Nolan never came to the house to talk, leaving me feeling vulnerable. Emily and I were taking a tour of Bill's work area and it was impressive to an outside party, but if you knew what they really did, you wouldn't give them a dime. According to Bill, Grayson had gone soft over the years and we'd definitely see a return, but Emily wasn't going to make it easy for him. I stood next to Emily while he showed her his "crystal ball". I was more concerned with taking his access card and memorizing his password to his computer as he typed it in. While he talked with Emily, I swiped his card from the desk and linked my arms with my sister to tell her I did it.

"You've certainly given us a lot to think about." she smiled at him as we agreed to think it over and left his office. As soon as we got off the Elevator, Emily's phone rang,

"This is Emily." she stopped walking and I looked at her oddly to find out what was wrong. "What?" she gave me a worried look. "Who?"

She hung up the phone and looked concerned. "Ems, what's wrong?" She started to pace the lobby.

"If he wasn't your boyfriend I would kill him right now."

I didn't understand what was going on, "Who was on the phone?"

"Karen, our realtor. Nolan bought the beach house." She continued to pace until I lead her outside.

"That's good. It means we still have the house."

"No, Bells. Nolan owns the house." She repeated.

"Nolan is on our side. He'll transfer the house in our name."

"How do you know? He won't even talk to you." Emily asked me.

I looked past her and saw a familiar car. "Well, we can ask him." I pointed to Nolan's car making Emily look, "Isn't that Nolan's car?"

Emily nodded as we looked both ways before crossing the street. The car was locked but that didn't stop me from reaching my hand through the small opening in the window and unlocked the car. Emily got inside and sat in the back and I sat in the passenger seat as Nolan walked out of a store with a big pink box on top with a food container on top.

"You are making it very difficult." he hung up the phone as he sat in the car.

"I told you if you got in our way I'd take you down." Emily startled him as he looked behind the seat and then noticed I was in the car.
"You need to be a little more observant Nolan." I told him. "You stole our house."

Nolan took a deep breath and addressed my sister, "If I hadn't Victoria would have." He turned to me, "Victoria outbid you with a cash offer this morning."

Emily and I didn't know how he could have known that which made her question him further. He hacked the realtor's computer to keep an eye on the bids on the house to make sure one of us stayed the best offer all week. Nolan decided to pay for the house in full, which was basically pocket change for him. I knew what Emily was doing though. She was testing him, making sure he would be useful to our plan which I already knew he would be. Nolan was the best when it came to anything involving technology, it's where I learned the little experience I had.

"Nolan," I looked at him, giving him a real smile to let him know we weren't mad. "Why is it so important for you to be a part of this?"

"When I met your dad," Nolan stated, "I'd already been laughed out of every boardroom in New York." He sighed, "I was an M.I.T. misfit with a vision that nobody got but him."

"Dad is the only reason Nolcorp exists." I finished for him.

"Your father gave me cash from his personal account to develop it."

"Because he believed in you." I grabbed his hand to hold it, and smiled when he held it back, "Just like I do."

"We want the deed to the house." Emily interrupted, "That is the price for you to be a part of our plan."

Nolan smiled and kissed the top of my hand. "It's already in your names." Nolan announced proudly, "Consider it a Birthday gift for Amanda and Bella." Nolan squeezed my hand tighter, "It's tomorrow isn't it?"

Emily got out of the car and looked at me to be ready to leave in a few minutes. We had tea with her Majesty after all. I looked at Nolan, feeling more emotional than when we first agreed to bring Nolan on board. He remembered our birthdays. He wants to do this not only for me, but for dad. He's fighting for dad.

"Don't think I don't know you were the reason Amanda decided to include me." Nolan told me staring out of the car.

"Actually, I first brought it up as a joke, but Amanda decided you were resourceful to help with your tech skills but also so I wouldn't be alone." I looked at my sister waiting on the sidewalk. "We have to go have tea with her Highness." I got out of the car, already missing Nolan's warmth in my hand.


Lunch with Victoria Grayson was tolerable. She mostly wanted to know about Emily, asking her questions that Daniel told her about from her time in Barcelona. She asked me what I was interested in, and I simply answered with History since it wasn't technically a lie. She asked me why I was never mentioned in any of Emily's trips and I had a very simple answer, I didn't like to be in the spotlight. That was always Amanda who enjoyed it. I liked attention just from the ones I wanted it from. Daniel thankfully interrupted the tea party wanting to take my sister out to dinner. It gave me time to have dinner of my own.

"I feel as though you aren't too fond of me Isabella." Victoria walks me to the door as I prepare myself to leave.

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath turning to Victoria with a smile on my face. "No not at all Mrs. Grayson. I actually have to prepare for a date of my own and I don't want to take up too much of your time." I look around her house, it really was beautiful. I could picture myself being in a house like this. Our father would have an office somewhere in the house. Amanda and I would share a room while Nolan and Jack would share the guest room when they came to visit.

"Nonsense! My son seems to have a taking a liking to your sister Emily." She looked at my sister talking to Daniel in the other room. "I'm happy he's smiling again."

"Emily too." I smiled looking at her play with her fingers and laughing at something he said. "It's been a while since I've seen her smile like that. Your son is in good hands if you're worried she's going to break his heart." I forced myself to keep smiling. "I'd be more worried that he's going to break hers and have me pick up the pieces. That's what family does right?"

Victoria looked at me and was about to answer, Emily came up to me smiling, "Ready to go Bella?"

I nodded, giving Victoria one last smile as we said our goodbyes. With our backs turned, I dropped my smile and let out a breath. I was getting lectured by Ems about how I needed to act more friendly. There was no reason I should have an attitude with her, but we both had an issue with her. Victoria seems to be more observant than she lets on. Just from watching her, I could tell she is protective of her family, especially with her kids. I could already tell Daniel was her favorite, which also meant that Emily had to be careful how she played this. If she came off too strong or didn't show interest right away, Daniel would be gone.

"I can't stand her Emily!" I shouted, almost throwing the door open as we arrived at our house. "She sits there in her pretty little palace in her fake ass bubble pretending she is so perfect! She made an empire from lies!" I felt the tears starting to form, "We suffered for HOW many years Amanda?!" I didn't even bother waiting for her answer, I was fed up, "While she SITS on her damn chairs that we probably could have never afforded, drinking her tea, hosting parties, and acting like the perfect little family."

"Bells-"

"No Amanda!" i shouted, "I want to make her pay! I want her to know what it's like to lose her family. We had NO ONE growing up, we LOST our family. Her and her family TOOK our family away, the only person we had!" I couldn't help stop the tears from falling anymore as I sobbed. I felt angry and resentful. I missed our father, and I wanted to just talk to him one more time, to tell me everything was going to be ok. "I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for him! He was our lifeline, he was the reason I'm standing in front of you right now, and that bitch took him from us!"

I couldn't help but sob harder. I remained strong for all these years for Amanda, so that she didn't have to feel like she was alone, but after seeing Victoria's house, and how she acted with her family, it made me realize how much Amanda and I missed out on. We never had that growing up. Amanda and I were all we had, if anything were to happen to her, I would be alone.

I felt a pair of arms wrap around me and I instantly smelled the cologne he was wearing. Nolan. I turned around, burying my face in his chest as he held me.

"You're not alone anymore, Bells." He whispered as he held me tighter, answering my silent fears.

"Nolan, I don't know what happened-" Amanda started to say but I didn't hear anything.

"This is what happens when you don't pay attention." Nolan scolded her, "Instead of worrying about getting revenge, how about making sure your partner in crime can handle being in a room with Victoria."

"She knew this was the plan." Amanda defended herself.

"Planning it and actually having to sit in a room with someone who helped destroy your lives." Nolan led me to the couch as he sat down and pulled me to him so that I was able to relax. I listened to his heartbeat, taking deep breaths to match so that I was able to calm down. Nolan never made me feel like I was alone, I should be grateful that I had my sister, but she wasn't a parent. We didn't have a parental figure growing up, we had each other though. "Victoria can be a lot, especially when you two are fresh meat in her realm. You two are strangers, especially you Ems," Nolan stated, "you showed interest in her son which puts you on her radar and Bells by default for being related."

"I'm sorry Ems." I turned to my sister, whispering and the look she gave me almost made me cry again. "I miss dad Amanda. He's everywhere in this house. I remember when we first got Sammy right on that porch, I remember us all going swimming in the ocean. I miss him. We lost him growing up. We didn't have anyone to take us to school, or bring to show him off. We didn't get to be tucked in at night or have him help us with homework. We couldn't talk to him about going through puberty and becoming a women because Amanda it was scary." I wiped the tears from my eyes and smiled at Nolan, silently thanking him for always being there for me.

"I miss him too, Bella. More than I can even describe." Amanda came over and sat next to us and hugged me. "I promise, we will make everyone responsible for what they did."

I nodded, leaning back into Nolan so that I could relax.

"I'm here, if you need me to do anything." Nolan rubbed my back more, making me want to melt.

I thought of an idea and looked at Emily smiling, "Actually," I turned to Nolan, "There is something you can help us with."

Amanda smiled and nodded agreeing with me, "Who are you going to sign a contract with for your company?"