Author Note/
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
Edward's POV
Bella was inconsolable when she heard the news about Royce's death. She was holed up in Rosalie and Emmett's bedroom for the most part of the day and no matter how much I wanted to go comfort her, the guys convinced me now wasn't the time. Bella needed space. Her sobs echoed through the apartment and it was enough to stop the others from crying. Seth was cooped up on the couch, his mourning over and done with but he still needed to rest with his bullet wound. He was probably the only one in the room who wasn't pissed about my being undercover. He treated me the way he always did. I really liked the kid even more because of that.
No matter how much I wanted to run to Bella, I had to do my duty with the crew. We had a deal to fulfil. It took some persuasion and a lot of threatening, but Berty agreed to my plan. I'd do anything to keep the Swan crew off the hook and away from prison cells. For what it was worth, they were good people. They just dabbled in difficult lines of work.
I traded Berty the arrest for Diego, Aro Volturi and the rest of their men so long as the Swan family could go free. I struck up a deal that the crew would help master a plan to capture Aro and Diego and once they were arrested, the Swan's would have a clean slate with the police. Since I explained to Berty that the Swans were ready to cut ties with the Volturi's, he was a lot more forthcoming about it all. But if we fucked up, and let Aro and his men pass back through the border, the warrant for the Swans would still be active and alert.
I prayed it wouldn't come to that. The team was smart.
We had all set up shop in Emmett's living room and the place was ransacked. It looked like a tornado had passed through it. There was equipment everywhere belonging to Seth and since he was a bit under the weather, our second best tech man, Jasper, took over. He was currently surveying the area and hacking into every street camera in Forks to see if he could get any visual on Aro and his men. Aro had followed us through to the States and from the battle along the Mexican border, a few of his men were already in custody.
That reminded me of Bella's showdown in the police department earlier with Demetri. My fist clenched at the thought of him and promised myself that once all of this was over, I'd go back for him. He'd suffer for what he put my Bella through.
The conversation in my car earlier with Bella was enough to tell me she was here to stay and although it killed me to see her in any more pain than she'd already endured, I couldn't stay away from her. Even now, when she was only a door away, I felt the need to be closer to her. I missed her like crazy and knowing she was upset made it even worse.
I stood and pretended I needed to use the bathroom, but Jake seemed to see through that.
"Don't disturb her, Eddie," he warned me. I nodded once, ignoring the snickers from the guys and headed towards the bathroom that was situated around a tight corner in the apartment. That was also where the bedroom that lead to Bella was.
I opened up the bathroom door and shut it a few seconds later, acting as if I had actually went inside and moved two doors down to where Rose and Emmett's room was. I tapped lightly on the door before walking in three seconds later. There was sniffling behind the door and when I spotted her, curled up on the bed, my heart broke into two. I shut the door quietly, though I was positive Jake knew exactly where I was but didn't bother stopping me. He should know by now that Bella and I were inseparable.
"Bella," I whispered, brokenly and she turned at the noise. Her cheeks were blotchy and her eyes made her look like she hadn't slept in weeks. She wiped furiously at her face, ridding herself of her tears and forced a smile.
"Sorry," she croaked, her voice incredible hoarse. My heart tugged as I moved closer to her at the bed. Bella moved to sit Indian style as I sat cautiously next to her. The bed jostled a little at the added weight. "I know I'm not being much help in here."
"How are you feeling?" I asked, stroking her cheek delicately and she leaned into my touch. I held my hand there, sensing she must need it and continued my strokes.
"I'm okay now," Bella said sweetly, with a soft smile that now seemed genuine. "I got it all out, I think."
"It's okay if you didn't," I told her truthfully. Whatever beef I had with Royce meant nothing when Bella was hurting so much.
"Why are you alright with this?" Bella asked me, her brows furrowing together. "You hated Roy."
"Bella," I sighed, shaking my head. "He was your friend. He was family. I can't hate him now. I hate seeing you so hurt because of him though. And I hate that he put himself in a position to hurt you in the first place."
Bella's eyes were once again swimming with tears but she blinked her way through them. She was strong as hell. I never gave her enough credit for that trait. "I think if I hadn't of been so harsh with him when you came around, maybe he wouldn't have betrayed us."
"Don't think like that"-
"How else can I see it?" She cut me off sadly. "If I hadn't fallen in love with you and pushed him out, maybe he would have felt part of the family."
"You don't think he was working with Diego before I came along?" I had to ask; I had to put her at ease.
But she was already shaking her head. "No, he'd need a reason and I gave him one."
"His death isn't your fault, Bella," I said forcefully, placing both my hands on her face now. "I pulled the trigger. Not you. Jake issued the call. Not you. Do not blame yourself for his decisions."
"I can't believe he's gone." Bella finally crumbled again in my arms and I held her until she had nothing left to give. I wondered idly if the guys knew I was taking far too long in the toilet but hopefully they understood by how loud Bella was crying, that I was a bit occupied to return to them. They'd come find me if something was up.
Bella moved to wipe her face again so I knew her break down was over for now. She blew out a breath and laughed. "I'm exhausted now!"
I gave her half a smile.
"Don't," she said, eyeing me warily.
"Don't what?" I asked.
"That look," Bella stated. "If I don't have to take the blame for Royce then neither do you."
I dropped my gaze. "If I knew how upset you'd be I could have said no to Jake when he asked me to kill him."
"And Jake would have found someone else to finish the job," Bella countered. "Don't berate yourself if I can't either."
I wrapped my arms around Bella and pulled her into my lap so she was straddling me on the bed. I threw her a smirk that I knew would lessen the tension and she smiled, rolling her eyes.
"How about we forget everything in our lives and focus on us for once?" I said lowly. Bella gulped and I watched her throat contract as she swallowed and couldn't help but move my lips to her neck.
"What are the boys doing outside?" She whispered as I continued my assault on her neck.
"Did I not just say focus on us?" I murmured and a shiver ran up her body. I smirked but kept up my track along her throat.
"Enlighten me," she whispered, not trusting her voice. By the way her hands were gripping my shoulders and her thighs squeezed around my legs, I knew I was affecting her immensely. My distraction was working. I'd do anything to stop her from crying.
"We're working together to bring in Aro and Demetri," I said, nonchalantly.
"What?" Bella tried to pull back but I squeezed her to me, effectively pushing my cock against her waist. She gasped and let out a little moan, which went straight to my crotch.
"I made a deal with my boss to let you go free once the real bad guys were brought in," I darted my tongue out to taste her neck. "Once we capture the fuck heads, you and your family can go free. All charges will be dropped."
"You're telling me my criminal family are working with the police to bring down other criminals? Can we do that?"
I rolled my eyes and gripped her hips harder. "Police are all kinds of sneaky. And besides, you're the good kind of criminals."
"I'm convinced you have Stockholm syndrome," Bella mused and I laughed.
"Are you my captor, Bella?" I grinned and flipped us over so that I was the one on top. Bella took a breath from the shock and smiled back. She was dazzling. "That I have fallen recklessly for?"
She bit her lip, driving me crazy. "I really hope so."
My lips descended on hers immediately, drowning out her cries as I pushed my hips hard against hers, driving her into the mattress. Her hands went to my hair and mine went to remove every bit of clothing from her body. She hadn't showered yet and she didn't seem to care now that it was my hands on her rather than those slimy men back in Mexico. Blood boiled in my veins at the thought and I kissed her harder, running my tongue along her bottom lip and claimed what was mine.
My clothes and hers were gone instantly and it wasn't long before my dick was lined up at her entrance, easing in slowly, sensually. I looked down on Bella and found her gazing back up at me, her beauty radiating off her like electric currents that shocked my entire body. She was indescribable to look at. I didn't think it was possible to love someone as much as I loved her and whatever else was going to happen after tonight, I'd get through it so long as I had this feeling for Bella coursing through my veins.
I eased into her until I reached the hilt and her breaths became mine as my mouth found hers again. I moved out of her halfway, until I buried myself back inside, her warmth enveloping me entirely.
"Fuck, Bella," I grunted, kissing every bit of her face; her chin, her nose, her cheeks, her eyelids and finally, her forehead.
"I love you," she breathed and I watched a silent tear trickle down her face until I caught it with my lips.
"I love you," I replied and with her hands scraping along my back, I quickened my pace and Bella met every thrust, her legs wrapping around my waist to keep her in position.
I realised then that this wasn't our usual hot, steamy sex that seemed to be the epitome of us. No, this was making love and the thought enveloped me entirely until I was pulsing inside her and when her walls clenched around me and she cried out in her orgasm, I quickly followed after, giving her everything I had to give.
I slowed my pace and rolled over in the bed until she was curled up onto my chest, my dick still inside her.
"I don't want to move," I said sadly and she giggled, knowing exactly what I meant.
"I think the rest of them will notice your absence soon, if they haven't already," Bella noted, tilting her body so that I slipped out of her.
"I just realised we had sex in Emmett's bed."
"We'll burn the sheets," Bella said simply and stood to wrap a night gown around her slender body. "First, we shower."
…
Half an hour later, after a shower filled with sensual touching, Bella and I were freshly washed. Rosalie laid out some sweats and a jumper for Bella to wear for the time being until she could wear her own shit but we wouldn't be leaving the apartment anytime soon anyway. We had too much work to do.
"You guys better not have fucked in my bed," Emmett snarled when we joined the rest of them in the living room.
"Shut up, Em," Bella shoved him playfully before she plopped down onto the free couch.
"Where's Seth?" I wondered, noticing his absence.
"I sent him off to the spare room," Jacob said without looking up from his computer screen. "He needed more rest than I assumed."
"He'll be fine by tomorrow," I promised. "It's mostly the shock that has him so worn down. The wound didn't cut too deep."
"What did I miss?" Bella clapped her hands in anticipation and I smiled. My Bella was back.
"There's still no visual but we've tracked Diego's bank statements from the last twenty four hours," Jasper filled us in as I took my seat next to Bella. "He isn't active much but he did buy a tuxedo off an Italian website. I'm working on hacking in to receive the billing address but so far, we know it's being delivered in two days."
"Any idea why he'd buy a tux?" Emmett said, scratching his head. He was sucking on a bone of chicken and that seemed to drive Rosalie to get up and order some pizza. My stomach grumbled at the thought. I was fucking starving.
"Obviously he's going somewhere fancy," Alice said, biting her lip.
"What brand is it?" Rosalie said from across the room. She held the phone away from her mouth so the person on the other line couldn't hear.
"What has that got to do with anything?" Jake muttered.
"Armani," Jasper answered anyway.
"Look up any events around Port Angeles all the way to Seattle," Jacob ordered and Jazz was already on the computer keys.
"Where would a drug lord be heading?"
"In his brand new Supra, no less."
I sat in silence, thinking of where the hell those fuckers could be heading. They were hiding out in the States for Christ sake. Where were they planning on going without getting caught?
"Nothing so far," Jasper mused aloud. "Unless they're heading to an annual tea party in PA."
"Car show!" A voice yelled from the other side of the apartment.
We all looked at each other in silence.
"What he say?" Emmett put down his bone.
"Seth?" Jake called but he got no answer.
Then we all jumped in fright.
"Car show!" Seth screamed again. "New York!"
"How does that kid hear from such a distance?" Jasper muttered and then it all clicked in my head.
"Seth, you're a genius!" I jumped from my seat and grabbed the computer Jazz had taken a hold of and quickly typed in my search. "The son of a bitch is getting back at us…"
"Come again?" Bella moved to see behind my shoulder at what I was typing. "Wait…" I waited for it to click in her mind. "We broke away from business with Diego doing drugs… and now you think he's taking our biggest heist yet away from us? Drugs for cars."
Exactly.
"Can you guys tell me what the fuck you're talking about?" Emmett grumbled. Rosalie re-joined him on their seat.
Once the web page was loaded, I swirled the computer around on the glass table so everyone could see. "Remember before we left for Mexico, Seth told us about a car show that was making its debut in America after a European tour?" Everyone nodded at my words. "It's being held in New York and we were planning on heading there a month after our deal with Diego was done. But that was before we decided to cut all ties with the Mexican's because your drug trafficking was too risky. You only wanted to dabble in car theft."
A few of the guys gulped at my words. It was obvious they were thinking of the cop side of me knowing so much details about them that could possibly be brought back to my boss but I was too far gone to even consider that. I had Bella to think about- my job could be damned.
"We obviously fucked up some serious business for Diego and his new boss Aro," I carried on, putting the guys at ease. "The New York car show is a first time, big event that Aro obviously knew you couldn't pass up. He'd know orders would be piling in to Bella once you guys announced to your customers that you could be pulling off the biggest heist of your careers. I can only imagine the cars they have on display there. Aro knows you guys would be pretty pissed if he took that opportunity away from you; just like you took the opportunity of trafficking his drugs to the States away from him."
I watched everyone's faces around me and how they were gradually understanding where my mind was at. I could already see Jacob calculating our next move in his head. I smiled at the thought.
"How would Volturi know we'd be heading to New York though?" Alice piped up, obviously the latter who didn't quite understand me.
"How did we get his bank records, babe?" Jasper answered her for me, rubbing her thigh. "Aro obviously did his work on us just like we did on him."
"So what you're saying is, Aro is heading to New York and we can catch him there," Emmett said slowly and I couldn't help but laugh at his tone. He sounded so confused.
"Keep up, Em," Rosalie muttered, playing on her phone.
"Yes," I nodded once, looking around the room. "But that doesn't mean we can't pull off a heist in the meantime."
All eyebrows in the room shot to the roof.
"You'll let us steal the car show?" Jasper choked out.
"Am I your father?" I half joked. "You'll be there to bring Aro and Diego down. Why not have a little fun in the process?"
"But… you're a cop," Alice spluttered.
"And I told you I'd clean your records once you helped me bring in Volturi." I didn't understand what the problem was.
"But wouldn't that be a little backward if you let us pull off a heist while on the job with the popo?" Emmett asked me.
"After this gig, I don't think I'll have any job to go back to," I sighed. "And I'm not sure I want to go back."
"Does that mean you'll help us orchestrate it?" Jacob asked me. I could hear the hope in his voice. "The whole thing with Diego is the perfect distraction while the real work is underway on the cars."
I took a breath and Bella's hand reached out to hold mine. I squeezed it absentmindedly. "I may be with the feds but I'm still a boy at heart. All this shit excites me too. I can understand the feeling when you guys describe a gig. I… want to be a part of that too."
There was a round of agreements from everyone and even a few laughs and claps from the guys. In my mind, my job and the real task at hand seemed to slip away when I realised how badly I wanted to fit into this crew, this tight knit family. I wanted a life with Bella and I sure as hell wanted the thrill with cars. I wanted it all.
But could I have it?
Izzy's POV
Everyone was animated with conversation after Edward admitted he'd let us do our real job. It was weird to this of heisting as a career, but we made a life out of our illegal business in Forks and our customers never asked questions. They filled in the paperwork on what they wanted and we did the rest. Plain and simple.
But hearing Edward want to be a part of our family even more just made my heart soar. I knew he was here to stay now that that was cleared up. I did wonder if one day he'd regret his decision on fucking up his career as a cop but that didn't seem to be an issue at the moment. All Edward seemed to care about was bringing Aro into custody and clearing our names.
A knock sounded on the front door and Emmett got up with his wallet, clearly set on getting first bite from whatever Rosalie ordered. I rolled my eyes and flipped my gun around in my hands as I leaned against Edward. My back was to his chest so we were in a cuddling position that I never wanted to leave.
"That man can eat for days," Edward murmured into my ear and I knew he was talking about Emmett. Clearly. I laughed and watched Em gallop to open the front door but when I heard an unfamiliar gun being cocked into place, I readied my own gun and prepared for the worst.
Once the first shot rang out, all hell broke loose. I somehow ended up tumbling over the back of the couch and flipped it over with me so that Edward and I could take cover behind it. I couldn't let myself think if any of my guys got hit. All I could think of was Edward beside me and how I could kill the fuckers intruding on us.
"What the fuck?" I heard Emmett boom so I knew he didn't get hit at the door. I sighed in relief and peeked around the edge of the fallen couch. I counted three new men all dressed in black. They were sporting typical glocks but one of the big guys had an Ak-47 that was just dying to be fucked with. I kept my sights on him as he moved around the room.
Everyone else seemed to have taken cover as well and my mind flew to Seth in the other room, who had no idea what was going on.
In the dead silence of the apartment, Seth's voice rang out. "Guys?"
I squeezed my eye shut for a fraction of a second and decided to just fuck it. I rolled on the floor to get a better angle and shot at the big guys' ankle, dropping him to the ground in seconds. Once his head tapped the wood, a bullet went through his forehead. One down.
But with his death, the other's gained my attention. Which gave my guys leverage to shoot.
"A little help guys?" I roared as bullets whizzed past me as I became the shooter's new target.
"Damn it, Bella!" Edward huffed from beside me and before I could scream in frustration, he was standing up to face the men and I was grabbing hold of his leg to drag him back the fuck down.
"Edward!" I gasped, gripping him harder around the ankle. He was poised to kill as he visualised his kill. I heard a body drop to the floor and was thanking God that it wasn't Edward as I clung to him.
"Damn it, Edward!"
I rolled up to a stand but before I could aim to kill, someone beat me to it. Jacob stood from behind the kitchen island and shot the other man in the shoulder and he grunted in pain before dropping to the floor. Knowing he was still breathing, I aimed again but Edward stopped me short.
"Leave him alive!" Jacob roared. "I want to question him."
I lowered my gun and wiped the sweat from my forehead, finding Edward's eyes through the chaos. He looked angry with me, but I couldn't be sure if it was me it was aimed at. He could have just been angry at the situation. Edward grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to him, enveloping me in his arms. I stood shocked for a moment before I snapped back to reality and hugged him back.
"You're so stupid," he breathed. "Bringing all that attention to yourself."
"You were there to help, weren't you," I retorted, hitting his chest and he broke away from me.
"Stop trying to be the hero."
"I'm not."
"This place is a fucking mess!" A new voice yelled and we all swirled to point our guns at the newcomer.
Seth stood with his arms in the air, the look of pure horror on his face. "It's me guys! It's Seth! Don't shoot me, I can't take another bullet!"
"You scared the shit out of me!" Alice screeched. There was dust in her spiky up-do that she was trying to brush out with her fingers but it wasn't going much help.
"Look at my house!" Rosalie cried new tears, trying her best to put her dining table back together. I felt for her but when the half dead killer jolted on the floor, I couldn't afford to pay attention to her.
"Strap him to the chair," Jacob ordered, stepping over the mess in the living room.
"What chair?" Jasper asked. "Everything's destroyed."
I ignored everyone and grabbed the only dining chair that wasn't completely mangled and placed it in front of Jake.
"Rosalie?" I called and she looked up from the mess in her home, wiping at her cheeks. "Have you got any rope?"
She got up and wiped her dusty knees and went to some utility closet before returning with some rope.
"Thank you," I breathed and began wrapping it around the man's body. He was going in and out of consciousness from the pain in his shoulder but not enough to die on us anytime soon.
"We should really refrain from killing so many people," Edward muttered. "There's only so much I can erase on your files."
"We were protecting ourselves, shush," I snapped, tying a knot tightly around the body. I slapped at the man's face repeatedly, waking him up. "Hey! Wake up."
His eyes opened and when they met my face, he began struggling against his binds.
"That won't help," I muttered. "Just tell us what we need to know and we'll let you die sooner."
"You're not going to torture him, are you?" I heard Alice whisper behind me but Jasper didn't seem to have an answer. And neither did I. Torturing wasn't what we were about. Violence almost never came into play with heisting so this was new territory for all of us. We'd just been threatened to be killed.
"No," Jake said from somewhere in the room and I let my shoulders down in relief.
"What's your name?" Jacob knelt in front of the man and I moved back to give him some space. I didn't know what my brother's intentions were but one look at Edward told me that if torturing was on the agenda, this would not end well for all of us.
"Jake," I said a little louder than usual. He looked over his shoulder at me, barely catching my eye. "Not too much."
I think he got what I meant and turned back to the man before hauling back his fist to connect with his jaw. I heard the crack but barely flinched. I was used to that sound.
"I asked you what your name was."
"Michael!" The man spat out blood.
"And who do you work for, Michael?" Jacob asked, wiping his knuckles on his jeans.
Michael said nothing. He huffed and puffed in his seat but wouldn't dare open his mouth.
"Loyal," Jake observed. I heard Rosalie try to mend whatever was left of her home in the background before I focused on my brother again, who was taking a liking to punching the guys face in. "Who sent you?!"
"Volturi!" Michael finally roared through his bloody mouth. He spat out more blood and groaned at the pain it caused in his shoulder. "We were paid to come here and kill you."
"Are you usually in his group of dandy men?" Jacob said, finding my eyes but I said nothing. I didn't even react.
"No," Michael mumbled. "I'm a hired killer. He paid me. I have no relation to him other than what order he assigned me."
"So you're company based?"
"Yes."
That was all Jacob was going to get out of Michael because he was slipping back into unconsciousness. Emmett stepped out of the group and cocked his gun into place at the man's forehead.
"This is for my house, you prick." And he pulled the trigger. I looked away just in time because I didn't want to see the mess of guts Rosalie would have to clean up later.
"Volturi knew where we were the whole time," Jasper said frantically. "We need to move."
"He tried to have us killed, the bastard," Seth said. He was found lying on the blown up couch.
"I'm going to murder him," Jacob said seething and I nodded at that. He could try take our cars and our business, but my life and the lives of my family was off limits.
"I don't even care about feeding him to the feds any more," Emmett hissed. "I just want the fucker dead for good. Both of them."
"We'll find them," I promised, nodding my head. "After that car show, I'm going to watch Aro die. And I can't wait."
Reviews are love so gimme some love,
Meg.