I woke up to someone shaking me by the shoulders and before I realized who it was, I hauled off and punched them in the face. When I was able to bring the room into focus, I realized that it was Lucas that was lying on the floor next to me.

I didn't really have very good leverage since I was on my back, but he must not have been expecting it at all and between that and dumb luck he hit the ground. After I realized who it was, I wasn't very sorry that I had hit him, though. I'd actually been wanting to smack his fucking face for years.

"What the fuck, man! What the hell happened here?" he asked as rubbed his jaw and looked over at me.

"Are you telling me you don't know a thing about Dad and Mario showing up unannounced and dragging Brooklyn off? You never said a word to him?" I asked as I rolled over onto my hands and knees and used the bed to pull myself up. I was still pissed that that douchebag Mario had gotten the better of me but I was even more pissed my father was treating me like a child. Like my choices and desires didn't even matter.

With him, there is only one way, his way. I could see now that when things didn't go the way he wanted them to family didn't mean jack shit.

"Look, I never intended for things to get this bad. I mean, I was jealous of Dad giving you full reign with Brooklyn and I wanted to get in on that but I never in a million years imagined that he'd kick you out of the family."

"So you've talked to him?"

"Yeah, just now. He told me you're out of everything. I couldn't believe what he was saying. He thinks you're to blame for everything now. Seriously, it's like he thinks you're the devil. What are you gonna do?"

"I have no idea. But right now the only thing I can think about is getting Brooklyn the hell away from him. None of this is right, Lucas. None of this bullshit we do to secure the loans. You guys can knock yourselves out with all of it but as far as I'm concerned I'm glad he kicked me out. I just can't do it anymore."

"So you're gonna go after Brooklyn even though you know that he'll kill you if you do?"

"What do you care? Seriously, you've been nothing but a pain in my ass for a while now. Why do you care all of a sudden? Are you trying to get information for Dad or something?"

"No, I'm not. I'm not gonna tell him anything. If you want to go after her go ahead but I seriously don't know why you would put yourself in a position like that. You know how easy it would be for him to figure out what you're doing. And you know what he's gonna do when he catches you."

"I'm doing it because I love her, Lucas. And because I believe that what I'm doing is right."

"Well, I hate to break it to you but so does he. He feels like he's been betrayed and that everything he's doing to John Pierce is above board."

"Yeah, what's up between him and John Pierce? Dad said something to me while we were fighting about Brooklyn. Dad said that I should ask John Pierce if I really wanted to know why he was so hell bent on taking Brooklyn."

"You're kidding, I thought you knew."

"Thought I knew what?"

"Well, you knew that Dad had an affair with Jennifer Pierce, right?"

"What? Wait, are you telling me that Brooklyn is Dad's daughter?"

"Well, that I don't know. I totally thought you knew about all this. I thought that was one of the reasons you were so hot for her in the beginning but you were playing it cool."

"You mean you knew all this that summer we went to the Maldives? When we first met Brooklyn?"

"No, I didn't know then. I don't even remember who told me now. It must have been Mario."

"How the hell would he know?"

"Well, Dad does seem to trust him. It seems like over the last few years Mario has just about become his right-hand man. Anyway, I guess he doesn't know for sure if he's the father. Man, I really thought you knew. And then when you wouldn't even fuck her I figured maybe you'd lost your edge," he said with a laugh. "The idea was pretty damned hot to me."

"Why the hell does he was to punish Brooklyn though? She doesn't have anything to do with what her father or mother have done."

"He just hates John Pierce for some reason. I don't know what the deal is there. I'm sure there's something that he did a long time ago that Dad has never let go."

"And now he's punishing Brooklyn for it?"

"Well, the way he sees it he's punishing John Pierce. He's taking away his only child and publicly humiliating him. What could be better punishment than that?"

"God, he's sicker than I thought he was. He's gotta be doing some pretty fucking fancy footwork in that brain of his to justify all the killing and torture done in the name of righteousness."

"So, what are you gonna do?"

"I'm going to go and get Brooklyn. I can't let him do this to her. I've had enough of his crap and his loyalty to the family bullshit. He's not loyal to anyone but himself."

"Okay well, I'll cover for you."

"You will?"

"Yeah, I'll tell him you're here. I won't tell him anything you told me about going to get her."

"Why?"

"Because you're my brother," he said with complete sincerity.

"Thank you, Lucas," I said to him as walked out the door. I didn't know if I could completely trust him but I didn't have time to worry about it. I had to take my private jet to New York and get Brooklyn the hell out of there before she got back on my dad's plane and I never saw her again.

I went down the hall to my room and packed a bag and changed my clothes then headed over to the offices and took everything out of my safe. I had a good amount of cash that I had been stashing in there for quite a while. Not as much as I had been transferring to the new account, but a little over a million. And I was going to need at least that much to get Brooklyn safely away from my father. I called my private pilot then grabbed the money and the gun I kept in the safe and I took off.

* * *

I pulled into a parking space across from the Pierce house on the Upper East Side and watched a black limo that was double parked out front. I had driven around the block a few times and I knew that one of my dad's drivers, Grady, was sitting in the limo so that meant that Mario must be inside with her.

I took a big chance showing my face in broad daylight but I didn't feel like I had much choice at that point. I didn't know how long Brooklyn had been inside or how much time I had before she and Mario came back out and I knew I had to make my move. I ran over to the passenger side door of the limo and jumped in. Luckily Grady wasn't expecting anyone but Mario to open the door so he was just sitting there playing a game on his phone. I grabbed his gun away from him when he tried to pull it out of his jacket and shoved it right back in his face.

"I'm gonna make this easy for you, Grady. You can die in the next thirty seconds or you can make a million dollars. The choice is yours"

"Hey, Adrian. Don't kill me, man. I'll do whatever you want," he said with his hands in the air and a startled expression glued to his face. Grady wasn't a killer, like Mario or any of my Dad's other thugs. I'd never seen him fire his gun or even punch a guy.

"When the girl that you brought here comes out of that house you're going to be taking her back to the jet that she flew in on so that she can be transported to her buyer. What I want you to do is very easy.

You're going to take her to a different jet. My private plane is sitting at the same airport and in the same field. The plane she came in on is on the south end of the airfield. You just keep driving until you're at the north end of the airfield and you'll see it. My plane has the same family logo on it. If you stay calm about everything Mario shouldn't be suspicious at all.

When you get to Farmingdale and he asks why you didn't pull into the south airfield, just tell him you got new orders texted to you while he was inside the house and that she's being flown out on a different plane. If he raises a fuss of any kind, kill him. Then put that girl on my jet. That's it. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, of course. I got you. You can totally count on me."

"Are you sure about that? I need to know that you're with me on this. I'm going to be in a car right behind you the whole way. If I see anything funny, I mean anything, I will not hesitate to kill both of you. I don't have a whole lot to lose here. You got me on that?"

"I got it. Yeah, I got it. Really, you can count on me, Adrian. I don't want to die. You better get out of here, though. They're probably gonna be coming down real soon."

"Ok, I'm trusting you on this, Grady. Just get her to the north airfield."

I got out of the limo and ran back to my car then waited until I saw Mario escorting Brooklyn out of the building and down the stairs. She was crying and looked incredibly sad. This was the first time I had been on this end of a transaction and I just couldn't believe how gut wrenching it was to watch her walk out of her father's house like that. I couldn't believe I'd been a part of any of it.