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. Edited by Sjdavis84 and StillDreaming85.
WARNING: This story contains mature themes and is intended for mature readers.
ANTHONY CULLEN.
How the mighty crumble.
Guilty!
Carlisle Cullen, my father, my blood. A powerful man reduced to a prisoner with one word, guilty.
Twelve insignificant people. Twelve jurors found my father guilty. Twelve people who will be punished for wronging my family.
My mother, my beautiful mother, reduced to nothing but tears and sorrow and heartache with a single word. Guilty!
How she will survive without my father, I do not know. She loves him very much, and he would move the world for her.
She openly sobbed, refusing to let her love go. He couldn't bear to let her go either.
The scene before me was painful. It would break my heart if I still had a heart.
Edward, my twin brother, we exchanged a knowing look. We needed to do something, we had to take our mother out of here.
She was a strong woman. Both Edward and I struggled to remove her grip from our father's neck.
Our mother sobbed quietly as the court officer led our father away.
My mother was always a strong woman, strong and fearless. To witness her reduced to nothing but a tearful mess made my blood boil.
Edward wrapped his arm around her, walking her out of the courtroom, our sister, Rosalie held onto his other hand as she wiped her eyes.
Charles was the last to leave. He did not notice me standing behind him.
Charles Swan, the reason we were here today, the reason my father's freedom was taken away, the reason for his fall.
Charles is a traitor. My father had been foolish to trust him. He had not made him take The Omerta, there were no contracts signed. Whatever Charles witnessed, he was free to pass along.
"Bravo," I said, giving Charles a round of applause. "Well done Swan."
He was afraid of me, he always has been. I found humor in it. But he was right to fear me and he would be a fool if he did not hold some degree of fear. Charles held himself together though, and he held himself well. The stupid fool.
"You will regret what you have done to my family," I warned.
"You are in no position to make threats, Anthony," he said.
I had never made a threat without keeping true to my word. Did Charles think he could walk away after his betrayal without any repercussions? Did he think that he was untouchable because of the position he held?
"I don't make threats, Charles. When I'm through with you, you'll be begging me for mercy."
DINY
Isabella Swan. What a precious little gem she was to Charles. She was a beautiful girl. She had a beautiful body, she was a dancer of some sort, a Juilliard student.
A wicked smile came to my face thinking about the little gem.
Payback, retribution, revenge. It was unfortunate for her that she would be the one to suffer the consequences. She was an innocent party in this situation, her only crime, sharing Charles's blood, blood that I would take great joy in spilling.
"Uncy Antty." Sofia, my niece, my sister's daughter ran to me. What the hell is she doing up at this time? I asked myself.
I cannot stand children, but this one was different. She wasn't the whining, snotty face, dirty child, Sofia was a delicate little flower. With curly blond hair and bright blue eyes, with rosy cheeks too, she looked almost evil, like a beautiful demon child come to earth to tempt humanity.
"What do you want?" I said. She held her little arms up to me. I've never picked her up, I've never held her. She and I, we had our own understanding. I grabbed my wallet and took out a few hundred dollar bills and held them towards her. The little brat snatched them out of my hand as if she'd seen the holy grail.
"Pleasure doing business with you," the little brat said, with perfect pronunciation as she skipped away.
"What the hell Anthony, five hundred dollars? She's five," my sister said.
"She's a Cullen, dear sister. She needs to learn from early on that men are to give her whatever she wants." I may not like children, but Sofia was my blood, my sister's little girl and no matter what I felt about children, we would protect her.
"She's five, Anthony, five." She glared at me.
"Where's mom?" Edward asked.
"I gave her some pills and put her to bed," Rosalie said.
"What are we going to do?" Emmett, my brother in law asked. "How much do you think they're going to give him?"
"Fifteen, maybe twenty, and that's if we're lucky," Rosalie said. My sister was a criminal defense attorney. Our father had refused to let her be apart of his defense team. Even though it hurt her, Rosalie didn't argue with him.
"Can we appeal?" I asked.
"We can, but it could backfire on us. I'm going to try my best," she sighed.
"What the fuck do you mean, you're going to try your best?" I yelled. "We need more than your fucking best, Rosalie. That's our father."
"Anthony, calm down, it's not her fault," Edward said, patting me on the back. He handed me a glass of liquor.
"That's right, you idiot, it's not my fault. It wouldn't be a big problem if the evidence against him weren't so strong. I'm going to need all the files. I'm going…" Rosalie sighed, rubbing her head.
"Yeah, just do it." I left them inside. I took the open bottle of liquor with me and a cigar. I went outside and sat on the steps of the patio.
I closed my eyes as the cold air hit my face. Jasper better not fuck this up, I thought.
I knew this would happen. Edward and I knew that dad couldn't get out of this, but that didn't mean we didn't hope.
Since Monday morning, I have had Jasper follow Charles's daughter. I wanted her every step, her every move watched.
I wanted a different outcome for the trial today, but it's just unfortunate for Isabella that things didn't work out that way.
As soon as the trial was over I gave Jasper the order. Grab the girl, unharmed. No one touches her but me.
I took a long puff of the cigar. I felt almost giddy thinking about it. I could not wait. The thought of her blood on my hands was enough to get me high.
"What the hell are you doing out here?" Edward said. He sat down beside me, taking my bottle away.
"What the fuck does it look like I'm doing?" I said, pissed off that he had ruined my daydream.
"We're going to have to call a sit down. We need to hammer things out," my brother said.
A fucking sit down, why? So he could announce his triumph? My brother would take over because he was two minutes older than me. As if that should make a fucking difference. I know I'm better. It should be me rising to Don, not Edward.
"Set it up," I said.
"Are you gonna sit out here and drink yourself into a coma?" He asked.
"What the fuck is it to you?" I slurred.
"What the fuck are you up to?" He asked. Edward knew me better than I knew myself. Being a twin, we did have that connection shit that everyone talked about. We felt things together, we knew when the other was in trouble or needed help. Growing up it was a blessing, but now, now that we are adults, it was a pain in my ass.
"I'm not up to anything, brother," I shrugged. Making a line from the cocaine on the stone steps.
"Funny that you say that, cause you've had Jasper running around all week. You're up to something, Anthony," Edward said, wiping my coke away with his shoe. "Don't do something stupid, not right now, they're going to be watching us like hawks."
A screeching melody sounded around us. I had purchased two untraceable phones, I had given Jasper one and I had the other. He was to call me the moment he had the job done, or if something went wrong. For his sake, I hope he hasn't fucked up.
I answered but said nothing. My brother looked at me with questioning eyes, his arms folded as he chewed the inside of his cheek.
"I have her," Jasper said and the phone clicked. I stood up, leaving the phone on the ground and then I stomped it into rubble.
"Too late," I said, staring my brother in the eyes.
"What the fuck have you done?" He asked, grabbing my arm.
"When I'm through...Charles will beg for death."
For a moment it appeared as if we were locked in a silent death match. Edward and I had...different ways of dealing with situations. Edward would have sought revenge on Charles and his wife, but where was the fun in that? Charles wouldn't suffer. Death would be easy, pain free. I would not lay a hand on Charles or his wife because that would not be revenge.
No, revenge was in the form of a little girl. Revenge was in the form of the one thing Charles valued the most, the one thing he loved the most. His most precious possession, his most treasured gem.
"What the hell have you done, Anthony?" My sister's angry voice broke my brother and I stare off.
I loved my sister, but Rosalie had a very big tendency to put her nose where it did not belong. My father had always tried to keep her out of family matters, but she was a stubborn one. This was one of those issues that Rosalie didn't need to know about, because they would come for us. Now, Rosalie was a good liar, but her morality and her sympathy led her in the wrong direction sometimes. She would never rat me out, quite the opposite, but would she be convincing enough when the FBI came knocking?
"How long have you been standing there?" Edward asked, he was as angry as I was with our sister's eavesdropping.
"Long enough. What the hell are you planning Anthony? Or should I say, what have you done?"
"Go put your daughter to bed Rose," I said. She followed after me as I collected my keys and went to the garage.
"Anthony, get back here and talk to me," she called after me. I turned to her and stood right in her face.
"The only thing you need to worry about dear sister, is getting our father out of that shit hole," I said through gritted teeth.
"Whatever you have done, concerns all of us. What. Have. You. Done?" Rosalie could put up one hell of a fight, in fact, she could match Edward and I, but she never knew her limit, when to stop asking questions and when to stop pushing. Sometimes Rosalie required a more hands on approach. I grabbed her shoulders and backed her up slamming her into the wall.
"Get your fucking hands off of me," she yelled.
"Anthony, what the fuck?" Edward said, his hands were on my shoulders, trying to pull me off of our sister. Emmett came running into the room when he heard the commotion.
"Hey," he yelled.
I let go of Rosalie and pushed her in Emmett's direction. Edward let me go then and followed after me into the garage.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"I'm going to see a friend," I said. "You are more than welcomed to join me."
I felt like a child on Christmas morning as I pulled the car outside the bar. It was either very late or very early at four in the morning. Edward and I went down the back alleyway. Jasper waited for us by the large steel door.
"Did you have any issues?" I asked.
"None at all," he said.
"Who's with her now?"
"Her?" Edward questioned.
"You didn't tell him?" Jasper questioned.
"That's not your fucking business. I asked you a question."
"James is down there with her. I think she's still out though," he shrugged.
"And Marcus?"
"Disposing of the car like you ordered," Jasper said, shuffling from foot to foot.
"Stay out here, I'll be back soon," I said. I motioned for Edward to follow after me.
We followed the hallway down to the end and opened the door that would take us down to the basement. It was colder down here and there was no heating.
"Why do I get the feeling I'm about to shoot you?" Edward said.
"Nah, you're gonna love me," I said, opening the door to the basement.
James shot up out of his chair when I opened the door.
"Boss," he said.
"Fuck, Anthony," Edward groaned.
There she was, the little gem herself, curled up on the mattress on the floor. Her body was trembling from the cold. Her quiet groans filled the room. The effect of the drug should be wearing off, it was only a mild sedative.
I walked over to the mattress and crouched down to her level. Her eyes fluttered open slowly and she stared back at me.
Her frightened little eyes, wide with shock, with raw fear. She tried her very best to lift her body up, to get away from me, but the sedative still had her weak.
Oh the poor little lamb, I thought. Look at her, her body trembling, fear radiating from her. It was marvelous. I reached out to her, threaded my fingers into her hair and pulled her head up off of the mattress. She let out a small pathetic whimper.
"Hello, Isabella."