We're officially moved into our new house! I need at least a week off to recover.

There was no doubt they had to formulate a plan to exact revenge on the Youngs. It wouldn't be as easy as what they'd done with the Volturis, either, because it needed to be entirely original. Inside the stupid fortress those people lived in, they were nearly impossible to reach.

Emmett doodled a drawing of the house as he remembered it on a pad of paper. "Do we need a man who can get inside?"

"I don't think it will be that easy to gain access," Jasper replied.

Getting up to pace, Edward said, "We don't have time for a man to get hired and gain their trust, so it would have to be someone who plans to get in and get out."

"But who can do that without getting caught?" Bella asked, tapping a pen on her legal pad.

"We've already used Rat once, maybe we can ask him again. It's what he's good at, and he certainly appreciated the bonus the last time," Emmett said.

Edward scrubbed one hand over the scruff on his jaw. "The problem is that I can't guarantee anyone's safety at this point."

"I don't think anyone signs up for this job thinking it'll be safe," Bella said dryly.

"You've got a point, but this is different."

Emmett pointed at Edward. "What can we do once the man gets inside? There can't be any live fire if he wants a chance of escaping. If it's a straight-up suicide mission, he won't agree no matter how large the bonus."

"I hate to say bombs again, but what if we set up a car bomb in the garage?" Jasper suggested.

Bella nodded. "No one checks the cars in their own garages."

With raised eyebrows, Edward said, "You can bet we will now."

Jasper sighed. "You have excellent security, Edward."

"Everybody thinks they do until someone makes it clear they don't," Emmett pointed out. "That's how this could work."

Nodding, Edward agreed. "True."

Jasper drummed his fingers on his knees. "So our options are getting Rat inside their garage, or what? Jumping them on the street?"

"I don't want to take out Heidi in this scheme," Bella said. "She's nothing but a trophy wife, and wives are untouchable."

"Supposedly." Jasper snorted. "I'm surprised he hasn't traded her in on a younger model with the view he has of women."

"Me too, actually," Edward said.

"Oh really?" Bella drawled.

"Don't use that tone of voice. It's clearly the way his mind works. I'm not saying I agree with it."

Silence descended over the room, pulsing with unsaid words.

Emmett finally broke it. "Maybe we should take lunch."

"Fantastic idea." Bella wasted no time in getting up and leaving the room, making Edward wonder why she was upset.

When he entered the dining room, Rose was already there with Quinn. Bella previously mentioned how much she mourned the loss of exclusively breastfeeding him for a little while, but then she realized that he was fine either way. He was happy with Rose during the day, and Bella spent as much time with him as she could. It balanced out.

Rose took time to process what happened and what almost happened. She was mad at Emmett for a while; he said he'd talked her out of leaving him, but just barely. He had to promise to be more careful every day and to check in with her when he was out of the house on Family business. Edward figured the guy had it bad to agree to her terms without complaint.

"How did the morning go, Rose?" Edward asked.

"Great. Quinn has already eaten lunch."

He went to the swing where Quinn was sitting and leaned in to smile at him. Quinn smiled back, waving his arms and making his father happy. "He's in a good mood."

"He missed you, I guess," Bella said as she came to stand beside him.

"Maybe." He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "You're not mad at me, are you?"

"No." She leaned into his embrace. "I'm stressed over the idea that our lives now revolve around a giant game of tit for tat."

"Now that sounds like fun."

Looking up at him, she squinted. "What does?"

"Me and you playing that game. I show you my tat in exchange for you showing me your—"

"Edward Cullen!" she interrupted. He laughed, and she rolled her eyes. "Whatever revenge we enact will come back on us. That's how this works now."

"Unfortunately, we're left without allies to stand beside us."

"What about the Santiagos? They aren't currently loyal to anyone, but that doesn't mean it can't be us."

Edward let go of her to unfasten Quinn from the swing and lift him. "They're pissed at us, though."

"No, they're pissed at whoever set the bomb. They don't know it was us."

It didn't escape his notice that she referred to the organization as us for the first time. "We could try."

"Keep your enemies closer, right?"

"Sometimes the things you come up with still have the power to shock me."

Beetling her brows, she asked, "Why is that?"

"I didn't expect you to have the constitution for this type of work. Deviousness, depravity, and the like."

"Edward, they tried to kill us. I'm in deep; as deep as I can be."

And that was what terrified him the most. He'd brought an innocent into his organization, corrupted her for his gain, and had no plans to change it. Hating himself didn't fix anything, but it made him extremely careful.

"Why don't we spend the afternoon in the basement?" he offered.

"You make it sound so dark and creepy."

Chuckling, he leaned down to kiss her softly. With extreme glee, Quinn reached out and grabbed a fistful of her hair. After helping her extract the strands, Edward clarified. "In the shooting range in the basement."

"Don't we need to strategize?"

"It's good to give our brains something else to think about."

"Like how to kill someone more directly."

He closed his eyes. She was right; it was just another form of destruction he was willing to teach her.

Lunch was noisy. Rose and Emmett kept up a stream of conversation with Bella, which Edward sometimes joined. Jasper was typically more withdrawn, and it was the same on that day.

Once the others went their own way, Edward took Bella to their room to show her where he kept the key and so they could change clothes.

"Please don't ever go down there without letting me know. I don't want you touching anything without me until I've had enough time to teach you."

"I understand."

Taking her hand in his, Edward led her down the stairs to a hallway that ran behind the kitchen. Bella had seen the area before because there was a large walk-in pantry and a door leading to the backyard, but he hadn't shown her the secret door. Coming to a stop at the dead end, he reached for the spot on the paneling which would pop open the hidden latch.

A large section of shiplap swung open, and Bella leaned in to inspect the separation. "Oh wow. It's so cleverly hidden here, I would never have known it existed."

"Exactly. It isn't split in a straight line because that would be too obvious."

"Why does it have to be so completely hidden?"

Without responding, he stood still until she looked at him.

"Oh."

Stepping into the hole in the wall, he flipped on the light and let her see the deeply sloped staircase. When she went ahead of him, he pulled the wall section closed with the handle on their side.

At the bottom of the stairs, he pulled the key from his pocket and unlocked the thick steel door. When he turned on the main lights, Bella gasped.

"How did I not know there was an entire house down here?"

Edward shrugged. "Only Jasper, Emmett, and Garrett know this exists. And now you."

"Spousal privilege," she muttered before entering the basement and turning in a slow circle.

"This can be used as a safe house, a panic room, and a bomb or storm shelter. There's food and water in case of emergency and a separately run HVAC system. There's a bed, a television, a couch, a refrigerator, and a bathroom."

Edward watched Bella clutch her shirt over her heart. It was a habit of hers he'd noticed when she was distressed. "Tell me what you're thinking."

"That it just hit me."

Coming up to stand beside her, he asked, "What's hit you?"

"The extent of it all." Stepping further into the room and spreading her arms, she encompassed the massive bottom floor of their home. "It speaks volumes without having to say a word."

"If the dents in the back of the Mercedes from the bullets didn't spell it out, I suppose this does."

"Don't be cruel now." She aimed accusatory eyes at him. "You grew up with this. I grew up with law enforcement."

"Bella, I know how incredibly hard all of this is on you. I've tried to convince myself time and time again to send you back home."

Bella cocked her head. "Are you that much of a coward?"

"A coward?" he repeated in disbelief.

"If you don't have the courage to accept me being in your life, I'll have to have enough for both of us."

"Is that what you call it?" Stalking closer, he stood toe to toe with her. "Wanting to see you safe is cowardice?"

Forced to tilt her head back to hold his gaze, she responded, "You take risks every day. It's the same thing."

"It's not the same when I chose this."

"I chose this too!" She backed away, pacing around the room. "I chose to move here, to be with you! I accepted this side of your life with my eyes wide open, Edward!"

"It doesn't stop me from wishing I could keep you locked up in a bubble with Quinn." He saw her frustration plainly but knew she didn't actually understand his feelings. How could she when he struggled to express them?

"Then teach me. I want to learn how to protect myself. Then maybe you'll believe I can handle your world."

"It's your world, too, as you've pointed out."

"Fine. Our world."

Edward led her to the far end of the room, unlocking another door and allowing her to go in first.

"Holy crap."

They stood in a rectangular room, one-hundred-fifty feet long and half that width. Along one wall, various weapons hung in a locked glass case. With care, he opened the case and withdrew a handgun, pulling out the clip and showing it to her.

"This is a Beretta. As you can see, the clip is empty." He set the clip down and turned to face her. "The first rule, the one above all others, is to always assume a gun is loaded. That's the safest way to protect yourself from an accidental discharge."

"Okay."

"Never aim it anywhere but the ground until you've checked it, and never put your finger on the trigger unless you're willing to shoot whatever you're aiming at." He held the butt of the gun in her direction. "What are you going to do first?"

"Make sure it's not loaded."

"Correct. You don't know how to check that right now, but I'll show you. Even if I swear it's empty, you check it instead of taking my word for it." He took it, pulling back on the slide and showing her the empty chamber. "There could be a bullet in here, too, so you check."

"Why did you pick such a big one for me?"

"Any smaller, and the recoil is harder to control."

Without a word, she nodded her head.

"Do you want to hold it?"

Tentatively, she held out her hand, and he laid it on its side on her palm. He was pleased she carefully tilted it toward the ground and kept her finger away from the trigger guard.

"What do you think?"

"It's heavy." She handed it back.

"Heavier with a full clip."

She nodded, and he set it down.

"Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, back straight."

She did as he told her.

"Now put your right foot behind you and angle the left side of your body." He helped her turn to his liking. "Bend your knees a bit and raise your hands as if you're holding a weapon."

Reaching over, he picked up the gun and slipped it into her grasp. There were no words in his head, only a gut reaction. Stepping close enough to feel her sharp inhale, he tucked his nose into the space behind her ear.

"Distribute your weight."

Edward forgot what he meant to teach her when she shifted and brought her ass in contact with his cock. Her intake of breath told him she felt it too.

"Bring your arms parallel with the floor."

"It's making my arms tired."

Once he sucked in a lungful of her smell, he almost couldn't think of an answer. "It'll take some getting used to." Sliding his hands along her arms, he cupped her hands and helped balance the weight of the gun. "If you were going to shoot the wall in front of us, what would you do?"

"Put my finger on the trigger?"

"If it was loaded with a round in the chamber, yes." With his hands, he lifted hers just a smidgen. He couldn't resist slipping his finger alongside hers next to the trigger guard.

Bella coughed, but he heard the moan she tried to cover. Angling his hips so he could make absolutely sure she felt how hard he was, he sucked her earlobe into his mouth. "Now, Bella, pull back on the trigger."

The result of her actions merely caused a metallic click.

"Good girl."

Edward took the gun from her and set it aside, placing his hands on her hips. "How did handling it make you feel?"

"With it empty, I felt okay. If there had been bullets in it, I would have felt terrified."

"Healthy fear makes us cautious. You need that when dealing with firearms."

Her breath caught a little. "Do you always carry a gun?"

"When I'm out of the house, I do."

"And do you—" She broke off, swallowing hard. "Do you expect me to carry one as well, once I know what I'm doing?"

"You want to, don't you?"

"Yes and no."

"Are you scared?"

"Yes."

"Of me?" he breathed into her ear.

Her breath came stuttering out of her chest. "No."

Unable to help himself, he opened his mouth to the skin on the side of her neck. "What if I picked up a loaded gun? Would you fear me then?"

"No," she whispered.

After swirling his tongue along the shell of her ear, he asked, "Why not?"

"You would never hurt me."

"No, I wouldn't. But you said the gun scares you."

"You know how to handle it."

Squeezing his eyes closed, he tried to convince himself it was a terrible idea to take her there in the range. "Yes, I know how to handle myself."

"I'm not afraid of you."

Turning in his arms, she looked into his eyes. Edward felt the pressure on his chest, the same one he got whenever she was in his personal space. In disbelief, he watched her drop to her knees.

"Good god, Bella."

He couldn't calm his racing heart. There was something about the times she initiated sex that made it harder for him to remain in control. As soon as she freed his cock from his sweatpants and held it in her hand, he wanted to blow his load. With her eyes focused on his, she leaned in and licked the head.

Long and loud, he groaned. Clutching her head, he guided her forward until he was in as deep as he thought she could handle.

"Oh fuck."

Her mouth was hot and wet; he couldn't withstand the myriad sensations. The tightening in his balls came before he wanted it to, so he shoved it aside. There was a war inside him between letting his eyelids slip closed and watching her swallow his cock, but leaving them open won out by a mile. No way did he want to miss that sight.

"So gorgeous with my cock in your mouth."

She hummed, and he knew he would lose it very soon. He'd never expected her to swallow before, and he wondered what she would do. Letting go of her head, he tried to warn her. "I'm coming, Bella, I'm—"

She pulled away, but it was too late. He came all over her shirt, transfixed by the way the thick white ropes stained the black fabric before soaking in.

"Sorry." Quickly, he yanked his t-shirt over his head and offered it to her.

Bella removed her shirt carefully and traded him. Silently, he watched her creamy breasts disappear underneath his shirt.

"You have no idea . . ."

Wrapping her arms around his waist and staring up at him with a twinkle in her mocha eyes, she said, "You were so turned on, Edward."

"Turned on by you."

God only knew how he'd react when she fired a gun for the first time. Another check in the column of reasons he was the devil incarnate.

It's funny how many of you wanted sexy gun lessons!