Hello!

I know some of you are probably like 'bitch, dont hello me! Where the fuck you been?!'

And thats completely understandable.

Basically, I'm super super super sorry for not updating sooner. I haven't been on this sight in forever, but I know you guys have been asking whats going on and when i logged in I saw messages form some of you asking where I was. First of all, thank you guys for caring enough to actually miss this story! Secondly, again, I'm so so sorry. 

To be flat honest I simply fell off track. I started my freshman year in college and in a quick summary, I started acting crazy. I was partying, drinking, smoking, and doing a lot of things I've never done before. I also live smack in the city now so it was really fun for me to be able to explore the city with my roommates. I have two and we all get along great. 

So, my excuse is that I was having a little too much fun. I do feel bad for just neglecting this story though. Especially for leaving it on a cliffhanger like I did. But, enough with the apologies. Thank you again to anyone who keeps reading this despite my absence and for sticking with my characters and story. I think I've gotten all my party out but I am currently on punishment because, like I said-i've been having a little toooooo much fun, so I don't have a set update schedule planned for you. I will guarantee though that I won't disappear like that again. 

Again, I'm sorry for not updating and thank you!

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Fingernails digging into his palm, blood gushing down the corner of his eye, and with a rage thats never been possessed, Ray fell forward. He was like a brick of weight that was unmovable and his anger and pain only added to that strength, gravity helping deliver the final blow as bone hit bone and Vincent's neck snapped to the side. 

"Ray stop it!"

The noise was deaf on Ray's ears and his fingers clenched around Vincent's neck, his other hand continuing it's rain of retribution into the face he was trying so desperately hard to make unrecognizable. He heard the satisfying crack of bone breaking, but before he could really relish in it, there was a stabbing pain in his stomach and his body betrayed him, flying backwards and away form his kill.

A weight fell upon his chest and the ribs in his side cried under the pressure, his mouth filling with blood as the roles of the fight were switched. 

Ray screamed.

Reaching past the fist raining down on him, he lifted his arms and latched them onto the closest thing he could find, pulling Vincent down and slamming their heads together. Vincent groaned, Ray held back his own, and the fight was an even one once again as they stumbled to their feet, trading blow for blow.

Ray's eyes were wild and on fire with rage and an intimidation that would have slowed anyone else. But, his wild eyes held little to no affect as he looked into eyes that were just as wild, just as determined to finish the game.

"Who the fuck are you?" Ray hissed finally, blood spitting from his mouth as he spoke.

Two hours ago Ray and the others had been at Rico's when they heard the crash. Most of this part of the city was either abandoned or hardly frequented-they were at an abandoned warehouse after all-but Ray was too experienced with bad luck not to think something was wrong when he heard the noise. 

He an everyone else there.

So, they rushed to the sound of the noise ready for a fight and thats exactly what they got. Ray hadn't known what to be expecting but when he saw Danny unconscious and in the arms of a man who screamed trouble, his heart cracked. There was no way they could go back to the warehouse and so Freddy had found them a place and now they were just on the outskirts of China Town in the back of a noodle shop a friend of his owned. Ray tried his hardest to wake Danny and when she didn't move, he just snapped.

He didn't want answers, he wanted to hit something.

And who better to spar with than the person who thought it'd be a bright idea to drive into a wall?

Vincent smirked, his laugh just as irritating as his face. He was a big man. Not much taller than Ray, but he definitely had a few pounds on him and he knew how to put those extra muscles to use. For the both of them this had clearly been their most challenging fight but Ray could see it now. What Rico meant when he said Vincent seemed to like the fight.

Each blow Ray sent his way was like a punishment willingly accepted and Vincent absorbed it all, using it to taunt and tease Ray for more and harder punches. Ray didn't get where the craziness was coming from, why he not only liked giving but being on the receiving end as well.

But he didn't care enough to stop and analyze it. 

"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to Charlie," he huffed, wobbling over to a counter and picking up a handful of noodles, casually lifting a pinch towards his lips and taking a bite.

The complete indifference to their fight was what edged Ray on more. Swearing, he tried to lunge forward but was pushed back when Rico grabbed him in a chokehold and pushed him up against a wall.

"Get the fuck off me Rico!"

"Then calm the fuck down! We need answers Ray, this is the bastard you wanted to lure out remember?" Rico hissed.

"I swear to God I will slit your throat and bathe your daughter in your own blood Rico. Get. Off."

There was a quiet eeriness that filled the room after Ray spoke. Not because his words were so vulgar and cruel, but because he had every intention to fulfill his promise if Rico didn't release him. Out the corner of his eye he could see Rowan looking at him with a glare full of betrayal and hurt, but he paid her no mind as he counted to ten, slowly waiting for Rico to disappear. 

"Ooh, somebody hit a touch subject," Vincent spoke after a few more moments of intense silence. There was amusement in his voice and everyone turned to glare, but he was otherwise unaffected and just smiled back. "Let the kid go, let him fight till he drops. That still won't wake his princess up."

Slipping his hands away from Ray's neck, Rico let him go only to smash his fist into Ray's face when he had turned around to face them all again. Dropping from the strength behind the hit, Rico only added fuel to the fire by kicking him in his gut. Hard.

"Be careful with your threats Ray," he spat. "You may know my weakness but I know yours too."

Ray swallowed the bile in his throat and glared. He knew involving Bobby, the only thing Rico was sane enough to really still love, was a low blow but he was reaching his climax. Never had Charlie Brown's emotions been in so much turmoil. For as long as he lived he'd never run or been in hiding from anyone and he definitely had never loved anyone as much as he loved Danny.

There was no one above her.

No one.

If she so wished it Ray would slit his own throat if it meant she'd be happy again, be it with or without him.

But now he felt like his first chance at love was slowly crumbling and he couldn't pin point where the crack began. He hated Sammy and the mess they were in was undeniably his fault, but the lines were beginning to blur and Ray couldn't tell who's fault that was. 

Now Danny was laying unconscious while Rowan and Freddy had to try and fix her up and, as much as Ray wanted to slice the bastard in front of him to pieces and once again divert all the blame, this time onto Vincent, he wasn't sure if he could.

After all, he was the one who pushed her to leave was he not?

He was the one who was a killer and murderer and expected her to suddenly be okay with that and change to fit his lifestyle. Danny wasn't wrong for thinking the way she did or having the fears she did. She didn't know better.

But Ray, as much as he would like to act like he didn't, knew better. He knew better.

With Rico now out of his way, Ray clambered to his feet and stood up, walking over to Freddy and holding out his hand. His side was killing him and he knew a couple ribs must be broken, but he didn't slow his steps as he stood in front of the tall bearded man, eyes patient and hand still waiting. 

Freddy glared, but didn't say anything else as he reached behind him and came back with a gun, dropping it in Ray's hand with a disgruntled huff.

Taking the weapon apart, Ray emptied the chamber of all it's bullets except one. He walked over to Vincent next and with eyes now calmed from the earlier fight, he raised the gun and pointed it between Vincent's eyes. 

"You have until this bullet lodges itself in your head to explain how you found us, and how you got your hands on Danny."

"And if I don't take the bait? Kill me Ray, go ahead, then try to beat Sammy-"

"This isn't about Sammy anymore. In this moment right here I don't give a fuck about anyone or anything else. I simply dislike you. And for that reason, I can't wait to celebrate killing you."

"Well damn Charlie, tell me how you really feel," Vincent chuckled, that crooked smirk ever present. 

"This is the part where you explain yourself."

Vincent's smile didn't falter, his eyes such a deep brown they were almost black. Still eating the bowl of noodles he'd taken a liking too, Vincent's shoulders didn't even flinch as Ray pulled the trigger, the first chamber empty. He kept his eyes downcast and didn't speak, just kept eating, as Ray pulled the trigger again and again and finally, when he could hear the difference of clicks as a bullet loaded into the gun, he flipped the switch and lunged forward, not tackling his body but his hand instead. 

In an instant the scenery had changed and now the gun was in Vincent's hand and it was pressed rather hotly against Ray's head. On the opposite side of the room, everyone tensed but no one moved. They all knew the game was over and if Vincent pulled the trigger, the bullet would paint the walls with Ray's brain.

Just like Vincent though, Ray didn't flinch.

Brown eyes glared into blue-green one and two wild spirits clashed as they stood off. In the end, it was Vincent who cracked first, dropping his arm with the gun and laughing loudly.

"Fuck you're tense kid! Come on, relax a little for once. You're making me feel old with all this stress."

"I'm not laughing Vincent."

"I know, thats because you've got a stick up your ass." Vincent tossed the gun back to Freddy before hiking himself up and onto the counter, sitting down and returning to eating his noodles with his bloodied fingers. "You want answers but you want them to the wrong questions. Doesn't matter how I got Danny, I got her alive. Doesn't matter how I found you all, you need me."

"And how the fuck do you figure that?"

"Hmm, I don't know, maybe it's because you're all fighting the wrong fight."

Vincent tossed the now finished bowl to the side and wiped his hands on his pants, looking at Ray and the others like they were all some comedy act. They were confused and by the wide grin on Vincent's lips, he was entertained. 

"Do you seriously think Sammy would go through all this trouble just to keep you from telling dear old daddy his plans? From telling a New York faction that 'hey, I know you're the largest organized crime group in the world and you kick ass everyday, but little old outfit is coming for you?' We're nothing but a tick on their shoulder that would happily flick off without breaking a sweat! Are you really that stupid to not see the bigger picture here?!"

"That is the bigger picture-"

"I'M THE BIGGER PICTURE DUMBASS!" Ray flinched at that. Not because of Vincent's tone of voice, but because the disrespect in his words made Ray want to start the fight all over again. "No, you know what, I'm sorry. I just told a lie. I'm not the bigger picture, your baby girl you fight so violently for is."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Ray demanded, body instinctively inching closer to where Danny lay on the floor, Rowan still hovering over her. 

Vincent jumped down so he was standing up and smiled. "For the best hitman in Chicago you're so fucking stupid. I know you feel it. Something's off, something's not adding up, and you've felt that way for a while haven't you. You know Sammy better than any of us....you know he wouldn't go through all this just to hurt your precious little feelings by killing your girl."

"Someone gave him the order."

"And since when has Sammy ever followed anyone else's orders?"

Ray frowned, his top lip twitching as his fist clenched at his sides. "Stop playing fucking games with me Vincent. Yes, I fucking know something is off. But you're dumber than me if you think I'm gonna entertain this back and forth guessing game. Either get to the point, or step the fuck back."

Vincent rolled his eyes and stepped back, clearly annoyed that this wasn't gonna be anymore fun. "Since you asked so kindly, fine. Sammy is trying to kill our sweet father dearest, and he is trying to take over the Outfit then spread his leadership further and to New York. But there are just a few tiny kinda major slightly FUCKING IMPORTANT details you and your Brady bunch have skipped over. Sammy knows about me sweetheart, and he's got as much love for me as I do him. He can't get to me, not just because I make sure to keep it that way, but also because it'll break daddy's big old cancerous heart."

"Cancerous?" Freddy asked, confusion clear.

"Yessiree. He's got the big C and I'm not talking about chlamydia."

"You're such a fucking child."

"The child next in line to inherit the Outfit."

Once again, there was a silent pause where no one spoke, but everyone understood.

Vincent smirked. "Sammy wants the Outfit and to speed up the process he plans to kill Daniel before the cancer does, yeah. But he can't do it until he finds and destroys the old man's will. A Will that he gave to my grandmother who then died and passed it onto me. It states clearly and unarguably that should anything happen to him, all power goes to his eldest son Vincent Antonio Piero Vino. In case you don't get it, whether Sammy kills our dad and takes over or not, the Outfit is rightfully mine. This whole time you've been running around hiding from him and plotting against him, he's just been keeping you distracted. This isn't about killing you so you don't tell, it's about killing you so you can't get in the way of his searching. And Danny is just the icing on the cake."

"How so?"

Sighing, Vincent scratched the back of the head before shrugging as if the words he said next were no big deal. "I've known about the Outfit all my life and I've known who I was and what my role was. I knew once Sammy and I got older the feud our mothers had would simply pass down and become our own. And I knew just like my grandmother did, that he would never be a good leader and was an evil little bastard. So we hid the will. We had it transferred onto a thumb drive and destroyed all paper copies. We turned the thumb drive into a chip and then destroyed the thumb drive too."

"And the chip?"

Vincent paused for a moment and reached into his shirt, his hand coming back out to reveal two dog tags on the end of a silver chain.

"The chips encrypted and the code is engraved on my necklace, the actual chip we embedded into my grandmother's necklace. Sammy knows it and is looking for the necklace and if I'm right he's getting pretty close to finding it."

"Was it not buried with your grandmother?" Rowan spoke up. Next to her, Danny whimpered softly and Ray rushed over, practically shoving Rowan out of his way as he crouched in front of Danny, gently cradling her head in his arms as her dark lashes fluttered against her pale cheeks. 

"Daniela..." Ray whispered, a weight lifting from his heart as her eyes opened and brown eyes starred back at him. Ray smiled, swallowing the lump in his throat as Danny blinked.

"Ray...w-what...where am I?"

"Your safe, baby girl," he whispered, hands hovering above her face because he was afraid to break her. "Are you okay? Look at me Danny. What hurts on you?"

"N-Nothing...my head but I....Ray? Ray."

Ray grinned, a sob breaking form his throat in the form of a chuckle as he pulled Danny closer to him and hugged her tightly. He wouldn't cry, he just didn't, but Danny brought him close to tears as she clung to him. There was a lot they needed to discuss but for now they would just settle for holding each other. Besides, Vincent wouldn't give them much of another option anyway.

"When my grandmother died I had to get the necklace as far away form the both of us as possible. If someone got to me it wouldn't matter if they had the encryption code if they couldn't access the files anyway. I stay in hiding so Sammy continues to think I have it and am trying to keep it form him when in actual reality, I simply gave it away. I've kept track on it though over the years. For the past six months it's been hear in a cute little antique shop waiting for someone to buy it. Unfortunately, the owner of the shop took a liking to it and gave it to his lovely wife on their anniversary."

Vincent stopped talking then, eyes on both Danny and Ray and all it took was one look from Ray to know that all the pieces had been connected. 

"Don't leave us out Ray. What the hell is going on?" Rowan hissed, eyes on Ray. Licking his lips and swallowing, Ray felt his shoulders tense and not even Danny's hold on him could make him relax.

"Danny's father owns an antique shop here in Chicago. Sammy's after Danny because he knows the necklace is somewhere in her family."

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner. So, now do you get it Charlie Brown? Dislike me all you want, but if you want to get those files off that necklace before Sammy does, I'm about to become your new best friend."

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