Breakfast is cold, as cold as our bed. I'm watching you choke down the words that you said. I watch you devour, mistake me for bread. Well boy, is you fed, or are you misled? I gave you the messiest head, you give me the messiest head. Oh, you're turnin' red 'cause I'm tryna give the impression that I get the message you wish I was dead. ~ Halsey, Lie
~H.K.~
Shit. Carlisle Cullen. Outside our door. Not good.
I stare at him through the peep hole, hoping my eyes are playing tricks on me. I know they're not, though.
I hear faint snores coming from Edward in the other room, and I desperately want to hold on to our perfect night for as long as I can.
Carlisle knocks again, though, and I know I can't ignore reality any longer. I slowly open the door and try not to take the look of disgust on Carlisle's face personally.
"Hello, Mr. Cullen," I whisper.
"Is my son here?" he asks impatiently.
"He's asleep."
"Good. I'd like to talk to you," he doesn't wait for an invitation in, he simply pushes past me and walks past the destroyed living room into a side office. I follow him silently.
Carlisle sits behind the desk in the small room, and it irritates me. It's like he feels like he is in charge here. If there's one thing that irks me to no end, it is people who feel entitled to everything, just because of their name or their wealth.
"What did you want to talk about?" I ask him. I stay by the door, leaning against the door jam. Something about this man makes me think I should have an easy way out if needed.
"Your relationship with my son."
Immediately, every muscle in my body tenses. I'm not going to let him take Edward away from me.
"What about it?"
Carlisle sighs and sits back in the office chair. "I assume he's told you about our… business?"
I lock eyes with him, his deep blue eyes cold and harsh. My face remains neutral and my voice even as I respond. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Ah, you are an exceptional actress, Isabella. But there's no need to lie."
"What do you want?" I snap. I'm tired of his games.
"I'm here to make sure you understand what you've gotten yourself into." Carlisle sits up and folds his hands on the desk. There's a disconcerting smirk on his face. "We are the biggest crime family in the United States. We can make people disappear at the drop of a hat. Even people as well-known as yourself."
Despite the direct threat, I keep my face neutral. I stare into Carlisle's cold eyes unblinking.
"Edward is groomed to take over for me, so you'll understand why I need him to be focused right now. You, my dear, make him reckless. You make him forget what he's worked for the last fifteen years of his life."
"Jesus, you made him start… this at eleven?" God, he never even got to be a kid then. His whole life has been about money and drugs and fighting for his life.
"It's the family business." Carlisle shrugs, as if it's normal to start your kids working before they're even a teenager. "Don't think that Edward doesn't enjoy his job, he does. He was all too happy to kill the man who told Volturi about you. Of course, that was after he spent four hours torturing him for information."
My face loses its composure for just a second, but I know Carlisle notices. My arms wrap around my waist and one hand reaches up to rub my neck. The neck where the lips of a murderer love to be.
No. He's trying to scare me into leaving. I'm not going to let him intimidate me.
"Now, for the reason for my visit. I need to know, darling Isabella, what it will take for you to leave."
"What it'll take for me to leave?"
Carlisle looks frustrated, his cool composure slowly slipping away. "How much money do you want, Isabella?"
My anger flares and I forget I'm talking to a man who, just moments ago, said he would have no trouble making me disappear. "I don't want your fucking money. I don't want anything to do with the family business. I just want Edward."
"Whether you like it or not, Edward is the family business. I'm not going to have you ruining the family name." Carlisle runs his hands through his hair, much like Edward does when he's stressed, and thinks for a moment. "You love him, yes?"
My voice is strong and clear. "Yes."
"Then you'll leave him. Because the longer you let this go on, the more danger you're both in."
Both? I know Edward said someone was after me, but I really haven't thought much of it. It's been weeks and nothing has happened. But being with me put Edward in danger? That didn't make any sense.
"Ah, you haven't thought of that, have you?" Carlisle smirks, but it is nothing like the ones I get from his son. This one is cocky and underhanded. "People in our line of work can't afford any distractions. Edward has already made mistakes in the last few months that could have left him dead. I love my son, too, Isabella. Which is why, if you don't leave on your own, I'll have to take matters into my own hands."
Carlisle pulls a gun out from… somewhere. I don't know. All I know is it is pointed directly at me.
Before I can scream for Edward, a click from beside me catches my attention. There he is, clad only in his black boxer shorts from last night, but with an equally intimidating looking gun pointed directly at his father. Shit.
Edward takes a few small steps and reaches an arm toward me, gently pushing me behind him. My hands rest on the bare skin of his back. I can feel his heartbeat, and I try to level my breathing with is.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing here?" Edward asks his father, the venom in his voice deadly.
"I'm saving you from making a mistake that will affect both of us," Carlisle spits out.
"This is going too far, Carlisle, and you know it."
"Where's your loyalty, Edward?"
"Where's your loyalty? You come here to threaten the woman I love, and you ask me where my loyalty is? I'm your son, not another associate you can boss around."
Carlisle is silent for a few moments, and I wish I could see his expression. I'm too scared to move from my spot behind Edward though.
"Fine. Don't expect me to fix everything when this implodes."
I can hear Carlisle stand, and I know he'll walk right past us to get out the door. I want to look at him as he walks past, stare into his unforgiving eyes and let him know that his words mean nothing to me; but I can't, because they do.
I cowardly turn my head away as he walks past. Neither of us move until we hear the door slam shut.
"Are you okay?" Edward turns around to face me, his eyes sad with worry. His hand gently cups my face.
I nod, but I can't meet his eyes. I just lean my forehead against his chest.
"What are we doing?" I ask him, my voice nothing more than a whisper.
"Don't worry about whatever he said to you, Bella. It's –"
"Are you in danger? Is being with me going to put you at risk?"
Edward wraps his arms around my waist, hugging me to him tightly. "I'm fine, baby. You don't need to worry about me."
"Is being with me going to put you in more danger than you were before?"
Edward sighs and realizes that I'm not going to let this go. "There have been some rumblings that people are skeptical about our relationship. It's nothing you have to worry about."
"But I do worry. I can't – I can't be the reason you end up dead." My voice barely gets the last word out. The idea of Edward no longer being alive, whether he's with me or not, is mind numbing.
"Everything will work out. Right now, your safety is the priority. After things calm down we can figure out how to make this work. Permanently. We just need time, Bella."
"Time isn't going to change much, Edward." I whisper.
A ringing comes from the other room, startling us both.
"Shit." I rush out and fumble through our mess to find my phone. I find it thrown amongst some sheets and curse at the time. I have two hours to get to the airport.
Please grab my stuff from my room and send a car to the Four Seasons.
I text Kate quickly before I look for any salvageable clothing from the night before.
Edward walks in and hands me my shorts and his white button down. "Wear this," he tells me. His voice is wrong. Defeated.
"What about you?" I ask him.
He shrugs. "I'll have someone bring me some clothes."
I dress quickly, ignoring the ripped tights and top that I know are in the bathroom. My feet protest when I slide on the uncomfortable heels from the night before, but I revel in the scent of Edward surrounding me when I button his shirt up around me.
When I'm dressed I look at Edward. He's still in just his boxers and his hair is still ruffled from our long night. His mossy eyes are tired, and he's got a hit of stubble popping up on his chin and jawline.
I can't be the reason that man is taken from this earth, I just can't. But can I also live in a world where he moves on from me? Could I handle seeing him marry another girl, one who won't bring unwanted attention to him and his family? I don't know.
I throw my arms around him and hug him as tightly as I can. I breathe in his scent and commit it to my memory. I love you, I love you, I love you.
Edward gently cradles my head against his chest and wraps his other arm around my waist. "Forget everything he said, Bella. It's just you and me, remember? Hold on to that, and hold on to last night. I'll see you in four weeks, okay?"
Four weeks. I have four weeks of constant interviews and premieres to get through. But what happens then? Am I selfish enough to run back to Edward, even though it could hurt him in the long run?
I hate myself for not immediately shutting down the idea.
~H.K.~
Heidi is waiting for me at my home when I get back to Los Angeles, so I know I'm going to have to explain myself now.
Kate, thankfully, could see I was in no mood to discuss what happened last night. I'm not naïve enough to think there aren't a dozen news stories going around about it, and I know it's bad timing. Despite what some people say, there is such a thing as bad publicity and the studio won't want all of the headlines for the next month to be about me running around New York City.
Heidi has been my manager since I started. I know she's part of the reason I am where I am today. She's great at her job, she gets me excellent roles and appearances. But she's been getting more and more demanding lately. I'm hoping it'll pass.
"Bella, what did you do?" Heidi asks the second I walk in my own home.
"What?" I ask. I don't want to admit to anything before I know what she knows. I guess it would've been a good idea to see what stories were written about last night, but I spent the whole flight sleeping. It was either sleep or cry, so I went with sleep.
Heidi throws a few different tabloid magazines on the table and spreads them out so I can read all of the headlines.
Bella Swan's night out on the town!
Bella Swan parties in $50k NYC hotel suite.
Bella Swan trashes one of the most expensive hotel suites in New York City.
"I was hoping your rebellious phase would wait until after the Tainted movies were over with." Heidi fumes.
"I'm not going through a rebellious phase, and I wouldn't call the suite trashed." Okay, maybe it was. But it wasn't like we threw a party or anything. It was just us.
Heidi just ignores me. "Who was he?"
"What?" I look back through the magazines and sure enough, there's a blurry picture of Edward holding my hand as we walk through the lobby of the Four Seasons. "It doesn't matter."
Thankfully Kate keeps her mouth shut. She knows Edward is off limits to Heidi.
"Bella, we need to –"
"We don't need to do anything. We'll let them speculate, and we blacklist all questions about last night in every upcoming interview. That's it."
"It's not that simple, Bella."
"I'm making it that simple!" I shout. God, I'm so tired of people telling me what to do. First Carlisle this morning, and now Heidi. I've had enough of it.
~H.K.~
I hate it when Heidi is right. Every second of the last three weeks has been spent doing interviews or in dress fittings for premieres or, if I'm lucky, getting a few hours of sleep. And, of course, in absolutely every interview I have been asked about my 'wild night out' in New York City.
Every time someone brings it up I imagine myself just getting up, walking out, and getting on the first flight to Chicago. I see headlines of how I abruptly stopped acting and fell off of everyone's radar, never to be heard from again. And I see myself waking up next to Edward every morning after that.
But I never do it. I smile and laugh about how they know not to ask me that even though I want to scream at them for the constant reminder of the man I know I can't have.
It feels like every day a little chunk of my heart breaks off, and that eventually my chest will just be hollow. Empty. Alone.
Every day Edward sends me a simple, three-word text; I love you.
Every day I reply with my own simple, four-word text; I love you, too.
We both know that it doesn't solve any of our problems. There is no solution in these words, just comfort.
Everyone can tell I'm different. I used to be able to be happy and bubbly and funny for interviews. I actually enjoyed them at one point. I loved talking about my projects because I was proud of the work I had done.
I'm proud of this last movie of course, but everything else that I've gone through the last six months is too hard to ignore.
I've become one of those actors who gives short, one-word answers to most questions. I don't elaborate or joke around with the interviewer. I'm not the latest meme waiting to happen anymore.
I'm angry and bitter and it shows.
For most of the interviews I'm paired with Ryan. We got the closest during the filming of these movies, mostly because we were the two main characters. But, he has become a good friend.
I didn't tell him all of the details, of course, but he does know the gist of why I'm so angry. He's helped me deflect a lot of questions about the whole ordeal.
We're finally done with the interviews in Los Angeles. Tonight, is the world premiere of the final Tainted film in London. Then tomorrow we go to Berlin, Paris, and Madrid all within a span of four days.
Then, after premieres in Los Angeles and New York City we're done.
Part of me is sad, I'll miss working with all of these people. But part of me is also dying to something to change. What I need to change I don't know, but I just need… something.
~H.K.~
It feels good to be back in Los Angeles, even if I'm only here for less than forty-eight hours. I got in late last night, and tonight is the second to last premiere. The Los Angeles premieres are always the most intense in my opinion.
The fans are crazier, the press is everywhere, and there's just this feeling in the air that doesn't seem to be there in other cities.
I'm just ready for this month from hell to be over with.
I haven't had any contact with Edward besides our 'I love you' texts every day. We seem to be at some kind of standstill and I don't know what to do about it. Has he changed his mind? He still loves me, but has he decided that it's too much work to do anything about it?
Kate follows behind me as we leave the house, constantly rearranging the train on my dress. I have to admit, this is one of my all-time favorite dresses I've ever worn on a red carpet.
The white silky skirt floats to the floor around me with a slit up to my mid-thigh. Two-thirds of the top is a mesh material covered in intricate silver strips of sparkles, making a web of glitter across my chest. Then the left arm is the solid white material of the skirt.
My stomach is usually a mess of butterflies before events like this. It's nerve wracking, walking into a giant throng of people who are all screaming for you. It's flattering, but scary at the same time.
I haven't really felt those nerves at all this time around. Something is different. Maybe I'm different.
When my car pulls up I take a few deep breaths before my door is opened. Flashes come at me from every angle and screams surround me. I wave at a few of the cameras around me, and make my way directly to the line of fans just in front of me.
I always start with the fans. They're the only reason I put up with these events.
I'm a few feet away from the barricade when three shots ring out.
The screams turn from excited to scared, and I see people around me drop to the ground, probably to avoid the bullets.
I'm frozen. In shock I think.
I look down and see blood starting to seep into my beautiful white dress.
~H.K.~
EPOV
I get most of my work done late at night. The office is quiet and there are no distractions to put up with. The only sound on the whole floor is the television I have in the corner playing the news quietly for some background noise.
I'm shifting through files, when an odd buzzing comes from the television. I look up and see a Breaking News logo appear and turn up the volume.
"Good evening. We are just receiving reports of a shooting at the Los Angeles premiere of Tainted. These are very preliminary reports, but we are being told that actress Isabella Swan was hit at least once. We have no word on her condition."
My ears start ringing and my heart stops beating. No, that can't be right.
We've been tracking every one of Aro's contacts. All of the men of his who go for his hits have been accounted for, and no one has gotten near Bella in a month.
I made sure of it.
A news alert with a similar headline pops up on the computer in front of me, and my phone begins to vibrate on my desk.
I answer immediately.
"I'm following the ambulance to the hospital, and Eric is staying behind to find the fucker. She was hit twice. That's all I know." Ben.
"Tell Eric I want hourly updates. I'm sending Jasper and Emmett to help him."
I hang up without another word.
I leave my office with only my phone in my hand. I think the television was still on, but I don't care. Once I'm to my car I dial Liam, the man I have tailing Aro, and he tells me he's at one of the restaurants he owns, dining with his family. His alibi.
I park illegally in front of the restaurant, and quickly walk in. I ignore the protests from the hostess and the valet. I won't be here long.
When I enter their private dining room all eyes turn to me. Aro sits with his wife, two sons, and two daughters.
"Edward, how nice to see you!" Aro exclaims. Fucker.
I ignore his greeting, and the formal greeting his wife, Sulpicia, gives me. I see a slight hint of trepidation in Aro's eyes as I approach him. In any other situation that would give me immense pleasure, but right now everything is numb. I'm only angry.
I lean a hand on the table next to him, pulling out my glock and digging it into his side with the other. I'm sure the security hiding in the shadows of the room have their own guns pointed at me, but I don't care.
It makes me nauseous to lean in to this vile man, but I do. "If she dies, I will take out everyone. Your wife, your children, your siblings, their families… I'll watch the life leave their eyes all myself. And then, once you're all alone, I'll come for you. You'll have nothing left. Your empire, if that's what you think you can call it now, will be gone. You'll be nothing, but I'll still spend hours putting you through the same torture the rest of your family went through.
"If she lives, maybe I'll spare your family. You wanted a war, here's your fucking war."
I stand and straighten myself, sliding my glock back in my slacks. I give a pleasant nod to Sulpicia and Aro's oldest son, Felix, decides to pipe up.
"Must be some great pussy," he mutters, laughing with his brother.
His laugh dies when I have my hand around his throat and his back against the wall. Before I can do any real damage, Liam's voice is in my ear.
"Calm down, Cullen. You need to go."
Fuck, I need to get on a plane. "The plane is fueled and waiting. Emmett and Jasper are already there."
I drop my hand from around Felix's neck, but see a satisfying bruise already starting to form in the shape of my hand.
I notice a ticket stuck under the wiper blade of my car as I leave, but I just fling it off into the street before I get into it. I go straight to the private airfield where our plane is kept. I park next to Emmett's jeep and take the steps up to the plane two at a time.
"Los Angeles. Now." I tell the pilot as I pass him.
"Yes, sir."
The doors are closed and the engine starts within seconds. I don't bother fastening my seatbelt when I sit. I reach for the controller to the television across from me and turn it on.
I check my watch and see that it has been a little over an hour since Bella was shot.
Fuck. Bella was shot.
Before I can let myself spiral out of control a news headline catches my attention. It's the same two news anchors I saw earlier in my office.
"We have an update on actress Isabella Swan after she was shot at the premiere of her latest film release earlier tonight. A spokesperson for Swan has told the press that she is currently being treated at a nearby hospital. She is, however, in critical condition." The woman on the left says.
"The exact hospital has not been revealed, of course, due to security reasons." The man next to her says. "There is a lot of false information being spread about the situation, but it is important to remember that this is a developing story and there is no one in custody yet for the shooting.
"If you're in the Los Angeles area, stay alert for any odd behavior. Unfortunately, we have no ID on the shooter, or even a description to go off of."
Both of the anchors look off camera to their left, as if someone is telling them something.
"Okay, it looks like we've got footage from the premiere of the shooting. Of course, there were countless cameras there. We're being told that this is a graphic video of the shooting, so viewer discretion is advised."
Fuck. The video is blurry, but I see Bella walking down a red carpet toward a barricade of fans. A smile tugs at my lips at the look of pride and contentment on her face. She puts herself through hell to make fans happy, but it's worth it to her. There are three shots and I can see everyone around her drop at the sound but her. Oh, God. I can see the blood start to stain her white dress, one spot on her shoulder and another on side, near her stomach.
"Damnit. What do we know?" I ask Emmett and Jasper, finally acknowledging them sitting next to me. I have to focus on the facts. I need a plan.
"She was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital, it's 1.2 miles away from the theater where the premiere was. Ben got there just as she did, and he's our eyes and ears inside the hospital for now. It's a madhouse in there, obviously, so he's managed to blend in and oversee what the doctors are doing." Emmett says.
Jasper picks up where he left off. "He said she drifts in and out of consciousness. Her lung collapsed as they were checking her over, but it was fixed quickly on the spot. They're taking her into surgery right now.
"Their biggest worry is the wound in her stomach. The shoulder was a through and through hit and should be easy enough to fix. Nerve damage could be an issue, though."
"When we land, you're both meeting up with Eric to find the fucker. Don't kill him."
That's for me to do.
~H.K.~
I slip into the hospital without an issue. I'm pleased to see the police surrounding the place, but I don't know if they would be enough to keep whoever did this away if they came back.
It has been five hours since the shooting, and Bella was still in surgery. The hospital still had critical condition in her chart. They still didn't know if she would be okay.
Fucking hell.
During the torturous flight my brothers and I got ahold of the blueprints of the hospital where Bella was being treated. Most of their operating rooms had observing areas, what for I don't know, but that's where I would be until she got out of surgery.
I had the route I needed to take memorized, and getting there proved to be too easy. So much for the police protection.
The door was locked, for Bella's privacy I hope. It took me about twenty seconds to pick the lock and get myself inside.
Seeing Bella always gave me an instant sense of home. Safety. But seeing her on an operating table with people surrounding her unconscious body does the exact opposite. Fuck, she could die.
That gorgeous girl with a heart of gold shouldn't be down there. She should be celebrating her years of hard work, relaxing for the first time in months.
Shit, maybe Carlisle was right. Are we just being stupid?
She would be better off without me. She didn't choose the life that I chose for myself. Bella shouldn't be surrounded by the scum of the world like I am. She deserves to be surrounded by the people that love and adore her, the ones who show up to see her with tears in their eyes because they love her so much.
What am I doing to her?
My phone vibrates in my pocket and I answer without looking to see who it is?
"What?"
"We found his room. He used an alias and dumped all of the fake papers here. There are boxes of ammo everywhere. Hotel staff said he checked out an hour ago after having them print out a boarding pass. He's on a plane to South America right now." Emmett tells me.
Fuck.
I need to get this guy. I need to know he'll never get near Bella again if I'm ever going to be able to relax again. I also need to decide whether I can continue to put her in the kind of danger she'll always be in, in order to be with me.
And to be able to do that, I need to be on my own. The second I look at her face I forget everything but her.
But, shit, I can't just leave her like this.
"Send Ben up to the observing room. Tell him I'll need updates on her every half hour. Get the plane ready."
I hang up the phone and approach the large glass wall that separates me from Bella.
"I'll make it right, Bella. You just need to be here when I get back."
Ben enters silently and takes a seat in the back corner of the room, hidden in the darkness. I nod at him as I leave.
I pay more attention to my surroundings as I leave the hospital than I did when I got here. There are crowds everywhere. I pass a waiting room and see a large group of people, all in formalwear, sitting around. I recognize a few of them from Bella's movies that I've seen.
They're all here for her. It's comforting to know she has people out here waiting for her. Praying for her.
I'm not a religious man, but I send up my own silent prayer for her now.
A small hand tugs me back, nails digging into my skin through my shirt.
"What the fuck?" I look down and see Kate. She's in a simple cream dress splattered with blood.
Bella's blood.
"This has something to do with you. I know it." Kate sneers at me. Before I can contradict her, she continues. "Everything started falling apart when you showed up. She never abused her medication before, she was never late to anything. She was fine until you got here."
"She was miserable. She was lonely and overworked and just going through the motions you all told her to."
Kate looks furious at first, but the fury dissolves into sadness. "She's my best friend. I know she was struggling a bit before, but she was okay. She was alive." Her voice cracks on the last work, and she looks down at her blood covered dress. "She went down and I just laid there for a second. It was like everyone was frozen. When I got to her she was just… covered in blood."
My chest constricts tightly, but I do my best to ignore it. "I have to go away for a while. Will you keep me updated on her progress?"
Kate looks at me skeptically for a few moments before nodding her head.
I leave the hospital quickly before I can change my mind and rush back to Bella. Every fiber of my being feels like I should be staying here, but I know I need to get this guy before he disappears forever.
I hear quiet singing as I walk to my car.
"All we do is drive, all we do is think about the feelings that we hide. All we do is sit in silence waiting for a sign."
I wander the parking lot before I find a young girl, probably in her early twenties, sitting on the curb with a guitar. She stops singing as I approach her.
"You're singing her songs," I state, even though it's obvious.
"Y-yeah."
"Why?"
"Because she's always there for me when I need her. So, I'm going to be here for her when she needs someone, too."
"You don't think she deserves some privacy?" I challenge.
"Of course, she does. I'm not in the hospital, or trying to get a picture of her or anything. She deserves a lot of things, justice against whoever did this being the most important, I think."
I walk away from the girl, back toward my car. Because she's right. Bella does deserve justice, and I'm the only one who can get it for her.
A/N: Phew. I'm dying to know what you guys think of this one. I'll hopefully be able to keep up with the nightly postings for the last few chapters, but I know I won't have as much time to write tomorrow. I'll do my best, though!
