Wyatt stood from his barstool and reached out for the bottle of bourbon in front of Ollie. He poured each of his friends two fingers of neat amber liquid before serving one for himself.

"To our brotherhood," Wyatt said as he raised his glass for a toast. Ollie and Maxen raised theirs too, and the three downed their drink with a gulp.

"Remember that one afternoon we stole a bottle from Uncle Henry's Macallan collection?" Wyatt asked, walking down memory lane.

"How could I forget how wasted we got, throwing up on Grandma Lin's garden after we drank half of the bottle?" Oliver scoffed. The memory of their foolishness was still fresh in his mind. 

He was placing his glass on the bar top when he heard giggles on the circle floor. His brows knitted. Why was Finn still up? And did he hear it correctly? It felt as if there were more children upstairs.

"Oh, they're having fun," Maxen commented and shook his head. He grunted and stretched his long legs in a 'V'. "I'll be back," he said. Peeling himself from the barstool, Maxen stood up and headed to the stairs. 

"Where are you going?" Oliver asked. 

"I'll put those children to sleep. Why?"

"Let Wyatt do it. That's his daughter, anyway."

Scratching the skin above his eyebrows, Maxen explained, "Yeah, about that… I promised Olivia that I'll babysit Connor's son for her tonight."

"Connor?" Ollie's eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Are we talking about Connor Ma?"

Maxen nodded and left. Left with Wyatt to answer his questions, Ollie probed the former. "What is Connor's son doing here?"

"I heard Livi is trying to tap into the funds of the Ma's, and by the looks of it, she just did."

"How on Earth did she land a deal?"

"Who knows how. What I do know is, he left his son under Livi's care for the entire summer after their meeting."

"Wow. That's weird." Ollie shook his head. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. 

Amongst the conspiracies floating around the Ma Family, there was one that Ollie was sure about: you don't summon Connor Ma, he summons you—and when he did, make sure you're ready to strike a deal with the devil.

Sighing, Ollie glanced at the direction of the stairway and saw Maxen alighting. "That was quick."

"Should I wait for them to sleep? I just said goodnight and turned the light out," Maxen said and scratched the skin above his eyebrows.

"I think that's fine. I do the same with Aerith at bedtime, and they're tired, so they'll be tapping out sooner."

Reaching the bar, Maxen lazily sat on the barstool. He flipped his phone and showed a photo to his friends. "I took a photo of them," he snickered.

Glowing in Maxen's phone was a photo of Aerith flashing her cheeky grin while Hunter was pursing his lips. And right in between the two was Finn clutching Hunter's arm while sneaking a 'V' behind Aerith's head.

The three men chuckled. The photo reminded them of their childhood, and the nights they would sleepover on a Friday night.

Just as they thought the children would be tapping out, they heard another bout of giggles.

"This… I'm not cut out for bedtime drama." Ollie shook his head. 

Wyatt sighed. It's not as if they could do something about it and force the kids to sleep. "Just leave them be. They'll close their eyes when they're tired."

"What are they playing with anyway?" Ollie c.o.c.ked a brow on Maxen.

"Dolls," Maxen snorted. The bourbon almost spurted out of his nose when he remembered what he saw upstairs. 

Beside him, Wyatt hid his smile behind his glass. He saw what the kids were playing too.

Meanwhile, annoyed and feeling left out, Ollie asked, "What the heck is funny, Maxen? Wyatt?"

Reaching out for Ollie, Maxen clamped a hand over the latter's shoulder but said nothing.

"Whaaaat?"

Wyatt, knowing that another fight would break out if Maxen would narrate the story, took it to himself to explain what was causing Maxen's hysterical laugh.

"It's nothing really. The kids were just playing upstairs. Since Finn is the young master of the house, they let him choose what to play with."

"And?"

"And they played with dolls."

"That's it? What's so funny about dolls?"

"Nothing. Nothing is funny about the dolls," Wyatt rapped his words in an attempt to finish his sentence before bursting into a fit of laughter along Maxen who was writhing in his seat.

How could they tell Ollie what they saw and heard when all they remembered was him panicking in the stables after Finn declared his d.e.s.i.r.e to become a majorette? 

Grabbing ice cubes from the bucket, Ollie targeted his friends who wouldn't stop snickering. 

Although Ollie felt left out, he still felt good seeing his brothers laughing. It had been a while since they were in their carefree selves.

Coming down from their dopamine high, an MIB took it as his chance to come forward. He excused himself and whispered something in Maxen's ear. After hearing an update of the movements of his wife, Maxen relieved the bearer of the news back to his post.

"They're just getting started," Maxen announced and it earned him faces full of questions.

"Can you fill me in with what the ladies are up to tonight?" Ollie asked, having no clue what was about to go down. "You know what? I'll just call Ava."

Maxen opened and closed his mouth. He wanted to give Ollie a heads up about the ladies' itinerary but it was too late. Ava was in Ollie's speed dial and the call went through on the first ring.

"Heeeey, sweetie," Ollie trailed off, pausing when a voice echoed from his phone. "Okay, okay. As long as you promise me that there's no Magic Mike tonight."

Maxen and Wyatt were snickering in their seats as they listened to Ollie. It was such a sight to see the feared man in the boardroom named Oliver Lin cooing over the phone as he spoke to his wife.

When the phone call ended, Ollie's eyes were as sharp as a hawk. "I'll just check Finn first." Ollie tapped his finger on the bar top. Tracing his eyes from Maxen to Wyatt, he asked, "Who's coming with me?"

"Uhh… where are we going?" Wyatt asked. He shifted in his seat to find answers from Maxen but the guy bolted from his seat.

Ollie cleared his throat. "We will just eavesdrop. Nothing else," he promised, holding his palm up.

"I was asking where, but nevermind." Wyatt swatted a hand. "Why don't you let those girls have some fun?" Wyatt convinced the two lovelorn puppies beside him, but it was obvious how his brothers were itching to crash the gal pals' party.

"You should have seen how they had fun last time. Those ladies used a different dictionary for the word fun. Nope. Their kind of fun is not gonna happen again," Ollie gritted through his teeth.

"So what are you going to do? Barge in their suite?" 

"No need. I booked the entire floor just like last time," Maxen informed Wyatt. The smug smile on Maxen's face humored the commander. It was obvious how Maxen was waiting for Ollie to initiate the plan of hijacking the gal pals.

"Ahhh. Well… I'll stay and watch over the children," Wyatt offered. He saw no point for him to join his brothers. First, he didn't want to make things between him and Emily awkward. The thought of his presence turning the mood sour screamed in his head. And there was Olivia too, who never forgot to remind him how she abhorred him breathing near her.

"Good call," Ollie approved and nodded his head as if he heard a word of what Wyatt uttered.

Wyatt shook his head. Right across from him was Ollie glued to his phone. By the looks of it, the latter was busy replying to an email he just received.

To his shock, the prince sped out of the house and left a trail of smoke behind, leaving Wyatt and Ollie with agape mouths.