Third POV.

Clair Wilson stared at the older man, tapping her pen on the papers before her.

Alessandro Mazzanti had just entered her office, with a friendly smile on his face.

She stood up from her chair and extended her hand.

"Mr. Mazzanti," She acknowledged.

"That I am. Miss..." He trailed off.

"Claire Wilson," She said, smiling politely. "Have a seat."

He sat down, putting one leg over the other.

"How may I help you, sir?" Claire asked, looking at the man closely.

Alessandro smiled sadly.

"I just got news that my oldest son got my daughters' custody."

"That he did." Claire nodded, knowing where this was going.

"But I'm their father," The older man said, rubbing his thumb over the ring on his index finger. "If their mother and her other family dies, they should be put under my care."

"That should've been the case, Mr. Mazzanti. I agree with you," Claire began. "Their stepbrother was the last guardian from their family, after their Mom and stepfather. The custody normally goes to the biological father in such cases."

The older man nodded, feeling hopeful that maybe he could get his daughters to live with him.

"But this is a different case. Your eldest son pulled some strings and got their custody overnight, without them protesting about him being their guardian while their father was... alive."

Alessandro nodded.

"That means I can still take them home with me. That's my right as their blood father."

"As I said, this is a different case. Your eldest son is perfectly capable of providing them with anything, so he's equally capable of being their guardian," Claire said, looking at the desperate man sympathetically.

"There's more things in favor of your son. If the kids live under his care, they're living with their blood family, but if they live with you, they'll have to deal with a step-family."

Alessandro sighed, a sad frown appearing on his face.

"The decision is up to them now," Claire said, making him perk up. "If you apply to get their custody taken away from their brother and given to you, it will be your daughters' decision. Whoever Amira and Aurora decide to live with, the custody will move to them."

Alessandro smiled brightly.

"So I do have a chance," He said, excitement bubbling in his stomach.

"Yes." Claire smiled. "You should go talk to them to put your side of the offers in. Tell them about the step family and ask if they're okay to live with you."

"Sure. Thank you, Miss Wilson," Alessandro said, smiling from ear to ear and walking out quickly to start planning what he'd have to do.

As soon as the car stopped in the garage, Amira jumped out and stormed inside through the garage door.

Rose rushed to follow her, leaving the two brothers alone in the car.

Now that Damien had cooled down a bit, his anger was being replaced by regret and sadness. And anger at his own stupidity.

Josiah looked at his baby sisters rushing inside and frowned sadly.

He opened his door and stepped out. Without another glance at his elder brother, he walked in through the garage door, trying to comprehend if it was a good idea to try and comfort her.

He put the idea aside, when he thought about it. She doesn't like someone being near her, except Rose.

Lucian stood in the lobby when the garage door slammed shut. He saw Amira walking in with a face that screamed, 'if anyone comes in my way, I'm going to slit their throat.'

He watched his little sister storm upstairs with Rose following, having just entered through the door. Rose failed to keep up with her twin.

Lucian turned to look at the door again. He wasn't wearing his suit coat. Instead he was wearing just his white shirt, a loosened tie and his suit pants. His shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.

Next came Josiah, looking conflicted. He made eye contact with Lucian for a second before moving towards the stairs.

Damien got out of his car as soon as he saw Josiah enter the house. He walked through the open door and turned to shut it softly. His head was bowed and his gaze was lowered to the ground.

But when he turned around and lifted his gaze, he came face to face with Lucian.

The loud slap that echoed through the mansion stopped Josiah on the fifth step. He turned around sharply just in time to see Lucian lowering his right hand, watching Damien stumble back a little from the force that struck him on his left cheek.

Damien's hand automatically flew to the side of his face as he kept his gaze on the ground.

Lucian kept his cold gaze on his younger brother, watching him lower his hand from his burning cheek slowly and keep it at his side.

"How dare you." The words came out cold, with a ruthless attitude beneath them.

Josiah shuddered at the tone, standing frozen on the step he was at.

"She wandered off when I told her to stay where she was. I got angry," Damien muttered, not once lifting his gaze from the ground.

"Stay away from them if you can't keep your temper in check," Lucian snapped. "I expected you to act better."

"But she worried me. I thought someone kidnapped her and then I got furious when I found her freely wandering around. She disobeyed me on purpose."

"She was wrong for doing that. It still doesn't give you the right to direct your anger towards her like that," Lucian said, making Damien gulp while keeping his gaze lowered.

"You don't know how much this will affect everything now," Lucian muttered, mostly to himself before turning his hard cold gaze towards Damien.

"Go to the office. I don't want to see you till dinner," Lucian ordered, watching Damien lift his eyes slowly and mutter a 'yes, brother' before he turned and walked out the garage door.

Josiah stood there for a second, not quite believing what just happened.

What Damien did was extreme. Lucian knew everything that happened. It was expected for him to be furious. Maybe Damien expected this reaction too.

Lucian watched the garage door for a moment before he turned around and directly locked eyes with Josiah.

"Make sure she's okay," Lucian said and by some strange magic, Josiah heard the plea underneath his fake unbothered tone.

Josiah nodded. Lucian looked at him for a second before he moved towards the living room.

Josiah turned around and walked upstairs.

He knocked on the door and waited. No one responded for a long while. He raised his hand to knock again but the door opened before he could. He looked down and saw it was Rose who opened the door.

"Is Bunny okay?" Josiah asked, softly, trying to look approachable and friendly, which he naturally was.

"Yes," Rose said, her voice void of any emotion.

"Can I check?" He asked, getting fidgety due to the short answer he was getting.

"No. She's in the bathroom," She said, simply.

Josiah sighed. Judging by Rose's attitude, he wasn't welcome near them.

'You are pathetic.'

Amira stood in the bathroom, just letting the hot water run over her.

She could feel his hands on her throat, slamming her into a wall. The injury she got on the back of her head was way worse than she could've imagined at that time.

'You yell again and I will rip this throat out.'

'What a pathetic bitch. Your struggle doesn't help with your situation.'

'Maybe we should use the knife this time?'

Her fists clenched as her eyes clenched shut. She took a deep shaky breath in, sensing the sobs about to try and escape her mouth. She brought her hand up to her mouth.

Biting into her hand she sniffled. Her tears mixed with the water flowing down her face.

"Levi?" A soft voice muttered, knocking on the door.

'You had to suffer so much because of her.'

Amira punched the wall before her. She was hearing this voice in her head which spewed out negativity.

"Yeah?" She called out.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked. "You've been in there for so long. Please talk to me."

Another failed attempt from Rose's side. She's been saying that for two years, but Amira never talked to her. Rose started noticing the change in her, it was obvious. But when asked, Amira just replied with 'nothing's changed.' The cold tone confirmed something was up. The decline in Amira's health confirmed something was up.

"Please." Rose pleaded.

"I'm okay, Rose. I'm not scared," Amira yelled, trying to assure her.

Truth was, she was scared. The way Damien's expressions matched Lucas' yet were different, scared her to the core. He didn't look as wicked as Lucas did but he looked as angry as him.

She was even more scared of him hurting Rose.

'All of them are the same. They will show their true faces one by one and then the damage would be done. You wouldn't be able to heal.'

Sighing she turned off the shower and dried herself. Dressing up, she opened the door, only to find Rose sitting against the wall beside it. Her legs stretched before her.

"I'm sorry, Levi," Rose said, standing up. She had tears in her eyes as she looked at her sister, who was already broken inside but now was crumbling into a powder due to the power and control she lost. At least she could make sure Lucas didn't hurt Rose. They had come up with a deal.

But how will she protect Rose from these five men?

"I want to leave. I really want to leave." The words left Amira's mouth before she could think about it.

She could've broken down and started crying before her sister. The words came out against her will but she covered up her broken state with the last bit of self-control she had.

Rose couldn't see her tears.

"Do you need a hug?" Rose asked, desperate to do anything to make her feel better.

She always felt useless. Levi always took care of her but she did nothing in return. She couldn't. Amira never let her and Rose was afraid she'd cross a line and hurt her twin more.

All she did to help was tie her shoelaces or make her eat more. Rose started that. The moment she knew something was up with her, she started making her eat more. If it was some health issue, she needed nutrition.

Amira shook her head, making her twin frown.

I sat in the balcony. The warm sunlight soothing my cold numb body. Rose was laying on the bed watching the clock. That's how bored she was.

"Why don't you watch something on your new laptop?" I asked, turning my head to the side to look at her over my shoulder. She jumped up suddenly, sitting up straight.

"I didn't think of that!" She said, climbing down the bed, then she stopped suddenly, her smile dropping.

"We didn't bring the stuff up to our room," She said, dropped her arms that were in the air due to the excited phase. "I'll go get it though. Then we will watch something."

Her excited smile came back as she started moving towards the door and out of my vision.

'They're going to hurt her.'

"Wait!" I said, suddenly standing up. She stopped, her hand hovering over the door handle.

"I'll go," I said, walking back inside the room.

"Are you sure?" She asked, looking doubtful.

"Yes, Rose," I said, smiling slightly. "Besides, I don't think Lucian is home and I'm not scared of the others. What bad could happen?"

"Lucian is home," She said. "Did you not see him in the lobby when we came home?"

My eyes bulged out and nearly fell to the floor.

"He was there?" I asked, horrified.

Now he has something to add onto my trouble list for today.

"Yeah," Rose said. "I'll go get it."

"No," I said, taking a deep breath. "I'll go. Just lock the door please."

I moved and stepped out of the room. After hearing her lock the room, I began walking downstairs, praying that I didn't run into Lucian.

"You need to leave."

I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard Lucian's voice. He sounded really pissed off and I didn't want to face him alone without Rose's support.

I shut my eyes and took a deep breath.

He's just a man. A normal human being.

I opened my eyes and continued downstairs, regretting the idea more.

"I won't leave without doing what I came here to do."

I stopped, this time due to the shock. I walked another step down and confirmed my suspicions.

Lucian turned around apparently sensing my presence. He gave me a bone-chilling look telling me that my presence was not welcome at that time.

"Amira," The other person muttered. I looked away from Lucian's nose, which I like to call eye contact and looked at the older man.

"Father," I acknowledged, hiding my shock behind my void of emotions voice.

"How are you?" He asked, waving his hand, telling me to go downstairs.

"Fine," I said, as I stood on the second step, reluctant to get too close.

"Go study, Bunny. You have homework," Lucian said, shooting fireballs at me through his eyes. My gaze lowered automatically and I nodded, before thinking.

"I came to get the stuff you bought us," I mumbled, not looking up at him.

"Take it and go," He said, sharply and nodded towards the living room.

I looked at my father once more and turned towards the living room.

"Your social worker contacted me," He said, behind me, making me stop in my tracks. "I can fight for your custody."

I turned around abruptly, my face still void of emotions but my eyes wide in shock.

"Pardon?" Lucian said, knitting his eyebrows together.

"Because I'm their father, the custody should be given to me. But since you're more than capable of providing them with everything, you're considered equally capable of being their guardian," He explained. I stared at him blankly.

So we can get out of here? Away from these people who scare us and are maybe trying to hurt us.

The bruise on my chest throbbed just then, reminding me of today's events.

'They're trying to get you away from Rose.'

I looked up at the two men having a staring contest right now.

"She will be calling you soon to tell you about it. The decision is upto the girls. I can spend time with them, so they can decide who they want to live with."

My fists clenched at my sides and my heart dropped a bit when Father leaned to his side a little to look at me, followed by Lucian turning around.

Flashing a friendly smile, he looked me from head to toe.

"It's nice to see you again. I couldn't see you because the court didn't allow me to after the divorce."

I just stared at him while he smiled like he was reliving the memories.

Lucian had a frown on his face as he stared at me, making me fidgety.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow. We're going to the amusement park," He said, a bright smile on his face, before he waved a goodbye and walked out.

Lucian and I stood there silently, looking at the door for a long time. I was the first to snap out of it as I rushed to the living room.

I opened the door to see Jayden and Josiah sitting in there, watching TV.

"Hey, Honey. What happened?" Josiah asked, pausing the movie. Jayden rolled his eyes.

"Just came to pick up the stuff," I said, looking around, stopping when my gaze fell on the various boxes and bags placed in a corner.

I moved forward.

"Let me help," Josiah said, standing up and picking up most of the bags. He piled up the boxes as many as he could balance without dropping any of them.

Jayden stood up to pick up the boxes when Josiah asked him to.

I flinched back when he brushed past me.

I picked up the two small boxes and the four bags that were left and started walking, maintaining my distance from both of them.

"Rose," I said, knocking on the door. The door unlocked and she opened the door. Her eyes went wide when she saw that we brought all the stuff.

She made way for us and let us dump everything on the bed.

Jayden left as soon as he put the stuff down, while Josiah stood there looking at me.

I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry for what Dex did," He began, but stopped when I raised my hand.

"I don't care," I said, which came out more rude than I intended it to.

"I-" He stopped himself this time and sighed.

"Do you need my help setting anything up?" He asked, looking between me and Rose.

"We can do it ourselves," Rose said, softly. He nodded and left, after glancing at me again.

Meanwhile, the wheels in my head turned at a violent speed.