Broc:

My mother has a huge smile on her face as I hung up my phone. I rolled my eyes and tried to move past her to the kitchenette in the hotel suite.

"Who was that sweet sounding girl Broc?" My mother's sweet eyes begging for details.

"It's no one, not really." I huff. "It's complicated."

She rubs my back as I lean forward on the counter waiting for the coffee maker to finish making my third cup of coffee.

"I'm sure it's not that complicated Honey..." My mother's sweet voice begins to calm me. She always seems to be on my side.

My brother gets up from the table, walking over to the couch with a stack of files in his hand, "Come on mom, you know Broc only cares about one thing, whatever complication is in the way is probably the poor girls feelings for him." I glare at him from across the room.

"Shut the fuck up Connor!" I know we're supposed to be brother's but he's always been the perfect one. The one my father constantly praises. The one who followed in my father's footsteps exactly. Marriaed his highschool sweetheart, immediately jumped into the family business full time, poised to take over whenever my father decides to retire. His wife is the perfect example of a mob boss wife, he makes all the money he can and she spends all the money he makes. She's his most prized posession and she knows it. Thank god she's not here. I hate dealing with her complaining all the time. Plus I usually get stuck having to keep an eye on her while my dad and brother work. Exactly what I don't want.

I almost got stuck with that, once. When I finally got permission to tell me girlfriend of 3 years aboout what I really did for a living, she threatened to go to the police. We ended up having to pay her off, and my father has never looked at me the same. He's always questioned my descisions from that point on. $355,000 later, she finally gave up and moved on with another man. She's married now, with 3 kids, living a happy 'white picked fence' life. I never tried again. Why should I? Either I get stuck with a gold digging idiot or I can have my fun when I need to.

Except...

"Language!" My father yells from the hallway. Knocking me from my thoughts as I roll my eyes and continue making my coffee.

My mother walks over to my dad and whispers something in his ear then kisses his cheek making my father's eyes light up. I look away, trying to keep my mind on the task at hand instead of thinking about how badly I wish I was at home with my Eres and Summer. Is it even possible to something like my mom and dad have?

After I remembered who was in the photo I did a little digging through our files before my father got here. There's no mention anywhere of Fredrick Wilson having a daughter, but I did find something interesting. My father spent a fair amount of money to keep the wilson family afloat. I know Fredrick and my father were close. I have a few memories of my father going out of his way to help our fridrick's son, mike, but I just figured he was helping out a close friends son. Maybe I'll bring it up later.

Once my mother leaves with one of the body guards to do, whatever it is that my mom does, My father and Connor jump right in.

Looks like this rival gang wants in on what we have but we've been slowly working to get them off our turf for a while now. They make most of their money by kidnapping rich girls and creating bidding wars between the families and whoever wants to buy the girls. The more they dig into this the harder it is to listen to them. I want to grab every weapon I own and kill every high ranking member I can.

*****

After nearly 2 hours of planning and phone calls, it seems we've come up with a plan that should send a big message without bringing too much attention to our organization.

My brother's wife finally appears with my mom, it's 5 o'clock, and she's already wasted. My mother has to help her through the door and I see my father let out a big sigh. I know he's not a fan of Vivi either but for whatever reason he bites his tongue. Sometimes I wonder if my father regrets letting my brother tell her about our business.

I roll my eyes as Vivi is handed off to my brother so he can get her to bed. My mother smiles sweetly at my brother, "Found her knocking on the door down the hall. Seems she couldn't remember our room number. She was without a body guard too, Honey. You know that's so unsafe."

I try to stifle a chuckle as Connor glares at me. I watch him carry Vivi to their room down the hallway.

"Play nice Broc." My father says as he looks up from his file he's reading.

I sigh, "I don't know how you deal with it."

He shrugs, "She's not really my problem. Laurel and Connor have to deal with her the most." He cracks a smile, and I smirk. My poor mom. A brief thought crosses my mind. Summer and my mom would get along very well. I shake it away. I can't think like that. Not right now.

I fight the urge to check on the house, knowing full well that Summer should be back with Eres by now, but I need to ask about Fredrick.

"Father, remember Fredrick? Fredrick Wilson?" I see his entire body stiffen for a moment. He tries to play it off, but just the mention of his name makes him uncomfortable. I look to my mom who has stopped unpacking her bags for a moment. Interesting.

"Why do you ask about him?" He puts down his file, scrubbing a hand down his face.

"Did he have a daughter?" My father glares at me for a moment.

"Why?" He says sternly. I seemed to press some button I didn't realize he had. I look at him confused. Why is this a sore subject for him?

My mother is now moving so slowly, watching my dad closely as he leans in closer, still watching me on the other side of the coffee table. Waiting, not so patiently, for my response.

"I've worked with Mike before, I met his sister the other day." My father motions for my mother to come and sit on his lap. My mother looks like she's on the verge of tears. I wasn't trying to upset my mother. What is it about the Wilson family that seems to trigger such a response.

He sighs, pushing my mothers head into his chest, "Shush, love... Ok, what I'm about to tell you is something no one knows. Not even your brother. It never leaves this hotel room you understand?"

I nod my head, a knot forming in my stomach, unsure of what my father is going to tell me.

"Alec, please..." my mother's tear filled eyes look up at my father, pleading, "we don't need to discuss this now..." I look at my mother and father with a confused look on my face as I watch the stare down between them. My father is holding her close running a hand down her cheek. He sits back and sighs, "Laurel, my love, I think Broc needs to learn from my mistakes..." she nods her head as he turns back to me. Kissing my mother's forehead for good measure.

God my parents are still so in love it's almost painful to watch.

"Before our family business was as big as it is, I was looking for a weapons expert. I found Fredrick. He had a brain for weapons and how they work. He rarely missed a target and was a very popular hit man. Word went around that he had a pregnant wife and wanted to stay more local, so I offered him a chance to join us..." My mother sniffles as he tries to calm her in his arms. I nod letting him know I understand what he's saying so far.

"He was an amazing man, with a beautiful growing family. Marissa and your mother spent many many nights together while Fredrick and I would travel for the business. Fredrick's understanding of weapons came mostly from his father's side of the family where they sold black market weapons. Fredrick wasn't close with his family though. They had a falling out many years before I knew him. He warned me not to trust them, but I forced him to a conference of sorts, Fredrick's family was hosting. We argued the entire time. He was very unhappy that I brought your mother to such an event especially while you and your brother were still so young. I tried to reason with him, but it was no use. I was so consumed by the power this family held and I wanted a piece...." He shock his head as if trying to shake the bad memories away.

"...I sent him outside with your mother, but just as they got out the door, the shooting began. Fredrick took a bullet for your mother." My father wiped some tears from my mother's eyes. I knew Fredrick had died in an attack but I had no idea how close they really were.

I opened my mouth to keep talking but my father put up his hands to stop me.

"Fredrick got your mother out of there with just enough energy to call for a pick up. He had your mother get in the car while he waited and fought through a bullet wound to try and get to me. When we found him, bleeding out just outside the compound. We both knew he didn't have long. I sat in the back of that van, tears in my eyes. I wrote, by hand, a small note for his wife. Then as we pulled up to the hospital, he spoke about his final wish. His only wish was that we keep his daughter hidden from this world. He wanted to give her and her beautiful mind a chance to blossom without the fear of running and hiding. Only a select few of us knew he had a daughter. I made sure to keep my promise. I tried to make sure she stayed out of all this. Kept tabs on Mike, made sure he wasn't getting in too much trouble...."

He stopped for a moment, his eyes began to water. Was my father crying? My father was never one to hold back tears but it wasn't often he would get that emotional. How could one family be worth so much to him and I know nearly nothing about them?

"...His wife, well, she threw us away. She never forgave us. I know she hated that Mike still worked with us on occasion, but we never went near her again. It was her request, and we honored it."

I looked from my mother to my father. My mother quickly gets up from my father's lap, and rushes to their room. I could tell she would be in there a while. I was at a loss for words trying to take everything in. After my father wiped his eyes, I took a deep breath.

"Does she know? The daughter?" My mind was racing about how much she knew.

"You mean Summer?" My father glared at me. Looks like he knows more than he's letting on. "Yes. Mike was never that great at keeping her out of the loop, and that girl is brilliant. Just like her mother and father. I know you've seen Mike with weapons, but..." He trailed off, lost in thought for a moment.

I wince at his words. Now I'm annoyed, "How much do you know?" Now a little peeved that I came into this conversation while my father seemed to know more than he was letting on this whole time.

He sighs, sitting back on the couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table, "I know that Summer showed up to one of your little game nights. I know you nearly spent the night in her house, and I know you've got her watching your precious little puppy." He smiled at me, making me tense. Damn it. "Listen, son, I know she's pretty, and she's got a heart of gold, but just cut her off ok? I refuse to bring her into this life. Her father's dying wish was that she would go to school and have a life without all this ok? Besides, her mother would come after me." He nervously chuckled at this, which made me even more frustrated. I ran my hands through my hair and sat up a little straighter.

"I don't understand, you know what her and Mike do for a living right?" He furrowed his brows at me.

"What do you mean? Mike runs a home design company, they design houses and Summer does the interior." My dad begins to sit up, suddenly becoming tense. His brows furrowing as he sits at the edge of his seat.

"Well that's the front, yes. Mike also sells weapon designs on the black market, through us of course." I smirk, but My dad only continues to glare at me.

"What does that have to do with Summer? She only goes into the office to design houses."

I shrug, "if you say so, but I know Mike. He knows his way around most weapons, but I'm positive they're not his designs. I thought he was paying someone to do it for him, then I followed to money to see who he was paying. I followed it back to his sister, Summer."

The entire Banner Family ⬇️