AN: I don't own Twilight or the characters :)
Thank you for sticking around guys. This is the first chapter of my new story called Bitter Love and i hope you like it.
Don't forget to check out all the pictures of this chapter at the official blog which is posted on my profile.
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Reading ;)
Chapter 1
Let me tell you something
Bella Pov
"Dad I got a great apartment with Rachel in Brooklyn. It's safe and it's something I can afford" I hold my phone to my ear as I haul a cab from JFK airport to take me to my new home.
"Isabella Jane Greene! I don't care if you can afford the apartment or not. I need to know that you going to be safe and Brooklyn is far"
"Dad, you and mom live in Greenwich Village, don't exaggerate. The apartment building is brand new, the apartments are the perfect size and they have a 24/7 doorman" I needed to win his approval because he is a tough.
"I would rather give you the apartment that we are selling in Soho and have you two stay there instead. I'll charge you same amount that you are going to pay and the location is much better and closer to me".
"Daddy I need to stand on my own two feet here. It's not like I don't know the city, I was born here for crying out loud" I hear him about to open his mouth. "Just because I went to college in England and lived two years in Chicago doesn't mean I'm out of tune. You and mom have done your dues in raising me and my siblings and it's time for us to let go"
"For what I paid for all of you during college I expect for you to listen to my orders and agree to my proposal" I laugh.
"I am my father's daughter" my dad was a tough guy to handle but I loved to make him laugh whenever I can.
He breathes in frustration. "Fine. Be sure to call your mother later, I'm sure she would like to see you at her office tomorrow or the day after"
"Yes sir" I comply
"I have to go sweetheart, have a safe trip home"
"Love you daddy" I reply and hang up.
Being back in New York made me happy, it's the city that I love and has loved me back. I haven't been here in seven years, five years of college and two working in Chicago. I studied in Cambridge University and got my got my degree in Art History with a specialization in contemporary art, I worked hard through college and got my diploma with the highest honors in my class which made my parents proud and even though I didn't expect to get a well-respected job quickly at 21 years old, I got a job at a local art museum in Chicago as a curator and got an offer from the MOMA or Museum of Modern Art here in New York since they were impressed with what I did for the exhibition scene in the windy city. Now I'm back with a new job as assistant curator.
The cab stopped right in front of my building and I immediately got some help from a man who was cute and was nice enough to carry my luggage to the elevator.
"I'm Caleb" I puts his hand out and we shake.
"I'm Bella and thank you for helping me"
"It was my pleasure; I live on the 4th floor. We should hang out some time".
"Sure" I respond
He gets off of the elevator, leaving me to go to my apartment on the 7th.
"Hello…" I open the door and I'm instantly attacked by my best friend and now roommate Rachel Lopez.
"My wife is home at last! I was worried I would have to touch myself tonight" We share a hug that was 4 years too late. The last time we saw each other we were both in college and she came to England with Laura for summer break so we could do our European Road Trip together.
"As if you don't touch yourself when I am here" I arch my eyebrow.
"That is very true. I can't believe you're here! You are such a bitch for leaving me here after high school"
"I'm always a bitch according to you" I take a minute to sit in our new cozy living room. "You a bad bitch what can I say" she sits next to me. "Are you tired?"
"A little but I suppose we can head out and buy some things for the apartment" The apartment wasn't empty by all means, the big furniture like the couch, beds and dining room table had arrived yesterday and Rachel supervised the whole thing.
"Let's not procrastinate because we have a lot do to today and I plan on taking you out tonight Isabella Jane Greene"
"Rach I'm so tired I don't know if I can even go to dinner"
"Aww the poor baby" she hugs me as I put my head on her lap. I feel her hot breath on my ear. "We are going out, now move it" she slaps me on the butt causing me to shriek out.
Edward Pov
"Fuck…." I swear as I watch CNN News from my office in downtown Manhattan.
Today, Walter James Taylor has been fired and fined for 100 million dollars after a judge found him guilty of deceptive financial fraud, hiding statements that are sent to every CEO and CFO of publicly traded companies for them to sign and be accurate to their annual reports. Taylor will not go to prison for his felony's but he will have to pay the hefty amount of money to his former employees and associate Ronald Hoffman. This case has been going on for a year with both parties hiring two of the best lawyers in New York City, one in particular being corporate lawyer Charlie Greene from Greene & Co.
Mr. Greene won the case for his client Ronald Hoffman by providing the incriminating information to the jury and judge which ultimately caused the demise of Walter James Taylor. These former business partners started their W&R Tech company ten years ago in college making it one the fastest growing computer software services in the country. (They show Walter walking out of court with his lawyer, ignoring the hungry reporters and leaving in the back of a silver SUV). This is all we have at the moment but stay tuned for the final words of Ronald Huffman, the man who will have the total control of the company from this day forward. We also expect a name change of the company by the end of the week.
I can't watch this shit anymore and turn off the flat screen T.V.
Walter was my best friend and seeing this happen to him was killing me inside. We both started on our own in college and became quick friends, we were even roommates at one point in Boston while I was studying in Harvard and he was getting his degree in MIT but it was something nobody knew.
"I'm sorry to bother you Mr. Smith but I have Walter Taylor on the line"
"Thank you Patricia" I make sure that the conversation would be private and accept the call.
"Smith" I answer
"I don't know what the fuck I'm going to do man, I'm ruined" he admits to me.
"You are innocent Walter. I believe in you and I will help you in every way I can"
"Of course I'm innocent, that piece of shit Ronald wanted me out of my own company and he accomplished it. Those papers were altercated and falsified"
"Walter I'm going to get you on the phone with my attorneys because yours didn't do shit for you"
"I know and to go up against a heavy weight like Charlie Greene I needed a miracle. He is the person to blame Edward, I fucking know it"
"He's just crook lawyer Walter. If someone's to blame it's Huffman for even stealing that information from you"
"Edward, it wasn't Huffman who framed me. It was Charlie Greene" he accuses.
"You see…." He starts explaining but then stops. "Fuck…I can't tell you on the phone. Meet me at Keens Steakhouse at 7 pm"
"I'll be there but are you okay?"
"I want to fucking strangle someone right now"
"You just avoided jail time Walter" I try to calm him down.
"You don't the full story Smith" he hangs up on me.
What the fuck is going on?
Bella Pov
Rachel and I have been at Homegoods for an hour now and I think we went out of hand because not only did we get the last decorating items but we also hit up Ikea and Target for more home stuff, including kitchen appliances and tools.
"We need to check out!" I push my shopping cart and place it in front of hers. "But I want this precious tiger" Homegoods was famous for selling oversized stuffed animals for kids bedrooms at 70 dollars apiece. She couldn't keep her hands off it and at one point she decided to mount it and take it for a ride.
"I want it" She tries to convince me.
"There is no room in our small apartment and wild animals deserve to be free" Good excuse Bella.
"You are no fun" She walks away taking her cart filled with goodies to the cashier.
We arrived at the apartment around lunch time with bags and bags of stuff.
"I'll start placing the stuff for the kitchen, and you start doing the kitchen" Rachel suggests. I nod and hid myself into our relatively large bathroom for New York standards because we have a full size tub which was a must for us. I hear a knock on the door. It must be the Vietnamese food we ordered for lunch.
The door closes.
I was ripping our soup from the plastic when I felt two towels being targeted at my head.
"What the hell?!" I turn around
"You flirtatious little thing" she giggled
"What did I do now?"
"Our interested new neighbor Caleb wanted to know if we needed any help, or better yet if you needed any help with anything"
"Oh…I thought it was the food" I turn back and continue with my chores.
"Yes ohhh, that guy was salivating to be in your presence. I had to tell him that you weren't home" she laughs
"The situation with him has nothing to do with me. I am just a people person and he offered to help me with my bags, you knew I was coming and you didn't even help me!" I defend myself
"Thank god I didn't! You had more than enough hands!"
"Don't even…" I give her a stern look; In return she sticks her tongue out at me.
It took us the rest of the afternoon to fix up the apartment the way that we wanted it and when it was done we both feel into our beds to take a long nap.
"Bella! Bella! Wake up woman!" I scoffed and try to get her hands off of my body.
"Isabella Greene get your ass out of that bed! You have an hour to get ready before I call the car to pick us up"
"I'm sleepy! Leave me alone!"
"Move it!" she doesn't care about my feelings.
The softness of the bed was so good I didn't want to get out of it but hearing Rachel's threats made me wake up. I start rummaging through my closet and go for a casual look that didn't need a lot of effort. I go for an all grey look that consisted in some jeans, a tang top and a leather jacket, since it was kind of chilly outside considering it was March I put my feet into some boots.
"You better be ready because I already called the Uber!"
"You are so bossy" I grab my clutch and walk out of my room to meet with her in the living space.
"Shut up" she looks so pretty in pink with gold accessories and her hair in a braid.
"pink?" it was surprising because it wouldn't be the first color of choice for her.
"I had this jacket in the closet and I plan on getting ratchet tonight. We should go downstairs, he's a minute away".
Edward Pov
I get to Keens Steak House to see Walter who was already waiting for me at a table.
"What's up man?" He stands up and we share a brotherly hug.
"My life is a piece of shit and I just lost everything I've been working for in the last ten years in one word. Guilty".
"I'm here for you man" I signal a waiter. "Bring us two whiskeys' on the rocks please" he nods and moves along to get our drinks.
"I want to go home shoot myself. There is no way I can build my empire again from scratch; I'm 35 years old, jobless and with no motivation behind me".
"We'll figure something out Walter. You are not going down like this" The waiter comes back and Walter doesn't waste time to make a dent on his drink.
"Bullshit, you have the most successful hedge fund company in New York City, reporters want to know your life and women want to take their underwear for you. I find it strange to compare situations"
"It's not a comparison, we are the same age I can't imagine that happening to me and all the hard work I had to do to build this company, especially in New York City" I take a sip of my drink. "But what did you want to tell me that you couldn't do on the phone this afternoon?"
"You know you helped me start the company since you work in investment…"
"We started our companies at the same time and I thought it would be smart for you to invest sooner than later" Walter was one of the first people to trust in me and my financial abilities and now he has more money than he could ever spend.
"I know and I'm so glad we did bro…ummm…Your name came up during the investigation"
"What?!" I almost choke on the ice cubes.
"Since I invested in your company, Huffman's lawyers thought that you were involved in those documents and wanted to search you out to implicate you as well"
"What the fuck do you mean Walter?"
"Don't worry man… There was nothing incriminating you in such papers, on the other hand, it stated you as a well-balanced company who helped the company make profit in the early days"
"Did my real name show up in the papers?"
"Your name shows up in some other papers that Huffman's lawyers didn't have access to because as you know I started the company on my own, Ronald got involved after a few months of its creation".
"So they knew that I had existed as financial support"
"Yes but they don't know who you are or that your company helped us the first couple of years"
"Those pieces of shit" I cursed
We asked for another round and the place was getting full.
"And this is all because I fell in love with a woman. The woman who tricked me with her youthful personality and looks to kill"
"What does a woman have to do with it?"
"I never told you about this but about a year and a half ago I met someone while working at our offices in Chicago. She was beautiful, intelligent and very quick on her feet. We started hanging out and eventually started dating; she would spend the weekends at my apartment and I ended up falling in love with her. She told me her name but never talked about her family or about their occupations"
"You lost me" I said since I didn't get where this was going.
"The girls name was Isabella Greene" Her name didn't sound familiar but her last name certainly did. "Wait a minute Walter…" I shake my head in disbelief.
"We broke after about 6 months because she said she couldn't love me back. A year later after the lawsuit was filed I find out that her name has a lot to do with Ronald's lawyers name, it couldn't be a coincidence. So after a little bit of searching on the internet I come to find out that Charlie Greene is Isabella's father".
"Wait. Wait. Wait. This girl that you fell in love with was Charlie Greene's child"
"Yes. I didn't know about Charlie Greene, the guy doesn't like to be on the news a lot but his wife is a big time chairman for a publication giant here in New York that manages a lot of authors and 25 per cent of every lifestyle magazine in the country, including Vogue. She is private but there are a bunch of photos of her circling around. People have told me that she is as cold as ice when it comes to business, just like her husband"
"If Isabella Greene is their child what does she have to do in your case?"
"She has everything to do Edward. This girl stole this information from under my nose to help her father win the case"
"I don't think so Walter"
"I was stupid enough to have these papers around her and when she would stay at my house. She probably took them to get copies to give to her father so they could fraudulent them and win the case for Ronald so he could be the sole owner of the company"
"You guys were already broken up and plus she is probably one of those socialite air heads that can't even read a full book without asking for definitions"
"You say that because you haven't met her man. She is the total opposite of rich and ditzy. She went to Cambridge University which explains why I didn't see pictures of her with her family, she got a job straight of college in Chicago where she lived with three other roommates in a tiny two bedroom apartment and she has never liked the camera, and she is so gorgeous that I would go out with her and guys would hit on her without even caring if I was there or not".
"You are giving her a lot of praise considering what she might have done to you"
"You don't believe me, then look at this" he drops some papers on the table. "Records show that she was at my apartment alone around the same time she broke up with me and then two weeks later the lawsuit was filed".
"Her name was on file in the papers it showed that there was camera surveillance proof to show that she was there"
"I'm sorry man" I hand them back to him and give him another drink, this time scotch. "We were all fooled, even you" he laughs in a sarcastic way. "Her father wanted to put you in jail with me and couldn't" when he says that it heated me up in fury.
I was going to investigate that woman and find out every single thing about her.
Bella Pov
We arrived at Ginny's Supper Club in Harlem around 8 pm and the place was packed. It was Friday after all.
"Holy shit Bella!" someone shouts my name and I see a thin figure stand up. It was my friend Laura Wang.
"Hi!" I give her a big hug and kiss.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" Rachel and Laura shared a common gift of swearing like sailors.
"I got here today"
"You bitch!" She slaps Rachel in the arm as Rachel laughs. "She told me you would be here on Monday"
"I'm full of surprises" I sit down and move to make room since we were in a booth. Laura sat next to me and Rachel was on the other side sitting on a chair.
"I missed you like crazy!" she takes out a cigarette to smoke. "Oh shit I forgot we can't smoke in here. I must have gotten to excited"
"The lesbian forgot a rule that has been lawful for the past five years" Rachel jokes around.
"Shut the fuck up Rachel"
"What I would do for that filthy mouth to be on me" she sighs towards me.
"I could make you come under this table, it's not my fault you like ugly dicks" Laura takes my hand since it's been awhile since we've saw each other.
My friends were the best and the best thing about being born and raised in this city was that I had the most diverse groups of friends, Rachel being a first generation child born here in the U.S of Dominican Decent and Laura as a second generation Korean that was born here. Rachel is that tallest one with 5'11, very curvaceous that fit perfect with her height, brown eyes and permanent suntanned skin, and Laura was only one two inches shorter at 5'9, thin with short black hair and a skin texture to die for. We all met in middle school when our lives were a living hell, being that all three of us were victims of bulling because I was too thin and underdeveloped; Laura was made fun of because of her eyes and sexually orientation and Rachel also fell victim to the overweight card. We bonded for our love in books, good grades and the ironic part was that by the end of college. I got my curves that included a 32D chest, Laura was a much solicited model during her time in college because of her eyes and Rachel grew and lost the weight except in all of the right places.
"I'm starving, my chubby girl realness is coming out" Rachel hollers to a waiter who comes by and we all order our drinks and some appetizers.
"So how's work sexy?" Laura looks back at me.
"I start on Monday. It's been great to come back" I smile. "How about you?" Laura works as a Genecist at Mount Sinai Hospital.
"Trying to find cures and transplantation methods, all in a day's work"
"I don't want to talk about work"
"ohhh baby did you have a tough day at work dear?"
"I was off today but yesterday the boss wanted us to change the design for a new appliance line that we are doing for Whirlpool. I was 90 per cent done and now it's back to the drawing board" Rachel is a fantastic Industrial Designer for several big companies. "I was about to tell him to fuck off"
"Why didn't you?" Laura asks mockingly.
"Don't make me throw this crab fritter at you?" she responds as we munch on the appetizers and I take a drink of my pinot.
"Have you talked to your family yet?"
"I chatted with my dad this morning, he is as overwhelming as ever, and I'll probably see the rest of my family tomorrow for brunch"
"I saw your dad on the news this afternoon. He won that W&R Tech case"
"I know I saw it on my phone when I flew in this morning but of course I didn't say anything to him. His business is not mine and I would rather stay out of it."
"The guy that was guilty of the charges is the same guy you use to date like a year ago"
"Yeah but it didn't work out. I had no feelings for him other than one of a good friend. I just feel bad how things ended and that my dad was on the other side of that court room"
"At least you never had sex with him" Rachel commented
"No! I would never sleep with someone who I didn't feel at least an attraction or some kind of connection. He was just a good companion and great guy, it's hard for me to believe that he did all of these stuff he was accused of and found guilty for it".
"These are the men we have to fight against…" she finishes her glass of cranberry vodka "And I'm glad you came back because I was living with a deceitful cheater myself three weeks before you gave us the news" Rachel had a boyfriend for almost three years and things went crashing down when she wanted to surprise him by coming early from work to only be surprise herself and see him having sex with another woman in their bed.
"This is exactly the reason why I'm gay and single" Laura points at the two of us. "Men have gross dicks and they are dicks in their personal life" I guess they both were into their vodkas.
"Don't say that, not all men are like that. I want to save myself in my own fairytale but having a person who loves no matter what and will protect you through it all sounds great. I do believe that still exists, we just have to be patient"
"That's why we are going to dirty dance with strangers and then invite them back to our place for some raunchy uncompromised sex"
"Poor Bella, she is going to have to hear your 'raunchy' moans through the thin walls. You can stay at my place if that ever happens" Laura comforts me.
"You have louder sex than me liar! Two women having an orgasm at the same time is the loudest thing you are ever going to hear! I've stayed at your apartment and silence isn't a one of its qualities" I couldn't help but burst out laughing as they join my tipsy trance. Three single ladies talking about the resonances levels of sex, very classy.
The night ended in us bar hopping and crashing at Laura's place where thank god no one had a partner to have sex with.
"Disinformation is distinguished from misinformation in that it is intentionally fraudulent."
Ellen P. Lacter
This was the first chapter of my new story guys, it's something different and I hope you enjoyed it. We get a taste of what's to come and what these characters are all about.
Is Walter really Innocent?
Why doesn't Bella and Walter's story match?
What will Edward do to help his best friend?
I will be uploading the second chapter in a couple of weeks so we can get this ball rolling and provide you guys with more information. I thank you all for reading and have a wonderful week.
Love you all