Chapter 24

"What? Vincent what the hell are you doing?"

"I said drop the gun Cullen." He ordered, pulling the hammer back on his gun.

Unable to do anything else, I threw the gun down onto the floor and held my hands up.

"Now get on your knees."

"Riozzi…"

"Just do it!"

I got down on my knees like he said. "Don't want you getting any clever ideas Cullen."

"Vincent…"

"It's not Vincent, my name is Riley Biers. Vincent Riozzi was a cover up."

I looked at him in astonishment. "How did you manage to do this?"

"Simple really, I mean we are the Volturi, it's not that difficult when you see a man from New York apply for a job at the police department with the very Detective that is trying to put us all away. It was a chance we couldn't give up.

"So we chose someone who looked similar, i.e. me, learned their details, and then got some of our guys down in NYC to deal with the real guy."

He started to pace slowly, moving in an arc around me. "I mean I managed to get behind the scenes; you had a Volturi guard posing as a cop and no one had a bloody clue. See, if you were to search for a Vincent Riozzi properly, or more recently I should say, you would find that he was killed just over a month ago in New York!

"So with you all clueless I could get my background info, I could see how far along you were getting in the case and tell the others if they needed to be careful or sort a certain witness out."

I thought back over the time when Vincent, or should I say Riley, joined us. How much had he sabotaged right under our noses?

"So when there was that lead in the case, and you were supposed to tell me..." I asked.

"I was purposefully delaying it to see if we could avoid it."

"And the night of the arrests?"

"Please," He scoffed, "I basically pointed to which car you were in." He laughed.

"And when they found out about the calls with Bella?"

"In fairness she did warn you not to say anything in the department, there was a valid reason." He pointed to himself, and I realised now how his reaction to the news of me talking with Bella, was more in the view of a Volturi informant. Thinking back to his innocent 'it wasn't me' excuse, made me feel sick.

"Oh, and don't forget the person who 'gave you away' a few hours ago." He smirked at the sudden anger that he could probably see on my face. "Don't worry though, they already knew about the tracing," he pointed to himself, "the whole 'are you tracking us' was just good acting I reckon."

I felt like an idiot. He had been playing us from the very start. Even remembering now, when they sent in that video clip and called me, they had rung on Vincent's…Riley's phone. How did I miss all of this?

"Bet you're feeling like a proper dumb ass right now," He smirked at me, and then he took a step closer, the smile disappeared and there was a flash of anger behind his eyes, "But you had to go and fuck everything up didn't you." And with that he pulled his left arm back and punched me in the face.

My face turned to the side from the force of the hit; I could taste the blood in my mouth straight away. I spat out the bit of blood that had pooled into my mouth and turned back to him.

"Your three leaders had no choice but to go into prison."

"I don't give a fuck about those three!" He shouted, "They don't care about us, don't care who gets killed at their expense."

"Well what is it then Riley?"

"You killed my brother!" He shouted again, his face merely inches away from my own, "My little brother," he said more quietly, stepping back from me, "Vic's fiancé," He said, pointing at the red-headed woman whose expression had saddened suddenly, "he wasn't even supposed to be there that night, and then...and then I find out a few hours later on the fucking news that he was dead whilst sitting next to his very murderer, and I had to keep a straight face, pretend that nothing was bothering me, and restrain myself from killing you whilst you slept!"

He stepped forward again suddenly and punched me in the face, the force of it sending me to the floor.

Riley turned back around and stepped back, shaking his hand as he went.

"Riley, calm yourself down, you'll end up killing him." The woman, Victoria mentioned, loud enough for me to hear.

"Why shouldn't I Vic?! This is the man that killed James! This guy, no one else!"

"Yes I know," she growled through clenched teeth, "but I want him to suffer, I don't want him dead."

Riley huffed in annoyance, "We don't have time for your petty revenge, the police will be on there way, we could end this now."

She shook her head, "No, we are doing it my way, I've already told Royce to get her."

"Get who?" I asked, confused at who they were talking about.

"You know it was quite fortunate that we got your wife as our bargaining chip, because that just killed two birds with one stone for us."

"As soon as we knew it was you that killed him, and that it was her we were going to use, it was just another chance that the two of us couldn't pass up." Victoria added.

"You see we weren't going to follow the original rules," Riley continued, "we wanted our own revenge, we didn't care about the 'Brothers', you killed my brother, you ruined Vic's future, so what better than to kill the one person you love in return."

I could feel my muscles tighten and my fists clench at this news.

"The whole divorce thing," Victoria interrupted, "loads of bullshit."

"I mean you had us panicked for a moment when we realised you two had broken up." I remembered the momentary shock he had on his face after the phone call when he realised we were no longer together.

"Whole load of bullshit." Victoria repeated. "Oh 'I love you', 'I love you too," She said in a high pitched imitation voice, then she started laughing, "Looks like we were lucky that you two changed your minds otherwise Laurent would have shot her there and then and we would have been screwed."

"For God's sake you got your fucking revenge!" I shouted, "You killed her and I'm fucking devastated, what else do you want from me?!"

The two of them never answered, and I looked down to the ground so they never saw the tear that was about to fall. I could see the open doors at the other end of the room, but there was no way I would make it out alive. There was a chance I could postpone the time until the police got here, but with Riley playing his part, there might be a longer delay than I would have estimated.

As I considered this, a woman ran across the face of the doorway, a brunette. Apart from being thankful that she never noticed and made this situation worse, she reminded me of Bella, that didn't help either.

Instead of having a mini emotional breakdown, I noticed that Victoria had looked over to Riley confused.

"He doesn't know?"

A look of understanding then crossed her face and she smiled down on me.

"Well this just makes things more fun."

I looked between the two of them, wondering what it was that I didn't know.

"How long did you say Royce would be?" Riley asked.

"I didn't, but he should have been here by now."

"Good, I'll be glad to see his reaction; I didn't have a good view back in the station."

"Have a good view of what? What the hell are you talking about?"

Riley turned and faced me, "You don't get to speak." He shouted at me, hitting me across the face again.

"We're talking about the fact your precious little wifey…" Victoria continued, "…isn't actually dead."

"Aww Vic why did you have to ruin the surprise." Riley complained.

"What?" I asked, my throat suddenly a lot drier.

Riley looked down on me and started laughing, "This is great."

"No one shot your wife; you just assumed she was dead."

I never answered them; thoughts were just streaming around my head, what happened back in the station, what I saw on the video flashed before my eyes. Could she really be alive? Or were these two just messing with my head?

~~*~~
Bella's POV
~*~

6 hours earlier…

Sleep hadn't come to me that night, and I rolled over restlessly in some attempt to fall asleep. However it didn't happen and I was left alone in the darkness of the room with just my thoughts to comfort me, although they were full of worry and fear and didn't help me staying calm.

I knew it wasn't evening, or early morning for that matter, but as long as I was shut up in this room I might as well sleep and recover.

As I wasn't tired, I stared up into the darkness of the room, not even able to see a few inches in front of my face. I heard a couple of footsteps in the hallway outside my room along with some quiet conversation that I could just barely make out.

"…well if what he says is true shouldn't we do something about the police tracking us?" A first voice said, one that I didn't recognise but assumed it must be one of the many gang members.

"There's nothing we can really do, but hope that he does something to stop them from finding our location." The second voice replied, and I recognised it as Laurent's.

"And what about the girl, what are we going to do with her if he disagrees?" The footsteps stopped and I realised they were now outside my room.

"Then we will deal with her the way we said we would." Laurent replied, followed by a rustling of keys as I heard him unlock the door and open it. Light from the hallway streamed in and caused me to shut my eyes quickly with the contrasting levels of light changing so quickly.

I put my hand in front of my face to try and shield some of the light out of my eyes, and saw the two men standing at the door. Laurent stepped aside as the other man walked into the room and made his way towards me. He was tall, a large build, black hair, and wearing all black, with a sidearm on his belt. He grabbed me roughly by the arm and pulled me up.

I stumbled a bit but regained my balance and turned to Laurent, who smiled and said "It's time." He moved aside and gestured for us to walk past him. The guy next to me pulled me roughly again but I held back and said "I'm capable of walking." He looked over to Laurent and then back to me, releasing his tight grip on my arm, but then pushing me hard in the shoulder for me to start walking.

I left the room and followed Laurent to somewhere else in the building.

As we walked I was confused with what was happening at the moment, and why he needed me right now. The walk was quite long wherever we were going, but the people I passed, who I believed to be members of this gang, all had this odd look of excitement on their faces, and when they saw me it just seemed to boost their excitement.

We stopped suddenly outside a door and Laurent opened it and walked in. The guy behind me pushed me again and I stumbled, but this time tripping over something on the floor and falling. Various members snickered at my clumsiness and I slowly pulled myself up off of the floor, the fall just adding to the pain of my other various bruises.

Someone came over and helped me to my feet, looking up I noticed it was Rosalie. She was still alive! She looked badly beaten; I was surprised I had recognised her. But they must still see her as valuable otherwise she would have been killed for her treason against the Volturi.

I was tempted to smile at the fact she was here but the look on her face just increased my worry. Her face seemed emotionless, but her eyes showed the same worry and fear I must have been feeling, however I didn't know what for, and she did.

"What's happening?" I whispered, low enough for no one else to have heard me except her. She just shook her head and stepped away from me. It was then that I noticed she was also dressed in black, as was everyone else in the room.

I turned around briefly to see what caused me to fall, and noticed a bunch of wires. My eyes followed the wires to a bunch of televisions, phones, lights, and a video recorder in the middle of the room. I swallowed nervously as I began to have an idea of what was supposed to happen.

The man pushed me again and led me to a clear area in front of a large television screen, a camcorder was on top.

"Masks on." Laurent ordered and I watched as each person simultaneously pulled on their balaclavas, including Rosalie, who gave me one last sad look before pulling her mask over her head.

Laurent, well I thought it was Laurent, moved in front of me to adjust the camera then turned back around to me and ordered me to kneel on the floor. I done what he said and looked up to the TV which switched on and an image of me came up on the screen.

I moved my hand slightly and it mirrored my movements on the screen.

"Move it so it can just see me, keep her out of sight for now." Laurent said as I was moved just to the side of Laurent. Someone else fixed the camera and Laurent nodded and said "Change the channel and make the call."

A black figure moved and went over to one of the phones whilst another moved to a computer.

Laurent kneeled behind me and whispered in my ear, "This is live, not a recording, but a video call." I looked back up to the television where the screen no longer had us but a black image. "You are not to say a word, nothing about any of us otherwise there will be serious consequences."

He stood back up and I noticed from the corner of my eye him lowering his handgun so it was close to my head.

The guy by the phones finished the call and said, "He said they're finishing, and just need us to connect them."

"Well connect them" Laurent said exasperated. I heard him move behind me and I assumed he was moving into position.

The man by the computer signalled a count down of three with his fingers, the room filled with a sudden silence and tension. My eyes looked back to the screen where it started to flicker and then finally an image came to the screen.

The breath caught in my throat as I looked at the person at the other end of the video call. I felt so relieved to see him on the screen, live, right there in front of me, but something troubled me. He looked the same, yet different at the same time. His bronze hair was in its usual disarray, but it looked like he had run his hand through it many times from nervousness or being worried.

His emerald eyes looked through the screen, but they were surrounded by dark circles from lack of sleep, and his eyes seemed to have lost their sparkle, and all I could see was the fury he felt.

Although he was still handsome, he looked in a terrible state and I wondered if even after what he said to me over the divorce, he still felt some of the feelings for me and was worried over my kidnapping.

It was silent until Laurent spoke from behind me. "Who's watching us?"

"It's just me." Edward answered, and it was as though there was no hope in his voice, that he was giving up.

"You know why we called, it's time."

Edward ran his hand through his hair, "I know, it's just that-"

"Just what?!" He shouted from behind me. Edward remained silent and Laurent spoke again, "Do I have to remind you what'll happen?"

"I know what the consequences of my actions will be." Edward growled through clenched teeth.

"Are you sure? 'Cause I think you need to be reminded." When he said that he must have nodded to one of the other guys, as they made their way over to me, pulled me up by my arm just to push me back down to the floor by Laurent's feet.

I winced in pain as the impact from hitting the floor caused my other injuries to strain. But then I remembered Edward was watching me, and I turned slowly to face the TV. Edward's eyes were wide and full of fear as he looked at me.

"Leave her out of this; she doesn't have to be here right now. Let it just be us two."

Something cold pressed to my head and I tried to turn but Laurent had put his hand on my shoulder and had a firm grasp on me. In the corner of my eye I saw what he had pressed to my head; his handgun was now aimed at my head. "You remember our deal don't you?" He asked innocently, showing his own answer of 'no' to Edward's previous statement, and I watched as Edward tensed up. I briefly noticed him looking away from the screen but ignored it.

Laurent pushed the barrel of the gun more forcefully into my temple, and caused me to whimper in pain. "So, has it been completed?" Laurent asked again, pushing me forward slightly to remind him.

"No, I need more time." Edward answered, his voice held a hint of pleading as he looked back down to me.

"Well you don't have more time, we said a month, and a month is nearly up."

A month? Has it really been that long? And then I remembered why I was here, and I felt stupid not realising it earlier. I just thought the deal would be sorted behind the scenes, rather than live on television.

"I…I know that, but something like this doesn't take a month, and I'm just one man, I can't supply you with what you want in that amount of time."

"Well tough luck, it's either a month or…" he suddenly grabbed my hair painfully and pulled it back tilting my head back. The cool metal of the gun moved from my temple to under my chin. "…your little mate will suffer the consequences."

I tried to look at the screen from my uncomfortable position, and was able to see Edward getting up out of his chair in despair. "No!"

"What?" Laurent said calmly. Suddenly the metal of the gun wasn't pressed to my head and my hair was released. But the moment I thought he had left me alone, I was hit powerfully with the gun to the side of my head. A sharp pain ran through my face, and I was knocked to the floor. I pulled myself up slowly and pressed my hand carefully against my head where it stung on contact. I winced and then I felt something wet trickling down my cheek. I looked back to my hand to see a red liquid on my hand, added with a mixture of rust and salt entering my nose and I knew immediately that I was bleeding.

I looked back up to the screen were Edward was tense, and looked like he was ready to kill someone. I didn't want him to get into more trouble so I tried to plead with him using my eyes. He must have understood as I saw him relax ever so slightly.

"Do you want to reconsider that answer?" Laurent asked again. "Don't think I won't do it."

"Okay, but please, give me an extra day or two, to make sure everything is finalised and in place."

Edward was trying to buy more time, and he was pleading with them to give it to them. Behind the screen, one of the other men stood up and held the phone to his chest, he whispered quickly over to Laurent, "Riley says there tracking down our position, he'll try and stop it though."

Edward's eyes flickered above the screen another time. What is he waiting for?

"What are you looking at?" Laurent asked. I was confused at first but he must have seen Edward looking away as well. Either that or he was taking advantage of the extra knowledge the other guy just told him.

"What? Nothing, I'm nervous that's all, you've got my wife as a hostage before my very eyes." His voice rose at the end, but all I could hear was him calling me his 'wife'. It's seemed like ages since he called me that, yet since the divorce I never even thought he would think of me that way. Did he still care for me the way he used to? I smiled at the thought.

"Triangulating position, estimated time 30 seconds." An extra voice suddenly said, but from Edward's side of the screen. He froze suddenly and I realised that he didn't want them to know they were being located. Pity they already knew.

"What was that?! Are you tracking us?!" Laurent shouted, and he quickly pulled me back to him and repositioned the gun back to my head. "Call it off now otherwise I'll shoot her!" He warned.

"20 seconds left Detective." The officer shouted again.

"Do it!"

I looked back up to Edward, who seemed to be battling the decision to call off the trace or protect me. As we looked into each others eyes, it was as though he was communicating how he felt for me through the gaze in his eyes, despite the situation we were in.

"You have till the count of three to call it off." Laurent demanded.

"10 seconds left Edward." The officer called again.

For some reason I knew that this was going to be it, there would be no miraculous save, I was going to die here, in front of Edward.

"One…." Laurent started the countdown and I saw Edward tense up again.

"Look, stop, please, if you kill her we won't help you anymore." Edward pleaded. The gun was moved away from my head and I first thought he was listening to Edward, but then I heard the trigger being pulled and the gunfire echoed in the room.

I didn't feel any pain, but I looked down to see a small crater in the floor with a bullet lodged within it, a small wisp of smoke rising from it and into the air, just a few inches away from my leg.

"Two…" He continued.

Laurent brought the gun back towards me, but instead he pressed it into my neck. I cried in pain as the scorching metal of the gun burned my skin. He kept it there for a few seconds, the burning sensation continuing and I could smell my burnt skin.

He finally pulled the gun away but the pain was still there. I felt my tears rolling down my cheeks and before I could control myself my body was starting to shake with sobs.

"Please, for the love of God, please don't do this. Please don't." Edward pleaded. His voice, although trying to be calm and more collected, was shaking and weak. I looked up through my tears to see his own body shaking, a tear rolled down his cheek and he looked down defeated.

It was heartbreaking seeing him like this, weak. He was almost always the strong one between us; he would comfort me when I was weak and upset. Just remembering these things reminded me of how I felt for Edward, how I had always felt, and will feel in the future.

But knowing that this was possibly my last ever chance with him, I had to tell him how I felt, whether he returned the feeling or not, I wouldn't care. Just as long as he knew.

"Edward?" I said quietly, my throat was closing up I was that upset.

People in the room looked at me angrily, and from the looks in their eyes they were warning me not to say anything to jeopardise their plans. They didn't have to worry about that.

On hearing me calling his name, Edward's head lifted quickly and his eyes connected with mine. He was slightly shocked on hearing me speak, but all I could do was smile.

"I love you." I whispered, my emotions taking over me. All I wanted to do was reach out and touch him, just a small part of him. My hand lifted unintentionally towards the screen but I pulled it back down before it was obvious that I did.

His hand moved from beside him to be placed on the screen. I wasn't expecting a response from him, but when he opened his mouth my heart hammered heavily in my chest.

"I love you too." He whispered back, giving me a small crooked smile that I responded with my own.

I closed my eyes then, allowing Edward's smiling face to be the last thing that I saw, a comfort for me as I lowered my head, almost in acceptance of my fate, of my death. I was ready for it. I didn't think of the things I wouldn't be able to do as Laurent pulled the hammer back on the gun. All that was flashing through my mind was times we had spent together, times that I cherished and loved.

All I could do was sit and wait for the darkness to take me.

"Three." Laurent said for the final time.

And then a shot was fired.

.

.

.

.

It was silent and dark, the sound of the gunshot was still echoing in my ears, however I felt no pain, no agonising feeling that I knew I should be feeling if I had just been shot. Or maybe I died instantly. So quickly I could never feel the pain.

But something was wrong. If I was dead then why was I still aware of what was going on in the room I had supposedly died in? How come I wasn't with my family, my father or my mother? Shouldn't I be feeling emptiness, or something? Seeing the bright white light that I was supposed to go through? Was there even a heaven or was this it?

If I was dead how come I could hear my breathing and my heart as it beat heavily against my chest?

Am I even dead?

It didn't feel right for me to be dead, things weren't adding up.

And then as quickly as I thought I had died, I realised I was still in this hellhole. I was aware of what was going on in the room, feel my heart beating against my chest, hear my heavy breathing, because I was alive.

I opened my eyes warily and was unfortunate to see the same room I was in a few moments earlier; not heaven as I predicted earlier.

I looked down to check if I had any injuries, and was relieved when I couldn't see nor feel any. My cheeks were still wet from the tears I had shed, and now starting to fall again knowing I wasn't dead. It was a strange sort of happiness I was feeling, like another chance at life. But still, someone had fired a gun, and Laurent couldn't have missed from this close to me.

I slowly looked back up to the screen, remembering that Edward had just watched this whole ordeal. But why couldn't I hear him? And then I noticed the screen was now black, showing no image of Edward, no picture was being played on the television.

The video camera which was on top of the television was no longer there, and I looked around quickly for it, just to see if it could possibly be still recording something, anything. But my luck ended when I saw the lens just in front of me, along with various other pieces scattered in a small area on the floor, a small wisp of smoke was rising from the recorder which was lying broken on the floor.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion as I looked at the mess before me, and then I heard a woman's voice. I looked back up to see the silhouette of a woman sitting in the shadows, from what I could assume she was wearing the black uniform, but she wasn't wearing a balaclava as her hair was wild and loose, and from the small light in the room, tinges of red reflected off of it. She sat, holding her gun in her hand, and I could just see some smoke rising from the barrel of her gun.

"Awww," She said sarcastically, and leaning forward so some of the light casted off of her face, but all I focused on were her eyes, filled with terror and hatred, "How precious."

AN: So this update is for the reader whose birthday it is today, Happy Birthday! :)

Thanks for everyone who reviewed the last chapter :) Just a note to say those 'guest' reviewers without an account, I'm sure you know (or may not) but I can't PM you, so you are unable to get a preview. It's just in case you may think i'm not doing what I said I would. So sorry, and hope you can just stick till the next update without the preview :)

But for everyone else, review and you will get a sneak peak of the next chapter :)

Thanks for reading :)

Jaimie x

PS. Got my results and passed first year uni! :) good luck to anyone waiting on any, and for anyone who has got theirs I hope it was what they wanted :)