We were all gathered in my grandparent's mansion after returning from the Godforsaken party three hours ago.

Three fuckin' hours.

I cannot believe that they took them away from us. It seemed as if the bad luck followed us every single time it came to the women of our family.

Everyone was distressed as half of them sat with the head in their hands and the rest kept pacing around.

"I can't fucking believe this." Dad spoke in exasperation.

Zia Veronica was crying while Zio Asher comforted her as he sat beside her, emotionless, staring at the floor. Javier was sitting quietly in the farthest corner, his whole body appearing to be tense, and his fists closing and opening over and over as if he was trying to contain his anger. Zia shay sat massaging her temples as Zio Zanvil was on a call with someone.

Before anyone could speak any further, Zio Leo entered the house with Zia Caterina following closely behind her. They both appeared to be troubled greatly, I mean we all were. But something about his expressions did not sit right with me.

And the fact that Sylvia had looked at him before she was taken away was all the more reason why I suspected him to know something.

"Zio." I acknowledged in a calm voice.

He looked up at me, his face resembling a blank canvas, as he strode nearer and stopped when he stood a few feet away from where we all were.

"What took you so long?" Grandpa asked.

He remained quiet for a solid minute before opening his mouth to speak, "Caterina wasn't feeling so well." He told in a curt manner.

"What's going on, cara?" Grandma inquired this time looking at Zia Caterina.

She cleared her throat and seemed to be contemplating her answer before she finally decided to speak, "Nothing, just a slight headache."

Grandma sighed and motioned her to sit down on the couch, to which she complied with a small grateful smile before taking a seat and casting a worried glance in Zio's direction. I frowned at the exchange between the two and it heightened my doubts.

"You knew, didn't you?" Grandpa asked looking directly in Zio's eyes.

He swallowed and looked away, not meeting anyone's gaze.

"He knew what?" Dad asked in confusion.

"I saw her looking at you, Leo. I have been in this shit for too long to not notice such looks." Grandpa probed, ignoring dad's question.

His jaw ticked and so did mine as I stared at him in anticipation. What was he hiding?

"Zio." I spoke for the first-ever since returning back home.

His head snapped up at me and his eyes widened for a fraction before he finally masked it and stood straight, adjusting his suit jacket.

"Yes." He answered.

His eyes firmly set on my face but his answer was directed to grandpa, I just knew it.

"How could you hide something like that from us?" Grandpa asked in anger, standing up from his seat at the chair.

"In case you did not notice, I returned on her birthday." Zio retorted.

Silence.

Everyone, including me, was in shock at Zio's clipped tone. He had never used that tone before, ever. He was always calm in comparison to dad.

"Besides, you and mom were with Anna in London." Zio added, referring to their trip to London to see Aunt Anna, his and dad's younger sister.

"You can't keep information like that, regardless." Grandpa gritted out.

"What the fuck are you both on about?" Dad interjected once again.

"He knew about Sylvia." Grandpa finally said aloud.

My breath hitched in the back of my throat and I heard multiple gasps and murmurs echoing in the room.

"WHAT?!" Zio Asher stood up as his face contorted in pure rage. "YOU KNEW ABOUT IT ALL THIS TIME?!" He yelled taking a threatening step forward.

As if a switch flipped inside Zio Leo, he also took one step forward with his jaw set firm and his hands balled into fists by his sides, "What are you gonna do about it, Asher? Give me a cold shoulder? Treat me like crap? Or better yet, a silent treatment?" Zio retorted with unadulterated rage brewing in his eyes.

"Leo!" Mom gasped standing up.

He was referring to his treatment towards Sylvia from the past few weeks.

"YOU DON'T HAVE A MOTHERFUCKIN' RIGHT TO INTERFERE!" Zio Asher roared in anger.

"Oh, but I do. I fuckin' do and you wanna know why? Because it was me who found her passed out from a stroke on the side of an empty road." Zio answered in a calm voice but he appeared anything but.

I froze.

"What?" Zia Veronica asked in a shaky voice.

"Your daughter was raped, beaten, and left on the road to die." He stated looking at her.

A choked sob escaped her mouth and she quickly clamped a hand over it as mom rushed to her side and brought her in a side hug, looking as distraught as everyone else.

"Leo, start speaking." Zio Paul spoke appearing extremely agitated.

And speak, he did. For the next twenty minutes or so, everybody seemed to have become a statue as he went on and on about the details of the incident.

"She said I should have left her there to die and she could have, due to the stroke but I found her just in time to save her. She was so hesitant, almost went ballistic when I talked about informing everyone here. I have just been respecting her wish for the past three years. You know why she was hesitant?" he paused and the look in his eyes was one of reminiscence. "She knew about our rift with the Colombians, she did not want to bring an old enemy back once again in the equation." He scoffed at the end.

It was eerily quiet for the next two minutes as everyone tried to absorb the information that Zio Leo just shared with us.

He then turned to look at me and my senses went on high alert. My stomach churned and I was unable to decipher the look on his face but I had a feeling that I was not going to like what was about to come out of his mouth.

"She called for you, you know? As soon as she woke up the first time, she called for you. Kept asking for you in her sleep every night." He spoke quietly.

There it was again.

Jabbing a knife at my heart over and over and each jab was more painful than the previous one. When that fucker told me that she kept screaming for me, I felt as if my heart was ripped out of my body, torn to shreds, and then stitched back right inside my chest as if nothing happened.

I blinked at him once before turning to look at Javier who was already gazing at me, "To my office." I said and turned around to go upstairs where dad's previous office was.

I entered the familiar office and walked straight towards the window facing the dark, empty road outside and the usual cluster of city lights far away.

A minute later, Javier entered the office and without a word, went to the mini built-in bar on the side before pouring a drink in two glasses and turning around to face me.

He placed my glass on the table and went back to grab the bottle before coming back to take a seat on the chair. I watched his grave expressions through his reflection in the glass window.

Inhaling a deep breath, I turned around and grabbed the half-filled glass with one hand, and chugged the liquid down my throat in one go. The burning sensation in my throat lasted for a second longer, reminding me of the situation at hand and leaving another bitter taste in my mouth.

I sat down on the chair and finally peered at the man sitting in front of me, looking more distraught than ever.

"I want her back." He stated swirling the drink in his glass and not meeting my eyes.

"I want all of them back, Javier. At any fuckin' cost." I stated pouring myself another drink.

"Do you have any time frame in mind?" He asked finally looking up.

I swallowed the bitter liquid and looked directly into his eyes before replying, "Seven days."

His eyes widened and I detected a hint of rage as he lightly slammed his now empty glass on the table, "Seven days?! They could do anything to them." He spoke trying to contain his anger for my sake.

"You're just thinking about Cara, Javier-" I started to speak but he cut me off.

"Damn right I am, she's with my child. I love them." He gritted out.

My jaw ticked as I glared at him and that shut him up so I started to speak again, "You don't get it, do you?" I asked.

He looked at me in confusion before shaking his head in negative.

"They wanted to take just one person, the rest of the two were bonuses. It was all an act, Javier. They came for Sylvia alone, Cara and Selena were taken to make it look as if they were after them, too." I stated in a matter of factly tone.

He frowned, "How are you so sure?"

"Did you not pay attention? For fuck's sake! Selena and Cara were taken by four men while everyone else's gun was only pointed at Sylvia's head. Hell, Augustine took her himself. The fucker thought he was being sly." I told him getting slightly agitated.

Realization dawned on his features as he stared at the table in thought.

"There's one thing though, I don't get how Augustine was able to walk? Didn't Sylvia say that she crippled him?" I questioned to no one in particular.

"This all is one big fucking mess." He huffed out drinking another glass of whiskey.

"Seven days, Javier, seven days. Find whatever the fuck you can, and assemble the teams in the top to the bottom priority order. I need the best of best, we have to get them back and we have only seven days before we strike. I need blueprints of their base, locate them, dig all the dirt on them, make allies with their enemies, and ready your weapons. I don't care, whatever happens, they come home in seven days." I stated while trying my best to contain my emotions.

My twin was in their hold. The thought of something bad happening to her sent a shiver down my spine.

"How are you holding up?" Javier asked.

I did not realize that silence has fallen over us until he broke the ice after a few minutes.

I swallowed and shrugged nonchalantly, "Fine."

"Are you sure? I saw you almost losing your shit down there and then at the party, you were so agitated and fidgety when they tried to take her away." He stated.

"Of course, she's my twin." I replied staring at the door behind him.

"I am not talking about Cara, I am talking about Sylvia." He retorted.

I gave him a sharp look which he met head on, "We're going to bring them back, boss." He stated with a new found determination in his stance and voice.

I nodded once and stood up while buttoning my suit jacket, "Inform everyone that there's a meeting tomorrow, at nine. Sharp."

"You going home?" He asked.

"No, to my house," I replied curtly and left the office.

Home. I scoffed.

I walked out at a rapid pace without acknowledging anyone and sat down in my car before revving the engine and driving towards my condo.

My mind was racing a mile per second as all the possibilities of them harming the women started to hit me with full force.

I was not going to let any harm come to them, not anymore, not after I bring them back.