She felt her body ache so much from all the stitches and surgery to the point where she couldn't move. She looked down at little baby in her arms which was the only thing keeping her from regretting this pain. She smiled touching his soft chubby cheeks as he laid in her arms cooing softly.

Victoria had stayed in her room all week with the one-month-old with Cobra having to bring her food every once and a while. They had to go to school today and she was on maternity leave so she was alone with the baby.

It was hell having to wait for him in that hospital for one and a half months. She only carried him for six months, born with a heart murmur and had sleep apnea. He looked very sickly when he came out, Victoria thought he wouldn't make it. But fortunately, he proved her wrong and she was so happy when they said that she could bring him home with her.

She slid her finger down from the side of his eyes which was the most striking thing she ever saw. His right eye was a sparkling bottle colored green while his other one was more of a fiery gold, the color of the sunset. She had never in her life seen something so unique and beautiful.

The sound of the door took her attention away. Curious, she wondered if those were the kids home this early.

"niños, ¿eres tú . . . ?" she called hesitantly.

"Sí, it's us, mamá," one of them called back as she sighed in relief.

"I'm up here then."

She could hear their little feet running up the stairs before they stopped in front of her door.

Victoria smiled, "Come in you three."

When the door opened she Cobra first as he happily trotted to the bed with Nicóle shyly walked behind him. Cobra stood on his toes placing a kiss on his mother's cheek with Nicóle just standing there looking away.

"How was school today?"

"It was great," Cobra chirped, "it turns out there was a half-day today!"

She giggled, "Is that so, now why is that?"

Cobra gasped, "Don't tell me you forgot it was the last day of school!"

"A-and tomorrow's Abuela's," Nicóle added.

Victoria looked down thinking for a second before her eyes went round at the realization. She had forgotten what day it was due to always taking care of the baby all the time. She even forgot that she was supposed to make her father a birthday dinner this weekend also. She groaned out of frustration ashamed, of herself that she almost had forgotten one of the most important days.

"I'm so sorry, niños," she apologized, "Call your abuelos later on and tell them that the food might be a little late."

"Figures," an older boy grumbled at the doorway.

Victoria frowned, "Lynx, we're still going to celebrate with your abuelos."

"Whatever."

The baby started cooing louder while everyone was talking. Cobra stood lower on his toes stroking the top of his little brother's hair giggling as his little hands kept trying to grab his.

"When is he gonna start talking?" Cobra asked curiously making Victoria laugh.

"He's only two months, mijo, why the rush?"

"Because when he starts talking, I can finally have another boy to talk to in the house."

"I'm not good enough or something?" Lynx snarked as Cobra turned to glare at him.

"I never even said that," he protested while Lynx just rolled his eyes, "you don't even like talking to me anyway."

He turned back to the baby who was just staring at him with sparkling eyes.

"He's so tiny," Cobra giggled.

"Because he's—"

"An enano," Lynx interrupted his mother coldly.

"Lynx!" Victoria scolded, "don't say that about your brother."

"Um, first of all, he is and second of all he's not my brother."

"Yes, he is!" Cobra spat back, "he has our mamá just like me, you, and Nicóle."

Nicóle stayed quiet turning away.

"We didn't ask for him, neither did mamá!"

"¡Ya es suficiente de ti, Lynx!" his mother growled making him wince and the baby whimper, "I don't want to hear anything else from you so just go to your room!"

Lynx backed away looking hurt as his lip trembled before his eyes filled with tears burning in fury.

"You should've aborted him like you said you would!" he cried angrily before running out the room.

Victoria looked down and sighed heavily while the baby started to cry. She looked and saw Nicóle walking out of the room not saying another word to her mother as she followed Lynx. Cobra remained by Victoria's side as he climbed onto the bed.

"I'm glad we have him, mamá," he comforted her leaning against her shoulder, "Lynx's just being mean."

She kissed him on the forehead as she rocked her son calming him down, "I'm glad you're his hermano mayor."

She then held the baby close to her chest rubbing his back gently placing a kiss on his temple.

"It's alright, mi hijo," she whispered softly, "you were never a mistake, you're my little miracle," he began to calm down looking up to his mother as she smiled back, "I love you so much, my little Matéo."

*

As she hugged her pillow tightly Victoria laid there in the bed as goosebumps began to creep on her skin feeling the wind through the cracked window. She first didn't know where she was until she turned over, seeing Miguel beside her.

She was still in hell that was for sure.

She almost wanted to throw up after what Miguel did to her overnight. It brought back so many terrors on the same thing that happened about almost two decades ago. But he did it longer and more painful than the first time.

Victoria widened her eyes quickly covering herself with the sheets as she noticed Miguel stripped her of her clothes. She looked down to the floor seeing if they were down there, but they weren't. She turned to Miguel who slept soundly with his face looking very peaceful. Victoria sighed touching his cheek wondering where that side disappeared to. Even with all the terrible things he's done to her she honestly still loved him, but still hated him at the same time, and she hated herself even more for it.

She squinted her eyes at his exposed muscular arm that a patch on the upper area. It looked new from what it appears and Victoria never recalled him complaining about his possible injury which he did all the time, or from what she remembered when they were together.

She was so tempted to pull it off to see what it was but she respected one's privacy, even if it Miguel's.

She sadly sighed to herself starting to realize that Cobra was right. He turned away her offer and instead took her and Cobra captive along with Marisol. She had been such an idiot thinking Miguel would do such a thing, and all because he wanted Matthew. But why? They weren't even related . . .

. . . Or so she thinks.

No, they couldn't be, because she remembered her relationship with this one guy, Hugo. He was a surgeon and wealthy like her, sweet, loving, kind. But he was also married at the time. One night she told him about the incident with her ex-husband and how lonely she was over the years in her marriage. He took pity on her as they started going on small dates which started to progress into something more. One night, he rented a hotel room and they ended sleeping together, she knew it was wrong feeling terrible about it, but Hugo claimed he was divorcing his wife soon and wanted to be with Victoria. They ended up doing it a couple of times more until he opened up to her and said that he didn't want to be in a relationship where there were kids involved and asked could she take them to Miguel's when the got married.

She was more furious than heartbroken because her children always came first than some married rich guy. So they ended it there not speaking to each other at work for the time being. Until after a month she went to the doctor because of stomach pains, but it turned out she was pregnant. She just knew that the baby belonged to Hugo but chose not to tell the baby about its father when it got older so he wouldn't feel unwanted.

During that time she had forgotten that the time before she and Hugo were having sex she was taken advantage of by Miguel. She never took a paternity test after Moo was born because she found out he was happy without one and that Hugo mysteriously passed away about three months before Moo was born.

But after all she just knew in her heart that Moo was Hugo's son. She chose to her last name instead of Hugo's because of her deep hatred she had for the man wanting nothing to do with him.

Her mind quickly shifted to Cobra who was in God knows where right now. She just wanted to put on her clothes, find Cobra and Marisol, and escape from this prison. Her heart sanked at the thought of Miguel wanting to leave his son down there to starve and rot. She hoped to God that Miguel hasn't turned to that sick monster everyone portrayed him to be.

It all took time, right now the only thing she could do was wait and most of all, hope that they were alright.

—

"What did get myself into," Cobra murmured tugging at the chain on his leg.

"You and Victoria shouldn't have come here in the first place," Marisol spat, "why of all places did you two have to come here?"

Cobra turned to glare at the leader, "She wanted to trade herself in so you would be free!"

She blinked, "W-what?! Why would she do that?!!"

"She felt bad for you, Mary! You have your whole life ahead of you and she thinks she doesn't."

"That's not true! She doesn't know that I'm doing this all for Moo?"

"You can't be his bargaining chip forever," he sighed sadly, "soon he'll start to get impatient then he'll just kill you out of frustration and go ahead and just takes what he wants."

"You . . . aren't wrong."

Cobra just laid down in defeat knowing that Miguel will just kill him and his mother too. He wanted so badly to protect her he didn't realize he would end up in the predicament. The soldier even had to sedate him from keeping him from fighting back. He never meant for any of this to happen, he just want to keep his mother and his brother safe.

But instead he only thought about what he wanted putting himself in danger when he could've stayed with Coyote and keep Moo safe.

"Cobra," Marisol spoke up getting his attention.

"Huh?"

She looked away as crossed her arms, "I know what your brother did, he killed one if Miguel's men, right? But . . . I feel like that's not all why he wants him so badly, do you know why?"

"Um . . ." he hesitated almost not wanting to tell her, "Miguel thinks that Moo . . . is his son . . ."

Marisol snorted, "That's ridiculous! Didn't your mother leave him like before she even conceived him?"

He shrugged, "I guess, but he isn't his son regardless, Moo's dad is some rich dude mom dated."

"Hugo, right? Didn't he also die a few months before he was born?"

"Yeah, if I heard correctly I think it was food poisoning, but mamá didn't even care," Cobra chuckled, "Moo never cared about having a dad anyway, I mean he asked every now and then, but he never felt bad about it."

"Does Miguel know that?"

"Yep, and he will not accept it no matter how many times she's told him."

Marisol winced, "Yikes . . ."

They both jumped at the door being opened from upstairs of the basement. Cobra saw tall, built figure holding a brightly lit candle revealing at least most of the figure's wild hair.

"Knock knock!" the voice sang as the figure walked down the stairs.

But Cobra knew exactly who it was by the voice.

It's been years since he even last saw him. He did want forget every little thing about him but he was always unsuccessful due to their mother talking about him nonstop. His hatred burned, even more, when thought about him always wanting Matthew out of their lives. He was just as despicable as Miguel.

"Hermano menor! It's been so long!"

"Not long enough . . ." Cobra grumbled.

"What the hell are you doing here, Lynx?" Marisol growled making him chuckle.

"Isn't obvious? I came to see my only brother."

"I never wanted to see you," he snarled, "just get outta my sight and go be a daddy's prince like you've always wanted."

He got down to his level as his nose and eyebrow rings glistened in the firelight, he noticed that his lip ring looked like it had been torn or snatched off.

"Since you wanna be rude," he growled lowly, "I guess I can tell you that I came to see you one last time before papá decides to kill you."

"Yeah right, Miguel finds the youngest more valuable than the old," he sneered.

Cobra smiled at the sight of Lynx's eyes burning with rage as his nostrils flare. It always made him happy when he pissed him off.

"He finds me very valuable!" he roared, "unlike some people."

He turned his head over to Marisol as she just rolled her eyes, "you two chose this, I gave you two positions, but what do you do? You go behind my back and side with that crazy-ass bastard upstairs."

"The mistreatment we suffered you didn't do anything!"

"I tried my best!" she spat back, "but how am I supposed to control what hundreds of people say?"

Lynx turned away from her, "I know you could've done more."

"It's not too late for you, Lynx," Cobra spoke up.

Marisol lifted a brow, "It isn't?"

"Free us so we can protect Moo from this bullshit and you can come back home with mamá and me."

Lynx started bursting out laughing with Cobra's determined look fading and Marisol looking at Cobra with a "you're an idiot" face.

"You . . . you think . . . I care for that bastard?!" he kept dying with laughter.

"You fucking bitch!!" he snarled making Lynx immediately stop laughing and Marisol blinking at his tone, "after all what we did for you, you just toss us in the damn trash, and all because of your petty jealousy of Moo!"

"It isn't petty!!" he roared back, "it's all about him, isn't it? 'Save Moo, save Moo, save Moo is all you fucking care about!! What about Nicóle, what about Miguel, what about me? Do we mean anything to you? Am I not good enough for you?!"

He narrowed his eyes into angry slits, "You all betrayed me," he hissed with venom in his tone, "you didn't just betray Mary, but me and mamá most of all. I looked up to you, Lynx, hell I even looked up to Miguel, but you all have lied to us, betray us, and especially hurt us."

He leaned in closer to Lynx's blank face having no rebuttals in his say-in.

"You mean nothing to me."

At that, Lynx shut his eyes tightly as he got up rushing upstairs slamming the door behind him. Cobra sighed heavily hating to have to say that, but at the same time, he felt so relieved to get the truth out. Marisol just stared unblinkingly at Cobra with her being lost in words herself.

"It has to be said," he sighed fidgeting his hands, "I had to let him know."

Marisol looked over his shoulder and smirked, "At least he left us the candle."

Later on that night, Lynx paced for minutes while Nicóle watched nervously scared to even bother her brother when he was like this. Nicóle kept her lookout making sure no sign of threats coming their way.

"They're all idiots!" Lynx stopped and growled while Nicóle flinched, "don't they see that they're defending a murderer?!" Nicóle started to open her mouth but stopped as Lynx continued talking, "he ruined me, they chose him over me! Thanks to him my own hermano doesn't love me anymore!"

"I just think they're confused," Nicóle tried to demur lightly.

"Fuck yeah, they're confused," he scoffed sliding his hand down his face, "it's nothing new though, Matéo always comes first in everything."

She looked down to her feet hating to have to hear Lynx speak of Moo like an outsider to the family. Even though she had some strong feelings about him too she still loves him deep inside and didn't want anything bad to happen to him even though he was dangerous.

Lynx however had nothing but hate for their younger brother.

"I just can't 'till Miguel finally puts a fucking bullet through his head."

"He wouldn't do that!" Nicóle cried harshly than intended.

"Really? Because last time I heard her was really pissed about Will's death, and you what happens when he's mad," he said in a sing-song voice.

Nicóle didn't want to admit but Lynx was right about that.

"I . . . I just think it's harsh, can't we just use him as a soldier?"

Lynx whipped his head around to glare at Nicóle, "So he can have all the attention here?! Not gonna fucking happen. He took one parent away from me I won't let him take another."

Nicóle rolled her eyes, "He doesn't have the same dad as us anyway."

"Still, he could take a liking time the bastard and he'll give all his attention to him."

Geez, you're acting like a spoiled brat right now.

"My position will not be given up by some psychopath."

"Whatever."

A devious smile began to creep on Lynx's face that always scared Nicóle every time.

"Nikki, you just didn't know how happy I am," he chuckled manically, "he'll be gone soon and it'll be just the five of us again like how it's supposed to be."

Nicóle started to walk back inside not wanting to hear any of Lynx's crazy talk and insanity. Lynx looked back frowning then sighed hating that he has to keep up this act.

I have to, he thought sorrowfully, I can't seem weak in front of the others