Lacy

8 ~ mobile

ADAM

I never thought that I would lay eyes on my sister again. I never thought I would see her crystal clear eyes, or see her golden hair. 

Her mother, Imogen, better be glad that she's dead, or else she'd be begging for it by the time I was done with her. 

Even though Lacy and I only share a father, I see her as my full-blooded sister. The missing piece in our family. 

I didn't think I'd ever see her again. I've watched her from afar all these years, but I was never able to take her from her mother, no matter how much I wanted to. 

Imogen Clark was always of an unstable mind. My late father's biggest mistake was marrying her, especially knowing her past. 

But he claimed it was love. He promised me everything would be fine. And that mistake almost ruined our family. 

Only three years later, the American and English Mafias broke their centuries-old alliance and my little sister was gone. 

It feels surreal to have her back in this house, in this home. Her presence adds an air of security and warmth that was absent before. 

Albeit, I know she doesn't want to be here. I know she doesn't understand the measures I took to bring her here safely. But she will, soon enough. 

My only concern is to gain her trust. It breaks me, and I know it breaks my brothers, that she treats us like we're the bane of her existence. 

We really have no one to blame but ourselves. If we'd brought her back sooner, we could've coaxed her to coming with us willingly. 

Instead, we waited. We waited for the Clarks to die and then we waited even more for Lacy to become settled in with the Johnsons. 

We waited so long they caught whiff of her existence. They realized she was still living, walking, breathing. So, they were going to go to her. Take her. 

My brothers and I had to take her first. No matter what measures, we knew we had to take her to ensure our beloved sister's safety. 

I glance out the window of my study, and see Lacy and James outside the manor, looking out at the ocean, which is close to the manor. 

To gain her trust, I've decided to let Lacy venture out of the manor. Partly to make her like us more, and also because there are guards around the property. 

If my sister wanted to run, she wouldn't get all that far.

And to my surprise, although I told her she could go outside on her own, she decided to let James come along. Though I did hear him begging her to let him come with her. 

I take a step away from the window and go back to my desk. Liam stands on the other side of the room, going through family record books kept on the bookshelf. 

Even though Lacy lived with us in this manor for four years before her departure, my father was never actually able to add her to the family tree because of her birth. 

At the time she was born, in the 1990s, the world of the mafia was different, and the American and English families were kept to different values. 

Imogen and my father weren't married at the time of Lacy's birth— mainly because of Imogen and her constant cold feet— so Lacy was labeled as 'illegitimate' and unable to properly join the family. 

Now that times have changed, and I couldn't care less what the my estranged American relatives think, Lacy will become the daughter of the Rhodes family.