I LOVE MY BROTHER'S BEST FRIEND (MAFIA 18+ STORY)

A U R E L I A

There's this man who I have been in love with for the past five years.

He's also my older brother's best friend.

He was out of bounds, but I couldn't help falling for him ever since that day I met him five years ago.

I still remember that day five years ago when my older brother introduced him to our family. I was fifteen back then, a teenager who had a crush on her older brother's friend.

It was hard not to fall for him when he was constantly in my life.

He became a person who I often saw around. His presence was haunting, but I liked it because I got to be around the guy who I had a crush on.

But why do I have a crush on him?

He always seemed to care about me. He checked in on me. He never made me feel left out because I always felt left out since my older siblings were the apple of my parents' eye.

I had two older siblings, an older brother, Chase, and an older sister, Ciara, who I loved, yet I was extremely envious of them because our parents worshiped them, literally.

It was just something about my older brother's best friend who made him stand out among all the people in my life. He was special to me, kind of like a safe place.

He's somebody who taught me how to drive as I succeeded in getting my driver's license.

He's somebody who took care of me when I broke my ankle during a P.E. lesson.

He's a person who took care of me when I fought with my ex-friend from high school and I cried about it for days, but he brought me Ben & Jerry's ice cream, hoping that it would help.

He made me feel seen, heard, and accepted, I did not feel forgotten like I had felt by my family most of my life.

I could check off hundreds of things he has done for me, but the best thing about him?

The way he looks intimidating to others, but inside, he's compassionate to those people he cares about, which is very few.

Nonetheless, over the years, I have seen him with numerous women as he didn't seem to want a committed relationship.

Did my heartbreak those times?

Definitely, it fell apart millions of times because I was a side character, an extra, watching him from the sides.

But each time he showed an ounce of care for me, I forgot about my broken heart and enjoyed my time with him.

That's why the butterflies in my stomach sprung to life in my lower abdomen, when I got the courage to open the front door to the two-story house my parents lived in, my childhood home.

I stepped inside the hall as the scent of lasagna lingered in the air, which meant that my mom had made dinner, and if it was lasagna meant that it was an exceptional occasion.

I could hear laughter coming from the kitchen as the group of people seemed to have a pleasant time, which meant that I had arrived last.

By them, I meant my older sister, Ciara, my older brother, Chase, along with a few friends of theirs, last but not least, the guy who I had a crush on.

Nobody had heard me yet because they were preoccupied, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. It was always like that, I was easily invisible to them.

I took off my thick leather jacket because it was cold outside since it was the end of March. I also took off my leather boots, and I put the duffel bag gently on the floor.

I spared myself a glance in the mirror hanging in the hallway as my ginger hair was in a messy-bun as I let loose my long and thick hair as it reached my hips.

My amber eyes illuminated due to the sunset peaking through the windows of the hallway. For the most part, my amber eyes resembled mostly my fathers.

My nose had a small diamond piercing on the right side, while slight freckles graced my cheeks that were compatible with my sun-kissed skin because I was back from working abroad on a cruise ship.

I put on my favorite shade of red lip gloss, and then I ran a hand through my thick hair because I was nervous as hell.

I had not seen him for the past year because I was busy working on the cruise ship. I only saw him on his social media account, but he posted rarely, only once every four months.

But today I was finally going to see him again, I was excited because inside the duffel bag that I had brought with me, there was a gift for him.

I asked him if he wanted something, and he requested a specific brand of whiskey, which had been hard to find.

But in the end, I found it, and I brought it as a gift for him, as I was excited to give the bottle of whiskey to him.

I took a sharp breath in and out as I went after the sound of laughter and the wafting scent of lasagna, which was in the kitchen.

The moment I stepped into the dining room, which could easily fit up to twelve people since it was spacious and large, as everything had been renovated into a modern design, as the theme was mostly gray and white.

The group of people were sitting around the table as the lasagna was about to be served, but the people were busy looking at my older sister's phone screen as she was showing everybody something while everybody laughed and smiled.

The moment I cleared my throat to get everybody's attention, the energy in the room shifted from upbeat to dreary in a mere second.

Most times, I would care about it, but I did not once I caught the sight of him sitting beside my older sister.

Luciano Costa, thirty-one, a man who is eleven years older than me, and has never seen me as anything more than a little sister.

From my point of view, I couldn't help but admire Luciano Costa. He exuded a confident aura that drew me in like a moth to a flame.

His dark hair was slicked back, which framed his chiseled jawline perfectly. His olive-toned skin hinted at days spent under the Mediterranean sun, adding to his allure. He spends a lot of his time in Italy, where his family lives.

But it was his eyes that captivated me the most-deep, espresso-brown eyes that sparkled with intelligence and ruthlessness.

He wore a black button-down shirt that accentuated his bulging muscles. With the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, on his right forearm, there was a tattoo of two dark-colored snakes that fought with each other.

It was this man who had me weak to my knees, and from what I heard, he had many women weak to their knees.

"Oh? You are back?" My finally mom noticed me after placing the lasagna in the middle of the table.

She was taken by surprise that I was back from aboard, even when I told them that I would come back today around this time.

But she forgot.

I hopefully looked for a seat at the table that was set aside for me, but all the chairs were occupied. They really did not expect me to come back today.

"It was sudden, I will need to go back to work next week." I made up a lie.

I did not have the heart to tell them that I got fired from the job and that I needed a place to stay for a few weeks.

I could not tell them because they were not expecting me back home, as I felt my heart break a little bit.

"It's a surprise visit." I lied a second time.

It was easier telling them that it was a surprise visit rather than arguing about the fact that I had told them about my arrival last week and the fact that they had forgotten about it.

My older brother was the first one to stand up and give me a hug, "I missed you, sis."

"I missed you too, Chase." I hugged him back, but I knew he had hugged me out of guilt because he had also forgotten about my return.

Once we pulled apart, he grabbed an extra chair for me as I sat down, across from my crush, Luciano, and my older sister.

For a few moments, I watched him engaging in conversation with others, I couldn't deny the flutter in my chest whenever our eyes met.

Luciano's voice, with his hot Italian accent, stirred something deep within me.

My gaze traveled to his hands, with their strong, capable fingers, holding a hint of mystery and gentleness that I found irresistible.

He was more than just handsome; he embodied a magnetism that was both intriguing and irresistible, leaving me eager to discover more about the man beneath the captivating exterior.

"Oh right, I want to show you something, Aurelia." My older sister, Ciara, says, as she plays with the tips of her dark blonde hair that was shoulder-length.

Before I left, she had even longer hair than me, but she seemed to have cut it to her shoulders.

"Show me what?" I ask out of confusion while trying to put on my best cheerful face.

I had only come back home from a job I had gotten fired from, and now my older sister was about to share some news.

"Maybe it is better if I give you this." She takes out a card from the black suit jacket that hung on Luciano's chair.

She took out an envelope from Luciano's suit jacket, as he did not bat an eye to her actions when, in reality, I know that he doesn't like strangers touching his personal items.

He only allows people to touch his things if he's close with them, which is only three people in his life, his younger sister, his Nonna, and me.

So, when did Ciara and Luciano grow close?

They have never been close, except when Luciano sponsored a few of Ciara's modeling gigs as she's an up-and-coming supermodel, but that had been my older brother's request.

Chase wanted to help Ciara's career, and a person who could help, a person who's rich and influential, was Luciano Costa

"Here." Ciara handed me the envelope.

I took out the card from the envelope, and I wished that I had received this when I was far away on a cruise ship, in the middle of the sea, and not when ten people were staring at me.

Together with their families

Luciano Costa & Ciara Nash

Invite you to join them in celebrating their marriage.

Date ] May 15th 2026

Ceremony ] 3 PM

At xxxx xxx xx

Reception ] 6 PM

At xxxx xxx xx

I struggled to keep my hands from trembling as I held onto the wedding invitation.

I was about to lose my mind, because my older sister was going to marry my crush of five years.

The man with whom I never had the courage to cross any boundaries with due to our age gap and because he was my older brother's best friend.

But Ciara was going to marry him exactly in two months, during my birthday, and there was nothing I could do to stop them from getting married.

I felt crushed.