There's one thing I haven't mentioned yet…during the last seven years I'd let my view of Edward be clouded by Hollywood. I'd forgotten what first reading TWILIGHT and experiencing Edward Cullen did to me. I felt like I was in this daze…did that happen to any of you? The great Stephenie Meyer created this person that affected me like no other character ever had. Re-reading LOST helped me fall in love with him again. To me, this chapter is the epitome of Edward.

(EDWARD'S POV)

It was early in the morning, before sunrise. I was sitting on the veranda of my place in Ireland. The rain was slowly drizzling, but that was nothing new. It rained here almost constantly and the country showed it. It was green, rolling hills as far as the eye could see. An improvement of the Brazilian slums, to be sure. I stared out at the hills now, just thinking. Always thinking. So much thinking.

I had been sitting here most of the night, trying to do what Carlisle had asked of me. "Get some direction, Edward," he'd begged. "Get some purpose back in your life again. Figure out how to be a productive part of the family".

I knew that everything he'd said was true. I just didn't know how to go about doing it. Purpose…what was my purpose?

I went inside and took a shower. It felt good to get the grime of last night's hunt off my body and I let the warm water splash off my shoulders. Few things in my life were warm these days.

I turned on CNN to get the morning stock reports and find out the news of the world. There was nothing new, nothing to take my mind off the memories that were always patiently waiting for me to take one out and hold it like a fragile, priceless figurine.

Sometimes, seven years seemed like forever, and other times it seemed like it had only been a day. When I really let myself fall and just thought about her for days at a time, the memories were so vivid that it seemed like I'd just seen her, like I had just touched her. I had come to see the gift of perfect recall as a curse.

I turned on my music, anything to distract the unhelpful thoughts. I knew I needed to start at a university, perhaps teach for a semester or two. Maybe travel through India. I had never done that. I would do something. Soon….soon.

It was an ongoing, inner conflict to convince myself that I'd done the right thing in leaving her. Most of the time, I had total conviction in knowing it had been best to give her a life free from me. Then there were other times I feared I was the stupidest thing on the planet. I had walked away from the only being in the whole world, in all the history of time, that would ever make me happy, that I would ever love.

I winced as a memory came back to me.

It was of the time I went back to Forks. To her.

I had persuaded myself that by her twenty-first birthday, enough time would have passed that she and I could see each other again. I was sure that any wounds my leaving inflicted on her would be long gone by that time. My plan was to visit her on the ruse that I was just passing through on my way to Denali and wanted to drop in on an old friend.

Actually, I'd just spent three years living in the slums of Brazil trying to forget her and had realized it was futile. I just wanted her in my life again. Whether it was right or wrong, I just needed her in any form I could have her.

But even after 100 years, I hadn't learned to be honest with myself. In my mind, I'd insisted we would only be friends, but more than I had ever craved for her blood, I hungered and thirsted to know if she still loved me. The drive from the Port Angeles Airport was torture as I fought the fantasies of holding her in my arms again.

It was dark when I got to Forks. I stood underneath her window, staring at the only sanctuary I'd ever known. I tried to go in through the window, but it was locked. And a change had been made. A latch now held the window tight. The only way in would be to break out the glass. I went around to the front door. The key was in the same place and I let myself in.

There was a faint scent of Bella, and it rocked me back on my heels. I closed my eyes and was assaulted by a million memories all at once. Watching Bella eat cereal, doing homework at the table, lying on the couch together. I took a breath and noiselessly went upstairs. She wasn't sleeping in her bed. A few things were left scattered on the dresser, and her prehistoric computer and desk remained, but little else. I sat in the rocking chair and stared at her bed. Gran's blanket lay across the bottom. For once, her bed was made.

Where was she? What direction had her life taken? I thought about the first time I'd gone into her room in the night. I could still hear her say my name. I could still feel the electricity that shot through me.

I ended up lying on her bed for the remainder of the night. I drank in all I could of her scent. It intoxicated me. All I wanted was to lie beside her in this bed and watch her sleep. I wanted to bury my face in her hair, nestle her close to my chest; taste her lips on mine.

Before sunrise, I made my way downstairs and saw the pictures she'd hated on the mantle. A new one had been added. Her senior picture. My stomach twisted as I stared. Her eyes were lifeless. She wasn't smiling.

I left the house and waited until I heard Charlie get up. When he answered the door, he looked very much the same, except for a slightly larger middle and less hair. I had prepared a speech, but mixed in with Charlie's anger, I was immediately assaulted by memories I'd never seen. Bella lost in the forest…her hollow, sunken face…her trying so hard to hold on for Charlie's sake…Jacob Black trying to win her hand…watching her slowly turn bitter…leaving Forks.

Charlie, who never invited me in, coldly informed me that Bella left a letter for me on the chance that I ever showed up at his door.

"She never really thought you'd come back," he flatly explained, "But this has been waiting for you, just in case."

I couldn't wait to read it. I opened the envelope right in front of Charlie. It read:

I have moved on. Don't look for me, don't follow me, and do not under any circumstances come into my room at night.

Bella

I took a moment to compose myself before I looked up at Charlie. "Please," I managed. "Don't tell Bella I was here."

Charlie's thoughts were extremely easy to read. "Oh, don't worry Edward. I won't," he replied icily.

I then drove out of her driveway for the last time.

Her birthday was a month ago. She was now twenty-five. I couldn't imagine how beautiful she had become. She would never want a seventeen year old vampire now. I knew she would be building a great life. Maybe she had a career . . . Perhaps married, children. I closed my eyes against the familiar pain.

I was jolted back to the present by a voice in my head. Edward, I am coming to see you. It was Carlisle. Why would he come all the way to Ireland? I wondered if something terrible had happened that he didn't want to tell me over the phone. Had something happened to a member of the family? What if something had happened to Bella? I would never forgive myself for that, but then, maybe that would finally give me the courage to do what I should have done all along, just go to the damned Volturi and get it over with. Perhaps I could find a way to be with her in the next world.

A few minutes later, I saw Carlisle's car turn up the drive. I waited expectantly at the window. Everyone is fine, Edward. I just came to discuss something with you. I relaxed. Carlisle knew me so well. He didn't need the gift of mind reading to know my thoughts.

He entered and embraced me. He smiled. You look good.

"Thank you," I replied.

He caught me up on the family, but before long he cleared his throat and said, "Edward, I have some important matters of business that need to be dealt with, and I believe you're the best man for the job."

He'd walked into the house with a briefcase, but I hadn't questioned him as to what was in it. Now, he opened it up and handed me a paper. Across the top was a letterhead from a business called Whitmore-Hathaway. I'd heard of them. They were a head hunting company that specialized in company mergers and buy-outs. They were at the top of the food chain.

"This is a memo we happened to acquire," Carlisle explained with a sigh. "Read it. We've got trouble."

I read the document quickly. It was written to a group of interns and they had been given an assignment. Find out the secret behind C- CORP and who their financial backers were. The memo referred to the mysterious person as "C". The interns were given free reign and encouraged to use any means necessary to find out the secret identity behind the company. They were to spend at least a month investigating each company that had dealings with C- CORP, and the one who succeeded in exposing who actually owned the company would receive a fantastic promotion. It was signed by M. Simmons.

I put down the paper and looked up at Carlisle.

"We knew this would happen eventually. Why don't we put up fake players to pose as C-CORP and let the whole thing drop?" I asked.

"I thought of that," Carlisle stated. "But the reason it won't work is because they're not trying to find us to make financial deals. I should have been more aware. This firm has been buying shares to our companies in small enough quantities that it didn't merit our attention. Alice wasn't alerted until they had acquired close to a majority. They are now dangerously close to getting 51% of our shares and when they do, they will begin proceedings for a hostile takeover. They will break the companies apart and sell them to highest bidder."

I raised my eyebrow. Carlisle had been building this company long before he met me. It meant something to him, and as he brought each one of us into the family it had come to mean something to us. He had taught us and trained us and together we had built something significant and lasting. This money meant freedom for us, and stability. It assured that we didn't have to depend on anyone. I would let this company be taken from us over my dead body. So, that meant there was not a chance in hell I would let it happen.

"What do you want me to do?" I offered. I would do anything he asked of me.

He looked at me with his wise, golden eyes. "I believe that out of all my sons you are the most equipped to handle this challenge. I would go myself, but I have lectures set at universities in Europe throughout the fall, and I start my new position in November. I could cancel it all ..."

I didn't let him finish. I had let him pull the weight of our family without my help for too long. I could do this.

"I will go Carlisle. Don't worry, I won't let you down."

Carlisle breathed a sigh of relief. "Please keep me informed as to all that's happening. I will come if you need me." He gestured at the briefcase. "That's full of all the information I've been able to get on Whitmore-Hathaway and the Simmons character who wrote the memo. Your brothers and sisters say they will help out in any way they can. Let me know if you need anything else."

"I will take it from here," I said confidently.

We stood up and he embraced me again. "I love you and I'm proud of you," he whispered.

I swallowed the emotion. I hadn't done a lot to make anyone proud of me as of late, but I would not fail him on this.

I spent four days learning everything I could about Whitmore-Hathaway. Carlisle had the names of only the top three positions in the company. I decided that was prudent. There was no need to learn the names of anyone else. I spent most of my time learning about the living partner, Sterling Hathaway, and his philosophy about business.

What I learned what that he was as old school and ruthless as they came.

He was a take no prisoners kind of guy and he surrounded himself with people that had the same philosophy. I studied his employers and found a Simmons on the list. He wasn't listed as very high on the totem pole, I was concerned that my information wasn't completely up to date. I checked my sources. It was three months old. Things moved fast in the corporate world, but this was good enough, and all I had to go on, anyway.

The phone rang. It would be the conference call I'd been expecting. We had a team of lawyers at our disposal that handled all our legal dealings and they were paid well to keep complete silence on all our matters. They had never let us down. I'd been on the phone with them everyday since Carlisle gave me the assignment.

Harry Banks, from Banks, Cranston, & Parsons began the meeting.

"Mr. Cullen, we have new information and I want to make you understand the seriousness of the situation. I've handled two other clients that came under Whitmore-Hathaway's radar, the first, we succeeded in stopping the buy-out, the second, we were not so lucky."

Harry sighed hard. "We knew it all hinged on who was handling your matter, and it's not good news, no, not good news at all."

I sneered. "I believe I have this Simmons character figured out. He's impressive, that's true, but it's nothing we can't handle."

Harry paused a moment and then said, "Mr. Cullen, I believe you've been operating under a false assumption. Simmons is the assistant. He carries out the orders for his boss, and let me tell you, she's . . ."

"She?" I interjected. "I didn't remember seeing any woman close to the top rungs of the ladder at Whitmore- Hathaway."

"Well," said Banks," She is a woman in a matter of speaking. More of a she-devil if you ask me."

"What is her name?" I asked.

I could hear other lawyers in the room clearing their throats nervously. "Well, I could tell you her name," Harry sighed, "But it's probably more important for you to know that everyone that has ever dealt with her and lived to tell the tale calls her the 'Bitch in Heels.' She is ruthless, Mr. Cullen. She's the best I've ever seen. She's the new Vice President of the company. She pushed out Terrence Morgan, who had been with the company for thirty-five years. She is young and beautiful and she uses it to her full advantage as she draws you in and dazzles you, then before you know it, it's too late. Her venom is running through your system and you're a goner. Rumor has it that at the first of the year her name will be up on the building right after Hathaway's."

Banks paused for a moment and said, "Mr. Cullen, she's never lost."

I, on the other hand, felt much better about things. Knowing I was going to deal with a woman changed everything a great deal. I didn't particularly enjoy using my "gifts" to lure in the female species, but I had to admit that when I needed to use it, I was, for lack of a better word, lethal.

And I had never lost.

"Harry," I began, "May I ask you, sir, are there any gatherings or parties planned this next weekend that this ah, 'you know what in heels' would be attending?" This was New York City. It was a given there would be a party.

He researched for a moment and then said, "As a matter of fact, a huge gathering sponsored by the State Department is planned at the Waldorf Astoria for November 9th, this Friday. Its purpose is to welcome the new Chancellor of Germany. Whitmore-Hathaway has substantial holdings in Berlin. She is almost sure to be there."

This was going to be all too easy.

"Thank you gentleman for your time," I said. "I'll be in town by the weekend, and will contact you to meet personally. Please, let me know if you hear anything else. Otherwise, I expect you to stay on complete secrecy on this." They readily agreed. They were paid rather well for their silence and didn't want to jeopardize our business.

I decided it would be a good idea for Jasper to meet me in New York City. I might need him to work his magic in the boardroom, if it even got that far. He was lonely anyway, since Alice was visiting Tanya and her sisters in Denali. I did a little homework and got Jasper and I invited to that party on Friday. On the off chance she wouldn't be there, I sent a personal invitation to the "she-devil's" office just in case, and addressed it to the Vice President. Her name was of no importance to me.

I called in an order to an upscale florist and went online to make a purchase at Tiffany's. I then called a reliable courier service.

Oh yes, I thought. Everything would go just fine. I had never met a woman who didn't fall for gifts and intrigue. Well, there was one woman I knew that was never impressed by them, but I wasn't going to think about her right now.

I checked the weather report for the weekend. A cold front was moving in to Manhattan. Lots of rain, lots of clouds, and I nodded in satisfaction. For once, everything was working out exactly according to plan.

I went to pack my bags and noticed the energy in my steps. I immediately knew why. This was a welcome distraction. It was just what I needed to get my mind off of Bella. At least, I reminded myself, for a little while.