Edited by Stilldreaming85 and Banshee69
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Anthony Cullen.
It hadn't been an easy thing to do, to hide away all these years. It hadn't been easy to lie to my mother, to let her believe I was dead. There were a few who knew, of course, my father, my brother, Emmett, and a few of those who frequented the underground. However, those fuckers would not dare say a thing. They knew that not only them, but their families and everything and everyone they held dear would be as good as dead.
I never expected to live. When that bullet hit me, I thought that my time was over.
I welcomed death, and the peace it would bring me even though I knew I would burn in hell for all eternity.
Imagine my shock when I woke up two weeks later in my room in the underground.
The bullet that had hit me, had missed all my major organs and arteries. Fair to say, I was one lucky fucker.
My cousin, Frank, he took care of me. One of the attending paramedics recognized me and alerted him.
They brought me in through the hospital's service entry and took me down to the basement, where Frank treated me. Frank had me down there for three days before my brother had me moved.
I will admit to one thing though, it had been nice to step away from it all. It had been nice to not have to worry about a new target on my back, to constantly have to look over my shoulder.
However, those feelings were short-lived. I missed my old life. I missed the action, the pain, the look of fear in our enemies eyes when they saw us coming. I missed everything.
I hated being another face in the crowd, a nobody, just an average Joe Schmuck. It wasn't me.
I went away for a while to San Diego, at my brother's insistence. I got a fucking job there at a local bar. Me of all people mixing drinks for other fuckers.
I couldn't handle that. I couldn't cope, it wasn't me, it wasn't what I was designed to do. So I came back to New York.
Edward had given me all his shit to sort out, paperwork. I was doing fucking paperwork for my brother underground.
I felt myself slowly losing it. I couldn't handle this anymore, and my brother and father knew it. I couldn't deal with lurking in the shadows anymore, but they did not agree with me, especially my brother, even after I had offered to help him find Isabella. He had refused me, that was his first mistake.
I knew where she was, I had known straightaway. That was one of the beauties of being stuck in the shadows, I had a lot of free time to investigate. Who would have thought I would be good at it? I found my brother's wife in a matter of minutes and he would have too if he hadn't been so blinded. I wanted to help him. However, if he was not willing to do something for me, then I was going to keep this from him, and I did, for three years. I was surprised he had figured it out in the end.
It was a little disappointing when Edward had found out our father's secret. It had been fun watching him these past years become the monster I always knew he was hiding deep inside himself. Our father loved this side of Edward as well, more so than me.
I had been there when they all returned from Sicily with our zia Carmen. It was hard to believe that our uncle was dead, Eleazar had always been a strong man. Still, none of us had seen this coming, none of us had been prepared for an attack, and we still had no clue who it was, even with my new developed skills, I couldn't find a damn thing.
The first time that I saw my little lamb in three years, she left me speechless. She had all my attention the moment she stepped off the plane.
Three years on a Tuscan holiday had changed her in more ways than one. She appeared leaner, a little fuller in a good way, she had been far too skinny before. Her hair was shorter, but she had kept that dark brown color that I loved on her.
I hide away in the shadows and watched as she ran from my brother's side and leapt into Garrett's arms.
I had expected my brother to take Garrett out right then and there on the tarmac, she was his wife after-all and she was in the arms of another man while our family watched on. Imagine my surprise when he did nothing, absolutely nothing.
It had been late at night, when my brother came underground, barging into my room, ignoring my naked ass in his face, ignoring the screaming whore bent over in front of me.
"Jesus," he said. "Put your fucking clothes on and get rid of that."
I ignored him. I was not going to pay him any attention until I finished. The woman, whose name was lost to me, tried to crawl away when my brother had barged in. I wasn't going to have that. I pushed her head further into the mattress and found my release.
I pulled myself out of her, and gave a loud smack on her ass, causing her to yelp. I removed the condom and discarded it as she hurried to collect her clothes and run out of the room.
I stood in front of my brother with my arms folded across my chest. I didn't bother to cover myself up from him. It wasn't the first time he had seen me in the nude or balls deep in a woman, we had shared plenty after all. I missed those days.
"Can you put some fucking pants on," he said.
"You interrupted me. What do you want?"
"I'm taking everyone upstate for a while."
"Why?"
"Shit's gone down. Marco's kid was found on the docks, tied to a shipping container. He had our family's mark carved into his chest. Marco's going to want retribution and I don't want risk anyone," he stressed.
"I thought you ordered dad not to go after Marco?" I asked, pulling on a pair of sweats.
"Don't be stupid, Anthony. You know dad didn't do this."
"I wouldn't put it past him if he did. He's been different since you've been back. What happened in Ragusa?" I asked.
Our father's current behavior was a reason for concern. He was calm, usually. He was the sort of man, the sort of Don that had planned his every move down to the finest detail.
"You know, your new skills, as you call them, are really proving shit. You haven't found anything. What use are you to me if you can't track one fucking person down!?" He yelled as he paced back and forth, his hands pulling on his hair.
"I'm trying my fucking best, alright. Kind of hard when I'm stuck down here. You want me to keep track of all your fuck-ups, including Janina? I can't do every fucking thing for you!" I yelled back, getting in his face. He was on my last nerve.
"I get that you're stressed, but don't come here and get in my face because I can't fix your fuck-ups. Alright, brother."
He grabbed my shoulders and pushed to the floor, kicking me in the stomach. That hurt, but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that.
"Is that what you want? To fight?" I asked, standing up, ready to take him on.
"I don't want to fight you, Anthony. I'm trying to deal with all this and then more bullshit happens." He stressed. For a moment I felt sorry for him, only for a small moment.
"You know I can help you, if you'd just let me."
I went to the mini fridge to grab a bottle of water, tossing my brother one as well. We both sat on the edge of my bed, both feeling sorry for ourselves, me half naked, him with his head in his hands.
"Go upstate. I'll go out here," I said.
"You are not going any where where someone can see you. You're dead, Anthony," he said.
"Exactly. Marco knows you're going to hide after this. I go out, they'll think I'm you. We can lure him in and bang," I said, flexing my fingers.
"No!"
"Suit yourself." I shrugged.
"We are leaving tonight, well, everyone else has gone. I came to let you know. I need you to do something while we are gone."
"You mean apart from keeping tabs on your mistress?" I chuckled as he narrowed his eyes, not finding my statement funny. He had lost what little sense of humor he had over these past few years.
"I need you to find out what the Feds have on this. What they are planning to do about it," he said.
"No problem," I saluted. "Give Isabella a kiss from me." I winked.
~MINY~
Had I listened to my brother? Of course not, that's how I found myself in Lake Placid.
It was a lucky thing for my brother that I hadn't taken his order. If I had, who would be trailing behind his wife right now.
I have to hand it to her, she trashed his car, that took some guts. Although, I am curious how she managed to get out undetected by anyone, especially Garrett, who had been glued to her side since her return.
I drove behind her with my headlights off as she wouldn't notice me. I watched her walk down the street and into the club. I threw a couple of bills at the bartender and told him to give her whatever she asked for.
It looked like she needed this, needed the escape. She looked on edge, stressed. It made me wonder what my brother was doing to her. He had become a monster, but he held a soft spot for her. He would not hurt her in any way, would he?
I sat back and watched her down glass after glass until she moved to the crowded dance floor. She halted in front of a couple who were sharing a heated moment, staring at them. I would give anything to know what was going on in that head of hers right about now.
She was about to turn around, she was about to see me. I had the option to move away and hide from her or stay and take a risk. If anything, she would probably confuse me with my brother.
However, I was out of time. She turned around, her eyes landing on mine, her breath catching in the back of her throat as the glass in her hand slipped through her fingers and shattered into pieces at her feet.
She took a step closer to me. She knew, she realized I wasn't her husband, I wasn't my brother. How she knew, I don't know, but it was written all over her face and I was not about to let the opportunity go to waste.
I grabbed her by the back of her neck, pulling her close to me. She was so close, so intoxicating, so...beautiful.
"Hello little lamb."
I expected her to have some type of reactions to my presence, but none like the one she had. She burst out laughing right in my face. She pushed me away, taking a step back and laughed.
"Fuck!" She said, as her laughter died off. "I'm dead aren't I? He killed me somehow, didn't he? Or was it Esme?"
"Why would my mother want to kill you?" I asked. As far as I knew, my mother had done everything she could to protect her.
"How did I end up in hell?" She asked, looking disappointed.
"You think you're in hell?" It was my turn to laugh now.
"Well, you're here aren't you? I don't think they would have opened the pearly gates for you."
"You're not dead, Isabella," I said, grabbing a hold of her again, running my hands up and down her arms, "and neither am I."
"No!" she shook her head over and over. "You're dead. I saw you die, you're dead."
"I'm right here."
She stared back at me in disbelief. I watched her eyes roll into the back of her head as she became limp in my arms.
"Shit!"