For all the people who have continued to watch for my updated chapters after at least three months of nothing, THANK YOU!! You do not know how guilty I felt making you all wait but I had to straighten my priorities. I've just moved AND started a new school. I hope you guys aren't too mad at me. Thanks to my friends, I have been overcome my writer's block, and I think this is my best chapter yet. I know this doesn't actually count as a song in the story, but I was listening to Supermassive Black Hole by Muse from the Twilight CD. Listen to it, it's really good.

Chapter 14: Making and Breaking the Business

We met in secret after that. It was like he'd chained my heart to his; we couldn't escape the link that tied us together. Not that I minded, of course. I did and still love Edward from the bottom of my heart. I also couldn't let Tanya and Aro find out. Who knows what they'd do. Edward even explained to me why he'd signed me over to them. While he recalled the story, it looked like demons had possessed him. I know he felt bad for what he did, but I was shocked when he told me the reason.

"I went to the studio, after I got a phone call. It basically said that they'd kidnapped you," here my eyes skyrocketed, "and were holding you hostage until I came. When I arrived, I found out that you were not, indeed, captured, but instead had already left. Tanya and Aro though, they… explained your delicate situation to me." I must've seemed confused, because he clarified.

"Bella, I know about your parents."

I swear, my heart stopped beating. For a long time. I guess I fainted, because the next thing I knew, I was laying on his bed (we'd snuck away after the concert and went to his place) and Edward was holding a cool compress to my forehead. He sighed with relief and smiled a smile that melted away my panic. Even if Edward did know about my parents, he'd come back.

He came back to me.

So I told him the story in my own words. How, on my eleventh birthday, Charlie came home, bellowing and singing, upsetting the neighbors. How, when mom tried to calm him down, he swung the beer bottle down on he head so hard the bruise caved on her head. How, when mom stopped moving, I started to scream from fright. And how, when Charlie got fed up with my screaming, he started to swing the bottle at me, over and over, until I stopped moving as well.

"I woke up in a hospital bed the next morning. I thought I was in heaven because I was surrounded by so much white. It was snowing outside. I tore off the needles and the tubes and zipped past the nurses and doctors, just so I could be the first one in my family to feel the snow. I remember how white it was, how beautiful. I think that day was the first time I started to believe in magic." I whispered out the last part as silent tears ran down my face. Edward throughout my entire story, was stoic, a marble Adonis.

"I'm sorry." He said, sincerely regretting what happened to me.

I shook my head, "Don't be. It lead me to you. That was the reason why I moved out of Forks."

His hand tightened around mine. "If I was there, I would have stopped it. I wouldn't have allowed anyone, not even your own father, to hurt you." Then his hand loosened, and his eyes turned dark. "Then again, maybe you shouldn't be around me as well. I seem to hurt you emotionally as well as physically." Edward slowly got up from the bed and opened his door.

"Don't. Please." I begged him. "I need you." My marble statue, as cold as ice but as warm with love as I was, turned around and stared at him. Edward walked over and bent down on one knee.

"Bella Swan, if you take me back, I will never let you go. No matter what happens, no matter who tries to hurt us, I will be your shield. I will never allow me or anyone else to make you feel the pain you had when you were younger. Or worse. If you accept me, I will dedicate my life to making yours as easy and pleasurable as possible. And if you should tire with me, then I will let you go as easy as you want me to. Forever, I swear this."

His words made me cry as I gazed into his eyes. Edward's loving gaze pierced my body and soul, adding weight to his promise. The only thing I could choke out was,

"I will never grow tired of you, my Edward."

A slow smile spread across his beautiful face and he said, " Then I shall never leave."

From then on, that became known as The Promise.

The Next Day (scary music plays):

Today was the day that I was that I, Isabella Marie Swan (Cullen), was going to end my contract with Aro and Tanya. With Edward's support, even if they did release the story of my parents to the papers, 1. I could sue them for legal damages, and 2. I would be able to deal with the stress of paparazzi hounding my door every minute of the day, reporting on me as the Damsel in Distress Saved by Famous Artist, Edward Cullen all day every day, and possibly have to show up at all of his concerts and be almost assassinated by his fan girls.

Yeah, I could do this.

I walked up to the front desk, got into the elevator, walked down the corridor, and was about to slam open the door (big entrances are necessary for big drama) when I heard angry murmuring coming through the door. Being the spying professional that I came, I pressed my ear closely to the crack in the door and listened.

"You already signed her over to us, Edward. You can't just demand her back."

Edward was in there?! He always beat me to the punch.

"And exactly how could I persuade you to end the contract with her?"

"Nothing, unfortunately. She's too much of an asset. Bella is becoming an artist almost as popular as you, Edward. Is the competition too much to handle at Twilight studios?"

SCUMBAG!!!!!

"And would you release her if I made her less of an asset?"

…………………………What the hell? No offense, Edward, but we already agreed that I couldn't suddenly become bad. It would be way too obvious.

"How are you planning on doing that?"

"Unfortunately for you, Aro, half of Bella's popularity rides on three things."

It does?

"And those would be?"

"That she's single. That she's pure. That's she's everybody's perfect little celebrity that gives to the poor and shelters the homeless. I hope you don't mind if I shatter that image."

Oh, fuck.

"And exactly how are you going to do that when I have a restraining order out for you on Bella?"

I could practically hear his smile from the room as he answered, "That's my secret."

I quickly hid inside the room adjacent to Aro's office as Edward walked out. He was stunning in slim-cut black pants, with a white button down shirt tucked into it and a black jacket with Cullen sewed on the back. A red tie completed the ensemble with red converse sneakers. I swear, with his pale skin, he could practically be a vampire.

He shut the door, and I followed him. I suddenly grabbed him and pulled him into a supply closet when an employee started walking down the hall.

"What are you-" I slapped my hand over his mouth as we listened to the secretaries heels click on by.

"Exactly what did you mean by shattering my "goody-good" celebrity image?" I whispered when the footsteps disappeared.

Edward sighed with relief. "At least now I don't have to explain it to you."

I frowned as he stood up and wiped himself off. There was a lot of dust in the room. "Actually, you haven't."

He grinned. It wasn't his normal smile. It was a devilish, wolfish smile that said "prepare yourself, for evil's afoot."

"What?" He said, making his voice silky smooth as he slipped his hand around my waist and pulled me closer. "I just want to kiss you. Is that so bad?" To prove his point, Edward dipped his head low and trailed butterfly kisses over my neck. Then he repeated the action, only with harder, more urgent kisses that left hickeys on my neck.

"Uh….um….uh…." I could only stutter as he continued to caress my neck with his lips, bringing me to my knees. The only reason I didn't collapse was because he held me. I was trying to think piece together what his plan was, speak coherently, and enjoy what he was doing, when he finally kissed me full on the lips.

Then I was gone.

I gripped his hair and pulled him closer. It felt so long since he had kissed me like this. Not since after the concert. Edward traced his hand up and down my spine, making me shiver as he went back to ravishing my neck. I felt as if he wanted to suck my blood half the time. I was so lost in Edward, his bronze locks, his warm, luscious lips, his strong hands…that I almost missed the sound of the door unlocking. And know we weren't making out passionately in the privacy of the closet, but in the public of the twenty five workers that took their break in the coffee room across the hall.

Realizing what his plan was, I detangled my hand from his hair, and was preparing to slap him, when he pinned both my hands above me on the wall. Edward and I were still having full-body contact. I was so mad and embarrassed that I tried to bite his tongue. It almost succeeded, except that he moaned so tantalizingly, that I couldn't resist running my hand through his hair again and doing a little tongue disco with him. That motivated him to do his second act.

Which was carrying me down all four flights of stairs while making out with me.

Let me just tell you, DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME.

I think the only reason we didn't KILL ourselves was that Edward had such excellent balance and coordination. All the while, the employees stared as the apple in their eye, the only "good" celebrity in all of New York, became corrupted by the enemy, a.k.a. Edward Cullen. I swear, had I not been deprived of his lips for so long, and had he not been so passionate, and, oh god, so good with his hands….I would have stopped. I swear. Hey! Don't roll your eyes at me! It's the truth.

And so that was how Edward's "make Bella become impure" plan started.