Note: This story came to me randomly this morning and I just had to write it down. I have no idea where it came from but let me know what you think.

Updated 7/4/14, 10/4/14

Big mistake

It all started when Rocco brought her into the bar. Big mistake. Of all the places he could have taken her to that night, he had to bring her there. But then David Della Rocco had never been all the bright. Now, mostly you couldn't have said the same about my brother and me. Generally we were more intelligent than we let on, playing ourselves down. It was a survival trait really, keeping other people's expectations low so that we could be left alone to our simple life. When it came to women however, we could be monumentaly stupid and Anna Yakavetta was prime example of that.

Anna was Rocco's younger sister, but you wouldn't know it to look at her. At first sight, at least back then, all anybody saw when they looked at Anna, was her husband Lorenzo Yakavetta. Lorenzo was the youngest son of Papa Joe Yakavetta, The Yakavetta, head of the Italian mob. In all the pictures you passed her over as just another one of Lorenzo's accessories. A stick thin bleach blonde bimbo with expensive taste. You spent more time looking at the ridiculour fur coat she always wore rather than the body underneath.

That night when Rocco walked into the bar with one arm around his little sister all conversation stopped. She was stunning, slap you in the face absolutely breathtaking. But that was hidden under all the make-up and overpriced jewellery she wore, not to mention that extravegant coat. It was as if she was trying to hide behind this disguise, but it didn't suit her at all. When you actually saw her in person it was obvious, at least to us, that she hated the picture she projected on the world.

"Hey guys!"

Rocco exclaimed steering the woman on his arm towards us as we sat at the bar.

"I'd like you to meet my baby sister Anna."

She extended her hand out to us then with a shy smile that contrasted sharply with the image that she forced onto the world. I took the hand briefly before allowing my brother the same privilege.

"Connor, and this is my brother Murphy."

Murph nodded as he took the delicate hand, kissing it once before letting it go, and I could tell that he was just as intrigued by the contrast in this woman as I was.

"Pleasure to meet you, m'am"

Rocco smiled enthusiastically as he turned to the bar to gain Doc's attention, his arm falling away from his sister's fur covered shoulder.

"How about we get ourselves a table while your brother gets the drinks in?"

I asked. She nodded, again shyly before following us to a the booth in the corner. Murphy and I took one side of the table, while she sat across from us. Her eyes continually flicking from our faces to Rocco as he ordered the drinks.

"So Anna, what brings you to our little corner of this glorious city."

I smiled at my brother's exagerated gesturing as he spoke, but then I saw the sad look that crept into the girls eyes and it slipped from my face.

"It has been some time since I have been able to spend time with my brother."

It was the first time that she had actually spoken to us and the quiet voice seemed as out of place as her appearance. Her words seemed so practiced and far too formal to our ears, especially for someone related to Roc. We looked at one another for a moment before I leant forward a little to speak to her in a low voice.

"Anna?"

She looked up from where her eyes had been resting on the table, but only for a moment.

"Does your husband know that you're here?"

We weren't blind. We had seen Lorenzo Yakavetta's picture often enough with her anchored at his side. Rocco had even mentioned once that he had gotten his job with Lipazzi rather than one of his street thugs, because his sister had married into the ruling family. But Anna herself was nothing like what we had been expecting.

"My husband is out of town."

That was all she said, and she hadn't really answered my question, but I didn't ask her again as that was when Rocco joined us.

After that she seemed to relax, and we could see that the real Anna, the Anna beneath the disguise was nothing like the image she projected to the world from Yakavetta's side. This was the Anna that Rocco saw, the Anna that he had grown up with. She was playful and sarcastic with a witty intelligence, and although it was difficult to tell under all that make-up, only a little younger than her brother. They laughed and talked together like they were children again, stopping every so often during a private joke or a story of childhood to include us in their conversation. Anna wasn't as shy when her brother was around, it was as if she was a different person, as if she was finally able to be herself after hiding for a long time, as if he was the only one who knew the real her.

By the time that it was Rocco's round again she was even comfortable enough to talk to us as animatedly as she had her brother. Her disguise had fallen and Anna Della Rocco was infront of us instead of Anna Yakavetta. She even started to shrug the fur coat off of her shoulders, subconsciously as if it were an outward extension of her thoughts, making herself more comfortable, leaning forward to continue the story she had been telling.

"...and then he tripped knocking us both into the water!"

We laughed at yet another description of Rocco's clumsiness, before we both stopped dead. We had obviously noticed them at the same time, the bruises on her arms. We hadn't been able to see them before, with the coat covering her so effectively. But sitting there in her black tanktop and leggingd, the dark bruises stood out starkly against her skin. They were all across her shoulders and upper arms, the glaring purple marks with older yellow bruises underneath, as if someone had gripped her arms and shaken her violently. The same could be seen on her wrists and I knew that I wasn't the only one wondering where else they were hidden. From what we knew about Anna I could think of only one person who could have gotten close enough to leave those marks, and it wasn't her brother.

Anna had noticed our shock quickly, and after nervously glancing at her brother's back she pulled the coat back on, clearly regretting letting herself become so relaxed, so vunerable.

"He doesn't hear about this."

She said sharply, tilting her head towards Rocco at the bar. I wanted to protest, we both did, but the look in her eyes told us not to.

"If he finds out... He'll just get angry and end up doing something stupid. And I don't want him to get hurt."

Murphy and I shared a look and then nodded in agreement. We knew Rocco well enough to know what she was talking about. If he had seen those bruises on his little sister's arms, it wouldn't matter who Lorenzo was. He would have walked right up to that bastard and shot him right between the eyes. But as much as we liked Anna and wanted her scumbag husband to pay, there was no way that he would get away with it. Especially with Rocco working for the family.

That was when it struck us.

"How did Rocco get the job with Lipazzi?"

I asked glancing over at the bar again to make sure he wasn't within earshot, before looking back at Anna to see her shoulders slump.

"It was Lorenzo. He said that he wanted to make sure my brother was well looked after. It didn't take me long after we were married to figure out the truth."

That was when Rocco returned with drinks and a smile. Anna perked up again instantly, obviously determined to enjoy every moment of a rare night out with her brother. But we didn't forget what she had said, and worse yet what she had implied. Lorenzo had gotten Rocco the job to keep him close, to keep an eye on him, to keep Anna in line. I very much doubted that Anna's husband knew that she was out with us, and that was a big mistake.