Darkness in the daylight

Children's playthings

(Mr.Cuddles)
Layla's P.O.V

I set the phone on the bedside table and looked down at Kei's sleeping form, he had come running into my room because he had a nightmare about the ambush on him and his father. I already knew without looking at the tapes that Stèphan was the one behind it, he was always a good strategist and spy since he was little. I remember the days when he and Felipe would play spy, they would be running around like little ninjas trying not to be caught when I called for nap time. As they got older Alex would bring them to different meetings while I stayed behind and relaxed while catching up with Adam. They would come back telling me how one don taught them how to pick pockets or how another showed them Taekwondo, they felt important when Alex brought them along. By the time they were teenagers Felipe and Stèphan were always at their father's side when he attended meetings and deals, both knew how to shoot a gun and therefore they were allowed to go to anything Alex went to.

Then the day came when Stèphan turned sixteen and got a car, Alex wanted to get him a Ferrari and there was no way in hell I was going to let him get his way. We settled on a bright yellow mustang with a supped up interior, Stèphan was overjoyed with his car and thanked us profusely before hoping behind the wheel with his brother in the passenger seat. I knew his sloth and weasel were in the car too, he took them everywhere with him. Originally we got him a weasel since I thought a sloth would be boring, but Alex got him one any way and he loved it. He named them Sean and Gus, both animals got along incredibly well and were never far apart. They both slept in his room and followed him everywhere, Gus being a sloth would hang on Stèphan's neck or side while Sean would run next to him or lay across his shoulders.

I always knew both my sons were destined for greatness, I just had yet to know how they would show it. While Felipe continued to be a fixture at his father's side, Stèphan began to drift away and was more interested in the legal system. At first Alex wasn't bothered by it but as time drew on I knew it was more than infatuation. And by his eighteenth birthday I knew exactly what he planned on doing, as his mother I could read him like a book. So when he came to me while his father and brother were out I already knew what he was going to say. He told me he applied and was accepted into the FBI, he had hacked the system and wiped any trace of his family history clean. As far as anyone knew he was a completely normal young man, he had never been in any trouble nor had he ever been associated with criminals.

I had told him I still loved him and that even if his father was angrier than wet wasps he still loved him deeply. We both knew Alex wouldn't be happy with the idea of his own flesh and blood working for the opposite team. But Stèphan promised never to tell a soul where we lived, he said he would at some point have to work on our cases but he would try his best not to. I thanked him and kissed him goodbye, he was out the door and gone before his father and brother returned. After a few days he broke the news to Alex and Felipe, Felipe took it harder than Alex mainly because he was hoping for his little brother to be by his side when he took over the lead position. It took some time and not speaking to each other but Alex finally came around, he reassured Stèphan that he still loved him even though they were no longer on the same side.

Felipe on the other hand resented Stèphan for joining the very group of people who strived to take the group down. Stèphan didn't blame him and instead gave Felipe space while avoiding all fights. Staying true to his word Stèphan avoided any mafia related work, he was an incredibly intelligent man. And he'd occasionally make stops by the house to visit me, we'd have a snack or some tea and chat before he would quickly leave. All in all it wasn't the best of situations but it was better than how it could have ended. Sometimes Alex would disappear and come back a little happier, I could tell this was from little visits to see Stèphan. Even if he didn't visit and just stalked him, Alex was just happy to see that his son was successful and happy. I always knew there would come a time when Stèphan would have to work on a case where our group was involved, I just didn't know when it would happen. I dreaded the day when father and son would be pitted against each other.

The day they were pitted against each other the world went dark, it was raining and there was not a beam of visible light. I was sitting at home watching the news when a breaking news report flashed across the TV screen. The headline made my heart sink through the floor, sliding out of my chair I sank to the floor and broke out in sobs. The headline read 'mafia boss Alex Marabelli has been shot and is in critical condition.' Somehow I managed to find my feet and drive myself to the hospital without killing anyone. There were several of Alex's men outside the room and a pissed off and worried Felipe sitting close to the hospital bed Alex was laying on. On the other side of the bed sat Stèphan who's sobs were racking his body while he held his head in his hands. I was at Alex's side in a flash and holding his hand while crying, is this how he felt every time I had been shot or harmed? "Dammit Stèphan! How'd you mess up so damn bad, how can you shoot your own father?! How the freaking hell did shoot him!" Felipe screamed smashing the little table next to him with just one blow from his fist.

"I didn't know! He wasn't supposed to be there, no one from your group was supposed to be there!" Stèphan screamed back jumping to his feet. He was crying, shaking, and his fists were clenched so tight they were turning white. There was a loud crash and Stèphan was on the floor clutching his head, there was a light trickle of blood coming from between his fingers. Felipe was shaking with rage even though he just hurled a vase at his own brother. "Your not my brother, and your not part of my family. Get out of town or I'll kill you myself!" Felipe growled his voice dangerously low. Stèphan struggled to his feet and shuffled over to me, with a quick apology and kiss on the cheek he was gone. Felipe collapsed back into his chair and breathed deeply. "Get out Felipe, I don't need you here and I doubt your father would either." I calmly stated trying not to look at him, I heard him get up and leave the room without protest. By disowning Stèphan he had opened the door for other groups to kill Stèphan without a second thought. Just because the FBI didn't know he was connected to us didn't mean other groups were that blind, they would target and kill him just to send a message.

Felipe disappeared from the map for two weeks, and Alex was still in critical care at the hospital. I haven't left since the day I arrived a month ago, several of Alex's men had been bringing me changes of clothes and different meals so I wasn't eating hospital food all the time. Alex would sleep most of the time but on the occasional moment he would wake up for an hour or two I would be right there next to him. He cried when I told him about Felipe disowning Stèphan, he cried about the loss of not only Stèphan but of the hopes for a happy family. So many happy memories marred by a mistake, I knew Stèphan wasn't about to pack up and leave just because Felipe told him too. And I was proven right when I woke up to quiet whispers one morning. Alex and Stèphan were both quietly talking while trying not to wake me up, I knew they weren't aware of my consciousness yet so I stayed still and listened.

"I don't know dad, we were supposed to be going in after an armed kidnapper. There wasn't anything about any mafia groups in the files, as far as I knew we were supposed to take down a man named Azil Lapsin. He's a serial rapist, kidnapper, and killer. In other words a full out psycho, we were given the green light on going in and killing since no one else was supposed to be there." I could hear Alex grunt as he sat up. "That's a bit suspicious since we were going to meet a certain Azil Lapsin, but he was supposed to be selling us some weapons on the third floor." I furrowed my brown subconsciously, if they both went to meet the same man it was obviously a set up. But the question was who set them up?

A/N: so what do you think? I'm rather fond of how this turned out. I don't really like cliché books so when I wrote this one I decided on twisting it up a bit, sorry if some bits seemed a little sloppy or rushed but I was trying to write this on the way to the zoo with a bunch of loud kids in the back seat... Anyways I hope you liked it! ~Maddie