Disclaimer: All secret life material in this story belongs to Brenda Hampton, Sadly…..

Grace's PoV

Bursting through the front door, I stormed down the basement stairs into his office. I was angry, pissed. He lied to me, he told me everything would be okay, we would never have to worry. I'd seen him tell a straight face lie to Nora, but not me, I always knew. It was the way he would squint his eyes and his eye would twitch almost obliviously, but he'd practiced on this lie. He'd used it before, on my mother, my blood mother. She believed him, she went to the grave believing every false truth that left his lips. I wouldn't, I couldn't do that. He didn't understand the emotions that I had just went through only a few moments ago.

Usually, I wouldn't interrupt him, especially while he was doing business. This time though, I wouldn't wait at the door like an obedient child, I needed to confront him. The booming voices seemed to be in deep conversation as I got closer to the door. All of a sudden there was a loud boom, not a gunshot, but something crashing against the wall. I almost lost my nerve, almost. My journey came to an end when my hand finally hit the cold door knob. Twisting it, I surged through, I locked eyes with everyone until I found the culprit.

He gawked with angry eyes that weren't meant for me. Sighing, he relaxed only slightly and placed his hands on the oak desk. His body was tense, his blonde hair wild. It was a perfect reflection of how I felt.

"Now is not a good time Grace," The tension in the room was thick. All the henchman looked between the two of us. I'm sure my eyes blazed with madness.

"Make it a good time," I spat the venom from deep within. The poison in my voice made the men stiffen. My dad stared at me with curiosity and unbelief. I'd never really talked to him this way. He challenged me with his stare and never once did I falter or break. Smirking with pride my dad turned to the three men in the room.

"You heard her, leave. I'll call you back when I'm finished here," With no hesitation, they left quickly. He looked at the door until it closed and then offered me a seat. I declined politely. "So, what's with the bitch fit Grace?" I was offended to say the lest. My dad had actually called me a bitch.

"Excuse me? I'm not having a 'bitch fit', I'm pissed the hell off,"

"Watch your mouth Grace. Young ladies shouldn't use filthy words like that," Now he wanted to get fatherly.

"Cut the crap dad and let's get to the problem at hand here, before I lose my temper even more," God, I was starting to sound like Nora. My dad shrugged and sat down in his large chair. "You said everything was going to be okay, you said nothing would ever happen," The confusion on his face was prominent and heavy. I figured he had no clue what I was talking about.

"Gra-"

"Do you know what it's like… to be questioned by the police? What am I talking about of course you do. Look at the lifestyle you live," I could feel my face screwing up in disgust. His usually proud demeanor fell and he I saw hurt in his eyes, only for a second. I kept talking, "It hurt to hear from a detective all the things that my father does, I mean, I knew, but it's different coming from someone else and actually listening. You kill people dad, you rough people up and its never hit me till now," His chest began to rise furiously and I'd thought it was I who angered him.

"What? Someone questioned you?" I sighed heavily and crossed my arms, signifying a pissed off yes. "When? Where?" He stood up from his chair and quickly came around it to face me.

"It doesn't matter dad, all that matters is that you said everything was going to be okay. Now… now they're looking for you. They're going to put you in ja- jail," I was breaking, losing it. "The police… They'll take you away from us, Nora and I and they don't care, they don't care how much we love you," I ran my fingers through my hair continuously as the tears spilled from my eyes. Feeling my knees go weak, I plopped down on the sofa behind me. I let my eyes roam around the room so I wouldn't see my father.

I felt the warmth of his body as he embraced me. Letting my head rest against his chest, I felt his lips on top of my head. He was trying to comfort me, but it wasn't working.

"Grace, nothing is going to ha-"

"Don't say that. Do. Not. Say that. It's already happening. You promised that everything would always be okay," I felt his chest rumble and I pulled away from him to look at the small grin on his face. "You're laughing? Is this some big joke to you? They are coming after you and you find it funny,"

"Grace, nothing is going to happen to me. You are so naïve my beautiful child. You should know by now that I run this place," Arrogance wasn't befitting on him. I hated that he was laughing. I hated that he wasn't truly reassuring me of anything. Pulling myself from his embrace, I stormed out and raced towards my room, passing by Nora's confused face.

I reached the inside of my sanctuary and plopped onto my bed face down in a pillow. I let the tears flow freely. He had to be scared because I know I was. I'd been questioned before, but it was in elementary school and a teacher was present. This time, they scoped me out, they waited for me to get out of school, to be alone. This time, I knew it was different, I could feel it in my bones.

Anne's PoV

My daughters weren't known for their subtleness, and by the way that they were gaping at each other with death in their eyes I knew why. Ashley had called me down from my nap, which I'd woken up from due to their constant bickering. I'd thought the fighting and tension had been resolved a couple months back, but obviously I wasn't really paying attention. There was pent up energy and they were finally about to let loose.

"What is it Ashley?" I said nearly letting the annoyance break through. Ashley smiled at Amy vehemently. Amy glared back at her and looked down to see her hand clinched into a fist, which was never a good sign.

"She doesn't want anything, she's just being a pain in the ass, my ass rather," I wasn't surprised to hear Amy cursing. It was cursing or drinking and believe me I could handle cursing better than I could drinking.

I looked at Ashley waiting for her response because I knew she had one.

"Oh mom, you're going to love this. Let me tell how much Amy's 'changed'- she obviously doesn't know the definition,"

"Shut up Ashley before I make you shut up," Amy's teeth were clenched and I moved closer to the two so they wouldn't tear each others head's off.

"I'm shaking Amy. What are you going to do punch me? Slap me?" Ashley smirked and grunted sarcastically.

"I don't know take your fuckin' pick bitch," Now that, I was surprised by. I'd never heard use such strong words as those.

"Amy Jurgens!" I shouted at her, but Ashley waved me off.

"I'm the bitch Amy, really. I guess I'd rather be a bitch than a slut though huh? At least in being a bitch I don't go and skip school with some guy I just met and let him screw my brains out. By the way, how is that 'relationship' coming along," Amy's hand shot up and connected with Ashley's face. Ashley stood there for a moment holding her cheek. It didn't take me long to move in between them. The last thing I wanted was for them to kill one another.

"Girls! Pull yourselves together and calm down. Amy what is wrong with you? Why would you slap your sister?"

"She deserves it. Did you hear what she just called me or do you need your ears cleaned out?" Amy spat at me.

"Don't talk to her like that you drunk," I snapped my eyes towards Ashley who looked disgusted at her sister.

"Don't call me that, you have no right to call me that. I'm not a drunk and I'm not a slut," Amy sounded like a hurt child.

"Well, I'm not a bitch either," Ashley sighed in relief and I thought she was preparing to apologize. "There isn't enough room in the world for anyone else to be a bitch but you,"

"Ashley and Amy both of you go to your rooms and calm down, NOW," It was as though I wasn't in the room. The girls remained to argue.

"You know what Ashley, why don't you go find a knife and slit your throat, that would do everyone a big favor," I tensed and my heart began to ache at Amy's cold words. Ashley didn't mirror the pain on my face like I thought she would.

"Sometimes Amy, just sometimes I wish it were you that died and not dad. I miss him, but I doubt, highly doubt that I would miss you. You never think about anyone but yourself. Now, now I'm about to lose my mother who I've never hurt like you have. Ever since we've gotten here, how long has it been, four months now, all you do is go out and party. I've said it once and I'd say it again, you haven't changed, you are still the same. I'd never thought I'd say this to you because I never thought I would feel this way about my sister, but I hate you, I truly hate you. Adrian's made me realize that, she's been right about you all along," Amy faltered and I could see her trembling body. A tear escaped her eye and all I could do was stand there. I was speechless and some may say that I was being a bad mother, but I didn't know what to do. I didn't.

"Fuck you Ashley. Fuck you and Adrian. You hang with the devil Ashley and you'll soon find out what its like to work with Satan." I watched my daughter snatch her phone from the counter and walk out the door.

"Why did you say that Ashley?" She looked at me only for a split second before turning to leave the room. Here I was wishing that I hadn't chosen a side, but I did and I hate to say it was Ashley's.

Ben's PoV

It's been a while since I talked to her, I don't know why she felt the need to call me. No, I wasn't mad that she called, just confused. She should be calling on Grace for all this, they were best friends, but she says she doesn't want to talk. When does she ever want to talk to me.

Ricky's PoV

Watching her get into the car with him was hell. He was my best friend, I would even go as far to saying that he was my brother, how could she do this. She knew we were close. I felt betrayed because she had done this before. Punching the seat did not stop me from wanting to go over there and knock the living shit out of Ben.

Okay you all, I know certain PoV's were short, but there's a reason and TBH I did not know where I was going to go with this story until a couple days ago. That's one reason it takes me so long to post. I'm not the type of person who plans out stories but now, I'm trying to start. It is so much easier to plan, I see that now. BTW REVIEW!1

PS: Sorry if grammar is bad…