I want to kick fucking rocks as I park my car at our house. I can't even bask in the after effects of the day and weekend we've had.

Today my father said he is done waiting around and he wants to know about our progress.

We are going to have to tell him our plan and give him details on her; what we've gathered so far. Details I don't want to give.

Being with her this weekend had felt like we were back to being us. Like our missing piece was finally back.

But I know its a pipe dream. Something none of us will ever have. Even if we wanted her, we couldn’t have her out of this school.

We can't take her to our parents. Our fathers would never allow it. They would never accept the daughter of their enemy. And they may even withhold our takeovers. And that can't happen.

We have put our blood, sweat and tears to plan and make this happen. I may feel a lot for the girl who was once everything to me, but I am a different man now, all of us are.

We can't lose our birthrights because of her.

I remember why we are doing this, why it matters: Our legacy.

And nothing will stop us. It is a vow that binds us.

I enter the house and I find my three brothers lumped in the living room sharing a blunt and looking uneasy.

We all feel it; the pull to her. It seems none of us even tried to fight it. I guess we had all missed her and we know there is no time to be wasted. Now is all we have with her.

After this she will hate us and we would have turned into men she would never accept anyway, and she had no place in our world.

I don't throw my bag on the floor this time, I hang it on the bag hanger Leo got us. I am not trying to test his patience today.

He is as angry as me and he will throw deadly punches, and right now we need to stick together because we have to figure out what the hell we are going to do.

I take four beers from the fridge. I walk to the couches and I hand each one before I take my own seat. I look at the painting. We have a camera in there. After she left on Saturday, we got to work installing cameras in all bedrooms and everywhere else including the car.

We all feel like shit.

"We are fucking assholes." Jose mutters after he blows smoke. He is also staring at the painting.

None of us respond because his words are true.

"We are in this. We have to do it." Leo says

"Don’t you fucking care that she's going to fall for us?" Bas gets up, looking like he wants to hit something

"You know I fucking care! But we have no choice. Its her or us." Leo says the last part in a lower voice

"We just have to keep the bigger picture in mind." I say, trying to bring common sense

"Yeah yeah, our empire. Our legacy." Bas sits down

"And besides, it's not like we have a future with her. All we have is now. Any feelings we may have, anything we want to explore, this is the only time. You know she no longer has a place by our side outside."

They all flinch at my statement.

"Our fathers may spite us. They know she is our weakness and they expect us to fail." I pause. "We will not fail. We will have what's ours."

"She will be crushed." Pain is unmistakable in Jose's voice

"We were also crushed when we found out she helped her father betray our families. We got over it."

"She was a fucking kid. She didn't know what she was doing."

"And how do you know that? How can you be sure?"

Silence befalls the room. We all thought we knew our best friend, but when we found out she wore a bug in her earring and how she always encouraged us to go and listen in on our fathers, and snoop in the office, we had known the magnitude of her betrayal.

She was a daughter of a snake, and snake don't birth sheep. It hurt to admit it, but she played us. We had loved her more than anything.

And when she called months later, I couldn't even hear her and I didn't tell my brothers. I'm sure she had been coming with more lies and I had to protect them.

But things are different now. We have business to finish and we will finish it. I will explore all I need to with her and I will get my hearts fill then we will move on. I know it will hurt, but it is my last sacrifice.

"When is your dad calling?" Leo asks

I look at my watch. "We'll conference in an hour."

"Are we going to show him the video from the weekend?"

I look at my brothers. None of us want to show her.

I don't know how to answer. This whole thing sucks.

"I wonder if he knows about her mother's cancer?" Bas asks.

A great question because if he knew then our fathers are even more ruthless men than I thought. Striking the Clark's at truly their weakest. And we aren't better.

I got up to go and look at the videos. I wanted to take pictures from it to placate him. Its hard now to believe our fathers once thought of Zahara as their own child. I guess the loathing they felt for their brother went down to her too.

Clark's betrayal changed us all. None of us were the same again. Our fathers almost fell apart. It took a few years to adjust to not having their 5th.

Zahara's father had been the one responsible for most of their strategies. With his career in the government he could get to resources that none of them had, and their relationship had worked. But one day he chose political ambition over his family.

I have never understood why he did what he did. Was it for his family? Maybe his life was threatened? Maybe his family?

That is one thing I would want to know one day when we finally face him. Why did he do it? After lifetime of friendship, why?

Those thoughts make me remember everything and regain my perspective.

By 7pm, our secured connection is ready and we huddle in the living area.

Our father all come on the screen. They are all in different location. Jose's father in his library. My father in his office. Bas's father at his office in his underground club and Leo's father in his office at the parlour.

"Sons," Bas's father greets first.

We wave. "Fathers." Jose greets.

"Don’t keep us in suspense, son. Your progress report."

We all look at each other. I guess its up to me.

"We met her..." I start. "She seems to have lived a sheltered life. She let us in last week and we have been close to her. She hasn't said anything significant..." I trail away, trying to think if I should say it. "...Except her mother has cancer."

None of them flinch. I frown.

They knew.

"You knew?"

"We did." Leo's father answers coolly

"And you still want to destroy a man with a sick wife?" Jose asks, trembling with anger

"You are all fucked up." Bas spits out

"We will not justify ourselves to you." Jose's father says. None of them still seem unfazed.

Right then I see my future. This is exactly who I will be in the future too. I knew it, but I never thought I'd have to crush my own heart to achieve it. But even as I sit here I know I can't avoid it. Its the hand I've been dealt, and I will play it to the best of my abilities.

"Continue, what else. Anything concrete?"

"Not what you are looking for, but..." I took the tablet. "We have this." I forwarded the pictures of us with her in bed. Leo took the picture of us sleeping, and one when we were all awake except her and she was between all of us.

They all nod. "This is good. But you need to push. Zahara isn't stupid, she will figure out everything and then we will have nothing." My father says.

His words land and I get a bitter taste in my mouth. We are fucking monsters.

"We understand." Leo answers, face emotionless. He only gets like that when we are about to either kill someone or when we are torturing someone. That right there is Drago.

Our fathers nod and the screens go blank.

I am exhaling when a bang snaps my head up. There is a knife in the middle of the tv screen. Jose.

"Fuck!" he shouts. We all stay seated and stew in our own shit.

"Yoh, calm down, bro." I say

He turns his ire to me. "Calm down! Fucking calm down? Can't you see what we doing to her?" he advances on me and I rise.

"She isn’t fucking innocent and you know that!" I step up to him too. Lest he thinks of going soft and running to her to tell her.

"How are you even sure of that shit, man? We never even asked her what happened."

I push him because he was getting in my face. He responds by throwing a punch I block and I give his mid section a jab. Leo and Bas are on us.

"Stop fighting each other." Bas says

"I didnt start it."

"You are all acting like children, we aren't 9 anymore. We have a job to do, we have leverage to gather and we have empires to take over. You all seem to forget why we doing this in the first place."

"I'm not forgetting shit. But Star was once one of us. She is our missing piece." Jose says with glazed eyes

"That Star is gone! Our Star is gone. You have to get over that shit!" I yell so he can get it in his thick skull

"Like you have gotten over it, Mr. Grapes." He spits back and I chuckle. The guys follow suit and we all end up laughing.

"Man, what?" I ask between laughs

We all plop down. Conflict forgotten.

After a few moments, I say. "It fucking sucks, man. Having her back feels like a dream. But we have to keep our head in the game."

"I agree. We may have unfinished business with her, but that's personal. Our mission is about business. She will hate us either way when this is over. Might as well savor whatever we can while we have her." Leo adds

"But she's dealing with so much. Her mother is most likely not going to make it. Then we will finish her heart." Jose exhales a shaky breath. "How is her little heart going to handle all of that?" his voice breaks with the last sentence. "Who will be in her corner? Who will help her pick up the pieces?" a lone tear slides down his cheek.

We all hurdle together in the couch. None of us have his answers. Bas gets two packs of beers and he gets the whiskey.

We drink in mostly silence as we drown our sorrows, knowing tomorrow we will have to see her again and lie to our girl some more.

Fuck.