Nico

"Your brother will be arriving soon." Father added sugar cubes into his mint tea.

Carina sat across from me while Father sat at the head of the vast mahogany table.

"Vincent has been going behind your back and conducting his own business. His choice of career is petty and useless to the family heritage." I tapped my fingers on my teacup to settle my annoyance. "He is an imbecile and not my brother."

"Oh, come on now Nico," Father breathed. "If Vincent wants to make silly movies about love and happiness then we'll let him. You two already know what I want from him."

Carina never looked up as she stirred her tea and went to sniff it before tasting some.

"Do you hear me girl? You like playing for both sides and I don't want any confusion in allegiance."

The question was more of a demand that Carina knew there was only one answer to.

He was satisfied when he saw the slight nod of her head and went on to drink his tea.

I was 28 years old while Carina was two years younger than me. Out of all of my parents' children, she was the only one who had such a light shade of hair. Brown.

It was cut just below her ears which made her look much older than she actually was.

She got the color from our mother along with her brown eyes.

Dad treated her just as different as she looked.

"Vincent's bringing someone, you know?" I asked behind my cup. "What if it's that hothead from before?"

He sat his cup down and pulled a cigar from the box in front of him.

"I paid Claire good money to keep our family's dynasty out of her mouth. She was no longer welcomed into this house nor country the last time she disrespected me." He inhaled the smoke of his cigar. "Vincent did say this person was vital to his experiment. Maybe you can show me how you can take the lead Nico and get me that serum."

"Why won't you let me take the lead?" Carina finally blurted out. "My sales in Chicago have been nothing less than superb for years and I have the right to compete to be the head-"

"You don't have the right to do anything!" Father banged his hand on the table which caused both our cups to jump. But Carina didn't even flinch. "This is still my company and I'd be damned if I allowed someone who isn't fully committed to her own family to take over. A fool would only allow a duck to run his kingdom, and you should know by now that I am no fool."

Carina sucked in her cheeks and looked down at the shiny yet tiny ring that encircled her left fourth finger.

Father didn't trust Carina because he knew she could run the business better than either him or I ever could.

And he has all the reason not to trust her.

Her husband was a mechanic in Chicago who lived off no more than $36,000 a year. Father most likely thought that she would take all that money to fund her marriage and take care of her daughter.

Along with my father, I believe that she might take the entire company and we won't have anything left. She was a hard worker and she's been that way for years.

That hard work was going to land her a lifetime of hell from our Father.

"I'm going to a meeting right now, but when I come back we will discuss our plans, Nico." Our eyes followed him as the ignited cigar hung from his lips and he exited the dining room.

Carina rose from her chair dragging her luggage out of the dining room and to the main stairs.

I was quick to follow her and I caught her by the elbow.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm greeting mom before I go since it's obvious that you two could care less about her." Carina spat while trying to tug her arm free.

"I love our mother, don't ever assume that I do not. And what do you mean you're leaving?"

"I'd rather throw a toaster in my bathtub than spend another second under this roof. I'm too convinced that dad will kill me in my sleep."

"You're overreacting."

She isn't. I wouldn't put it past him. No wonder she sniffed her tea before drinking it.

"Where are you going to stay?" I asked concerned.

"Like I would tell you." She snatched her arm from me like it burned and began walking up the staircase. "You're father's lapdog waiting on him to tell you how high to jump. I once thought that you were better than he was, but maybe I was wrong."

"Carina!" I groaned and she stopped mid-step. "Please, stay. If not for me then at least for Vincent when he arrives. I don't think he's going to be safe staying here."

Carina gave me one last glance before trailing up the last few steps and leaving me with three cups filled to the brim with scolding hot tea in the dining room that was a few feet away.

The fact that Carina believed that her cup could've killed her was insane because part of me believed that it was going to be mine.

~~~~~~~~~
Amari

My hand shook as they surrounded the steering wheel. I felt a twitch in my foot as I went to press on the gas and my breath hitched when I heard a motorcycle drive past the parking lot.

"Why are you making me do this? I already know how to drive." I remarked certainly.

"No you do not. The day after you drove me home I saw endless amounts of scratches on my paint and twigs stuck in between my tires. What, were you driving through a forest?" Vincent retorted while putting both of my hands back on the wheel after I slid them off and giving them a reassuring squeeze.

My fingers tapped on the shell of the wheel endlessly.

"Do you want me to put some music on to calm you?" He offered.

Mom always played music when we were driving. The genres could range from show-tunes to rock to gospel to jazz. And I remember the exact song that was playing when she was murdered. But every time I hear the song it's muffled and in slow motion.

I took a breath.

"Sure." I squeaked out not sure of why I agreed.

He turned on the radio and turned down the volume so all we could hear was the whispering from the little people in the car.

"How ironic." I mumbled when I heard the first line of the song danced from the radio. "That's my mom's song."

"That's your mom singing?"

"No, she wished that she had sung it thought. She auditioned for her first musical with this song. It started her career." I confided. "Do you believe in guardian angels?"

Vincent tugged at the loose string on the ripped jeans he wore. I'm still shocked to see his knees because he's always worn straight slacks.

"My father wasn't big on anything in coalition to religion. Actually he was one of the reasons I joined Alpha Kapa Psi. The frat is a home to guys who don't believe that there is something out there bigger than you and I. We teach brotherhood and never leaving anyone behind. Even if they are bastards like Henry who assault you in your own house."

"So you're an atheist?" I didn't mean to say it so harsh but the words fumbled out of my mouth faster than I could catch them.

Vincent opened his mouth but closed it and furrowed his brows.

"No one has ever asked me that," he chuckled out. "You would think that reporters would but all they care about are the 'drugs' they assume I'm laundering."

"But you are laundering drugs." I laughed as he tried to justify his answer.

"You know what I mean."

I nodded my head and pressed the gas pedal and we began to finally drift in the empty parking lot.

At an extremely slow pace.

Hey, it was a start.

"I've prayed before. As a kid I always imagined God as a genie who granted wishes by the way my mother used to say how much he blessed us. I thought we ran out of wishes when Violet and I asked God to help us escape from our father. Violet's wish came true, and I got the short end of the stick."

I made the decision of speeding up a bit as I got the hang of being behind the wheel.

"And then my dyssomnia never stopped so I just thought I was cursed." He admitted. "I was never a big dreamer, but when I lost the ability to dream I wanted nothing more than the gift of sleep."

I glanced over to examine the bags under his eyes but they were covered with dark sunglasses.

"You once told me that you're father treated you guys as slaves. If you don't mind me asking, did he ever...?"

I couldn't tell if he knew what I was insinuating since my attention was on my speed.

"Never. At least not with the girls. With them it was more of a 'psychological beating'. He used to beat Nico senseless and I was convinced that he couldn't feel pain because after the first couple of times he stopped crying."

I wanted to look into his eyes to see if they were darkening by his low tone, but I took the biggest leap and pulled into the street.

"What are you doing?" He asked perturbed and I heard the click of his seatbelt.

"Did he ever hit you?" I decided to ignore his question so I could focus on the vehicles moving around me.

He exhaled and I could sense him looking around us; probably making sure I was driving legally. Well, I am driving illegally. I don't even have a license.

"Surprisingly no. My mother always stopped him whenever he was about to lay a hand on me. She would pop up out of thin air."

"Maybe she's you're guardian angel." I winked his way and I didn't have to look to know that he was trying to suppress a grin.

"Perhaps." He rolled down his window to let the cool air in as the summer sun bid us a goodbye again. "Although whenever she wasn't around he would drive me out to the woods at night and just leave me there. He didn't come back until morning. The rustling of the leaves and the cracks of sticks made my skin crawl. I was too scared to even close my eyes."

"No one should have to go through that." I said. "I could kill him if you want?"

He cackled out of nowhere which made me snicker with him.

"We both know that you could and would, but I wouldn't ask you to."

If only he knew my true plans.

"Now where are we staying for the night?" At that moment I accidentally hit the curb while making a turn which made both of our breaths hitch.

"My lake house," he exasperated trying to check his wheels outside the window.

"Of course you have a fucking lake house." I shook my head and followed the directions he gave me until we reached a beautiful home on the edge of a lake.

"Since you haven't called the police on me nor Nova trying to kill you I want to return the favor." I turned the engine off and turned to him. "I want to help you sleep tonight."