ARMANO

Much to Kian's disappointment, I had my arms around his shoulder as we walked towards Dad's office--my office from now on.

"What do you think this meeting is about?" I asked him, walking down the stairs. "What if Uncle finally found a girl for you?"

Kian slid a pointed look at me.

"Oh, come on. It's not that bad. You refuse to date, your parents are just worried about you. On a second note, I am excited to see the day when you will be smitten by a girl and follow her around like a puppy."

"In your fucking dreams." He rolled his eyes.

Honestly, I was being hypocritical because I was on the same page as him. Settling down sounded boring to me. Why settle for one woman when I could have a different one every day? If Dad had heard me, I would have been dead but whatever.

Alamea waited for us outside the office, tapping her foot impatiently against the floor, hands crossed over her chest.

It should be illegal for someone to grow up so fucking beautifully. She was just a kid and then bam, she turned into a woman.

I miss her chubby cheeks though, I enjoyed pulling them and always had this strange urge to bite them.

Her features are quite sharp now, her electric blue eyes which are quite mesmerizing, plump lips and silky dark blonde hair which I love to mess up.

"I have been waiting for the past two minutes." She grumbled upon seeing us.

"I didn't ask you to wait, did I?" I retorted.

She narrowed her eyes at me and elbowed me hard in the chest making me wince.

"Can you for once behave?" I shoved her in retaliation.

"Look who is asking me to behave." She shoved me back.

Reaching my hand towards her, I grabbed her ponytail, making her head jerk back. "Ow, leave my hair alone."

"First, apologize."

"Okay", she said innocently and then before I could stop her, she brought her knee up and slammed it against my balls.

Holy shit. Intense pain radiated through my body making me clutch my groin and bend over, my fingers loosening around her hair.

Kian stepped back in fear.

Mea smirked victoriously as I slumped down on the floor.

Glaring at her, I swiped my feet making her lose balance and stumble and fall on top of me, her forehead bumping against my nose.

I locked my arms around her waist, keeping her there.

Kian sighed, stepped over us and walked inside without another look at us.

"Everyone is waiting for us", she muttered, wriggling around, trying to break free.

"You are going to pay for this", I whispered in her ear.

"Leave me or I will kick you again. This time much harder."

To mess with her, I moaned in her ear, "Oh, my sweet little devil, don't you know violence turns me on?"

For a second she shuddered before she came back to her senses and yanked herself away from me and I let her push back and get up.

She lifted her foot, ready to slam it down on my balls again when the door to the office opened and Uncle Cyrus walked out.

We both paused as he raised his brow at us. "What are you both doing?"

Dad and Uncles warned us to behave now that we were handling such high positions. We were supposed to act like adults and not bicker with each other or else they threatened to remove us from our positions.

I swiftly got up, plastering a smile over my face and grabbed Mea's shoulder, pulling her close. "We are just playing."

"Yeah." She agreed with me.

"Okay, come inside now." He turned around and walked in.

As soon as he turned his back to us, I shoved Mea away and followed Uncle inside the office.

"You are here too?" I asked when I found my maternal uncle, Arnaud, who is Celestine's husband, sitting on a chair.

"Yeah, so?"

He is close with my Dad and others and spends half of his time here.

I frowned when I spotted my cousins, Zaire and Zayden present too, leaning against the wall. "Who invited these two idiots?"

"I'm afraid we don't need an invitation to come here," Zaire answered.

"We were bored. And we are not idiots, you are." Zayden added to it.

I sighed. Whatever.

Dad and Uncles lounged on their respective chairs with Kian sitting opposite them, holding his two-year-old nephew, Azher in his arms.

Considering how he is the son of my only maternal uncle, Azher is my first cousin but at the same time, his mother is also my first cousin, making him my nephew. It's all messed up and I am still deciding whether to consider him my cousin or nephew.

Azher has a weird fascination for his Uncle Kian, he always clings to him, refusing to let anyone else hold him. If Kian is in the room, Azher forgets everyone, even his parents and cries until Kian holds him.

Kian may act all tough and scary but he adores his nephew, holding him protectively and even secretly kissing his forehead when he thinks no one is looking.

Currently, Azher played with Kian's stubble, running his fingers through it and sometimes accidentally shoving them inside his mouth.

I ruffled Azher's hair and sat down next to them followed by Mea who also greeted him, kissing his cheeks before sitting next to me.

"So..." I glanced around, waiting for them to speak.

Dad leaned forward, placing his intertwined fingers on the desk. "We have a task for you three. If you fail then you might as well give up your positions."

"What?" Alamea and I spoke in unison while Kian stared at them three.

"Did you do something similar when you got the position?" I asked.

Dad cleared his throat, exchanging glances with Uncle Silvio and Cyrus. "Not really."

Mea scoffed. "Then that's hypocrisy. We are not doing any task whose failure will result in us leaving our positions."

"Agreed."

Even Kian nodded.

"It's a simple task." Uncle Silvio said. "If you three can't complete that then you don't deserve these positions."

"Wow, you all don't trust us to handle the organisation?" I felt offended.

"That's not what we mean." Dad clarified. "It's just a test."

"What exactly is the task?" Kian asked in a low voice.

"This is fun honestly." Uncle Cyrus slid forward a picture to us. "You have to steal this."

Five massive red diamonds were embedded in a cool looking gold crown. Red diamonds are rare and the most expensive.

"The Harringtons possess it, it's their family heirloom. Your task is to steal it." Uncle Arnaud explained.

The Harringtons were corrupted and one of the most wealthy families in Boston.

"Where are they keeping it?" Mea asked.

"We are not disclosing any more information. Find out everything on your own." Uncle Silvio replied. "So, do you accept the task?"

I stood up. "We need a moment to discuss this."

I gestured for Kian and Alamea to follow me outside. Kian tried handing Azher to Arnaud or anyone but Azher held him tightly, not wanting to leave his Uncle so Kian brought him outside too.

"They are bluffing," Mea stated as soon as we were outside. "Even if we fail at this task, they won't take away our positions."

"I know." I ran my fingers through my hair. "They all still see us as little kids and don't trust us enough. We have to prove them wrong."

"What's buffing?" Azher asked, blinking his big hazel-green eyes at us.

"Bluffing." Kian corrected him, brushing away the hair from his forehead.

"Um..." I didn't know how to explain to a two-year-old. "It means...that they are lying."

Explaining things to a two-year-old could be hard like when I tried to make him understand that I was his cousin and his uncle. The poor guy got so confused that he started crying.

"But Daddy said lying is bad. Why is he lying then?"

Mea and I looked to Kian for help and he whispered something in his nephew's ear making Azher nod enthusiastically and then he put him down.

Azher ran inside the office, leaving us alone.

"Like I said..." I continued. "We have to prove them wrong. We only have to steal an heirloom, how hard it could be?"

Kian folded his arms across his chest. "Harringtons are quite paranoid, their mansions are guarded 24/7, and they are almost impenetrable. Now imagine the amount of security to keep the heirloom safe."

"Sounds like an impossible mission." Mea sighed.

"Are you saying you are backing out of this?" I asked Kian.

He frowned subtly. "I didn't say that."

"So, we are going on a heist. Who's in?" I glanced at them both, placing my palm forward.

Mea placed her palm on top of mine, squeezing it followed by Kian who placed his upon Mea.

"Let's do this."