The next night Jacob picked me up just as he had said he would and we headed into the city. I was excited, not only for the date, but also to get the chance to see the city. I had been here a few weeks but hadn't found the time to go exploring.

After parking the car we walked down one of the streets for about ten minutes before turning off into a side street. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. The street looked more like an alleyway and it wasn't very lit up or busy. In fact it looked pretty deserted.

Jacob seemed to sense my apprehension.

"I know this looks a little bit dodgy, but there's this Italian bistro here and I swear they serve the best pizza you've ever tasted," he assured me, placing his hand gently on my back.

I immediately felt much safer and trusted his judgment. We reached the bistro and he chivalrously opened the door and let me go in first.

I was amazed. The place was adorable. It only had about twenty tables and they were all decorated with cute candles that had wax spilling over the edges.

There were eight other couples quietly dining and mellow jazz music played at a low volume, just loud enough to set the tone.

A waiter promptly seated us and handed us the menus, along with a list of wine. Jacob picked it up and ran his eyes through it.

"Are you a red or white kind of girl?" he asked, perusing through the list.

"Oh, I'm fine with water," I insisted, taking a gulp of my glass.

"Don't be silly, it's on me. You deserve a little glass of wine after a long week of classes," he grinned.

"Well actually, it's just…well…you know I'm only 19," I blushed.

"Doesn't matter, we're in Italy now," he laughed.

We settled on a sweet rosé from the list and within minutes our dishes were served up. The pizzas were big enough to feed four people, and yet none went to waste.

Jacob was refreshingly sophisticated. I listened to him talk about talk about his experience in the political game and his hopes for his next campaign.

Admittedly, he did seem to talk exclusively about politics, and asked me very little questions about myself. But I didn't even care. I was lucky enough to be on a date with a gorgeous upperclassman who was set to become the next student union president. I had nothing to complain about.

"And for dessert what will the lovely couple be wanting?" the waiter asked in his thick Italian accent when he returned to our table.

"Oh man, Bella, you have got to try the chocolate soufflé, it is divine," Jacob exclaimed.

"Sounds good to me," I smiled, handing my menu back to the waiter. "Actually, I think I'm going to take this time to run to the bathroom."

I headed towards the bathrooms, located around a corner from the main bistro dining room. They were at the end of a corridor that had a large window looking out into the alleyway we had come up in.

As I walked past the window I noticed a familiar head of messy golden hair lurking at one of the corners. He was wearing a buttoned up black coat and gloves.

Why on earth would Edward be here? There didn't seem to be much amenities around here apart from the bistro and some residential apartments.

As my mind began to run wild with possibilities I saw another man approaching him. This man was huge, he must have been at least 6'4'', and had an extremely broad build. He was wearing a cap and also had gloves.

I could see, even from this far back, that their exchange was not exactly pleasant. The man seemed to be hissing something while Edward stared back with a frown. The man looked around his shoulder and I quickly ducked down, afraid he would see me peering out from the window.

When I got back up I could only see their backs walking away down the alleyway. I couldn't stop myself. Before I knew it I had ducked out the door of the bistro and followed them inconspicuously.

They turned down an even narrower alley, only a few metres long. I hung back around the corner and leaned over to try and hear what they were saying.

"I'm serious Cullen, you're on thin ice this time," the man scolded.

"I don't take threats from a lackey, you go back and tell Lukawski it's in his best interest to keep business partnerships intact. There's plenty of others interested, believe me," Edward replied, in a confident, menacing tone.

I couldn't make sense of any of this. What business could he be involved in? Why was this huge man seemingly afraid of someone like Edward?

I couldn't hear what they were saying from that point on but I noticed Edward slipping a small parcel wrapped in brown paper out from his coat and into the hands of the large man.

They kept discussing something under their breath, something I was dying to hear. I tried to etch myself closer to them without being noticed. Unfortunately, I took a wrong step and accidentally slipped on the sidewalk, landing on my ass with a huge thud.

Before I could get up and run the two men were standing above me. Edward looked completely confused but the other man looked outraged.

He grabbed me by the hem of my shirt and dragged me up, throwing me against the wall of the alleyway.

"Who do you work for, huh?" he yelled, getting right up to my face. "You a spy for Cleo? You can tell him that I am not above beating the crap out of a chick—-"

"Jesus cut it out, would you?" Edward shouted at him, shoving him away from me. He stood between me and the man.

"She works for me. I had her here to make sure we weren't being followed," he said calmly, looking straight at the man.

"And she knows about—"

"She knows about it all. Like I say, she's an employee", Edward cut the man off before he could spill the beans about their whole exchange.

He turned to where I was still cowering in fear and shock.

"We're done here. Go out and tell Harrison to start the car back up," he frowned at me, clearly fuming inside though playing it cool.

I cautiously nodded and walked slowly away, back towards the bistro.

Once inside the door again I headed straight for the bathroom to splash some water in my face. My heart was still pounding and I was shaking. I knew I couldn't go back into Jacob looking like this so I took five minutes to calm myself down and straighten up.

I think I seemed cool and relaxed when I went back to the table. The desserts were already served and Jacob had eaten half of his. I shouldn't have been surprised, I was gone for about twenty minutes.

"I am so sorry," I apologised as soon as I sat back down. "I didn't mean to take that long."

"I was starting to wonder whether you had done a runner on me," he joked.

"I would never," I smiled, and started to dig in to the soufflé, "apologies again."

"Don't sweat it, it happens to us all," he shrugged.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"It was a lot of pizza. And with all that bread at the start too. It's no biggie to have relieve yourself," he said nonchalantly, spooning the dessert into his mouth.

I kept eating mine too, mostly to avoid having to respond.

This night had started out amazingly well. Somehow by the end of it, I had been almost beaten up and my date thought that I had had the shits for the last twenty minutes. Wonderful.