Authors note, This was my entry for the Godfather contest, but I never entered it. I decided to have Frannie make it pretty and post it regardless. I will finish it eventually. My first duty is to A Night to Remember. Dirty Little Secret's last update will be posted soon. It is with Frannie as I wrote this.
Beta'd by Frannie, mistakes mine. Enjoy.
Thunder rolled overhead and lightning lit up the dingy alleyway as the girl ran as though her life depended on it.
And it did.
Her face was the picture of fear, her eyes wild, skin white as death.
Two city blocks back, her home had been invaded by men her father knew, men who were the very epitome of evil.
They had killed him in cold blood, blowing his brains all over the dinner table, with splattering staining the walls and carpet. Her mother had been next. But before she died, the girl had been forced to watch as she was repeatedly raped; each of them taking turns.
Before they were finished, she ran.
She was terrified of their lustful gazes falling on her.
They chased her at a slow pace, confident they could find her. Like a cat with a particularly juicy mouse, they were enjoying her fear.
She didn't pause to catch her breath. She knew if she did, she would end up just like her mother … or maybe even worse.
She slid down another alleyway, dark and quiet. A small wooden gate was the only way out. She lifted the latch slowly and peered inside the inky blackness.
She didnt have much choice; it was either the dark unknown or the terror behind her. She stepped inside quickly and shut the door, driving the bolt home just as it rattled from the outside.
She froze, not breathing as the men tugged on the piece of wood that separated her from her attackers.
"It's locked from the inside, Jude. She must have run to the next street. Let's go."
She stepped backward until her back hit a wall. There she released a shuddering breath and panted as softly as she could, terrified to even breath.
They stopped rattling the door, and the sound of their footsteps fading was the most welcome sound she'd ever heard.
She had escaped them - for now.
A few blocks away, a dark car waited, parked along the street, its shiny paint and tinted windows somehow ominous.
Jude and Eric almost ran past it in their pursuit of the fleeing girl, but when they saw who climbed out of the dark confines, they froze.
"What the fuck are you two morons doing so far away from the job I sent you to do?" An angry, and yet deceptively calm voice asked. This man had a commanding presence and an air of lethal power impossible to ignore.
His copper-colored hair was slightly longer than it should be. It fell over his forehead in disarray. His face was all perfect angles and full lips. It was a pretty boy's face, but it belonged to the devil.
The two goons knew this man was not to be messed with. Their instant respect was palpable, their fear hung heavily in the still night air.
"We're chasing a girl; she escaped from the hit, boss," Eric said, his tone hesitant, fearing displeasure.
"Who is she?" Edward Masen asked, his tone bored, his stance deceptively relaxed.
"She'd be the daughter of the target, boss." Jude offered.
"How did she get away?" Edward asked softly.
"We were busy with her mother, boss, and she slipped away..."
"What exactly were you doing to the girl's mother that so thoroughly distracted you?"
Jude shifted uncomfortably, his gaze dancing away from his boss.
"We were just having a bit of fun, boss, no harm, no foul, we'll find the girl..." Eric said quickly, trying to placate the scarily silent, seemingly calm man who they knew thought nothing of killing useless employees when needed.
"What the fuck is my first rule?" Edward snarled as he grabbed Eric by the collar.
"That we're to concentrate on the job we're given and not fuck with anyone..." Eric said nervously. "But boss, it was just this one time...it won't happen again."
"You're right, it won't," Edward said, his green eyes cold as he tossed Eric away like trash. Casually, he stubbed out the cigarette he'd been smoking with the toe of his well-polished shoe and withdrew a large pistol from the inside of hs well cut suit.
Eric paled and shook his head, his mouth open like a fish soundlessly pleading for his life.
But Edward Masen didn't give second chances.
Jude wisely remained silent as his boss aimed and fired at his accomplice of five years.
The silencer made the hit seem almost gentle, as the goon crumpled poetically to the wet street, a large hole between his eyes.
Jude swallowed hard as Edward Masen turned his penetrating gaze to him. "Next time, if you don't fucking do as you're told, you'll follow Eric."
"I understand, boss. I'm sorry..." he began, only to be silenced by a raised hand.
"I don't want an apology - just do your fucking job," Edward said, sliding his weapon back into its holster. "Come with me, we're going to find her. There can't be any witnesses."
"Yes, boss," Jude said, throwing his dead companion one last glance with a shiver of distaste. He had no wish to end up like him.
The girl stayed hidden in the dark shelter, knowing that if she left its safety, she would more than likely be caught.
Her breaths had finally returned to normal as she remained still, her hands splayed out against the wall on either side of her body, her head thrown backward, eyes closed.
Adrenaline still rushed through her veins, fear causing her terrifying memories to stay hidden for the time being. Survival was of paramount importance; now was not the time for tears.
She looked around, as her eyes adjusted to the dim light. She was in a shed of sorts; implements lined the walls, a lawn mower at her feet. This must be attached to a home; she prayed no one came in here while she hid.
Footsteps sounded outside on the street, and she froze again, her breath hitching in her constricted throat.
She listened to the footsteps getting closer to her hiding place.
Pounding heartbeats rang in her ears as she waited for them to pass.
They never did.
The flimsy door was kicked in, and she let out a strangled cry of fear as she cowered from the splintered pieces.
They had found her.
Terrified, she looked up and thought she saw an angel.
Edward Masen had seen many lurid, ghastly things in his time as the leader of San Francisco's largest crime family.
He had worked hard to achieve the level of fear the sight of him caused. At thirty, he was the youngest Boss in the organized world of crime.
He had lost all sense of pity over the last seventeen years of his life, starting the day his father forced him to shoot a man he had tortured for days.
Edward had felt no pity or pain.
And he was seldom moved by beauty, since pussy was too easy to get when you were rich and feared. It soon became boring.
But right there in front of him, on the floor of a dingy tool shed, he saw something he wanted with a force that surprised him.
The girl he'd been hunting, who had taken him all of ten minutes to find, was crouched on the floor, her arms wrapped around her head in fear.
Then she looked up at him, and he was lost in her large, thickly lashed blue eyes, which regarded him with terror. Her long, tangled hair was a tawny brown.
But that fucking face of hers could stop traffic. It was that gorgeous.
And just like that, he wanted her.
Just like a car or a new house, Edward decided he'd keep her for his own amusement.
The girl screamed when he reached for her, hitting out at him with surprising strength and bravery.
He grabbed her anyway, roughly lifting her out of her hiding place.
She was a siren, all curves and long slender legs, like a goddamn Victoria's Secret model.
Edward smirked, "What's your name?" he demanded, holding her easily, despite her struggles.
The girl almost snarled at him, refusing to reply. Her wildly terrified gaze going towards his man, Jude.
"Please...don't!" she panted, renewing her fight against his hold on her arms. "Don't let him hurt me!"
Edward's terrifying gaze flicked to Jude, "Did he hurt you?" he asked quietly.
The girl shook her head, her body trembling violently. "He hurt my mom...and dad. Please...please don't let him...do that to me!"
Edward lifted her face to his firmly, his electric gaze burning into hers. "I won't let him hurt you, okay?"
The girl searched his eyes, looking for any reassurance at all.
She seemed to find something because she relaxed slightly. "What's your name?" Edward asked again, tightening his grip on her slightly, demanding compliance.
"B…B...ella." She said through trembling lips that were ridiculously lush.
"Shhh, Bella, he won't hurt you. But I need you to come with me right now, okay?"
She nodded hesitantly, somehow knowing she didn't have a choice. This man commanded absolute obedience.
"But boss..." Jude began, confused about why his boss didn't just end the girl. Where the fuck was he taking her?
Edward's icy gaze was enough to silence Jude.
Bella's eyes widened at the word boss. "He works for you?" she gasped, as the realization came to her. "It was you who killed my family! I won't come with you..!"
His face tightened, and his jade eyes grew stormy. "Yes, I am his boss, and you have two choices tonight, Bella. You can either come with me or die. Make your choice now, I am not a man known for patience."
"But why do you want me to come with you?" She asked, her lovely face crumpling as fresh tears ran down her cheeks. "Would you kill me, just like that? What are you - a monster?"
Edward smirked at her. It wasn't a nice sight, "I've been called worse; I have killed many. But I will be obeyed. Choose, Bella."
Bella swallowed a sob and hated that she didn't have a choice. This dark angel had her just where he wanted her. She wasn't brave enough to choose death.
Bella nodded jerkily
Triumph lit Edward's eyes, "I'm going to need you to say it for me, Bella."
"I chose you," she said, her voice softly resigned.
"Good girl." He said soothingly.
Edward kept hold of her arm and took her with him as he walked back towards his car.
Jude fell into step behind them, and Bella strained her neck to watch him, her gaze mistrustful and terrified.
"He won't hurt you," Edward told her. "You're mine now."
Bella didn't know what to think, her mind at the point of shutdown from all she had seen tonight.
She had no option but to trust him; this devil with an angel's face.
The sleek dark car seemed like a refuge, and she eagerly got into it as Edward opened the door.
He quickly joined her in the back seat, making the space even smaller and more confined than it had been.
His presence was a physical entity, and Bella could feel it with every fiber of her being.
Without a word, the vehicle started to move, the driver behind the partition obeying orders already given.
"You're safe now," Edward said, his voice smooth as melted caramel.
Bella shook her head, "No, I'm not. You killed my family. I can't trust you."
"Your father made many bad business deals with the wrong people. He made bad choices, and that led to his death. It was out of my hands."
"But it was you who ordered him to be killed, wasn't it?"
Edward tilted his head thoughtfully, his long fingers rubbing at his chin.
"I can't deny that."
"So you are to blame, no one else." She said, her voice trembling with emotion, tears filling her eyes.
"If I hadn't ordered the hit on your father someone else would have. He owed money to people all over San Francisco."
"Did my mother owe you money, too?" Bella spat as the tears spilled over and trickled down her cheeks. "They raped her...oh God...they killed her."
Now sobbing, Bella curled up into the corner of the car.
Edward watched her impassively, surprised by the unfamiliar tug of pity he felt for this defenseless girl whose entire life had been changed in one night.
"Just so you know, I never ordered them to hurt your mother, that was against my orders, and someone has already paid the price."
Bella ignored him, her quiet sobs violently wracking her slender body.
Edward found himself held spellbound by her tears as they trickled down her lovely cheek and fell unheeded into her long chestnut hair. Her eyelashes were ridiculously long and thick although she wore no makeup from what he could tell.
He let her cry.
It was the only way to deal with the devastating events in life. Edwards knew this first hand.
When they arrived, he carried her warm, light sleeping form in his arms. She had fallen asleep while she cried, deep, desperate sobs of complete and utter desolation, as well as heartbreaking loss.
Edward had quelled the pity he had felt for the girl.
She was lucky he wanted her, otherwise, she'd be dead right now, and thrown in some ditch; forgotten, just another statistic, another lost girl.
Edward carried her all the way to one of the nicest spare rooms his mansion had to offer, and called a servant to see to her needs.
He also posted a guard outside her bedroom door with express instructions not to let her go anywhere and to allow no one in except the servant.
Satisfied, he went to his next engagement.
He changed his shirt in his limousine, the bloodstained one thrown carelessly on the floor.
The fine splatter of blood along the sleeve was, although barely discernable, enough to put him away for a long time.
Edward fastened his cufflinks and lit a cigarette as he waited to arrive at the charity fundraiser he hosted every year.
His thoughts about the luscious brunette he'd taken home, made him smirk as he exhaled a particularly large cloud of silver-gray smoke from his lungs; he'd deal with Bella when he got home.
Bella awoke from a nightmare. Her cry of fear bringing the maid running in alarm.
"No!" The cry fell from her lips, as sweat trickled down her brow and her hair framed her face in a cloud of dark confusion.
"It's okay, Miss, it was just a dream." the small woman told the frightened girl when she realized she was dreaming and there was no real threat.
Bella stared at the stranger, groggy with sleep so deep it had neared coma.
In a rush, the memories returned, and Bella's heart sank with the ugly truth they brought with them.
She was at the devil's mercy.
Bella fell back amongst the sheets, not bothering to reply.
The maid ran to the adjoining room, and the sound of running water filled the silence.
An hour later, Bella was bathed and dressed in clothing she'd never before seen.
Her hair was brushed, and she was taken to a small table for one in the room where she had slept.
She couldn't eat, the food sticking in her throat as she tried in vain to swallow.
Images played before her eyes, over and over again. Scenes from the last moments of her parents' lives superimposed before her eyes.
It felt as though they would never leave her.
A small sound alerted her to a presence.
Until now, she had sat alone in a chair overlooking a balcony, which had unrestricted views of a beautiful, park –like setting.
Bella turned her attention away from it slowly, her brain refusing to leave her silent contemplation of the dark trees beyond the sunshine's edge.
"Bella."
The sound of the devil's voice made her jump slightly.
Why was he here?
She tried to ignore him because she liked her silent vigil.
"She's been this way since she awoke." Bella heard the maid tell him.
What way?
"She hasn't spoken at all?" he asked, worried.
The maid must have replied, no.
Bella jumped at the touch of his hands on her arms.
"No!" she shouted at him; suddenly animated and fighting him wildly.
She didn't want him to touch her.
"Murderer!" she spat, trying to claw at his perfect face.
Edward held her easily, subduing her struggles with embarrassing ease. "Stop it!" he told her; it was an order.
Bella obeyed even though she didn't know why.
That voice.
It commanded respect.
Edward held her to him and rocked her slowly, the tenderness foreign to him. Indeed, he wasn't sure where it came from.
Long buried instinct rearing its head through the mire of violence and hatred.
Edward stroked her silky hair rhythmically, soothing this unknown girl-woman, bringing to life his tenderness along with a deep, dark hunger.
He'd fix her and then he'd have her.
The challenge amused him, he'd never tried to help anyone before, and the novelty piqued his interest.
The girl in his arms set fire to his blood, and he wanted her with a force he had never before experienced.
She would be his.
