Disclaimer: I do not own anything Twilight related.

A/N: I didn't want to write this before I got my other updates done, but you know what, it called out to me. It screamed, "god, Nick, write it! Write it now, dammit!" and you don't deny that screeching voice in your head that demands you write it. :P You just don't. That's like a new kind of wrong.

Thanks for all those people who like my Edward, and to I am SO relieved that the thought of Edward with a gun is sexy to others, and not just me. ;) You know, being one of a kind is fun sometimes, but going with the crowd is just SO much more in style.

:) I won't make you read my ramblings anymore. Just read this.

And know I actually love this chapter. Wanna know why? 'Cause it wrote itself and it didn't feel ... wrong when I wrote it, like I forced it to come out. So, here you go!

Chapter three.

Three is my lucky number, so you better like it, friends.


I sighed, looking down at the small stick in my hand, just waiting to be brought to my mouth and pollute my longs with harmful chemicals. Thinking about it now, it seemed highly illogical to start another addiction I couldn't break, and spend more money that I couldn't afford to spend. Alice already had an urge to replenish her wardrobe every month, and it stopped bothering me after a while. She deserved that much, at least.

The phone in my back pocket buzzed, and I rolled my eyes, instantly assuming it was James attempting to give me some more information – information I hardly wanted, nor truly needed. All I wanted was to get this done as fast as humanly possible, so I could get back home at this point. I didn't want time to think about what I was doing – not just to the one I was ordered to murder, but the children currently in her custody.

Children made everything so much more difficult.

Despite my better judgement, I flipped the phone open and brought it to my ear, muttering a quiet, "Hello?" There was a quiet rustling in the background and then a shout from somewhere, before there was finally a voice from the other line.

"Hey, Edward! It's Alice, if you can't tell," Alice's cheery soprano rang from the other end, bringing an involuntary smile to my lips. "Look, I tried to tell Rose that you were on a business trip, I really did, but once she's determined, boy, she's determined. Anyway, before you start to freak out, no, everything's fine and we're all okay, there's no fire …"

I laughed quietly, cutting her off and glancing behind me, trying to see if anyone from the house had heard me. I wasn't truly that far from the window or the door, but it didn't matter much – it wasn't so much the matter of the mission anymore. It was all irrelevent, because the greater part of my mind was focused solely on Alice's voice and the situation back home, something I admitted happened often.

"Hang on a moment, Alice," I cut in, my smile now widening before it could stop it from doing so. "I'm sure you've got things perfectly under control, and you can call me as much as you want. You're not bothering me at all," I assured her, but it made me angry that I couldn't be truthful with her, or Rosalie, or anyone for that matter. It bothered me that I was constantly hiding something from her, but at the same time, it was exactly what I needed to do.

It was the only thing I could do for them anymore, and if that was the case, it meant it absolutely had to be done. The rest of it would all just have to fall into place. After a while, the guilt becomes much less of a hassle. After a while, you start to become just like everyone else in the business.

Heartless and ruthful. If that's what it took, then absolutely, I could be that.

Alice laughed on the other line, and I heard Rosalie's quiet murmuring in the background – Alice answered her, and then I assumed she put her ear back to the phone. "Hey, Jasper just called earlier and asked if he could stay over, is that okay? I know you don't like him here when you're not, but really, he's absolutely fine! I promise I'll keep him under check. I'm talking handcuffs here, Edward! Just one night!" Rosalie laughed loudly in the background, and I smiled at the sound of Alice trying to hush her.

I sighed, trying to decide whether or not I was okay with the older blond boy staying at the house when I was not there. Truthfully, he usually did sleep at the apartment, but he slept on the couch or the floor, and I was there to supervise him. Emmett, on the other hand , I had known for years, and he had my complete trust – he actually moved in with us after a while, and Alice was hoping Jasper would do the same thing too.

After a while, it became like a little group. We protected each other, we looked out for each other – when one fell, we all fell. When one got hurt, we all got hurt. When one was angry, hell, we were all angry.

I quite literally killed for them.

Alice needed my trust, though, and it was something I needed to do. Besides, if Jasper so much as harmed a hair on her head I would beat the living crap out of him when I got home.

"Alright, alright," I mumbled, rolling my eyes. "I'm not completely in charge anyway. Just tell him-"

"I know, I know. You'll beat the crap out of him if he's out of line," she laughed, and I had to smile despite myself. "Thanks, big brother."

I smiled. "Welcome. Tell Rosalie I said goodnight, okay?"

"Goodnight to you too, Ed!" Rosalie yelled somewhere in the background, making me chuckle, and Alice giggled along with me.

"You heard that, I'm guessing. Goodnight, Edward." She paused for a second, and I waited patiently, leaning against the wall of the house. "Hey, can I call you tomorrow?"

I thought about it for a moment, before nodding to myself. "Yeah, sure, kid. Go ahead."

I could practically feel her smiling on the other side of the phone. "Night, Edward." Then the phone clicked quietly, and I snapped it shut, a stupid smile gracing my lips, something that only happened when I talked to them. After a while, you just tend to shut yourself out from the world – it makes the job easier, much less painful, and much less difficult. After a while, it doesn't hurt as much to know how much you're hurting someone else.

"Hey," someone's quiet voice called from behind me, startling me a bit and snapping me out of my reverie. My gaze moved to see the girl, the one who called herself Bella - the one who, very shortly, I would have to kill. "Was that your kid on the phone? I mean, I know I shouldn't be asking, it's a bit private, but I was just wondering. You know, you look a bit young for kids, and with being a nanny and all..." she trailed off, biting hard on her bottom lip.

I shook my head, laughing humorlessly. I couldn't quite find the strength to be sincere with her. I didn't exactly want to be sincere with her, either. "No, it wasn't my kid, it was actually my sister," I explained, wondering why I even bothered to tell the truth. Then again, I did seem to owe this girl the truth, at least. "I live with her and my other sister, and their boyfriends." Why I was being this honest, though, I didn't know.

She looked at me, I swear, it wasn't like she was looking at me. I didn't understand what she was doing, but it annoyed me, because I didn't understand it. Usually, I was good at these things, I was good at reading people, figuring out how they worked, how they clicked – I could see sympathy, I could see kindness, I could see someone who as only speaking to you to be polite, but she wasn't any one of those.

She looked at me like she knew. Like she understood something that she shouldn't, something I hadn't told her – and for the moment that I allowed myself to look straight into the soul she was reaching out and letting me see, I was taken completely off guard.

"Oh," she murmured simply, nodding her head. "I understand. Garrett and Ben are actually my uncle's," she sighed, shaking her head, and I almost smiled. She was telling me because she thought I'd understand. She was telling me because she needed someone to tell.

She was telling me because she thought she could fucking trust me.

She had another thought coming to her. As soon as she let me know what her secret was, right then and there, I'd take it and leave, killing her behind me. Just like that. If only she knew…if only any of them knew. They were all so naïve. They were all sentenced to death the moment I stepped into the house.

I fought back a grimace thinking about how I was the excecutioner, trying to get the images out of my mind, the screaming, the blood, and the murders.

"He died just a while ago, actually." She shook her head, biting down on her lip as if she had said too much. "He just…he left them with me. I didn't even know him that well, and he left them and some stupid key. I have no clue what it's for, but it was all in his will. What was I going to do, refuse?" She sighed in frustration, rolling her eyes, and I had to smile this time. I noted the way when she was frustrated, her cheeks seemed to pink, and her eyes blazed.

Like she thought she was dangerous when she was angry. Like she thought she was anymore than a lamb, a lamb being stalked by a sick lion.

A sick lion whom desperately needed the money to pay the rent and keep his damn sisters alive, but a sick lion nonetheless.

It was then, with these thoughts, that I put the bits and pieces together, James' words ringing in my head.

"She's quite literally the key to fortune, Masen," he had chuckled, shaking his head, "find that key and how to use it and I will give you part of that small fortune."

"Well, I guess I shouldn't be blabbing all of this out to you, huh?" she mumbled, rolling her eyes, but giving me a nervous smile. "I'm off to bed soon. Try to get some sleep, too, big day tomorrow."

I nodded my head absently, watching her go.




The bedroom door wasn't locked.

I creaked it open gently, very careful not to wake the sleeping girl in the bed. If I worked fast, I could have all of this done by the morning and be back to James before the next day was over. I worked best in the night, and the cold air made it easier to do what I needed to do. If I just got this done quick, I wouldn't have time to think about it at all.

The drawers were all empty besides some useless crap and some jewelry she had stuck in there – and probably never used, by the looks of her. I smiled at the thought, inwardly wondering what Alice would have to say to that, before shaking it off.

I would not think of Alice while I was raiding someone's bedroom, just hours away from silencing them for good.

The floor creaked under my feet, and I held my breath, glancing towards the bed, only to realize that she hadn't woken. I smirked to myself simply – it was a good thing she was a sound sleeper. She had just made this ten times easier, not like it hadn't been easy from the beginning.

It wouldn't be too hard to find it. My eyes caught on the safe on her dresser, and I had to smirk to myself. It had to be it. She knew it was important to her uncle, so she would have stashed it away. It only made perfect sense. I could get this all done in hours.

Mission accomplished. I just wanted to get the hell out of here. I just wanted to be back at my crappy two bedroom apartment with the only reasons I bothered living anymore.

I was about to crack it open when I heard it.

The sheets behind me rustled, and at first I though t she had woken, but she hadn't, not at all. Instead, she was muttering in her sleep. At first it was just low whispers, and then it gradually got louder, her head thrashing, her legs moving under the covers, her body squirming. She looked small and defenseless like that, having a nightmare…

She looked like me.



I reminded myself to think the way I was supposed to. I needed to get this done. I remembered my plan, I remembered my promise to James, I remembered how easy this was, I remembered how easy it would be to kill her, I remembered how the longer I waited the more agonizing it was –

And then she whimpered a quiet, "no, please. Don't leave me…"

"Mommy, don't go! Please don't go! Mommy…" the little boy cried, tears streaming down his ivory cheeks. "Don't leave me…"

With one last look at the small bedroom, I closed the door behind me.


A/N: Hope this gave you more insight onto what kind of person Edward is, and what he's been through.

I got a little glassy eyed at the last part, but you probably won't. After all, I know more than you. ;) But still, it made me feel bad for him, and though we all love to hate the bad guy, hey, here's a look into the bad guy's mind. I dunno, this story is really fun to write, so I hope it's half as fun to read.

Plus, I read this and I had questions, so if YOU have questions, go ahead and ask and I'll try and get back to you. Though, my response may just be like "oh, I talk about that later, keep reading". :) Fair warning, right?

So with all that said, I'd LOVE if you gave me some feedback, because that's amazing.

And like I've said many times before.

...Uhm.

I dunno. I'm out of bribes. How about, I smile when I get reviews.

So when you send a review, you're giving me one smile. and I'm usually in the room with the people who live with me for the time being, well, sometimes, and then they smile because they see me smile. And or laugh at my lameness and random outbursts of giggles. Either way, you make them happy.

Point is. Donate a smile and or laugh, review.

Ooh, that's catchy. :) I think I'll use that.

XO,

Nicky