A/N ; beta'd by Frannie, mistakes mine.

~Edward~

Alec was a dead man.

Carlisle had told me what Bella had told him, word for word. The fucker had actually sniffed at my wife like she was a cheap two-bit whore. He'd held her up against a wall, his hands had touched her, the thought of that making anger twist my gut into knots.

I'd always hated him, now I had a reason to loathe him.

I wanted him dead or at the very least disfigured.

"He's waiting for you in the back room, Cullen," Jasper told me, his eyes cold, his face grimly expressionless.

Carlisle had trained him well, and his resemblance to our leader was startling.

I'd heard that Jasper was just ten years old when he'd been made to lift a gun and fire at a live target. Namely one of Carlisle's rogue informants.

The story went that Jasper had hesitated when it was time to pull the trigger, his eyes wide, his hand shaking, all bravado having long since fled in the face of an actual human staring back at him in abject fear. Carlisle had stood behind him and placed his finger over his sons, and helped him splatter the man's brains all over the window and wall behind where he sat, tied to a chair.

Bella was still new to this life; she didn't know the half of it.

Jasper taught her things slowly, to make sure she could cope with the consequences.

Carlisle backed Jasper up with this method, training Bella as gradually as possible.

She was none the wiser as to the finer details of our business as of yet.

I rubbed my hand across my face, tired as hell and bone weary. I had been going for twenty-four hours without sleep making sure a shipment of weapons from Cuba made it to the warehouse we owned on the Quayside.

My fingers were somewhat rough against my skin making me remember yet another family practice Bella didn't know about.

Our fingerprints were removed when we were sworn into the family or if we were born into it, like Jasper, they were removed when you made your first kill.

It was as painful as fuck, acid left on the skin just long enough to scar and forever remove any trace of a fingerprint.

Eventually, Bella would have to do the same if she was going to lead us. I winced at the very idea of her in so much pain, even though I knew it was as necessary as she was capable of enduring it.

The back room was a bungalow at the very bottom of the gardens, beside a river. We used it for times when we had to deal with business while we were at home.

For more creative play, we used an old abandoned mansion set deep in a forest Carlisle owned. It was remote enough to be inaccessible to most people. If anyone went there, they usually didn't come out alive.

I nodded at Jasper as I stood and slid my weapon into its holster, which sat snugly under my jacket along my side. " We'll deal with him as soon as we get home."

We made our way back, silence filling the car, we were both too fucking tired of talking.

Once back at the mansion we met with Carlisle.

"You won't harm Alec tonight." He said, pouring himself a bourbon and seating himself on his throne-like chair.

"Why?" I asked, from my position opposite his. I was lounging there completely at ease.

"Because I am going to use him as a lesson - for Bella."

I froze, eyeing him over my interwoven fingers as he calmly sipped his drink. "What does this have to do with Bella - aside from the obvious?"

Jasper threw himself down into the chair at my side, his silence bothered me. Like he knew something I didn't.

Carlisle paused, slowly setting his glass down on the solid hardwood. "This has everything to do with Bella. She is my heir, Edward, and as such, she had a few rites of passage she's missed out on. I intend to rectify that as soon as possible."

"First kill?" I asked my voice hoarse. "You can't possibly expect her to do that while she's pregnant! I thought you were taking this slow!"

Jasper shifted uncomfortably beside me, giving no objection.

"That's exactly what I expect her to do. Her pregnancy is progressing normally. I asked her physician at her last exam. There is no reason to delay what must be." Carlisle said firmly as if there was no choice.

"Jasper? Do you agree with this?" I demanded not look at him directly.

"It has to be done, Cullen. She's strong enough." Jasper replied nonchalantly.

Anger engulfed me. "She's my wife, and that's my child inside her. I say we wait for that shit to happen, until after she's had the baby."

"You don't have a say here Edward, she is my daughter and your future leader. Your role as her husband is not in question here. She has missed out on too much while being raised by Charles Swan. She must catch up if she is to fulfil her destiny. We've gone easy on her until now."

"She'll be fine Edward," Jasper said, calling me by my name for the first time since I'd met him. "I was, and I was just ten years old when I had to do it. Mia is stronger than you think."

"Have you told her?"

Carlisle shook his head. "Not yet, she won't be given any notice. She will know when she needs to."

"Fuck," I swore under my breath, feeling helpless to save Bella.

I knew it had to happen, but the timing left a lot to be desired.

Carlisle watched me, his face unreadable, just like his offspring. "You won't interfere with this Edward. I'll have your word on it. Nothing will harm Bella, I promise you."

I nodded tightly, after a moments pause, my eyes hard. I wasn't fucking happy about this, and I wasn't going to pretend I was.

"What about Jane? She will have to be taken care of too. She is not going to take her brother's disappearance lightly. They're too close."

Jasper shifted forwards in his seat, "I agree with Cullen. Jane will have to join her brother."

"No," Carlisle said firmly. "Jane will not be harmed in any way. I'm fond of her - she is very useful to me. She stays."

"Is that wise?" Jasper asked his tone disbelieving."Jane is deadly, and when she finds out what happened to Alec, she will be furious."

I felt annoyance at Carlisle's show of loyalty to the blond witch. She was nothing. "You have Bella, your own daughter to follow in your footsteps, I fail to see how keeping Jane around is going to benefit anyone."

"She has always stood by me, and has never crossed any boundaries. Unlike Alec who has tested me at every turn. Touching Bella was his last misdemeanour." Carlisle said firmly, the matter was over in his mind. "Jane had always been loyal to me, I am like her father."

Jasper and I exchanged looks of mutual dismay.

"I think you'll find that loyalty severely tested if we murder her brother," I said as I rose to my feet.

Jane was a dangerous loophole, which should be eliminated before it became a problem. There was no way she would take Alec's death easily.

Carlisle didn't reply, I hadn't expected him to. He'd given his orders, and I'd stated my displeasure.

Stalemate.

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The next day we got to work on Alec. My fiendish pleasure in his pain brought back memories and a feeling of absolute power, making me feel more like myself.

Jasper was unmoved by his friend's pleas for help, absolution, death.

He was so well trained that he didn't flicker an eyelid as I cut off a few of Alec's fingers with a bolt cutter, his muffled cries of pain filling the silence of the back room.

"You'll never fucking touch her again," I told Alec as he struggled against his tethers, violently trying to escape as I cut off the last of his fingers with a loud clipping sound.

Blood covered my shirt sleeves as I threw the tool onto the floor where a puddle of blood had congealed, containing all five fingers off Alec's right hand.

The fucker would never touch my wife another time.

Carlisle watched from the shadows beside the door, as unmoved as his son.

The monster within me roared with satisfaction at the blood and gore, the pain and the fear a balm to my dark soul.

Killing him wasn't something I'd been planning on; living with the message I'd left with him was far more appealing to me.

Alec's crime wasn't punishable by death by our laws but Carlisle wanted to get rid of him, and he provided a perfect opportunity for Bella to make her first kill.

"Go and get your sister." He said to Jasper.

Jasper nodded and left.

Momentary panic surged through me at the prospect of Bella seeing me like this.

Filled with rage and covered in blood.

"She has to see you eventually," Carlisle said from his spot beside the door, as usual, correctly interpreting my emotions. "You've always taken pleasure in the bloodletting, Edward. It's one of the reasons you're the best."

"I'd rather Bella saw me like this later rather than sooner," I said with cynical humor, wiping my hands on a rag laying on the rickety table that held countless tools we used for cruel persuasion.

Alec watched me, exhausted and shuddering with pain. His mouth was still stuffed with an old rag so he couldn't speak.

His eyes were resigned, although he still moaned and whimpered occasionally.

Carlisle stepped onto the cigarette butt he'd thrown down a moment before as he exhaled and eyed me with humor. "She loves you, Edward. She will accept you for who you are. This is the way we have always done business.

I smirked at him. "There was a time when we debated endlessly over killing one person, now it means nothing. It's just business. We're not good men."

"Were we ever?" Carlisle asked walking towards me slowly. "We started with nothing, just us and a will to make this work, to make money and survive. We have learned to be who we must be. It's a no-brainer, Edward. We are made men; we proved ourselves loyal to the Cosa Nostra and found our places. We obey the code of Omertà. Now we are the bosses. We've made it, my friend."

I watched him, his face as familiar to me as my own.

"Maybe you're right, we were never good men." I said just as the door opened and a shocked gasp made my heart freeze in my chest.

"What...what's going on…Dad?" Bella asked, her voice tremulous, scared.

She stepped into the room and froze at the sight that greeted her.

I stood still, waiting for the moment when her eyes would find me and take in my bloody appearance.

Again she would hate me.

Internally I was as tense as fuck, dying for her to see me as I was, yet fearing it too.

I was a monster, but I wanted her love and acceptance.

It was one thing for her to forgive me for Charles' death and another entirely for her to see me in my gory glory.

Carlisle calmly went to her and wrapped an arm around her waist, as if they were about to take a normal, everyday stroll in the garden.

Bella was tense, and her wide eyes seemed to fill her entire face as she swallowed hard and stood tall beneath her father's scrutiny. "Mia, I've called you here so that you can complete a very important step in your training. The Cosa Nostra demands you make a kill to protect the family, it's a rite of passage. Jasper did it when he was ten, as those that are born to this life often do. You weren't here for me to raise, so you have some catching up to do if you're going to lead this family."

"Do you mean...that you want me to kill him?" Her voice was breathless and broken.

"Yes."

"You want me to kill Alec?" Bella repeated, her voice breaking slightly. "Does he have to die, Dad, he only touched me!" She asked hysteria rising in her soft voice.

Carlisle pulled her to a stop and forced her to look at him. "It doesn't matter about the reason, Alec has displeased me, and he must pay for his sins against the family. This is my order, Bella. You will carry out this hit, now, with us as witnesses."

At once, her gaze flew to mine, taking in my bloody shirt and my strained face. "Edward? What..?"

I swallowed hard. "Do it Bella," I said firmly, my voice sounding hollow even to my ears.

Alec stared at her, his gaze pleading with her not to refuse. I saw Bella shut her eyes tightly, shutting out the sight of this man begging her for his life. Two fat tears rolled down her cheeks, but she didn't acknowledge them or wipe them away.

Her eyes took at the puddle of blood and the fingers I had sliced off myself; her face pale.

Carlisle reached into her leather jacket and drew out her weapon. "Take it, Mia, make me proud."

He placed the gun in her hand and closed her fingers around the cold steel.

Bella stared at the gun for a few seconds in silence, flanked on either side by Jasper and Carlisle. Her teeth found her lower lip and bit down so hard I feared that she would draw blood.

Jasper held her arm with his hand, and I realised it was a soothing gesture. He leaned in closer and whispered in her ear, so low I struggled to make out his words.

"Do it, sis. Don't think about it - just aim and fire. He's not a person, just a target, a job. Get it done."

She seemed to reach a conclusion to her inner angst, and with one smooth movement, she lifted her weapon, aimed and fired at Alec's squirming figure.

The bullet entered his skull just above his brow line and the back of his head shattered, splattering blood and brains all over the floor and wall. Alec's body slumped in the chair limply, his struggle at an end.

She had always been an apt pupil and seldom missed the mark, and yet we were all stunned by her accuracy.

Jasper kissed Bella's cheek and squeezed her arm.

A Bella turned towards me, sadness filling her beautiful eyes. "Edward, hold me." She demanded, falling into my arms with no hesitation in the slightest. I froze, my bloodstained hands hovering above her body, as elation swelling to epic proportions in my heart.

Finally, I hugged her back, despite the blood.

It didn't matter; we were one.

In the depths of my depravity, she had seen me and accepted me for who I was.

This was our turning point.

In the centre of a room filled with death, we were together like never before.

Carlisle stood beside us, his hand stroking Bella's hair. She finally released me and faced him, her face strained.

"Well done, Mia." He said with pride. "That was done like a true Whitlock."

I saw Bella's eyes slide towards Alec's body, and a shudder rippled through her that I felt.

"Did I pass the test, Dad?" She asked, a hint of malice in her smooth tone.

"Yes, you did."

"What now?" She asked, clearly she knew that this test couldn't be all that she'd be asked to do.

"We'll discuss the rest tomorrow. Go and rest, have dinner with your husband, clean up. Your friend arrives shortly, remember?"

Carlisle was emphasizing that she should go on as usual, that this was nothing - simply business.

Bella nodded and sheathed her weapon back into its holster. Her fingers found mine, and, heedless of the blood, she tangled them together.

"Let's go clean up," I said to Bella, drawing her with me towards the door.

"Take care of this mess, Jasper. Ask Demetri to help you." Carlisle said as he followed us out into the afternoon warmth.

We acted as if what had just happened didn't mean anything it was all just good business.

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.

.

The steaming water eased our muscles. I lay in our massive corner tub with Bella pulled in against me. She sat between my legs, my hands sliding over every inch of her skin.

We had scrubbed each other clean, washing away any sign of our sins.

"Does it get easier?" She asked at last, breaking the companionable silence.

I knew at once what she meant.

"Yes, it does," I told her. "It just becomes a job."

A deep sigh escaped her as she turned her head so that her cheek could lie against my heart.

My hand cupped her chin, stroking my thumb over her sinfully gorgeous mouth.

"I love you, Bella," I said, surprising even myself.

I thought I'd never say those words to any woman.

But Bella was my life.

I wanted no one but her, for the rest of my life.

I needed her to know that.

Bella stopped moving, her body frozen as she slowly lifted her gaze to mine.

My heart stopped beating as I looked into her eyes.

Goddamn, Bella was beautiful; she stole my soul when she looked at me like that.

I felt like a callow youth when I was with her, she made me unsure and confident at once.

A small smile tugged at her full mouth, and I watched each minute change in her features, as the power of my simple words washed over her

"I love you too, Edward." She said at last, pulling me closer. Bella's soft lips touched mine, and my entire body reacted to her and those long-awaited words.

I kissed her slowly, savouring each sweep of our tongues and every sweet breath from her lips.

The damaged soul that I was rejoiced at finally finding someone who had broken down my carefully erected walls.

This tiny, beautiful woman in my arms was my salvation.

Bella kissed me back with every ounce of her strength and passion.

Apart we were flawed and weak, but together we were invincible.

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~Bella~

Rosalie arrived a few hours later. I was speechless as we ran to each other and hugged as though it had been years instead of months. I buried my face in her thick blond hair, and I was home.

My rock, my anchor, my Rose.

My best friend in the entire world.

"Bella!" She cried almost breaking my bones in a tight hug. "I've missed you so much! Oh my God! It's you!"

We pulled back, and she eyed me with wide-eyed wonder.

I grinned at her like an idiot. "Rose, I've missed you too! It feels like forever since I've seen you."

I pulled her with me towards my waiting family. "Let me introduce you to everyone!" I said eagerly.

Carlisle greeted her with mild interest, Esme with a soft smile of welcome. Edward eyed her with humour, no doubt recalling exactly when they d first met.

I held her close to me, our arms linked, as I turned her towards my brother.

Rose gasped and froze as she came face to face with Jasper. Her entire body went rigid, her mouth an endearing 'O' of complete shock.

"What's wrong?" I asked her while I watched Jasper, his face showing similar shock at seeing my friend. "Can one of you tell me what going on?"

"Um, Bella, I'll tell you later," Rose said hesitantly, smiling up at Jasper mysteriously.

Jasper didn't reply, his gaze fixed on my pretty friend's face like he was seeing an angel, or maybe a ghost.

"Okay," I said slowly, somewhat weirded out.

My parents also took in the strange meeting between my brother and my friend, Carlisle's face went tight and suspicious almost at once, and Esme looked delighted for some reason.

I was mystified, what the hell was going on?

Jane was conspicuously missing from our welcome group, and I wondered for the first time if she knew what had happened to Alec.

A shiver of real fear slithered down my spine at the thought of deadly little Jane's anger and possible retribution. Would she try and kill me? Or maybe Edward?

I pushed the uneasy feelings away and smiled brightly at my long lost friend.

"It's nice to meet you, Rosalie, any friend of Bella's, is always welcome here," Jasper said at last, a twist to his lips, a devilish gleam in his eyes. He took her hand quite deliberately and pressed an actual kiss on the back of her fingers like a knight of old. "I hope you enjoy your stay." He said watching her closely.

Rose blushed a becoming shade of pink at his close scrutiny and pulled her hand away as fast as humanly possible. "Thank you." She said, "I'm sure I will."

I met Jasper's eyes with a meaningful glare, I would find out what was going on later.

He smiled at me, before giving me a one-armed hug and a kiss on my cheek. "We'll talk later, Mia." He said, correctly interpreting my look.

I dragged Rose to her room, which was across the hall from our suite.

We hugged again, and tears threatened to spill down my cheeks as happiness surged through me. I'd missed my best friend more than I had realised.

Rosalie pulled me onto the bed, where we fell in a heap, still hugging. I pulled back to see her eyes filled with tears too. "Bella I've missed you so much." She whispered. "It was awful when you disappeared. I was so worried. I thought you were dead."

I pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'm here, Rosie. I'm sorry you worried, but my life has been rather complicated since I disappeared. I'm married, and I'm pregnant."

Rose released me and sat up, pulling herself into her favourite pose, cross legend in the centre of the bed. "I know. Bella, your dad, the new one, he contacted my parents a month ago and told them what had happened. He said you had asked for me to visit and he made all the arrangements once my parents agreed. I was so shocked; it all seemed like a dream, and I still can't believe you're married -to him!"

I laughed, "Mrs. Isabella Cullen at your service!"

Rose giggled. "Are you really..?" She reached for my belly slowly, her face alive with curiosity.

I nodded a soft smile on my lips. "Yes, I am." I took her hand and placed it on the small mound, which was my child.

Rose blinked several times as tears welled up in her eyes. "Oh, Bella! That's incredible. I'm going to be an aunt!"

I grinned at her. "Definitely."

Rose hugged me again, her exuberance was so welcome.

"Now tell me about Jasper," I asked firmly, raising an eyebrow for emphasis.

Rosalie pulled away and turned away from me slightly, looking incredibly awkward.

"Tell me, Rose!" I begged. "I know it has to be something big, the way you two were acting. You can tell me anything, you know that."

Rosalie took a deep breath, apparently making a decision. Her gaze found mine, and she took my hands in hers, our fingers intertwining. "Do you remember when I told you that there was a boy - a man, really, that I'd had sex with? Well, I didn't know his full name or who he was, we hooked up for one night, I really liked him, but I never saw him after that one time." She paused, taking a deep breath, "Well it's Jasper, your brother."

I stared at Rosalie like she'd grown a second head.

"What?" I exclaimed. "My Jasper is your hook up guy?"

Rose nodded somewhat shamefaced. "I can't believe it either. Bella, he's your brother."

"I know that!" I laughed, teasing her. "Rose stop worrying! I'm happy for you both..."

"Bella, it was just a hookup...nothing to get excited over. I'm sure he forgot about me the second I left." She said examining her nails with far too much consideration.

I touch her arm, smiling at her warmly. "Rose, he remembered you too...he told me."

Her face lit up. "Really? What did he say?"

"He just mentioned you, not by name, but now I just know it has to be you!"

"Bella I'm so nervous! What do I say to him?" Rose asked, hysteria rising in her voice. "The last time I saw him, I was very drunk! I left him asleep and just walked out."

"Jasper is amazing; you don't have to be nervous I promise you. Just be yourself, and everyone will love you like I do." I said, kissing her cheek. "If you two were to get together for real, you'd have my blessing."

Rose smiled at me, tears sparkling in her eyes. "God, I missed you."

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A/N; thoughts?