Turning my back to the door, I leaned against it.

“He’s gone,”

“Thanks, I hadn’t noticed,” I snapped.

“In here now,”

Right, the bikies.

Now to deal with them.

I rolled my eyes and pulled myself together as I walked back towards the dining room. 

I noticed that Jax was sitting next to Adam, with his arms crossed, glaring at me. Why was he pissed off? He wasn’t the one about to get a grilling!

Cole went and sat next to Tyler. Troy had positioned himself at the head of the table, with authority.

I stood at the opposite end of the table with my arms crossed.

“You will no longer ride with any gang. You will no longer associate with any gang members. You will go to school, do your homework and, when you attend parties, they will be high school parties. Do you understand?” Troy demanded, his jaw clenched and his arms tightly crossed.

I keep my face blank, showing no emotion.

I was in no position to disagree, but it was against my nature to simply give in.

“Do you understand?” Cole venomously questioned.

“And that tattoo will be removed,” Tyler spoke up.

“And you will be handing over your gun,” Adam added.

A smirk spread across my face and I cocked my left eyebrow.

No way in hell was I handing my gun over, nor was I getting my tattoo removed.

”Don’t give us that look. You have no choice,” Troy informed me firmly.

As soon as that sentence left his mouth, my father opened the double doors leading in from the sitting room. He had a smile on his face, clearly happy to have all his kids in his house.

That was when the solution hit me.

If they wanted to ruin my life, I might as well throw them for a loop as well.

As if right on cue, I burst into tears.

And just like that, my dad rushed to my side.

And I fought hard to not let a smile cross my lips.

“Amber sweetie,” my father said, wrapping his arms around me.

I took the tears up to another level and wailed into his arms.

“What the devil has happened?” My father asked openly.

I quickly answered before my brothers or Jax had a chance to ruin my performance.

“They...” I broke off, adding a few more tears before I continued, “are going to leave again dad,” I whispered with fake heavy sadness.

I heard dad take in a deep breath and his body stiffen a little.

Now time to put the icing on the cake.

“They are abandoning me again,” I choked. 

They wanted to ruin my life and make sure I didn’t have one; well they could suffer with me. In fact, they could watch my life turn to shit first hand.

Thinking of coming here, ruining my life, and then leaving to watch from afar. Hah!

I snuck a small glance at their faces from under dad’s arm.

They looked stricken. Score!

Jax just sat there with a knowing smirk.

My dad let go of me and turned to face the boys. I didn’t have the willpower to control my laughter, so rather than facing them, I stood behind dad like a coward.

“You boys will NOT be leaving,” my father commanded the room.

Troy cleared his voice.

“We have commitments,” he pointed out.

“We can’t stay here and babysit,” Cole added with disgust.

“Family comes first!” My dad roared.

Even the boys knew how strict dad was on family. He had let them leave, but he wasn’t going to let that happen again. Not if he thought I needed them.

Which I didn’t. I just wanted them to suffer.

A small smile played on my lips as I stared at the marble tiles.

But, as I noticed my father’s feet turn, I completely masked my face with sadness once again.

“Now Amber, you go upstairs and rest sweetie. I promise you they won’t be leaving,” he said slowly.

He then turned his attention back to my brothers.

As I walked towards the door, I cocked a look at my brothers.

Cole was glaring at me and I sent him a sweet smile, and I watched his hands curl into fists. Satisfied, I walked out the door and then skipped up the staircase.

Let’s see how long they’ll stick around and follow through on the threats. My guess was, they’d be gone, and for good, sooner than I could even imagine, far away from this house that they hated so much.