Not a huge fan of this chapter but it was one that had to happen eventually. As requested, Hale is back, but be careful what you wish for. Enjoy

"Good morning, Miss. Haddad."

Siena looked up from her phone to reply to the receptionist with a cordial smile, "Good morning."

Siena did her best to maintain friendly relationships with the office staff. It had been just over a week since her Uncle Hale had moved Siena from the intern bullpen into a corner office of her own. Her sudden and accelerated rise up the corporate ladder had surely irritated some but, to be fair, Siena had taken on more work as well. Her days were flooded with piles of paper work and drawn out meetings that were followed by countless introductions to important members of Hale Industries and their competing companies. When she finally managed to escape the office, Mac was waiting in her new apartment, more then willing to distract her in any way necessary. There wasn't a moment to spare and Siena couldn't say she minded. The madness of her new life helped to keep the suffocating truth from her mind, that it was all a lie.

An intern matched Siena's step as she strode through the maze of cubicles toward her office, "Miss Haddad, Mr. Hale sent these documents over for you to read before your 11 o'clock meeting. Should I leave them with Kate?"

"No, that's alright, Jenny. I'll take them," Siena tucked the files under her arm before continuing on.

Siena Haddad. A jolting reminder that this was not her life. Siena Antokov may have been a ghost, but her ancestors were infamous con artists and thieves. It would not do for the next CEO of Hale Industries to be attached to such a name. Seeing as she was supposed to carry it for the rest of her life, Hale had let Siena choose her false surname.

Siena never knew her father, not even his name, but somehow taking an Arabic surname made her feel closer to him. As far as she knew he was a normal man, most likely very wealthy, but compared to the life her mother's family led, Siena's father must have been the picture of normality.

Normality was something she craved desperately. In the few moments Siena had to herself, usually driving from one meeting to the next, she wondered if she could ever really become Miss Haddad. She had never seriously considered marriage and a home life before but Siena was suddenly contemplating whether she would be introduced to her future husband as Miss Haddad. At what point in a relationship do you tell your significant other that you are not in fact an orphan, but rather the decedent of a long line of criminals. But then again, why was she worrying about such things when she had known Mac all her life. To him she was S. Siena was startled by how easily her mind had jumped to the assumption that Mac was the one for her. Was he? They had only technically been dating a week or so. Mrs. Bagshaw. Bagshaw. No, that wouldn't do. Bagshaw was just as troublesome of a name as Antokov, just with a slightly more explosive flare.

Siena was pondering over this question of names when her secretary caught sight of her and jumped up from her seat.

"Morning, Kate," Siena sung as she sailed past

"You're here! Oh, right, good morning," Kate jittered.

"What's on the agenda?" Siena asked while taking in the flustered appearance of her secretary.

"Um- the agenda- right, your schedule," Siena paused to wait as Kate scrambled for her tablet. Kate was young, almost as young as Siena, and despite being with the company for several months, she was doubly as inexperienced as her boss. It didn't help that she was in the midst of a messy split with her on again off again boyfriend. What was his name again? Something with an M.

"You alright?" Siena paused to ask.

Matt? No. Mike?

"Uh, I'm okay. But-" Kate sputtered on.

Mark. His name was Mark.

"Does this have something to do with Mark? Did you have another fight?"

Kate's eyes flit between Siena and the office door, "Please, don't be angry," the frazzled girl pleaded.

Siena was unsettled by her distress, "Why would I be angry? Did you forget to tell me about a meeting?"

"No, its not that. It's- you have someone waiting in your office," Kate lowered her voice.

"Who?"

"I don't know!" Kate exclaimed, now on the verge of tears, "She wouldn't give a name and she refused to wait outside. I'm so sorry, Miss Haddad, I really am. I didn't know how to stop her. She was so insistent."

"Its alright, Kate. Just, next time, lets lead with the stranger in the office bit, okay?"

The young woman choked back her tears and nodded.

Siena dropped off the stack of papers on Kate's desk and turned to face her office doors. What would she do if it was Teller waiting in their? But it couldn't be. Kate had said it was a woman. One of Teller's minions perhaps?

What she found was much, much worse.

Gabrielle was studying the nameplate with mild disgust, "Haddad. Hale could at least have gone for something Russian," she said by way of a hello. Siena briefly registered the fact that Uncle Simon was by the corner bookshelf.

"Uncle Hale didn't choose the name. I did. Besides, do I look Russian to you, mother?"

"I raised you. You're my daughter. That makes you just as Russian as you are Egyptian. You are my daughter," Gabrielle insisted.

"Am I? I'm nothing like you."

Gabrielle scoffed, "You think you can change your name and become someone new? I raised you an Antokov. You're part of this family whether you want to be or not."

Siena needed an angle, a story for why she would suddenly turn her entire world on its head. Hale may have bought the James story but unrequited love wasn't going to cut it with her mother.

"Did you ever consider that maybe I wouldn't want to follow your footsteps? Every other child in the world was asked what they wanted to be when they were young, but me, I was pulling jobs by the time I was seven."

Gabrielle had spun on her with skeptical eyes, "You might be able to lie to yourself but you can't lie to your mother. You love being a thief, Siena. You always have. I don't understand why you're doing this but I know it's not what you really want."

"You don't know anything about me," Siena spat back, scrambling to hold onto her rebellious teenager act.

"What's going on here?" Hale rolled into the office and his eyes narrowed on Gabrielle. Kate must have called him. Bless her.

"Simon," Hale nodded in acknowledgement. Siena felt a pang of guilt that she had forgotten Simon was even there. In fact, why was Uncle Simon there?

Before Siena had time to ponder the thought Hale had set his sights on her mother. His tone casual, but charged, "Gabs, you should have called before you-"

"Don't you dare 'Gabs' me! You've been harboring her here for weeks and yet you conveniently forgot to mention it to any of us."

"Harboring? Gabrielle, Siena isn't a criminal-" Hale tried to reason with her. Simon cringed at the poor choice of words.

"Yes, she is, Hale. Siena is a criminal! That's the point!" Gabrielle exclaimed.

"Okay, lets keep our voices down," Simon cautioned as he shut the door.

As per usual, they ignored him.

"Its her choice," Hale jabbed, "Siena may not be eighteen yet but you can't force her to commit felonies."

"Force her? Oh, right, because you're not encouraging her at all," Gabs drawled sarcastically, "You had no part in her decision what-so-ever. I don't appreciate you offering my children jobs behind my back, Hale."

Siena felt the need to be heard. After all, con or no con, this was her life they were discussing. "I chose to leave the crew, mom. Uncle Hale has been kind enough to support me in that decision. I would appreciate if you could do the same," Siena laid on a formal tone in the hopes pulling away from the emotional nature of the conversation. This was business. Nothing more.

All eyes turned back to Siena, and Gabrielle adopted a infuriatingly dismissive tone, "You're going through a phase, just like Kat did. She snapped out of it and so will you. But you need to consider what happens when this little adventure is over."

Just a phase? Okay, now Siena was pissed. "She didn't 'snap out' of it, mother. You got her expelled. You and Uncle Hale smoked Aunt Kat out," Siena accused.

"If we hadn't she would have come to her senses a years later and then it might have been too late. Don't you understand how hard it was for her to come back?" Gabrielle did her best impression of reasonable.

"It was hard," Hale broke in, "because we never let her forget it. We were wrong. We never should have interfered, Gabs."

Gabrielle was mesmerizingly beautiful even as she rolled her eyes, "And yet here you are again, interfering."

In response, Hale's expression took on a sickening grin. He was going for blood. "What makes you more upset, Gabrielle, the fact that your children didn't come to you for help or the fact that they came to me." They? Had Hale seen Dmitri since he left the crew? Why didn't he mention this to her before?

"That's crossing a line, Hale," Simon growled from his corner.

"Shut up, Simon. You're either in this or you're out of it," Hale spat, "For once, take a god damn side."

Simon took a stumbling step backwards in shock. Siena wanted to jump in and defend her Uncle, but if she did that she would lose her only ally.

"He has a side," Gabrielle spoke for him. "Simon is part of this family, and unlike you he acts like it."

"There you go, Gabs," Hale sneered, "always speaking for others. Even when they don't ask you to."

"Stop!" Siena called out, "If you're angry yell at me. Neither of you mean what you're saying." How could she let this happen?

Gabrielle screamed on, her rage contorting that beautiful face into something feral. "No! No, I am sorry you never had children, Hale. I'm sorry you never had a family and I am sorry that James will never be your son but you do not get to take my daughter from me. You want someone to look up to you and adore you, then go buy a puppy and leave my children out of it."

"Is that what you think of me, Gabs?" Hale spat, "I'm just some pathetic, lonely bachelor? I am helping Siena because she asked me to. She asked me. Not you and that just kills you, doesn't it?"

Gabrielle let forth a cruel laugh, "You bastard! If you really gave a shit about her then you wouldn't be leading her down a path to a place she doesn't really want to go."

"A place you don't want her to go. Because you're afraid you'll lose her, and this time you won't be able to pull her back and-"

"She is not Kat!" Gabrielle shrieked.

Hale forged on, "And you'll be all alone. Just like you always feared."

"She won't be alone," Simon stepped forward.

Hale's glare flicked toward him, "What are you-"

"I'm picking a side," Simon cut him off.

"Enough!" Siena pleaded, "If you want to have it out then go elsewhere. Because I have work to do." She pushed past them to her desk and busied herself with organizing the stacks of paper. But she couldn't make out the print through her clouded eyes.

The room had fallen silent and Siena felt her mother's delicate hand brush back her hair. Siena resisted the urge to cringe away from the touch.

"I know I'm not the world's best mother," Gabrielle confessed, "But I did the best I could on my own. Being a single mother isn't easy."

"And whose fault is that?" The words were out of Siena's mouth before she had the time to consider the repercussions. She just wanted this to be over. She need them to go away.

Gabrielle recoiled, "Don't talk to me like you know what happened, why I left him."

This was not where Siena wanted the conversation to go.

"How could I when you never speak about it-"

This was too deep.

Too close to the truth.

But Gabrielle charged on into dangerously emotional territory, "You have no idea how hard that was for me. Knowing you would grow up without a father, like I did. I didn't have a choice. I had to do what was best for my family. I didn't want to leave him, I never wanted that-"

Liar! All guards were dropped and Siena went on the attack, "He was a con! You promised him a family and then when you got what you wanted you cut and ran, just like grandma taught you. Don't pretend you loved him. He was just another target. That's why you had us. Dmitri and I were a con. My birth, my family, my whole freaking existence is a lie! Your lie!"

Gabrielle had turned away, shielding her face from the violent words. Even Hale seemed stunned by Siena's malice. But she couldn't stop.

"So forgive me, mother, if I don't want my children to be a lie! Forgive me for wanting a real family and a life of my own."

Siena screamed internally. What the hell have you done you stupid, stupid girl? There was no coming back from this. Siena had just destroyed everything and worst of all, this wasn't part of the con. It wasn't another constructed lie to play on the sympathies of others. This was the horrifying truth that their family had buried deep within the workings of their hearts with an unspoken vow never to release them.

Like the violent splitting of an atom, Siena had torn open her own heart and set off the chain reaction that would obliterate every beautiful memory they had. It was irreversible. And at the center of it stood her mother, heartbroken.

"You are not a lie," she whispered.

"What?"

"I love you and you are not a lie," Gabrielle couldn't even bear to cry, "Siena, you and Dmitri are my everything. I swear to you, you are not a con."

There was no reversing the damage. For decades to come everything that bloomed between them would grow warped and unnatural. But to tell the truth would be to sentence them all to a life of imprisonment. Better a brokenheart then a caged soul. With a single word, Siena sealed her fate, "Liar."

"Siena-" Gabrielle pleaded.

"Get out," the heartless girl commanded. "All of you. I have work to do."

Hale was the first to retreat, still in a state of shock. When Gabrielle seemed unable to move, Simon pulled her hunched form against him and led her to the door.

Siena heard his footsteps pause over the sound of her mother's sobbing. It was like the air was thick with shattered glass and every breath hurt. Simon's voice echoed loud through the piercing air, "I don't understand why you're doing this,- it doesn't make any sense to me, -but when you're tired of burning bridges, come find me."

The door closed and Siena waited for her limbs to give out and her throat to contract. But they didn't.

So Miss Haddad sat down at her desk and began the days work.

Ewwww, emotions.

Ugh, I'll confess that I hate writing scenes like this. Next chapter will be back to business for the crew. Once again thank you for your patience. –George&Eckles