AN: A chapter to clear up some of the pieces

My thanks to MeteorOnAMoonlessNight for her beta skills and to MissLiss15 for pre-reading

Disclaimer: Stephenie is as lucky woman; she owns the right to Edward

Chapter 35

Now, Bella

The day after the revelations between us marked a huge change in the family dynamics. Edward's health went from strength to strength as he recovered from the beatings he had taken and the subsequent explosion at the house.

The downside was that at the end of each day, as he took up the reins of the business, he ended up too tired to do more than make out a little before sleep took him. We didn't spend much time alone together. If I wasn't with Esme, Rose and Alice, or taking care of Charlie and Lily, I was wherever Edward was, doing whatever he was doing, though we were usually in the company of at least one of his men. I didn't want to let him out of my sight.

I was determined that I would be an equal partner, but took the conversation Edward and I'd had the day we discussed Aro and Caius to heart, and didn't involve myself in everything he did. I did get some sideways looks from the lower echelons, but Edward, along with Carlisle and Garrett, were quick to squash any talk. Seth and Jared accepted me wholeheartedly, always ready to take orders from me in the same way they did from Edward.

Emmett proved to be a very sweet man with a great sense of humor, and I got to know him better as he spent time with Rose and the rest of the family. Esme was more than happy for her to move in, which she had agreed to temporarily, although I knew they were also looking for their own house just as Edward and I were. Esme loved us all being under the same roof, but I was looking forward to having a house to ourselves again.

In the meantime, I had lots to learn on how the business was run. I received a crash course from Jasper, who was the Cullen's numbers man.

"Most of the Cullen money," he explained, "Comes from legitimate sources such as Cullen Associates, with their publishing division, the acquisitions department, and their investments in technology. Other avenues are nightclubs, bars and restaurants. All of these are used for money laundering at some point."

Jasper ignored the look on my face that said I wasn't too happy about that, but redeemed himself in the next sentence. "We have to use clean money, Bella, if we're to continue to help with women's shelters, children's homes, cancer research, and all the charities we give to on a regular basis. I think once you get more involved, you'll find that we're not all bad."

After that, I listened more closely and with less judgment. Jasper continued to outline the various other businesses that the Cullens were involved with. "Then there is the drug trade. We import mainly from South America, although taking over the Volturi business means other areas of the world, too. We employ distributors, who mostly run themselves, with a little overseeing and reporting back to Garrett and then, of course, to Edward."

"What about guns, Jasper? The fact that you deal in arms distribution and know that the guns will be used to kill innocents doesn't sit well with me."

"I'm sure Edward will talk to you about anything you want to know more about, but basically, gun running exists, with a huge amount of the arms actually being supplied by the US government to those they feel will use them to benefit us. If we didn't do the same, someone else―probably someone with less morals than us―would do it instead. I know you don't like this, Bella, but it's the reality of the life here. It sounds like we're paying lip-service when I say we try to give back, but it's true. We do what we can."

I realized that I had a lot to learn, but I was thankful to Edward that he wanted me to know everything and to be as involved as I wanted, or not at all.

Jasper was a good teacher, but he was such a quiet person that I could never get a read on whether he tolerated me because Edward had told him to, or because he respected me.

Seated at the lunch table a week later with the children, Esme, Rose and Alice, I complained to Alice. "I don't know where I stand with Jasper. He shows me everything and tells me about each part of the business, but I have no idea if he approves or if he's just doing what Edward has told him to do."

"Don't be silly." Alice laughed. "Of course he likes you. If anything, he's a bit intimidated by you, especially after ordering him around the day you got Charlie back. I assure you; he respects you, and isn't just paying lip service to what Edward wants."

"That's nice to know, Alice. I just want him to be as open as Emmett. There's no guile in that man; what you see is what you get. At least for family, right, Rose?"

My relationship with Rose was on the mend now that everything was out in the open, and I realized just how little time we had spent together over the months since she and Emmett had gotten married. She had confided in me that she felt guilty every day and it was sometimes easier to avoid me than to keep lying. I understood, even though it still stung that she had married the man she loved without me beside her.

~ oOo ~

Caius had been in the basement room for another twenty-four hours before Edward got around to arranging talking to, or more accurately, interrogate him. Before heading down there, he joined me for a late breakfast while the rest of the family were outside on the patio; the kids were in the pool again.

"Bella," he started. "It's time. I need to know what Caius knows. I realize that you want to be an equal partner and you've already won Carlisle and Garrett over. They are in awe of you, and Seth and Jared think you can walk on water. The rest of the men will fall in line, so there's no reason that you absolutely have to be down there with me." He stopped to kiss me soundly. "You have my respect, too, and I promise there will be no more secrets between us. There's a part of me that just doesn't want you to be involved in that side of the life unless it's necessary. You've more than proved yourself capable."

"I know, and thank you for that, Edward. I think you're biased, but it won't be easy for your men to treat me as equal and to be honest, I'm okay with that. It was your acceptance as well as that of your family―your Dad, Jasper, and Emmett―that I needed the most. I think I have that, and with Garrett the rest will come in time, as you say. I want to be there, but maybe not as involved?"

So, I had joined them in the basement and watched, storing information for a time when I might need it. I thought I'd been harsh on Caius, but that was nothing to what Edward seemed capable of, and in the end, Caius sang like a canary and gave up everything he knew. Strangely enough, he hadn't known about Carmen or Kate, nor that it was Carmen's house where Charlie had been kept. It wasn't that Aro had kept it from him; Caius just wasn't interested. Our son was just a means to an end. His total indifference to Charlie was, for me, what would seal his fate.

When Edward had deemed that Caius had nothing more to tell, I watched the sorry excuse of a man hang from the ceiling. I felt no remorse, knowing that he would have done the same to Edward had their positions been reversed. In fact, even if Edward had signed over the Cullen business to Aro, this would have likely been his fate.

Those who would oppose the Cullens needed to be sent a clear message, and as a soon-to-be Cullen, it was my idea to carve a 'C' into the flesh on Caius's chest. He screamed for a while before he passed out. As a fitting end, I put a bullet between his eyes the same way as I'd done with Aro. I knew that it would certainly give the right message to anyone who thought they could mess with the Cullens.

The Newton's car had already been through a professional clean-up so that if the police were ever involved there would be no evidence of our involvement. Their bodies, which had been kept on ice for the week or so since they had paid our price, were staged in the back seat, while Caius's naked body was draped over the hood. I wanted the car to be driven symbolically through the window of the restaurant where Edward had been taken, but that was vetoed as being much too difficult to pull off in such a public place. Much as I understood that fact, I was a little sorry that it would just be placed in front of the gates to the Volturi main house.

However, we knew that the appropriate message had been received, and when Edward called Sam Uley, he agreed to meet without argument. The Volturi had been left alone for a while with him at the helm while Aro and Caius had played their games, and although he was loyal to the family, he was also a practical man. Edward knew of him and that he was a loyal man, but only time would tell if he would take kindly to the fact the Volturi would be swallowed up by the Cullens.

The coup was almost bloodless, except for any members of Aro or Caius's family. Jane and Alec would be dealt with soon, but Aro's mother was very old and sher and Carmen were allowed to live in her house with the understanding that if anything happened and was ever connected to her she would meet the same fate as Aro.

To tie up loose ends in Chicago, we asked Emmett, who had managed to remain out of sight throughout his 'vacation', to find out anything he could about Aro. He confirmed that there wasn't even a whisper about his death so it did seem likely that Kate Denali had arranged for his body to be removed from the house.

Kate, for all intents and purposes, disappeared the night I shot Aro. It was my bet that she fled to Italy, so it was decided that we would deal with her at the same time as Caius's offspring. Garrett returned from Forks, having found that Maria's sister was only too happy to give up James Hunter's location as she'd never liked him.

He would be next, followed by a long overdue visit to Italy.

~ oOo ~

As it happened, the visit to Italy was delayed when Jasper walked excitedly into the study one morning. "Hunter's surfaced, Edward. Bold as brass, but stupid. He's staying in a house about twenty miles from the Volturi mansion. What do you want to do?"

A new desk had been added to the study and had been placed adjacent to Edward's so we could work together or separately, and Edward leaned back, gesturing for me to answer. He showed me every day that he accepted me as his equal even if Jasper had a harder time doing the same. "He must be pretty stupid if he thinks that enough time has passed for it to be safe for him to return to Chicago."

Jasper tried not to look at Edward and, although his eyes drifted that way, he addressed me. "I suspect he heard that Caius and Aro were gone. We haven't advertised our takeover in any way so it's likely he's back to see what he can get out of the situation. He always was ambitious, if not bright."

"Leave it to me, please, Jasper," I asked, looking him steadily in the eye. Jasper eventually gave me a short nod and left the study without speaking to Edward, who was smirking at me from his seat. I called Seth, now newly promoted as well as Jared, both of whom had proven their loyalty. They staked out the house Hunter was renting and spent a few days watching and cataloguing his movements. Hunter's blatant stupidity was confirmed when it was proven that he was living there in plain sight with his with wife, behaving as if he hadn't a care in the world.

Seth reported readily back to me and, in broad daylight, I drove a non-registered vehicle past his driveway mid-morning and calmly put a bullet between his eyes, too. That was fast becoming my way of ending the life of a scumbag.

Finally, Edward had to face the fact that Embry Call, who had been his driver for longer than Edward and I had been together, had betrayed him in a very personal way. Embry had been the only one who had access to all the cars and had planted Aro's tracer bugs in each car and had reported everything he'd heard when carrying out his duties.

The worst thing was that Aro had threatened to take Embry's daughter if he didn't comply. Edward didn't understand why Embry hadn't come directly to him, and was even more disgusted that Embry would allow our son to be taken in the same way. It was his long history of loyal service that earned Embry a quick death and Jacob Black took his place, having proved his loyalty beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Edward moved some of his trusted men into the the Volturi main house, some of whom were charged with watching Sam Uley closely to check his loyalty, although it was unlikely that he'd ever have our complete trust. If it had been the other way round, none of Edward's men would have been left alive, and it was fortunate that Edward believed in second chances. Within a very short space of time, most things had settled down. Those men who wouldn't comply with the new regime were removed and others, loyal to the Cullens, replaced them, leaving a kind of peace as the two groups melded together.

With the wedding drawing ever closer, we decided to concentrate on us and the family for a while. To make sure we had no unpleasant surprises, we sent spies into Volterra in Italy to keep an eye on Alec and Jane, neither of whom showed any remorse. Neither did they make any attempt to return to claim their heritage, and instead, The Chicago Cullen's took over every aspect of the Volturi presence in the States.

** Dangerous Secrets **