CHAPTER 3:
I was about to shake Jacob's arms off and run towards Edward when he slightly shook his head and widened his eyes to indicate "stop". Only someone who was paying very close attention to him would have seen it, he knew I would. I was confused for a minute, but instead, nodding my head to him, I focused my attention back to Jacob who glared at Edward with such venom I couldn't help but shiver. Edward's eyes narrowed even more at that, internally I just rolled my eyes.
"Don't worry Bells, I won't let him take you." Jacob whispered in my ears. I was about to respond when Billy came into view. His black, fathom-less eyes looked more evil than ever. He put on a fake smile in front of his men and Edward.
"Bella! So good to have you back, I missed you!" He came over to give me a hug which I reciprocated. Like Jacob, he hugged me a little too hard. He whispered "behave" to me before pulling away and chuckling falsely. "Now, Bella I would like you to meet Mr. Masen here. He has been anxiously awaiting your arrival. Mr. Masen, this is Isabella Swan." My eyes turned toward Edward now, Mr. Masen? He had a different name, was this his real name? Was Cullen his real name? What exactly do I know about Edward that's real? the same last name as the guy who was supposed to get my dad out of all this. I am definitely missing pieces of the puzzle here.
Edward took my hand and brought it towards his lips; he smirked in the way only Edward could. A giggle escaped my lips. "Isabella, a pleasure." I smiled but that quickly went away as I was ripped violently away from Edward.
"Stay the fuck away from her." Jacob stood between me and Edward. I wanted to rip him into shreds for keeping me away from Edward. Again, the slight shake of his head, I understood Edward didn't want anyone to know I knew him. Sighing, I went inside the house. Looking around, it seems that nothing has changed. The dark wood paneling, the same maroon-colored leather furniture, the same empty feeling you get walking through the house. Yup, nothing's changed. Jacob's arms came around me from behind, resting on my waist. I could see Edward stiffen from my peripheral view, but he didn't do anything to stop it. Jacob went in for a kiss but I moved my head last minute and his lips fell on my cheek. He tightened his hold on me for a minute before letting go with a deep breath.
"You'll warm up to me soon enough, sweetheart." He whispered threateningly to me. Putting his hand on my lower back, he swiftly led me to a room around the corner behind the spiral staircase. It appeared to be an office, Billy's office. Billy looked up as we walked in and smiled. It wasn't a "oh, so happy to see you" smile, rather a "I can't wait to give you what you deserve" type of smile. Jacob left the room, leaving me all alone with Billy. I mean, Billy wouldn't kill me right? I was supposed to marry his son, after-all.
"Bella, come, sit down. Now, I'd like you to tell me exactly why you think that you could hide from me." He caressed my cheek in a faux-fatherly manner. I glared at Billy, refusing to talk. He wasn't going to get any information out of me. He smiled again in response.
"I'm not going to beat around the bush. There is a man out there, his name's Edward Masen. He wants you, but there's a problem there, you see. My son wants you too. I don't know what it is about you, Isabella, but these two men both hold some interest in you. You have kept pure, correct?" He focuses his glare on me, willing the truth out of me. I don't say anything.
"Let's say, for the sake of argument that you have kept pure. Ha, really it's for the sake of your life. If I find out that you gave yourself to any other man, Isabella, there will be consequences. Now, let me tell you a little story. You know that Jacob is the heir to my empire, the power he will hold. The command he already has, how your life can be snuffed out without a trace. Imagine that darkness, which is there, I know it, I'm not denying it. Imagine that darkness and multiply it by 1000. That, Isabella is the power of Edward Masen. Okay, on to the story. Once upon a time, there was a man named Gero Rein. He was an old German kook, crazy nut-job really, but the man had his own private army. Hundreds upon thousands of people looked up to him like he was their own personal God. You heard of Robespierre, Bella? The reign of terror during the French Revolution? Gero was like a reincarnate of Robespierre, he was running his own reign of terror. You remember a couple years ago, you probably saw on the news all those murders happening in Germany? That was all Gero. Masen over there single-handedly got rid of the guy. His men infiltrated Gero's army and took him down, swift and pat. Neat. No mess. Masen's considered the top-dog ever since. Nobody saw him before a couple years ago, sure he was heard around local areas, but he wasn't some big guy or anything until Gero was gone. Everybody's afraid of Masen. The only thing holding you back from Masen, is me. I'm stopping him from getting you." Curiosity over-powered me, the need to know more about the man I love. In all honesty, I wanted to be with Edward, but why is Billy trying to protect me, even though I don't really need it? Billy noticing my confusion, continued,
"I see the question bubbling to the surface in your eyes. Am I afraid of Masen? Haha, Isabella I'm not afraid of anybody. Jacob, on the other hand, the little wimp is terrified of Masen. He pretends like he isn't, but I see it in him. You wanna know the truth? I think Masen is weak. I don't think he's the great, all scary guy everyone makes him out to be. I think he's a fraud. My mission here is to play along like I'm scared of him, let him think he controls me, owns me. Then, strike. He isn't going to intimidate me. For some reason, he's found his way here and him wanting you? I don't believe it for a minute. I think it's an excuse for something else, he's stalling. He wants something more. My territory, maybe. I don't know. Why am I telling you all this? It's because I know you won't say anything because if you do, your pretty little face won't be so pretty anymore. You thought I would never find you after you ran away, but I did. So, tell me Isabella, why did you think you could hide from me? What were you hoping to gain?" I stayed silent.
"Not going to talk, are we? It's okay; there are other ways of getting information out of you." Fear started creeping up my spine, but I remained still. I was not about to show him any sign of weakness and to my utter relief, he just opened the door to his office. "Go." I was confused by this. He wanted me to leave? No torture? He saw the questions in my eyes and smiled again,
"I'm not going to torture you Isabella, not yet. I have some other business to take care of at the moment and that does not include having to deal with you. Go to your room." He sounded exasperated, making me feel like a teenage girl being scolded for staying out past her curfew. I crept up the stair-case, going to the room I had when I was a kid. It's always been my room; Billy had gotten it made special for me. I used it as a playroom when I was forced to stay here with Jacob and the babysitter. These were the days Billy and dad disappeared for a couple days without any rhyme or reason. As I walked up the stairs and threw the hallways, there were men everywhere and I was being watched constantly. Clearly, they didn't trust me.
Finally, I walked into the room and saw my mirrored vanity/desk exactly as I had left it. The furniture looked the same, drawings I had made as a kid were still taped to the side of the wall, and, as I turned the corner to get to my queen-sized bed, I saw the sheets were exactly the same flower pattern. I yelped noticing a figuring relaxing on my bed, but calmed as soon as I noticed the bronze-colored hair. I breathed his name again before jumping on him, practically attacking him. I didn't care that he was the most feared man in the world right now, I didn't care that he may have killed hundreds of people, I didn't even want to know why he was here, I just wanted him. I wanted to be near him, want his hands on me. I didn't want to think.
"Bell— " I didn't even let him finish saying my name before my lips were on his. I grabbed at him furiously and he reciprocated. It had been too long since I was in his arms. My body finally felt whole again. His hands found my butt, pushing me closer toward him, giving us the friction we needed. We groped blindly for a couple more minutes before we both pulled away to calm our breathing. He had a shit-eating grin on his face. "Wow, I really didn't expect that." I giggled and kissed him again chastely, which he quickly deepened and, without any notice, flipped me so that I was under him. He gazed into my eyes before pressing his body onto mine and whispering "I love feeling you under me." He kissed me again, but pulled away too soon. He got off and lay next to me, still holding me in his arms. I loved that. I leaned into him, "I love you, Edward." His eyes darkened with lust and some other emotion before his lips were on me again.
"Wait, Bella, stop. We need to talk." I pulled away, rejection washing over me. I couldn't look at him anymore. His hands found my cheek and turned me toward him again. His eyes were soft now. "Bella, please don't look away from me. You just don't know what that does to me. Love, I want to give you everything in this entire universe. You are my everything. I can't stand it if you don't look at me." Now, what the hell was a girl supposed to do after he said that? He smiled, he knew he had me. Ugh, I rolled me eyes at him.
"Edward there is a lot we need to talk about, but given the fact that Jacob and Billy are somewhere outside of that door and they can interrupt at any given minute, makes talking less of a priority to me. I want you." His eyes darkened again and I leaned to kiss him, but he pulled away again. I groaned with frustration. "Edwaaaarrrddd." He chuckled and planted a chaste kiss on my pouted lips. "Beautiful, I want nothing more than to ravish you properly right now, but we have some business to take care of. Don't think for one second that I don't know that Jacob and Billy Black are outside this room." His voice hardened at the names, anger and hatred infusing in a toxic mixture. Sometimes, Edward scared me too, but I know that he would never hurt me.
"Okay, okay, I give. Let's talk. What is your real name and why the hell are you here right now? Wait, a minute, holy crap! You're here right now, with me. Not in the U.S. Does Alice know? Rosalie? Emmett? Jasper? Oh my god, they're probably freaking out right now? How could I be so selfish? They're probably so worried!" I started pacing the room, grabbing at my hair in a panic. Then, I turned on him, "You! Edward how could you leave them just out of the blue like that?! What about Alice?! Duh, your sister! She's got to be— " He shushed me by putting his finger to my lips, all the while with a lazy smirk on his face.
"Beautiful, you are just panicking. Come here, it's okay. Alice knows where I am and everyone else thinks that I'm on some sort of business trip/conference to Japan." He held me in his arms, stroking my hair soothingly.
"Wait, so does Alice know about what you do?" His eyebrows furrowed,
"What I do? What do you mean, beautiful?" Suddenly, he stiffened against my arms. He tightened his hold on me. "Black! Bella, what did Black tell you? Baby, you know I'd never hurt you, right?"
"Of course I know that! Well, Jacob told me that you're the most dangerous man out there and Billy told me some story about this guy named Gero and you." My eyes searched his, trying to find truth in what Billy told me and I saw the resolve in his eyes. It was all true. It all weighed down on me now, I wasn't in the arms of the man I love. Instead, I was in the arms of a cold-blooded, heartless killer. A man who had killed hundreds of people. I averted my eyes from him. I knew now that everything was true but I still felt this gut-wrenching draw to him, I still loved him. Does this make me crazy? I still wanted to be with Edward. His eyes were filled with agony,
"Bella, I, it's—Baby, it's not what you think." Okay, that made me angry. He was trying to lie to me!
"Edward don't you dare lie to me. I am worth more than a cheap lie when I know you did all those things! Let go of me! I'm going crazy, I need to think. You just, please, Edward I can't do this right now." He was a killer but I loved him. What does that make me? I started breathing heavily, not able to handle this. I think I'm having a panic attack!
"Bella, I'm not trying to lie to you! If you could just listen, it's really not what you think." I turned on him, my eyes blazing.
"Okay, then tell me! What is it? You accidentally killed all those people?!" I realized that I was getting a little hysterical at this point, however, I thought that by now I at least have the right to act a little crazy. He was getting frustrated and it seemed like he wanted to tell me something but couldn't for some reason. Pulling at his hair, he looked at me exasperated.
"Baby, please just trust me. I can't tell you everything that's going on. I promise you, though, it's not what you think. You know me." At this point, he grabbed my hand and placed it over his heart which was beating strongly and solidly. His voice growing softer, he said,
"You know me, Bella. Better than anyone else in this world you know who I am inside." His eyes looked at me pleadingly to understand. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. After finding out something so monumental about him and he can't even explain it, I didn't know how I was supposed to feel. Deep down, I still loved him, but the more rational part of my brain didn't know how to feel about him. Tugging my hand away from him, I took a step back and crossed my arms in front of my chest. His phone suddenly buzzed and his face grew darker looking at the message. Sharply, he told me to stay calm and play along with what he was about to do. Out of nowhere, he grabs me and smashes our lips together. As a gut reaction, I melted into him, but once the shock faded away I tried to push myself out of his grasp. He wouldn't let me go and pushed me further into him.
"What do you think you're doing, Masen?! Get your filthy hands off of her!" Jacob came into view over Edward's shoulder and, finally, Edward let me go. Edward still kept an arm around my waist, hugging me closer to him as Jacob crept closer to where we stood by my bed. The expression on Jacob's face was frightening; he looked like he was about to murder Edward. Honestly, he might actually murder him and that thought alone made me shiver. Instinctively, Edward pulled me closer to him which only caused Jacob's face to turn more red.
"Masen, in the next minute you better have your hands off of her." Edward smirked in response and cockily replied,
"Black, do tell what exactly you will do if I don't move my hands. You know, I quite like where they are right now. In fact," At that, Edward moved his left hand lower than my waist and squeezed my ass. This made me gasp and glare at his profile. He was taking this too far and was on thin ice. I saw him gulp subtly and internally smirked at the fact that he knew he was in trouble with me.
"She is mine!" Jacob got right up into Edward's face and tried to be intimidating. Both men glared at each other. Edward gently pushed me away and shoved Jacob roughly.
"I don't think so, you mutt. I will take whatever I want and right now I want her. What are you going to do about it? Run to daddy all scared?" Edward mocked Jacob arrogantly and shoved him again.
"That's it you little,-" Jacob was about to punch Edward when Billy's loud voice shouted "enough!" Both men stood up straight and smoothed their clothing down.
"Jacob, Mr. Masen is a guest here and you will not do anything to make him feel unwelcome. Mr. Masen, do remember that you are a guest. My family members are not playthings for you and I will trust that you will respect them. Isabella, especially, is off limits." Billy's voice was unwavering and firm as he glared at both Jacob and Edward. I was stunned that Billy considered me family, though if I was going to be marrying his son then technically I am his daughter. I saw Edward's fists clench at Billy's words, but he wisely said nothing in response. For a moment longer Billy stared at the two men and then walked out of the room. This left the three of us alone again in the room in an awkward triangle. Jacob broke the heated silence first,
"I'm not leaving you alone with her." Edward huffed and sauntered out of the room. Jacob hesitated to follow him, but glanced back at me sympathetically. He looked genuinely concerned for me. Grazing his fingers along my cheek, he asked me if Edward had hurt me. I mutely nodded a no and told him that I was fine. He breathed out heavily, and shook his head looking at the floor.
"Bells, I promise I'm not going to let him hurt you. If he comes near you again,- " Jacob's words cut off as his anger overwhelmed him for a minute. He breathed through his nose in a way that reminded me of a bull getting ready to charge. I put my hands on his cheeks and forced him to make eye contact with me.
"Jacob, he won't hurt me." Jacob grabbed at my hands and intertwined our fingers.
"Damn right he won't." He nodded his head in affirmation and told me he had to get going. Chastely, he planted a kiss on my lips and walked out. As soon as he left, I wiped my lips furiously trying to get his germs off of me. I then crawled into my bed and let out a breath that I didn't realize I had been holding in. Today had been a long day. My eyes began to close of their own accord and I quickly fell asleep.
"Baby, pssstt, Bella? Wake up." My body was encased in strong arms and my back was pressed against something hard and soft. Groggily, I looked around and noticed that I was lying in bed with Edward. A lazy smile crept up my face as I mumbled his name and snuggled back in to sleep.
"No, baby, wake up." His lips kissed my head as he gently shook me. My grogginess morphed into anger in an instant. I shot up and untangled myself from his arms. As my senses came back to me, I felt wetness on my cheeks; the realization hit me that I had been crying in my sleep. Concerned, Edward held his arms up in surrender,
"Baby, I came to check on you and saw that you were crying so I was trying to wake you up. Come here, I know it's been a long day for you." He tried to wrap his arms around me again, but I wouldn't let him. He looked hurt at my rejection.
"No, Edward. I need answers; what the hell happened today? And if you ever touch my ass again to prove a point for some stupid pissing contest, I— " My voice cut off in fury. Edward appeared to be beyond apologetic and began to blurt out a string of apologies at his crude actions. Raising my hand up to stop him, I spoke in a deadly calm voice,
"I am giving you the next five minutes to explain what the hell is going on." Edward looked conflicted and uneasy.
"Bella, look it's complicated and you just have to trust me on this. Please, darling, I'm begging you to just go with it for now. I promise that I will explain everything but I just can't right now." He was pleading to me on his knees as his face morphed into one of regret and desperation. Taking a deep breath, I responded,
"Edward so much has happened today and I'm struggling to process it all. I have been with this wonderful, amazing man for such a long time and I thought I knew him and knew who he was. I loved him and, wait, no, not just loved. I was in love with this man and now I find out he is this—this killer?! I just don't think I can handle trusting you right now because I don't think I do." Tears formed in my eyes as I saw his reaction to my words. He was clearly upset and it felt like I stabbed him in the back when I said that I didn't trust him. I hadn't even realized that I felt that way but the words came out and seemed right. I trusted him with my life and safety, but I don't think I trust him with me right now. He slowly reached out to caress my cheek. Sounding like a dying man, he said,
"Bella, you are my everything. Whatever I say and do is for your safety and protection. You mean everything to me. I am exactly that ma that you fell in love with and that has not changed. There are just some things going on in my life that I can't tell you about. You know that and you've always known that about me. I told you that from the get-go that there are certain, private things in my life that I can't tell you about and you accepted that about me. You said that it didn't matter to you, that none of it mattered as long as we were together. Baby, this is just something else I have to be private about. I—"
"Edward, stop. I said that because I thought that those 'private' things in your life were some horrible traumatic experience in your past that you were dealing with in your own time. I never thought that you were a killer. I don't know anything about you before you were 24 and I've been okay with that because who you are now is the person that I care about. But, if you're someone that just goes around killing people I don't know how I can handle that. I don't—" At this point, my entire body was shaking and I couldn't even tell if he understood the words that were coming out of my mouth. He wrapped his arms around me and tried to soothe me again. I just needed the comfort, so I let him wrap his arms around me and hold me tight. We stayed like that the entire night.
