AUTHOR A/N:

I hope you guys enjoy this! I don't know the next time I'll churn out another chapter, but I wrote ahead for my other story and decided to tie up this loose end with my free time!

Do you guys know how much I HATE writing other character POV's? They're hard to get just right… but also can be insightful to the story, so here this goes.

As always, follow & review!

Edward POV-

It had taken some convincing, but she finally agreed make the drive back home to Chicago with us. By late evening, her bags were packed in the back of the SUV and my driver Kiko had already started the drive back in her own car. How that bucket even made the trip was beyond his comprehension, though. Did she often risk her life in rusted, old buckets? "Daddy!" Tony called to me from the Swan Household's porch, a shit eating grin plastered on his face.

I sent a wave to him and a reassuring smile. This shithole town was not the ideal place anyone would have in mind when you thought about taking a few days away from work. I could've easily flown to Mykonos, Tahiti, Valencia- and instead I was here in Avila, where all civilization went to rot.

For her.

She still wasn't acknowledging his existence because of his phone turning off during their phone sex romp, though it wasn't his fault and he was just as pissed that she didn't answer the slew of calls he made to her as soon as it came back on, but she was stubborn and dare he say childish? The images of her writhing on her childhood bed, her small fingers going in and out of herself, hanging on my every command- I shook my head to dispel myself of those dangerous thougths. If I kept going down that road, I would be tempted to rip her clothes off and fuck her right here on the lawn.

Isabella walked out of the door at that very second and came to stand next to my son, her free hand ruffling his hair sweetly; Tony looked up at her fondly, as though she had set the moon and the stars in place.

I smirked at the idea of her doing that forever. Tony deserved a forever, Isabella deserved a forever- I knew that for all of the terrible things I had done in my life, I only deserved a cozy cot in hell, but damn it I wanted a life with both of them! Even if I didn't deserve to have innocent people like Bella and Antonio in my life, I wanted them.

And I always got what I wanted.

She didn't quite know it yet, but she would be around that long.

First things first, they needed to get out of Hill Billy Hell and far away all its annoying residents. When I had her back in Chicago, we could go back to our regular life, and she would be so much easier to convince.

From the corner of his eye, he spotted the current blimp in his plans.

Mike came strolling up the driveway in full uniform, flowers in his hands and looking smug.

I grit my teeth and practiced all of my famous self-control in order to not storm down the gravel walkway to cut him off. I knew he wanted to wiggle his way inside of Bella's life, but he had his opportunity already and lost out. Bella was mine now, and nothing was going to change that.

She didn't even like flowers, but he wouldn't know that because he didn't know her.

But when he made the few steps onto the porch and offered the sunflowers to her, I watched in anger as her whole face lit up. I rolled my hands into fists at my side, willing my mouth to stay shut and looked on. So, she liked cheap flowers? I could call a florist and have dozens of red roses ready for her in an instant. She couldn't be stupid enough to fall for this high school bullshit, could she? "I know you're heading out already." Mike started off shakily. I scoffed at the pathetic attempt he was about to make. Good luck, Mikey. She's headed to my penthouse in the next few hours. "I just wanted to say goodbye. Who knows when you'll be back?" I wasn't close enough to hear Bella's response but judging by the way she held onto my son tighter as she spoke, I felt a sense of relief.

This town and these people weren't her life anymore, they hadn't been for years.

She was better off with us, just me and Tony.

Mike was still yapping his mouth a few minutes later, but I had had enough of it. I bounded off of the side of the car and stalked towards them, earning a big smile from my son. I pushed past Mike and reached for Bella by her waist, planting a firm kiss on her unsuspecting lips. She gasped at the sudden contact but her wide eyes closed in an instant, her small mouth inviting me in- this was the way it would be, always.

Mike Stewart made a noise behind me, and I finally pulled away from her mouth, not even acknowledging his existence. "Ready to go home?" I muttered softly to her. She melted when I talked to her like that, I knew it.

I could see there were words in her eyes, things she wanted to say but chose not to. Instead, she nodded slowly, her eyes never leaving mine. She waved off the pest that couldn't be killed and walked hand-in-hand with me to the car, Tony trailing right behind her tail. This was the image that little bitch needed to see, a rich stranger walking off with who he thought was his girl. He needed to remember that I was the only one that could provide for her and give her the life she deserved! Did Mike really think Isabella deserved to stay in a dusty small town with family that didn't appreciate her and eat Hamburger Helper for the rest of her life?

She deserved everything her heart desired, and I would make sure that was what she got.

The Day Before-

I was on a conference call with associates in Mexico when the sirens of a pig went off behind us, garnering my full attention. My driver Kiko locked eyes with me through the rearview mirror and I nodded to signal him to comply. This wasn't Chicago, these cops weren't paid off but how much trouble could they really be? Major crimes here in Avila were probably drunk driving on horses and farmers fighting over whose turn it was to use the barbeque pit. I ended my call abruptly and waited for the cop to come around the car, though he was taking his sweet time. When the wide brimmed hat-wearing pig finally came to the driver window, he rapped obnoxiously hard on the tinted window until Kiko rolled it down. "License and Registration." The blue-eyed cop barked.

I suddenly recognized who he was- this was Bella's little indiscretion.

"Good morning, officer." I called out mockingly.

This was the idiot that I caught groping my Bella yesterday at her parent's house. He was fucking lucky Tony was asleep in my arms when I walked in, or else… I probably would have pummeled the little shit into the ground in front of the entire party. Of course, I wouldn't have killed him right then and there- her whole family consisted of pigs.

But I would have enjoyed breaking his jaw. The thought of doing that now even brought a smile to my face.

I didn't have to resort to physicality if I didn't want to. I could ruin his life financially, I could have one of my team members infect his home computers to have traces of child porn, I could order Kiko to plant drugs in his car… I could do whatever I wanted and get away with it.

I just had to decide when and where.

Could now be the when and where? I wouldn't mind it, neither would Kiko.

But an image of a smiling Isabella and Antonio flittered through my brain. I thought about them laughing rambunctiously around the Christmas tree, running through the penthouse playing tag, sitting on the cushioned loveseat talking about their innocent days… I needed to be a better person a little bit at a time, so I would let this stupid fucker live.

If I ever wanted to be a permanent part of their lives, I knew I needed to get a handle on mine. I couldn't be a white collar gangster forever. I couldn't depend on crime to pay every bill for the rest of my life. And if I wanted to start to be a regular person, I needed to act like one; starting with how I dealt with annoying ex-boyfriends.

Mike.

Michael Stewart, the youngest officer on the force and a tiny centipede that had crawled so far up Charles Swan's ass that he was Charles Swan Jr now.

I wanted to flick him away as he scanned over the car's documents, trying his hardest to be intimidating.

It took a lot of restraint not to spit at the little pest. If only he knew how many of his brothers at arms that I had on my payroll, he might have just kept driving. "What are we being pulled over for?" Kiko chewed out. "I wasn't speeding, and I wasn't swerving. What reason do you-"

"Step out of the car and put your hands on the hood, both of you!" Mike barked, cutting off Kiko half-way through his question.

I smirked in his direction and nodded to Kiko again. We did as he asked and let him frisk us- a younger version of myself would be shaking their head and calling me every kind of dirty name for letting a cop touch me with no consequence.

"That's not a gun, that's my dick." Kiko grunted.

I laughed with him.

Cops were jokes, all of them. Especially the ones that killed unarmed black kids and harassed innocent people.

Sure, I wasn't innocent of doing bad my whole life- but today, I was innocent.

Mike stepped back and regarded me a nasty look, one hand on his weapon and the other one hanging at his side. "You're Edward Cullen- alleged member of the Volturi Crime Family. You're a dirty thug." I glared back him, flexing my control over myself. Did he run a background check on me? Call his cop buddies in Cook County to ask about me? And when a worthless pig mentioned your crew's name with disrespect, it was just the same as them spiting on it. But I gave no reaction to it, just looked blankly back at him. If only I could count the number of times my alleged ties to different crime syndicates were thrown at my face! There were too many to count- but the Volturis had always been good to me, and I would always be good to them. "What does Bella see in someone like you, anyway?"

I smirked at that. If only he knew the conversation she and I had last night… I would save that for another time. "Does any of this have to do with why you pulled us over, officer?"

Mike grunted. "Do you even know how you made her look? Parading a kid around, him calling her mom? That's not how it works in this kinda town- everyone sees her as a fool now." Kiko growled and took a step forward, ready to do my bidding without being prompted. I put a hand on my driver's arm, stopping him in his tracks. "She's a good girl and comes from an honest family! I'm warning you, leave her the hell alone."

I was slightly impressed by the balls he had to speak to me the way he did, but simultaneously I was irate with white hot fury. He mentioned my son, called Isabella a fool, told me to stay away from the woman that was mine, and dared to threaten me? If Isabella's soft lips hadn't been so prominent on my mind, I would've said fuck it and allowed Kiko to break his neck the way I knew he wanted to.

"Have you asked Isabella her opinion on this?" I cut at him. "Do you know where she lives back in Chicago? Who she has breakfast with? Who she fucks every night?" I didn't lie outright, but if his mind wandered and arrived at certain assumptions then… who was I to correct him? "She had her fun with you yesterday- she played with you and put you back when I showed up." Mike's eyes glazed over, and I would have loved it to see the big, bad cop cry in front of me. "You'll never have her, not the way you want. She's mine."

He was going to respond when my phone started ringing, a familiar name flashing across the Caller ID.

Sweet cosmic timing.

I turned the phone screen towards him so he could see his precious Bella's name glowing on it. "Look who's calling- want me to put her on speaker for you?"

Mike had an inner battle with himself. He had the choice to arrest us, continue frisking us, or just let us go- and now Isabella was calling, and he knew he was on shaky ground with her at best.

Finally, he tossed Kiko's ID and the car papers across the hood and tipped his hat. "When you ruin her life, just know who she's coming back to." He added for good measure and walked back off to his car.

Yet here she was, sitting in the passenger seat of my car with her hand in mine. Antonio was strapped into his car seat behind us, a soft hum coming from his tablet and a smile on his face.

If and when I ruined her life, I would put it back together again.

She would never have to come back here.

She was mine, and would stay that way.