Author's Note; I know, I know, this has been a long time coming. I'm not even sure how long it's been since I last updated. It's a very big possibility that everybody probably forgot thsi storyline by now, so if my readers are still out there, it might be a good idea to skim the past few chapters to kind of remember what's been going on. I'm so sorry that it's taken a heck of a long time to update. Things have been pretty hectic with school, and I've been in a rut with this storyline. It's already set in stone with what's going to happen with this story, and the sequel after that. I'm kind of more excited about the story after this one, which has been the reason this story has been so slow. I already have about seven chapters of my next installment, and I can't wait to post it.

This chapter focuses on the nitty gritty part of the mob business. General Hospital is one of my favorite shows, and I've been watching it for about six years now, so the mob part of it has always interested me, and I really wanted to add it somewhere in my stories. I know it must annoy some of you to always have to read about it, but it has a lot to do with what happens next, and what happens will absolutely determine what happens to everybody. There's some Kyle/Brooke action going on also.

Next chapter is going to be the last before I move on to the next story, which is called Three Cheers For Seven Years. You can kind of guess the time period of this story. I'm already halfway done with the next chapter of this story, so it should be up within the next week or two, if I can get ahold of my mom's laptop again.

I'm still working on my other stories too, those aren't on hiatus. Things We Never Thought will still be updated as soon as I finish the next chapter. Enjoy and Review !

Chapter Eight; Mercy

"Back up all the shipments into next week. If there's no heist of suspicious activity going on by then, send them off," Manny commanded before hanging up his cell phone. Another attack on a shipment, and now the Giovanni family was behind seven figures since 'someone' had been tried to wander in their territory. Raymond along with Tony thought that whoever was doing this was just trying to mess with their head, but Manny knew better, and that was why he was the main guy in the organization.

He had been in Charlotte for some time now, and so far nothing had happened, Kyle wasn't even tailed by a suspicious character. At this point Manny was starting to regret coming down here to protect his cousin. He wanted Kyle safe, that was for sure, but nothing had happened. He wasn't even sure people knew about the cousin that never rose to the surface with his identity as part of the family.

And now his phone was constantly ringing off the hook, all from relatives trying to get him back, and yell at him for being so stupid. Some were from the shipment guys that brought in the goods on the pier, wanting to know what they should do, because they had a problem taking orders from Raymond, who could basically break them in half.

He hated to say it, but things were starting to get ridiculous. And where was he? In Charlotte, where he wasn't really needed. Apart of him blamed himself for the strange acitivty going on back home. If he would've just stayed and handled things, then his family wouldn't have been scrounging around trying to find him and not be one hundred percent focused on catching the freak that was writing demented messages on their walls. It was time to come home.

For the past two and a half months he had rented out a penthouse apartment about two blocks away from the college. It was far enough so he wasn't in Kyle's space, but close enough to be able to get there fast. It was comfortable, but Manny had potentially spent over thirty thousand dollars just for the rent.

He was typing viligantly on his Blackberry when the door opened abruptly, revealing Kyle with a ball in his hand. Manny glanced up briefly before returning to his phone. It wasn't exactly the best time to have his cousin around, especially when he was checking messages from his father.

"Why so serious?"

Manny sighed, "Just business, that's all."

"Something happen again?"

"Just shipments being taken and blown up, again. But I think it's time that I go back home, take care of things."

Kyle nodded, "Yeah, man, I know what you're saying. I mean, I'm fine here."

"I know, I'm not sure when I'm going to take off, I got to talk with Tony and see."

"Why do you have to ask Tony when you can go back up there?"

"Because Tony can get all the safest routes that I can take without getting my car attacked."

"I thought you said you could handle it," Kyle smirked.

"I can, it's just a little hard to handle it whenever there's twelve guys with machine guns."

"That could be it. I'm sorry that you came down for no reason." Frankly he felt bad that Manny left to protect him down here, when there was no need. Where he really was supposed to be was in Boston. Kyle was sure that he was going to be fine here, but he feared for his cousin and the rest of his family.

"It's not your fault. I had a hunch, but I guess I was wrong this time. But that doesn't mean you're not protected here."

"So what? Are undercover guards coming down here in replace for you?" he asked.

"Probably, I just can't be down here when there's madness going on at home. Plus, Raymond and Miguel don't exactly get along when I'm not there."

"It would surprise me if they didn't."

"Yeah, but hopefully when you come back to visit one of them won't be dead."

Kyle chuckled, "Maybe we shouldn't be making jokes about someone dying."

Manny nodded, "Yeah, maybe not."

"So I know that she's our captain and we're supposed to follow her lead and all, but I seriously want to fucking kill her," Rachel mumbled to Brooke as practice ended and all the girls were collecting their belongings and heading out of the gym. The captain, Ana, remained there, staring at her clipboard, her mind going crazy at all the possible routines.

"Can you really blame her though? She has to come up with crazy cheer routines," Haley said, re doing her hair into a ponytail.

"Okay, but Brooke was in the same exact position as her when we were in high school, and I don't remember her ever being that crazy. I mean, she was a bitch, but she wasn't that much of a bitch," Rachel explained, Brooke rolling her eyes in the process.

"Yeah, but Brooke wasn't running a collegiate cheerleading squad. There's a complete difference."

"Whatever, she's still a bitch," Rachel said.

"Do they not have maid service here?" Miguel asked disgustingly as they settled themselves in Manny's hotel room. If he could describe it in one word it would be gross. His suitcase was exposed with all his clothes hanging out of it. His laptop was on the coffee table next to about five half empty styrofoam coffee cups, and his bed hadn't been made.

"There's no time for whining. Let's just get all his stuff together," Tony said. Raymond wandered over to Manny's laptop and began looking through it.

"It's called privacy, Ray," Miguel said.

Raymond rolled his eyes, "It's called business. And if there's something that Manny found out that we need to know, then I sure as hell don't feel bad about looking through his computer."

The plane ride had been less than exciting and fun for the three cousins. Miguel wouldn't stop snoring, Raymond couldn't stop hitting him, and Tony couldn't stop thinking of all the possible bad things that could've happened while Manny had been in North Carolina. It was not a smooth ride.

"What the fuck are you guys doing here?" a voice said from the entrance of the room. Three heads shot over to the place of the voice. Manny was standing there with his cell phone in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, completely shocked to see his three cousins snooping through his stuff.

"Hey Manny," Miguel nodded, waving his hand a little bit.

"Once again, what are you guys doing here?"

"We're here to bring your ass back home," Raymond said, shutting his laptop and standing up.

Manny narrowed his eyes, "Not that it's any of your business, but I was just about to call Tony and let him know that I was coming back."

"Hm. Well, this was a waste of time," Miguel mumbled under his breath.

"Well, why now are you deciding that you needed to come back?" Tony asked.

"There's absolutely no reason for me to be here anymore. I've checked everything out, done some research, hung out with my cousin, and so far, nothing's going on here in Charlotte. I was planning on returning by tomorrow morning at the latest."

"So, there's really nothing suspicious going on?" Raymond asked.

Manny shook his head, "Nothing at all."

"I guess we better get back home then, huh?"

"That would be a good idea. Tony, I need the routes to take while I drive home."

"Oh that's right, you drove here. You got a piece of paper?" Manny nodded and went to the dresser where they had the complementary notepad and pen.

"So Kyle's good down here?" Raymond asked.

"Yeah, they just won their first game of the season. I checked his records and so far he's doing good in school. His girlfriend's good."

"Girlfriend? She hot?" Miguel asked, turning the television on.

"Yeah she's something, alright. Kyle's really crazy about her," Manny said. "Anyway, you guys should see him before you leave."

Raymond shook his head, "That's not going to work out. We were planning to basically grab you and hop back on that plane within the next hour."

"Okay, well I guess I better start getting things together."

"That's fine. We'll go get something to eat and the meet you back here," Miguel asked, even though he was talking for his benefit. Airplane food never did the trick for him, and he was pretty sure Tony and Raymond agreed.

"So you're leaving now?" Kyle asked as Manny stepped into his dorm room.

Manny nodded, "Yep, I just needed to get somethings together before taking off. Miguel, Tony, and Raymond are waiting for me back at the hotel. I still need to check out."

"They're here? Why didn't they come by? I haven't seen them since the funeral," Kyle said.

"They meant to just come here, get me, and get out. And there's the fact that they're jet is scheduled to take off in an hour."

"Yeah I understand. It's not like I won't ever see them," he said, crossing his arms in an awkward way.

Manny nodded, "Yeah, that's right. Listen, you won't have to worry once I'm gone. I know you try to play it off for my sake, and for Brooke's, that you're not a little bit freaked out. That's understandable. But I want you to know that you're going to be safe. That you can take my word for."

Kyle nodded genuinely, "I believe you. And yes, I was a little worried, but not so much anymore."

"Yeah well I have some people that are going to be keeping an eye on you, just in case. And if you notice anything weird, let me know."

"Thank you, for coming down here. I appreciate it," he said, shaking his cousin's hand.

Manny nodded, "Yeah, well, that's part of the job. Take care of yourself."

"So he's finally gone?" Brooke asked, opening the door to her boyfriend's dorm room to reveal just her boyfriend, no cousin beside him.

Kyle stood up, "Yeah, he said it was about time he headed home to take care of things there."

"So, everything's safe now?" she asked hopefully. Brooke had tried to stick by the man she loved and had tried to act like this wasn't that big of a deal. But the thought of mobsters and guns and ransom was enough to make her wake up in a cold sweat. Obviously she had been watching too many reruns of the Sopranos.

He sighed, "Let's hope so. Manny left some people down here to keep an eye on things, but other than that, I think we're good." Brooke let out the relieved sigh and gave him a fierce hug.

"Now I don't have to worry so much anymore," she whispered.

He smiled, "Yeah, now I guess we can get on with our lives and not have this much heavy stuff weighing on us."

"Yup. Now all you need to worry about is your basketball game this Friday."

Kyle groaned, "Which reminds me, I have practice early tomorrow morning." It was weird to jump to stuff as intense as mob violence and go straight to something like basketball. Not that the sport wasn't important, but it wasn't life threatening.

"Don't complain. I have cheer practice too," Brooke said, remembering the torture she would have to endure by the bitchy captain.

"Well," Kyle started, wrapping his arms around her, "I think we should get some sleep."

Brooke kinked her eyebrow, "Sleep? I thought you were thinking something else," she pouted. Kyle held her face in his hands and gave her a lingering kiss.

"I was, I just didn't want you to think that I was."

"Always the gentleman. That's what I love about you," Brooke said.

"Really? I just thought it was because I was hot," he said innocently. It was a good thing that Lucas decided to crash at Nathan and Haley's. This would've definitely bothered him.

"Well, there's that too," she said, sneakily riding her hands up his shirt as she whipped it over his head. "Then there's the fact that you're loving, understanding, and I know no matter what, you will always take care of me."

"I think you're giving me way too much credit," he said, nibbling her neck.

Brooke snickered, "I don't think so. Now tell me why you love me!" she said.

"Can we talk about this later?" he asked, slipping her bra strap over her shoulder.

"Nope," she said simply. "Tell me why you love me."

Kyle sighed, "Okay, I love you because you hold other people above yourself. Not once do you ever think of yourself first. You make me laugh, and you have the most amazing heart."

"Is that it?" she asked, the ever so hot eyebrow kinked.

He smirked, "Oh, and there's the fact that you are absolutely gorgeous. That kind of helps."

"Oh I love you Kyle Sammett," she said. "I hope it'll always be this way." Brooke meant 'this way' by how they were right now. Two people, completely in love with each other, and handling their problems head on and solving them. That was a relationship. That was everything she had wanted, and now she finally had it.

Kyle looked at her deeply, "I love you, Brooke Davis. And for the record, as long as I'm still here, I'll always be loving you. No matter what happens."

"Nothing's going to happen though, right? We'll always be together?" she asked, more for herself than for him. It was hard to imagine life where Kyle wasn't apart of it.

"Of course," he said. "Now that we got that settled, I think you were just about to kiss me."

Brooke kissed him, but not without feeling a sense of accomplishment. And for some reason, she felt stronger than ever when she was with Kyle right now. Like they were one, and not in just the sexual sense. She felt like something good was happening, and her life was no longer going day by day. Plans filled her head, things that she probably wouldn't be able to remember the next day, but would stay right in her heart and mind.

They wouldn't resurface for awhile though. It was too consuming of a night to think of anything else but him.

Just when he thought that he heard the last of these types of requests, he was called back into his boss' office. It was during the same time of day, with the same request of his presence in the office to discuss 'private matters.' It didn't surprise him. Not one bit. He just didn't expect it.

It had been a good year and a half since he had heard of the Giovanni family, and he was hoping that he wouldn't hear of them again. But no, it wasn't. His boss was unsuccessful that night, and when he's unsuccessful, he won't stop until he takes care of it.

"You wanted to see me?" he asked professionally. Truthfully the man scared the living daylights out of him, but he learned that the more scared you acted, the more scary the man became. So he tried his best not to be that fearful of his life everytime he was face to face with Lorenzo Rosali.

"Remember the last time I called you in here?" he asked absent mindedly. He was sitting at his desk, feet propped up, a Zippo lighter in his hand. He was flicking it on and off, not even concerned by the fact that the fire was inches from his face. The man was truly crazy.

Nikolas cleared his throat awkwardly. "Uhm, yes. You told me to put a hit and run on Brooke Davis."

Lorenzo nodded his head knowingly, "That's right, I did. It's been awhile since that night. You're a very intelligent man, Nikolas. It's one of the reasons why I hired you. You know why I called you in here."

"You want me to run someone else over tonight," he said assumingly. Nikolas wasn't going to lie. He knew he was good at his job. It was an area that he had been especially trained in, and he took care of it very well. It was absolutely clean hits, with no trace of evidence. The sky was the limit on his paycheck.

"Not exactly," he said, his feet touching the carpeted floor with a thud. He walked around his desk and stood in front of Nikolas. "I want you to kill someone tonight."

Nikolas gulped nervously, "Who?"

Lorenzo chuckled softly to himself. "I've been doing a lot of thinking. I remembered that one night whenever I challenged Kyle. I told him to take up his guns and try to play with the big boys. And he proved himself, I must admit. But like I thought, he wasn't ready. He didn't have the balls to stick with his decision."

"So you want to kill Kyle this time?" Nikolas asked. He knew the boy's name. He knew of his history, and his importance. In his own preference, Nikolas didn't like knowing a lot about the people he was set out to kill. It made the action come with a little less guilt. But when your target is the prime organizational enemy of your organization, it was known fact that you would know about the Giovannis.

"Nope," he said lightly. "At first that was my intention. It makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Kill the one person that is causing me the most problem at the moment. But I realized that Kyle's not the one that's causing me the most problem. I mean, sure, he got away with killing and injuring a few of my men, but what else has he done? Nothing. Absolutely nothing, and for the moment he's not a nuisance to me. Right now Kyle has nothing to do with the organization. I have to hit the people most in on the operation, and Kyle's not one of them. Not by a longshot." He flicked the lighter shut.

He hated when his boss did things like this. Drag out the point of the conversation. To try to make himself feel more important and dangerous, he assumed. He didn't understand why though, the man's very aura was enough to scare the shit out of anyone, including himself.

"If you don't want to kill Kyle, then who is it?"

"Tonight, you're going to kill Emmanuel Giovanni."