Vera swung the golf club at the photo frame "Even beyond the grave, your fucking me over!"

Glass began to litter the carpeted floor as she threw the golf club blindly into the now damaged office.

"I'm a solider, isn't that right dad!?" She threw a photo frame against the opposite wall "Follow orders" she screamed.

Vera crumbled to the floor as she cried "I can't follow orders, I'm not a solider." She cried "Why? Why me?" She looked down at the scratched family photo that sat by her knee.

A family full of lies and secrets, A father, a mother, a baby boy and a little girl as a toddler.

"I'm not you" Vera stared into her father's photographed eyes as tears fall down her cheeks.

The office was once the pride and joy of Dexter Rivertin, the office was the one place in the Melana house that Vera was afraid to go into, the one room she was never allowed to go into when she was growing up instead, she had spent years watching people come and go from her father's office even after Dexter's death, she refused to go into his office.

The family photos that once sat proudly on the walls, bookshelves and on the desk were now smashed with their glass littered over carpeted floor. His mahogany desk that once sat with power in front of the window was now covered in golf club marks. The books that once sat neatly on the bookshelves were now thrown around the room, the bookshelves with a dent or few from the golf club.

Vera looked up as the office door pushed open.

"Oh, Vera." Zasha carefully stepped into the room, towards her girlfriend. She carefully knelt down in front of Vera and wrapped her arms around the emotional young woman.

Vera leaned into Zasha's body; Vera's tears fell onto the sleeve of Zasha's shirt.

"Talk to me, Vera." Zasha wanted to try and help her girlfriend, but she wasn't sure how to.

Tony and Tommy stopped at the office door.

Tony wasn't sure where to look, with an explicit order Tony had never been granted access to enter the office.

Tommy was one of the many men in Vera's life who had come and gone from the office, he was surprised that Vera was in the office and was surprised to see the damage she had done to the office he had known so well.

"I need to get away for a while." Vera pulled away from Zasha.

"I'll come with you." Zasha spoke.

Vera wiped her face as she shook her head "I want you to continue to live as if I didn't exist. I just need to clear my head." She looked up at the two males as Zasha wasn't sure how to take that sentence "Run the show, if anyone asks just say I'm dealing with family matters. Don't explain anything, the less they know the better."

Tony began vacuuming up the glass from the carpet as Zasha picked up the broken frames, letting her gaze linger over the photos she had never seen before.

"What are you doing?" Tony shouted over the sound of the vacuum cleaner.

"Looking for something." Tommy's voice barely loud enough as he searched through the various books in the room.

Zasha lifted her gaze towards Tommy "If Vera hasn't destroyed it."

Tony stopped the vacuum cleaner to allow Tommy's words to be uninterrupted.

"If Vera's destroyed it than I can't help her." Tommy scrambled through the books in the floor "Good thing about Dexter is that he kept secrets close to his heart. Just as much as he loved his family" Tommy mentioned "He loved books." He pulled a thick blue book of one of the bookshelves, he opened up the book seeing a key hiding in the fake book "Every book in this room is a fake. Dexter had the books specially designed to look like real books"

Zasha and Tony looked at the books around the room, neither of them could actually the books were actually fakes. They had believed that they were all legitimate reading books.

"How do you know so much about Dexter?" Tony asked, he had only known the Melana's based on the reports that had played in the media until he had actually got to know Vera and she proved how different the Melana's were to the what the media sprouted.

"V and I grew up together." Tommy walked over to the dented desk; he fitted the key through the keyhole of the desk draw. He began to shuffle through the papers hidden in the draw.

A family portrait caught Zasha's eyes "You're not her brother, are you?"

Tommy shook his head "No, Tomas Rivertin died when he was three weeks old."

"That's why Vera didn't want me calling you Thomas." Tony stated.

Tommy nodded his head "How much do you actually know about the Melana's or Vera for that fact?" He asked as he placed a handful of papers on the damaged desk.

Zasha and Tony thought for a moment, neither of them really knew Vera; at least not the way that Tommy knew Vera. Even though Zasha and Vera had been dating for three years and Tony had been her driver for five years.

"Thought so." Tommy mumbled; he didn't realise he had said that a little too loud.

"Alright, well than tell us. Tell us how you know so much about Vera and her family, cause we don't. It's not like I'm dating her and it's not like Tony drives her around all the time. What is it that we don't know?" Zasha spat.

Tommy looked up at Zasha "This house is full of secrets. Decades old, centuries old. You name it. Each generation has given their own secret, their own update. This house was originally built on top of a burial site until one of its members freaked out about seeing ghosts."

"Explains why the family burial is further down the road." Tony pipped up.

Tommy didn't respond as he sat down in Dexter's chair, he flipped through the papers on the desk.

Zasha sat down on a chair next to the bookshelf while Tony's eyes swept over the room.

"Dexter was raised in this house, every male that was raised in this house had to follow the footsteps of those before, those who were leaders. Before Dexter, generations of males served in war before coming home and ruling with an iron fist. One of the few families that kept the city in check, my family worked along with the Rivertin's."

Tony's jaw dropped "You're a ...."

Tommy nodded.

"But I thought they all...."

Tommy nodded his head again "I'm the last of the line, that name is ending with me."

"Hold on, sorry. What's going on!?" Zasha struggled to follow what the two males were talking about.

"Tomathon Deadcull." Tony shivered as he said Tommy's full name "Everyone believed the Deadcull's died, they believed the little boy died in a house fire. We all believed that the Deadcull's were all, well...dead." He looked at Zasha.

Tommy looked up at the two people in front of him, he noticed how Zasha froze.

Zasha knew the stories of The Deadcull's, they were the family everyone avoided especially if you weren't white. The way the Deadcull's praised white power.

Zasha's lower lip began to tremble.

"Zasha, I'm sorry." Tommy had to find his words; he had never realised how much his family had affected anyone especially generations later "I really am truly sorry. I'm no longer a Deadcull, I have no reason to disrespect you. You can bet your life on it, if I ever EVER" He made a point to emphasise the words ever "laid a finger on your or any other person of colour, Vera would have my ass. She'd do those things to me, and she wouldn't blink."

Zasha wasn't sure how to take that, she wasn't sure if she should accept a simple apology or what her girlfriend could do to Tommy. Zasha just knew that learning about Tommy had reminded her of all the stories her family had spoken about. She lowered her eyes to the carpet.

Tommy took a deep breath before looking up at Tony "Dexter killed my family." He shrugged, acting as if it was no big deal "Like I said this family and it's house has it's secrets."

Tony tried to process what he had just heard "And Dexter raised you? Raised you as if you had no relation to the...." He trailed off.

Tommy nodded "It explains the land. After Dexter murdered my family, he had me raised in the house next door. Keeping an eye on me and had me believing that my parents were well, my parents."

"What has this got to do with Vera?" Zasha managed to finally find her words.

Tommy looked at Zasha "Everything. She's the last of her line as well, Dexter had this plan to marry Vera to me but then." Tommy shook his head "Us, kids. We didn't have the spark that he had hoped for. Our bond was more brother and sister rather than lovers." He held back his sigh "Dexter unfortunately made an agreement with the Ariovaldo's, it was supposed to happen the minute that Antonio and Vera turned eighteen." He kept watch of Zasha as she tried to soak in his words "Dexter backed out of the deal." He finally let his sigh out.

"What about Tomas? If he lived, what was supposed to happen to him?" Tony asked as he glanced down at a family photo.

"Once Vera was married off, she was supposed to take a backseat. Follow her husband's orders, have a family. Tomas was supposed to take the reigns, Dexter was supposed to train his son to be just like him." Tommy looked down at the papers in his hand "That never happened, it left Vera. She's in Tomas' shoes, doing things she shouldn't be."

"What happened to Tomas?" Zasha leant down and picked up two family photos before attempting to place them neatly on the bookshelf .

Tommy looked up at Zaha "Rumours." He prepared himself for the words he was going to say "Rumours have it that Olvera, couldn't handle her son's crying. She couldn't handle his screaming. One night all the staff had been sent home for the night and she just snapped." Tommy swallowed his words.

Zasha couldn't tear her eyes away from the family portraits.

"That's why Olvera committed suicide? She couldn't handle the guilt?" Tony was familiar with Olvera's story.

Tommy shrugged "Like I said, this house holds its secrets. I don't even know all of them, just enough to keep me and Vera out of trouble." He let his eyes draft over the paper in his hands "I, Dexter Rivertin have the right to refuse my daughter, Vera Melana to marry the first born son of Mr Antonio Ariovaldo II" He scanned the rest of the sheet "I, the father of Vera Melana disagree with my daughter marrying Antonio Ariovaldo III. I, Dexter Rivertin believe my daughter would be suited to marry someone of her own free choosing."

The room went silent. Neither of them knew what to say, let alone who to speak first.

Zasha thought she understood what was going on, she thought her girlfriend had just suffered a traumatic breakdown and needed time alone. Zasha had just found out that her girlfriend was supposed to have an arranged marriage but thanks to Dexter, he had allowed his daughter not to carry on with it. Zasha didn't understand what it had to do with right now, she didn't understand why Vera had lashed out in Dexter's office.

Tony thought he understood, he thought having this piece of information helped him understand why Vera had reacted the way she did, not just earlier in the morning but also last night when she found out Tommy had known.

Tommy remained silent. He had to be the one to think of the next step, he had to be the one who tried to convince Vera that Mr Tonio was just being Mr Tonio, Tommy had to be the one who convince Vera that she was fine.

Everyone in the office knew, they just knew that whatever happened next that neither of them knew how Vera would react.