Didn't think you'd have the balls to actually show up. Thought we'd be hunting you for a while yet, Aids.”

Bobby Cornoli was far more handsome than he should have been. Evil pricks were supposed to be ugly, but Bobby was handsome as the devil, dark hair slicked back over his youthful face. Twenty two years old, and already making a hell of a name for himself as the head of a small but deadly crime family.

Once Aiden had called him, Bobby had sent men to pick him up and take him to one of the abandoned warehouses where he liked to do business.

Aiden had worried that Steve or Rob might wake up and come looking for him before Cornoli’s men could get there, but it turned out they weren't as far from a road as Aiden had thought, and even if they had been, Bobby had the vehemence and the resources to get him.

Aiden was pretty sure that if he had called Bobby from the depths of hell, he would have sent someone for him. That's how eager he was. Cornoli's men had roughed him up a bit before taking him in, but Aiden didn't care about that. What was another bruise or two? This was all going to end tonight anyway. After this, nobody would suffer on his behalf ever again.

“You came for my sister. So I've come...”

“You came to kill me?” Bobby sounded like he might like that idea. Sick fuck.

“No, Bobby. I came to give you what you want. You want to kill me, right? So kill me. I'm making it easy for you.”

Bobby snorted and lit a cigarette, the light reflecting off his near black eyes as he took a long draw before replying. “You're a miserable piece of shit, Aiden. You know how much money Mason Malone has wasted trying to keep you safe?”

“Well I'm going to save him some now.”

Bobby laughed, a cold, mechanical sound. “It's a real fucking pity you decided to fuck me over, Aiden. I liked you. You've got balls, and you were a classy pimp.”

“I got tired of being classy.”

“Yeah. Turned into a piece of shit junkie,” Bobby laughed again. “You know what, Aiden? I ain't gonna waste a fucking bullet on you. I don't need to. 'Cause I know two things about junkies. They're stupid, and they'll kill themselves if you let them.”

He reached into his pocket, then tossed several plastic baggies at Aiden, each of them filled with enough H to get high several times over.

“Don't take it all at once,” Bobby smirked. “Or do. Whatever. They're gonna find your bloated corpse in the river one of these days real soon either way. This way, you get to go out painlessly. The other way... well... it's gonna hurt baby boy.”

He reached out and tapped Aiden's cheek with the palm of his hand, and Aiden understood. Bobby was giving him one fucked up choice. OD himself, or get taken and tortured at some later date. What Bobby didn't seem to understand, was that Aiden didn't give a shit anymore. His entire life, he'd been nothing but a waste of oxygen. Now he was going to put things right.

Aiden started rolling up his sleeve. “You want me to do it now?”

Bobby's face twisted in disgust. “Fuck no. Take that shit out of here and find some piss-corner to off yourself in. Get the fuck out of here.”

* * *

An hour later, standing in the same apartment where he had lost his heart to two men, one of whom now fucking loathed him, the other who merely pitied him, Aiden stared at the drugs. All he had to do to save himself was throw them away. Flush them. Burn them. Throw them in the river. Tip them into the dirt. Whatever. There were a thousand ways to not fucking put them into his system, but he was already reaching for the baggie.

Rob and Steve already thought he was a piece of shit, and Ellie, well, she didn't fucking need him. She had Mason now. Mason was the man who should have been in the family all along. Mason was strong, and principled. Mason didn't let money change him. Mason wasn't a fucking black hole of misery that nothing could ever really fill.

Worthless. Aiden was fucking worthless.

He heated the stuff up, then grabbed the syringe Bobby had so helpfully provided. He was going to unload this shit into his arm, go out in bliss, and they'd be saved his bullshit. It was best this way. Best for him. Best for everybody else.

Tears were running down his cheeks as he did what thousands of junkies had done before him, and thousands would after. He said fuck it, and started setting up the tourniquet.

* * *

The hit made his head sing.

Pure power rushed through Aiden’s veins. The depression, misery and shame that had sent him into a place so dark he'd considered offing himself lifted in a heartbeat as serotonin flooded every crevice of his brain.

In that instant, everything changed. He wasn't going to die. Nobody could die with this much fucking chemical electricity running through them.

He knew exactly what he needed to do. Everything. All at once. Now. Right now.

Everything after that happened in super fast motion. He wasn't a man, he was a super man. He could save everybody. He could run three hundred miles an hour. He could fly. He could sing every song known to man. He could speak fluent Italian. He could save Ellie. He could stop Cornoli. He could break the fucking Illuminati if he wanted.

There was a car. A drive. A run through a field. He knew everything. He knew the secrets. Mason had once showed him a secret entrance to his house. It led to a bush in a field, Hogan's Heroes style. The guards didn't even know about it because Mason never told anyone but his most trusted friend.

He ran through the Earth, feeling it beating all around him until he hit a door. Unlocked. Haha! Of course! It was meant to be! Aiden threw himself through the door of the little burrow and found his sister naked on a table.

What the hell? He rubbed his eyes as she screamed and jumped up and was suddenly wearing the table cloth. Fuck. He was so wasted. Mason was there too, standing over her, his pants down.

“Ellie! What the fuck are you doing to my sister!”

“Aiden, get out of here!” Ellie shrieked at him.

A second later, what felt like fifteen men landed on top of him. The guards he'd managed to slip by coming through the secret passage had caught up and now he was beneath a man pile. There was a lot of noise and confusion and then he was telling everybody his plans and then... nothing.