Only OCs belong to me.

"That went as well as we could have hoped," Kyle said as he shut the door behind us.

Julia crossed her arms and stared at the two of us. "What is going on? Why would a contest winner bring her little sister?"

"She's her ward, there was no one else who could take care of her," I explained while rubbing my forehead. Suyuri was surprisingly relentless with questions when she put her mind to it. It took so much energy to deflect all the questions she threw at me during our seemingly perpetual ride home from the airport. And she wasn't pleased with being asked to go along with our deception, but because Min Hee was also desperate for an explanation as to why they took this sudden trip she was grateful to have an excuse to tell her.

A knock on the door was the only warning we got before Suzette and Stephen stepped into the room and closed the door behind them. My mood darkened instantly. "Why are you both here? Who is going to run interference with our sisters?"

Suzette huffed and flipped her hair back behind her shoulders. "Susanna is playing with the girls and Sakura is showing Suyuri her baking setup; they're fine. We need to know what the next part of your plan is since you know, you brought her here."

I slumped in my chair and sighed. "I know."

"What were you thinking?" Stephen asked, throwing up his hands. "Do you want to signal to Father that you're on to him?"

"Father is currently away on business. I think he went to Milan." Something I only found out on the car ride over from the airport. This was an extremely risky move on my part, but we were getting to the point of needing some bold moves. "He won't be back for another 2 weeks, and we'll need every bit of those two weeks to convince Suyuri that we're worth the trouble we're putting her in."

"What if this means that he's going to have his spies monitor us more closely?" Suzette demanded, putting her hands on her hips. "We have so many secrets to keep from him and, I would argue this is the biggest one."

"I'm so lost here. Should I even be here right now?" Julia asked Kyle who nodded to her. Right, I told him he could let Julia in on this since it may affect their family. He offered to have Suyuri and Min Hee in their wing of the house so we had some space.

"I'm sorry Julia," I said, ignoring my siblings' ire for the moment. "Kyle, how much have you told her?"

"Not much." He thrust his hand into his hair and sighed.

"This may come as a shock, but you should know since Kyle is going to be helping us with keeping our guests comfortable." I took a deep breath and hoped she wouldn't be too angry with us. "Suyuri is our half-sister who we recently found out about. She doesn't know that yet and I kind of forced her hand in order for her to come to Japan. We need her to side with us when we initial a board vote to remove our father from his position."

"A board vote?" Suzette repeated. "On what grounds?"

"Unfit to run the business, irresponsible spending, erratic behavior we have quite a few things to pick from. We're just missing all the evidence we need to force a vote." Kyle told her. "Among- other things." He winced as he met my eyes. "Sara, have you seen him alone lately?"

"Yes, but-" I glanced at Stephen who seemed confused by our exchange. "But it went well. However, I did run into the Otori head on my way out. He was there fairly late, around 6:30."

"Woah woah woah. You have another sister and she doesn't know yet?" Julia interjected. "And I'm supposed to keep this a secret too now?"

"Yes." I inclined my head to Kyle. "And he's keeping an eye on her while she's here. We're telling you because you deserve to know the risk we're taking by having her here. I want you to make a decision in case you decide you need to leave."

"To leave?" Julia repeated, she turned to look at her husband who looked to the floor. "Why? Is your dad in the mafia or something?"

"Well technically here it would be the Yakuza," Kyle said, attempting to lighten the mood but failing miserably judging by the look on Julia's face.

"No, but he is very powerful here and he's vindictive. Kyle could lose his job and his ability to work for any Japanese company. He could poison the well when you're looking for work." I told her. "If he thinks that you're involved in what we're planning, it could be dangerous. Lately, he's been more...well violent."

She gaped at me.

Stephen crossed his arms, "Violent how?"

"He's been throwing things during meetings," I answered simply. "He also hired some low-level thugs to intimidate some small businesses that he's buying up. I haven't been able to connect what he's doing and I'm starting to think he doesn't have much of a plan either."

"How has no one said anything if he's throwing things at people?" Stephen let out a mirthless laugh. "Incredible."

I caught my sister's eyes and I finally understood why others were so compelled to do as I asked; she kept my gaze and stared so hard I thought she might be drilling a hole into my mind. I knew what she wanted me to say and I refused to say it. While I appreciated the concern, I had her and Kyle to watch my back. I didn't want Stephen constantly checking me for bruises too.

"It's incredibly risky. He doesn't do it much from what I know." I said, moving my gaze to Stephen. "Do not meet with him alone. He's become a very heavy drinker; lately, I've only been seeing him when we meet with the Suohs and he's happy with how that's been progressing so he doesn't drink as much."

He nodded. "You shouldn't either. One of us can go with you to the house at least."

Suzette turned away from the both of us and spoke quietly to Julia and Kyle who nodded to whatever she said.

"Good, now here's the fun part." I placed my hands on the desk and rose from my chair. "After we get Suyuri to trust us and to agree to help us...I don't know what to do next, well not yet."

"You what?" The room reverberated from their collective shouts.

"Are you out of your mind?" Suzette screeched. "You don't know what to do next?"

"Not yet." I kept my calm, passive expression despite my leg shaking. "I know what options we have but I haven't decided which to take."

"Well, would you mind at least sharing these options?" Stephen's next words were dripping with false cheer and sarcasm. "That is if you wouldn't mind terribly keeping us from having to guess your next moves."

Kyle flicked his ear. "Hey, stop that." While Stephen rubbed his ear, my advisor met me with a hard gaze. "You know you don't have to make a move now. You can wait until after you've all turned eighteen."

"That's one option." I let my head droop. "But that also means that I'm stuck marrying Tamaki. Once the news is public we risk angering the Suohs when I break it off."

"And even the connections we have now wouldn't save us from his grandmother's wrath." Suzette sighed heavily. She looked heartbroken and almost sick as she said, "Would it be so bad if you just went along with it? I know you care about Haruhi, but realistically would their relationship even have a chance? If he was married to you, you wouldn't care and he'd have cover to see her."

"You want her to be in a loveless marriage?" Stephen demanded. "How could you even suggest that?"

"Because I would do it." Suzette slammed a finger into his chest. "I'm not a romantic when it comes to marriage. Why do you think I've been having my fun now? Do you honestly think I ever thought I'd be marrying for love when the time came? Did you?" She stared at me, all her conviction boring into my soul. "Is she worth killing yourself over? Worth potentially losing Kobayashi Industries over? You could do so much worse than Tamaki. His family alone would protect you as you came of age and could challenge Father."

Julia gasped and held her hands over her mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to react." She wrapped her arms around Kyle who immediately embraced her and rubbed her back soothingly as she buried her head into his chest.

Suzette was right. She was right, but I couldn't bring myself to do that to Tamaki or to Haruhi. I wished I had someone the way Julia had Kyle, but I didn't and did I want to risk our futures on the slimmest of chances that I would find that kind of happiness and comfort one day?

"Are you seriously considering that? What are our other options?"

"They're all incredibly risky," Kyle said softly. "Why do you think Sara and I are trying so hard to secure other options for you all?" Of course, he guessed, how could he not? "There's a huge chance if your father is successfully ousted from Kobayashi Industries that they'll appoint someone else who won't be willing to keep the seat warm for the rest of you while you finish school or make your 5 million yen."

"So our options are to find alliances through marriage, risk losing everything, or let Father continue behaving the way he is? I can't accept that." Stephen shook his head firmly and glared at Suzette. "And you, how can you be so callous? I thought Tamaki was your friend."

"He is my friend." My sister's steely voice commanded attention, even Julia turned to look at her. "That's why I'm suggesting this. He's too much of a romantic and he's too emotionally stunted to fully realize that he loves Haruhi. Say we can break off Sara's marriage with no consequence to us, which would be a miracle, then what's to stop the Suohs from picking another marriage candidate? One who would only be too happy to marry into the wealth and power of his family and who would care if Tamaki loved someone else. They'd ensure nothing but failure for Haruhi and would make Tamaki miserable."

She met our brother's eyes and said in a low voice, "I'm thinking of our family first. Something you should be doing." She turned to me, relaxing her shoulders and giving me a sad smile. "I know you want it to work out happily for everyone. It makes me proud that you care so much, but what about you? Us? This is a good option, a kind one even if it hurts people to begin with. And if we take Suyuri out as an option for Father, you're the only one who can inherit the company. This company deserves your leadership."

I nodded and took a deep breath. "I've also considered that." Guilt plagued me because it was the easiest option and I had considered it so much. If I was the only one affected by this decision, I would have gone along with it happily.

"Sara really-"

"Shut up." Kyle held his wife but managed to kick at my brother's foot. "Let her finish." When did Kyle get so close to Stephen to bully him like that? If the atmosphere wasn't so tense and serious maybe I would have made a joke. But I was past joking now.

"I don't want to do that." I turned to Stephen. "But Tamaki can't even figure out what our fathers could possibly be merging on together. That means he's not trusted to be in the room." Tapping the desk with my fingers, I continued with my thought process. "As I said, I haven't decided my next moves yet. But I don't have a lot of time. We need to focus on getting Suyuri on our side for now."

He bit his lip and pulled back on his hair as he listened to me. Finally, he nodded. "I just want a chance for you to be happy too."

"Admirable, but since when do we have that luxury?" Suzette's mood had soured considerably since Stephen called her callous. "Worry about your future first, Sara has to make her own decisions and I'm sure she agrees that happiness isn't part of the calculus."

A swell of pride filled me as I met Suzette's eyes with a small smile. She understood my motivations so perfectly, if our family was taken care of we would be happy enough. Maybe it was selfish of me to not consider how much of a help she could be and to keep her so in the dark before. We could have been working on these things together all this time. I had wished for a partner, maybe I should have considered remembering my sister could be my partner in this. Stephen changed so much after meeting Raku, he was blinded by his affection for her.

Kyle regarded my siblings carefully, looking pensive and calculating- oh no. I know that look. He was looking at Suzette. The sister who just now admitted she would dutifully marry Tamaki if it would solve all our problems.

"Kyle no." I shook my head. "I think we've said enough to think about tonight. We'll continue this in the morning."

My siblings nodded, both of them covered one of my hands with theirs and we squeezed each other's hands.

"I don't like it, but you're right and I'm sorry. We need to consider it." Stephen told Suzette who reached for his hand, seeming to accept his half-apology.

"We need to ensure that Sakura has a proposal from Mori." Suzette said. "Yuzuha-sama thinks Kaoru is too young to think about marriage and is content to let Susanna and Kaoru date without any marital pressures."

"I'm not worried for her. Her paintings do so well, that she'll always have a safety net. One of us can always watch over her while we wait- if Kaoru and her end up being serious." We all let my words sink in; I'm sure we were all planning the same thing- to have her stay with one of us if everything went badly.

Stephen let out a deep breath. "Well, that's enough doom and gloom for tonight. We'll discuss this in the morning. We will eventually need to tell Sakura and Anna."

I nodded and they left the room along with Julia who slipped out without my notice. Only Kyle remained, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Please not now."

"I'm sorry, but you're not thinking about this logically." He pushed away from the wall and came over to my desk. "We know that Tamaki's father didn't fight this match because he thought you were Suzette, one of his son's best friends, and the daughter of a powerful family that could appease his mother. Your sister just said she would marry him and that she never thought she'd marry for love."

I released a frustrated sigh. I knew I was right to cut him off while my siblings were in the room. "We also know that she doesn't want a granddaughter-in-law who wants to be a designer."

"She's not going to live forever." Kyle held up his hands and closed his eyes. "Sorry, that was terrible of me but it's true." He opened his eyes again and searched mine for...something. I kept my expression neutral and he huffed, not finding what he was looking for. "You're moving too fast. It's making you sloppy. Let me run things for a while, build a team that will help you all secure backup plans in case everything falls apart."

"While I do what? Sit pretty?"

"No, while you live as normal of a life as you can. Do you think Suyuri is going to trust someone who looks like she's on the brink of collapse or who's stressed out of her mind? You're burnt out and it's showing. You need to look polished, calm, normal." He rubbed his forehead. "Your sister is very capable. You need to use her more often. Hell, you need to have Suzette take charge of some of this burden."

"You used to say that about Stephen."

"I never met your siblings in person before this year." Kyle put his hand on the desk and leaned over. "Suzette could help you take over this company one day. Either by skill or by her willingness to make those connections. I don't like this alliance by marriage practice but your sister has such a strong sense of duty I don't think she'd do anything less than that. You're alike in that way."

"She's finally getting noticed by the industry she's cared about her entire life," I told him softly. Suzette and I were alike, but she had a passion and a chance to follow it. If anyone was going to marry to form a necessary alliance to ensure our siblings' happiness it was always going to be me.

He shook his head. "I think you're doing her a disservice. Give her all the information and let her decide."

"If anyone is going to do that-" I met his eyes and glared. "It will be me. Don't tell her."

He huffed and crossed his arms. "I won't but know that I'm very unhappy about this." He made his way to the door, pausing to say "I don't agree with most of what your brother thinks except for one thing, I want you to have a chance at being happy too. Don't be so self-sacrificing, you have support. Good night little girlfriend."

With the door shut behind him, I was left alone but for the first time, I didn't actually feel quite so alone.

I never thought I'd come back to this story so late. I had written a lot of it but never published it so I'll be doing my best to polish up the chapters I found and to publish them.