AN: I OWN NOTHING BUT THE PLOT-AND EVEN THAT BORROWS ON AN OLD SHOW THAT I WANTED TO PUT MY TWIST IN IT. My first twilight fic. Hopefully everyone falls in love with this. The story is rated for adults, so no complaining when the lemons come :) also, I'm in need for a beta reader so anyone interested, let me know. My Edward in this story is going to be an overbearing douche for some parts, but have faith. PLEASE review-I crave opinions!

Edward

I couldn't suppress a sigh as I pushed away from my desk. The office wasn't really done yet, the fresh paint smell permeated the air and my mother still had a shipment due for some decorative touches. My first full day at Cullen Enterprises was a mess of interviews, sycophants, and nervous employees. The press was relentless. Even getting into the building this morning was a hassle with the entrance surrounded by photographers.

The fuss was slightly understandable. My family had it hands in everything-pharmaceuticals, publishing, record labels, movie production, business majors, import and exporting-everything. My fathers' first love was medicine, but he stepped up to helm the family empire when it was his turn. He had tried to give my brothers and me a normal life, to the best of his ability. He was there for dinner as often as possible and went to our sports activities when he could. We even moved to a small town in Washington before our grandfather passed away and we were forced to move.

I couldn't let my mind think back to Forks. The memories and 'what-ifs' would drive me crazy if I let it. I also knew that I had a sealed envelope that I was dying to open and read or shred it without opening it.

"Eddie!" The door burst open and my behemoth of a big brother barged in.

I rolled my eyes, and walked over to the bar, getting ready his jack and coke. "I wanted to know if you'd be up for a family dinner tonight. Mom was calling around to check and couldn't reach you." He asked, trying to look innocent.

The thought made me want to come up with an excuse instantly. I loved my family, fully and honestly, but they were all so perfectly paired up.

Emmett had married right out of high school to Rosalie-the longest relationship that he had had. Ten year later, they had three girls and one boy, with another on the way. His other brother, Jasper, had come home one day and announced that he was engaged to his girlfriend of three months four years ago. They now had two children of their own. Same thing for his parents-they met, dated a few months and married.

I was happy for them all. And they knew that. I looked up to my parents as a mold for the type of relationship that I would be blessed to have. My mother was there for us, perfectly content to be a housewife and dedicate all her attention to us. Dad was the provider, the man who my brothers and I always tried to make proud. They were blissfully happy, still in love after 30 years. I had been so close to having that for myself when we lived in Forks, within days of proposing actually, but fate was a cruel bitch sometimes and the hope I had disappeared in a matter of hours.

"Come on-a quick and painless few hours and that's all." Emmett said, interrupting my thoughts.

"I might have to stay here. Paperwork."

"Bullshit. You have two admin assistants and a personal one. They could handle things." He rolled his eyes, taking a sip of his drink. "Anyway, I have those figures for you." He slipped a micro disk case from his pocket. "Everything I could find going back 10 years.

When I started the transition to take over the company, I threw myself into finding out everything on the inner workings of the company. After a few days, I noticed large funds getting into other areas of our company. Mostly going into charities. When you deal with money in the billions, some money tends to get confused and that's why we audit ourselves so frequently. When I noticed the millions that someone was obviously trying to hide, I suspected theft, but all the charities were legit and they all proved that the funds were being used appropriately.

Last year alone, it was almost 13 million dollars and mysteriously appeared and went straight into our charity fund. I was great with numbers, but the paper trail was too complicated for anyone to figure it out but I couldn't ignore it like it seemed that my father and grandfather before me had. Some might call it micromanaging, but that's how my brain worked best-control was needed to maintain my sanity.

"Thanks. It's a good start."

"Mind telling me why you need it?"

"Something's missing from the bookkeeping. There is a weird pattern for donations."

"Dude, we have the best accountants. It's not possible to steal from us." He replied, standing to go over to the bar again.

"I know. I just want to check it for myself." I opened the small disk cover and began booting up my personal laptop. I didn't want our IT people to know what I was looking through. Again, my behavior tends to border on being paranoid. All eyes were on me though, so I needed to prove to everyone that I could handle this-that my age didn't mean anything. I had to impose my will and way of doing things quickly if I didn't want to embarrass the family.

"Well, whatever it is-finish by five. Dinner is right at six, and you know that Rose gets pissed if her timing gets messed up." With that, he walked out and the office was too quiet again. A touch screen panel that I had built into my desk controlled everything so with a few swipes of my finger, the blinds were closed, the light turned on dimly, and Bach played in the background. I sent out a quick email to my assistants that I was not to be disturbed until I needed them.

Four hours later I was pulled away from my screen when I heard my cell phone buzz. It was a text from Jasper, reminding me not to be late or to ignore the invitation. I pulled away, squeezing my eyes shut for a few seconds. All those hours staring at numbers would eventually ruin my vision if I kept this up. I shut down the computers and went towards the corner of my office.

A hidden panel hid the electronic lock that led to an apartment next to the office. My father had it made when my mother expressed her worry over my father driving back home late at night after staying extra hours at work, so this was a nice compromise so they both could have a peaceful nights rest.

Now I had some of my furniture in it, but I have not sorted everything to my liking. Everything smelled too new-the couches were too stiff and the walls bare. I made my way towards the back, loosening my tie and trying to remember if I had some casual clothes here yet. I looked at my watch and breathed a sigh of relief that I would have just enough time to take a quick shower.

20 minutes later I was standing in the middle of my closet, trying to find a pair of jeans that didn't have tags still on. My sister in law Alice had become our dresser, or 'stylist' as she liked to be called and I haven't been to a clothing store since she came into the family-which was convenient for me. All I had to do was set up an account with a credit card for her and I looked presentable at all times. And that included social functions for my brothers and me. All we had to do was shower, shave and stand still while she did her thing.

I finally found some old black jeans that were buried all the way towards the bottom. A plain green t-shirt and vans were within reach too so that's what I wore and after grabbing my phone and wallet, I was ready.

When I was locking up the office, my secretary already had my briefcase ready for me to take home and my other assistant had different bouquets of wildflowers in his hand. I thanked them all and nodded in gratitude when he also handed over a box of chocolate truffles, Rosalie's craving of the week.

"You all could have the rest of the day off. Forward all my calls to voicemail and I'll see you all tomorrow at 9."

I made my way to the elevators and met up with the buildings security guards. It was suggested that I have someone with me at all times, but I found that overkill. I liked my privacy too much and I could protect myself. Before puberty, I was on the smaller side so my father thought it would be a good idea to have me in karate lessons. Thankfully I grew up; I was a couple of inches taller than both Emmett and Jasper at 6'4" and packed in some muscle. Not as much as Emmett, but enough to handle myself when they get drunk and think that it's fun to wrestle. I now had black belts in several arts and carried a gun after I had my license to carry a concealed weapon, so I could handle myself in any situation.

I made my way out, keeping my head down when the swarm of photographers tried to get through the garage door. I got into my car, thankful that the windows were tinted. All my cars had the darkened windows thanks to my father's advice and that I had a few moments of privacy. It wouldn't look too good if I snapped out at a reporter or punched one of them.

After they were pushed back out of the road, I started the half hour drive to my brothers' house. Hopefully my sisters in law hadn't invited any of their friends along to try to set me up again. Those meetings were just awkward now. But if Emmett was this insistent over dinner, then it was worth putting on a contented smile for a few hours and make pretend that everything is perfect in my world.

Bella

I stretched out my back as I pulled away from the tray of cupcakes that were finally ready. I loved to bake and cook, and thankfully they hired me without any real formal training. The few hours a week and the commission I made off my own recipes were helping out with my rent and online courses. I had tried to go to the campus for the first year, but it was too hard. Too many people and the idea of having to socialize in such a drunken and disorderly fashion weren't for me. All I wanted to do was write.

Charlie, my father, had told me that he wanted me to do what I wanted, as long as I went to college. I was fine with that after I decided to pursue the online route that Seattle University offered me. I was happy with taking classes at my own pace, and was set to graduate a year early if I took all the classes that I wanted.

I had few friends and they were enough for me. I think I knew two of my neighbors in my building, one my age and an older woman who I liked to drop by with some warm pastry whenever I heard her walking around upstairs. The other tenants I didn't bother with. My world was mostly in my computer, weekly phone conversations with Charlie and the few hours that I was in the bakery around the corner to bake and collect my paycheck.

I had to say that my life was not what I expected. I was always on the quieter side, preferring the company of my books and a few select friends then to big crowds. I was content, but knew that there was more out there. I relied on slightly infrequent emails to keep in touch with the few friends I had back home from Forks, and that seemed to satisfy my need for human contact.

I knew I should put more of an effort. My mother loved to remind me that I'd be too old to attract a man when I'd 'finally stopped being a prude'. My mother was my opposite-a wild, irresponsible young-at-heart woman that couldn't focus on one thing. I spent what should have been my childhood taking care of her-making sure that the bills were paid and that we had food to eat while she went off to some new class or some new club.

Things changed when I turned 16. My mother had met a new man and a few months later they were married. Slowly, he began insisting that we go to his church. The one thing that Charlie demanded on when he divorced mom was that I would be brought up in the catholic religion and she mostly followed it. But after she married Phil, that began to cause tension. I took solace in my religion. I felt comforted with the ritual and traditions even though I didn't follow every little thing.

When we moved, it took me two days to figure out that this was some type of cult that my mother had gotten us into. One five minute call with my dad and he was there to pick me up the next week. What hurt the most was that she didn't even fight for me. Just nodded and signed over parental rights to Charlie.

Living in Forks was an adjustment. Charlie was quiet like me. I offered to take care of the house with the cooking and cleaning and he was very grateful. We had a nice life together and he seemed happy. I even made friends in school and everything was going well.

When I met Edward, everything changed. Before, I had always ignored the attention that I had from boys. With my mother, I had too many responsibilities to worry about them and I was able to quickly blend in whenever I had caught someone's attention. When I moved in with Charlie, I was just the new play thing and the attention quickly died down after I repeatedly made it clear that I wasn't interested in anything passed friendship.

That all changed on my fourth day of school. I walked in to biology, not really paying attention as I made my way over to the last lab table that I had been occupying alone for the past few days. It was explained that my lab partner was away on family business, so when I saw books next to the microscope, I just hoped that whoever it was would do their share of the work.

With my head down, I started getting my book and papers out, my hair creating a barrier between us. I hoped it wasn't one of those cheerleader types; I had enough of those with Jessica Stanley, who had insisted that we were now close friends.

After a few minutes, I heard a male voice clear his throat. "Hello, I'm Edward Cullen."

If I had known that those four words would change my life like that, I wouldn't have believed it. Before I turned, I felt myself blush-his voice was like warm silk, deep and raspy but smooth at the same time. I closed my eyes for a second and tried to settle down.

There was no way I could have imagined someone more beautiful. Everything about him pulled me in instantly. From the color of his hair to the way half his mouth grinned at me. I couldn't say a word, only stare. I tried to pull my eyes away from him, tried to say something-but nothing came out.

He didn't say anything either for a few minutes, so I was glad that I might have not appeared to dim witted. "Um, you're Isabella Swan, right? The chiefs' daughter?"

I nodded, noticing that he started down at my mouth when I automatically went to bite my bottom lip. "Yes. I don't believe we've met before. Do you know my father?" I was very proud that I didn't stutter once.

"Small town." And there was that smile again, hopefully I didn't drool. "Everyone has been talking about you for weeks. Charlie was very excited when it was definite that you were coming I guess." Before I could reply, Mr. Molina came in and started the lesson.

From that point on, we were together. Girls hated me for taking away the best single guy at school. Boys tried to get me to leave him and go to them to see what the big deal was. We spent as much time together as possible, much to the annoyance of Charlie at first, but then he got used to it. Everyone in town knew that where one was, the other wouldn't be too far away. Even his mother warned me to start expecting an early proposal soon.

When I realized that the thought of marriage to Edward didn't scare me, I knew it was real love. I had known it for a long time but when she said that, I could only picture us together, with a house and a few kids and I yearned for that, very much so-but I wanted to go to college first. Besides, no one married right out of high school anymore and he had his own career goals. All I knew was that I loved him completely and he loved me just as much. I thought that we could weather anything and everything that life could throw at us together.

But I couldn't dwell on that now. Memories did nothing but make me see how empty my life was. I needed to be content. I didn't want to remember the girls, Edwards' family. I didn't want to remember how it felt to be held so close to him-as if we weren't touching, the other would disappear.

I shook my head, clearing out my thoughts. I began clearing down the counters. I put my cakes into the cooler and began the process of getting the bakery open for the morning. The sun wasn't up yet, it was only a little after 5 a.m.

As I finished up setting the displays and opening up the registers, Sam came in. He gave me a smile and nodded, going in and starting the ovens. I liked working for him-he was fair, never meddled in my personal life and didn't feel the need to fill the silence.

"All set Sam! I'll see you in a few days, ok?" I called out, getting my jacket out of the cubby.

"Wait a sec!" he replied from the kitchen. When he came out, he was already covered with flour and had a smile. "Those pies that you made last week sold out in two days. They were great-here's your share." He handed me a envelope. I smiled my thanks and left.

The good thing about Seattle was that I could get around by bus mostly. My old truck wouldn't have survived this many years if I needed to drive it constantly. I pulled up the hood of my windbreaker and made my way down the block to the bus stop. The newsstand was opening up and I had to turn away quickly when I saw the top of that familiar bronze hair on a magazine. I should be used to it by now-he was a famous gazzilionaire and he was on magazines and TV all the time. I ignored it the best I could and turned, waiting for about 15 minutes for the bus. I pulled out my notebook and tried to get some writing done, but it was no use. I didn't want to go online with my phone since the news was bound to be filled with him. I didn't want to be sullen for the rest of the week. I needed to be happy with my life. I had to stop questioning the past and be satisfied.

No one bothered me. I worked, studied, and wrote when the inspiration struck me. That's all I needed. Maybe in a few years I'd want to try a relationship, but Edward was right-I was his and no other man could even try to come close to what we had. He controlling ways had bothered me at first, but I grew used to it and loved the attention he gave me. If only-

'No. don't even go there!' I scolded myself. I decided to open up my worn copy of Sense and Sensibility and tried to lose myself in one of my favorites.