Sara's heart began to thump faster as the car went further past the hotel gate.

Why was this happening? Why did she have to meet these people now?

Those questions and many others, ran through her mind and even her hands began to shake.

She simply would have ignored them. But now, it seemed they were going to go after her family if she did so. What was wrong? Was she not already done with them?

As she followed Snake and the others inside the hotel, she tried as much as possible to not show how uncomfortable she was.

They were other normal guests there but she knew the devils were all around the vicinity.

Everyday of her life, she prayed for this day to never come. The day where she had to face them again. But it seemed the deity did not give ears and heed to her prayers.

With his thumb print, a button with a new floor number appeared in the elevator which sent them to the penthouse at the last floor of the six-storey hotel.

The atmosphere there was completely different from outside. Maybe because she knew the kind of people that stayed here.

Two men who looked like bodyguards were stationed by the door and immediately they saw Snake arrive with the others, they allowed him enter with her but the rest remained outside.

She would have been awed by the interior if she was not very scared right now.

Inside the penthouse featured a large living room that was painted in gold, with a stunning view of the night sky through the wall to ceiling window at every corner. There was a dining area at one end and before she could look further around, she saw someone come out from a door she believed was probably the kitchen with two full glasses of wine in both hands.

The heater made the place really warm so the man was not wearing winter clothes like them but rather, he was on a tee-shirt and blue pants.

He was average in height, and from his completely grey hair and slight wrinkles on his face, one could easily guess he was in his fifties already.

He smiled when he saw her and continued approaching where she was quietly standing beside Snake.

One would have thought he was a normal good looking responsible man if not for the creepy tattoo of a snake wrapped around a sword which extended from his exposed left upper arm down to his lower arm.

She had known that message was sent by them because of the sword emoji at the end of the message. That was the logo of the gang— a sword.

Every member of the gang also had tattoos but it was depending on their rank. And that was how she had known Marcus was a level three. His tattoo was a plain sword. The more they climbed higher in rank, more inks were added. But it took years to be able to climb from one level to another.

"I'm happy to see you" He said before handing her a glass of wine.

Sara stared at him uncomfortably and refused to take the glass of wine from him. If she hated Snake with her life, this man was the bane of her existence. He was called Fuji.

He smiled again before handing it over to snake. "You have done well." He praised him.

Snake bowed and turned to leave but was stopped by Fuji.

"You should take a seat. The others are coming soon. They need to say hello to their little sister. How long has it been again? 5 years..or 6.. Or 7? I can't quite get it"

He shook his head before carefully plumping himself down on the couch.

"You should sit. We have a lot to discuss.. And lest I forget.... Merry Christmas"

Immediately he finished saying that to her, the door opened and in came three men.

She pursed her lips when she saw the people who had just entered.

Unlike Snake and Fuji, she did not have much resentment towards these three.. They were called Blue Rays, Sword and Black Dog.

Blue Rays smiled and waved happily when he saw her. If she remembered correctly, he should probably be around twenty seven years old now.

He had a small stature, looked really girly and his long hair that was in a ponytail did not help matters since people naturally assumed he was a girl and there was nothing he said that made them believe otherwise.

He was the tech whiz of the gang and most times, he went undercover as a female.

Sara did not bother to wave back as her eyes landed on the other young man beside him — Sword, also in his late twenties.

His face was expressionless and his eyes were dark but she could tell this was his 'happy face'.

He never smiled, neither did he talk much but he was extremely good with knives. And never has it been recorded that he missed a target; Not even in his sleep.

The last beside Sword was called Black Dog, in his mid thirties.

He did not bother to look at her as his eyes were fixed on Fuji instead.

Sara did not know much about this one. But according to the rumours, she heard he was called Dog because of his hypersensitivity. He was also very alert and knew when danger was about to arise. As for the 'Black', well, he was always dressed in black. Even right now, he was wearing a black pant and shirt. That would probably explain why he was called a black dog.

"You miss them don't you?" Fuji asked her as he gestured for her to sit first.

"What is it you want to say. Hurry up. I don't have all night" She answered coldly.

The others looked at her but were not so surprised she was talking to him like that. She had always been that way but it still felt strange to them since no one dared talk to Fuji like that.

"Let's have a drink first. We've not all gathered like this for years."

"You promised me. You promised you were never going to disturb me again. What is this about?" She yelled at him in anger. She was no longer scared as she looked at them. She was angry!

"It seems she is not interested in catching up with you guys" Fuji complained to the others but he didn't look annoyed.

The others said nothing. It was their norm to always remain quiet when Fuji spoke unless he asked for their opinion which was actually a rare occurrence.

"Then let's get to business. Everyone get seated."

The others soon found themselves sitting except for Sara who was still standing with a look of displeasure.

"Did you have to go that far with my little cousin? Do you act so childishly now?" She asked Fuji in annoyance.

He sipped a bit from his wine glass before twirling it around with the stem.

With his gaze fixed on the drink, he began to speak. "Would you have agreed to come here if we had not done so? What's the big deal about not receiving a prize?"

"If it was not a big deal then you wouldn't have done that! Why didn't you just come for me instead of hurting her?" It almost made her cry when she remembered how Joreen had suppressed her tears that day.

"Remember when I told you that before you can be strong, you shouldn't have weaknesses. We only did something insignificant and you're already acting up. Shouldn't you be happy it wasn't your father's restaurant. Or your Aunt. Or even...a CEO?"

He slowly lifted his eyes to look at her and saw her tense up.

She swallowed hard and tried to control her unsteady breath but it wasn't working. She knew she couldn't act rashly when it came to these people. It was the reason she was still very calm.

She knew she had to act indifferent. It was the only way she could be able to win against them. But no matter how hard she tried, it was not working. She still didn't want to give up anyway.

"So? You can try.. But you should already know me by now. You should know I won't let you hurt anyone close to me"

"Because you are a good fighter? Would you like to have a little training with Snake let's see how much you have improved over the years?"

The others who had been quiet the whole time looked at him in surprise. What? Snake should fight with her? Was he planning to kill Sara?

Even Snake was also shocked when he heard Fuji's words.

Thinking Sara would be scared, they heard her scoff.

"You don't seem to be scared. Even if you have been taking some classes lately, do you think you can be compared to a full BLACK? If not for the ritual we performed on you years ago, did you think you would have been able to lift your weak body to fight?"

So they even knew about the classes she was taking? How long have they been monitoring her? She sighed irritably.

"Which useless ritual are you talking about? You think that was the reason I could do everything I did?"

"Obviously."

"Don't kid yourself. I had the will to live that was why I could do everything I did. I wanted to live and be free from your clutches."

"You would have died if we hadn't saved your life. Do you think you would be standing here today if we hadn't saved your life?"

"You ruined my life!" She placed a hand on her chest to show how much pain she was going through "I would have preferred death to the kind of life you made me live. But I had to live so as to get away from you all."

"But we saved you. That is why you can enjoy all of these now. Getting famous, having fun and meeting a rich boyfriend. Isn't that so?"

Sara laughed humourlessly before turning to walk away. "I won't continue this conversation with you band of thieves."

For the first time, Fuji's eyes darkened.

The others also shifted uncomfortably in their seats as they witnessed the entire exchange.

"We all saw you as our family. I took you as my daughter. Isn't it unfair that you are treating us this way? Come back to us." Fuji said calmly but his eyes were still dark.

She turned around to look at him in disbelief.

"Are you high on expired drugs or something? You took me as your daughter? Would you treat your real daughter the way you treated me? Think long and hard about how you treated me and tell me if you would ever treat your real daughter like that. Would you... try to rape your daughter? You should be happy I am not putting a knife to your throat right now you disgusting old man."