Authors Note: Hey awesome readers! I hope you liked the little flashback/dream in the first chapter. This chapter sheds some light on how Edward is around his family. He's sort of soft actually. The next chapter will be focused on showing off his bad and mean side. Cheers!

Next Update: Friday, September 14th, 2012

Lose Yourself

Chapter 2: The Hidden Sister

The soul's escaping, through this hole that is gaping

This world is mine for the taking

Make me king, as we move toward a new world order

A normal life is boring, but superstardom's close to post mortem

~ Eminem, Lose Yourself

[EPOV]

The cold spray of water on my sweltering skin was a huge relief. I could feel my body temperature dropping along with my sweat. I looked down and saw soap, water, and sweat, all mixed together, going down the drain. It was as if they were taking my stress with them. I could feel myself calming down and my heart rate lowering to normal. I really needed this cold shower, as it was a stress reliever and just relaxing.

I turned off the water and leaned out of the shower to grab my towel. Wrapping it around my waist I walked out and over to my walk-in closet. The closet was the size of bedroom – not a small one – and held numerous clothes from all kinds of designers. I sighed and grabbed the first suit, pants, and tie set I saw. They turned out Armani, which I actually really liked. It would do.

When I finished dressing, I grabbed my cell and texted my driver to get my white Jaguar Sports Cabriolet out and ready. Today I felt like showing off and it was a Friday so why not celebrate.

The elevator ride from my penthouse to the bottom floor was a drag. Of course you needed a special card key to ride the elevatator all the way up to the penthouse but that special card key didn't stop people from ogling at me. In the elevator, along with me, was an old lady, a man reading the newspaper with a briefcase next to him, and a twelve-year-old teenager that kept fluttering her eyelashes at me. When the man and the little girl got off – thank god! – the old lady started talking.

"You're that Cullen guy that my granddaughter always talks about, aren't you?" she garbled at me.

"I guess so," I said uncomfortably. Old ladies always unhinged me off my usual confident manner. "I wouldn't really know since I haven't met her."

The lady's eyes widened and she offered with a smile, "Would you like to? I'm sure you'd just make beautiful babies."

Now it was my eyes that widened and I let out a cough. "E-excuse me?"

See, this is what I meant. They were so physcotic that you can never know what to expect from them. They always end up talking about babies and try to hook you up with their granddaughters or even their divorced daughters. No wonder old ladies freaked me out and made me lose my cool.

The old lady wasn't listening to my protests though. She was too busy planning my honeymoon with her granddaughter. I just backed into the corner, waiting for the elevator to stop. With every second that dredged by I lost more and more of my sanity. Thankfully, the cursed elevator stopped just before she started talking about boy baby names. I all but ran front the elevator and didn't stop until I was outside. My head security guard, Felix, nodded at me and opened the driver's door for me. I loved driving my jaguar. After I was seated, he walked over to the passenger's side and settled in.

"All clear in rider 1," he spoke into his phone. My other security officials answered and then he nodded at me. "All clear Mr. Cullen. We may proceed."

I began to drive and in my rear view mirror I could see my security following in black cars.

It didn't take long, a little bit more than half an hour, to drive to Staten island where my parents, Carlisle and Esme, lived. They were actually my Uncle and Aunt but to me they were like my parents. They had been since I was fifteen. Now ten years later, they were still my parents.

When I reached their home on North Shore, the guards opened the gate once they saw whom it was, my nameplate 'CULLEN' and the procession that followed. Before the car even stopped, half of my guards were out and alert. It wasn't until Felix came around, opened the door, and gave me that all clear that I could get out. Safety first. They followed me to the door and stationed themselves outside the house as protocol.

Before I could ring the doorbell, the door flew open and someone hugged me around my waist. I looked down and chuckled when I saw it was Alice, my cousin. Honestly she was more like my sister and had been for the past few years. Sometimes it felt like we were biologically siblings since we always had this close bond and could sense each other's feelings but we all knew it wasn't true. We were just cousin and we figured we were close because our DNA matched more than usual.

"Edward!" she squealed happily as I hugged her back. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too Alice."

She pulled back and glared at me. "Why didn't you call me?"

I raised my hands up in mock surrender and apologized. "Sorry Alice. I got real busy."

"Doing what?" she raised her eyebrows, challenging me to tell the truth.

"You know I can't say Ali," I told her gently as her eyes got sad. "C'mon. Let's go in. Whose here already?"

"Just Jasper and Rosalie," she said as a faint tinge came to her cheeks. I knew she liked Jasper but she'd never mentioned anything to me. Jasper liked her too but he wouldn't dare try anything on my sister.

I followed her into the house and to the kitchen. There I found my mother cooking while my dad poured wine.

"Edward," Esme said in a relieved tone as she wrapped me into a hug.

"Hey mom," I said gently and kissed her cheek. "Need help?"

Yeah, the guy that everyone is scared shitless of is a huge softy when it comes to his mom.

"Oh no. You just go and take a seat in the living room."

"Hello son," Carlisle spoke up from behind Esme. She pulled away so he could hug me. Yeah, my family loved hugs.

"Hey dad."

"How's work going?"

"It's good. Not bad at all."

Carlisle was a surgeon and he didn't necessarily approve of the work I did but he didn't say anything. He always found time to ask me how it was going but he never wanted details. He called it his 'need to know' issue but he also never stopped me from doing what I do. He understood why my work was close to me and never took it away.

"That's nice. Why don't you go take a seat in the living room with Jasper and Rose? I'll be right over there as soon as I get the drinks poured."

I nodded and headed over to the living room. It was one of my favourite rooms in this house. It was all soft and warm…something that didn't occur often in my profession. My life was filled with cold and hard moments. Morning like this were a rare treat for me, filled with love and warmth. Truly, a morning without illegal activity was rare and actually okay. It was nice.

Jasper was examining a new painting on the wall and Rosalie was sitting on the sofa, legs crossed, flipping through a magazine. They both looked up when I entered.

"Edward," Jasper nodded and I walked over to him. We exchanged a one armed hug and grinned at each other.

"Armani again Edward? Didn't Alice have a fit?" Rosalie drawled as she smirked at my outfit and raised a brow.

"Didn't you already wear that dress once? Recycling are we?" I smirked back and gestured to her Valentino red dress. She got up and walked over to me. Anyone who didn't know Rosalie would've backed away from her icy stare and emotionless mask. I knew her well enough to know that her intentions weren't negative.

She engulfed me in a hug and I wrapped my arms around her as well. There was nothing romantic between us. I shuddered at the thought. People often don't believe me when I say I don't like her that way. Sure Rosalie is gorgeous but she really isn't my type. The fiery blonde bombshell is an absolute hot bitch but really she isn't a turn on – to me at least. She is like my sister though not by blood. She's more suited to Emmett – wait – who am I kidding? She's the perfect match for Emmett. She keeps that huge teddy bear on a short leash and absolutely pussy whipped. It's actually thanks to me that Emmett and Rosalie met. Emmett works for me as my personal bodyguard and whether he's on duty or not, he's my best friend. He saved me from getting shot once and because of that I promptly offered him a job in my empire. He agreed, as long as his family didn't get involved, and the rest is history. Rosalie is great with auto mechanics and when Emmett totaled my brand new Ferrari I took it to Rosalie. Emmett came with me and when she found out he was the one that wrapped it around a tree…well let's just say it was quite comical. She whipped a wrench at him and he then decided he had to have her. It took him weeks and weeks of romantic pursuit to thaw out her icy heart and let him in. It was worth it though. Now two years later they're getting married and hopelessly excited about it.

"Emmett loves this dress and I only wore it for a small dinner once." she chuckled in his ear. Anyone who knew Rosalie also knew that nothing she did was 'small'. She simply didn't do 'small' and that meant small dinner parties were out of the question.

"Speaking of him." Edward frowned as stepped back. "Where is he?"

"He just called. He's a bit late but he's on his way," Jasper spoke from his place at the mantel. "This painting is quite exquisite, don't you think?"

"Why thank you Jasper hon," Esme said sweetly as she walked into the room ahead of Carlisle, who was carrying a tray full of wine. "I recently acquired it from a prestigious auction. I do love it so."

Jasper bowed his chin and then nodded for me to sit next to him on the adjacent couch. He wanted to discuss business.

Once everyone was seated Esme looked around and her smile fell.

"Where is my future nephew-in-law?" she wondered and turned to Rosalie for answers.

"He's coming. He had a little situation with his sister," she explained.

Esme nodded and then turned to me.

"You really should visit more often. I feel like I barely know you at all," she spoke with a purse of her lips.

"I saw you on Monday at the hospital," I pointed out.

"Too long," she said quietly. Then she turned to her husband with bright eyes. "Tell them the joke you heard."

"Maybe we should wait until Emmett is hear," Carlisle suggested. "I'm sure he would appreciate the joke more than anyone else."

Jasper and I groaned as we realized that that meant that the joke was dirty. Of course. Typical Carlisle and Esme.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang and Alice rushed from the kitchen to the hallway, yelling, "I got it!"

"Mommy I'm home," came a cheery yell from the doorway.

Esme shook her head but called back with a smile, "In here sweetie."

Esme wasn't actually Emmett's mother but she treated him like his son and he called her mom. He was close enough to be my brother so it didn't really matter.

Emmett came stomping behind Alice in typical Emmett-fashion and with a grin on his face.

"Sorry I'm late everyone," he apologized as he hugged Esme. "My sister made cookies and my stomach wouldn't let me walk out the door without them."

Rosalie pulled away from his hug and scoffed. "Seriously?"

Jasper groaned along with everyone else and said, "Really Emmett? That was your situation?"

Emmett nodded and waggled his eyebrows. "It was a hungry situation."

"Why didn't you bring your sister along?" Esme scolded him. "It's not nice to just leave her at home. What would she think of us?"

Emmett shrugged and took a seat next to Rosalie. "Her friends are dragging her out to a girls night out and she wouldn't come even if she were free."

"Or rather you wouldn't let her," Jasper accused.

Emmett squirmed under his soft glare and Esme's hard one. Jasper was right. Emmett wouldn't allow her to come because he didn't want her associated to me in any way at all. To be honest it was more that he didn't want her coming in contact with me. Since he was marrying Rosalie, a high member of my empire, she would be associated to me. So he just didn't want her to meet me. He was extremely over-protective of her. I doubt she even knew who Emmett's boss was and what he actually did. I couldn't see Emmett telling her the truth about me. He probably told her some lie about me being just a rich businessman. Well it wasn't really a lie. I was a businessman but not the kind that was entirely legal.

"What about the wedding?" I asked him sharply. "We're going to meet there. Am I not invited then?"

Esme winced and opened her mouth to scold me but Emmett beat her to the words.

"Really Edward? You're my best friend and I'm marrying your best friend. You really think I would kick you out of my wedding? Besides, my sister would kill me if she found I didn't let my boss and brother-from-another-mother come to my wedding. So would Rose now that I think of it," he snapped back and actually said 'brother-from-another-mother' in a ghetto sort of voice.

I shrugged but didn't apologize. Emmett always shied his sister from my family and me. Heck, he didn't even tell us her name. He mentioned something about not wanting to hear her name ever escape our lips and the wrong people hearing it.

"I don't care what you say but after the wedding she is going to be my best friend," Alice cried. "I can feel it."

"She's right Em. You can't keep her from being friends with her in laws," Jasper said patiently.

"You're keeping a daughter away from me," Esme said warningly. "I'll be damned if I don't have her over for dinner and other stuff every week."

Emmett nodded and let out a tired sigh. "I figured she'd have to meet you guys sooner or later. I had just hoped for later. I guess this is as late as it gets."

"Maybe you should bring her around before the wedding," Carlisle recommended lightly.

"I'm meeting her tomorrow night," Rosalie added quietly.

None of us knew that so we were fairly shocked. Jasper and I grinned while Esme beamed at Rosalie and Emmett. Emmett gave a shy smile as Carlisle clapped him on the back.

"Ooh! Lucky duck!" Alice pouted. "I want to meet her too."

"At the wedding Alice," Emmett assured her. "I don't want her overwhelmed. She's already nervous as it is."

"She's nervous?" Rosalie repeated disbelievingly. She shook her head and wondered, "Why?"

"Well she is meeting you Rose," Alice pointed out mischievously.

Rosalie rolled her eyes and said, "Hush it pixie."

"She thinks you won't like her," Emmett explained with a frown on his face.

Rosalie frowned at his confession and admitted quietly, "I'm afraid she won't like me."

After that silence rang loudly in the big room as everyone watched Emmett console a distressed Rosalie. Rosalie was never one to show her negative emotions – positive ones sometimes too – so the pain in her voice meant she was tearing up on the inside.

Once we were certain that Rosalie was fine we sat quietly, waiting for someone to break the tension.

"So about the joke?" Carlisle suggested and everyone agreed on hearing it, Jasper and me a bit more reluctantly. "Okay so a doctor and his wife were having an argument in bed," he started and paused when Esme giggled. I rolled my eyes as Carlisle continued, "'You aren't so good in bed either' he shouted and went off to work angry."

"Are you sure we want to hear this?" Jasper interrupted with a quick glance at Alice. "I'm not sure this is the right kind of humor for a family get together."

"Quiet cowboy," Emmett said loudly. "I wanna hear the rest of it."

"So a few hours later he decided to call his wife and apologize. She didn't pick up until after the phone rang several times. So the doctor asked her what took so long for her to answer and then she said she was in bed. He asked her what she was doing in bed so late…she said 'Getting a second answer!'"

Everyone roared with laughter and even I let out a few hearty chuckles. Dirty jokes from my parents were completely normal and in fact, amongst our closest families they were notorious for being extremely dirty. This was my family…my life. Not many people would be able to believe that Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, the cold-hearted killer and boss of a crime empire he himself had built from ashes, had a very normal – in some ways – family that loved him…despite his appetite for revenge.

Welcome to my world….