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.
Edward Cullen.
Unhinged, that is what I had become, that is what she had made me.
I didn't know what I had to do to make Isabella see reason. I didn't know what it would take for her to wake-up and realize the danger. Was Eleazar's death not enough for her? Did getting sprayed with bullets in a drive-by not send out a clear enough message of the danger we were in?
I love her, I do, but I can't do it anymore. I can't keep her safe when she seems so eager to find danger. She was innocent in everything, I knew that, but this was her life now, regardless if she wanted it or not. How can she still be so blind?
Did I leave her out on the street? No, I didn't. No matter how easy it would have been for me to walk away from her, I couldn't leave her.
It has been days since then and we had not spoken a word to each other. I haven't taken her back to the estate, instead I kept her down here, in the underworld. She hasn't left my room.
She was being stubborn. However, being stubborn and safe was better than being reckless and in danger.
"I have to head back to the estate. I have some business to take care of," I said, watching her watch the tv. She sat on my bed with her back against the headboard and her knees to her chest. I knew she could hear me, but she was choosing to ignore me.
"You are going to stay here with Anthony."
No matter how I felt about my brother, I knew that he could do what myself and Garrett failed to do, even with his shoulder bandaged up. I knew Anthony could keep her from running. She would never get past him, she was afraid of him and that fear would keep her safe.
"No," she said, tossing the remote aside. She shifted onto her knees.
"No?"
She shook her head.
"I want to go with you, please. I don't want to stay down here."
"Tough."
"Why?" she demanded, jumping off the bed. She was by my side in a flash, her hand on my shoulder trying to garner my attention.
"I don't have time for this," I said, brushing her off. "I'll be back...I don't know, could be a few days, might be a week, maybe more. You'll be fine down here."
I reached for the door, with my hand on the knob, ready to turn it and leave.
"I'm sorry!" she shouted. "I'm sorry, Edward, I know what I did was stupid. I know I should have listened to you. I'm sorry," she cried.
"Are you?"
I didn't turn to face her. I knew she was crying and I couldn't stomach to see that. She affected me in more ways than she will ever know or believe. I knew if I looked at her, I'd give in to her and that's not what she needed. She needed this, she needed the harshness, the cold shoulder, she needed it to wake-up.
"Yes, I am."
"I have to go. I'll call you later. There's a phone in the bedside drawer, you can't make any calls with it so don't bother."
I opened the door and walked out, slamming it shut behind me. My brother was waiting, leaning against his doorframe.
"You fuck this up and I'll fuck you up," I warned him.
He smirked, not saying anything. Behind me, I heard my door violently open. I heard her footsteps hurrying down the hall.
"Edward," she called out after me. I didn't look back. "Let go of me!" she yelled.
"Easy there, tiger," my brother said.
I looked over my shoulder. He had his good hand wrapped tightly around her waist, holding her back. She fought with everything she had, but Anthony wasn't letting go, not even after she kicked him in between his legs. It was painful to watch.
"Let her go," I said, watching as my brother hold on her loosened and she ran towards me. I stood there, waiting for her to reach me, with my arms by my side. She slammed into me with more force than I had expected, I had no choice but to wrap my arms around her waist otherwise we both would be on the floor. She held onto my neck tightly and buried her face into my shoulder.
"You can't leave me here," she cried.
"It's not your decision to make. I told you I don't have time for this."
"I'm sorry, Edward. I don't know what more I can say, please."
I lost it, I did. I was mad at her, still furious, but I couldn't deny that she affected me too much. The fool in me, held onto her a little tighter, buried his nose in her hair and whispered in her ear.
"No more games."
"No more games," she promised. "I'm sorry."
I nodded. I wasn't ready to forgive her just yet, but I was willing to give her a chance.
"Go and change, I'll wait here for you," I said. She nodded, reached up to me and placed a soft kiss on my cheek before running off.
I faced my brother, who had that look on his face, the one that I knew all too well.
"She has you wrapped around all of her fingers," he said.
"Shut it," I warned.
He held his hand up in front of him. "Not saying anything."
"You'd do good to remember that."
"I'm coming with you."
"The hell you are."
"Why not? I want to see my mother." he shrugged.
"Isn't it enough that you almost gave my wife a heart attack, now you want to give our mother one? You're dead Anthony, you're not coming back."
"She's my mother also," he said.
~MINY~
The drive back upstate was awkward to say the least. None of us had really spoken.. Anthony sat beside me in the front, while Isabella was in the back. My brother had tried to engage her in some small-talk, but she wasn't having it.
I wanted to call my father to let him know I would be bringing Anthony with me so he could have time to prepare our mother, but knowing our father, he would have probably sent her and Rosalie away.
Anthony was right, our mother needed to know. I knew the sort of person my brother was, I knew it was slowly driving him mad living in the shadows, having to hide all the time. I also knew it would only be a matter of time before he either lost it, came out himself, or slipped up.
It was midnight when we reached the estate. Our father was waiting for us outside. He didn't appear impressed.
I held Isabella's door open for her, letting my brother fend for himself with our father. He went to him and kissed both of his cheeks and walked inside.
"Why are you two doing this?" My father asked.
"You know as well as I do, this was a stupid idea to begin with. He can't hide forever," I said.
The three of us walked into the house to see my mother staring at Anthony.
"Mom," Anthony said.
Our mother's eyes darted between the both of us not believing what she was seeing.
"Carlisle, what's going on?" She asked.
"I can explain everything," our father said.
"He's standing here isn't it? You can see him as well? I'm not crazy am I?" She cried.
"I'm here, mom," Anthony said.
Our mother lets out a ragged breath before she rushed over to my brother.
We stood back watching mother and son as they embraced each other. Isabella didn't hold back her tears or the smile that played on her lips and I found that I could not either.
"How is this possible? How are you here?" Our mother asked, pulling away from her son.
"The devil never dies, mother," Anthony said. "I'm sorry for the pain that I have caused you. I love you, but it was better this way."
"I love you so much. I've missed you so much. Every day...every day I could not believe that you were not here with me," she cried.
"I'm here now. You're not going to get rid of me."
"How did your brother find you?" She asked. "Edward?"
"I…" How do I tell my mother I've been keeping her away from her son all these years.
"He knew the whole time," my brother said, throwing me to the wolves. "He helped me stay under the radar."
"You knew the whole time your brother was alive!?" Our mother yelled, shooting me an evil stare.
"And dad," Anthony added.
I was going to kill him, that is if our father didn't get to him first.
"Carlisle, how could you keep this from me?"
"I'm sorry, but I didn't have a choice," our father said.
"You all knew and you kept this from me!" she yelled, "and you." She turned to my brother. "I love you. You have no idea how happy I am to see you, but…"
Our mother attacked Anthony. She had never hit him as a child, not once, but she was not holding back now. She hit him over and over, and my brother stood there and took it all, he didn't make a sound he didn't move a muscle.
"Should we stop her?" Isabella asked.
"No, let her get it out. Better that she takes it out on him, it will save me from having to dig my father's grave in the morning."
"I could help you with that," she mumbled quietly, I wasn't certain I was meant to hear that or not.
From the top of the stairs, Carmen made her way down. She stopped at the halfway point when she saw the scene in front.
"Mio Dio," she said, her hand flying up to her mouth. "Anthony? How?"
Our mother, had stopped her assault on her son. She took a step back from him, taking all of him in.
"Zia Carmen, good to see you again," my brother said.
"Sei vivo?" Carmen asked, her shock matched my mother's.
"Si, zia." Anthony nodded.
"Bene." Our zia embraced my brother, kissing him on both of his cheeks.
"I'm sorry about zio," Anthony said.
"È quello che è," Carmen said.
"Hmm," Isabella mused beside me as she watched my aunt's interaction with my brother.
"It is good to see you, nipote, but if you'll excuse me," Carmen said, hurrying out of the room.
I grabbed Isabella's hand and pulled her behind me, leaving my parents with my brother. If my father was lucky, my mother would not murder him in his sleep tonight. I lead us into the dining room, turning on the lights as we entered.
"What are we doing in here?" Isabella asked.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know…"
"With Carmen, your face, what was all that about?" I asked. Isabella had spent a lot of time with my aunt. I knew she knew something that she wasn't telling me, I just did not know how to push my wife for that information.
"I...I don't know," she said.
"Please don't do this."
"Let me finish," she said, looking around us as if to make sure we were alone in the room.
"I like Carmen, in a way she's my only friend, but I don't know Edward, since Eleazar's death, she's been acting odd."
"Odd?" I questioned.
"I don't know. I think she's holding it all in, everything and I'm just waiting for her to explode. It's not normal to not cry, to not mourn your own husband."
"She has always been good at hiding her feelings. It's what women in her life, this life, need to do, that and my mother had given her some antidepressants. There is always a chance that will affect her mood, " I said.
"I didn't know that."
I had a feeling there was more to what Isabella was saying, much more. My wife knew something she was not telling me. I wanted to push her for more, but what I had learned with Isabella, is that going slow will get me what I wanted.