Prologue
Saskia was known as Miss Sassy Pants when she was in hiding with one of her brothers. She didn't know why they were hiding just that when her dad and other brother sorted it they could go home. She knew her dad was a gang leader and her mum was dead whatever that meant. She was only four but she was close to her brother Nathan, after all, they were the only two to share the same mother and father. The other brother, the eldest had a different mother and was 16 when Sassy came along and being trained to take over from his dad when he reached the age of 21.
Sassy was the long-awaited daughter that her father Brian had begged his then fiancé to have. She had had a horrible birth with Nathan and they had both agreed not to have any more children. But Brian always wanted a girl and after years of begging and pleading, Liz had agreed. Liz had a horrible pregnancy with Sassy and ended up haemorrhaging after the birth and losing her life. Her brother then flipped saying Sassy was to blame and a weakness in the family. She would become a target and drag the family down. He swore to get rid of her and the bastard son of his sister so Brian sent Nathan and Sassy into hiding with trusted members of his gang helping to keep them safe. He would visit as often as he could but their location needed to remain secure. Nathan would inherit the gang his mother had inherited from her father when he was old enough. His mother was born into a gang and was the eldest the same as Brian this allowed each son to be in charge when they were old enough.
The eldest brother Cooper was helping his father track the uncle wanting to know his sister but never getting a proper chance after he held her for the first time at 2 hours old. She had grabbed hold of his finger and it was love at first sight. He knew then he would do whatever it took to protect Saskia. He turned ruthless when that chance was ripped away by the brother of his stepmother. He never once blamed Nathan and spent a lot of time consoling his younger brother.
While Cooper now 30 and Nathan 27 were only half brothers, sharing the same dad, no one could tell them that. When Nathan returned, Cooper trained him with the help of their father and took over his gang. They however joined the gangs making them the biggest most ruthless gang in the area. They lead the gang together and they ruled with an iron fist. They never stopped looking for Sassy pants as Nathan called her. He spent hours telling Cooper all about how she got the name Sassy pants and Cooper had to agree that the name fit from the stories he heard and the videos he saw.
Brian stayed around to help with the gang because he was so lost without his precious baby girl. He turned more ruthless than before and led the team to track where Sassy had gone. He travelled across Australia in search of his daughter and as the years went by, the colder he became. People still feared the ex-gang leader years after he retired. He was only warm and welcoming to his family.
His father and mother helped search for Sassy along with his brother Mark and his boys Joey, Brett and David even though they never got to meet Sassy. David was only a year older than Sassy, Brett was 5 years older and Joey was the same age as Nathan. They all worked in the gang. David had just started helping and as he got older he would do more in the gang. The family wasn't close but they were united in the gang.
Saskia had bounced from foster house to foster house since she was 7 after her first foster family had left her behind. She didn't know child services wouldn't allow her to leave the state and that they had no choice. They had been like a second family to her. They loved her like their own child and she got the love of sports from them. They taught her how to swim, skate, surf, ride a bike and play sports. But then they left her like her real family so she swore to herself to never get close to anyone again because everyone she cared about always left her.
Saskia was ok being on her own because that meant she could immerse herself in school, sport and of course work to save for her future when she aged out of the foster care system. Saskia had just been moved again to a new foster care house. She never called them home because when she didn't get close to the family they would send her off saying it wasn't working. A new home meant a new school and finding a new job. Her social worker Tara would always make excuses but the truth be told Saskia could never really blame them. Some she had no problem leaving because they were only in it for the money and couldn't care less. Others she felt bad for because they genuinely tried to form a bond with Saskia.
The new foster home Tara promised would be the last because it was an older couple who were taking her in. They had experience with older kids and were known to a lot of foster kids as Nene and Pa. Tara informed her that many of the kids still came to visit. Saskia just nodded not wanting to engage with Tara. She was new to the job when Saskia was little and got shafted with Saskia after her first placement and continued to try to find a more permanent place for the little girl. Twice Saskia had called the emergency number Tara gave her when two of the homes were violent other than that Tara believed Saskia was a good kid needing love and she had promised herself to never give up on Saskia because she was her first case ever.
As Tara and Saskia pulled up to the little house Saskia sighed. Maybe she should try to accept these two because she only had a few more years left before having to have her place. If she liked it here and got a job she swore to herself that she would accept the cute little older couple who were waiting on the front porch for Tara and Saskia to pull up. That was of course if they were actually fostering for the right reasons and not just the paycheck.
