F O U R T H

"The body of a 53-year-old man who is believed to be the owner of the San Diego group of companies is found dead inside his office on a Sunday morning. It is believed that he has been a victim of Murder. A bullet trough the back of the head is the result of the lifeless corpse. Stay tuned for the next news and updates,"

"Headline already?" Vaughn questions as she goes down their staircase the next morning.

"I know. It's crazy how news travels so fast," Her father takes a sip of his usual morning coffee.

Glancing at the Television before she makes her breakfast, Vaughn notices something odd.

"Are you sick or something?" she asks with a raised brow.

"Sick? What are you talking about?" Vox takes a bite at his toast.

She heaves a deep sigh. "Nevermind, maybe I'm just surprised that I woke up 'with a dad' " Vaughn busies herself in making her usual toast for breakfast.

"Ohh. I'm sorry if you felt that way," Vox finishes his coffee. He'd be lying if he says he didn't feel guilty.

"No sweat. I'm used to it," Vaughn picks up her breakfast to sit at the dining table.

The guilty man looks at his well grown daughter. To think that his own daughter grew up without him, hurts him the most.

"Adalane, I'm so sorry for not being there for you because of-"

"Company Responsibility. I know," Vaughn concentrates in her breakfast.

"But I'm still your father," Vox attempts to take hold of his daughter's hand.

"I know. But you haven't been most of the time," She stands up from the dining chair. "I'm totally used to it," Vaughn heads up to her room.

I've always been used to it.

Her thoughts wonder. Why? What's with the sudden parenting topic? Shaking her head as she sets the thought aside and starts to get ready for School. Fixing her school things and her gym bag for afternoon practice.

"I'll be going-"

"Can you please call the crew. Let's take a look at what the gem looks like before you take off for school," Vox fixes his long-sleeved shirt.

Vaughn just nods in response to what her father commands.

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The crew gathers around in the Basement of the Xanthos residence. They stare at the brown box as if watching an egg to hatch.

"One of you might wanna open it. It's not gonna hatch like some sort of Dinosaur egg," Luvox speaks, resulting for the rest of the crew to flinch.

Rade slowly grabs the box, as if contemplating to open it or not. With shaking hands, Rade opens the clasp lock. The rest of the crew goes beside him, staring intently at the box being opened.

Everyone was too fixated on what the Gem looks like. What will happen next if the Gem were to be in their hands?

With the box fully opened, The expression on everyone's face dropped, from excitement to disappointment real quick.

"A rock? Are you kidding me?" Rade takes hold of the rough gray rock that's just about the size of his fist.

"We went all the way to assassinate someone who's now the headline of the news for a fucking Rock that's in a dumb-looking box?!" Covu states in the matter of fact.

"We were fooled!" Vox slams the basement table. "How can this happen?" He directed his attention to his daughter.

"I swear, than man is a goner when I reach the warehouse!" Vaughn yells in frustration.

"Another thing, Does any of us might have any idea who the guy wearing a bonnet is? I mean, How did they know that we're there? How did they know we're planning an assassination?" Sage brings an incident that happened yesterday.

"You're right. And a place where the marksman stands is not an easy place spot," Lila backs her twin brother up.

A deep sigh was heard from the leader of the group. "That's another thing that kept me awake last night," Vox runs his fingers on his hair as a sign of frustration. "We just have to find out the sooner the better. And knowing this is not what we're looking for, we're back to tracking that Gem...again,"

"That bastard is gonna get it this time!" Vaughn grits her teeth in anger.

"We'll deal with this later, Ya'll carry on for the rest of the day," Vox dismisses his crew. "Adalane, I'm going to the company today. You want me to drop you off to school?"

The rest of the crew stopped at their tracks, all with surprised expression. It was the first time her father offered her a fatherly thing. Low-key hoping her daughter to agree to his offer.

"No. I can go to school with Rade," Vaughn pushes her best friend out their front door. "Come on, dude"

The rest of them started to walk while Luvox enter his car. With a disappointed look, Vox drives to the company.

"What the hell, dude? You should've just accepted your dad's offer," Rade asks when they saw Luvox's car was out of sight. "It's your chance to at least establish a father-daughter relationship with him,"

"Rade, I survived and grew this old without him to guide me. He can go on and blabber about he's my father but, all he really cares about is that damn Gem and his big ass company," Vaughn kicks a stray rock in anger.

"But he's still your father," Mico speaks.

"Period. Anyway, That bastard's gonna get it when I reach the warehouse!" The anger Vaughn carries through the day.

The tied up man said a fake name after all. Who holds the real Gem Vox and his crew are after?