DISCLAIMER - possiede tutti i personaggi di twilight.
A/N Thanks everyone for reading. I am not going to beg for reviews, reviews will not make me update any sooner. I am writing this story as a creative exercise to help piece together scenes. However, reviews are VERY APPRECIATED, even bad ones. If you are just laying in to me unjustly, it will be deleted. If you have constructive criticism, I welcome it. I won't have alot of author's notes, I plan on updating a few times a week, any questions or comments, please review or pm me. Again, Molte grazie (many thanks) for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting. :):):) It gives me inspiration than my writing may not be as bad as I think.
Beta'd by that bad, bad bitch AKA MalloryKnoxx
"Friends are not as important as family. Do not confuse the loyalty of friendship with the bond of blood."
The Mafia Manager
Aro's POV
I was standing outside of the church with Ma waiting for Alice. She had gotten her rag and Ma was worried because she hadn't come back out yet. I'm glad I'm not female. Esme and Isabella are making small talk with her as she grows more and more impatient.
"Ma, why don't you head on and I'll wait for her." I suggest trying to get her out of here.
Don't get me wrong. I love my Ma more than anyone else but I was tired. I had been up all night going over shipments and the coke was wearing off. I don't use it alot just when I don't have time for sleep. My father is insistent we all graduate high school. Edward skips alot but if I'm going to do it, I actually want to learn what they are teaching. Plus, I'm a hot ass senior and private school is always filled with the hottest girls always eager to learn new tricks.
"Oh Aronni che è così dolce." (Oh Aro, that is so sweet.") Ma tells me before kissing my cheek. She hugs and kisses the girls goodbye and walks away with my father.
"Thank Jesus. My head is killing me." I mutter to myself pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. I take a deep drag and drop my hand back to my side. Ma would kill me if she seen me smoking. I may be nearly grown, of legal age, and about to be made, but I will always be afraid of my mother.
"Can I have one?" Isabella asked me.
I raised an eyebrow.
"Well, are you going to give me one or not?" She asked putting her hands on her hips.
"Sure, sure. Hold ya horses dollface." I tell her shaking out another cigarette. She took it with a slight shake in her hand and brought it to her lips. I leaned over and cupped my hand around it and she mimicked me, before bringing my lighter up to the end. She inhaled deeply sparking the bright red cherry on the end.
I leaned back upright and waited. It wasn't a few seconds and she starts coughing.
"Are you alright?" Esme asked her putting her hand on her shoulder.
Isabella nodded and her cough finally stopped.
I chuckled.
This kid had the nerve to mean mug me.
Isabella was a good looking girl, don't get me wrong, but did she not know who I was? Oh, that's right. She didn't. Because Mary Alice wanted to make a new little friend who knew nothing of our lives and didn't need to. To top this shit off her daddy is a fucking pig. Can you believe this shit? My father was livid let me tell you but Mary Alice is daddy's fucking princess.
She gave them a line about how she wanted to groom Isabella to be the perfect woman for me. That's nice at all but I didn't need help with the ladies. I had it all. Money, looks, brains, muscles, not to mention, God blessed me in the big dick department. Who wouldn't want Aronni fucking Luciano?
I didn't want Isabella Swan. Now Edward, Edward was digging on her. He just didn't know it yet. This guy, he has been my best friend since we were kids. We were born and raised together. We would be Capos together. I knew this guy like the back of my fucking hand. Mark my words, he would be with her before it was over.
At least Alice still got to groom her for someone.
Carlisle walks out of the church and greets us nodding his hat to the ladies.
"Hello Aro. What's good?" He says to me. This man will probably be my boss one day. I'd always liked Carlisle. He was a good guy. He knew this business inside and out. He had earned his bones several times over but you would never suspect him to be a killer with that innocent face and blue eyes. That and the blonde hair made him look like a Disney character compared to the rest of us. Add the fresh medical degree on top of that.
Carlisle has been smart. He had something legit, seriously legit to fall back on. No one would ever think the church going, friendly doctor to be a bona fide gangsta. Much less a Don.
"Same ol same. You?" I replied flipping my cigarette out into the street.
"You know me." He says looking around.
"Did you see Ally in there?" Esme asked shifting her wait to her other foot.
We had been standing out there for a good twenty minutes.
"No, sorry." Carlisle tells her glancing around again. "I gotta bounce. See you guys at dinner."
I watched as he walked away. He seemed nervous about something. Carlisle was never nervous about anything. Just as he disappeared around the corner I turn back to the church to see Alice walking down the steps. Her hair looked kinda wild and her dress was a little wrinkled.
"You alright?" I asked putting my arm around her as we began walking to my car.
"Yea, just had lady stuff to tend to." She smiled up at me but something seemed off.
"You know I got you if you need something. On the bright side, you only have to make it through the dinner then you lie down." I squeeze her shoulders before stepping ahead to open the door for her and the girls.
Esme's POV
Aro looked so good today, I thought smiling graciously at him as he held the door for me to get in. After I had set down and pulled my legs in, he shut the door and walked around to get in the driver's seat. I couldn't help but notice how much pride he held in his stride. I was noticing things like this more and more. I couldn't help but find myself crushing on him. Hard.
He was so attentive to not only Alice but to his mother me, and all the women in his life. Don't get me wrong. My own brothers are very protective over me but Aro has been around a little more. He and Alice are closer because he didn't have a brother to run along behind like Edward did with Emmett. I was the little sister left behind. Aro always made sure Alice was invited along and me by association. He always made us feel included. He was even the one that started taking us to the club".
The drive to the dinner seemed short, the small talk and joking making it go by quickly. Alice had fixed her hair back and straightened her dress as much as she could which still wasn't good enough. I had told her I would help with the food so she could change.
When we got there everyone greeted everyone with hugs and kisses. Proper introductions were made for Isabella. Everyone bragged on how sweet and beautiful she was. Everything that was said in front of her was watched, what with her father being a cop, chief on top of that.
She was so naive. She had no idea what she was getting into. Alice had big plans for her and a life she knew nothing of. I wanted to tell her to run, get out while she could but I would never cross Mary Alice. She was my best friend, besides I knew how ruthless she could be. She may put on a great facade but she had the heart of a killer when things didn't go her way.
Dinner went well. Everyone talked and laughed and told stories as usual. Spirits were high metaphorically and in glasses. I loved Sundays. All my life families had come together and celebrated and spent time together. It was a tradition we would all continue on.
I was praying that there would be something between them, because Edward needed someone warm to thaw his cold hard. Now my brother, he was a good man, very family oriented, but he threw women away like used napkins. My mother prayed he would settle down his wild ways. Secretly my father was proud.
I also wanted there to be something there because of my growing feelings for Aro. Deep down I had probably had a crush on him since I was ten years old. Alice and I had been playing in the boy's tree house, and I had fallen out breaking my ankle. I was crying big, crocodile tears. Mary Alice screamed for someone to come help and Aro came running out of the house to see what was wrong. He took one look at me and scooped me up, carrying me in the house.
Deep down, I believe he had my heart from that very moment.
I doubt he would ever feel that way about me.
A girl could dream though.
Edward's POV
I had a long day ahead, and I was running on next to no sleep. I hadn't hit the coke since Isabella had stormed in last night. Aro had gotten aggravated when his kid sister's project had walked in on our business. I told him to run a tighter ship. This was a wakeup call. I offered to take Isabella home. I knew Aro was already agitated and the white pony didn't help. I don't know why I stepped in to save her but I did. She had this innocence about her. It got to me last night.
Not again.
I didn't have time for distractions. Not in my line of work. I was technically still a senior in high school but my father had taken care of that. The school clerk responsible for attendance received a nice bottle of Oxycontin every Friday so nothing was ever said. If it was, we would make sure that motherfucka never spoke another word. Aro and I were already running all the gun and drug shipments.
We took over so Emmett could move up to the more 'grown up' stuff. He took over for Carlisle when he went to med school.
Isabella had many questions last night. I knew she would with the amount of alcohol in her system and her lack of tolerance, she was out like a light. I normally would have woken her, or left her ass in the car if she was anyone else, but she looked so peaceful sleeping. So I carried her. What the fuck happened to me?
I saw the looks the girls were giving me. Fuck 'em. I was being the gentleman I had been raised to be. Nothing more. I would not let Isabella's doe eyes distract me. I would not let Isabella's plump pink lips distract me. I would not let Isabella's soft curves distract me. I would not let Isabella's blush distract me. I couldn't afford to. Her daddy was top fucking pig.
I watched her during dinner. She had no idea the men she sat amongst.
Vicious, ruthless, cold, hard men.
Outlaws, thieves, criminals, thugs, killers.
Including myself.
She didn't belong in our world.
Alice needed to nip this in the bud before her father started sniffing around her new friends, if he hadn't already.
Isabella's POV
Dinner was overwhelming. I met a ton of new people. Everyone was talking all at once, half the time in Italian. I really wanted to learn Italian. It sounded so enchanting. When Edward spoke it, it sounded very sexy. Alice had hinted at her brother Aro for me but something about Edward kept him in the back of my mind all the time. Other than carrying me after I had fallen asleep in his car he hadn't really done anything special for me. He probably only did it so I wouldn't question him anymore. I wasn't finished though. There were still too many questions I had.
I made small talk with the girls. And watched. And waited.
It wasn't too long before I noticed him slip out the back door.
I quietly got up and followed him out onto the deck.
He was leaning over the railing looking out into the woods behind the house. Lit cigarette in one hand, a glass of amber colored liquid in the other. He looked tense, deep in thought. I was just taking in how good he looked. All the guys here were good looking but something about his unkempt copper locks got me. Pulled me right in.
Before I took two steps he spoke.
"Hello Isabella."
"Hi." I whispered unsure of his tone. It was flat, emotionless.
I moved to stand beside and waited for some signal of his mood.
A few minutes passed and he flipped his cigarette over the railing.
I fidgeted playing with the sleeve of Alice's dress.
"You have more questions." He said never looking at me.
"Yes. I mean, I didn't get to finish since I passed out on you." I started looking out over the large lawn, "Thank you, by the way, for carrying me in. That was... nice of you."
He cut his eyes over at me, and I felt my blush creep up under his intense gaze.
I waited for a moment and when he said nothing I continued.
"What did you mean when you said I was off limits? And in both ways?"