Isabella raced up the stairs to her office faster than she expected was possible.  Her blood was boiling and she couldn't hold it back any more - she'd spared Elias her venom because of his condition but her left hand wasn't going to be so lucky.

She threw open the door and yelled at her bodyguards, "GET OUT!"  She stood there and waited for them to file out of the room before slamming the door hard enough to rattle pictures on the wall.  Isabella's temper was second in this world only to her Father Godfather Salvatore's.  Today she was going to give him a run for his money.

"Three days?!?"  She hissed, giving him a look that might have killed a lesser man.  "How the FUCK do you have Elias three days and not call me in the first MINUTE he's with you?  HOW!  After EVERYTHING you know I went through!"

Stephen stood in front on Isabella shocked, he did not know how to respond he had never seen her this mad before, he took a deep breath before responding to her.

"Elias came to me for help, what was I to do? what would you have done?" Stephen pulled out a cigarette a lit it, he took a drag

"I was going to tell you at your party we threw you, but you were arm in arm with another guy, so I changed my mind! I saved his life and I get no thanks?!"

Stephen snapped at her, he put his head down, he wondered if he should have just done that she was the Don and he raised he voice at her he had a tendency to say things without thinking, he took another drag of his cigarette and another deep breath thoughts of what happened the last time they were in this office flashed through his head, I was like deja'vu however this time Stephen did not feel so lucky.

Her mouth hung open she was absolutely shocked by his gall - again!  She marched over to him and with all her strength, open palm smacked him across the cheek so hard that his head turned. 

"Will Bowden prevented me from committing suicide over my damn grief you judgmental fucking cretin!  HOW DARE YOU!"  She gnashed her teeth, snarling her words.

"And for your information, I am thankful for you saving Elias' life but you know what would have been REALLY GREAT?!? If..." She pointed a finger hard into his chest, "YOU hadn't played the role of my Daddy, deciding I was some sort of SLUT that didn't deserve to know Elias was suffering without me!  If you had TOLD ME that he was alive... you would have reunited us BEFORE I made love to another man - BECAUSE I HADN'T!" 

She was so upset she wanted to vomit.  Stephen, it turned out, had known the night of the party?!?  He didn't tell her because he assumed that she and Will were a couple - that she'd already betrayed her 'dead' lover Elias... and none of that had been true.  

"If you hadn't been so busy pinning a scarlet A on my chest - you could have spared both Elias and I a shit ton of pain.  FUCK!  I thought Calimero was the priest, NOT YOU!" 

Worst, out of all of this, was that his choice to not tell her had allowed for her to make a trips out of town to be with other men.  Both trips had resulted in what would be called betrayals of Elias - if she'd known he was living.  Acts she NEVER would have committed if Stephen had told her that Elias was alive.  But now, it wasn't just those acts she had on her heart and soul - was it? 

No. 

She would have been forgiven by Elias, her crew, the whole damn world & most importantly herself... but what she did tonight in Chicago, what she felt right in her heart RIGHT now... THAT was a reason to HATE Stephen Strange until the end of time.  Because she'd had time to bond with men who she was not promised to, now her heart was involved.  Their hearts were involved.  Nothing about this would be without tears and heart break.  Stephen's decision to withhold information was going to bring her more suffering and suffering to men she loved.  

Isabella walked around her desk and slumped into her chair burying her face into her hands.  Her fingers going up into her hair.  

Love?  Fuck me... how did that happen?  I wasn't trying to love anyone.  I just wanted peace.  This is madness!

"You've done us all such a great wrong and NO ONE more so than Elias."  She looked up at Stephen, meeting his eyes.  "You let me go off and fall in love with another man when, with one sentence that night, my heart would only have ever known one love.  The love of the half-dead man down stairs.  What the fuck do you have to say for yourself?"

Stephen wiped blood from his mouth and stared as Isabella, there was blood down his shirt.

"I did not make you sleep with anybody else so don't you DARE try to blame that shit on me, that was your choice!"

Stephen grabbed the bottle of whiskey off the table and poured himself a drink, he downed it he winched it got into his cut and stung like hell he wiped his mouth again.

"You want to know why I did not tell you about Elias, that night when i approached you when you was standing with Godfather Luciano and William, you was happy, happier then i had seen you for a long time, i wanted you to stay like that i did not want to ruin it all for you, i knew how much knowing this would of hurt you".

Stephen walked around the table and grabbed the bottle of whiskey and poured two glasses he slid one across to Isabella 

"You think so badly of me, when all i was doing was protecting you as much as i care for Elias i also care for you, and you happiness is important to me."

Stephen took a sip of his drink and pulled out another cigarette, he stuck it in his mouth and lit it, the butt turned red from blood, Stephen smirked and thought that it was one hell of a hit, but no way he was letting Isabella know that.

Isabella winced.  No.  Stephen hadn't made her sleep with Gavin.  She'd done that for herself.  Fact.   BUT, in truth, if she had known Elias was alive at the party - she never would have gone to Philly.  She never would have met Gavin.  She never would have pushed further with William either.  Instead she would have gone immediately to Elias' side and everything could have picked right up where it had left off.

Now, it seemed there was no hope of that.  Last night's actions, they were done with full knowledge of the situation.  She had made her choices and while Stephen had opened the door to this mess with his decisions, she'd walked through without shame.  

She sighed and sat down, taking out a handkerchief and offering it to him. 

"What did you think would happen?  That you could convince Elias that the reason he survived should be walked away from?  That I was better off with some man I had only just met?"  She shook her head.  "Stephen... you were begging me to let loose my pain and rage on you.  You were pushing me to tear into you - don't pretend my pain bothered you when it clearly did not.  I mean, what the fuck was the point of all that?  Why not, instead of trying to get me to let it all out on you - just tell me that my heartache was finally over?"

She shook her head.  "I barely knew William Bowden.  Honestly, the only skin to skin contact we'd had at that point was my fist in his face and his in mine... we literally beat the shit out of each other.  You would have known that ... if you asked."  She reached for her glass of whiskey.

"I don't think the worst of you.  And it's true, you didn't bend me over and insert tab a into slot b... but it is a FACT I would never have pursued Will or Gavin if you had told me Elias was alive.  Your choice, your assumptions, good intention or not... it left me making decisions devoid of all the facts."

She leaned forward narrowing her eyes, "Your JOB DESCRIPTION in my organization is literally to make sure I have all the facts.  How the hell do you walk out of this office without me laying consequences on you for this?  You put our operation, Detroit, and my happiness all on the line because you didn't want to tell me about Elias being alive?"

She drank the whole glass and pushed it to Stephen to refill.  "Damn it man... God damn it all to hell.  I love Elias... and this would have been an open and shut decision had I known about him that night.  I would have rushed to his side and taken him back into my life - we'd be married right now even in the state he's in..." 

She took her refilled glass and drank deeply of it.  "But that can't happen now.  I'm not even sure what's going to happen for certain.  To me... to Elias, to Will or Gavin... fuck to Detroit and Philadelphia.  This isn't just about who I'm fucking and who I'll marry... wars that level the whole fucking thing of ours take place over less than what's happening here and by withholding the truth about Elias, you've put yourself squarely at the center of it."

Tears began welling up in her eyes.  "Fuck..."  She breathed a trembling breath and looked up at the ceiling.  "I don't even know what the hell I'm going to do... or why I'm telling you any of this.  The only thing I'm certain about is wanting every one of those bastards brought to me.  Alive - so I can make them pay or what they stole from me."

She looked back to Stephen, one tear escaped from the corner of her eye and slid down her cheek.  "I need them to suffer like they made me suffer."

Stephen shook his head, all this time he thought he was doing the right thing protecting Isabella from more hurt, where in reality all he had done is set her up for more, he tried to play cupid, dad and friend all in one move and royally fucked it up. Stephen grabbed a chair and sat next to her poured another two glasses of whiskey and handed one to her.

"How do you think I felt, when there is a knock at my door and it was Elias, he had been gone for months, where the fuck had he been? He was dead and now he was at my front door how the fuck had he got back here? there are more questions than answers."

Stephen paused a second took a drink and re lived the night Elias returned in his head, he remembers the beat up frail man standing at his door he did not recognise him at first but as soon as he spoke knew it was Elias.

"You can not sit and tell me, had I told you about Elias it would of all gone back to normal, you were moving on, you was with another guy, I saw you standing there happy, if my decision gave you that little happiness then to me it was the correct decision. I took you ready to tell you but instead decided to..."

Stephen got up he could not say it Elias was his friend, but he had gone and then come back without saying anything to anybody for months maybe part of him that night was angry with Elias, but for whatever reason he made the decision he did.

"I decided to get the last of your anger out, help to get you finally over Elias, he didn't deserve to be back in your life, in any of our lives."

Stephen could not believe what he had just said, did it finally hit him that he had let anger and emotion truly get the better of him, he paced around again he was getting anxious.

"I fucked up royally, I am sorry I should of left the decision in your hands instead I took it away from you and made the decision myself, but believe me when I tell you, I did it for you, and at the time I thought it was the right thing to do, I knew he wanted to write you a letter arranging a meet, he was frail, he could barely hold a pen, hell how was he going to walk down to the Lakeview café and meet you, I thought he would of stood you up and then that would of made your mind up. I did not envision him somewhere mustering the strength to go and meet you".

Stephen sat back down next to Isabella there was a lot that had happened tonight, he wanted to be there for her, help her, protect her, but maybe she did not need that after all this could of played out in many different ways but as he sat and thought about the many different scenarios of how this whole event could of played out he took Isabella hand.

"You are first of all my friend, and my leader and I am truly sorry, I am sorry you ever hurt you do not deserve any of that, and I am sorry I tried to make up your mind for you without considering what you wanted."

Stephen saw a tear roll down her face, he took out the handkerchief she had handed him and wiped her tears away. "We can fix this, tell me what you want and we will fix this."

"I need to figure out what I want.  If it's Elias then I need to be firmly grounded in that without any doubts so I can be a good wife to him."  She said softly.  "I gave him his ring back for now though."  She said with no small amount of sadness in her voice.

"He knew... I can tell he knew I'd been with someone else, and it caused him to take a lot of morphine.  Please keep an eye on that for me.  Don't let him hurt himself.  I still love him, no matter what he must think right now."

She shook her head.  "I'll go to Philadelphia.  Set up my gym I'm opening with Will and ... I don't know ... try to sort things out with them?  I at least need to tell them both."  Or tell Will, since Gavin already knows.  "They deserve to hear it from me.  Not that they can help me make this decision, but I won't string them along... and if I intend to pursue one of them, I need to set Elias free rather than prolong his pain.  Too much wrong has been done to him in this life and I hate that I've become a source of it, something I'd sooner die than allow to continue."

She put her alcohol down.  "But before I can do any of that... I need to go see my father.  I need to tell him what's happened and see what he wants me to do about the Feds, if anything.  I know what I want to do but I'm probably not the right person to be making that call - all things considered."

She stood up.  "If you want to try to make this up to me, you start by getting Elias better and don't let him run headlong down a path of self-pity and loathing.  You do whatever is necessary to get him up out of that bed, strong and whole again.  You have my permission to do it by any means necessary.  If you have to make him motivated to win me... fine.  I'll deal with that.  If you can motivate him by helping him find some..."  She words rotted on her tongue.  Imagining Elias with another woman was the worst pain she'd felt in her life, outside of losing him utterly.  And yet... how could she not say it?

She swallowed, "By helping him find another girl, even one for a weekend.  Just don't let him curl up and die.  That's your only job right now, Stephen."  She leaned over and kissed Stephen's cheeks, "Don't let me bury him twice, okay?"

With that she headed for the door to go see her father.  THIS was going to be the worst meeting of her entire life, she just knew it.  Having her father look at her the way she KNEW he would, having to talk him down from wanting to execute her love... all of these nightmares were very real possibilities right now.

She left, leaving Stephen with the nearly impossible task of keeping Elias' spirits up & body healing.

 I had heard the Don as mad as I have ever heard! I saw her Bg's not with her. They said she screamed to leave her, so of course they followed orders, figuring she would let them know when she was finished, or they would see her exiting the room she went in. Of course anyone in the next country over knew something was up.. was anyone alive after that?  As I had seen the Don exit where she had come from, I just stayed out of her way. I am sure she was on a mission of some sort. I saw as the Bg's found their way to doing their job, unless she said otherwise. I had overheard some of what was said, but I knew better to keep that to myself . The Don would let her crew in when she wanted to. Obvously, it would have had us all there if that was the case.

I had some things to do myself, and better not to let myself look unbusy to the Don. You kinda want to stay on the Don's good side! With that I left and got into my car and told the driver where I wanted to go right now, to get busy with my day. He of course said, yes, Ma'am! ( ugh! I hated that Ma'am thing, I am not that old)

Isabella left and Stephen went over to the mirror to asses the damage, he saw the blood down his shirt, but it look as if the bleeding had stopped.

"Fuck this, shit."

He muttered to himself, he slammed the door heading out and back to check on Elias, this did not really go how he had played it out in his head he walked down the hall and passed Jewel, he smiled at her before quickly heading off down the hallway and outside.

As I was working my way to my destination, I remembered Stephen with blood on his shirt.  It was puzzling as to why there was a red substance, assming blood, on his shirt. It looked like just the right amount of when you are cold cocked right in the mouth, or sucker punched, I guess. I cannot think a hand of our Don would do something to warrant such a reaction. I remembered back to the party not too long ago. I had found Stephen and the Don talking about something, not screaming then. Well, whatever happened between then and now, obviously  is no small potatoes. Stephen had smiled back at me when he saw me leaving, but the kind that says,  I am trying to fake like nothing just happened.

I of course would not mention anything to anyone of course, I mean that is just what you do. I also did not know anything to tell either. It certainly is something you do not want to deduce without anything to really deduce with.  Anyways when  or if there was a time, I would probably know with the rest of the crew. 

Since I was almost at my destination, I slid my hands down my blue dress and took out my compact to reapply my lipstick, and check my self before sliding out of the back seat. I had a message to meet someone at whatever this place was, but I for sure had protection with me, and surely was not afraid to use it! I put out of my mind what had happened, or had not happened  at the headquarters, and focus at the task at hand.