Crosshairs
Chapter Twenty-Four—Untold Secrets
Hours later, the sun sent streaks of morning light through the living room windows. Edward remained by Isabella's side near the elaborate fireplace, big enough to walk into without hitting his head. He knew his parents would join them there soon. They each dressed after deciding it would be for the best to present a more united and powerful image than sleepwear.
The dark blue tie Isabella had picked out for Edward felt tight, but he forced himself not to loosen it. If whatever his parents had to say angered him enough, he had every intention of grabbing Isabella's hand and taking the fastest car in the garage for a spin to clear his head.
It bothered Edward that he could be the son of the someone involved in his kidnapping. His uncles helped find Isabella's mother and eventually led his fiancée toward a future of full of blood. The night of her mother's murder scarred a young woman in ways he could only imagine. Powerful enough to overcome it, Isabella molded herself into someone to fear instead of letting it fester inside her, to become a legend among others like her.
He never loved the kill or the way the whites of a man's eyes stood so bright against their irises right before they knew they were going to die. The clarity before death was a moment the person pulling the trigger never forgot.
"Rosalie sitting this one out?" Emmett looked up from the end of a large dark blue couch, Jasper sipping a cup of coffee opposite him.
"It's for the best," Edward stated. He knew Isabella trusted her friend with her life, but family secrets were another matter. "Any word on your father's ETA?"
"They notified me they were taking a longer route since Jacob and Leah accompanied him," she replied.
Edward stiffened. "Is that wise?"
"Probably not, but it's a necessity since he still needs care from Leah and she rarely leaves the state without her husband. They won't be present during family discussions."
The heeled footsteps of Edward's mother echoed from down the hall, followed by a heavier set. "The redcoats are coming," Jasper chanted under his breath.
Edward snorted. It was an inside joke between him and his brothers for years whenever they'd been in trouble and had to await their punishment in their youth and saw their parents as the enemy.
Isabella looked into his eyes. "Are you ready?"
"Is anyone ever ready to find out they may not be who they thought they were?"
She stepped closer, her scent invading his senses. The lack of sleep did little to diminish his need for her. The couple of hours of rest they had before this meeting had done more to relax him and prepare for whatever came next.
Her fingers, slim and sure in their trek, slid down the lapels of his suit, brushing off imaginary dust. "You are a Cullen, no matter what they have to say. They wouldn't have risked putting your front and center as the future head of the family if they thought you weren't a legitimate Cullen."
"She's right, Son." Carlisle stepped into the room, sending the shoulders up of every Cullen son. They realized what they were doing and corrected their postures, then pulled themselves together in time for Esme not to notice the tension.
Esme, in a summery dress that seemed out of place in a room full of power suits, sat demurely in a chair near the fireplace, Carlisle taking a stand behind her.
"I may be a legitimate Cullen, but am I your son or my damn uncle's?" Edward barely contained the snarl in his chest.
Emmett refused to remain in the dark any longer. "How could his paternity even be in question? We all know the story about Jasper and how you two met; this would've been years after."
Isabella looked from one Cullen to another and shrugged. "There's more of a story about how they met and got married, but oops I got my one-night stand pregnant?"
"It was an arranged marriage," Carlisle clarified with a sigh. "When I realized I had no choice to marry someone I never met, I went a little wild."
"Hence, my existence," Jasper drawled in a bored tone and sat opposite Esme.
"Yes, but as we explained already, I didn't know Jasper's mother was Aro's sister. She set it up because she knew it would be the only way out from under her family's thumb. She purposely waited until I married your mother to approach me with her pregnancy. She didn't want to be under a Cullen thumb either. Whatever that fucked up family did to her growing up, she wanted freedom more than anything."
"Even more than her own child." Jasper shook his head when Esme patted his arm. "I'm all right."
"Anthony hadn't walked away from the family by then and made it no secret he'd fallen for Esme, too. It was sweet, we'd tease him about it, but everyone knew he'd never act on it. We had Jasper, and he'd eventually found himself a wife."
"She's a bitch," Esme said, tipping her chin up. "I never teased him like his brothers did, but I appreciated his friendship." Her eyes turned hard as she stared at her son's fiancée. "Make no mistake, I never led him on."
Isabella shook her head. "You may feel that you never did, but sometimes men see a woman being nice as flirting, or that they're willing."
Edward and Emmett shared a look, and neither liked how it sounded as if Isabella spoke from experience.
"We were friends but I never even so much as kissed him or even been alone with him."
"There has to be a reason he believes he's my father." Edward paced and hated how it was a clear sign the conversation upset him. "What changed? Whatever happened caused the rift, and he walked away from the family because of it."
Carlisle continued. "One night we were celebrating a legitimate business success and there had been a lot of alcohol between us all. Esme, always the gracious hostess, hadn't touched one drink. My brothers and I played several games of cards."
"Oh brother," Emmett groaned. The Cullens were competitive fuckers and worse within the family. When they got together, gambling happened, and fights always broke out.
Edward pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't care if you're the damn boss, if you used my mother as collateral on a bet…"
"Edward! Your father would never!" Esme's hand fluttered over her chest; anger clear in her jade eyes. It disappeared after a few moments. "I was the one who asked if they'd teach me to play." Something about her last words made it sound like more.
Isabella laughed. "Let me guess, you tried to out-hustle a bunch of hustlers."
Esme couldn't help but smirk. "There was something exciting that I could, so I had to try. I wiped the floor with them."
Carlisle's smile looked indulgent, his hands rubbing Esme's shoulders for a moment. "My brothers blamed me, but considering she cleaned me out, I flat out denied that I put her up to it. She learned from her grandparents and watched many games over the years, catching everyone's tells."
"I am damn good." Esme appeared proud of the fact, but the smile soon fell. "Everyone but Tony had left. We had sent the staff home, so we started cleaning up. Your father had sobered up some, though Tony continued to drink his usual bourbon but gave us a hand, too. It was after that we started another game since he wanted to see if he could win against me. Your father decided on another drink and I decided one wouldn't hurt. Since Tony was pouring himself a drink, he made ours."
Jasper burst up from his chair, but didn't say a word. Everyone in that room feared where the story was going.
"Between your mother and me, we only remember bits and pieces of the rest of the night."
Edward felt numb, and only by the touch of Isabella's hand in his did he face the truth. "He drugged you both."
"That's what we always believed." Carlisle stepped away from Esme, after assuring himself she was fine. Much like his sons, he too paced when upset. "That lying asshole says we wagered a night with your mother if he won best three out of five games."
"I assure you, even under the influence of alcohol, I would never do something of that nature." Esme sighed, looking at each of her boys. "I can handle my liquor; I'm Irish." The slight brogue the family worked hard to cover came out of the woman's mouth for the first time in years. "I woke up with a pounding headache and your uncle right beside me. I screamed, and that sent your father running from wherever he was, sporting a gun and a black eye."
"He raped you!" Emmett, having been quiet throughout the story, had enough. He, too, stood on his feet, itching for a fight. "Is that what you're saying?"
"We didn't find any defensive wounds on him or your mother. He claimed I let him take your mother upstairs after she lost, but reconsidered and we fought. And that your mother insisted on fulfilling her end of the bargain if he left me alone. I remember him hitting me, but I swear your mother was asleep on that damn bed when I confronted him. We were not in the family room as he claimed."
"How is he still alive?" It was Isabella who asked. Edward and his brothers wondered the same thing.
Carlisle sighed and tugged on his hair. "My father wouldn't allow us to hurt him. He claimed that we all do things we shouldn't under the influence. Considering the bastard had cheated on my ma once drunk off his ass, he knew Anthony's story was plausible."
"Despite your grandfather's choice, we refused to see Tony or even acknowledge him." Esme tipped up her chin, taking a deep breath to continue. "I realized I was pregnant weeks later, and the timing meant either your father or uncle could be the father."
"My damn brother insisted on being present for the entire pregnancy, my father allowed it." Carlisle tried to get his anger under control. His father always invoked his ire concerning that matter. "I couldn't stand to be in the same room with him, but I couldn't leave your mother alone. The secret about your conception remained between us four only.
"Anthony finally gave up his interest the second you were born, Edward. He wanted a daughter, you see. A daughter he could promise to a Rossi to merge the families, giving him more power and possibly become the head of the combined family."
"It's been years since all that, so who is his father?" Jasper demanded, facing his parents, and stood by Edward's side.
"Every time we tried to find out the truth, something happened to the results or the samples. Somehow, my father always found out. He didn't want us to know." Carlisle took a seat and kept his eyes on Edward. "We decided it didn't matter; I loved you no matter what. Anthony had walked away when his plan fell apart and my grandfather named Caius the head of the family."
"Well, Laurent said in the plot to kidnap Jasper, it involved someone in your family. Tony's back and probably found another way to gain power and riches." Isabella stated she'd return in a few minutes, leaving the Cullens alone.
"Do you hate me?" Esme's voice only a whisper.
Edward kneeled in front of his mother, taking her hand. "I could never hate you, Ma, not unless you stab me in the back. All of this wasn't your fault. And despite your lack of memories, that bastard took advantage of the situation. He raped you in my book."
"And mine," both Jasper and Emmett stated.
"I'm sorry we never told you the truth, but I felt so much shame because of that night." Her hitching sob broke Edward's heart and instilled a deep desire to destroy his uncle.
Isabella returned with swabs and latex gloves. "My people will get the results. I assure you, no one will mess with them. If he's Carlisle's, perhaps Anthony will once again walk away. If he is Edward's father, then we'll cross that bridge if we get there."
The crack of knuckles startled Esme, her eyes snapping to her baby boy.
"No matter the results, Anthony is a dead man."
"Emmett," Carlisle started, staring at his youngest son. "I know you're upset—"
"I'm not asking for permission; I'm stating a fact." Emmett kissed his mother's cheek, telling her he loved her and left before his anger made him lose control. He'd hate to upset his mother more.
Jasper, the most cunning of the siblings, needed more answers before he could make a plan. "If Tony had anything to do with Edward's kidnapping, we need to know why. Why is it so important to him that Edward becomes the head of the family now? It wouldn't do him any good, since no one but us would know the truth."
"He could blackmail you all." Isabella followed Leah's instructions and collected swaps from Carlisle's and Edward's cheeks. "None of you would want the truth out there. It would make the family look weak. Anyone looking for more power would take advantage of those weaknesses. We destroyed all but Jane and the family she trusted. If Tony had worked with Aro or even Alec, it fell apart after their deaths. Jane knows better to betray the family. There's something we're missing."
Carlisle poured himself a drink after Isabella finished taking her samples. "Without concrete proof, my dear brother is untouchable as long as my father lives. I may be the head of the family, but he has as much influence as me."
"That old coot may outlive us," Esme murmured.
Isabella placed the samples in a container for Rosalie to take care of later. "Is it possible that Caius is a part of this?"
Caius was the only Cullen she could positively identify had been there when her mother died other than the bastard she killed. She always believed that there was another dark figure that night.
Carlisle knew Isabella wanted blood for Caius, and he couldn't blame her. "Caius hasn't said a word to anyone in five years. He had a bad seizure, and combined with other medical issues, he hasn't spoken for years. They tried everything, but I assure you, he's not a threat."
"Any chance Uncle Caius has an illegitimate son out there? It's possible, right?" Edward decided he needed a drink, too. He poured himself three fingers of scotch and gulped it down. He slammed the glass down, watching it shatter under his hand. "This fucking family already had secrets that would put targets on our backs, and now this?"
Isabella joined Edward, making sure he hadn't cut himself. "There are always more secrets, considering your grandfather's records only go back so far."
Edward's eyebrow arched. "Just like your father's family records do too."
"This secret has to remain between us, at all costs." Carlisle decided it would be best they knew the truth. "Edward's grandmother was born and bred Italian. She fell for an Irish man, something her family would never approve of. Because of that, your father faked her death, and they came to America under a different name."
"My father gave him the idea," a gruff voice said from the room's entrance. Charlie Swan sat in his wheelchair, appearing as though he'd rather be anywhere else. "The old man having done something similar himself, he offered his old friend some advice. Rosalie and Emmett let me in."
Isabella's hands landed on her hips, nearly snarling at her father. "I swear to God if you tell me The Swans are part of an Italian mafia or something."
Charlie winced and rolled into the center of the room. "Try Russian, well, your grandmother, was. Your grandfather was an Italian, bottom of the organization he worked for. It was all very Romeo and Juliet, your grandparents' story."
Carlisle nodded. "It was the same for my parents."
"Are you saying if my late grandmother's Russian family found out she hadn't died and had run away with Papa, we'd be in trouble?" Isabella appeared as shocked as Edward did at the news. Charlie nodded.
Edward turned to his parents. "Is that why you never taught us Gaelic? Is this why we could never visit Ireland? Someone may watch over whatever family we have left there."
Carlisle nodded. "We know they do. They'll eventually find the truth of our family origins with today's technology, and when they do, we'll be powerful enough that they wouldn't try anything."
A damn good reason to pair a Cullen with the infamous Phoenix.
Charlie shook his head. "We can't risk being discovered until then, the Russians wouldn't want our heads, they'd want a piece of it all. Or worse, someone, in exchange."
"You mean me." Isabella let her head fall back. "I need names and dates, how they fucking got into the country, whatever you can give us. Along with Edward's computer expertise and our black hat, we should be able to determine if anyone has already discovered the truth about our families."
Jasper cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "It's obvious with this information, no one can find out about your family, Isabella. If you come out as Phoenix among the families, we run that risk."
Charlie looked at his daughter. "We need to ensure no one but those present here and the few on the crew know the truth."
She met her father's stare with hers. There were so many questions she had, and no doubt Edward had quite a few. One stood out. "Which Russian family? Only a handful are strong enough to destroy us."
"One of the most powerful."
Isabella started for the exit, gestured for Edward to do the same. She glared at Edward's parents and her father. "We need to get to work on this issue and we'll be securing our grandparent's identities better. Make no mistake, though, we are well aware of your manipulation that brought Edward and me together and your reasons are clear. Had I not fallen in love with him before finding out the truth, we wouldn't be here. Had Edward not proved his loyalty to me by shooting Riley, I would've shot him and I'd be dead or on the run. It was a calculated risk that could've cost us our lives. I'm not ready to forgive any of you."
"Far from it, in fact." Edward placed his hand on the small of Isabella's back, noticing the slight vibration of anger coursing through her. His fingers ached from all the clenching he had done since they started the meeting. "We ask for some space for a few days. There will be no announcements of our pending marriage until we can ensure it is safe to do so. Until we call you, stay the fuck away from us."
AN: I'm alive! It's been a tough few months and I apologize for the delay. Thanks to Midnight Cougar for making the chapter shine a little brighter. Any mistakes are mine. There're more secrets, and I may have hinted at what they are in this chapter. I won't promise anything, my health is a top priority. Writing in a way helps with that, but it's been really hard to write while EVERYONE is home. I'll do my best to write daily. I hope everyone is safe and well, thank you so much for your patience.
