Chapter 10

Hey guys sorry this update took longer than normal. It's going to be like this for the rest of the semester since anatomy & physiology are kicking my butt. I'm still going to try and update once a week, though. Enjoy!

"No. That's my final answer," I stated through clenched teeth.

Rosalie huffed and crossed her arms about to argue back when Emmett placed his hand on her shoulder and shook his head. The two of them walked out and I sighed gratefully. That argument had lasted at least ten minutes and the stress made me want to pour a glass of scotch. Too bad Alice made me promise to take a break from drinking.

I flicked through the updated folder on Victoria. There still wasn't much to go on aside from the fact that we now had a better idea of where she was. Jacob was practicing going under cover with Jasper and he'd be out on his own before too long. I was hopeful that this would all end okay, I hated having to put Jacob in danger like that.

The past several days had been very stressful for everyone. Now that we had a rough idea of where Victoria and Edward were, everyone was wanting to jump the gun. With Victoria I argued that we needed careful planning before anyone could even think about going in after her. She knew how to hide at the first scent of danger.

However, things got complicated when it came to Edward. Emmett and Seth wanted to go out and find him immediately which I argued against. He'd come back on his own time if he wanted to. But they thought that he wouldn't come back unless someone went out to bring his stubborn ass back. I forbade them from leaving town.

After Edward left, everything from his crew fell on my shoulders. Suddenly I was in charge of twice the people and twice the business. I had to have Leah help Seth with shipments and she proved to be quite helpful in training Jake how to go undercover. The boy quickly became smitten with our newest guest.

Managing one crew was hard enough without having to deal with all of the insubordination but now I had to deal with twice as much. Edward's crew was having difficulty accepting me as their new leader and I had to exercise a lot of self-control to not put a bullet in every last one of their thick heads.

I lay my head on the desk, resisting the urge to slam it into the wood multiple times. I enjoyed the quiet as long as possible. I knew it would only be a short amount of time before someone interrupted me.

Twelve minutes. It took twelve minutes before someone came knocking on my door. That had to be a new record. Straightening up and adopting the expression of a pissed off mob boss, I told them they could enter. I don't know what I expected but Alice and Jasper walking in, holding hands had not been one of the possibilities.

"What do you guys need?" I asked.

They looked at each other and Alice blushed which was quite rare. I saw him squeeze her hand before clearing his throat.

"We know things have been absolute chaos around here lately, Bella. But that sure hasn't stopped Alice and I from continuing our relationship. I proposed to her only a couple of hours ago and we'd like your blessing."

I smiled and got up, hugging my most loyal members.

"Of course you have my blessing. Do you have anything planned yet for the wedding or are you going to wait a while?"

"Well…we kind of wanted to get married next week," Alice replied.

I paused and thought about what I wanted to say.

"Alice, you know it takes a long time to plan a wedding. I don't want you guys to think I'm trying to stop you from rushing into things, I'm not, but there's just so much that needs done to happen in just a week." Jasper's smile could have lit up the room.

"We were hoping that's where you'd come in. Everyone in town knows the big, bad, mob boss Isabella Swan. We were kind of wondering if we could throw your name around to help things move along?" Jasper asked shyly.

It wasn't like him to be shy so I knew this was something that meant a lot to him. I ran a hand through my hair and gave them a serious look.

"Yes, you can do that but be careful in how you do this. If someone's being an asshole let me know and I'll make a few calls. I can't promise that this'll magically solve all of the problems that's bound to come your way."

Alice squealed and let go of Jasper's hand, closing the small space between us and giving me a big hug. I chuckled and returned it, finally pushing her away after a few moments.

"Just remember that this was your decision to marry her," I said to Jasper with a wink.

He laughed quietly and grabbed Alice's hand again and puller her to his side.

"There was something else Alice wanted to ask you," Jasper added.

"Oh! I almost forgot. I'd love for you to be my bridesmaid," Alice stated.

I grinned and nodded earning myself another squeal. Before she could jump on me Jasper guided her out of the room so I could return to enjoying the peace and quiet. I attempted to focus on the Victoria folder but my mind kept drifting to Edward. How I'd look on his arm wearing a gorgeous white dress while our friends and family watched and cheered. It would be an outdoor wedding with a vanilla cake and-

I shook my head to clear the thoughts. I could not allow myself to go there. The second I found out the truth about Edward and him leaving as soon as I had sealed his fate. If he ever came back he'd be my enemy again, nothing else. Well, nothing besides the fact that was the enemy that I had slept with. Cringing at the thought I was finally able to return my focus to the task at hand, trying to read between the lines.

I spent the next couple of hours studying everything I could about the redhead until my bladder pleaded for release. I made my way to the bathroom when my phone started ringing. Cursing whoever it was, I walked back to the office and answered on the forth ring.

"What, Rosalie? It better be damn important because I just about pissed myself to get to the phone in time."

"They found him, Bella. They found where Edward is."

I immediately hung up the phone and finished my business before returning to my office. I had told them not to look for that bastard yet they did so against my wishes. I had the feeling that Rosalie would cover for whoever had done the actual work. I decided to make it my mission to find out who had gone against my direct orders.

With the addition of twenty-odd people to the mob we relocated to an abandoned warehouse just south of town. With everyone helping it had only taken about a day of work to get everything moved and presentable. I pulled into my spot and stormed inside. Rosalie was standing talking to Seth when I walked up and I saw slight fear in her eyes.

"Well? Who was it that disobeyed my orders Rosalie? I know you know and if you don't tell me there will be hell to pay."

She stepped back a few steps but I followed. We both knew if she were to run that there was nowhere I couldn't find her.

"I'm not asking again," I stated blandly.

She held up her hands in surrender and her eyes flickered over to Emmett. That was all the incentive I needed to storm up to him so we were an inch apart.

"You knew the orders, McCarty. You better have a good fucking answer before I rip your dick off."

He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

"He's not just my boss, Bella. He's also one of my best friends and I think he might in some trouble. He's disappeared before but not like this. At most he's back in a couple days but now we're going on a week."

I slapped him, hard. The sound still resonating as I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket.

"That's for going against what I said you fucktard. The only reason I'm not shooting your dumbass on the spot is because I can understand why you did it. However, if you disobey me again no matter the reasons, I won't hesitate to put a bullet in your head."

He nodded and walked back towards Rosalie. I dialed Jasper's phone number and he answered on the second ring.

"Jasper? Yeah, it's Bella. How do you feel about going on a rescue mission with me?"

"Are you sure about this?" Jasper asked when we were almost to the hotel. I shrugged and looked out the window.

"I may hate his fucking guts right now but he's still one of our own. We don't leave someone behind like that. Plus Emmett thinks he's in trouble and that's something he wouldn't say lightly."

Jasper nodded and the rest of the ride was silent. We pulled up to the cheap motel and I had a feeling that something was wrong. I glanced at Jasper and saw the same unease in his eyes.

"They know we're here?" I asked.

"Yeah. I told Alice where we were going and she went to get everyone else gathered. They'll be here before too long. I don't think we should wait though."

Agreeing, we made our way to the front desk hand-in-hand and I had a huge smile on my face. The man behind the desk glanced up from the television but turned back to it almost immediately.

"Rate's ten bucks an hour. Cash or credit only. Sign your names in the book and I'll see what's open."

While Jasper wrote down our aliases I scanned to find Edward's name. I didn't see it anywhere but the name Tony Edwards caught my attention stating he was in room 14. Once Jasper handed the man twenty dollars he handed us the key to room 15 and shooed us away. I stopped at room 1 and knocked. No one answered so I waited a little bit and tried again with no success.

Jasper motioned for me to move as he picked the lock. It only took a few seconds and we were in. The place smelled as badly as one would expect and I noticed a body in the bed. The reddish hair was all too familiar and I ran over, checking his pulse.

Everything seemed fine aside from the fact that he wouldn't wake up no matter how hard we shook him and yelled his name. He didn't even flinch when I slapped him. Jasper looked around while I continued to try and wake him to no avail.

"I think he's been roofied," Jasper finally said.

"We need to get him to the doctor and figure out who the hell dared to drug him."

We carried him out to the car and laid him in the back while Jasper speeded back to the warehouse. I made a few calls on the way and we were greeted by Dr. Stanley who began running tests as soon as we got him on one of the cots.

"I believe Jasper was correct in his assumption. Drugs like these are very hard to catch with how quickly the body can metabolize them but it would appear he has the symptoms. However, it doesn't look like anyone actually did anything to him. Keep him on bedrest for twenty-four hours once he wakes up to make sure everything is out of his system and keep an eye on him just in case. I think you guys got there right on time," she explained.

I smiled gratefully and promised that there'd be a nice compensation for Jessica with how quickly she made it over. She left right as Emmett and Rosalie showed up. I stayed by Edward's side while Jasper explained everything that had happened.

Everyone had come and gone within just a few hours but I still never left his side. Emmett helped me move him to my house and put him in my bed. I wanted to stay up for when he woke up but the exhaustion from the day finally caught up to me and I drifted off while lying across his chest.

I wrinkled my nose and swatted at whatever had been tickling it. After just a few seconds it started tickling again and I opened my eyes after swatting it had been unsuccessful the second time. I look up and into my favorite pair of green eyes. His grin took my breath away as I struggled to remember why I had been mad at him in the first place.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Like total shit. My head is throbbing and my mouth is dry. But it would have been worse had I not woken up to you. Bella, I'm so sor-."

I placed my hand over his mouth.

"Don't. You'll get your chance to explain later but now I want to hear what happened to you while you were gone."

He rubbed his jaw and cleared his throat before continuing.

"I don't remember much about yesterday at all. But I had gone off to get away from you and try to see if I could make some progress on the Victoria case. I should have let someone know where I had gone because things got confusing real quick. Not much was adding up…until I met him."

I waited patiently while he paused to take a drink of water that Mrs. Cope had brought up. Smiling brightly, he thanked her and she left us alone again.

"Victoria is a small part in a much bigger and more dangerous game. I didn't think it could possibly be anything this massive. You have a lot more enemies than you think, Bella. They decided to come after me once we joined together but apparently it's a man that your father had wronged a long time ago and he's out for blood. I don't want to see you hurt."

The sincerity in his eyes made me want to kiss him and assure him everything was alright. But we didn't know what was going to happen next.

"Who is it?"

"Do you recognize the name Aro Volturi?"