Prologue

DISCLAIMER: ALL CHARACTERS ARE FICTIONAL. THEY DO NOT PORTRAY ANY REAL PERSONS.

Rhonda cried as she looked at the pregnancy test. How could she be pregnant? She knew how but Aiden told her she wouldn't get pregnant the way they did it. How stupid could she be? She was only 15 and her mother was going to kill her.

Rhonda's mother wasn't happy about her daughter's pregnancy but tried to support her the best she could. She understood how hard it was to be a single parent. Rhonda's boyfriend wouldn't have anything to do with her or the baby. She gave birth to Glen in a hospital by herself.

She paced back and forth in her room holding 1-year-old Glen in her arms. She walked past the pregnancy test several times wishing the lines would go away. At 16 she was pregnant yet again. The baby's father was interested in sticking around unlike Glen's father who wouldn't even claim him, however, he got arrested just a few months later and ended up with a long prison sentence. Rhonda's mother was furious. All her daughter did was chase after boys and party. She had wished Rhonda's father hadn't died when she was so young she might not have been so hard to handle.

Rhonda's mother died suddenly of a heart attack a few weeks after Zach was born. Her house had been paid off, so Rhonda had a free place to live with her two boys. Rhonda dropped out of high school and didn't want to work, instead, she shacked up with one guy after another using them to pay her bills for her. Zach's grandmother helped Rhonda out because she wanted to see her grandchild even though his father couldn't be in his. After all, he was in prison. Rhonda used that over her to get money out of her to buy alcohol and drugs. Her drug addiction got so bad she stopped feeding 4-year-old Glen and 2-year-old year old Zach, their home was filthy. Zach's grandmother called child services on Rhonda. They took the two boys away and gave them to Zach's grandmother. Rhonda lost her house to the city for not paying taxes for several years. She moved in with her boyfriend at the time and even though she had visitation rights with her boys she just disappeared from their life.

When Glen was 10 and Zach was 8 years old their beloved grandmother passed away from cancer. Children's services located Rhonda and found she was living with yet another boyfriend and was pregnant. Since her case children's services had been closed years ago they put both boys back with their mother. Thomas was the third boy born to Rhonda and thankfully he had two responsible big brothers to take care of him because lord knows their mother wasn't interested.

The next 8 years were hell for all of Rhonda's boys. Drunk men came and went from their homes. The older boys suffered beatings and sexual abuse at their hands and Rhonda did nothing to stop it. Rhonda had two more boys, twins Brett and Caleb; they were loved intensely by their older brothers. Glen couldn't stand the trash of the place they lived in. He wanted better for his brothers. The day after Glen graduated high school he got a one-bedroom apartment that he had been saving for since his first job at 15.

While their mother was passed out Glen and Zach packed up their belongings as well as 8-year-old Thomas and 11/2-year-old twins Brett and Caleb's belongings. It was no surprise to Glen that it took over a week for Rhonda to realize the boys were gone. Her boyfriend at the time saw the boys leave and followed them. He waited for Rhonda to notice they were gone. When she did he laughed at her and told her how long they had moved out. He took a pissed-off, Rhonda, to the apartment.

Glen and Zach came out of the apartment and refused to let her in. Glen told his mother she was a shit parent and didn't care about her boys. He and Zach were going to raise them; if she wanted to fight them they would call children's services on her. Glen asked her if she thought her boys being gone for over a week before she noticed would make children's service take the boys away? Rhonda really didn't care about her kids; she just liked getting the state's money for them. Glen knew this and made a deal with her that if she left town she could claim the kids for money while he and Zach raised the three younger boys. Rhonda agreed and left town with her boyfriend the next day.

Being 18 made Glen in ultimate control of all 4 boys but he would need Zach's help especially if he were going to go to college to be a doctor while working full time. Zach tried to reason with Glen that if he dropped out of school he could work full time and Glen could quit his job and just do school. The boys had their first disagreement, but Glen won when he made the strategic choice to do what their beloved grandmother used to do to them. He pulled Zach over his lap and spanked his bare bottom until Zach swore and promised to stay in school and graduate high school at the very least.

Both boys began using spankings on Thomas as he started acting up after not having any rules to follow for his whole life suddenly his brothers were being strict with him. The twins would never remember their old life; they were too young. Glen and Zach had always made the rules as far as they were concerned and enforced them as they saw fit too. Thomas was given the right to spank the twins when he was sixteen.

The one thing they always lead their family with was love. The younger boys always felt safe and loved by the older. Thomas graduated high school at 16 and went to college to become a teacher. Glen and Zach never looked back at their old life, they were happy and were very glad Rhonda stayed away.

Glen would eventually become a doctor that worked in the emergency room and Zach joined the police force and soon after became a detective.