I felt a soft touch on my thigh, ghosting over top my skin like a wisp. I shivered at the contact, shuffling my legs together. The touch stopped for a moment, I could almost feel his eyes on mine and a smirk on his lips. My eyes fluttered open first seeing the blue sky out the window, birds chirping lightly on the sunny day.

"Did I wake you Fenice?" I tore my eyes from the peaceful horizon looking down to meet his Cobalt eyes that I loved so much. His smirk was evident on his face, before he placed another kiss on my thigh.

"What gave you that idea, Chimere?" I replied as the birds chirped outside of our window as Nate's arms stayed locked around my waist, I moved slightly trying to find a way out of his embrace only to be pulled back to his body.

I attempted again squirming and kicking my feet to get out his grasp only for Auburn to nip at my heels in protest with a low growl. The sound mixed with Nate's low chuckles as he smiled at the two of us.

"You know I love that dog, we have the same thoughts." He muttered placing a small kiss on my neck I squirmed away being careful not to upset my prissy dog. Nate whined trying to come after me only ending us up on the floor with him leaning over me.

"Actually I think I prefer this don't you Emily?" He leant down for another kiss but I quickly put a pillow between us.

"Look I love you Nate-"

"I'll never get tired of hearing you say that." I smiled even though he had just interrupted me, I shook my head slightly before continuing what I was about to say.

"I love you but I needed to go to the bathroom like yesterday." He rolled his eyes slightly but yielded letting me rush to the bathroom.

When I came back Nate was already in the closet picking out his outfit for the day, I took a moment to admire the man I loved shirtless. I licked my lips unconsciously watching his muscles flexed as he pulled a shirt from the top shelf, shaking his head and putting it back inside a few seconds later.

"Like what you see Fenice?" He winked at me with a smile but I adverted my eyes slowly pattering my way inside the closet to pick out my own outfit for the day.

"Nope." I walked past him to look into the closest, looking for something decent to wear. I could feel him watching me, his eyes roaming over my body lighting it on fire. I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes, a smirk settling on both our faces.

"Can't handle it?" I asked him turning fully towards him, remembering the first time I had said that to him.

Flashback...

"Can't wait to get me alone Nathaniel?" I drew out his name, licking my lips slightly while he stood up. We had begun to play small games every morning before work, perhaps it wasn't wise but neither of us made any moves to stop it.

"You know I can't, not when seeing you look so..." He trailed off eyes roaming my body, I shivered slightly before heading towards the elevator.

"Can't handle it Fenice?" He called after me as I stepped into the elevator, the doors began to close, and I knew he wouldn't make it.

"You're the one who can't handle it Nate." I turned around while the doors closed, my hair flying to my back. I shot him a smirk of my own before the doors closed completely.

End of Flashback...

He walked towards me, his eyes dropping to my lips and his hands settling at my waist. "You know I can't." My voice caught in my throat seeing the way he looked at me, so much passion and love. I still couldn't believe that I had ever doubted him in our youth.

"Nate." I let out a content sigh feeling my heart beating in my chest, leaning up to bring our lips together again only for a voice to break through our bubble.

"Emily!" I heard my drawn out name come from outside of my door, Sierra's unmistakable voice came breaking through the door.

"Sierra!" I yelled back drawing out her name in the same fashion, reluctantly detaching from Nate with a sigh. I quickly changed into a cream sweater with jeans and a olive scarf before heading towards the door.

Nate watched me with wide eyes seeing first hand how quickly I could change, he was still standing in the closet holding a shirt in his hands. Sierra and Michael both stood at the door wearing large grins seeing my annoyance.

"You're the one who told us that you needed to call a family meeting Sis." Michael gave me an infuriating smirk causing me to throw a punch right into his stomach. He hunched over a bit while Sierra gave me a high five and a smile.

"Sierra you're suppose to be on my side." The two grinned at each other like a couple of idiots letting me watch them naturally with each other.

"I knew you guys would work it out." Nate's voice called over making me look at him with a confused look, "Your brother and I had a little chat during our escape." He shrugged before walking back into the closest still without a shirt on.

"Well you two chose each other after all, I'm not surprised on bit." I smiled at the two my eyes widening and my eyebrows raised, the two stared at each other not hearing our words. They were stuck in the same bubble that Nate and I often retreated to.

Nate eventually got dressed and we headed towards the living room where everyone had gathered in their usual spots. I knew everyone would be shocked by the thought of having Sophie here with us, but I wasn't prepared for...

"Excuse me! You want Sophie, the girl who literally attacked you, to stay here." My brother's voice growled out the only thing holding him back from punching something was the arm wrapped around his waist.

"She's in trouble Mich." I waved my hands around trying to prove my point which was only falling on deaf ears, "I know she's done bad things."

"Bad things? She's toxic in everything she does Emily!" Tears pooled around his eyes as we all watched helplessly, "I always protected you and now you're inviting the devil into our world?"

"Mich!" I yelled watching as he broke free from a distressed Sierra and went barreling down the hallway.

"Please Mich just listen to me!" I continued to yell following him right down at his heels grabbing his arm and pulling him to look at me.

Tears were spilling out of his red puffy eyes shining of hopelessness looking at me like I was million miles away. I opened up my arms smiling softly as he rushed into my arms scooping me up and hugging the life out of me.

"It'll be ok Bro Biscuit." I whispered hugging him back trying to find anyway to comfort him, "God has a plan right?"

"Right." He pulled away from me with a genuine smile and while I knew this would still be hard for him I also knew that he would do it for me.

"She's got no one." He nodded knowing fully well that once I set my heart on something that I wouldn't let go.

"You've got a heart the size of Everest Sis."

The rest of our makeshift family had mixed reactions but once Michael supported me the rest of them followed along. My mother automatically sided with me knowing how the rest of this conversation would go, even if she hadn't seen me grow up we were cut from the same stubborn cloth.

"So then how are we going to save my little brother Em?" Dai's voice cut through the crowd of voices worry lacing through his tone.

I turned towards him seeing the lost look in his eyes, "We need to get a few more cards before we can play against the house Dai." Dad and Nate both nodded in agreement, even though I had the papers from Mum we still couldn't take on all the support The Montgomery Family had accumulated.

"You need something against my family don't you?" Dai's voice sounded heart broken but I could see the shadows dancing behind his eyes, in the end his only concern was towards his little brother.

"And from The Richmond Family, my father won't stop coming after me even if you have the company." Nate's words stabbed my heart reminding me about how awful his father had treated him throughout his life.

"We may be able to help with that." All of our heads shot to the door, gasps tipping from our throats at who we saw. My little sister Sophie and Harris we're standing together, hands clasped as they walked towards us.

Before anyone could utter a single word Nate had sprung from his seat and tackled his half-brother with anger on his face. "Why Emily out of everyone in the world." His yell pierced through us all as he reeled his fist back to throw another punch.

I quickly stopped him knowing what had ticked him off, after I had explained that Sophie loved someone else seeing my betrothed with her was eye opening. If they were in love why did Harris take our engagement so far, he could have fought for my sister earlier in the game.

"You asked why Ameilia?" He pauses looking slightly at me before turning his eyes to me. "I never wanted her to begin with, that was our father's doing."

His eyes went to Sophie's a small smile resting on his face as he watched her in awe, slowly he reached up and pressed a kiss to a strand of her hair. Her smile mimicked his as they watched each other in amusement and content.

"Then why act like you wanted me Harris?" I asked overcome with curiosity even if he was just playing the game, he fought for me more so then Sophie.

"He threatened to take away the company from me, to send me far away from here... much like what he did to your mother." His eyes never left Sophie's, his eyes were filled with emotions I had never seen him with when he looked at me.

"Even if we couldn't be together, at least I would see her at family gatherings." He shrugged turning back to look at all of us. I nodded slightly understanding the moves he had made to get to this point to finally stand against his family.

"Our father has had this planned for a long time Sis, he saw so much of your mother in you. All this time he wanted to kill that part of you so you'd be the perfect wife." Sophie explained using her hands as she talked, only then did I see how different she was from her parents.

"But why my family?" Nate asked her wondering why his father had chosen to pick his younger brother for this.

"Our parents hadn't chosen anyone until your father proposed to them a business deal. Knowing how much you cared for her, he wanted to cause you pain."

"He didn't care how much money he had to spend, he offered 250k for Amelia's hand in marriage for his son. After that he said that both companies would be owned by the Montgomery inc." I shook my head slowly watching Nate closely in case he needed me, my hand rested on his shoulder just in case.

"All he asked in return was some royalties on the products to get by, his motives was just to break you Nathaniel." I looked at Allen wondering what was going through his mind, I saw him clenching his jaw, his nails digging into the palm of his hands.

"Something he had never been able to do, he knew Ameilia was your one and only weakness." Brandon looked towards Michael and Sierra, almost as if saying that everyone in this room had a weakness like ours.

"He sent your mother away sis because his love finally produced an heir, and he wanted to make sure one day you'd be ready to be sold off." Sophie spoke again, choosing her words carefully as she spoke.

"However, we need your help... you know that they want to marry me off to some fifty-something year old man in Canada. Apparently he needs an heir and things a nice young girl to fuck will help him get it."

"Brother, I know we've had our differences, but I can't let her have this life." The raw emotion in Brandon's voice struck a cord within me, and I looked to Allen for his answer.

"It's not our problem." Nate replies turning away and beginning to leave, heading towards our room. I quickly followed him knowing the only reason he was against it was because Sophie's love was his brother.

"Nate!" I yelled, scolding him for his behavior, knowing even if I had hated her my entire life that she didn't deserve to be a breeding machine for some elderly man.

"What if this was Emily's fate, and you knew you couldn't do anything to stop it."

"Nate.... son, we have to work together." My mother spoke for the first time her words ringing out to all of us weighing heavy in the room. The world around us paused as we realized that she was right, Nate realized that she was right.