Bella had never been one to cross her husband. She'd known what she was getting into when she married him, and well before that. You don't spend most of your childhood with a group of people and not come away with a few of their secrets.

Edward Anthony Masen, most commonly referred to by his last name, was a mob boss in his younger days. It wasn't something Esme was proud of, her father's old ways, but he'd agreed to give up his empire in exchange for being in his daughter's life. What he didn't tell her, what he never told either parent, was that he had eyes on his namesake.

Edward Anthony Cullen, also now referred to as Masen, had always adored his grandfather.

"Tell me again how you know all those people!" He'd chirped in awe. Of course, he didn't know the actual truth. Even Masen had his limits, and children were it. So while he watered down most of his intriguing tales, he still left enough in to get young Edward absolutely hooked.

Carlisle was horrified, where Esme was simply resigned.

"It's what he does, Car. He gets people interested in him and then he flips the switch. It's how he got my mother to marry him, and surprisingly enough, she was happy to the end of her days."

Masen wasn't particularly a bad person. He had other people do terrible things, yes, but Masen kept his hands clean. He was a king among men, and he'd chosen his heir.

"If there truly is no way out of this... can you at least wait until he's older? He deserves a childhood, even if you want him on your side. Find someone to take up in the interim, however that works. But our son will grow up as normal as possible, and he will make his own decisions."

Masen accepted Carlisle's demands. They were surprisingly reasonable.

Having grown up the son of a cultmaster, Carlisle Cullen knew a thing or two about men like Masen. There was no getting out once they had you in their crosshairs. So he operates within the limits of what was there to work with. It was how he'd gotten out from under his father's thumb. William Barkland was a charismatic sonofabitch, and Carlisle shook his head with every man and woman who dared to enter their compound. They were all so very naive, and would more than likely be burned at the stake when they failed his father's tests. Tests of God, he called them. Are you a witch? He insisted. Are you a witch... Carlisle snorted. His father was crazy, for sure. And yet... He was selfish enough that the sparing praise he got for putting out the fires and making sure everyone stayed on line was good enough for him. He'd never been a good person. It came with the territory.

Esme had been the last straw. She came in with her husband, Charles, who believed every drop of Pastor Barkland's rhetoric, and shoved it down his wife's throat as often as he could. But she was strong, resisted the brainwashing. Her strength made him take stock. Some, more than others, were scared out of their wits. So he'd get them out.

He got them out alright. His father had a mental break and burned the compound to the ground, his faithful disciples in there with him. Carlisle had hidden the scared ones; men, women, all of the children. He'd never personally burned children before, but his father had. The one time he begged for it to stop, he got his lashes worth. And was branded (quite literally) traitor. From then on, he didn't ask. Every single child was hidden in his section of the compound, given whatever they needed for as long as they needed.

So when Carlisle escaped the compound with the Scarred Disciples, he went straight for the police. The people were returned to their rightful families, and everything turned out far better than he'd hoped.

They never arrested him. He kept waiting, asking why. He knew he'd done wrong, and plenty of it.

"You were against your father from the moment you figured out how to reason. And you went along to get along." The detective in charge of his case informed him. "I see it all the time."

It didn't change the fact that he killed people, but if they wanted to cast aside human life so easily, let them. He wouldn't.

He got to keep his old last name. Everyone knew who Pastor Barkland was, but no one knew William Cullen. No one knew Carlisle. Good thing, too. It made it easier to do simple things, like go to the grocery store without getting weird looks or sympathetic stares. He was set up in a nice house, courtesy of Esme's inheritance. Her mother's, she assured him. He knew all about her father. Masen and Barkland could have been the same man. It didn't change the fact that she stayed with him. Of her own merit, too. He would forever question her sanity, but he'd play along. She was wonderful to be around, and he could see why Charles had fallen for her so easily.

Well, aside from the part where Charles was an abusive asshole and Esme was... his wife. She'd been his victim, but never a victim. That wasn't who she was. Sometimes it made Carlisle sick, just how alike he and Charles were.

"Well, the second you even look like you're about to hit me, I'm putting you flat on your ass. How's that?"

Carlisle had insisted on it.

With that in mind, it's easy to see how he became a doctor. He was done hurting people. When Masen heard about the man his daughter married, he laughed his ass off. And then tried to kill him.

Carlisle survived by the skin of his teeth, and was more than willing to show exactly how he got his scars. Would you like to match?

That got the man to back the hell off, and when Esme found them, Carlisle standing blood-soaked over her father, who was laughing maniacally, she snapped. Pushed Carlisle back, stood her father up and punched him in the face.

"How dare you, you bastard?!" She roared, furious. "Whatever the hell Mom saw in you is obviously gone, because a true man wouldn't beat someone when they're at their worst."

She kicked him out of their lives then, and didn't let him come back until he'd gotten his act together.

Carlisle got his medical degree and was almost immediately employed by the local hospital. That led to a Doctorate in psychology and a private practice. But the kids were grown by the time he stopped working at the hospital. Fifty years and still making the most of himself. That was Edward's father.

And this was Edward's wife. Standing up to her husband as his father had done to Barkland and Masen.

I'll never agree with you, but I'll play your game.

That legacy was what had them here. Edward sitting behind his desk as Bella explained exactly why it had been so prudent that she do his job for him. Six days ago, her old friend Jacob Black was found dead in a dumpster. A shot to the back of the head had done the trick, and his girlfriend Renessai was out for blood. So was Bella. Only Bella was in a position to do anything. And do things, she did. She went through every contact her husband had until she found those with the most interest in Jacob. She approached them as Bella Swan, but all they could see was Masen's wife. She got her answers alright. And now, Edward had a headache.

"You can't just walk all over me, dammit! I have a reputation to uphold and I'll be damned if I let your petty revenge take me down with you."

"Watch me."

Compromise was all there was. He could never hurt her, and anything he'd come up with as punishment would merely affect him tenfold.

"Let's make a deal." He purred eerily.

Wherever he was, Edward Masen was laughing his ass off.

William Barkland was rolling in his grave… And Carlisle smirked.

He'd raised his son well.