by Ali Parker
"My mother's death, my brother's death and the fact that no one has a clue what happened, what's happening to us." I walked to the door. "I'll speak at the funeral, but if you cocks expect me to show emotion, you're outta of your fucking mind. No one will ever know how badly I hurt."
I reached for the door as his voice softened.
"Bella."
"No." I glanced over my shoulder. "Never again. Don't ever call me that again. She's dead and if you're involved in this, I swear on my mother's grave, you'll be dead soon too."
*
The funeral was beautiful from anyone's perspective but mine. We were liars, all of us. We sat in the pews in our black clothes, sniffling and praying softly under our breaths, but one of us was knee-deep in deception, or hell, maybe all of us were.
"Izzy." Marco reached for me, pulling me into a tight hug outside of the church as the rest of the family headed across the green grass toward momma's grave. As I figured, Freddy would take the grave next to mom. He had nowhere else to go.
I pressed my face to my brother's chest and wrapped my arms tightly around him, letting the first wave of tears press against me. My throat burned with the horror of yet another loss, the need to scream beating against my teeth so bad they hurt.
"I need to know what the fuck is going on, Marco." I glanced up at him, finding a bit of solace. "What do you know about mom's killer?"
He sniffled and wiped his hand on the back of his sleeve. "Freddy did it, Izzy." His expression tightened as tears filled his eyes. "I lied about the tapes. He did all of it."
"What? Why?" I pressed my hands to my chest and backed up a little. "There's no way, Marco."
"He did. He was being forced to by the Kallups, who are completely tied down to the Cooper Syndicate. He didn't have a choice." Marco's voice cracked a little.
"I want to hear the tapes." I paused as the door to the church opened and our father walked out, looking beyond weary.
He lifted his eyebrow and tilted his head. "You guys discussing something that I shouldn't know about?"
I pressed my hand to my mouth and moved toward him, tucking myself against his chest and crying softly. There were so many things about him that I hated, but he was my father, my protector for as long as I could remember. Where D would take a bullet for me, my father would take ten and never be wishy-washy about it.
"Freddy was involved in momma’s death." Marco's voice was filled with pain.
"Come here, son." My father moved me to one arm and pulled Marco in with his other one, cuddling us against his chest.
I wrapped my arm around my brother and closed my eyes, trying to find warmth and solace in the moment. "Why would Freddy not just come to us? Why didn't he just tell us that the Kallups had him locked down?"
"Because he was terrified that they would hurt you, Izzy." Marco rested his cheek against my father's chest, his dark eyes loving, comforting.
"How do you know this?" My father glanced down at Marco as he pressed his cheek to the top of my head. "Where is your evidence, son?"
"The tapes," Marco mumbled.
"Daddy," I moved back and wiped at my eyes, "I stole some tapes from the warehouse, from Freddy's office and didn't mention them because I knew that everyone was against him."
"Why would you do that?" My father released Marco and studied me.
"Because I know that Freddy isn't your son. You told us that yourself. I knew that momma would have-"
"Your mother would have wanted you to trust me. I'm your goddamn father, Izabella. We're in this thing together, are we not?" He moved back and lifted his hands a little, the expression on his face enough to make my stomach turn. He was terrifying when he woke up from his slumber, and with the way things had been going lately, that time was coming sooner than later.
"We are." Marco nodded. "Of course we are, Papa, but you have a lot of secrets, and it's hard as hell to trust you at times."
"I don't have to earn your trust." He patted his chest and narrowed his eyes. "I'm your father. I get that trust and respect for raising you and protecting you all of these years."
I had to diffuse this situation. Now wasn't the time.
"And you have it." I reached out and ran my hand down my dad's arm. "I'm telling you about the tapes now. We're not hiding anything here, dad. We trust you. It's you who are leaning on the wrong people. We're family. Let us in."
His grimace faded and he let out a long breath as D's voice rose up behind us.
"Guys... we're waiting on you."
I glanced back and nodded. "We'll be in there in a few minutes. Hold them off, please."
Demetri nodded and turned, leaving the three of us alone again.
"She's right, Dad. You're a bastard, but you're our bastard. We've lost too much. Don't let anything tear the three of us apart, or we'll honestly have nothing left. Someone is putting a fissure between us and it's working. Look at us. We're at Freddy's funeral, fighting."
I started to respond, but my father lifted his hand, cutting me off.
"You're right. You both are." He ran his hand down his face. "Freddy wasn't my boy, but I raised him like he was. I loved him and to know that someone tortured him and killed him leaves me with one choice."
"Which is?" Marco slipped his hands into his slacks and blinked back his tears.
"To go see Cooper. I told Demetri I wanted to, but enough planning. We leave tomorrow morning for California. Marco, you stay here and keep things together. Izzy, you and I will go with D and see this little fucker who thinks he can come into my city and tear up the streets. It's time to end this."
"Daddy." I put my hand on his chest and rubbed softly. "Why is Adam Cooper attacking us? I thought you were friends with his father, Terrance."
He cupped his hand over mine and swallowed hard. "Terrance was one of your mother's best friends growing up, and I became friends with the old bastard through her. One afternoon twenty-five years ago, he came to visit and Vivian and I were fighting." He took a shaky breath. "He was a sly old fox and somehow got your mother in bed with him."
"No," I whispered as realization dawned on me. "Freddy was Terrance Cooper's kid?"
"Yep. And I couldn't let it go."
Marco cleared his throat. "You murdered him?"
"Sure did, and I'd do it all over again." My father reached up and fixed his tie. "He's using his son to enact revenge from what I can tell."
"Using his son? He's dead, right?" Marco and I fell in line behind my father, my brother reaching out and taking my hand.
"Yeah, but we all know that what dies never truly stays dead." My father reached up and brushed his fingers through his hair. "It's time to put this to an end, no matter what that means. I ain't willing to lose anyone else over your mother's infidelity. She's gone. Time to move on."
His words slammed into me. I needed those tapes from Marco. Freddy didn't act alone. There was no way in hell. But if he had help, could it really have been my Dad cleaning up a past mistake?
First my mother and then her bastard son?
If so, then was it really over?
If not, then who was next?
Chapter 8
Izabella
"Hey. How you holding up?" Edward touched the small of my back as we walked into Gino's, everyone headed for the backroom for a meal together before we all went our separate ways.
I turned to face him, sliding my hands up his chest and letting out a soft sigh. "I don't know. I think I'm numb."
He reached up and touched the side of my face, the love in his eyes comforting, but not nearly enough for what I needed. "Let's eat and then come home with me. We'll spend the afternoon watching movies and snuggling."
I laughed. "Sounds like a different form of hell."
"Bitch." He chuckled and pulled me in for a long hug. "You know that I love you, right?"
"Yeah. I'm glad you do today." I turned my face and pressed a kiss to the side of his neck.
"Just today?" He tilted his face toward mine, brushing h
is nose by my cheek. "Not all the time? I'm hurt."
"You're a pussy." I smiled and moved back as D brushed my back with his shoulder and grunted something about us needing to get into the room.
"I'm your pussy?" Eddy smirked and reached for my hand. "Stop acting tough. It's just me."
"I'm glad it's just you." I wrapped my free hand around his arm and tucked myself against his side.
Would an afternoon of snuggling against his warm body give me more room to breathe? Would it loosen something inside of me that allowed life to seem possible again? D was filled with angst and tension, with lust and demanding desire, but I was weary.
I'd given into him on Friday night and not three days later, we were at odds again. He wanted me to steer clear of Eddy and Jonathan, which would have been my choice as well, but not if it left me completely alone. That I couldn't handle.
With no warmth in my world, I would slip into the darkness.
"Alright. Everyone take a seat and let's say a prayer over Freddy's soul and the food." My father stood at the front of a large table, the seat to his left open. There wasn't an extra seat next to the open one, so I hesitated. I wanted to sit by Eddy, who seemed to notice my concern.
He leaned down and kissed my forehead. "Go up there with your father. I'll be here when we're done eating to comfort you in any way you'll let me."
I glanced up, his deep blue eyes piercing me with honesty, with truth.
"Promise me?" I leaned in and brushed my nose by his, not caring who was watching. Demetri might have taken my virginity, my heart, my body, but Edward had my serenity, my warmth, my peace. He was my best friend, and at times, my only friend.
He smirked, looking more like the playboy he pretended to be. "D's getting jealous. I love it, but I'd rather not die today."
I rolled my eyes and released him, walking to the front and ignoring the fact that all eyes were on me. My father smiled down at me and reached for my hand before closing his eyes and starting to pray. It was a beautiful prayer, one I wasn't aware that he was capable of.
Everyone was misty-eyed when we glanced up.
"Let's eat." My father sat down and pulled the napkin in his lap, leaning over and talking to Marco. "I want to see the tapes today."
"I'll get them for you." Marco nodded, his eyes darkened with an expression too hard to read.
I'd honestly hoped to get to the tapes first. I leaned over. "I want to be there when you listen to them."
"You haven't heard them?" My father turned toward me.
"Heard what?" D lifted his eyebrow and moved an arm behind my back, resting it on my chair.
"Marco has some tapes that Izzy lifted from Freddy's office. We should all be there to hear what's on them. This afternoon, and tomorrow we leave for California." He turned his attention to his salad, and Daniel tapped Marco, taking his attention away from the conversation.
D wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me toward him, pressing his mouth by my ear. Fuck if the heat of him being so close didn't send a tendril of pleasure shooting through me.
"I told you that I didn't want you sleeping with Edward anymore. You remember that, right?"
I moved back and chuckled. "You have no control over me, Demetri DeMarco. You made your choice, and it's the last time you get to do anything that affects me."
"You don't understand." He studied me in a way that made me want to crawl under the table. The weight of his probing felt wrong and yet so right.
"Of course I don't." I smiled and shrugged. "It's complicated."
"It is-"
Edward leaned in between us. "I'm going to grab a drink from the bar. You want anything?"
I nodded. "Gin and ice, please."
"D? Something to wet the old whistle?" Edward was taunting him.
The air between the three of us grew thick, making it almost hard to breath.
D growled under his breath and shook his head. "No. I'm fine."
"Alright. Don't say I didn't offer." Eddy patted his back, winked at me and walked out of the room.
"Don't disobey me in this. I'm serious." He glanced over at me and narrowed his eyes.
"This conversation is over." I picked up my fork, feeling like a rebellious teenager out to prove a point more than anything. "Let's talk about something else."
"Like?" He barked and reached for his beer before settling back in his seat.
I glanced down the table at Marcus, Zak and Audrey. "Like why Audrey is sitting at my family’s table when she's nothing more than a useful hooker."
He smirked. "You don't like her."
"Apparently you didn't take me serious when I asked you to check into her. Something is off." I took a bite of my salad and studied her. She turned a little and gave me a sad smile, as if to give her condolences for my brother being abused, beaten and murdered.
"Did Jonathan turn up anything on her?" He was back to being all about business.
"I don't know." I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and texted him. "We'll see soon enough."
"I think you're jealous." D glanced down the table. "A strong-willed, busty blond with a solid right hook and the confidence to say what she means."
"And how do you know so much about her?" I pushed my chair back a little as Edward walked into the room.
"I know what I want to know, Izzy." He glanced up at me as I stood.
"It's complicated, right?" I winked and walked toward Edward, taking my drink from him.
"What's up?"
"Nothing." I glanced over my shoulder to find D watching us, as was Audrey. I turned back to Eddy. "I don't know how I feel about this new girl. Why is she here today? Seems odd."
"She was a big part of finding the Kallups and Freddy, Izzy." He wrapped an arm around my lower back and moved me toward the door. "Come on. Let's get some air."
My phone buzzed, and I checked it to find Jonathan clearing Audrey's name and asking when he could see me again. He didn't know about Freddy, which was probably for the best. We were dropping like flies, which would spook anyone with sense in their head.
"Izabella," a deep voice called from behind me as we walked down the hall toward the back patio.
I turned to find Marcus Blaine walking toward me, the man a mountain as he filled up a good chunk of the hall. The naughtiest parts of me wanted to know if he was as powerful as he looked.
"Marcus." I smiled and extended my hand. "Thanks for coming to the funeral today."
Edward's phone rang, and he pulled it out and grumbled. "I gotta take this. I'll find you in a minute, baby." He kissed my cheek and walked off, leaving the air between me and Marcus a little off.
"Baby?" Marcus snorted and glanced behind him as if to make sure Edward were the one who just left us.
"He likes to think there is hope for us yet." I turned and pushed the door to the patio. "I love him, but more like a good friend would."
"A friend with benefits?" Marcus closed the door behind us and moved up beside me, resting his forearms on the railing.
"Exactly. Something like you and Kate had." I winked and gripped the bar, knowing he was goading me, as I was him.
"Touché." He chuckled. "Tell me what you know about this Audrey chick. She's been assigned to my ring, and Demetri is the one who assigned her. I'm all good with it, but something isn't right."
"No?" I glanced over at him, studying the teardrop tattoo under his eye and the delicious way his shoulder and bicep muscle flexed in his current position.
Demetri was well-built, his body a playground for a goddess, but Marcus was a fucking tank. Big, broad, strong and intimidating as hell. A thug for sure.
He stood to his full height and glanced down at me. "Are you going to play with me every time I bring something up? If so, I might have to return the favor."
I laughed, letting my guard down a little. "It's hard to be authentic in the world of the masquerade."
"No truer words spoken." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Tell me about the girl."
&
nbsp; "No. You tell me about her." I slipped my hands into my pockets. "Something is off for sure. I don't know what, but I want to know. She's coming off as far more than a broken girl from the whore house, and yet Jonathan, our police department rat and Demetri are saying she's perfectly clean."
"And you doubt them?"
"I doubt the evidence. She might be who she says she is, but I don't know... I highly doubt it."
Marcus nodded. "Alright. Easy enough. I'll find out what's going on and let you guys know."
He turned to walk back toward the restaurant.
"Marcus?" I stood and turned to face him. "Do you miss Kate? Is she with someone else?"
"She is, and yeah, she's my girl. My forever and shit."
I nodded. "I understand."
"D's not with anyone, Izzy. How can you understand?" He smirked.
"Because I sometimes wish he were? It would hurt less knowing that someone besides him were standing between us being together." I shrugged and let my eyes move out along the city. "Keep an eye on the girl. She might be a rat in our camp."
"My thoughts exactly." He left, and the door opened a few minutes later.
Probably Edward.
"There you are." D's voice surprised me a little.
"Here I am." I leaned over and tried to ignore the way my heart fluttered when he was near.
"I haven't called or been around because your father put you off limits to me, Izzy." He leaned forward, pressing his shoulder against mine. "You know I would have come back later Friday night to finish the fire you started inside of me. Stop being a cunt. You know how I feel."
"Do I?" I glanced over at him, ignoring his comments. My father had been pushing D and me apart for as long as I could remember, and yet the old man knew without a doubt that we were made for each other. But he was selfish, and I understood that too. He needed both of us on-guard and we'd done a shitty job as of late.
Cock-blocking was the right answer, but it hurt nevertheless.
"You should." He moved back. "Come back to dinner. Your father is asking for you."
