Chapter two

I was now resolved to do everything in my power to defeat the system.

Oskar Schindler

Day one…

"Okay, the trace is now activated and we will be able to keep an eye on you at all time, even when you're inside the Cullen Mansion," Charlie explained to Bella even though she knew it all; he had told her everything at least five times over the last week. "Okay, today is April 10th, four in the morning," Charlie said, glancing at his watch, "I'm meeting Carlisle to talk about integrating our families the day after Edward's twenty-ninth birthday so I want you out early morning on June 20, at the latest."

"Don't worry, I will be out before that, I promise," Bella assured him, giving him a long hug before she turned to the dark forest and started to walk. The sun would hopefully be out in matter of hours and light her way, but she hoped that she would tumble onto the Cullen's property before daylight, making a big scene that everyone would know off before breakfast.

Bella had never enjoyed the dark, but with her hand clutched tightly around the shaft of a kitchen knife she had bought for her job, she felt somewhat safer than she would have if she hadn't had it. On top of all the noises the forest made, she couldn't see her hand in front of her and she would have killed for a flashlight. It would only have given her problems later, she knew, because she either had to come up with a very good story about how she had gotten her hands on a flashlight as she ran, or she would have to drop it as she got closer to the property, which would then be noticed by Cullen's men as they would most defiantly search the forest after her arrival.

An owl hooted in the distance and Bella laughed when she jumped, her heart hammering in her chest. Somewhere among the trees, a bird started to sing and Bella knew that dawn wasn't far away.

Her phone beeped and she looked at it to see a text from Charlie, telling her that she wasn't far away and that she should just keep walking in the same direction.

She deleted it.

Another bird joined the singing of the first one and Bella saw it as a cue to start running. And she did. She ran as fast as she could, jumping over rocks, branches slapping her in the face, sticking to her hair and scraping at her skin but she didn't care; she needed to reach the Cullen's ground before the sun would rise.

As she jumped over a fallen tree, she landed badly on her right foot, twisting it, but it didn't stop her from running as fast as she could.

Just as the first rays of the sun broke through the trees, she broke through the trees as well, running straight into a well-manicured garden with blooming flowers and cherry trees shedding their flowers.

And an alarm went off.

Barking dogs and shouting men came from the house and Bella gripped the knife tighter in her hand as they came closer, their guns drawn. Standing frozen, she watched with a hammering heart as a tall man came running fast towards her, his body slamming against hers, tackling her to the ground. The air was knocked out of her and for a minute, she struggled to catch her breath.

When her head was cleared and she opened her eyes, she stared up at six men and six guns aimed at her. All of them looked as lethal as the weapons in their hands, even more so, and Bella was afraid that if she even opened her mouth to speak, none of them would hesitate pulling the trigger, killing her on the spot

Her right hand was still gripped tightly around the knife but she didn't notice until one of the men pushed his foot against her wrist, making her gasp in pain and let go of the knife. The man quickly bent down and picked it up before two of them lowered their guns and pulled her up, one of them the man who had tackled her to the ground.

Neither of them said as word as they dragged her across the grass toward the house, not until they had dragged her through a grey hallway without walls and pushed her inside a room with no windows did she hear one of them speak and Bella understood then that infiltrating the Cullen's might be a little harder than she thought.

"I will go and get dad," one of them said, a blond one, who she knew were to be Jasper Cullen, the youngest of the three Cullen brothers. From the way he spoke, Bella figured that the two men who had dragged her inside were his brothers, Emmett and Edward Cullen.

As the door closed behind them, she scanned the room, noticing a camera positioned directly at her and she knew that there were no way for her to give word to Charlie about her positioned without making them even more suspicious than they probably already was. Sitting down against the wall, she wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her forehead against her knees, trying to stay awake as she had been awake for more than twenty-four hours straight.

Her eyes started to drop just as the door opened and when she raised her head, she stared into a pair of kind blue eyes that belonged to Carlisle Cullen.

"You seem to have lost your way I believe," he smiled kindly at her, offering his hand for her to take, helping her to her feet again, her tired body protesting against any kind of movement. "I would like to know why you wandered onto my property, but, as my sons would say, you look like death warmed ups, so I believe it would only gain us to be comfortable." Taking hold of her arm, his grips soft, he led her out of the windowless room, down the windowless hallway and into a very bright room, an office.

In front of a pair of French windows stood two brown leather chairs with a table between them where two cups of steaming hot coffee stood.

"Please, sit down," he gestured to the chairs and slowly, Bella sat down, leaning back but keeping her hands in her lap. "Now, what is your name?" he asked as he handed her a cup.

"Bella," she answered before taking a careful sip of the dark liquid.

"I assume you have a last name as well," he said calmly as he added two teaspoons of sugar and a dash of milk to his coffee.

"Bella Higginbotham."

"And where are you from, Bella Higginbotham."

"I'm from Jacksonville, California."

"It's a great distance, don't you think, to travel from Jacksonville to Forks?" Carlisle asked, cocking an eyebrow at her as if daring her to say against him. Bella only nodded, taking another sip of her coffee.

"Bella, I would like to know how you ended up here in Forks, over three thousand miles from Jacksonville, and I would especially like to know how you found your way into my garden. If you don't know where to start, just take it from the beginning; it usually works," he smiled kindly and leaned back in his chair, sipping to his coffee.

"As you wish," Bella mumbled, looking down at her hands as if deep in thoughts. "I was searching for my father in LA when I one night met a very handsome and kind man named Alec in a bar. We started talking and at the end of the night, we agreed to meet for coffee the next day. The coffee led to lunch and the lunch led to a dinner invitation and at the end of my week in LA, I had met his family and postponed my plans on going to San Francisco. I ended up staying in LA for two months," Bella sighed. She was telling Carlisle Cullen only half a lie; she had gone to LA but to find Alec Volturi, not her father. She had met Alec in a bar because she knew he would be in that exact bar that night and she had flirted with him enough to ask her out for coffee and then lured him into begging her to stay with him.

"This Alec, what was his last name?" Carlisle asked and Bella knew that she had his full attention and any other person who were listening to their conversation; Alec Volturi was famous for using women and he changed them more often than he changed his socks.

"His name was Alec Volturi and he's one of a kind. After only two months of dating, he asked me to marry him and when I refused, he lost it; he locked me up in a room as he threatened me. I realized then that I couldn't stay there, afraid that he might hurt me and I ran. I remember that my mother had once told me that when she was a teenager, she had lived here in Forks, a small town in the middle of nowhere, and I figured that I would be safe here for a while. It might sounds silly and you might not believe me, but Alec and his family is in the mob, the family originally from Italy."

"You are another victim of Alec," Carlisle said as if he had to hear it out loud to believe it.

"You know him?" Bella asked, playing a little dumb and innocent.

"I do, my whole family know him and his family. Bella, I do not wish to frighten you, but my family and I are a part of the American Mob and before you jump to any conclusions, I want you to know that we don't smuggle narcotics, we don't kill for the kick of it and we have nothing to hide. No one in this small town knows about us and what we are and what we are doing, which is to restore the peace in import and find an end to drugs." Bella nodded with wide eyes, Carlisle's words not really any new to her because she had heard them before from someone else; Charlie Swan.

"I have some work to tend to now, but if you take to the right outside my office and to the right at the end of the hall, you will come to the kitchen you will find my wife, Esme. If she's not there yet, wait for her there and tell her that I need her to find a room for you and inform everyone that you are a guest in this house," Bella rose form her chair and nodded, whispering a soft thank you.

Closing the door behind her, she took to the right and to the right again at the end of the hallway, knowing fully well that it was a test from Carlisle to see if she could be trusted, one of many tests she knew she would be a subject to.

Charlie had told Bella on several occasions that if someone in the Cullen's home told her to jump, she would jump, if someone told her to sing she would sing and if someone told her to stick her foot in the flames of the fireplace, she would do it. But it was also important that she showed them trust as well. The faster she showed her trust, the faster they would trust her and she would be able to get hold of the information she needed.

As she rounded the corner, she found herself in a beautiful and light kitchen that was empty. Sighing, Bella took a seat at the kitchen table and folded her arms in front of her so she could rest her head at them as she stared out of the beautiful French windows and at the beautiful garden.

Her eyes were barely closed when she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder and she found herself being pulled up from her seat. The hand belonged to the man who had tackled her to the ground, to Edward Cullen, the middle child.

"Edward, unhand the young woman right now!" the voice belonged to a petit woman with a caramel colored hair, her face heart shaped and kind. Judging from her tone and her posture, Bella figured that it was Esme Cullen. "Your father has informed me why young Bella is here and she will not be treated like nothing more than a thief; you will escort her up to the guest room at the second floor."

"Mother…" Edward started but he was cut off.

"Don't you dare to defy me, Edward, and especially not your father!" she snapped, her hands on her hips and she kept the posture until Edward moved, a firm grip on Bella's arm as she led her out of the kitchen.

"Thank you," Bella murmured sincerely to Esme as she passed her.

"Don't even think for a minute that you will be staying in the guest room for long," Edward growled at her as he dragged her up the stairs. "I don't know what kind of bullshit you told my father, but if you are lying, trust me, I will find out."

"I told your father the truth," she told him confidently, lying. "I cannot control anyone, make them believe my story if they are in doubt, but I can assure you that all I want right now is to sleep; I have been awake for too long." At least the last part was partly true; she had been up on her feet for longer than she desired and she wanted was to lay down on a soft bed and wrap the covered around her body, like a cloud, and sleep.

"If I were you, I would sleep with one eye open," he snarled as he stopped in front of a door to open it, pushing her inside before closing the door behind her. Bella listened to the sound of a key being turned and the lock being engaged.

The sound never came, but she knew better than to see if he was still out in the hall or not; it was another test, one from Edward Cullen himself.

Looking around the room, Bella smiled when she saw a big and white canopy bed, covered with white pillows, blankets and even fur. She didn't even notice the rest of the room as she walked over to it, her hand reached out to feel the smooth wood and the soft textiles.

With a smiled, she stepped out of her shoes and climbed on to the bed, her body shivering with exhaustion. As she nestled her head into a soft pillow, she scanned the room quickly, knowing that she was being watched and sure enough, in the corner by the door, directed straight at the bed, was a camera and she could imagine the sound it would make as it zoomed in on her form in the bed; texting Charlie was still not an option.

Deciding that Charlie could wait a little longer, at least until she could pretend that she was cold and would pull the covers above her head, Bella closed her eyes and breathed in deeply as she thought about how easily and smooth it had been so far.

Carlisle and Esme Cullen believed her story from what she could tell and if she made them believe that she was to be trusted, finding the information Charlie needed wouldn't be that difficult.

But then there was the middle child, Edward. To make him trust her, Bella had realized, would take a great deal of effort and mind. From the few minutes she had been with him and the few words they had exchanged, she knew he was a complex man, one she would enjoy to watch as he let his guards down ever so slowly.

No plan was formed as Bella fell asleep in the big and soft bed, but she dreamt of kicking Edward Cullen's ass. In her sleep, she smiled and hummed softly as she in her dream, managed to get on top of him, a knife to his throat.

The dreamed kept changing and one minute she was kicking someone in the gut, the next she had one hand wrapped around Alec Volturi's neck as she carved an 'S' in his cheek with her knife. The dreamed changed again and she was hugging Charlie, their family safe from the Volturi, along with every family in the United States. Sharply, the dream changed again and Bella found herself standing nose to nose with Edward Cullen, both glaring at each other. Then a knife was driven straight through her heart.

Gasping, she shot up in the bed. As she cleared her head, Bella knew that it would take everything she knew to break down the walls Edward Cullen had. The rest of his family would be a piece of cake compared to him and she found herself wishing that she was climbing K2 instead.

There was a knock on the door and before she could call out, a petit woman with black hair came through the door, followed by a stunning blond woman that didn't belong in the house as much as she belonged on the catwalk, on every teenage girl's walls as a dream.

"Hello," the blond woman said and they both smiled at Bella.