//Clipped wings// Mama Emma///

///Chapter 10///

Ray watched from the sidelines as Norman grabbed their mother by her collar.

 "Talk"  his brother hissed. "What did you do?" Seldom had Norman sounded so enraged. It took a lot for him to lose his composure. He had to appear to be in control at all times in front of his oh-so devoted followers. But of course, the only reason he ever lost control was due to Emma. Isabella narrowly avoided banging her head on the cell bars. 

"Nothing" she insisted. And for once, his mother's voice oozed sincerity. "We were simply talking and then she was-" 

 "What were you talking about?' demanded Ray, breaking his silence. He strode over to where the two of them were, looking right into violet eyes; eyes he had never inherited. For that, he was grateful; he had his mother's dark hair and angular face already. If he'd had to see her eyes in the mirror everyday, he'd have hated himself even more. She held his gaze for a moment. "Peter Ratri." she revealed softly Norman cursed, releasing Isabella's collar.

 She dropped to the floor pitifully, her face smudged with dirt. Norman buried his face in his hands. his brilliant mind probably moving miles a minute. "What did he do to her?"he spat, disgusted. 

Ray watched his mother carefully. If anyone knew the answer to this question other than Emma herself, it had to be Isabella. She was the only person who could confirm it, though he and Norman had both come to the same conclusion.

They needed to hear it from her Isabella looked at him, suddenly seeming twice her age, before sighing. "I don't know" she admitted. "Ratri never said." All he said was that "Emma would help him achieve his goals, so I left it at that."

 "Bullshit." snapped Ray, his fist curling at his side He hated her He hated her, he hated her. "You pride yourself on knowing people, on being twelve steps ahead of them. You're not an idiot, Isabella, so-" A hand gripped his shoulder. 

Norman had regained his composure, leveling their mother with a stare full of ice; cold and unforgiving. "Even if she does know. we won't get anything out of her." he reasoned, shifting back into the sensible one between them. He stormed out of the containment unrt and Ray tralled behind him 

"What will we do with her?" he asked. They couldn't leave Isabella in there; she was too crafty, too dangerous. If she escaped and found her way back to the Ratris ...

 The logical thing to do would be to loll her. 

She was a security risk. They couldn't chance the lives of ali the children, of everything they had built over the last decade

 Killing her would mean no loose ends. But did they have the stomach? Norman may have-the years had twisted the boy he once knew-but him? He knew he was weak. Could he look mto the eyes of his mother and end her? Could he kill the woman who had birthed him. raised him? He would if he had to, he was sure-would force himself if necessary-but then what about- 

Emma. 

Ray had left her sleeping in her quarters. She could deny it all she wanted to, he knew she still cared for Isabella. Her presence here tonight proved that;He couldn't particularly blame her;when Emma loved she loved with all her heart-but the fact of the matter was that Isabella was too dangerous to be kept alive. 

Keeping her here would gain them nothing unless-

No. 

He couldn't. 

He had gone down that road once before. his biggest mistake. He would be playing right into her hand once again. He couldn't allow that, not even for Emma. She could hate him if she had to, but Ray couldn't let Isabella hurt them again.