I shouldn't be here. In this bar, alone. Not with what has been going on these past few months. Scottsdale, Arizona has been put on the map with the killings. My name is Isabella Swan, and I am the heiress to my father's empire. He owns several hotels and businesses around the state. I am in one of the hotels tonight, enjoying a drink in the bar. No one here seems to recognize me. That's good. I don't feel like being bothered tonight.
"Can I get you anything else Miss Swan?" The bartender's question brings me back from my thoughts. The bartender is Jacob Black. He is a kind man. Well young man is more like it. Jacob and I had a sort of friendship if you wanted to call it that.
"Yes Jake, I think I will take one more." He gives me a small nod and goes to making my next drink. I usually take a few glasses of wine, but tonight rum and coke was on the agenda. I felt like something a bit stronger. Two other heiresses and friends of mine had been murdered. Rosalie Hale and Alice Cullen. They had been found in their homes, strangled.
Their funerals had been extravagant to say the least. I did miss them. The killer was still on the loose. It was extremely dangerous for me to be out like this. All alone. But I was in one of my father's hotels. The largest in fact. I felt safe enough.
"Here you are Miss Swan." Jacob hands me my drink.
"How many times have I told you that you may call me Bella."
"Not enough." He says coolly with a slight smile. He returns to helping the other guests and I am once again left alone to my thoughts. I sat there a bit more, staring deeply into my glass. Letting my mind wander wherever it may want to go. Though every time it wanders back to the murders.
Then I felt eyes on me. I looked up and scanned the room to see who was watching me. A very handsome man was watching me from a table in the far corner of the room. I looked back at him and find that I could not remove my eyes from his gaze. He slowly rose from his seat and made his way across the great room to join me at the bar.
"I'm sorry for staring, but your beauty is breathtaking." I felt myself become flushed and lowered my eyes back down to my drink. I didn't know what to make of this stranger.
He was very good looking and dressed in a way that let me know he came from money. His hazel eyes were kind and gentle. He gave me a slight crooked smile that made me melt inside.
"I'm Edward Mason." He said. His voice was like velvet. My mind went numb and I could no longer seem to find me voice. I sat there for a moment and tried to remember what was the proper thing to say next.
"I'm Isabella Swan." I said with a shaky voice.
"It's very nice to meet you Isabella." He extended his hand. I took it in mine to return the gesture. He grip was firm, and his skin was as smooth as marble.
"You wouldn't happen to be the Isabella Swan?" He knew who I was. Great. Another person who most likely just wanted my money.
"I suppose I am." I said in a voice that sounded indifferent. I didn't want him to think I had any interest in continuing this conversation any further. He was just one of many other men who saw me as a ticket away from their problems.
"I thought it may have been you. I've seen you on T.V." Great. He was one of those guys. I had to think and think fast. I wanted him gone. Or did I? I was a little taken with him. There was something that seemed to radiate of his body. I wanted him closer to me and as far as possible at the same time.
"May I buy you another drink Miss Swan?" His sweet breath struck me in the face. My mind became a fuzzy mess once again.
"You may Mr. Mason, but please call me Bella."