Posted 2021-06-23 and Beta'd by Eeyorefan12

Returning to his room with Bella at his side, Edward studied her surreptitiously. She had been very, very quiet since Aro's pronouncement, and her silence was . . . well, disquieting.

At his door, he gestured that she should go ahead of him. He told himself it was good manners, but truthfully, he wanted a moment before he faced whatever was coming his way. His money was on her wrath.

He was not wrong.

"You said this would be for the weekend!" She'd lowered her voice, but it wasn't low enough.

He pressed his finger to his lips.

"Oh no, I am not going to be fucking quiet! You lied—you told me—"

His hand over her mouth did a good job muffling her volume, but it was a poor and temporary solution and likely to only rile her further. He muttered his warning through gritted teeth. "Quiet or dead. Choose. For both of us. For my family." Then he let go and stepped away.

She continued to seethe, but at least she did so silently.

Briefly, anyway.

"Did you know it was coming to this? Or suspect it?" Her whisper did not mask the emotion in her words.

"No." With his hand in his hair, he paced in the small space at the foot of the bed. He gave her the larger area by the bathroom in which to angrily vibrate. "I was as surprised as you were."

"Pfft. You could've fooled me."

"About what?"

Bella hadn't been really looking at him but now she did so, folding her arms in front of her and staring at him defiantly. "You and Aro seemed pretty chummy back there, having a friendly chat over wine and dessert. You acted like his invitation was the best thing ever."

"And what would you have had me do instead, Bella?" He could see how she could have misread the situation, but he was still on edge after his performance at the table, and he hadn't had time to decompress. "Should I have just told him everything? Maybe explained that we've been lying to him all this time and the girl I caught spying on us in the alley means nothing to me? What do you think would've happened then?"

He regretted putting it so harshly as soon as he saw the look on her face. She kept her arms folded but now she hugged them to herself and turned away from him, probably fighting tears. He was immediately contrite.

"I'm sorry. That was uncalled for."

She shrugged, still not facing him. He took a chance and stepped in front of her, waiting until she finally lifted her eyes to his. She wasn't crying, but she looked miserable, and he could see her trembling with emotion.

"I really am sorry. You've been so good about all of this. You've done everything we've asked you to."

She tilted her head as she stared up at him and asked almost plaintively, "Then why isn't it over?"

He rubbed his face with his hands, bringing them together beneath his chin in an almost prayerful pose. "Bella, have I lied to you up to this point?" He paused and watched her. She was still shaking, her hands clenching and unclenching.

It took her a moment to answer. "Not that I'm aware of."

"And I'm not lying to you now. Aro's invitation? It's a power play, pure and simple. A lot of it doesn't have anything to do with you, so I'm sorry you've been dragged into it. I had no idea he was going to do this. When I picked you up, I really thought it was only going to be a few days."

The timing was terrible. He swore silently at that. Even on the work front alone, this was going to be almost impossible. His father hadn't been lying to Aro. The work he managed was integral to their operations. He'd need to brief Jasper, he supposed, and Mitch—poor stand-ins, but they'd have to do until he was back. He was so momentarily occupied with work thoughts that he didn't notice the shift in Bella's demeanor.

Her voice shook for an entirely different reason, one that he'd expected to see sooner. "What's going to happen?"

He moved towards her, still uncertain of how close he should get. He settled on sitting at the foot of the bed, gesturing to the chair in front of him by his desk. She sat facing him, fidgeting with her hands.

"Well, on the simplest of fronts, you and I will be getting on a plane to Italy tomorrow night."

She swallowed hard. "And then?"

"We'll be staying with Aro."

"Like I stayed with you before?" The apprehension in her voice was unmistakable.

"No! Not at all. We'll be his guests . . . I'll also be doing some work for him while we're there. Maybe training some of his people."

She nodded, her face pale and tense. "So . . . guests. The type who can't leave."

Tentatively, he reached out for her hand and was relieved when she let him take it in his. It was cold. Her fury from earlier had dissipated and now she was terrified and clearly thinking of what had happened to her before. Once more, he wished he'd waited and given his father a chance to offer a solution. It would have been so much easier. But he decided this was the last time he'd consider the "what if's". Regret would solve nothing and would only distract him from the task ahead: keeping them both safe. He sighed. "Just guests. If Aro didn't believe us at all, we wouldn't be alive to have this conversation. He wants to be sure of both our loyalty—and my father's as well. There isn't much beyond time and observation that can reassure him. We just need to—"

"Play along," she whispered.

They sat in silence, he still holding her hand, his mind spinning with the inordinate number of tasks that would need to be completed before he left. Security management alone was going to be a nightmare. And the security in Italy—the thought brought him up short.

Carlisle had already visited Aro and had informed Edward of what he'd observed on that trip. They'd be surveilled in Italy and not just in the common areas as they were in his home. He didn't doubt that someone like Aro would have every inch of his villa covered in cameras and microphones—analog technology, most likely. The kind that was hard to access externally.

Glancing at Bella and then down at his bed, he quietly blew out a breath. He was certain she wouldn't have given any thought to this.

"Bella?"

She looked at him.

"It's—" How the fuck did he soften this?

You don't, Cullen. Spit it out.

He cleared his throat. "There won't be any privacy in Italy."

He watched her eyebrows nudge together. "Meaning?"

"There won't be any breaks from us playing along. I'm guessing Aro will expect us to share a room—most likely a bed. There'll be an expectation of more intimacy. He already believes we're sleeping together."

He watched her face pale, surprised by his unmet expectation of her blush. She'd only been bashful so far on such topics. Now her fears were written all over her face when she briefly glanced his way.

"But still just pretending, right?"

He nodded. At least he could alleviate her concerns on this point. "Absolutely. Just . . . maybe a little more playacting than we did here."

And I hope to God it's a King sized bed.

His words didn't seem as reassuring to Bella as he'd hoped because she only nodded in acknowledgement. Her trepidation was still obvious to him.

She doesn't think she can pull this off.

But the notable pallor was fleeting. She nodded again, this time composing her expression. "I see."

Did she? He wasn't at all certain of her ability, not that he would say so. She needed every expression of his confidence that he could give—and his practical guidance as well. He wouldn't have much time to coach her before they left, but he'd have to. He had a few techniques he could share that could work—

"Edward?"

"Yes?" He hadn't stopped observing her and now she turned his way and her eyes met his.

"I, um . . . I actually don't have a passport. Why did people laugh?"

Talk about throwing someone into the deep end. He rubbed the back of his neck, thinking about how unsettling it must be for her, someone so very intelligent being tossed into this hostile and alien territory. It was an experience to which he could relate with painful precision, but at least he'd been told what to expect. He might as well start giving her as much context as possible now.

"Aro has a great deal of wealth at his disposal and he operates outside the law much of the time. He arrived here on a private jet to a private airfield. I expect he will return in the same fashion—and that there will be enough money spread around that no government agencies will be checking anyone's documentation on either end. Even if you did have a passport, he wouldn't want you using it, or me, either. It would create . . . a paper trail."

A trail that could be followed if they didn't come back—or if they came back in body bags.

"Understood." She looked towards her small suitcase, shaking her head. "How long will we be gone for? I don't have enough for more than a few days."

He brought his other hand to rest on top of their two joined ones. He could feel her trembling still. "That's all easily taken care of. And if there's anything you want or need from your apartment, I can send someone to pick it up tonight."

"I'll have to give some sort of explanation to my dad." She put a hand to her mouth as her voice broke on the last word.

Once her breathing picked up, Edward wasn't surprised when tears followed. He scooted forward and tentatively wrapped his arm around her. It was a testament to how afraid she was that she allowed it. "It's going to be okay, Bella. I'm so sorry I got you into this mess but it's . . . I'll keep you safe and I'm going to fix all of this." He closed his eyes, whispering, "I promise." He only hoped it would be a promise he could keep.

- 0 -

He'd left Bella in his mother's capable hands the next morning. Part of him felt a little guilty about doing so but the rest of him was relieved to have something else to focus on for a while. Though Bella had recovered from the initial shock, he could see that she was under remarkable strain. His mom would certainly be sensitive to that and could probably be of more help to Bella than he was at the moment. She would also know not to pry.

He made his way to his father's office where he could see him on the phone, his laptop open in front of him. Jasper and Rosie were seated at his small side table, heads bent over more laptops. Jasper looked up and nodded at him as he entered; Rosie did not.

They'd all had only a brief conversation after dinner, agreeing to hit things hard early the following day when everyone was fresh. And, undoubtedly, when some of the anger had waned.

As soon as Carlisle hung up the phone, Edward started with the most pressing item. "I don't think we're going to get paid on the Valliant shipment, but if we move cash from—"

"We'll deal with that. I have a feeling you're going to have your hands full trying to secure an operation that may as well be a sieve."

Given the way Aro's men worked on US soil, it wasn't hard to imagine.

"But more importantly, we need to talk about keeping you both safe. We know Aro's request isn't primarily due to his suspicions about you and Bella, or our failure to manage it in his more . . . traditional manner. While your skills are certainly valuable, I'm certain that Aro could find other security experts who could perform this service for him. We both know this is about him testing our loyalty and resolve. He's essentially making my child a hostage in his country, and I'm not sending or leaving you there unprotected."

Edward's chest felt like it could expand again at hearing his father's words. He nodded his understanding.

"Son." The word was a reproach. Carlisle got up from behind his desk and walked closer to him, his eyes full of concern. "Did you seriously think I'd be doing anything but that?"

Edward let out a shaky breath. "No. It's . . . the fallout from this doesn't seem to have an end." He rubbed his hands down his face as if the gesture could wipe away more than a moment's worth of stress.

His father put a hand on his shoulder. "As I said, this isn't only about you and Bella. How is she doing, by the way?"

"Surprisingly well, I think," Edward said. He found himself deliberately glancing in Rosie's direction as he added, "She's scared but she's brave. This would be a lot worse if she wasn't willing to help us."

"I agree," Carlisle said. "She's been remarkably gracious about all of this. We'll have to find a way to make it up to her." He returned to the chair behind his desk and sat down again. "In any case, I think you probably have a better idea than any of us what assistance we can guarantee you over there, but we will have every resource available that we can to keep you safe—or to extract you, if necessary."

Yes, he understood. While the Morandi organization might have more security holes than a broken fishnet, Aro's home would be a veritable fortress. He also understood how unlikely it would be for such an escape mission to succeed, especially with a civilian in tow. He scoffed at himself, realizing he'd referred to such an operation—and Bella—in military terms, but wasn't that what they were facing here? That he was about to drag her onto a veritable battlefield?

A minefield, more like.

Their best chance was to succeed with Aro, but Edward felt better knowing that if he failed, they at least had a chance of escaping with their lives, no matter how slender the hope.

- 0 -

It was dark as they mounted the steps to Aro's jet. Bella paused just inside the doorway, either out of nervousness or surprise. Both were plausible.

Aro traveled in style. The jet's decor wasn't exactly gaudy, but it was ostentatious. The inside resembled that of an Italian sports car, all upholstered leather, and gleaming wood. Between the rear of the plane and the few seats at the front sat a round table and chairs, sofa, cabinets, and large wall-mounted television.

"I think you have your pick of seats," Edward said to Bella.

She stepped forward, tripping over one of the floor plates. Catching her by the elbow, Edward righted her as he considered, not for the first time, that keeping her alive was going to take more than convincing subterfuge.

"Sorry," she said.

"It's okay." He followed her down the aisle and grinned as she looked at him from her chosen window seat. Humor might be helpful. "It's kinda fun to be able to swoop in and rescue you from yourself regularly. I get to feel all heroic—it's a novelty." He winked.

"Shut up." Her cheeks pinked, but there was a hint of a smile that went with the blush.

He chuckled. At least this playfulness was genuine. She seemed to be used to such comments.

"Does your family tease you about that?" he asked quietly.

"Telling people to shut up?" she asked innocently.

He smiled again and rolled his eyes.

"All the damn time." She sighed, doing up her seatbelt.

From their position in the rear of the plane, they had a good vantage point, and Edward watched Bella look around the plane, glancing away when Felix caught her eye.

Yeah, Edward hadn't been thrilled about that development, either.

He watched her tuck her hands under her thighs. Yes, she was exceptionally nervous, though he knew it because he'd gotten used to watching her. To the more casual observer, she might appear to be simply another anxious flyer.

He slid his arm around her shoulders. "How was your dad?" They'd been so busy with packing and last-minute calls that they'd hardly had a few minutes together before getting into the car at the compound.

"Fine, I guess." She lowered her voice. "He wasn't suspicious in any case. He understands that I want to stay for a bit longer to get to know my 'new man', as he put it. I didn't give him your last name—at least I didn't have to lie about not wanting him to run a background check." She smirked a little at this. "Oh, and thank you for making arrangements to move my stuff into storage. I'm amazed you got that done so quickly. That must have cost you a fortune."

"No problem. Easily done." A fortune. The idea that she considered a thousand dollars a great amount was almost laughable, given the costs he regularly dealt with. She didn't seem to have a lot of experience with the convenience money could buy. Not that his family threw it about, but money was never an issue, even though his mother had kept them all on a strict budget growing up. They knew and valued the power of the money they made.

Doing a mental calculation around the cost of the jet, the crew, the men with Aro, and the equipment and apparel they traveled with and in, Edward estimated that this substantial sum accounted for the tiniest fraction of the Morandi's wealth, not even considering his business dealings. Bella would likely have a handle on the scope of the organization they were both wound up in soon enough.

"Have you flown much?" he asked, suddenly realizing that she probably hadn't.

"A bit, but not like this. Back and forth to school, mostly. Never out of the country or anything."

"Okay." She still sounded nervous to him, but that could be for several reasons. "Are you nervous about flying?"

"No. Why?"

She said that awfully quickly.

He hid his smile. "Just checking."

During take-off and their ascent, he could see that her initial assertion wasn't completely accurate. Not unexpectedly, there was a good deal more turbulence than she would've experienced on a commercial airliner. He leaned closer to her, keeping his voice quiet as he wrapped his arm fully around her. "Everything's fine, but things'll feel a bit rougher than on a bigger plane."

"Mm-hmm."

Still, she remained pale and leaned into him slightly until they reached cruising altitude. Edward figured it was safe enough to at least give up the ruse of comforting her physically, moving his arm out from behind her. However, as Aro's men began getting up and moving around the plane, pulling out laptops and setting them up on the large table in the center, Edward noticed that Bella was tracking Felix's movements. The man's earlobes still bore angry red marks where the original puncture and then the resultant tearing had taken place. The wounds had healed; the scars most likely never would. Unlike Bella, Felix averted his gaze when he passed by them.

And he damn well should, Edward thought darkly.

Even with Felix's obvious deference, Edward could understand Bella's apprehension. She was an outsider to his world on several fronts. He leaned in and spoke quietly into her ear. "I can assure you that he is afraid of doing anything that will upset you. And if he is stupid enough to do more beyond glancing your way, it won't be his ears that I nail to a wall."

His words didn't have the effect he'd hoped for. She tensed further, her breathing picking up. "I don't like violence," she whispered back.

It sounded like it was a lot more than simply not liking violence, and this surprised him. She was a cop's kid. Surely her father had taught her a few things? He cast his thoughts back to the night in the alley, reassessing her movements. He'd been so much more on guard then, and as he thought about it, he realized that her actions hadn't revealed any hands-on self-defense training, just the generic, fairly useless advice one might find in those ratty lifestyle magazines his sisters used to buy. He remembered Alice showing him such an article once—something about fending off unwanted advances from a date. Home on his first boot camp leave, he'd been so disgusted by the watered-down methods that he had dragged Alice out of bed early for a week, making her practice moves in the backyard that would take down a man three times her size. Although Rosie's attack had given him added motivation for keeping his younger sister safe, Edward didn't understand Bella's father at this moment. Why wouldn't you give your loved ones every possible tool to defend themselves?

Still, the fact remained that he had misjudged Bella's knowledge and tolerance for physical violence; There was a simultaneous pang of remorse with this novel understanding. He'd made her be witness to more violence than she'd likely ever encountered before.

"I don't like violence either," he said softly. He didn't, but he'd made peace with the fact that there were times it might be necessary—and had been confronted with too many of them firsthand. "I'm sorry you've seen so much of it because of me."

"Edward," Aro called.

"Yes?" He craned his neck to look at their host, who was seated a few rows ahead.

"After we land, we'll need to decide on some practical matters. A few things on the ground have . . . shifted since we last spoke."

Shifted. Given that Edward would be working closely with Aro's personnel, particularly his security team, he understood this meant that someone was likely dead.

At least he didn't spell it out right in front of Bella.

"Of course."

He was about to ask Bella if she needed him to get anything for her when the flight attendant stopped by their seat, inquiring as to their needs.

"Um, water, please," Bella answered.

"The same, and some blankets and pillows as well," Edward said, reaching down to take a book, headphones, and his phone out of his bag. "You might want to try and get some sleep," he said to Bella.

"It doesn't look like you are." She eyed the book in his hands: Easy Italian Phrase Book: 1500 Phrases for Everyday Use and Travel.

"Yeah, I'm a little late to the game on this, but I don't want to go in completely blind—or deaf, as it were."

"Are you up for maybe doing that together?" she asked. "I could use the distraction." He watched her anxiously sweep her gaze around the plane.

"Sure." He offered her one of the earbuds, pulling up the Audible app on his phone and opening the book to the first chapter.

Used to sacrificing sleep for whatever needed to be done, Edward persisted in his learning long after Bella finally drifted off, gently removing the earbud from her ear and drawing a blanket over her. It had been late when they boarded the plane, and for his part, he knew there would be time to sleep and absorb everything he'd learned after they arrived. But he wanted Bella to have as much rest as possible.

He watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest, her peaceful breathing at odds with their circumstances. She appeared so innocent and trusting, resting against him.

That's because she is—at least the first one.

He hoped the second could also be true. She would need to trust him, if they were going to have a chance in hell of pulling this off.

The thought made his chest constrict.

Bella murmured something incomprehensible and turned her body away from him, mumbling more clearly, "It's okay."

"I hope so," he whispered, returning to his book, resolving again to arm himself in any way he could for the gauntlet ahead of them both.

DISCLAIMER: S. Meyer owns Twilight. No copyright infringement intended.