Chapter 10

Let the Games Begin!

Edward's POV

I was staring at the screen dumbstruck. It was one thing to hear that Rosalie thought Bella and Alice had made out and completely another to actually witness it. Good God! If the two of them acted even the slightest bit like they were doing right now when Rosalie first saw them, no wonder she thought they were lesbians. Even I, as Bella's boyfriend, was having a hard time believing that she didn't swing both ways from the show we were getting right now.

"Holy shit, man!"

Jasper's cursing made me realise I was not the only one having a hard time not believing what was unfolding on the screen right now. One thing was for sure, Carlisle was going to believe it. I didn't even have to see the way he was standing, like a statue, staring in their direction, to know that he was completely taken-in. I only wish we could have had a camera put in just to record his current expression. He was running his hand through his hair and pulling it. I could sense that he was very frustrated. Emmett too was staring at the girls in awe. I'm sure he would be cracking some very bad jokes in the near future.

"My thoughts exactly," I responded without taking my eyes from the screen. A mighty army couldn't have dragged me from this seat and the screen right now. I was sporting a massive hard-on and was feeling a bit uncomfortable for getting turned on by my girlfriend kissing another girl. Was it healthy to feel this way? I guess my cock just didn't know the difference. I sighed.

"Are you sure Bella is straight? Man…the way she's running her hands over Alice!" Jasper groaned.

"I'm actually asking the same question myself. And, Jazz, do you think Alice has something for girls?"

"Good Lord! Alice is squeezing Bella's butt! Shit! Either the two of them are really good actresses, or we are going to lose our girls."

"No way." I stated emphatically, although my heart started beating violently in my chest. Could it be that Bella was more into girls? No, I didn't think so. She had never made a pass at anyone or even looked at any girl that way.

"Anyway, Carlisle sure looks agitated. This development definitely is not to his liking. Look at the way he's talking to Emmett."

"Wish they were standing close enough to the camera so we could hear what they were saying. I agree with you. This has surely put a damper on his plans."

"Wonder what he'll do next?"

"Well, we've done our part by taking some action to speed things along; now the ball is in his court. We have forced his hand. Let's see what he does next."

"Oh, the girls just broke away, and Alice is going back into the Café. Are you meeting Bella later?" Jazz inquired.

"No, we are not going to meet out of office till Saturday. It will be prudent to be on our guard, specially since we've now forced Carlisle to act." Saturday seems so far away and is going to be a very long wait.

"I guess so. I can't wait to get home. We are surely going to have a good time tonight." He mused and I knew without even looking that he was sporting the same boner I was from watching. The only difference, he was getting to go home to his woman who will satisfy it.

Jazz winked at me as he walked out of my office to get ready to leave for the evening. I wished I could live with Bella, like Jazz does with Alice. It would have made things so much easier. But we really can't do anything right now, and our relationship has not progressed to that level yet where I can ask her to move in with me. I sighed. What a mess. Should I simply just approach my father and ask him what was going on? He is my father, after all. He surely wouldn't want to do anything to hurt me. I was mulling over that as I waited for Emmett to make an appearance.

"Jazz, are you heading out now?"

"No, not yet. Have to wait for Alice to come out of the café… no point going home without her. And I really want to know what the General said to Em. It sure looked like he was going nuts."

"Okay, well, let's wait for Emmybear then." I couldn't help chuckling at how ridiculous Emmett sometimes could be. He was late, which was unusual for him. I would have expected him to be here in my office by now, knowing how much fun he was having with all this sneaking around and what he just witnessed.

Emmett's POV

I slowly raised my hands up in the air.

"Remove your weapon and kick it away."

I obeyed, slowly removing it from my waist and flinging it away out of reach of both of us. The barrel pushed into my skull with a bit more pressure. I had to handle this right. I knew it was important to remain calm in a situation like this, and I had a very good chance of escaping this unharmed if I played my cards right. I believed in fair play and prayed that my assailant valued it as well, giving me an opportunity to try to talk myself out of this. I hadn't been shot yet; if this was a straightforward assassination, I'd be dead by now. This was more likely a negotiation or threat of some sort. All my training kicked in as I raised both my hands above my head once again, indicating surrender. I then unhurriedly turned towards the person holding the gun.

I was taken aback by the ferociousness in her cold blue eyes. The eyes I'd come to dream about. Nothing of the warmth I knew they were capable of remained in her look. It was as if she was in a trance. Was she mad? She had moved back a bit out of my reach when I turned, so I didn't have a chance at grabbing her. She sure knew what she was doing. I wondered who she was working for. Clearly I had played right into her hands by hiring her. Did Carlisle know? Had all the candidates been his minions and the interview just a farce to get me to think all was above board?

"You bastard. How could you do this to me? To her?" Huh? What the hell was she talking about? My look of confusion seemed to aggravate her even more.

"Just like a man to have no clue about the lives he wrecks." She let out a brittle laugh once again filled with self-loathing. Who was this woman? What did she want from me?

"I'm talking about what you did this afternoon, you big oaf. How could you? How could you go to that womanizer and tell him about her? How could you?" A lightbulb went off in my head somewhere. She was talking about Bella.

"Is this about Bella?"

"Of course it's about Bella—took you long enough to even figure it out. I thought you were brighter than that, Mr. McCarty. It looks like you need some more reminding of what exactly you did and the untold damage you have caused for both Bella and Alice."

"Just hold on a second. I didn't do anything. Hell, I didn't even know they were into each other until you told me."

"And I was the big idiot who trusted you with that secret. I had promised the girls that I would not tell anyone. This is my own fault for trusting a man to do the right thing. I thought you were different. I should have known how fickle all men really are."

"Wait just a minute. I didn't tell Carlisle anything. I just had some documents in my car that I needed to give him. He walked with me to the car park so that he could collect them before he left for the day." At this, a frown marred the beautiful features I'd come to adore.

"So you are telling me that you didn't tell Carlisle about Alice and Bella?"

Thank God I could truthfully answer that question. If she had asked whether I'd deliberately lead him to them, then I would have been screwed! I knew in my heart that Grandma McCarty was right and I really couldn't lie, even to save my ass as this situation demanded.

"No, I didn't. He happened to see them. Hell, they weren't even on Cullen property."

"And thank God for that. He can't fire them for improper conduct. And now that the non-fraternisation policy is void, he can't sue them for having an affair either. However, I could tell he didn't like what he saw. And, let me tell you mister, he sure didn't sound very pleased when I told him an employee's private life after office hours had nothing to do with business and was her own. I was hired to shadow Bella and see whether she was doing something illegal with company secrets, but this particular relationship sure doesn't fall into that category."

"I agree with you. I really don't like all this spying Carlisle is doing, especially on his own flesh and blood."

"I too don't understand it. He's already handed over the company to his son, so why is he having us spy on him now?" I decided to take a gamble with what I was going to divulge next. I hope to God I was right about this woman.

"He bugged Edward's phone when he was just a teenager. That boy had no privacy whatsoever." Her eyes grew huge.

"I used to work for Cullen Enterprises at the time, and I really didn't like what he was doing. It was not as if Edward was not the model student. Edward did everything right, never once put a foot out of line. He graduated with first-class honours and was even valedictorian, but still his father didn't trust his own son. Who does that?"

"You mean all this time, he's been spying on his own son, and this is nothing new?" She had a look of shock on her face.

"Yes. He's been doing that for a long time. After Edward joined the company, he didn't bug his phone anymore. But then all of a sudden, after the handover, he had Edward's office bugged."

"That must be awful to have your father suspect you like that. Oh, does Edward know?"

"Can you keep a secret?" I decided it was now or never. She obviously didn't like Carlisle that much, and this was our chance to try and win her over. I still didn't fully trust her, but it was no state secret that Edward might be intelligent enough to have located a bug and gotten to know that Carlisle was spying on him. I decided to keep my part of informing Edward of his phone being bugged when he was still a teenager out of the story. No need to let her know how close Edward and I were.

"I sure can, unlike certain people." She gave me a meaningful look and I knew she implied that I couldn't keep a secret.

"Honest to God, Rosalie, I did not tell Carlisle about them."

"I'm beginning to believe you, so God help me, if you are in cahoots with that man who thinks he's god's gift to women, I will not hesitate to pull this trigger."

I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped from me. Carlisle did really act like he was God's gift to women most of the time. She was very shrewd to have figured it out at such an early stage of their acquaintance.

"Trust me, Rosalie, I really have no interest in divulging unnecessary private details about people to others."

"Well, now tell me this state secret you so obviously want me to keep?"

Before I could say anything else, my office door burst open and Edward stood in the doorway.

"I thought I told you to lay off the detective stuff, Em. I don't want you to get a bullet through your head." I watched in dismay as Rosalie's eyes slightly darted towards Edward, but didn't waver for a moment in her resolve to keep the gun pointing right at me.

"Hello there, Ms. Hale, I don't think we've been formerly introduced. I'm Edward Cullen, CEO of Cullen Enterprises. And you are Rosalie Hale, secret service agent appointed to get our help for your investigation into some business partners of ours."

I watched in horror as Edward walked into the room as if he was just coming in to greet a new acquaintance. He held out his hand to her, and she didn't seem to know what do make of it as she glanced in shock at Edward's outstretched hand. It only took that small moment of distraction, and in that split second, the gun Rosalie was holding was now in Edward's hand, pointing right at her while she looked dumbstruck at the muzzle of her own gun, and then at Edward. I barely managed to stop from shouting out loud, congratulating Edward.

My God, that boy had really learned his stuff. I had insisted that he trained alongside me on self-defence and other combat training exercises. He was very graceful in his movements, and I knew Edward had a good head on his shoulders, but this is the first time I'd seen him in action, where there was any real danger. He had surely saved my life. I knew I could have maybe talked my way out of this, but it could have still gone the other way.

"So, you are not just a pretty face, I see. I underestimated you, Cullen." I had to hand it to Rosalie she still stood her ground even with Edward now pointing the gun right at her. Damn the woman was spectacular.

"Glad you did; Ms. Hale, now why don't you tell me what your employer's are really after?"

"You are not getting that information out of me."

"Well, I guess they wouldn't mind it if I may have shot one of their agents by mistake in self-defence, of course, while trying to save Emmett. I'm a layman after all— I might have simply cocked the gun by mistake." He said in a casual laid back voice.

Edward gave a sly grin, and even I gasped in shock when in the next second he fired a shot that whizzed right by Rosalie's ear. This time, I could tell Rosalie was shaken to the core. She gripped the table behind her, and a bead of sweat ran down the side of her delectable neck. An errant thought of licking it off crossed my mind. Jesus Christ! I had it bad!

"We civilians don't really know much about guns, do we, Emmett?" The look he gave me told me he wanted me to play along. I realised that Edward wanted information out of Rosalie. There was more to her than being a simple spy for Carlisle.

"No, you don't. I wouldn't be surprised if you hit something or someone by mistake." I winked at Edward, turning my face to the side so that Rosalie couldn't see it. Rosalie huffed in indignation.

"Now, Ms. Hale, talk." This time, Edward pointed the gun right at the middle of her forehead. She was sweating, and I could see the fingers gripping the desk turn white with tension. But, to her credit, she kept her silence.

"Loyal to the last breath, I see. Well, let me try to make things clearer to you." What the hell was he talking about now? Edward was smirking as if he knew a secret.

"Nice to make your acquaintance, Ms. Hale, but I'm disappointed in your conduct. I don't think your bosses would like it if you'd blown a hole in my security chief's head, who incidentally happens to be a former colleague of theirs." This piece of information really had Rosalie gasping in shock. Even I was momentarily distracted.

"I guessed as much. They sure are a bit stingy with information and I really didn't like the fact that they decided to keep me in the dark until just a few minutes ago. A few minutes that could have been the difference between life or death for my security chief." There was a hard glint in his eyes as he said this. I knew then how shaken Edward truly had been when he saw me at Rosalie's mercy.

"I…I'm very sorry. I was told to trust no one and to keep an eye on what was happening with your business dealings with some of your partners."

"Aha, so that's their game, but unfortunately for them, Ms. Hale, I don't take kindly to being kept in the dark for so long. I suppose Carlisle has no idea either?" Rosalie just kept staring at Edward, but then he cocked his gun again.

"Oh all right, I guess they'd have to tell you very soon if they want to get your help in setting up everything."

"They did ask for a private audience with me. I suppose that's what they wanted to do," Edward mused.

"Did they call your phone?" I wanted to make sure I erased the recordings before Carlisle got to them.

"No, they contacted me through your favourite ice-cream, Ben & Jerry's." Edward chuckled at the puzzled expression on Rosalie's face. I'm a genius to have come up with that one for Jason Jenks, who was our contact at the secret service headquarters.

"Oh, I see. Guess they wanted to keep things under wraps for a while."

"I understand, but I'm still annoyed that they have not told me exactly who they suspect and who these so-called business partners are."

"Same here. For now, my main suspect is Ms. Swan, as Mr. Carlisle Cullen indicated that he suspects her of industrial espionage," Rosalie blurted out, and Edward laughed out loud at this.

"And he appoints her my legal assistant. Does any of this make any sense to you, Ms. Hale?"

"Not really, but I've been vigilant of Ms. Swan's conduct."

"So what have you found out so far?" Edward's eyes were gleaming with suppressed mirth, but Rosalie didn't seem to notice it as she first glanced at me and then back at Edward.

"Maybe Mr. McCarty would do the honours?" I couldn't help laughing, and Edward valiantly tried to cover his laughter with a cough.

"Tell me, Emmett?" He barely met my eye.

"Bella is having an affair with Alice Brandon from HR."

"My my, that's some interesting office gossip. So who else is privy to this so-called affair?"

"No one else knows, but I guess Carlisle figured it out when he saw them er…give a nice demonstration at Café Latte," Rosalie pointed out.

"I knew I should have gone there and had a nice cup of coffee—should do it soon. I've heard they serve some good brownies?" Edward gave me a conspiratorial look, finally handing me the gun after putting the safety in place, still out of reach of Rosalie.

"They sure do. I love them." I agreed, rubbing my stomach for effect.

"What's the matter with you two? I thought we were talking about something serious here and all you can think about is food! Men! When will I ever understand them?"

"Well, they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach." I winked at Rosalie. She put her hands up in the air in frustration, shaking her head.

"Oh, by the way, Mr. Cullen, your father is having me spy on the goings on at your office as well."

"Sure, he's already bugged my office and my phone, so no worries. I'm used to it. Well, who wants to join me for a brownie at the Café Latte?"

"Not me. I'm already full with the pizza I gobbled up after lunch." I was sorry to have to miss the brownies, but I needed to get home to my mother's for dinner.

"What about you, Ms. Hale?" Edward sure was pulling out all the stops. He gave me a sly look, putting on a charming smile for Rosalie. My God, if Edward and Bella decide to take up acting, no one else was going to stand a chance in getting good film roles.

"Are you crazy? I'm going home. Good night." Rosalie huffed as she quickly turned to get out of the room.

"Not so fast, Ms. Hale, from now on, you work for me, understood?" All the playfulness had vanished from Edward's face, and the man who just held a secret service agent at gunpoint was back. Rosalie gulped. She was no fool.

"Sure, Mr. Cullen."

"I want an update on everything that is happening around here. And while you are at it, keep an eye on my father too. I want to know why he hired you in the first place."

"Yes, Mr. Cullen."

"Good. Now have a nice evening." Edward smiled, turning back into his other persona, and Rosalie blinked in confusion, unable to come to terms with Edward's rapid personality changes. She shook her head as if to clear it, gave me a stern look as if to say I'm not finished with you, and then gracefully walked out of the room. She's one hell of a woman and I knew I was a goner.

A/N: Thank you so much for all the lovely reviews you've written. I had such a difficult time getting this chapter done. Word was crashing all the time. I'm actually using the fanfiction editor to write this part. As always a huge thank you goes out to Twimarti and Dazzleglo for getting this chapter back to me so fast. I'm going on vacation for a few weeks but don't worry I'll try my best to update weekly on Friday as usual. Please do review and tell what you think the General might do next?