Chapter 25

Edward immediately moved as if to shield me from the front door, just as Dem moved Tanya behind him. Tanya and I both rolled our eyes.

"Guys, really? Do you think they are going to knock on the door and give us a friendly warning?" I asked with raised eyebrows.

Felix grinned in Demetri's direction. "I will get the door," he said with a chuckle.

A moment later, I heard Felix and another man's booming voices. We all rushed to the living room to find Jake and Nessie squaring off with the large guy.

"Hey, hey, hey!" I screamed. "Felix, these are my neighbors. Chill, OK?" I turned to Jacob, who was glaring at Felix, and I realized that the two men were roughly the same size.

"Jake, what are you doing here? And, more importantly, how did you know I was here?" I was confused. I had liked the couple a lot, but they had never been to Edward's place and had no reason to be searching for me.

"Let's have a seat, and I can explain." He and Nessie took a seat on the couch while the others filtered in.

"Earlier today, Nessie was checking the mail, when she noticed a man lurking around Bella's backyard. Because of everything that happened, she took out her iPhone and zoomed in, taking a photo of him." Jake held out the phone and showed the picture. It was the dread head. Nessie looked extremely scared at this point.

Jake sighed heavily. "His name is Laurent, and he is extremely dangerous. Drugs, sex trafficking, murder… you name it, he's done it."

Alex narrowed his eyes at Jake. "How do you know that? You're not ex-military. I can spot my kind from a mile away. Yet you can identify this bastard by name. Who are you?"

Jake bristled and looked at Nessie, who squeezed his hands.

Jake sighed. "I was an enforcer." He spoke slowly, never dropping Alex's gaze.

"A what?" I asked, feeling so confused, just as Felix muttered, "Fucking hell."

"Mob enforcer," Alex spit out. Felix was immediately on his feet, his hand on the gun I knew he was carrying. Demetri was practically vibrating with anger.

I looked around, as Alex's face was now a hard mask. Jake immediately raised his hands up. "Look, guys. I left that life because I hated it," he spat out. "I'm not here for trouble." He looked at Nessie. "I love my life. I'm here to help you."

"Right now, we have no reason to trust you, so you had better make the next words you tell us real good." Demetri's voice was cold. "For all we know, you could be working for them. I mean, you are mob, and they aren't the most trustworthy individuals. Give us your story, and help us understand why we should trust you."

Jake stared at Demetri for a moment before looking at Ness. He glanced at me and sighed before speaking. "What I tell you could cost me my life, and quite possibly all of yours, if anyone ever finds out. This has got to be kept a secret - no one else can know. I'm placing a lot of trust in you people, who I barely know, but I think maybe you guys can help me like I can help you."

"OK," Felix said in irritation, waving his hands in a gesture for Jake to get on with it.

"My father was an enforcer as was his father before him. He took me from my mother when I was five, and trained me to take over for him. I am a well-trained assassin, torturer, kidnapper, disposal expert -whatever you name, I can do it. He hired top military personal to teach me what he didn't, and to make sure I was the best." I could hear the bitterness in his voice. "I loathed what he had turned me into, and I hated him even more. He was so brainwashed by the establishment that he had no love or loyalty for anyone but his boss. But I knew that once you were enmeshed in that life, you were stuck forever, and if I ran, they would hunt me down, no matter where I went. I met this girl, and one of my father's rules was 'no relationships', because emotional attachments make you weak. Long story short, he had her killed." I gasped. "She was twenty-two years old, completely innocent, and dead because of me. But what he did had the opposite effect of what he was trying to achieve. He wanted to make me fear repercussions of trying to leave, but his mistake was taking away someone I cared about. All the others were nameless, faceless people, but not her. I felt a fraction of what other people's loved ones felt every time we silenced a witness, or kidnapped women and kids to sell like cattle. But with her? It killed me inside. I knew I had to get away, but the only way out is death, so I bided my time and planned. I was constantly casing the coroner's office for men who died but no one claimed the body. Finally, this one guy came in...he was as tall as I was, and we even shared some features. The best part was that he had been shot. His name was Jacob Black. He had a wallet with identification and everything. No one claimed him, and he was about to be cremated. I did an extensive search on him and found that both his parents were deceased and his twin sisters were a mess. One was in jail serving a thirty year sentence, and the other was in a mental institution for some reason. There was no other family, and this was as good as I was going to get."

"You stole his identity," Alex stated, and Jake nodded his head and continued his story.

"I paid one of the staff $100,000 to cremate him as a John Doe. I don't have dental records or anything, and with the life we live, I knew if I faked my death very carefully, I could run and get out. I blew up my car with the body of this guy in it and left it in an abandoned area. It was days before it was discovered. My cell phone, personal items, everything to identify me as the victim were in the car.

"The same guy I paid to cremate him identified me through a DNA search, and that cost me another $300,000, which he knew not to put in a bank so as not to raise any flags. He got a secure safe that he keeps at home, and that's that. But not before I scared the shit out of him, by letting him know that not even his wife could know what he did. People talk because they don't understand the ramifications of not keeping a secret. This person tells that person and so on and so on. I told him, in no uncertain terms, that my father would slaughter his whole family if he ever found out he helped me, and if he didn't, I would." He ran his hands over his face.

"I used the keys to his home and found his social security card, birth certificate, and everything else I needed. He had a high school diploma, but no college. I had about 5 million dollars in cash. I had been stashing cash here and there over the course of two years so my father wouldn't realize I was saving money. I didn't withdraw any money from my account so he wouldn't get suspicious. I had about 80 million in various accounts that I left untouched. To him, I was murdered for revenge. He didn't even care." He chuckled humorlessly. "They went about business as usual after my funeral."

"I moved away and found the safest and most low key place I could find, Trinity. That plan has worked out for a long time, until my girlfriend saw Laurent creeping around your backyard. He isn't in the mob, per se, but they will use him for contract work. He is ruthless. What he lacks in finesse, he makes up for in sheer will."

Edward sat forward, eyeing him untrustingly. "OK, you have one hell of a story, but that doesn't explain why you are here." Right. If he was so gung-ho about laying low, why would he get involved?

Jake sighed. "Security. Him being here is a huge risk for me. He knows my face, so anyone I am close to is at risk now. I refuse to let what happened before happen to Ness. I could help you guys catch him, also. I need to make sure he hasn't already spotted me. And, unfortunately, that is a distinct possibility if he was casing the neighborhood. I just need his phone and any device he has, to ensure that he hasn't contacted my father about seeing me."

He shrugged. "Besides, I like Bella and the kid. What type of man would I be to let them be harmed? I'm at your service however you need me, and you will need me." He looked pointedly at Demetri. "Laurent can call in lots of reinforcements, if needed, and he will. According to the news, you kicked his ass and left the rest of his crew dead. He is going to want revenge for that, I assure you. No matter what reason he is actually here for, he is going to come down harder now, just to get even with being bested."

Edward pulled me close and growled. "That's just fucking great. This asshole attacks them and gets upset because he got his ass handed to him." He spun me around and pulled me in. "I just got you," he whispered, "and everyone is trying to take you away."

I reached up and touched his face before turning to Jacob, or whatever his name was.

He stood up. "You guys need me, aaaannnnd, I have a safer place than this available until we catch this asshole. I'm sure her safety is a big concern, and this place will not cut it against Laurent." This caught everyone's attention.

"When I first moved here, I purchased an old abandoned warehouse for the past due taxes, under a dummy corporation. It was sturdy, just unused. On the outside it looks like a regular old building. The bottom four floors are still unused and empty, but the top two floors make up a secure safe house. Weapons, video surveillance, hidden safe room - the whole nine yards. I even have a park area on the roof so Erin can play. The best thing is, it's not tied to anyone in this room. It has eight bedrooms, a gym, a large living room area, TV-slash-game room, and three bathrooms." He looked sheepish when I just stared at him, incredulously.

Edward scoffed. "Why in the hell would you need that much space?"

Jake looked uncomfortable for a second. "I was dealing with a lot of demons. I took a lot of lives, ruined people, separated loved ones. I was in a bad place and I was so restless. I was free, but didn't know what to do with myself. I felt like I didn't deserve to be free, with all I had done."

Nessie spoke softly for the first time. "You were forced into that life, Jake. That isn't who you are. Your father is the only one to blame."

Jake kissed her softly before continuing.

"I was just sleeping on a small cot and letting day after day pass me by. Then one day, I just got up and decided the place was so big that it needed some walls, you know, just dry wall and stuff. I started there, and the rest just fell into place. I did all the work myself, so it didn't cost me much of anything. The beds and dressers are all made from pallets…I discovered I like using my hands. The plumbing was difficult and kept me occupied a lot, but it was a challenge, which is what I needed, so I enrolled in a plumbing school and a career was born. The roof has a few wooden benches, a grill, and whatnot…uhhhh, we could even add a swing set for Erin. The building is so tall no one will see her playing outside. It is the safest place for everyone. Then we can concentrate more on finding Laurent, and less on guarding Bella and Erin."

Everyone was quiet, considering what he was offering.

I tugged on Edward's hand, letting him know to follow me. "Let me discuss this with Edward in private for just a minute and we will be right back." I could see the others want to protest, but Edward held his hands up to stop them. "Guys, this is about Bella and Erin. I think the decision should lay with her."

Alex didn't seem to like the idea very much, but Felix just shrugged his shoulders. Demetri was looking contemplative and just waved us off. As soon as we were out of ear shot of the others, we began to talk quietly.

"What do you think? I like Jake and Nessie, I always got a good vibe from him. And if his place is as secure as he says, then that's better, right? Plus, we need the space."

Edward shook his head. "Baby, it's not that simple. Jake is mixed up in the mob," he whispered fervently. "What if he inadvertently pulls us in the midst of his own drama? That is a whole other ball game. This isn't a movie in which the end is going to favor the good guys. This guy is a killer, regardless if he was forced or not. Do you really think you can trust him?"

"That's just it, Edward. He IS a killer and he knows how this guy thinks. He obviously has worked with him enough to know his moves. And I just…my gut is telling me to trust him." I looked at him pleadingly. If he wasn't on board, I wasn't going to accept Jake's help, no matter how much we needed it.

Edward let out a ragged groan. "I hate this. I hate that I'm not capable of keeping you safe. I feel almost inadequate with these guys around."

It hadn't occurred to me that Edward would be feeling a bit out of sorts, but I guess that was understandable, considering the circumstances. "Baby, these are highly trained professionals. You are a doctor, for Christ sake. If this was some regular Joe Blow, I know you could protect me. But these aren't regular guys, and you need some help." I kissed him on the lips. "And, I think we also need the space. Your place is a bit small for all you alpha males," I giggled.

"I agree with that," he said, laughingly. "Fuck, I hope you are right about Jake. But I will trust your judgement. I like him. Actually, it's weird to associate him with being a mob enforcer."

I scrunched my nose up. "Yeah, I know."

We joined the others to find that Erin had made her way back downstairs and had accosted Jake. He was laughing at something she had said, and Nessie was looking horrified. Felix was trying to smother his laughter. Alex was watching the interaction between Jake and Erin very closely.

Erin whispered something in Jake's ear, causing him to grin and stand up. As he did, he picked her up, effortlessly, and flew her around the room, airplane-style. Her braids were swinging every which way as she squealed in delight.

Nessie was practically melting at the sight, and even Tanya was looking all googoo-eyed at the large man playing with my precocious child. I'm pretty sure this won over the entire room.

"Sooo… Edward and I have decided that since Jake has trusted us with his secret, we should be able to trust him enough to help us. Besides He is right you guys can focus on finding this creep." The others didn't really seem surprised. "So… who wants to go with Jake to check out the place?"

Alex immediately stepped forward, as I assumed he would. I hadn't known the man but a second, but I knew he would want to feel Jake out more, which was understandable.

"Well, since that's settled, Nessie, join us for dinner." I motioned towards the kitchen for the others to follow.

The pretty woman watched Jake worriedly as he prepared to leave with Alex.

I placed my arms on her shoulders. "Come on, Ness, let's eat. He will be fine and back before you know it," I assured her.

She smiled shyly at me, as Erin ran over and grabbed my hand, demanding my attention as we all headed back to the kitchen to finish the dinner we had left unattended.

After we all reheated our food and resumed eating, I could tell Edward was on edge. The call. Jake. It was a lot to deal with. I just hoped he didn't run off after deciding this was too much drama. I couldn't bear it. We had polite conversation, no one bringing up the issues with Erin's little ears in proximity. Just as we cleared the table, Felix got a call from Alex and put him on speaker.

"This place is perfect. Pack up your things - we move out tonight. No one, and I mean no one, brings their cell phones. They can be traced. Edward, call your parents and job, and let them know you may not be in contact for a few days. Tanya you need to do the same I know wherever Dem goes you go and we can't have you coming and going. Everyone knows of your link to Bella. Everyone be ready in an hour. Jake and I will case the block to make sure no one is watching Edward's place so the move will be secure. We are not taking any of the cars. I've picked up a clean truck, and Jake is on his motorcycle." He abruptly ended the call.

Edward picked up Erin and moved towards the steps. I cleaned the kitchen and the others went about getting prepared to leave.

Fifty minutes later, Alex and Jake were in the driveway, and we were on our way. I hoped this was our last abrupt move, and that Laurent would be caught very quickly. Only time would tell.

AN Hello, everyone. This has been a very rough two months for me. I just didn't have the heart to write while dealing with my Dad's passing. I still get up sometimes and almost call him like I used to do before I would go to work. I actually did once, before I realized he wasn't going to answer. I'm still not over it. They say it gets easier…I haven't gotten there yet, but life does go on. So thank you for being patient with a grieving amateur writer, and I hope you enjoy the chapter.