"You have to be crazy!" Jake nearly screamed, making me glare at Derik. When I told him about my plans, I had no idea that he was also going to tell my best friend about it as well. It was just going to make things so much harder.

Ashley sat on the couch holding one of the twins, trying to rock them to sleep. She looked at me confused. With a sigh, I explained to her, "I'm leaving the family."

"What?!" she said completely shocked, "What about the twins? They are still too young to travel."

"About that..." I said, not wanting to finish the sentence. Only making Ashley even more confused.

Derik came up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder as he turned to answer Ashley's question, "Boss isn't going to let them go."

"That son of a bitch!" Ashley screamed, making the twins cry. She instantly gave me an apologetic look before helping me calm them down enough to go back to sleep. Lowering her tone to a loud whisper, she continued to share her outrage with the situation, "How can someone be so heartless?"

It was a cruel thing to do. but it was something that would keep someone with the family. Boss knew that I had little time with the twins and that I would hesitate to leave them. It was a type of manipulation that went beyond my wildest imaginations. Part of me wondered if David was just like his father in a way.

But I didn't want to dwell on the things I couldn't control. I just had to trust that Derik could take care of the twins for me. He can just tell them about me and maybe one day I could finally come back to the family. I just couldn't stay here when someone so manipulative was in charge.

Ashely laid a hand on my shoulder as she gave me a sympathetic look, "Ricky will make things right. I'll make sure of it."

I gave her a small smile, but I couldn't thank her. Knowing that if I opened my mouth, I would have some undesirable things. Like if Ricky was in charge, then wouldn't have to leave. But he wasn't in charge and I don't know why he was too scared to do anything about it. Maybe he didn't feel like he was capable enough to be in charge. I remember being told that Donny was trained to be a leader since a child while Ricky was free to do whatever he pleased.

As sadness built up inside of me, I looked at Derik, "Please take good care of them."

He sighed as he responded, "We will fix this, Leah. Boss will pay for what he did."

Jake handed me a backpack as he held back tears, "You don't really have to do this, Leah."

I didn't have to, but I also didn't have to tolerate being under Boss's thumb either. So instead, I gave my best friend a huge before grabbing the backpack. I didn't even notice him packing it in the first place, but I'm glad that he was looking out for me. After saying goodbye to everyone else, I left my apartment and headed to the lobby of the building.

When I got to the lobby, I wasn't too surprised to see David standing by the entrance as if he had been waiting for me. Just seeing him there had me thinking he was there to stop me from leaving. But instead he walked up to me and handed me an envelope.

"I may not agree with this choice, but I'm not going to stop you either. At least take this for just in case," he said holding out the envelope.

Hesitantly I grabbed the envelope. Looking inside I saw money along with a piece of paper with writing on it. Just seeing it made me look at him. "Why?" I asked.

With a sigh, he responded, "Because I would do the same thing if I could." he then leaned closer to me and talked in almost a whisper, "Donny will meet you at the location written on the piece of paper. Him and I have come to an agreement to ensure you are safe."

I nodded in understanding as David moved away from me and then held the door open for me.

"Thank you for understanding, David," I told him as I walked out of the door.

"I'm not a bad guy, Leah. Just misunderstood," those were the last words he said to me before the door closed and separated us. Making my heart instantly break for him.