I am SYEI by blood, not by heart.
As the only girl in a family of four sons, our father took his time training and preparing them to take over SYEI, the biggest and most profitable company in the country.
My father is a typical businessman. He invests on everything he believes will make profit for him and his company. From security firms, mobile and video applications, new and old businesses, everything. He is right to because they always end up being successful.
As you can imagine, a man like him would think highly of himself. And he does. And so does his standards and ideals, as traditional as they come, so that means he sees my brothers as his successors. He treats them as such, even at home. They know that if they make a mistake, it will cost them a seat at his table. We are not yet allowed to be any part of the main company. All the board of directors are my father's trusted partners.
He instead created four more companies and appointed my brothers as the head of each one of them. He separated them so there wouldn't be any competition but it's unrealistic to think that because they would fight to the death for a seat at the table.
Most people only know about my brothers. They call them THE BILLIONAIRE BROTHERS.
The oldest one, Brandon, is the smartest out of all of them.
Brandon's life is simple, he follows his schedule, and he lives by the rules.
A family man.
I respect him the most out of all my brothers because Mark, the second oldest, is a free spirit and is as chaotic as the many girlfriends he has but he is surprisingly ethical when it comes to working.
He's thriving both in work and in his personal life, good for him. My dad tries to set him up with 'good girls' for him to marry but it doesn't work out because he told him that he is also practicing polygamy without any commitment. Like father, like son.
The conversation didn't go well because dad kicked him out of the family house. He thought it would help but Mark became out of control, he didn't have anything or anyone holding him back. The youngest ones are Liam and Leo, the twins. The most handsome, young and eligible bachelors.
They are from Spain. Dad met their mother when he was travelling for work and he ended up falling in love with the secretary of his business partner in Madrid.
She moved to our house when I was 14, and they were 10, that means that dad was cheating on mom with the three women all while raising me and presenting us as the ideal family. I don't know how mom handled it. I was angry for a long time but I didn't have a say in the house anymore so what could I do? Nothing.
Mom said she was the woman of the house but what the other wives did to her was more than she could handle. That's why she took off one night and we have never seen her again. I was a happy kid, but one day, reality hit me.
The day I met Brandon when I was 17.
And Mark when I was 10.
I realised that dad was a father to most of them before being a father to me.
Brandon is 30.
Mark is 27.
I am 24.
Liam and Leo are 20.
I had to adjust my life three times. I welcomed them and watched as they chose their bedrooms and they eventually took over my personal space, and the rest of the rooms in the house. Not only did they take over the house, they took the family name and everyone eventually knew them.
It wasn't a big issue, just like I thought it would. Some of my father's partners even congratulated him on having four sons. That was when my family became famous. Because of the rich father, the sons or heirs of the father and the mother's of the heirs.
But they didn't get to know about me.
Well, they didn't until I turned eighteen and used my mother's inheritance to create the best fashion brand in the country. Mom would be so proud. But dad didn't say anything to me, he didn't care that I had created something good, he only cared about his sons.
I didn't ask him for help like they did. I was privileged enough to have a trust fund created by mom. It's the one thing she left for me. The minute I got it, I ran, as fast as I could, away from my 'family'. I had to, or else I would've gone insane.
It was suffocating, having to live with them in mom's family house. Her parents built it for her and my father took advantage of her kindness and brought them in. They even treated it as their own when they started renovating the house.
Mom couldn't take it anymore so she left. But she left me with them. I suffered until I was 18. Just until I was 18 years old. And I ran and never looked back.
SYEI is generation wealth at its finest and we're just living through it while adding modern age. What most people don't know is that my father founded his business when he married my mother and took the role as the head of my grandfather's company.
When it became a more profitable, he decided to expand it. My grandfather didn't like him and he was right to trust his instincts. He fired him from his position as the CEO when he learnt that my father had other children. He considers me as his only grandchild and he let him know that. He was the most affected when mom disappeared because he couldn't believe that she could leave me or him. He loves his daughter so much.
I remember that day, he walked into dad's office full of rage and told him that dad had gotten rid of her. He had killed her soul and she wasn't the daughter he raised. He called the police and declared her missing but to no avail. He even hired the best private investigator in the country but he couldn't find her.
He told her that she night have travelled to an unknown destination and it would be hard to track her movement in another country. He never stopped waiting for her call, or even a letter.
Deep down, I knew that mom gave me the inheritance because she knew that dad wouldn't include me in his will. It would only be mine and no one else's. I have always wanted to tell her that I didn't need the money, I just need her. I needed support, I needed a mom, I just needed her.
Nothing else would make me happier than to see her again but we haven't heard about anything about her after eight years. What makes me different from them is that I know what pain feels like. They have a mom and a dad. I don't even consider him to be my father.
 ***
"I used to complain so much," I say while watching the videos from my sessions with Dr.Anderson, my therapist.
"I thought I needed therapy but when I think about it, I was just running away, I was scared to face them, to face my father, my brothers and their mothers but what's even worse, they have been living in luxury with my mother's money,"
"They don't care how bad they treated her and that's why I will not rest until I find out what happened to mom and why she ran away,"
"Is that why you are going back home?"
"No,"
"My grandfather told me to visit him, which is odd because he doesn't call often,"
"I had hoped that he finally knew where mom is but he didn't tell me why he wanted to meet me,"
"I have to go,"
"I saw her,"
"I saw your mother,"
"She was here,"
"You have to make them pay,"
"Matthew, he made her disappear,"
His caregiver burges in and tries to calm him down.
"Sorry, he gets worked up when he is stressed,"
"But he is happy to see you,"
"As am I," I give her a faint smile. She lays him down on his pillow as he mumbles.
I have never seen him like this.
"Lily,"
"Yes, grandpa," I walk to the left side of the bed.
"Your mother, you need to find her,"
He stops talking and eventually sleeps.
"Has anyone visited him while I was away?" I ask Amy, his caregiver.
"No, Miss Lily, only his doctor and I,"
"Okay,"
"I'll just stay with him for a while. You can also rest,"
"Okay, goodnight, Miss Lily,"
"Goodnight, Miss Amy," she smiles back, then walks out.
Why now?
Why would she come back now?
"I hope you're finally at peace after seeing her, grandpa,"
"I'm sorry I didn't have time to take care of you. It's my fault,"
I hold his hands, but they are stiff. He can barely walk, he doesn't have visitors, or even friends to visit him. At least he had Amy. Poor Amy, if I knew Grandpa well, he put her to work, and he never let her rest.
But now that I am here, I can help out. I am not in any rush to go back home.
"How are you doing, little sister," Mark says with a smirk on his face.
"My dad's in a coma. My grandfather needs a full-time caregiver, and my mother disappeared for ten years. How am i doing? You tell me,"
He looks shocked to hear that, but what else was he expecting.
"You're forgetting the part where you've inherited billions and the position we've been working for, for years,"
"Yeah, like that's a good thing,"
"I'd say take it up with dad, but you know where that will lead to"
"I'm not doing this," I walk to the door and stop once he is in sight.
Seeing him after all these years brings back lots of memories, good ones, sad ones and bad ones, at the same time.
I have heard a lot about him the last couple years but we never met. We couldn't. Mark told me he doesn't like going out or meeting people but here he is. At the welcoming party that has no business being unwelcoming, but he is a sight for sore eyes.
"Lily," the first word he says to me after so many years.
He doesn't hesitate as he wraps his hand and hugs me tightly, in front of everyone.
"I didn't think I'd ever see you again,"Â
I can feel his heart beating fast.
"I missed you so much," I can feel my heart racing.
He looks at me, waiting for my answer.
"I," I start.
"It only took Lily coming back home to finally get you out of your house," he steps back when Mark interrupts us and smiles from ear to ear while hugs Mark.
I look around and the guests are still looking in our direction.
"Didn't we go out last night?"
"Your definition of going out is walking around the neighbourhood,"
"But what are brothers for, if for not keeping each other company,"
"How could you not tell me she was coming home?"
"And ruin the surprise?"
I could hear them talk all day.
I thought I would feel alone once I came back home but with them by my side, maybe it will be better.