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Disclaimer: All Twilight Saga related thing belong to Stephenie Meyer.
Duplicity
Chapter 9
Bella's Point of View
I stared at the women in the mirror. She had changed a lot within the last decade. Her body was curvier exposing her natural womanly curves. Her short styled brunette hair waved around face. It was her brown eyes with flecks of blue that held all of her secrets and age. There was so much sadness and hate in them for the people that killed my innocent father. I wanted them to feel the pain I felt every day since he has been gone.
"Marie!" A sharp knock on the bathroom door interrupted my inner musings.
"I'll be right out!" I quickly washed my hands and dried them with Esme's pristine gold colored guest towels. I stared at the woman in the mirror one last time before placing the mask of Marie back on.
I opened the door to see one of Esme's followers waiting for me, Carmen. She had long dark brown hair and the darkest shade of brown eyes. "Esme's been going crazy wondering where her daughter-in-law is. She refuses to start her monthly Ladies of the Hampton's brunch without you," She explained.
"Oh, well we mustn't keep her waiting," I said, feigning my annoyance with a smile.
My heels echoed loudly against the marble floors as she led me out of the house and toward the backyard. Esme had ten tables set up with assigned seating. I was of course placed at the same table as her, so she could keep a close eye on me. Each table was decorated with white table covers, pink rose petals, and silver plates and utensils. There were chilled glasses of white wine with our names imprinted on the glasses.
"Marie, darling we've been waiting for you," she greeted me with a fake kiss on the cheek.
"My apologies for my lateness, I had to freshen up a bit."
She looked me up and down with a glint in her eye before turning her attention to her followers and directing the wait staff to bring the food. I would never understand how a woman like her could sleep every night knowing the destruction she brings onto people.
The waiters followed into the back yard one by one with a silver platter in their right hand. They opened the containers with their left hand before placing the delicious food in front of us. Of course with these group of women, we were served fresh spinach salad with crispy chicken and a raspberry vinaigrette with feta sprinkled on it.
The ladies each conversed with one another about their husband's new business successes while I indulged into my lunch. My clutch vibrated against my upper thigh. Masen had told informed me that he would text me once he sent the anonymous pictures of his mother and Felix affair to the Hampton's Instant News. They were known for having the hottest gossip in town.
Carmen was the first to pull out her phone a quick gasp leaving her mouth as she glanced between her phone and Esme.
"Oh, no." She placed her hand dramatically across her chest as she gasped for air.
Esme glanced at Carmen with a hint of annoyance for stealing the rest of the ladies attention from her. As their phones each dinged off an alert to them, they all imitated Carmen's reaction to the news on their phone.
"What? What is it?" Esme demanded, clearly not pleased with the looks she was getting.
"This can't be true!"
"How?"
"Why?"
The ladies irrupted in shock of Esme's affair with Felix wide in the open. There was no denying it was her in the pictures. It was in her bedroom with the unique one of a kind crème and black wall paper she had imported from Paris.
"Esme tell me this isn't true," Carmen begged.
"What?" Esme ripped the phone out of her hand, her eyes widening before crinkling in hard slits as she saw the picture.
"Excuse me ladies," she hissed. She slowly got up and walked away clearly she needed to do damage control. The receiving end of her wrath would definitely not be prepared for what Esme Cullen was about to do to them.
I downed my glass of wine before excusing myself from the table to check on Esme. I wondered across the kitchen to Carlisle's study where I heard her hushed voice.
"Amun you promised me this wouldn't ever get out. I see that your loyalties to my husband matter far more than mine ever could," she snapped at him.
"You've got to be joking me. I have been nothing but loyal to this family. I've done nothing but keep the secrets and affairs of both you and Carlisle!"
"Then who took those pictures and posted them?" Esme demanded in a hysterical tone.
I pressed my body closer to the door listening carefully to Amun's reply. "I've been working on it. After everything that happened with Felix, I believe your husband was behind this after the whole Victoria scandal."
"I wouldn't put it past Carlisle to want to get back at me for my affair with Felix. I need you to dispose of Felix and do damage control on those pictures. As far as my friends and daughter-in-law are concerned, that night with Felix was not consensual."
I stood there in disgust hearing Esme already planning another man's death. Never once did I believe Felix was innocent, but I didn't believe it was justifiable to murder a man whom she had a consenting affair with. It didn't matter what connection she had with someone, if they threatened her image, she would crush them.
Hearing the footsteps getting louder as the man got closer to me, I quickly pushed myself away from the wall and headed back into the kitchen looking like the perfect innocent daughter-in-law.
~~~Duplicity~~~
I felt on edge since I had left Esme's little brunch hours ago. After Amun had left, Esme found me in the kitchen with a glass of wine. I pretended to be a caring daughter-in-law wanting to help her get through this tough time. She had fabricated her own version of the truth before making me promise with a silent threat that I was not to mention anything about the Felix scandal to Edward after he had text me within fifteen minutes after the media outbreak. I asked him how he was handling the news of his mother, he of course defended her and told me the pictures were fabricated.
It had been five hours since the news erupted and so far, Amun had made good on his promise of damage control. Masen had sent me a text that he had installed secret camera's around Felix's home. I watched from my laptop screen a frantic Felix pacing back and forth in his home office trying to get in contact with Esme.
I heard a soft knock on my office door and quickly shut my laptop off. "Come in," I called. I shuffled paper work around for an event coming up, making sure to keep up my perfect façade.
The door opened and in walked Masen. "Hey B, nice work done today," he greeted with a mischievous smile. He sat down next to me on the black leather couch as I placed my laptop on the coffee table and opened it back up to the footage of Felix.
"I can't take all the credit, you did most of the hard work," I said in thankful tone.
He lifted his legs up on the table and leaned back in a relaxed pose. "Yeah, but you came up with the idea. My motha' and fatha' can make up all these lies, but the truth will come out and they will have no way of twisting the truth through videos and recordings of them."
"I think a big step in moving forward is getting rid of Amun. For whatever reason both your parents keep him around for protection, but we both know he has a thing for your mother. He would do anything to protect her and her image," I explained.
He sighed and ran his right hand through his copper locks. "More so than my fatha'. So what do you have in mind?" he asked with an evil smirk.
"We'll take him out," I raised an eyebrow challenging him to object my plan.
"Murder?" he asked.
I shook my head with a smirk. "Let him look more into my background, leading him closer to the truth. I know someone who will protect me once he comes close to the truth that will make sure he keeps his mouth shut, if he wants to protect Esme."
"He'll protect her with his life," he stated.
"That's exactly the point." I grinned widely, seeing the glint in his eyes.
"I hope to never be on your bad side." He chuckled, clearly realizing how crazy a person could become when getting revenge.
~~~Duplicity~~~
I strutted out of our bedroom towards Edward's study in my blue silk nighty. It was almost two in the morning and he was still working on some project for his father.
Opening the door, I noticed his stressful appearance. He had unbuttoned the top of his shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, hair a chaotic mess on top of his head, with his sexy black glasses.
"When are you going to come to bed?" I asked, leaning against the open door.
He pulled off his glasses, glancing up at me with a tired smile. "Hey what're you still doing up?" he asked instead of answering my question.
"I couldn't sleep without you. It was lonely up there," I complained, walking toward him and straddling his lap.
His green eyes slightly darken as I lean closer to him and wrap my arms around his neck, gently massaging his taut skin. He closed his eyes and letting out a small moan. I moved my hands up his neck, lightly gripping his hair, before leaning in and placing my lips against his.
~~~Duplicity~~~
I was sprung out of my blissful sleep from the constant annoyance of something ringing near my head. After a few seconds the ringing stopped before starting up again.
"Turn off," Edward grumbled, pulling my naked body closer to his.
I reached forward slamming my hand up and down on my nightstand, until I found the beeping object. Opening my eyes slightly, my phone flashed with five missed calls from Masen. My heart sped up knowing that something was wrong if he called me numerous times around three in the morning.
I nudged away from Edward much to his chagrin. Walking quietly out of the room, I headed toward the back door to disengage the alarm before opening the door. Masen stood by the door as he waited for me in a panic.
"Finally, I've been trying to reach you," Masen hissed quietly.
"What the hell is going on," I asked him, clearly annoyed with his interruption.
"Felix is dead," he stated, making my body stiffen.
"Come with me." I commanded, leading him to private sanctuary of my office.
As soon as the door was shut, I immediately started spouting off questions about how, what, and who did it?
"Remember how I set up the cameras in Felix's house and Amun told my mother he would take care of the problem?"
"Yes," I responded, waiting for him to continue.
He pulled out his laptop and set it on my desk pulling up a video. "Amun killed Felix and staged it to look like a suicide attempt."
I carefully watched the video of Amun chasing Felix off the rooftop of his building. Felix laid dead on the desolate street with a note that Amun carefully placed in his hand, before walking away and back into the building, bribing the security guard for video footage.
"Please tell me you went in disguise when you put up the security cameras?" I pleaded with Masen.
For the plans I made for Amun's feature it wouldn't matter if he found out more who I was, but to find out the identity of Masen would be a big demise.
"Of course I did, I wouldn't jeopardize our whole scheme with a stupid mistake like that," he responded slightly offended.
"I would hope so, but sometimes I have trouble trusting the closest to me."
"You can always count on me to have your back, never doubt that." His green eyes showing me that he was being completely sincere.
"Keep me posted with updates about Amun, I better head back upstairs before Edward starts searching for me." I told him, ending our meeting.
Grabbing his laptop he nodded his head before following me out of my office toward the back door. Once he left I turned the alarm back on and headed upstairs to my sleeping husband, thinking of my next plan of revenge.
~~Duplicity~~
I woke up a few hours later tired from the lack of sleep. Moving my hand across the bed, I was saddened to find Edward's side cold and empty.
Opening my eyes, I looked around the room, holding the sheets against my naked body for any sign of Edward. On my nightstand there was a small piece of paper with Edward's writing.
Called into the office. Promise to be back before dinner.
I love you.
Edward
I stared at the note wondering if he had be at work for something serious or something surrounding his family.
Tossing the sheets back, I got out of bed and slipped on my robe. I headed out to see if Charlie was still sleeping or playing in her room, it was a little after seven. Stopping by her bedroom door, I quietly nudged it open to see a mass of copper curls poking out from the blankets. Smiling to myself, I headed downstairs to start breakfast, knowing that she would be up soon.
As I walked into the kitchen there was a slight knock before the doorbell rang. Thinking it was my mother-in-law, I prepared myself with a fake smile; however, nothing could have prepared me for who was behind the door.
Opening it slightly, my breath halted as I stared into the one women I never planned on seeing again.
Her golden blonde hair was perfectly styled around her face. She was dressed in the finest designer clothing from head to toe. I stared into her crystal blue eyes.
"Hello, Bella," she greeted, her lips forming an evil smirk.
"Renee," I gasped.
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