was too tired to ask about it. “It’s going to be a long ride so you can sleep and I’ll wake you up when we reach.” It was like he read her mind, or just saw the dark circles under her eyes. Sofia simply nodded before drifting off, she was mentally and physically exhausted. She was woken up with a shake on the shoulder by Luca, who smiled at her before making her get out of the car. Whilst he got her stuff from the boot Sofia had a good stretch and was going to tell her brother that she’d carry her bags. Then she turned to see the house she was going to live in and became speechless.