"I know you're uneasy about things, but you need to stop being so overprotective. You're starting to remind me of..."

Felix cringes and takes Emilie's hands in his and gives them a reassuring squeeze. All he wants is for her to be safe. She is his rock and he is hers. They're adults now, not the eight-year-olds that discovered their parents were splitting up.

Felix needs to stop worrying about her so much, and now that he's starting to remind her of her ex whom they shall never speak of, he knows he's going too far with things.

"I'm sorry," he says sincerely. "If going with some of the others is really what you want, then by all means, go. I won't stop you. Just promise me you'll be—"

"I'm always careful, Fee." She gives him a tight hug before letting him go, smoothing his jacket. Somehow, Felix realizes, wearing a suit makes him feel more secure.

He and Emile had learned at age sixteen that the reason that their mum and dad divorced was because their mother had been running a secret organization selling counterfeits and doing crazy heists. It ran in the family, a family that their father wasn't trustworthy enough to be a part of.

Less than seven months later, they found out that their mum was hit by a car...and it was no accident. The driver had been their father and they somehow knew that he was going to go after them next.

So the twins fled to the United States where they stayed connected with their mother's organization, reforming the Heist Society and strengthening its branch in the US.

It was here, if Felix recalls, that he started to wear a business suit all the time, keeping his blond hair neatly combed to the side. His briefcase completed the look as he went to 'work' each day at a tall corporate building in New York City.

Really, there are some associates of his that work here and together they plot and gather information needed to perform certain heists. Felix may have been shy of seventeen at the time, but he looked older than he really was and his colleagues accepted him and his sister wholly.

"I know, I just need to be sure," Felix places a kiss on her cheek, daring to show his softness for a moment. "Everyone here is nuts and what happened with Zuri—"

"Won't happen to me." She gives him a pointed look. "I'll be fine, okay?"

"Alright." He watches as she does a small spin, looking amazing as ever in her classic pale pink pantsuit. Both of the twins had taken up proper businessware, as it fits them and what they do.
Emilie had become more and more cunning as the years went on, eventually turning into a killer as if she were the head of a mob.

In a way, she is. They both are.

Felix has no doubt that their mum had terminated many people who didn't meet their payments or blabbed to the authorities. It's necessary because if you don't, it's game over.

He hopes that this game isn't already over for him, for he knows what the clue means. The only problem is that he doesn't know where to look.

With Emilie searching with her new "friends" that leaves Felix no choice but to explore alone. Thank goodness, because when he's not working with his sister, he prefers to work by himself.

Felix finds most people to be incompetent at what they're supposed to be doing. It's for this reason that a lot of his employees were fired, and of course, eliminated because of liability.

"Hey!" he hears someone say. The voice has a pang of an accent, and it takes Felix a moment to realize that it's french.

A woman sashays her way to where he stands and he fails to conceal his distaste he already has for her. She looks familiar, but Felix can't quite recall her name.

"Felix de Vanily. Don't think that I would have forgotten you!" She greets, a drawl in her voice. It's this distinct sound that reminds Felix of who this woman is.

"Sabine Dupain." He gives her a curt nod. "I see you are still alive and well. It's nice to see that your ex hasn't stolen your life yet."

Sabine crosses her arms, letting her dark brown hair slightly cover her face. "He's yet to get me. Sadly, not everyone's ending is a happy one."

She offers him an apologetic smile and his mind immediately remembers the night that Emilie came bursting in his office with torn clothes and makeup running, her fine blond hair a tangled mess.

Felix was in a meeting with Sabine, regarding a transaction of an important statue from the US capitol. When Emilie came in, disheveled and crying, Felix rushed to her and led her to the small sofa that is in his large office...

Sabine gives Felix a nod that tells him she understands the circumstances and quietly departs, leaving Felix there alone to help his sister.

"What happened?" he asks, crouching in front of her.

"He did it." Her voice comes out in a whisper. "He did it."

Not wanting to further upset her, Felix says nothing, and just wraps her in a light hug. Seating himself next to her, Emilie leans her head against his shoulder, softly crying and Felix snakes his arm around her waist to rub his hand up and down her back soothingly.

While he doesn't quite know what happened, he knows how to find out. It was then that he realized this can't go on any longer. As soon as Emilie had fallen asleep, he laid her on the couch before picking up his keys.

He hops in his car and drives straight to Ben's apartment, armed with his favorite gun.

He has some sort of clarity when he finally arrives at his destination.

How dare he, he thinks. How dare he even touch her.

As soon as the door opens, he fires his shot, murdering Benjamin Stone. Felix was blinded by anger, but after he realizes what he has done, he makes sure to delete all security footage and erase all traces that it was him who killed the young man.

Ben would never harm Emilie again.

Felix knows that he shouldn't have done that, but what else was he supposed to do? Since that happened, he hasn't let anyone get close to Emilie.

And now Sabine is here with them in the mansion, the only one who saw and knows what happened to Emilie that day besides Felix.

"I'm sorry that happened." She places a hand on his shoulder, using her other forefinger to lift his chin up. "Hey. It's in the past, and it wasn't your fault."

"If I had known he would do that...Emilie wouldn't have even gone on the second date."

"We can't control everything," she says, almost awkwardly stepping backwards when she realizes her hand is still on his arm.

"Thank you," Felix blurts. "For not saying anything."

She gives him a knowing smile and her mouth forms an 'o' as if she'd forgotten something.

"Shoot! The whole reason I came over here was to invite you to come and join me, Samantha, and Jason on the hunt for the next clue!"

Felix raises an eyebrow. "How did you end up with those two?" He knows that Sabine isn't one to work with others. She, like him, prefers to work alone.

"It's better to stick with somebody in case there's an incident."

At this, Felix smiles grimly. By incident, she means murder and Sabine has a good point.

"Very well," he says. "I suppose I have no choice. But don't expect to share any information."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

***

They search the halls and on the top floor, where many of the others are judging by the sounds of laughter and talking. A secluded alcove attracts Felix's gaze, and he calls to the others.

"I've found a door," he calls out.

Samantha turns around from where she was knocking on the wall and walks over to where Felix stands. "How did we miss that?"

Sabine and Jason are now standing behind Felix who waves them away. "Don't hover."

"I'm not hovering, I'm simply looking at what you found." Jason raises his chin a bit.

"Yeah, right. As if you were just looking at what he found." Samantha scoffs from a few feet behind Felix. Jason turns to look at her.

"Am I not allowed to look at anything, Sam?"

"What did you just call me? I must've misheard you." Her eyes light up like the flames that burned bright during the Great Fire of London.

"You didn't mishear anything, Sam. You just—" At these words, something inside Samantha breaks. She lunges towards Jason, pinning him to the floor. Winces of pain can be heard from him as she repeatedly punches him in the face. It isn't until his face is covered in blood that Samantha rises from the ground.

Felix doesn't know whether to be shocked or surprised. On one hand, they are all crazy people. On the other hand, they are all adults.

"What was that for?!" Jason leans his head slightly forward, pinching the tip of his nose. The blood slowly starts to stop, revealing that his nose has slightly changed shape.

"Maybe, if you hadn't—" Samantha starts towards him again before she is interrupted.

"Can you both just shut up!" After they both go quiet, they turn their attention to Sabine. "We have found a perfectly good door and we would be through right now if it weren't for your arguing!"

Felix hasn't moved from where he was inspecting the door. Never paying attention to the earlier fight.

"Fine." Samantha walks over to where Felix is, bumping shoulders with Jason on the way. "We should go through the door."

"Shh!" Felix has been intensely focused on the door and, moreso, the odd lock that rests in the center of it. A small container with several long pieces of metal sits on the ground next to him. Without looking, Felix places the one in his hand back in the container and takes another out.

Click!

Felix has a small self-satisfying grin on his face when he places the small container into a hidden pocket in his jacket. He moves away from the door, almost as if he knew it was going to swing open.

Felix has known how to pick locks since he and Emilie first found out about their mother's organization. He thought that they would need to pick locks, and he was right. He's used this skill so many times that he can do it with his eyes closed. For his birthday last year, Emilie even got him a new set of picks.

With a look at the others behind him, Felix walks through the door. He appears in a large dome-shaped room. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling, spreading bright light throughout the room.

"Is this a ballroom?" Sabine looks around as Jason and Samantha come up behind her. Nobody answers her, their attention absorbed by the intricate details of the room.

Jason and Samantha are standing side by side, facing a wall. Felix walks over to them, curious as to what they are so entranced by. It's only when he traces the grooves on the wall he learns what it is.

Two snakes joining together.

Samantha's family crest is etched in the wall with gold.