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THE MAFIA MISTRESS.

Chapter Three.

Edward's POV.

Yesterday I died, tomorrow's bleeding
Fall into your sunlight
The future's open wide beyond believing
To know why hope dies
Losing what was found, a world so hollow
Suspended in a compromise
The silence of this sound is soon to follow
Somehow sundown

And finding answers
Is forgetting all of the questions we call home
Passing the graves of the unknown

As reason clouds my eyes, with splendor fading
Illusions of the sunlight
And the reflection of a lie will keep me waiting
Love gone for so long

This day's ending is the proof of time killing all the faith I know
Knowing that faith is all I hold

And I've lost who I am
And I can't understand
Why my heart is so broken
Rejecting your love
Without love gone wrong
Life
Less words
Carry on

But I know
All I know
Is that the ends beginning

Who I am from the start
Take me home to my heart
Let me go
And I will run
I will not be silenced

All this time spent in vain
Wasted years
Wasted gain
All is lost
Hope remains
And this war's not over

There's a light
There's the sun
Taking all the shattered ones
To the place we belong
And his love will conquer

And I've lost who I am
And I can't understand
Why my heart is so broken
Rejecting your love
Without love gone wrong
Life
Less words
Carry on

But I know
All I know
Is that the ends beginning

Who I am from the start
Take me home to my heart
Let me go
And I will run
I will not be silenced

All this time spent in vain
Wasted years
Wasted gain
All is lost
Hope remains
And this war's not over

There's a light
There's the sun
Taking all the shattered ones
To the place we belong
And his love will conquer all
Yes his love will conquer all

Yesterday I died, tomorrow's bleeding
Fall into your sunlight

Shattered by Trading Yesterday

From the beginning, the mafia was always painted as a bunch of men who swore like sailors and had no value for human life. That was the stereotype; a stereotype that my family in no way fit. The mafia had a structure; a dynamic structure. No man knew more than what he was required to do.

At the bottom of the pyramid were the fall men; the petty wannabe gangster you see on the street corner. If they fall, the Mafia lost nothing. They might think we need them but we don't. It was easy to replace them; too easy actually. They were all lured into this life with the promise of flashy cars and high class living; some things they would never achieve.

Above them, but still at the bottom of the crap pile, were the handlers. They were a little more valuable but again, replaceable. They were the ones who were in charge of the wannabe's. If something went wrong, they had to answer. It was these guys who we gave the drugs and ammunition to. They were the ones who everyone went after from law enforcement to the other handler who wants the turf but at the end of the day they meant nothing. They were puppets; each and every single one of them.

Moving higher up the ladder are the important men. We call them the sleepers because no one except for the head of the Mafia knew who they were. They were the link between the violence in the street and the high class assassinations that made killing look like an art. Admittedly, the sleepers were important. They, as their name suggest, are silent men. They handle everything on the street but the beauty of being a sleeper was that no one knew who you were so no one could come after you and it was the sleepers that acted as the break that helped keep the operations and involvement of the Mafia in society, silent.

And then we reach the top. These were the top men; the men who knew everything. If you wanted to know anything, from the time and the date when a small time convenience store would be robbed to the place where a top government official was buried twenty years ago after going missing in Guam: ask them. They were the men who called the assassinations and dictated maybe have of the laws every written ensuring there were loop holes to keep themselves protected. If a life was to be taken, it was calculated, planned, discussed and then the target was taken out. Make no mistake and confuse the mafia with hitmen. You would be a fool to do so. The Mafia had hitmen but like everything the role of a hitman was and is distinct and separated from the role of a Don. These were the men who were protected at all cost because if they went down, everything goes straight to hell. These were the men like my father, Jonathon Hale and me: the Dons.

My mind was yet to catch with me. It was still in that room trying to process all that was said.

Charles Swan….

Rosie…

The Kings…

The De Lucas…

Isabella….

As soon as I reached my office, I threw the door open with such force that it slammed against the wall. I knew Jasper and Emmett had followed me as they should. Yanking of my jacket and tie, I threw them onto the floor by my desk as I poured myself a glass of scotch. Jasper and Emmett had already seated themselves in front of my desk and were going through the file my father handed them.

Guzzling down my scotch, I closed my eyes at the familiar burn allowing it to sooth me to the extent that I could deal with what I had been told and what I had yet to do. I knew that since my father was preparing to hand over the family now that he would not help in this, in any way, until a need arose. Refilling my glass, I walked over to my desk and sat; leaning back in my chair with my finger tips joined.

As I looked up, I meant the gaze of the only two men I trusted with my life. They were both sleepers, keeping this family protected. They were my brothers in bloodshed and my comrades in war however they came with two completely different personalities but it just made them more lethal: Where one was pure muscle and strength, the other was lithe and fast. Where one was brutal and blunt, the other was cunning and silent. Yes: Emmett and Jasper were different but it kept us all alive.

"What do we know?" I asked the two men.

"Quite a bit actually," Jasper replied as he shuffled around some papers in his file before continuing.

"Name: Isabella Marie Swan. Date of Birth: 13th September. Graduated top of her class in business. Both parents are dead. Doesn't work but has a lot of money. Apparently she got a shitload of cash when her father died and now she just invests in stocks."

"Where does she live, Major?" I asked, cutting to the chase. I would deal with the little details later.

"In high class Chicago." He answered, "The Gold Coast to be exact."

"Holy Shit!" Emmett exclaimed. "That girl is making some serious cash."

"Yeah. From her information here, she has seven bank accounts all with over half a million dollars each."

"How the hell does she do it?" He asked.

"She knows how to play the stocks. She sees thing other people don't and has made a killing for herself." Jasper shrugged, knowing that was of little importance.

"Do we have a schedule for her?"

"That's the thing Edward: she only leaves her apartment once a week and it's on Sunday when she goes to church."

"What?" I asked confused.

"She's a loner. She does not have a job, no friends. Once every two weeks she has groceries delivered to her door but other than that she stays within the four walls of her apartment building."

"Well we have to get to her somehow and we can't do that in church and we can't meet her in her home in case we go there, she freaks, she moves and we lose her." I said throwing my head back in frustration knowing that this was complicating things a bit. "Couldn't she be a shopping addict like Alice? It would make getting to meet her a lot easier." I groaned.

"Nope! Chick has got herself a personal shopper." Emmett chortled.

"But something is not adding up Edward." Jasper said, completely ignoring Emmett and myself.

"What?" I asked cautiously, raising my eyebrow.

"Not what…..who?"

"I'm confused." Emmett said. Well you and meet both, pal.

"Isabella is not adding up. This," He said as he thrusting a sheet of paper out to me, "is a letter of character given to her by her dean when she graduated. Read it and tell me the person we are discussing and the person that dean was describing is the same person."

With an exasperated sigh, I picked up the paper and began to read. What I read however left me bleeding for this girl who I did not know.

"How did we not see this? We are supposed to protect our own. " I roared as I sprang to my feet in search of my father.

"We did, Edward." Emmett responded as he followed me.

"No we did not. We might of protected her from the guns and the drugs and the bloodshed but we did not protect her for herself; her loneliness, her pain."

"Edward, that is bullshit and you now it." Emmett continued to argue and for some odd reason I snapped.

Before anyone knew what was happening, I spun around, grabbed Emmett by his throat and threw him into the wall pinning him there.

"Emmett, listen to me and listen to me well. For six years, this family kept a secret from me; a secret that left an innocent man dead and his daughter parentless because he chose to protect one of ours; your wife. At the time, two Dons who were supposed to know everything, thought that by just allowing her physical protection, that she would be alright but tell me Emmett, would you be alright if you were the last one standing in our family and everyone else was dead? I don't think you will be alright like we expected her to be. We slipped up. We slipped up big time and may have cost Isabella her sanity." I said; my voice cold as ice and hard as steel.

Ten minutes later, I found him in the orchid garden, lying on his back with his head in my mother's lap.

"Dad, I need you!" I shouted as soon as he was within hearing range. Instantly he shot up and turned to look at me.

"Edward, what is it?" He asked with a slightly panicked look in his eyes.

"When we go to get Isabella, you need to go with us." I said looking at him dead in the eye.

"And why is that?" He asked; curiosity being the main emotion playing on his face.

"Did you read the file you gave us?" I asked.

"N….."I did not even give him time to finish his word.

"Shit, dad! In the file, there was a character recommendation there for Bella. Here you could read it if you want. When we compared the person she was to the person she is today you will see that she is severely depressed. She hasn't moved on from her father's death. She hasn't grieved. We thought that by just protecting her from the brutality of the mafia world that we were keeping her safe by that isn't so. That isn't true. We condemned her to that cross. She lost her father, the only person left to her. Dad, in our oath as dons we said "Mi deve proteggere la mia con il sangue di ferite e sopportare sulle mie spalle, gli oneri non mi consentono di affrontare la mia famiglia." Dad, this was her burden to bear and we left her alone."

"Edward," my father chuckled, "I'm sure you are mistaken son." He said placing a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"No, Mr. Cullen," Jasper interjected, "He is not mistaken at all. These were pictures of Isabella taken just last week." He said as he passed my father the pictures.

I looked on as horror filled my father's face as he looked at the pictures; do doubt seeing the pain Isabella was in. I had lost count of the number of pictures he looked through until he stopped at one and closed his eyes. After taking a deep breath, to calm himself he looked at me and every single guard who stood silently watching the exchange.

"Listen up all of you. Find an opening to get to Isabella Swan now!" He roared and with that everything was set in motion for us to bring Isabella Marie Swan home.

It had been fifteen days, four hours and twenty-seven minutes since the order to find an opening was issued. The dealings of the Mafia continued uninterrupted: meetings were held, drug and ammunition brought in, men were killed

But the family was in shambles. Rosalie was again distraught and blamed herself for the pain Isabella was now in. Alice was in pain because she knew how much Isabella meant to the family and even thought she was not a part of the family yet, she was considered to be member of it. My mother was as bad of as was to be expected. She loved Isabella. They all did but I somehow felt a bit of jealousy knowing that they knew of her existence of so long.

Jasper, Emmett and I were now part of a twenty-four hour surveillance team. Normally we would be no where near this but we were now obligated, by blood oath, to right the wrong that we had, either knowingly or unknowingly, allowed to occur. Isabella had taken a blow for your family and we had allowed her to live in that pain for too long. She was too pure and too innocent to be in so much pain. She did not deserve the pain she was in and I would ensure she no longer hurt.

But the reaction that had shocked me the most was my father's. It took Esme the better part of a day to get him to calm down and to stop blaming himself for the pain Isabella was in. She argued that he couldn't have known that she would have withdrawn from the world the way she did but he would rebut her by saying that he should have checked and kept on checking. I know that the vows he took when he became a Don were weighing heavily on his mind. No one but the Dons knew the actual weight and burden those words carried and while our wives were there when the burden became too much, the comfort that they gave simply was never enough.

I was in my office, once again reading Isabella's file. In there was a picture of her. I remember the first time I had seen the picture, to which I was rendered breathless. She was beautiful; undeniably so. Her hair, her lips, her eyes, everything about her drew me in. I knew there and then that I wanted to get to know her; befriend her; beguile her. I wanted her to whisper into my ear and run her fingers through my hair. I wanted her presence and scent to engulf me; sooth me. I wanted her.

I was so lost in thought that I did not know anyone else was in my office until I heard the voice of my wife.

I was nineteen when I married Tanya and at that point in my life I can say that I honestly loved my wife. She was kind, loving and caring but money and power got to her, even though it was not hers, and she changed into who she was today: a cold, bitter shrew who I wanted nothing to do with. Our marriage had ended a long time ago and now I knew it was time it ended legally. I had no love left for her. I just could not do it anymore.

"Eddie, what are you doing?" Tanya asked. It took all of my self-control not to cringe at the sound of her voice.

"I am working, Tanya." I answered in the voice I would use to explain something to our son, Matthew.

"At three in the morning?" She said raising her eyebrow in question.

"Yes, Tanya."

"But I want you in bed, with me." She whined. "Come on!" She demanded yanking me from my seat.

"Tanya, I will come to bed when I am ready." I barked out, "Go back to bed, now."

"God Edward! What crawled up your ass and died. Fine I will go but don't worry of coming to bed. Stay here with your precious work." She sneered while she walked out.

And all the while, all I could do was try to find some reason to stay married to her and I was failing miserably.

It was now morning and the mood in the house was of pure mourning and sorrow. Today was the day that Charles Swan had died. Today, was the day the Isabella lost everything that was dear to her in the world. Today was the day that we had abandoned one of our own.

In the Cullen household, it was unspoken protocol that all meals occurred as a family and today at breakfast the members of the family were silent as they remembered what we had lost this day.

My father and I sat at opposite ends of the table while our wives sat on our right. To my left was the only good thing that came from my marriage to Tanya. Matthew Carlisle Cullen was born on December 15th three years ago. I was twenty seven when I held my son for the first time and I have loved him from that moment.

In the Mafia, family meant everything. You would do anything for your family. The Mafia wives were placed on pedestals and worshipped. They were respected and loved. To hurt your wife in any form or fashion was frowned upon. The princes and princesses of the Mafia were the heart and soul around which everything was centered. The love shown to them was unparallel. I should know. Matthew was my world; my everything and as much as I despised my wife, I owed her everything because of him.

Presently, Matt was meticulously arranging the pancake I had cut for him in order. Alice was on his right helping him and ensuring that a few pieces of his pancake reached his mouth. I could not help the smile that spread across my face as I watched those two interact. Matt would place down his pancake in a line and then Alice would pick it up to feed him. Huffing, he would glare at her for breaking his line and grudgingly open his mouth to accept his food. As much as he hated her disruptions, he never revolted. After all she was the closest thing to a mother my son had since Tanya had all but verbally disowned him at birth. She wanted nothing to do with him and when we discovered that Matthew had autism, it just helped cement that fact that she would have nothing to do with him.

"Da!" Matthew squealed when he realized that I was staring at him.

"Yes little prince." I said as I scooped him out of his high chair and sat him on my lap.

Cradling him, with his back against my chest, I took his breakfast and started to feed him myself. There was no greater love than the love I had for my son. Tanya was not so quietly huffing and puffing. After our squabble last night, I had indeed not returned to our bedroom. I had stayed in my office and had fallen asleep with Isabella's picture lying on my chest. I did not know what it was about her but to look at those pictures of her and to see her so broken just made me want to take her into my arms and take away all the hurt and the pain.

Suddenly, the doors to the dining area were thrown open and one of our guards entered. Bowing to both my father and myself, he waited until either one indicated that he could speak. With a nod from my father he indicated that I should take the reins on this one.

"Seth, what can I do for you this morning?" I asked as I wiped a bit of food from Matthew's mouth.

"Sir, it is Isabella Swan, sir. She just ran out of her apartment building. The men who were following her said she is looking at bit messed up…. overwhelmed." He said before he bowed and stepped back.

The reaction around the table was instantaneous. Forks and knives clattered onto plates. My mother had burst into tears and was now holding hands with my father trying desperately to get some sort of comfort. Rosie looked lost and was sobbing into Emmett's chest. I knew the condition Isabella was in was only adding to her guilt. Jasper and Alice looked on helplessly at the already distraught family. The only one who showed no emotion was my vain and vapid shrew of a wife.

"Do you know where she is headed?" I asked, surprised that my own throat felt tight with emotion.

"She just arrived in the church, sir." He responded immediately, pointing to his ear piece.

"That will be all." I said and with that he walked out the room.

"We have to get her." Rosalie cried.

"And we will." I said as I passed Matthew to Alice. "She is coming home today. Alice, please make sure a room is ready for Isabella?" I asked.

"Of course Edward." Alice answered in a small voice.

Without hesitation, Emmett, Jasper and my father rose and followed me out the door.

"Jasper, make preparations to leave. Emmett, tighten security here because we are taking some of our men." I ordered as we walked the corridors together. Silently they both branched of leaving my father and me alone to walk to my office.

"Would we need to drug her, dad?" I asked.

"Edward you can't possibly think of bringing that girl here by force. I will not allow that." My father said heatedly.

"I can tell you what I am doing. I am bringing Isabella Swan back here in this house. I am going to help Isabella Swan get over her father's death and I am going to keep her safe until the day she dies." I responded; matching his anger.

"Edward," my father said softly as he closed the door, "You've become attached to her, haven't you?" He asked

"Is it a crime?" I retorted, not looking away from my window.

"No. Caring is never a crime, son but proceed with caution especially with that wife of yours."

"About that dad….couldn't you have shot me in the knee cap and bound me to a tree so I wouldn't have married her?" I said with a groan.

"I could have but how would I have had a grandson?" he said chuckling. "Prepare a dose of clonazepam. I'll use it if the need arises."

And with that, he walked out leaving me alone with my thoughts. After preparing the sedative, I walked over to my desk that was littered with Isabella's picture. Sighing, I picked up the picture that had become my favorite. In it she was looking out of her apartment window and down at the street. The sun was hitting the side of her face making her skin shimmer and glow but the sadness in her face twisted my heart and left me breathless.

"Soon. Soon you will be home, bellezza irraggiungibile." I whispered before going down to meet the others.

I had no idea how long we sat there in the car but soon enough I saw my father walking forward to the entrance of the church.

"Abbiamo ottenutio il movimento, la gente." I said sitting up in my seat.

And then there she was; the woman who had gained the loyalty of two of the most powerful families in the world through her father's act of selflessness: Miss Isabella Marie Swan.

No picture had done her justice. Her body was perfection; the curves subtle and elegant. She face was flawless with a natural beauty that all women desired. Her hair, while haphazard and uncombed, flowed down her back in a river of silky, smooth brown waves. Oh how I desired to run my fingers through her hair.

I looked on as she cautiously approached my father. He held his hand out for her to shake but she disregarded him and wrapped her own arms around herself as if she was seeking protection from some unknown force. From this angle, we could all see the exchange. My father cautiously moved towards her. I saw his lips moving. I wish I knew what he was saying to her but he refused to wear a microphone. To whatever he said, she shook her head.

Isabella, I saw my father mouth before she looked at him fully in his eyes and what I saw had me reeling back. Emmett who was seated next to me muttered a low Fuck while Jasper exhaled deeply. No one; man woman or child, should have to bear that kind of pain. Before my father could say anything else, she collapsed into his chest. Without hesitation my father brought his arms around her as clung to him. I could see him whispering into her ear while her body shook.

"Stay here." I ordered before I jumped out the car and made my way over to my father.

Kneeling down I placed a comforting hand on the small of her back as she continued to sob. My father looked at me with despair in his eyes. We had already drawn a crowd but there was noting we could do about that now.

Leaning down I whispered in her ear.

"Bellezza irraggiungibile, my name is Edward Cullen and I promise you that I will make it go away. I'll make the pain go away."

"Please!" Was all I heard her say before she latched her arms around my neck. Quickly I scooped her into my arms, cradling her to my chest.

"I'll go with Emmett, Jasper and the rest. You get her home and in bed." My father ordered as he gave her the sedative.

With a nod of my head, I stepped into the Mercedes that had pulled up and after giving the driver the order to take us home, I relished in the feel of having my broken angel in my arms.

Translations:

Mi deve proteggere la mia con il sangue di ferite e sopportare sulle mie spalle, gli oneri non mi consentono di affrontare la mia famiglia: I shall protect my own with the blood of my wounds and bear upon my back the burden I shall not allow them to bear.

Bellezza irraggiungibile: Unattainable beauty.

Abbiamo ottenutio il movimento, la gente: We've got movement people.