A/N: Howdy, folks! Hope everyone has had a good weekend! It's actually been gorgeous here for once, so I (meaning my husband) was able to somewhat tame the jungle that is my yard. Thank you all so much for reading/reviewing last chapter. I love hearing from you all.
Also a huge thanks to my beta (who has been at the beach, so I'm only a tad jealous) for fixing my crappy grammatical errors.
"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, staring at Jasper and Agent Peter Charlotte two days later as I stood in the living room of my condo.
"Marcus Caius is dead," Agent Charlotte repeated, and I just stared at him.
"But—how? Who did it?"
Agent Charlotte gestured for me to have a seat, so I sat on the sofa, clasping my hands tightly together and wishing like hell that Edward was with me. Edward's house back in Hawaii had caught on fire, and he'd flown out yesterday to go deal with the aftermath and file the insurance paperwork.
"We don't know who did it, but I can tell you with certainty that it was a professional hit. He was shot in the back of the head, execution style. He's been dead for about a week."
I waited for the feelings of relief and satisfaction to hit me, but neither one did. I didn't feel anything except a slight twinge of anger that he'd not suffered.
"Did you find anything on him about the Treasured Heart or the attack on the Arrakis?"
"Nothing," Agent Charlotte replied, and now I had a sinking feeling. If Caius had stolen the Treasured Heart we'd never find it. He would have taken that information to the grave.
"Where was he found?"
"In a ditch in Tarrafal, Cape Verde. It's my belief that he hadn't stepped a foot on American soil since he was first shot and rescued."
"So, he didn't directly steal the Treasured Heart, but he could have hired out help."
"It's a possibility, yes," Charlotte agreed.
"What about Jacob Black? Is he a suspect in the theft?" I asked him.
"He is a possible suspect," the agent said slowly. "We don't have a clear motive, and yes, I'm aware the Treasured Heart is worth millions, but we don't have any information linking Dr. Black with Marcus Caius. As far as we can tell, they've never met."
"Well, great," I muttered. "Do we even know where Black is? I know that he had a 'family emergency', but he's been gone for a long time."
"He's in Bangor, Maine," Jasper told me, which I technically already knew, thanks to Rose. "He's got some cousins out there, and he's helping them out after the death of their father."
"I thought his only relative was his mother who is somewhere in Arizona or New Mexico."
"I thought so as well, so I talked to Aro. He informed me about Dr. Black's cousins and told me that he'd approved Black to take two weeks off to help his relatives."
I narrowed my eyes at his words. It sounded suspicious to me that Aro would allow anyone two weeks off for a family emergency, but Aro did tend to play favorites.
"Well, thank you for letting me know about Caius," I said to Agent Charlotte, who shook my hand and told me he'd keep me informed about the investigation before taking his leave.
"I don't care what Agent Charlotte thinks, I'm positive Black is involved in this somehow," I told Jasper as soon as the door shut behind Agent Charlotte.
"I agree that the timing of his family emergency coinciding with you bringing the brooch back to the states is suspicious; however, we have nothing concrete."
"I know, I know," I snarled as my fists clenched. I just knew, deep in my gut, Black was involved.
"Are you going to be okay?" Jasper asked after a few minutes, and I shrugged before telling him that I'd see him in the morning.
We were going to be packing up the artifacts so that Mrs. Martin, Mr. Bernard, and Dr. Dubois could take them back to France.
As soon as Jasper left, I picked up my phone and called Edward.
"Hey, sweetheart," he answered, his voice sounding tired.
"Hey, babe. How are you?"
"Exhausted. I've lost …," his voice trailed off, and it sounded like he was fighting back tears. "I've lost everything. All my books, my baseball card collection that my dad helped me start when I was seven, my clothes. Just everything. Gone. It's all gone, Bella."
"It's so stupid," he continued before I could speak. "They're just materialistic things which I can replace."
"I imagine I'd feel the same way if I lost my things in a fire," I told him. "I don't think there's anything stupid about what you're feeling."
As we talked, Edward told me that the fire marshal was certain that the fire was an act of arson, and he'd asked Edward if he had any enemies.
"I mentioned Marcus Caius to him—"
"He's dead," I interrupted.
"What?"
"Caius is dead. Jasper and Agent Charlotte came to visit me a little while ago, and they told me that Caius was found dead in Cape Verde. He's been dead for about a week they think."
There was stunned silence on the other end of the phone, and I knew Edward needed to time to process what I'd said. Hell, I hadn't even processed it yet.
"Who killed him?" he asked me a few minutes later.
"They don't know. Maybe whomever originally shot him decided to finish the job. I can't exactly find it in myself to be too upset that he's dead, but I am angry because we don't know any more about who stole the Treasured Heart."
"Well, I'm positive it was Black," Edward said, and I agreed with him.
We talked for over two hours until he was yawning so much that he could barely complete sentences.
"Edward, go get some sleep."
"I'll do my best," he said, a yawn interrupting him. "I'll be back in a couple of days."
"I can't wait. I'll talk to you soon," I said.
"Love you," he said right before he hung up the phone, and I sat there, stunned.
"Did he?" I asked myself before pulling up Rose's number and calling her right away.
"Edwardsaidhelovedme," I blurted out the second she picked up, and she let out an Alice-like squeal that had my ear hurting.
"I'll be over with Ali in less than twenty minutes," she said, hanging up before I could protest.
I let out an exasperated sigh as I tossed my phone onto the coffee table. I knew that they would want to celebrate and gossip, but I also knew that I needed to tell them about Caius. Chances were good, though, Ali already knew thanks to Jasper.
"Tell me everything!" Ali demanded the second she and Rose walked through the door, bags of Cuban food and wine in their hands.
"I will, but there's a more serious matter we need to talk about first," I said, and Ali nodded, her look subdued.
Rose looked between the two of us before asking what it was.
"Marcus Caius was found dead in Cape Verde," Ali told her, and Rose's jaw dropped.
"What?! How did I not know about this? I've got all kinds of alerts set up on my computer that are supposed to let me know the second Caius' name pops up or if Black uses his credit or debit card."
She whipped her phone out and began typing away furiously while Ali and I exchanged confused looks.
"Dammit!" she muttered to herself as she continued typing away.
"Rose?" I asked, and she shushed me, which had my eyebrows raising.
"Fuck!" Rose exclaimed moments later. "My algorithm was broken. Lord knows how many other alerts I've missed. I'll have to make sure my algorithm for Black is still working."
"You can check on it later," Ali said in a firm voice. "While Caius' death is important, I don't think it's nearly as important as Edward telling Bella he loved her."
Immediately, Rose set her phone down and went into the kitchen before coming back with three glasses of wine.
"You're right, Ali. Caius is dead and not going anywhere; however, it appears Bella's love life is going somewhere."
Both women turned to look at me, and I took a large sip of wine before I began to speak.
"There's really not much to tell," I began, and both of them just looked at me. "Well, there isn't. I called him to see how he was doing—he's exhausted by the way—and they believe it's arson. Then, I told him about Caius, and we talked for about two hours. Right before he hung up, he said love you, Bella."
They stared at me for a moment before letting out squeals of delight, and I groaned. They were going to blow this way out of proportion, I was sure of it.
"I don't think he even knows he said it," I told them. "He was so tired and stressed. I think it just slipped out."
"Doesn't matter," Rose said. "The fact of the matter is that he said it."
"Plus, he wouldn't have said it if he wasn't thinking it," Alice jumped in. "You don't tell someone you love them if you haven't been thinking about it. How many times have you almost said it?"
"A few," I admitted, "but what if he wasn't ready to say it, and he only said it because he's tired. What if he's not ready to actually say it? What if he doesn't even realize he said it?"
"Stop, Bella! You're going to freak yourself out," Ali said, placing a calming hand on my arm.
"Ali's right. Drink your wine, eat some food, and enjoy the fact that an intelligent, gorgeous man is in love with you."
So, I did. Well, I did my best to focus on that, but later in the night while trying to sleep, my brain couldn't help but wonder if Edward had realized that he'd said those three words. Then, I wondered whether or not to bring it up, but, in the end, I decided that I would.
Two days later, I was swearing as I was stuck in traffic on my way to pick Edward up at the airport. He'd called me yesterday afternoon to ask if he could ship some of his belongings to my address, and of course, I'd told him yes.
"Drive, you asshole!" I shouted at the car in front of me as it drove ten miles under the speed limit, severely testing my patience.
Finally, I managed to get to the airport and pulled into the arrival pickup area, frantically scanning the area for Edward. Thanks to traffic, I was close to fifteen minutes late, and I hoped that Edward hadn't decided to catch a cab.
Then, I spotted him. He had dark circles under his eyes, and he looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
I climbed out of my truck and rushed toward him, and a beautiful smile came over his face.
"Bella!" he said, wrapping me up in a hug, lifting me up of the ground, and holding me tightly before finally setting me back down.
He planted a long kiss on my lips, and I held onto him before we broke apart.
"I missed you," I told him, staring into his green eyes.
"I missed you, too," he said, resting his forehead against mine. "I'm ready to go home."
Home. He considered my place his home, and that warmed me to my core.
"Yeah, let's go home," I agreed, and thirty-some minutes later, we were pulling into my parking lot.
Once inside, Edward carried his bags into my bedroom before flopping down on my bed on his back, and I climbed up and curled into his side.
His arm came around my back as he pulled me closer before dropping a kiss to my head.
"I'm so glad to be home," he said quietly.
"I'm so glad you consider this your home, too," I told him, leaning up on an elbow so that I could give him a kiss on the lips.
The kiss soon escalated into so much more, and I soon found myself naked underneath Edward as he kissed his way down my body.
It was almost embarrassing how quickly I came.
With a gentle kiss to my clit, he climbed up my body, placing kisses as he went before sliding into me. We both moaned as he slid in, and our lovemaking was sweet and gentle. It seemed that we'd both needed it because after we came, we lay there, cuddling and enjoying the aftermath of it all.
Our bliss was short-lived, though, as my phone rang, and I scowled as I looked at it.
"It's Jasper," I said before answering.
"Hey, is Edward back?" he asked after I said hello.
"Yep."
"Good. Meeting at five at the Salty Pirate," he said before hanging up, and I let out a groan.
Edward, having overheard Jasper, asked what the Salty Pirate was.
"It's this ridiculous pirate-themed restaurant in North Beach. All the wait staff dress up as pirates and talk in pirate accents. I hate the place, but Jasper just loves it."
"Suppose we should get ready soon," he commented, but I wasn't ready to get up just yet.
After another round of sex, we showered and got dressed so that we could make our way to North Beach.
Forty minutes later, Edward and I were getting out of my truck and entering the tacky looking restaurant.
"We're meeting a group here," I told the hostess who led us out to the patio where Jasper was sitting with Alice, Rose, Emmett, Dr. Tanner, and Jessica.
The waitress took our drink order, and then I turned to look at Jasper.
"So, why are we here?" I asked as I grabbed a hushpuppy from the basket that was in the center of the table and took a bite.
"As you know, we've been given permission by the French to finish excavating the Sirène," he said, and we all nodded. "We leave on Monday where another research vessel, procured by Edward, will be waiting for us in Casablanca. We will excavate what's left, catalogue it, and store it properly, but we won't be doing any in-depth research on what we find. The French will do that. As soon as we've gathered everything, it will be shipped directly to the French."
I frowned at his words. Part of being a maritime archeologist was researching what you'd found, and now that opportunity was being taken away from us.
"We will also have two armed guards on the vessel with us," he told us.
"But Caius is dead," Jessica said. "Isn't he the one who tried to blow up the Arrakis? Aren't we're safe now?"
"It wasn't Caius. He was dead when the charges were attached to our ship. Not to mention, we have no idea who killed him," I explained. "It could be that whomever killed him was after the Treasured Heart as well."
"At this point, we just don't know enough," Jasper told Jess. "I'd rather we be safe than sorry."
"True that," Em said before taking a sip of his beer. "Is Black going to be on the ship with us?"
Jasper shook his head before he informed us that Aro had told him Black would be staying on land and working on some secret project.
I let out a snort at his words.
"Favoritism at its finest," I said. "I think Aro knows more about Black than he lets on."
"I have no doubt about that," Jasper agreed.
a/n: Alrighty, let me know what you thought, and I'll see you next week.