Finding the price of college to high, the orphaned Edward turns to a less than shady source: an Italian mob called the Volturi. Now, when he is just barely keeping his head above water, he realizes that what he once thought was a gift is actually a trap. The Volturi are growing impatient with his inability to pay them back, with interest, of course. So they give Edward a proposal: they will forgive all debts if he does a favor for them and kidnaps a witness that is going to testify against them the following week. And if he doesn't do it, well, let's just say his brother Emmett won't be having the best of days.
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight nor am I in a mob, just in case you wanted to know.
Chapter One:
An Unwelcome Discovery
Bang!
In the alley, a body collided into the ground with a sickening thud, blood spreading across the dirty gravel until it got to the man's feet. He stepped back in time, saving the imported leather from an unsightly stain. The man stowed the still smoking gun in his jacket and strode out from behind the large dumpster where he had been conducting his "business."
He stopped briefly beside a street light and lit a cigarette with a smile of satisfaction on his face. It seems that word had got around fast and everyone had vacated the area; no one wanted to be anywhere near Tony "The Rat" Gallo when The Boss wanted him to disappear. The man walked away, not even noticing the top of a brunette head that was showing behind an apartment building's stoop.
Bella had seen it all.
000
There had been no mistaking who it was. She had seen Felix Moretti's broad and threatening face plastered over practically every news channel for the past two weeks. Outrage had erupted when the jury ruled him not guilty in one of the most televised court cases of the year. He was suspected of smuggling, theft, and murder, but the charges just seemed to slide off him, leaving Felix and the "company" he worked for untouched by anything more offensive than rumors.
Bella cursed herself for staying out late at the store. She had wanted to unpack the new shipment of books tonight so she didn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn and do it tomorrow morning, but now she saw what a very very stupid idea that had turned out to be. Bella should have been safe at home, not stooping behind the first available large object so a known murderer wouldn't see her.
Once the steady and lumbering footfalls faded away, Bella jumped up on trembling ankles supported by even more difficult high heels and ran toward the alley, whispering in a frightened voice, "Are you okay?" She already knew the answer, but hope was there. It quickly disappeared to its hiding place, though, when she saw the heavyset body of a middle-aged man sprawled out on the ground. There was a bullet wound in his heart.
She had entered the alley telling herself that, no matter what, she would handle this with a level head. Bella even tried to arrange her face in the same mask of authority and indifference she had seen Charlie don before going to work, but it slipped and crashed the instant her shaking fingers came in contact with the motionless wrist. His eyes were glassy, his chest steady, and his pulse nonexistent.
Blinded by the tears of shock now leaking from her eyes, Bella bolted from that awful and dark place. She felt nauseous and sick from the concentrated smell of blood. All of a sudden, the city she had lived in for two years was strange and unfamiliar; she felt lost and hopeless in the desperate situation at hand. It didn't even register when it started to rain and her trench coat blew open in a gust of wind, leaving the smart pencil skirt and blouse Alice had insisted she wear for her first day as manager open to the elements.
When the glowing letters of Seattle Police Department came into sight, Bella ran faster, fueled by fear-induced adrenaline and the ever growing certainty that Felix would be in one of the dark street corners, waiting for her to pass by so he could pull her into another alley to dispose of the only witness.
She climbed up the stairs swiftly, despite the cries of pain from her feet, and burst into the lobby, frightening the woman at the desk so much she jumped. "Miss?" the secretary called. "Are you feeling fine, Miss?"
Bella bent forward and gasped for air that didn't seem to relieve the screaming soreness that was once her lungs. She was distantly aware that her whole body was shaking with the force of her sobs. She looked at the woman through bangs that had fallen out of her tasteful bun with wide brown eyes, like an innocent doe caught in the headlights of a large car with no breaks. Trying not to notice how her body stung with the icy chill of the rain and discomfort of unused muscles, Bella drew an unsteady breath and addressed the secretary. "I," she said with the tone of someone on Death Row, "have just witnessed a murder."
000
The phone rang, interrupting Jasper's thought process. Sitting in Alice's and his apartment, he had been scrupulously surveying the resume he had typed up for any error whatsoever before he would send it to one of the most prestigious therapists in Seattle, hoping to God that the man would choose him an intern. Still mouthing the words to himself, Jasper answered the phone, expecting to hear Alice asking him what kind of take-out he wanted when she got home from shopping with his sister, but instead was greeted by a low and deep voice.
"Jasper Hale?" the man on the other side of the line said, his voice steeped in importance. Jasper could only start to answer before he continued. "We must ask you to come down to the station as quickly as you can. It concerns a girl named Isabella Swan, who says that she's a friend of yours."
"Bella?" Jasper marveled. "What could she possibly do to get in jail? She's as harmless as a-"
"It would be better if we tell you in person, Mr. Hale; it is of a…delicate nature." The man seemed to hesitate, losing the power and bravado in his voice as he added, "She's not doing too well, and it's only going to get worse from here."
"I'll be there in ten minutes," Jasper asserted before hanging up and rushing out of the apartment, not even bothering to grab a coat to put over his thin t-shirt.
True to his word, Jasper was there in a matter of minutes, having already called Alice and Rose to tell them to hurry home and wait for him and Bella. Alice was worried and demanded to know what happened, not even taking Jasper's word that he didn't know. It had taken the better part of his drive over to convince her that he would see her over to their place as quickly as he could.
Jasper pulled into one of the parking spaces and rushed through the doors of the station, already seeing the tension on everybody's faces, feeling the alert apprehension in the stance of the secretary and officer that awaited him in silence. Slightly behind them, wrapped in a blanket and gripping an untouched cup of coffee in her hand, Bella sat on one of the benches. Jasper immediately went toward her, but the officer blocked his path.
Feeling helpless with no understanding of the situation, Jasper demanded, "What happened to her? Was she mugged?" His mind quickly went from mugged, to much worse paths of thought, and he stared at the man in blue with open blame, like whatever had happened was his fault entirely.
The officer, whose name tag proclaimed him to be named Brian Banner, grabbed Jasper's forearm and drew him aside. "How close are you to the young lady, Mr. Hale?"
"She's been a friend of my sister's and mine since we were kids and she introduced me to my fiancée; how much closer do you want? Now, will you tell me what the Hell hap-?"
In an almost whispered voice, Officer Banner asked, "Have you heard of Felix Moretti?" At Jasper's nod he continued, "He's been in and out of court ever since he moved here a few years back for serious charges, but he's always slipped out of our grip. The witnesses mysteriously disappear or back out for no apparent reason." He stopped, sneaking a completely obvious look back at Bella, who had abandoned the cup of coffee and was resting her head on her hands, her face blank. "Your friend says that she has just witnessed him murder a man in an alley way under an hour ago. We've sent some men out there and they just reported back that what she says is true."
Banner licked his dry lips and continued on in his low voice like what he was going to say next was almost impossible to believe. "The lady says that she'll testify against Moretti, no matter what will happen to her. She was going on about some guy named Charlie, and his morals. The thing is, we need a witness of sound mind and, from what I can see, she doesn't look like the most mentally stable of people right now."
"Mentally stable?" Jasper growled, staring the now wary officer in the eyes with anger. "She's the daughter of a police chief, Charlie Swan, who just saw the most dangerous man in Seattle kill someone. Bella would be crazy not to react this way!"
Shuffling his feet, Banner admitted, "That's not the worst of it, Mr. Hale." Speaking quickly, perhaps he was hoping that the faster he spoke the less angry this tall and intimidating man would be, he said, "The man she saw Moretti kill was Tony Gallo, the witness for his last trial."
Jasper could only blink. The rest of his mind seemed like a barrage of what could happen to sweet, tiny Bella, the innocent little sister he never had. He was incapable of speech for several moments before he croaked, "When is the trial?"
"As soon as we can manage it to be."
"And what security measures will be taken for Bella's protection?"
"We can station a squad car outside her place of work and I suggest that you let her stay with you or another friend until the trial day. She shouldn't be alone. Other than becoming a black belt, I don't think that there is much more that can be done." Banner glanced back to Bella's shaking form once more. "I really wish this hadn't happened to her," he murmured, looking down at the scuffed floor tiles. "She seems like a good kid."
Jasper nodded with a troubled air. "The best."
000
Alice and Rosalie were already waiting in nail biting worry when Jasper ushered a zombie-like Bella into the apartment. She still had on the blanket from the police department and looked blankly at her two best friends without an emotion on her heart-shaped face. Bella only ran a pale hand through her damp hair and walking unsteadily past them, to the spare bedroom. The door closed quietly, and in the piercing silence, her sobs could be faintly heard.
Both women stared at Jasper with identical questions marks on their faces. Alice plucked at a loose stitch on the hem of her skirt and looked pleadingly up at her fiancée. "Jazz," she began, fighting to not let the quiver overtake her voice, "what happened to her?"
If it were any other time, one might have felt sorry for the poor man. He rubbed his eyes in a terrified stupor and ran a hand through his already standing-on-end hair. Jasper couldn't even meet their eyes as he retold, "Bella saw Felix Moretti kill a man named Tony Gallo."
Alice, who thought the television was to be used strictly for fashion shows and red carpet footage, only looked puzzled by this, but Rose immediately gasped. Dropping the Vogue she had been nervously clutching, she whirled around and fumbled around on the coffee table for yesterday's paper. She held up the front page inches away from Jasper's nose and, in a horrified whisper, asked, "This man? Was this the man Bella saw?"
Jasper took it from her trembling hands and blinked at the black and white picture of a snarling man leaving the courthouse. Above, the headline read, Suspect in Murder Walks Free for his Sixth Consecutive Time. Rosalie didn't need an answer once she saw the grim tragedy in his tired blue eyes.
"Oh, shit," she started chanting, growing louder and more pronounced with each profanity. "Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh shit! What are we going to do? Jasper, Felix Moretti is in the mafia!" Rosalie turned her blazing blue eyes to the closed guest room door, where Bella's sobs were stilled.
Paranoid for the sake of her friend, Rosalie quietly opened the door and felt relief flood through her when she saw Bella, passed out on the bed. Rosalie gently tucked her in and smoothed down her friend's hair before taking a Kleenex from the bedside table and wiping the trails of mascara off of Bella's face. Such unintentional maternal care was unknown to anyone but her brother and two friends, and anyone else besides them would have been shocked to see it displayed so prominently in Rosalie's actions.
She left the room, gently closed the door, and turned to Jasper and Alice. "She's in trouble, isn't she?" Rosalie asked softly.
And Alice, small and dainty Alice who had the uncanny ability to know what the weather was going to be like and could correctly guess the outcome of practically any situation, could only say, "Yes. Yes she is."