Alex growled in frustration and slammed the glass of wine on the desk in front of him and pushed the files in front of him on the ground. He couldn't simply think about anything other than the brunette he had seen that morning. Her mesmerizing eyes were in front of his eyes whenever he was closing them. Her plush kissable rosy lips and how he wanted to taste them were the only things he could think of. The thought of her in that boy's arms was killing him painfully. It was odd how possessive and whipped he was feeling toward the girl he had just met a few hours ago. He was with a fair share of women in his life, but never before he had slightly felt like he was feeling toward Alison.

He sighed and ran his hand through his messy hair again. There was a knock on the door and a second later, Simon walked into the room without waiting for the answer.

"I don't remember saying a fucking 'come in'," grunted Alex and watched Simon who walked toward his desk while waving a file in the air. He tossed it on Alex's desk and plumped himself on the bed.

"This is everything about Alison Harris." he said and leaned forward and grabbed Alex's glass and took a sip.

Alex eagerly opened the file. The first thing he saw was an image of Alison. Her curly hair had fallen around her freely and she had a small smile on her lips. He ran his thumb on her picture and listened to Simon as he reported.

"Her mother, Evangeline Harris, has recently married Albert King. So the King brothers are officially her brothers as well. The boy you saw her with today..." said Simon and Alex's head shot up at hearing the last sentence. Simon smirked. "You lucky bastard." said Simon and took a sip. "He is her best friend who is totally her family, nothing more. They are four friends and they are inseparable."

"You sure?" asked Alex and Simon nodded. Alex sighed in relief and leaned backward. "You said she is living with the Kings?" he asked now able to focus on other things.

"Yes, It's odd that they had not announced it." said Simon as he emptied the glass. Alex nodded thoughtfully.

"Now what are you going to do?" asked Simon. "Going to use her against them?"

"No one is going to use her for anything," hissed Alex and glared at Simon. Anger flashed in his eyes and Simon raised his hands in surrender. "Of course I'm going to claim her. She is so innocent to be involved in mafia. Kings are idiots. She now will be in constant danger," he paused and clenched his fists and continued. "but no one is going to touch or hurt what is mine. I will protect her with everything."

"The Kings will not tolerate this. They will stop you. Prevent you from getting near her." warned Simon.

Alex smirked. "Let them try." he said. "We will see who will win at last."

****

Alison had stood in front of the window of her room, watching the utter darkness outside. Her heart was heavy but she had refused to cry. Her anger had given its place to sadness. Had she ever done something to give them that low impression about her? Why Xander was acting like that? Why did he hate her that much?

Someone knocked at her door, but she didn't answer. She simply didn't have the energy to talk to someone. The door opened and Marisa walked in. Alison didn't turn or say a word. Marisa was there when Xander said those hurtful words so there was no need to pretend in front of her.

"Alison dear." called Marisa softly. "How do you feel?"

"Fine." answered Alison simply.

Marisa looked at her back sadly and shook her head. She knew that Alison was lying, but she didn't press it anymore by questioning further. "Your father has asked your presence in his study." she said.

Alison sighed. That long day simply didn't want to end. "He is not my father." she whispered under her breath. "Can I see him tomorrow? I'm really tired."

"I'm afraid not, dear." said Marisa.

Alison sighed again and walked toward the door. It was better to face the last nightmare of the day sooner than later. When she was passing Marisa she gently grabbed her arm. Alison glanced at her. The sight of her empty eyes clenched Marisa's heart.

"Xander didn't mean what he said. He just has anger issues. Don't be sad and don't take it to heart, honey." said Marisa.

"Then he better control it." said Alison emotionlessly. "It doesn't give him the right to treat people like that and say whatever he wants. He is a grown man, not a child." she said and then walked out of the room.

She walked downstairs and to the west wing. She found her way towards Albert's study and knocked three times. Just a second later, she heard Albert's deep voice letting her in. She opened the door and was met with the intense gaze of her two oldest brothers, Albert, and her mother.

It was a big office themed with maroon and golden colors. There was a big table with a few black leather sofas and a coffee table in front of it. The wall behind the table was covered with shelves filled with books. Albert had sat behind the table on a leather chair, looking mighty and intimidating.

"Good evening." said Alison politely.

"Good evening, Al." smiled Rich, a bit taken back by seeing her tired like that.

"Come and have a sit, Alison." said Mason. He had stood behind his father's chair while Rich and Eva had sat on the sofas. Alison went and sat on a sofa herself and looked at everyone emotionlessly.

"You look tired." said Albert while watching her intently.

"It was a long day." answered Alison.

"I heard you were at work." asked Albert while leaning at his chair. "You left after the school without telling your brothers and made them worried. I wish you understand you broke a rule."

Alison would have scoffed if Albert and Mason weren't in front of her looking scary. "I thought by all the searching you had done over my life, you knew the fact that I'm working, plus mum knew as well."

Albert nodded. "You are right. I had just forgotten to tell you that you are not allowed to work anymore."

"What??" yelled Alison and shot up, not believing her ears.

"you heard me the first time." said Albert sternly. "you are my daughter. You don't need to work. I will provide you with anything you want."

"Albert, I don't think this is a wise decision." protested Eva. "It's completely normal for teenagers at Alison's age to work. It will help them to create their personality."

"My words are final, Eva." said Albert. "I won't have my daughter working outside."

"But this is not fair." said Alison loudly. "I want to work. I'm doing it for the past two years."

"And you don't need it anymore." said Mason. "we will give you as much as money you want"

"Why you don't understand? It's not about money." said Alison sounding desperate. "It's about being independent."

"Alison, get over it. I'm not going to change my decision. you should understand." said Albert.

"No I don't understand." said Alison and tears flowed down her face. It had just become more than her tolerance. "I don't understand so many things recently."

She then turned on her heels and ran out of the office inattentive to Rich's and her mother's calls.

She went straight to the library and hid in the darkest and deepest corner and cried her eyes out for hours. She didn't know how long she cried when finally her tears dried. She felt sore and her head was pounding hard. She just sat there and hugged her knees and rest her head on the wall behind her. Things were just getting out of control. They were slowly depriving her of all of her rights. First her freedom, then enrolling her in a new school, and now her job.

She didn't know how long she sat there, but when the pain in her head became unbearable and her back was aching from too much sitting on the cold floor, she stood up and walked to the door.

She just wanted to swallow painkillers and sleep, trying to forget everything that had happened that day. Maybe tomorrow morning Albert would tell that what he had told her that night was a joke. She walked into her room's corridor and frowned at what she saw. Her heart fell to her feet when she heard the little twins crying and Mason in a white T-shirt and sweat pants, standing in front of their room trembling with anger. She could hear Rich and her mother's voice from the twins' room.

Alison walked toward the room slowly. She stood behind Mason who didn't turn to her. What she saw made her want to cry again. Albert had hugged a crying Jordan tightly while caressing his hair and Rich and her mother were trying to wake up and calm down James who was trashing and screaming in his bed surley seeing a nightmare. She felt tears welled up in her eyes at the sight of always happy twins like that.

She dropped her head, unable to look more, and saw Mason's clenched fist. His fists were so tight that could draw blood any moment. Alison slowly walked in front of him and wrapped her hands around his fists and slowly unclenched them. "Don't hurt yourself!" she whispered like a whisper of the wind, but Mason who was looking down at her shocked, heard her nonetheless. No one had shown him this much affection after his mother's death. He was the heir of the King mafia. He should have been tough or otherwise, no one would accept him as a Capo. But at that moment, with Alison's small hands in his much bigger ones and the comfort that that little action had given him, all the plans of being tough just went out of the window. His uneven breathing came back to normal as he hugged Alison tightly to his chest.

Alison hugged him back as she turned her head slightly to look into the room. James was thankfully awake now and had clutched Eva's nightgown tightly in his hands while crying his eyes out. Jordan was hugging Eva as well. Eva was swaying them slowly while whispering sweet nothings in their ears. Albert was sitting beside them and was rubbing their backs. His face was grim and stone-cold but his eyes were holding a mix of emotions like sadness and anger.

Rich turned to the door and his sad eyes grew wide a bit as he saw Alison standing there as well, but more to see her in Mason's arms. Mason was someone who never showed any emotions, but it seemed Alison had brought out his emotions.

He walked out of the room. "Alison why are you still awake?" asked Rich and put a hand on Alison's shoulder.

Alison's eyes were glued on the twins in her mother's arms while they were glistening with tears of sadness. "Why do they see this kind of nightmares?" she asked with a shaky voice.

Rich shook his head. "It's a long story, Alie." he said.

Mason pulled away slowly. "Go and sleep, Alison." he said softly. "You need it."

Alison looked up and her eyes met his. For the first time since they had met, she saw emotions swirling in his gray-blue eyes. Sadness, anger, frustration but also softness and ... and, it was impossible but maybe, hope???

Alison nodded and stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. She turned to Rich and did the same. "Good night." she whispered as she turned on her heels and walked to her room, leaving the shocked to the core men in their places who both had their hands on the place she had just kissed.

Alison walked into her room and closed the door. She was exhausted. The events of that day had taken their toll on her. She went to her bed and saw a glass of water and two pills and a letter beside it, on the nightstand. She picked the piece of paper and unfold it.

I searched everywhere to see you but I didn't find you anywhere. I know something so bad had happened today before you met your stepfather. Forgive me that I was not there to protect you. Forgive me that I couldn't talk your father out of forbidding you from working. I will do my best to make everything right. Just give me time.

Love you more than life

Mother

P.S: you must have a headache. I left two painkillers for you

Alison smiled at the piece of letter. It was a cliche sentence, but her mother was the best. She felt embarrassed that she was making her mother sad after so long that she finally had found happiness. She swallowed the pills and went under the covers. "You were tough for me all the time like rock." she whispered while staring at the ceiling. "Now I will do the same for you, Mother. I promise."