Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or the characters.
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This is not your typical FanFic, and the characters may be used in a different capacity than what you're used to!
EPOV for now. May be BPOV in later chapters.
M for lemons. All human.
Chapter 1
Law.
It had been my career choice since I was five years old. Not from my own choice, but because of my father's choice for me.
I would be lying if I said it didn't enthral me, but after graduating college, and then further graduating from Harvard Law, the last thing I wanted was to become an associate at a law firm. Now don't misunderstand me, I graduated in first place in my class and had offers from the top ten law firms in New York.
And I declined every single one of them.
I knew almost everything there was to know about law, I studied my ass off in college to make my father proud. But as I studied, I also learned how corrupt, cut throat and undeniably stupid the whole system was.
So after graduation I got approached by the FBI, and I gratefully accepted a position as Special Agent for National Security.
I'd been here five years. They used me for my expertise on law, and now it had came back to bite me on the ass.
"I hope you understand the implications of your assignment, Edward." I stared up at my boss, nodding my head with a slight scowl.
"I do. Though, I don't quite understand why it's me that has to do this. Plenty of the agents have a law degree."
"Yes, but none of them are as well versed as you. And none of them would be able to make partner as a first year associate."
My eyes widened, staring at Agent Weber with disbelief, "Excuse me? You want me to make partner?"
"If that's what it takes, yes." He sat forward in his seat, "You will be undercover at Cullen Hale law firm. They've checked out your background history all the way up to graduating Harvard, and they are very excited to have you join their company, especially as a first year associate at thirty years old. The last five years of your employment history have been taken off record for the duration of your assignment, and they've been informed that you've been travelling for five years." He raised an eyebrow at me, "On daddy's money, of course. The Masen name will do you very well at Cullen Hale, your father owns three massive law firms in America, remember that. Of course, you will have to do associate work to keep up the pretence, so be aware of that. Carlisle Cullen is the Managing Director and he is the person who has called us in to investigate the firm. There is evidence to believe that embezzlement and fraud is occurring, and given that it is New York's biggest and most successful firm, thousands of people and billions of dollars are at stake. Further, if documents are being leaked and evidence is being buried then our city is at risk, and considering they deal with people all over America, our nation is at risk.
"You will be first year associate under Emmett Cullen, Carlisle's son. He's a senior partner, and even though they are family, Carlisle wants him investigated too. Jasper Hale is the other Managing Partner, and his daughter Rosalie Hale is the other senior partner. I will warn you, the Hale's are very cut throat, especially Rosalie, so you'd better take caution with them, and investigate thoroughly. You'll be placed with other first years, talk to them, bond with them, they will know more than you think. If you can charm some legal secretaries, paralegals, even junior partners... Do it. They'll tell you things without even realising it. Just don't make it obvious. We also don't know how long this assignment will take, so we'll convene every Sunday for an information brief. As of tomorrow morning you are no longer Special Agent Edward Masen, you are Edward Masen Associate, got it?"
Gritting my teeth, I gave a tight nod and took my assignment folder from his outstretched hand, "Got it."
I stared up at the massive building, the sun splitting through the other skyscrapers that lined the New York skyline. I had to admit, I loved the bustling city and business men and women rushing to get to work. I just wished I was going to work at the FBI headquarters a block away, rather than at Cullen Hale law firm.
Already missing the comfort of my massive, glass walled, cherry wood office back at the FBI, I have out a long sigh and made my way into the building.
The only good thing about this was I no longer had to wear my $2000 suits that I was too afraid to spill hot dog sauce on. Now I could get away with wearing my $500 suits and not look out of place.
At reception I gave my name and was greeted with an overly cheerful woman who swiped a Cullen Hale employee card, registered it to my name and then handed it to me.
"Here you go. Swipe it upon entry. Then head up to floor 30."
"Is this whole place the firm?" I balked at her.
She pursed her lips in amusement, "We are the top firm in America, sweetie."
I just nodded my head, suddenly feeling like I was a first year and I was about to get thrown to the lions.
I made my way to the metal turnstiles, able to differentiate between the partners and the associates, simply from the quality of their suits.
The entire building seemed to be made from metal and glass, and I couldn't help but look around me with massive eyes as I swiped in and made my way to one of the ten elevators lined up before me.
It was like being in the Ministry of Magic in Harry Potter, watching piles of people swipe through before heading straight for an elevator, gone within seconds.
The elevator on the far right had a gold plated sign above it stating; Partners.
Ok, definitely wasn't supposed to use that one then.
Instead, I chose one of the other nine elevators, hitting button 30 and watching as a few heads turned to look at me.
Yep. I was the new kid.
When the elevator reached my floor, I made quick work of stepping out. It seemed the elevator was super sonic and stopped for only a millisecond.
I glanced at my surroundings, wondering if there was a reception desk that I had to go to.
Instead I was met with two large offices, both of them with a glass wall and door so I could look inside.
Both had extensive bookcases lined up along the far walls. One filled with books, picture frames, and what looked like music, while the other was nearly empty.
They had long dark wood desks, both with papers and files lying on top of them, and large black office chairs beside them. Sofas also adorned the walls, with coffee tables and a drinks cabinet each.
I'd never seen anything more exquisite or expensive looking in my life, and I'd been to the Masen law firms before. My father didn't do things cheaply.
Outside both offices was two cubicles, still massive but more reserved. Their tables had far more papers on them, and coffee cups lay beside their computers.
I guessed, with quite a lot of confidence, that this floor, and the two large offices, belonged to Carlisle Cullen and Jasper Hale.
Snapping me from my reverie, I suddenly noticed a small, almost pixie like woman, standing by the other elevator, watching me with amused eyes.
"Hi." I stuttered out slowly.
She rolled her eyes and laughed, "I know it's daunting, but you'll be fine. I'm Alice Brandon, I'm Mr Cullen's secretary."
"Nice to meet you Alice, I'm Ed-"
"Edward Masen. I'm aware. It's my job to be aware." She winked suddenly, and I couldn't help but laugh, "As you can probably tell, this floor belongs to the Managing Partners, Carlisle and Jasper." She pointed towards each office separately, and I noticed that the office with the filled bookshelves had Carlisle Cullen written in bold black writing across the glass door.
Jasper Hale's name was stamped on his door too.
"These cubicles belong to Maria and I." Alice smiled, "Maria is Mr Hale's secretary." She leaned closer, "Don't go near her."
"Why?" I asked, puzzled.
She simply smiled, "If you can, stick with people associated with the Cullen's. Carlisle, Emmett, their secretaries, their associates... They're all much nicer than the Hale's. Though don't misunderstand me... If you need help with anything, it's better to ask a second or third year associate than to approach Mr Cullen himself. You're just stupid if you do that."
I just nodded my head, watching as she called another elevator.
She hit the button for the 25th floor, all the while explaining what the other floor's contained.
Floor 29: Senior Partners; Emmett Cullen, Rosalie Hale, "The Clear As Water Twins" Seth and Leah, Bree Tanner, and Jason Jenks.
Floor 27 and 28: Junior Partners.
Floor 26: Library (to be used frequently, according to Alice)
When we got to floor 25, Alice gently pushed me from the lift.
I looked back at her in shock as she stayed put, hitting the button to take her back to level 30.
"He's all yours." She called out to someone behind me, and as she disappeared, I turned to see who I was now faced with.
And as it turned out, she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever laid eyes on. She wasn't strikingly pretty, like some women who flaunted it and threw it in your face.
She was natural.
I knew I was staring at her, but it couldn't be helped.
Her long brown hair flowed down her back, and a few of the shorter layers framed her pale, heart shaped face. Her large brown eyes stared right back at me, and I wondered what she was thinking.
It was as if I needed to know.
My eyes met red lips, plump and almost begging to be kissed.
I wished I could. And I was shocked at myself, because normally I had to speak to a woman before I wanted to kiss her.
She was dressed in a white blouse, tucked into a black pencil skirt that reached just above her knee. Speaking of said knees, her slender legs led all the way down to a killer pair of black heels that I ached for her to wear as I pinned her against the wall. Her figure was perfect, slim but curvy, and I somehow realised that to notice this I must have blatantly ogled the woman.
I flicked my eyes back to her face, and I noticed that she no longer look dumbfounded like I had a few seconds ago, she now looked incredibly bored.
"Are you done?" She questioned, and my whole body tingled at the sound of her voice, "I have work to do so I'd rather get this over with."
"Umm..." I stalled, trying to think of something smart to say, "I-"
"You're Edward Masen, I know. I'm Bella Swan. Follow me."
She turned on her heels and led me away from the elevators and into the floor.
There were rows upon rows of cubicles. There must have been about 15 or so in front of me.
They were big cubicles, bigger than I imagined, each with a desk, lamp, filing cabinet and a state of the art computer.
I let myself gawk for a few short seconds, watching as many people sat down at their desks and fired their computers to life. Some people looked like they'd been there all night.
Bella, beautiful Bella, turned her head towards me slightly as she walked between the cubicles.
"This is the first year associate area. You have a cubicle each. There are 20 first year associates, and you are the last to join us." She stopped at the last cubicle in the row, "This is yours. You'll spend a lot of time here within the next year."
She gave me a moment to set my briefcase down, and for those few seconds, I glanced around at the other associates. I could already tell there was a divide.
There were, of course, the cocky fuckers who thought they knew everything about law, could get laid every night, and also believed they were millionaires in their $200 suits.
And then there were the ones who were struggling to get paper work done. I could tell they were the geeks of the associates, they aimed to please and were scared shitless of messing up. So they took on extra work to make themselves look better, and instead all they did was stress themselves out even more.
Like I said, the law business is a bastard of a place.
I turned back around towards Bella, watching as she almost flicked her hair and led me round a corner.
I wasn't sure if it was my hormones talking, or my years of training within the FBI had taught me something about human behaviour, but I got the impression her uptight and superior bravado was just for show.
So, to show her some companionship, I stepped into a walk alongside her and flashed her a smile.
"So I was right." She sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Right about what?" I queried, confused.
"You are another pompous Harvard graduate who believes his god's gift to law."
I let out a laugh, but didn't get the change to answer because we were now faced with another block of cubicles.
These ones were much bigger, and most of them had two computers and an iPad each on their desks.
"These are the second year associates, there are 12 of them."
She began walking again, and I couldn't help but sneak a peak at her ass before following her.
"Just so you know, I'm not that guy." I told her honestly.
She must have been able to detect the sincerity in my voice, because I noticed her step falter slightly, but still she kept up her snobby persona.
We rounded another corner, and suddenly she stopped walking.
There was 3 offices in front of me, each of them looking like miniature versions of Mr Cullen's and Mr Hale's offices.
They were smaller, but each with a glass wall, a glass door, a large oak table in the middle with a computer and a telephone, plus bookcases lining the walls.
I glanced up to see if there were any names on the doors, and my eyes widened in surprise as I saw hers.
Isabella Swan
Senior Associate
She turned in a circle to face me, an almost smug smile on her lips.
"Paralegals and Legal Secretaries are down on floor 24. If you need any help your first port of call is them. Second port of call is the second year associates, and third is us." She motioned with a hand towards the three offices, "The third year associates."
I blinked, "You're a third year associate?"
I knew how my voice sounded, so I was prepared for her backlash.
"What, I don't look smart enough for that?"
"No, not that." I shook my head, and her face flitted with surprise, "You just don't look like you're long out of law school."
"I graduated law school two years early, and I've been here for three years. So yes, I may only be 26 years old but I'm smarter than half the people on this floor."
"And they cut it down to only three third year associates?"
"Yes." She folded her arms, and I found her little pout adorable, "So good luck getting this far."
I tilted my head slightly, watching her with amusement, "And why exactly have you got an obvious problem with me, Miss Swan?"
She gritted her teeth, and I waited as she calculated her answer.
"Cullen Hale hires 99% of it's graduates from Harvard Law. Only 1 person has ever been hired outside of that..." She paused, "And that person is me... It doesn't matter what I tell people, or however I show my intelligence, people always look down on me because I'm not a member of the Harvard club." She took a step towards me, "You're a member of the Harvard club, and even worse you're the boy who thought he would take five years off, just to then apply for the best law firm in America and get accepted straight away. Harvard people have life handed to them on a plate, and simply because I went to Columbia, everyone just assumes I'm stupid." Smirking, she lifted a hand and pointed to her name on the door, "But there is a reason I work at Cullen Hale. There is a reason I'm the 1% who got a job here without going to Harvard. There is a reason that my name is on that door and soon enough, it'll be on a door upstairs with 'Junior Partner' written straight after it. It's because I'm smart. It's because I know the law." She whispered low suddenly, "And you want to know what else? It's because I'm the only person in this entire building, apart from Carlisle Cullen himself, who has never lost a case." She smiled, a beautiful heart stopping smile, "Carlisle and I are the only two people. First years, second years, third years, junior partners, senior partners, Emmett Cullen, even Rosalie and Jasper god damn Hale... They've all lost. Except Carlisle..." She folded her arms, "And me."
I stared at her for a long moment, humbly impressed by her achievements at such a young age. But I also pitied her for her need to be successful, as she clearly had not been treated well by her peers.
It was these facts that made me sure...
Isabella Swan would be the first person I investigated as the embezzler at Cullen Hale.
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