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.
This chapter contains graphic violence and may offend some people. Please do not read if this offends you.
EDWARD CULLEN.
This had all been a set up. We were meant to find Tanya. She was only a distraction for Aro to set his plan into motion. But that meant that Aro had more men working with him than I had first thought. But I bet Aro never banked on Tanya opening her mouth. He should have never trusted her, Tanya was every bit as stupid as her husband.
But why would Aro take Isabella? I had never given him a reason to believe that she meant anything to me, and marriage didn't prove anything. Aro had to have recognized her. He had worked closely with Charles, he had to have done his homework, he had to have seen her face in the media.
The cars pulled up outside my father's office. It was well past midnight, but the street was still filled with people, but I didn't care. I climbed out of the car with the gun in my hand. Emmett and my brother had climbed out after me, as our backup followed after us.
I didn't know how many men Aro had working with him, but the chances were that it was a very small group. Very few were willing to betray the family because they knew, no matter what, they would not live to enjoy their new freedom. I had five of our men come with us all prepared and ready.
"Stairs," my brother said.
"No. They're expecting us to take the stairs. We'll be ambushed before we make it up there," I said.
"We need to be quick. I've already got someone messing with the security cameras," Emmett said. "Aro set this up here for a reason. If he fails, he has proof that you have her, there may even be a chance he tipped off the feds."
Emmett had a point. Deep down I know he was right, but I wasn't a reasonable man right now. I was a man on a mission. If Aro, or any of them had so much as hurt one hair on her head...They would die anyway. How they died depended on the condition that my wife was in.
We took the last elevator on the left up. It would stop the furthest from my father's office and hopefully that would buy us some time before they knew we were there, so we knew how many we were up against.
When the elevator reached it's destination, our men stepped out into the hallways first. There was no one guarding the elevators. Like predicted, they were waiting by the doors to the fire escape. Taking them out was easy. Emmett had a silencer on his piece. They never saw it coming, they never had a chance to react.
I went ahead of them towards my father's office. I stopped when I heard Aro's voice. From where I was, I could see Aro, Caius and Tanya's step-brother, Rossie. But I couldn't see Isabella.
"I recognized you from that night I saw you with Anthony," Aro said. "And now here you are, married to the other brother. Tell me, Isabella, how did you manage that?"
"What do you want?" With a muffled sob, Isabella asked.
"You have interfered with my plan, little love. He was meant to marry someone else. He was meant to be dead now, his family should all be dead now," Aro yelled. "My son should be Don right now, not that weak piece of crap."
I saw Caius reach for something. He pulled Isabella up towards him. Her shirt was torn and blood was pooling down the side of her face.
"I can see what the appeal is to her, father. It's a shame Anthony never sold her, she would have been fun. But I guess I can still have my fun with you now before I kill you," Caius said.
I walked into the room, taking Rossie our first. There were four others in here that were hidden out of sight.
Caius pushed Isabella onto his father's lap. Aro didn't hold onto her but the barrel of his gun was positioned under her chin.
"If any one of you shoots, I kill her," Aro said. "Put your guns down or she dies."
"You're not in a position to make demands," my brother said.
"I think I am, dear godson. Edward, tell them to drop their weapons or I will blow her head right off while you watch," Aro demanded.
On the outside I kept my calm, but on the inside, the monster in me had been let loose and he had his sights set on one thing and one thing alone, Aro.
"Fine. They lower their weapons, but you let her go," I said.
"No, I don't think I will, godson."
I chuckled. When it came down to it, Aro was a smart man, but he was a stupid kind of smart. He could have had the perfect plan, but we outnumbered them and Aro, no matter what his threats, he wouldn't kill Isabella.
"Five," I said.
"Five what, Edward?" He asked.
"Four."
"You stupid boy," he said, pushing the barrel of the gun further under Isabella's chin. She let out a small cry looking at me helplessly through her tears. All I had to do was keep my calm, continue to show him that no matter what he did, I was not affected.
"Three...Two…"
"Father?" Caius said.
"One," I said, snapping my fingers. All hell broke loose. The gun fire could be heard all around me. I saw blood. I saw bodies hit the floor and I didn't know who's.
My sight, my focus was on one thing. All the noise around me, everyone else, vanished.
With each step I took towards them, Aro's eyes widened in fear. He would not kill Isabella because he was a coward, a fool.
"Shoot her," I said, as I stood next to them, looking down at him. I couldn't bare to look at her, not now. "Come on. Aro, pull the trigger," I insisted, placing my own gun in between his eyes. "Do it."
"Edward, please," Isabella cried softly. Her hand grabbed onto my pants, pulling tightly.
"Isabella, look at me," I said. My eyes remained on Aro. I fired the shot. His blood splattered on both Isabella and I. His grip on the gun loosened and it fell to the floor at my feet.
Isabella didn't move to get up. Her whole body was shaking, she was breathing very hard. I grabbed a hold of her lifting her up off of the dead body.
"I got you, dolcezza," I said, holding her as close to me as I possibly could at this moment. She wrapped her arms around me tight, shaking in my arms. I was scared to death that she was going to pass out at any second.
"Make it stop, please," she cried, putting her hands over her ears.
"It's almost over," I said. I didn't know what was happening behind me, who was dead and who wasn't.
"Fuck," Emmett cursed.
I turned around to see my brother on the floor, Emmett was hovering over him. "Shit. Fuck, Edward, he needs help," Emmett yelled.
"Fuck," I said, letting go of Isabella. I crouched down beside my brother. His stomach was bright red. I pulled his shirt up revealing his wound. 'We're going to get you out of here. Hang in there," I said.
"Brother, stop," he rasped out. "This… This is bad. I'm not...I can't."
"Don't you fucking say that. I'm not going to let you die here."
I stood up, looking around. Everyone else was okay. Beside Isabella's head wound and Anthony, we were all fine. Aro was dead, Caius and Rossie were dead, as were the other four.
"Emmett, call Leo, and tell him we're on our way," I said. Leo was Emmett's cousin, he was a doctor at Presbyterians who had done a lot of back door calls for us. I couldn't take my brother through the ER, they would ask questions, they would call cops. Leo had always helped us, he had set us up with the best. Anthony was going to be okay.
Isabella kneeled down beside Anthony. I didn't know what she was thinking right now. Her body had stopped shaking as she picked my brother's hand up. I had taken my jacket off, putting pressure with it on my brother's wound.
"Little lamb," he whispered.
"Shh, don't talk," Isabella said.
"I'm going to die," Anthony said.
"You are not fucking dying on me," I said.
"You need to hold on for a little bit," Isabella said. "They are going to get you help, you're going to be okay."
"No." My brother shook his head. He turned his body in her direction, groaning in pain.
"Stop moving," I said. He flipped me off as he began a fit of coughs, spitting out blood.
"Anthony," Isabella cried out. "Do something," she said, looking at me.
"The ambulance is downstairs, the guys are on their way up," Emmett said.
"Hey, little lamb," Anthony said. With what strength he had, he reached out and grabbed her behind the neck, pulling her face down closer to his.
"I...I'm sorry, for everything."
"Anthony, stop it. The ambulance is here, you're going to be okay," she said.
"No, no, I'm going to die."
"No you're not."
"Please Isabella," he said, pulling her further down to him. "If I could have, I would have loved you," he said, kissing her before his whole body went limp.
"Anthony." Isabella shook him. "Anthony, open your eyes," she said.
"Shit." I heard Emmett say.
I fell on my backside, not believing, not wanting to accept. This isn't happening, it couldn't. I stared at my bloodied hands, covered in the blood of my own brother.
It didn't matter how many people I had killed or how many I had witnessed being killed. Family was family. Family was different. Anthony was my twin, one half of me. Regardless of how fucked up he was and what he had done, I felt as if some part of me was laying dead on the floor right now. I needed to pull it together and stand up. My own men couldn't see me in this state right now.
The EMTS Leo had sent reached the floor, they stopped dead in their tracks. They hadn't expected a dead body.
I stood up off the floor and gathered Isabella with me. She was in shock. Her whole body was stiff, but she hadn't taken her eyes off of Anthony.
"Stop looking at him," I said, turning her around in my arms and burying her face in my chest.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"Don't worry about me, bambolina. I'll be fine."
"We need to go now," Emmett said. "My guy has messaged me. He's tampered with the security cameras, but the police are on their way."
"Emmett, take Isabella to... I don't know, anywhere. Get her the fuck out of here," I said, handing her over to Emmett.
"Where are you going?" She said.
"Go, now," I yelled at them.
By the time the police came, the EMTS left and so did I. I left my brother's body there because there needed to be a story, a covered up. With my brother, Caius and Aro there, well, it would look like business gone wrong.
Emmett left me a car downstairs. I drove around for hours until the gas ran out. The car stopped in the middle of the street. I left it there. I walked the rest of the way to my mothers. When I walked in the front door, she already knew. She was on her knees on the floor clutching a picture of my brother in her hand. I kneeled down beside her, holding her, sharing her pain. She had lost a son and I had lost a brother, but we would be okay, we had to be.