Chapter One: Their return

“Isabella, stop playing around and help me set the table,” Charlotte yelled as she set the dishes on the table.

A woman walked into the dining table and shook her head on seeing how frantic Charlotte was. 

“Mom, why are you stressing yourself? We have helpers that we pay to do this,” she scolded. 

Charlotte turned and pinched Isabella’s cheeks causing the latter to groan in pain.

 “I know we have helpers but I like to do this myself. You know your brother and how selective he is. He won’t eat if I do not set the table just the way he likes.”

“That boy needs to be taught a lesson for stressing my wife,” a deep male voice said from behind Charlotte. 

“Daddy, you’re finally here!” Isabella exclaimed as she ran over to Sebastian and hugged him.

“How’s my little princess doing?” Sebastian asked. 

Even after twenty eight years, he still refused to accept the fact that Isabella had grown up and was now married.

To him, she would always be his little princess who slept in his arms and with whom he had multiple tea parties with. 

“I’m doing good now that you’ve arrived,” Isabella said. “And I agree with you daddy; that brat needs to be taught a lesson for stressing mom.”

“He’s my only son and I don’t mind doing this for him. Besides, I haven't seen him in two years thanks to somebody," Charlotte sneered, glaring at Sebastian. 

Sebastian quickly averted his eyes away from Charlotte's scorching gaze as he knew she was right. 

When his son and Austin, his brother, Diego’s son finished college, they came out with flying colors, everyone was happy for them except Sebastian. He was the least impressed. 

Everyone thought he would officially hand over to his son and retire but he didn’t. 

Instead, he made them both work under the Gerano family company as secretaries and he made sure to make their lives a living hell as he always piled so much workload on them that would make them drop dead. 

Charlotte would help the two sons to reduce their workload but Sebastian found out, he forbade her from doing so. 

She was unable to go against him as it was a decision he made as the head of the Gerano family.

After some time and thanks to his wife's persistent complaints, he caved in and promoted them from secretaries to branch managers. 

He asked them to head a newly opened branch outside the country and their level of success would determine what would happen to them. 

“Why are you suddenly looking away?” Charlotte asked, making Sebastian snap out of the memory lane he had gone into. 

“Mom, come on, it’s a happy occasion. Justin and Austin are coming back home after two years, let’s continue with the preparations,” Isabella said and dragged her mother away. 

Sebastian heaved a sigh of relief as his daughter had saved him from Charlotte's wrath. He made a mental note to reward her later. 

“Brother,” a familiar voice called. 

Sebastian turned and saw his younger brother Diego. “You’re here?” he said coldly.

Diego shook his head. Even after so many years, Sebastian was still as cold as ever. He wondered how Isabella and Charlotte were able to control him so easily.

“You’re a big meanie!” Diego whined which caused Sebastian to shake his head as Diego still refused to grow up even after having a child. 

“How about I show you how big of a meanie I can be,” Sebastian said with a devilish smile on his face. 

Diego’s eyes widened in horror as he recognized the smile and he knew he would not like what Sebastian would do to him if he stayed.

 “I’ll go and join the ladies in the kitchen,” he said and scurried out of the dining room. 

Sebastian looked at his brother and chuckled at how big of a clown he was. He was then reminded of the fact that the other clowns, his sons, were on their way home. 

He sighed and shook his head. Time to get ready to welcome them. 

****

Austin glanced at the man who was looking outside the plane window for the umpteenth time. He was starting to get bored and he was itching to annoy the man as that always made him feel happy. 

However, the man in question didn’t even spare him a glance. He had so many thoughts running through his mind that made him oblivious to his surroundings.

Austin, not being able to handle the boredom anymore, took an apple and threw it at the man. It hit the man and the back of his head.

 ‘Yes!’ Austin exclaimed in happiness as his plan worked because the man was furiously making his way over to him while holding the apple.

“Why the hell did you throw an apple at me?” Justin asked in anger.

Austin shrugged causally, Justin's anger having no effect on him. “Because I was bored,” he answered. 

“If someone else had tried this, then I would have cut off their arms!” Justin stated.

“But I'm not some random weirdo. I’m a Gerano like you and I’m your twin brother. Hurting me would mean hurting yourself,” Austin retorted. 

“First of all, we are not twins but cousins and secondly, hurting you would mean making me happy, very happy,” Justin said and threw the apple back at Austin. 

Austin caught the apple with ease and this only made Justin madder. “No matter how many times you refute it, it’s not going to change the fact that everyone refers to us as twins. We were born on the same day and time…”

“You’re three minutes older,” Justin interrupted. 

“Best three minutes of my life!” Austin clapped back. “Moving on, we look the same…”

“Our fathers are brothers and they look alike. Does that make them twins?” Justin interrupted again. 

“Stop interrupting me!” Austin snapped irritably. 

“Why? Is the little baby irritated,” Justin quipped which made Austin even more mad. 

He got up and tugged the sleeves of his shirt. “How about I show you how irritated I am,” he said and positioned himself in a fighting stance.

Justin also tugged his shirt up and positioned himself to attack Austin. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Boys stop this!” A deep male voice commanded before either of the two men could attack each other. 

He had been watching them the entire time. He had originally planned not to intervene in their squabble as it happened all the time. 

The two men couldn’t stay in the same room for five minutes without arguing. They were exactly like their fathers.

However, he was forced to interfere as they were about to get physical. Charlotte would skin him alive if they got a scratch on their bodies. She had personally put him in charge of both of them and they were his responsibility.

“He started it,” Justin and Austin said at the same time.

“I don’t care who the hell started it. Just don't get physical on the plane!” Marcelo snapped. 

“I told my mum to send the second private jet so I wouldn’t have to travel with this idiot. Why didn't she just listen to me?!” Austin grumbled as he went back to his seat. 

“Maybe because she knows how immature and incapable you are of doing anything,” Justin retorted and went back to his seat. 

Marcelo sighed and went back to his seat. Thankfully none of the boys annoyed the other and the flight went by smoothly.

“God, it feels good to finally get off the plane,” Austin said as they walked over to the fleet of cars which were waiting for them. Justin shook his head as he knew it was probably his mother and uncle’s doing. 

“I’m not riding in the same car as you,” he said to Austin who was walking beside him. 

“Look around dumbo, there are ten cars waiting for us. Why the hell would I want to ride in the same car as you,” Austin retorted. 

“So it’s settled. We’ll stay as far away from each other as possible,” Justin said. 

“If I can still hear you, then you’re not far enough,” Austn retorted. 

The two men looked at each other and they nodded as they knew what they had to do. They both went their separate ways. Austin went to the first car while Justin went to the last car. 

Marcelo merely shook his head at how childish they were behaving. They were always at each other’s throat all the time even though the two brothers loved each other dearly and couldn’t survive without the other.

“Come, let’s go,” Marcelo said as he got into one of the cars. The guards quickly entered the car and drove off. 

Barely five minutes into their ride, Justin and Austin received a text from Marcelo informing them that the media had found out about their arrival and so, they would have to take a different route so the reporters wouldn’t get to meet them. And the route they were going to take was going to be through a small neighborhood.

Justin’s phone rang just after he finished reading the message. He frowned deeply when he saw that the call was from Austin.

“What do you want?” He asked coldly after he received the call.

“My love, I miss you. Please come back to your wifey,” Austin pleaded over the phone.

“Are you crazy, dumb or stupid?” Justin asked in irritation. Why the hell did he have to get Austin as a brother?

Austin laughed on the other side as he heard Justin’s irritated voice. “I was feeling sad and hearing you irritated after I’ve annoyed you makes me happy,” he explained. 

“I swear down, I’m going to kill…” Justin was unable to finish his threat as he heard something hit the side of his car. “Stop the car!!” he ordered the driver.

“What’s wrong?” Austin asked in a serious tone, all traces of teasing gone completely. 

“Someone just attacked my car,” Justin answered. He heard Austin also informing his driver to stop the car before he hung up. His face contorted into a deep frown. 

His family had a lot of enemies but they were wise enough to know that the Gerano family wasn’t one to mess with. So who dared to attack him. 

The guards from the rest of the cars had already gotten down and their hands were at their waist ready to pull out their guns if the situation required it. 

The door opened and Justin came out. Power and a deadly aura came out of him. Austin reached where he was a few minutes and he was giving out the same aura as Justin.

 Looking at him, no one would have ever thought he was the same man who was teasing Justin. 

Everyone who was around cowered in fear at the sight of the two men. They didn’t recognize them but there was no denying that the two men looked like people who shouldn’t be messed with.

A guard found the object which was thrown on Justin’s car. It was a bottle of water. Justin took the bottle from the guard and raised it up. “Who threw this?” he asked coldly and this made the people there further retreat.

“I did,” said a female voice.

Justin looked ahead and saw a woman approaching him and behind her was an elderly woman and a young woman. 

“Why did you throw this at my car?” Justin asked menacingly. 

The woman who had thrown the bottle didn’t even flinch at the sound of Justin’s voice nor did she look away from his burning gaze.

 “It’s sad that despite the fact that you’re rich, you can't hire drivers who can drive properly. What a waste of your money,” the woman said. 

Austin's eyes almost popped out of its sockets when he heard what the young woman said. Does she have a death wish? How dare she speak to my brother like that? 

“Listen woman,” he started. “Do you realize who you just spoke to?” he sneered.

“I honestly couldn’t care less about who you people are. All I want is for you to order your men to apologize to my mother for almost killing her,” the young woman retorted.

Austin and Justin looked at each other and then back at the young woman. They didn’t show any emotions on their faces making it difficult to know what they were thinking about. 

But one thing was for sure, the young woman had just gotten into their bad books and she would pay for it.