So this is the last one for the night, because if I quit posting after the next chapter you would all want to lynch me for the cliff hanger.


Chapter 56

I rub my face letting out a sigh. Leaning my head back I take out my contacts, having to blink a few times before sliding on my glasses. Glancing at the clock, I see Bella still has another hour left of work at Sinatra's. My eyes go back to the accounting books and I start to go back over the figures. Out of everything I do at the gym, this is my most hated job of all. Jasper, the cocky asshole, has offered to handle the books for me, but since I'm still not overly keen on him, I don't feel like owing him any favors.

There's a knock on my door and I look up. "Enter," I call out as my hand covers my gun. The door slowly opens and there is Maria. She's now working here part-time. She comes in everyday for a few hours, but breaks it up so each day she's here at a different time. Even after being here a short time, she's already got a decent client list.

"What can I do for you, Maria?" I say as she comes in and sits down.

"I was thinking that maybe we should hit the doctors' offices, you know leave some leaflets about the gym, along with a list of my credentials and programs we now offer."

I nod at her a little as she keeps talking.

"I was also thinking since it would be a part of healthy lifestyle, that maybe we could rope your girl into doing some healthy cooking classes on a budget?"

I smile at her knowing without even asking Bella that she would do it. "Sounds like a great plan. It will also give us a way of utilizing the additional space we have for something constructive." I tell her and she smiles back at me.

She clears her throat a little. "Edward, not that I think you overcharge people, but do you think we could look at giving people that are living on tight budgets a discount, or something?"

I sigh, this is something I have thought about a lot, but I never know how to keep it fair for them and the ones that are well off.

"I've been working on that already, and I'm still trying to get that sorted," I tell her truthfully. "Moving on, is there any word on the results for my mother's labs?"

"No, not yet, I know they have a small backlog, but if I don't hear anything by tomorrow night, I'll be going there and doing the tests myself."

I shake my head and grin a little. As I open my mouth, my cell starts to ring. While picking up, seeing Jake's calling.

"Hi Jake," I say as I answer it.

"Mike just walked in with three others, get here now." Jake spits the whole thing out quickly but I'm able to make out every word he said.

"Make sure she stays in your eyesight—"

"Fuck!" Jake says cutting me off and his tone of voice is enough to get my heart racing. "Royce and four of his guards just walked in, too. I don't like this, something big is going down, and I can feel it."

I close my eyes trying to calm myself. "Go to code Amber, don't wait. I'm on my way," I say as I move to the office door. As I open the door my cell starts to beep, flashing amber along with Bella's current location on a GPS map.

"Do you need me there or here?" Maria says following me. I look to see Emmett is in full gear already and Alice looks white. "Maria, stay with Alice, you have full authority until I come back," I say walking out with Emmett on my heels.

"What's going on?" Emmett asks as I start to drive.

"Mike is at Bella's place, he just walked in and Royce came in right after him, both have crews with them."

Emmett just looks at me. "What's Royce up to?"

I shake my head at him. "I have no clue."

Pulling up outside of Sinatra's, I'm a little relieved to see everything still looks to be quiet. Walking to the door and opening it, I get cut off by Tanya who walks in before me.

"Thanks, Eddie," she says walking right up to the hostess.

"Hi, I'm meeting someone here, he said the reservation is under the name Frank," she says to the hostess.

"This way," the hostess says.

Before she can move I grip Tanya's arm. "There's someone in here from the Dwelling family," I say in her ear.

Tanya just looks at me confused.

"The Dwelling family are our enemies," I clarify for her. "Maybe you should go elsewhere."

"You're jealous, how sweet," she says placing her hand on my chest. "But you hurt me, and this is now my payback. Don't worry too much, this is just a blind date, but I will be taking him home." She smirks at me and I grip her arm and push her away from me.

"Tanya, something may go down in here, I was just trying to get you out of harm's way," I tell her.

Her eyes twinkle. "I knew that you cared about me."

I try not to glare at her. In truth, right now, I wouldn't care if she got shot or not, but since she's family, I know as one of the heads I need to do my best to protect her or have my men protect her and that leaves Bella with less guard, which angers me.

"Just fucking leave, don't be stupid," I demand.

"No," she says before she walks away.

I watch and draw in a breath when it appears as if she's going to Mike's table. I let out the breath again as she passes it only to sit at the table right next to his. This is just great; exactly what I need her close to one of the pieces of shit I'm here because of.

"Edward, does she know who's at the table next to her?" Bella asks as she walks into my open arms.

I kiss her head as I keep my eyes on Tanya who doesn't seem to be looking at Mike. Mike is looking at Bella as some of the men with him are looking at their menus.

"Not sure yet," I say quietly, not wanting to say anything else because I can see Royce walking our way from the corner of my eye.

"This is weird wouldn't you say?" Royce asks.

"What … me kissing my girlfriend?"

Royce just chuckles. "No, Tanya being that close to a Dwelling, but not even knowing it." Royce stops and smirks. "Or maybe she does know? We could have a traitor in our ranks?" The snide tone of Royce's voice has my whole system on alert and I feel on edge.

I watch as the waiter goes over to Mike's table. Mike passes him a piece of paper and the waiter looks over at Bella and me.

Since I'm able to see him clearly, I know that he has taken a deep breath before making his way to us.

"Bella," the waiter says as soon as he reaches us. "The gentleman at table sixteen wanted me to give you this," he carries on handing her the note.

She opens it with a shaky hand and I hear her gulp as I read over her shoulder.

Bella or should I say Miss Volturi,

Join me for dinner, so we can discuss our families reuniting.

Mike Dwelling


A/N:I'll start to post after I return from taking kids to school in the morning. Be sure to let us know what you think of the story so far.