Brendan observed the oil paintings on the wall of the big living room. All the pictures were framed in thick tiled borders that shone like tear drops. It took him a moment to notice that the paintings weren't hanging on the wall. The photo realistic illustrations of all the people were painted on the surface of the wall itself. The realization made him pause.

"Don't be surprised," Gemma whispered to him. "This is just a glimpse into the frivolous luxury my entire family indulges in. And the owner of this house, my cousin, Eva Koehlwin is the worst of them all."

Brendan gaped at her.

Gemma's face was grim. "Look at that golden candelabra on the fireplace. You can sell that off and probably buy a single bedroom apartment in Kingsville. Yes, even in the current economy."

"You are kidding."

Gemma just shook her head. "Look at that jade sculpture in the corner. It's probably handmade and exported from a country where pieces like that are only owned by royalty. And I'm sure Eva received it as a gift." She sighed. "And I don't even have to wonder if the embroidery on those couch cushions is made from real gold."

Brendan frowned at her. "Stop that, Gemma."

"Stop what?"

"Stop complaining about your cousin's lifestyle," he said. "I know you don't like the gaudy show-off types even if they are your own kin. But you can't expect her to favor you with that obvious distaste on your face."

Gemma's lips became a thin line. But she couldn't help agreeing with Brendan. She was treating the visit like a personal one. In the end, her reason to see Eva was purely business. She had to treat it as such.

She nodded at Brendan and took a deep breath. "Thanks for the pep talk. I feel more focused now."

Brendan's usual cheerful smile was back. "Anytime." He playfully nudged her shoulder.

"Germaine!" A voice cooed at them from behind. Brendan almost jumped at the sudden call.

Both of them turned to look at the woman. He had been wrong to subconsciously judge the her based on the austerity of all the decorations of the living room. Eva Koehlwin wasn't as much of a show-off as he'd expected.

She was in her mid-thirties with the same dark hair as Gemma. Except Eva wore hers long. Other than that, Eva also wore a peach colored blouse, an almond brown pencil skirt, jet black stockings but no shoes–that's how she had managed to sneak up on them with her noiseless arrival.

She stepped up to Germaine and hugged her tightly. "My god, you really are here." Eva giggled.

Gemma just smiled nervously. "Yes, yes I am."

Eva then turned to Brendan with a curious smile. She leaned closer to her cousin and muttered surreptitiously . "Who's the cutie? Have you been busy?"

"Yes." Gemma's reply was cold. "But not in the way you're implying."

Brendan blushed, having overheard the exchange. Not to make himself more awkward than he already was, he curtly stuck out his hand. "I'm Brendan. Nice to meet you Ms. Eva."

"Likewise, Brendan." Eva smiled a smile that disarmed his embarrassment in an instant. All Koehlwins seemed to be naturally charismatic. The woman turned back to Gemma. "What brings my long lost cousin back home then? Especially since you had vowed to never see our faces again."

Gemma's calm expression almost faltered for a moment. "So you still hold a grudge against me, Eva?"

Eva seemed almost offended. "Of course not. You know I don't indulge in petty matters like grudges. I find it immensely tiresome to be angry at something for longer than five seconds." She paused and smiled in amusement. "But you know, you happen to have more principles than others in the family. I'm just surprised that you broke your own rules."

Brendan was quietly observing Gemma. Her fingers were twitching ever-so-slightly as if she was suppressing them from forming fists.

That's when a signal seemed to go off between them. Gemma glanced at Brendan from the corner of her eye. He took that chance to shake his head at her again. Gemma got the message. She took a deep breath. Her fingers stopped twitching. She turned back to Eva. "Call me a hypocrite if you want. I really can't care less. That doesn't mean I don't have a purpose to be here."

Eva was curious. "You mean, you really are here with a reason other than the fact that you got tired of the perilous life in the sectors?"

Gemma scoffed. "My life in C3 was anything but perilous. I love the place I built there. Mathesdale was more of a home than any mansion down here will ever be."

"Your father thought the same thing but he still abandoned that town. Why do you think he did that?" Eva crossed her arms across her chest.

That made Gemma pause. But this time she wasn't infuriated, she just looked down at the floor, saddened. "You don't really believe that, do you?" She pulled out her dad's old watch from her pocket. "You don't really think dad just left because Mathesdale wasn't offering the same luxuries anymore?"

"Uncle was a smart man, Gemma," Eva said. "Unlike you and Erik, he was practical. He saw that there was no saving that town when the war began. He left that place just after the war even though that's where his first factories were based. But he never stopped supplying watches and other equipment to the Ardvenian army. Like a true businessman, he went where the value was."

"That doesn't mean dad didn't have any principles!" Gemma snapped.

Brendan stepped closer to her. "Germaine–"

"Stay back, Brendan." Gemma raised her hand, glaring at her cousin. "She seems to have a lot of misconceptions about my father that I need to set straight."

"There's nothing that needs to be set anyway, Gemma." Eva smirked. "Our entire family knows, uncle was an incredible businessman. An empire like the one Koehlwins own wasn't just formed by accident."

"Shut up! You know nothing about my father! He wasn't like you or the rest of his relatives. Mathesdale was his home."

"Then why didn't he come with you when you were going back to that town?" Eva cocked her head. Her eyes were still glinting with amusement. "As far as I remember, you and Erik were a lot more angry at him for not trying to aid that little town with his resources. Isn't that why you both left the family in the first place? Because no one except for you cared about Mathesdale? Also, if I remember correctly, even though left us, you never renounced your inheritance, did you?"

The argument had then reached the point where the altercation shifts from verbal to physical. But since none of the two women were children, Gemma just stormed out of the mansion.

Brendan was flabbergasted at what just happened. He turned to Eva. "I thought you said, you didn't like holding grudges?"

Eva scoffed. "If you think what I said was the result of a grudge you are as childish as she is."

"What is wrong with you?" Brendan frowned. "She came asking for help!"

"After being a stranger for eight years to her own family?" Eva raised an eyebrow. "Germaine likes to think she is better than the rest of us just because she went off and lived in that war torn city while we were all here. If she is gonna take a path like that she'll have to stick to it in every way."

Brendan frowned. "What do you mean?"

Eva rolled her eyes. "I mean she can't have it both ways."

Brendan was still puzzled.

Eva already seemed bored of giving any explanations. So she just turned and walked deeper into the mansion. Brendan ran back outside, where Gemma was in the backseat of their car.

Before he could even say anything Gemma spoke up. "Rozwel, take us back to a hotel. I don't wanna be here another minute."

#

Germaine was quiet on the drive to the hotel and had Rozwel book separate rooms for herself and the men. When Brendan tried talking to her, she just looked dejected rather than angry. She said she wanted to be alone and retreated to her room.

The exhaustion from all the traveling finally enveloped Brendan. And he found himself moving on autopilot. He made his way to his own room and collapsed in bed.

He woke up to the sounds of clatter of cutlery against the plates. He saw Rozwel by the desk on the opposite side of the room. "Mr. Brendan," the older man said, curt as always. "I was serving your dinner for you."

"Gee, thanks." Brendan rubbed his eyes and gazed out the window. The sky was dark. He had slept through the afternoon. He looked back at Rozwel. "Did Gemma eat?"

"She did. She was the one who sent me to fetch the food for you." Rozwel carried the plate over to Brendan's bed and handed it to him. It was a generously filled turkey and cheese sandwich with an equally generous amount of fries.

Now that was a meal he dreamt of waking up to back in the sectors. Brendan smiled and nodded. "Thanks again."

"Lady Germaine suggested you'd appreciate something heavier on calories."

Brendan dug into his sandwich and nodded in approval. "Can't agree more with the suggestion."

Rozwel bowed. "I'll let you enjoy your meal then." He turned to leave.

"No wait."

"Yes, Mr. Brendan?"

"First of all, just call me Brendan. I feel way too old each you time you call me 'mister'. Secondly, would you mind sitting down and chatting with me?"

"I wouldn't mind at all, Brendan."

The younger man smiled and took another bite of his sandwich. "How is Gemma doing now?"

"She told me to tell you she is completely fine if you asked that question."

Brendan pursed his lips. "Okay, and how is she actually doing?"

"I haven't been able to tell," Rozwel said. "But she has been keeping herself busy since we arrived here."

"Busy?"

"Busy making phone calls. To whom? I'm not certain."

Brendan let out a sigh. "If you don't mind, can I ask you something about the Koehlwins?"

"Depends on what you are curious about."

"What's the story with Gemma's father leaving Mathesdale?"

"Oh." Rozwel paused.

"What's with that pause? From the argument between Eva and Gemma, the whole matter sounded quite serious. And that pause of yours made it sound even more ominous."

"I paused to wonder how exactly I should explain the matter to an outsider." Rozwel smoothed out the lapel of his coat. "But I won't deny that the matter was quite serious. And it became a lot more serious when master Erik left to join the army and Lady Germaine had the fight with her father before she returned to Mathesdale."

"But what exactly happened?"

"It's a tad difficult to describe. Lady Germaine's father, master Hanz Koehlwin left the town when the war was first declared. Master Erik had already joined the army by then. Lady Germaine was more attached to Mathesdale than the others. She tried to convince her father to keep Mathesdale under the Koehlwin family's favor. Master Hanz refused."

"So that's when they fought?"

Rozwel nodded. "And thus, lady Germaine left." He sighed. "But I believe what made it worse was that she didn't even come back for her father's funeral. That is why most of the family is even more sour towards her."

Brendan paused. The topic was a lot heavier than he'd expected. What surprised him even more was the fact that he almost understood Eva Koehlwin's disdain. He was truly speechless now.

So he just took another bite of his sandwich. That's when someone knocked at the door. It was Gemma. "I'm heading back to Eva's place," she said.

"I'm coming too!" Brendan said, taking another bite of his sandwich and putting his plate aside. "Just lemme get dressed real quick."

#

On the drive back to Eva's mansion, Gemma was still quiet. And Brendan was too hesitant to ask her about it. But he couldn't take his eyes off an envelope that she had in her hand the whole time. His mind couldn't stop speculating on its contents.

It took them another thirty minutes to arrive at Eva's place. It was around half past eight. Gemma quietly made her way up the steps of the grand porch and rapped the bronze knocker against the door.

This time Eva seemed a lot more amused to see them back. Gemma stepped up to her. "I would've sat and argued with you over the family drama all day. But I'm running out of time. So just take it and we can move forward." She handed her the envelope.

Eva took the envelope and pulled out a folded sheet of paper from within. She read what was written in it. She looked at Gemma, eyes glinting with curiosity. "What am I even supposed to do with this thing? It's not even an official document with the stamp of some authority on it."

"It's not. But it's a declaration written in my hand and signed by me. You can use it legally to hold me accountable later on if things don't work out. But what it means is I'm giving you my word that I'll do what I've written in that piece of paper."

Eva crossed her arms. "In exchange of what?"

"You have your reach and friends in multiple countries because of your crude oil business. I want you to pull some strings and help out someone I know."

"What kinda help?"

"By letting them migrate to a non-warring nation and help them have new identities and ensure their safety. But there's a catch," Gemma said. "You can't let our government get involved in it in any way."

Eva scoffed. "So you want me to let your friends have a completely new life in some out of the way nation and you want me to do it without any notice from our government? Sounds like you are trying to shelter a political criminal."

"Are you willing to help me or not, Eva?"

Eva shrugged. "Fine. Even though what you are offering is laughably meager, it's still a lot coming from you. Also what you want me to do is a lot easier for me."

Gemma was ready to punch her cousin for the backhanded remarks. But she refrained. She was still debating on whether or not to thank Eva when Rozwel burst into the mansion.

He had his cellphone in hand and his face was dark with dread. "Lady Germaine, Dr. Nortan is on the phone," he said. "He insisted on tuning into the news."

Eva frowned and turned on the television and browsed over to a news channel. They were running the footage of a burning building on loop.

"The Line tower is reported to have been intruded by a terrorist group–"

Brendan's eyes went wide. He stepped up next to Germaine. "Gemma that's..."

"I can see, Brendan," she said. And I wish I couldn't.

The footage of the burning building switched over to the shot of a fluttering black flag with bold red letters that read: The Last Hand.

Oh brother, Gemma thought. Why are you always this quick to catch up?