Posted 2022-01-02; Beta'd by Eeyorefan12
Standing in the living room, Edward hung up the call. Nothing yet. No leads despite their men combing the area. No sightings by their contacts in Italy—nothing to justify his getting on a plane. Bella could be anywhere—could still be in Boston for all they knew. Although Aro was certainly involved, he was not responding to any attempts at contact.
Jasper had called Edward to remind him to sleep and eat. His father had told him to do the same the night before and again early that morning when he'd arrived from Stockbridge. Presently, Carlisle was visiting Dale, whose broken arm had required surgery. His hospital stay wouldn't be long, but his recovery would.
It had been almost a full day—twenty-one hours, thirty-eight minutes exactly—since Bella had been taken, and the realization that it would likely be longer was gut twisting. Edward wiped a hand over his face, rubbing his eyes. He'd been up all night coordinating the search and reaching out to his contacts. He would have to force himself to eat and eventually sleep, not knowing if his pregnant wife was unharmed, not knowing where she was, not knowing when he could get to her. He would have to function under the weight of those brutal uncertainties.
Leaning against the wall, he let himself sink to the floor, mentally reviewing what he knew: Bella had disappeared, all clues ending blocks from the library, and she'd been taken by one of Aro's assassins. There was a numbness that accompanied this knowledge. He knew the methods to employ to keep the shock of it all from consuming him. All that sat before him were the functions required to find her—and then exacting vengeance on those who had taken her.
Because there would be vengeance, no matter the outcome—and despite any qualms his father might have. He stared at the wall ahead of him, already considering the possibilities between increasingly heavy blinks of his eyelids.
The ringing of his phone startled him from sleep.
"Yes?" he snapped, not bothering to look at the call display.
"Edward."
He sucked in a breath. "Aro."
"I'll be brief, Edward. I'm sure you're in no mood for pleasantries. I was calling to say I was most disappointed with your father's latest response to my request."
His insides felt frozen in place, and for the moment, so did his mouth.
"I had sincerely hoped we might continue our business together, and while I can see that your father is suggesting we part ways on good terms, I have no interest in ending our relationship at all."
Get to the point. Just fucking get to the point.
Aro appeared to realize that he hadn't spoken again. "Edward?"
"I'm here," he muttered.
"Ah, there you are. So I did think, considering how successful our collaboration was when you were here, that we might recreate it. I've taken the liberty of relocating your wife as a means of incentivizing our continued partnership."
There it was. He had Bella.
Edward only knew he'd exhaled when he heard it echoed back to him from the phone.
Aro was still talking. " . . . apologize for distressing you. She is well, though understandably anxious about being parted from her husband."
She's alive.
Relief and then rage welled up in him. He was going to kill the man. Slowly.
It was someone else who responded to Aro, some calm, logical person whose heart was not ripping at the seams. "If you have her, then prove it. With multiple forms of evidence . . . including proof of life."
"Check your front door, Edward. I'll wait."
That he'd been so unaware as to not know someone had been there should have concerned him more than it did. It was the sloppiest of errors, his sending every available man out to join the search and not ensuring his own safety, but at this moment, he was finding it difficult to care about that. He moved to his computer, tapping in a message code. His security team would not be far, and Jasper would hike the level of monitoring on the house.
He checked the porch camera feed, eyeing the package on the front steps. He would scroll back later to see the person who had left it there but had no doubt they would have known how not to be identified. Muting his phone, he set it aside. If Aro wanted to kill him, he'd already be dead. No, damn snake that he was, Aro wanted to control him, and he already had the one thing that would make Edward his puppet.
Then again, snakes were unpredictable.
Grabbing the snow shovel from the closet, Edward opened the front door, keeping himself screened behind it. The door's thin metal wouldn't provide much protection, but it would be enough to shelter him from the worst of any potential blast. He prodded the package. Nothing. Then he scraped it over the threshold. If it was going to explode, he'd find out soon enough.
The only thing that was in the brown parcel was a small thumb drive. Moving quickly to the study, he pulled out the non-networked laptop, popping the drive into it. As he flipped through several still images of Bella, his heart in his throat, he witnessed her capture in reverse: Bella in a bedroom, on Aro's plane, and in a car. No one else was pictured with her. Finally, he clicked on the video file. In it, Bella looked like she was ready to kill someone, and when he heard the voice that prompted her to speak, he understood why: it was Felix. Bella's only words were, "Edward, I'm fine—" The video cut her off mid-sentence.
He unmuted the phone and slowly lifted it to his ear. "I accept your proof. What do you want?" Then he listened to Aro list his demands.
- 0 -
Bella had walked from Aro's plane the last time she was on it. This time, she was wheeled down a ramp, albeit carefully, but feeling like a bird trussed and ready to be slaughtered. Isobel's assurances still meant nothing.
There was an ambulance waiting at the airstrip, but it wasn't the same place they'd arrived at before. Even so, if there'd been any doubt as to who had coordinated her kidnapping, there was none when she saw who was waiting for her.
It was almost reassuring seeing Franco, who nodded at her grimly, but then Felix stepped out of the ambulance.
She gasped, and Isobel, who was standing at her side, turned as if looking for a threat. "What?"
Bella, already terrified, felt wordless now, but as she stared at Felix, she was sure her expression spoke volumes.
"Are you going to be a problem?" Isobel asked him.
He shook his head.
"Good." Isobel looked back to Bella. "My job is to keep you healthy. If he does anything that threatens you, he'll answer to me."
Bella wasn't sure, but it sounded like Felix chuckled in response to this, he and Franco lifting the gurney into the waiting ambulance.
The windows on the vehicle were frosted, so all Bella could see were blips of the dawn's shadow and light. When they stopped, Isobel pulled a piece of fabric from her bag. "You need to wear a blindfold for a few minutes. Would you like to put it on, or me?"
Though the restraints remained in place, Isobel had left them loose.
"I'll do it," Bella said, taking the fabric and slipping it onto her head. She left a crack of space between her nose and cheeks, hoping to be able to see something, but no such luck. Isobel adjusted it and then snapped away the slack on the restraints.
Edward's words echoed in her mind again. Stay calm. Pay attention to your surroundings.
Bella tried to find clues in the way she was moved, listening to the sound of doors opening and closing, but everything was eerily quiet. When Isobel removed the blindfold, they were in a very large bedroom with heavily curtained windows, a domed cupola in the ceiling letting in the gathering morning light.
"The bathroom is over there," Isobel said, lifting her chin towards a doorway. She unclasped the restraints and helped Bella down from the gurney.
Bella stood for a moment, letting her eyes adjust to the brightness and her head to the dizziness. She used the time to size up Isobel, who chuckled. "Feel free to try. I'll be gentle." She held out her hands, as if welcoming Bella's approach.
Right.
Though Edward had shown her the most rudimentary self-defense techniques, he'd stressed that they would be a last resort, given her pregnancy and the fact that Raoul had been her personal protection. No, she'd be no match for Isobel at this point, and she wouldn't endanger her baby with what would certainly be a futile attempt.
And she really needed to pee.
When she returned from the bathroom, the gurney was gone and Isobel was unpacking some of the supplies Bella had seen on the plane.
There was a knock at the door.
"Sit down, please," Isobel said, pointing to the bed.
Bella complied, watching the door nervously. When Isobel opened it, Felix stepped inside. Try as she might, Bella couldn't help but feel her gut knot further with anxiety. Isobel wasn't going to leave her alone with him, was she?
But no. Felix muttered to Isobel in Italian, quietly enough that Bella could only grasp a few words, fewer of which she understood.
"Felix is going to take a video of you telling your husband that you're fine."
He was, was he? "Why?"
Isobel lifted a manicured eyebrow. "Your husband needs to know you're okay."
"I'm not okay. I've been kidnapped. The only reason anyone ever films these is to blackmail people."
Felix rolled his eyes and swore. Then, with what looked like his signature move, he reached for where Bella knew he kept his gun.
This time, though, no one hissed at him to put it away. No, Isobel hooked a leg around his and had him dropped to the floor before Bella could blink.
"No one points una pistola at my egg. Capisce?"
Felix's "Si," was grunted out as he eyed the knife Isobel held to his throat, her knee planted on his chest.
She let him up, watching him carefully a moment longer before she turned back to Bella, the slim blade still in her hand. "You can choose not to speak. That's fine. But your husband will wonder and worry. A video will be some relief for him, even if it comes with strings attached."
Well, crap. She was right.
Cooperate.
Bella pulled in a shaky breath, studying the carpet. It was maroon, patterned in floral beige and gold. "I need a minute." Or an hour. What would they allow her to say? What if this was the last time Edward heard her voice?
Oh God.
"Take your time." Isobel said.
Felix glared at both of them but remained quiet otherwise.
Bella exhaled slowly. "Okay." She could do this.
Felix held up his phone. "Tell him we didn't hurt you," he said.
Not that it'll keep him from nailing anything he can of you to the wall, you jackass.
Wishing she had time to say more, Bella did as instructed. The video complete, Isobel nodded, dismissing Felix. Bella thought she sounded businesslike and even professional.
Because she is professional—a professional killer, Bella reminded herself wryly.
"There's food on the table for you," Isobel said, "if you're hungry."
Bella was, but she was suspicious of everything in this room, food included.
"And if you're wondering, no, I haven't taken good care of you to this point simply so I can poison or drug you. Though"—she turned to face Bella—"if you do anything stupid, I will restrain you for your own protection."
Not quite in shock, but feeling strangely dislocated in time and space, Bella's mind produced memories of her eerily similar experience from almost a year before. Edward had said nearly identical words to her then. She eyed the bed. No, she had no plans to be tied to it. She was prisoner enough to her baby's needs.
Her choices were stark: she could cooperate with Isobel, or she could not.
Wait for me.
Edward was coming for her. She knew he was. Once he saw that video, he would at least know who had taken her but would he know where she was? She needed to help him find her. Cooperation would give her the most freedom, and if she had a small amount of that, she had the possibility of escape—tiny as it was.
- 0 -
Aro had been clear with his demands, and Edward followed them to the letter. He arrived at the airfield alone and unarmed, boarded the small jet, and let himself be handcuffed by one of Aro's hired thugs.
Desperate men will do desperate things, he mused darkly. No one knew this better than he did. Such men were especially dangerous when they showed little expression or emotion, as he himself was doing now, because there was no way to predict their actions. He understood the fear of those who bound him.
You should be afraid.
The three men Aro had sent were unfamiliar to Edward. It didn't matter. He'd already committed their faces to memory. New recruits, he surmised, or ones kept in reserve. Former colleagues made for poor guards. They'd searched his backpack and patted him down but otherwise left him alone. He said nothing to them on the flight and nothing as they traveled to Aro's home. Barring basic verbal direction, they maintained watchful silence.
They blindfolded him before arriving at the compound, but removed the blindfold after walking him inside, leaving him with both wrists handcuffed to a sturdy metal chair inside a room he'd never been in before. Though they had taken him on a deliberately circuitous route, he knew exactly where he was. Idiots. Did they think he hadn't walked every inch of the property outside and every hallway in this villa? The seat he was in was bolted to the tile floor. The concrete room featured a central drain, and a hose hung on the wall. A single chair faced him but was well out of his kicking range.
No, he wasn't a guest this time, and this wasn't where Aro brought his friends. Edward grasped the rather brutal message that was being sent. Aro wouldn't have gone to the trouble of bringing him here if he intended to kill him, at least not right away. Torturing him with the intent of gaining his cooperation? That was a definite possibility. Did Aro realize that he already had the one thing he needed to force Edward into compliance? He suspected so.
When the thick and windowless door opened, it was Aro who entered, flanked by his personal guards. "Edward, it's lovely to see you again. I apologize for the lack of hospitality, but I thought it was best to be clear about where things stood, presently at least."
Oh, things are pretty damn clear.
"I'll be honest. I was surprised that you were so willing to meet my demands."
Edward stared at him. Was it possible Aro truly didn't understand the depths of his feelings for his wife?
Aro watched him carefully as he sat down. "Given the sophisticated charade you engaged in to convince me of your relationship with Isabella, I'd wondered if you might finally be ready to cut ties with the girl."
Edward's stomach sank. If Aro thought that Bella wasn't leverage—
When Aro smiled widely, Edward knew he'd dropped his guard—only briefly, but it was enough. Do better, Cullen.
"Ah, I can see your feelings are as real as they ever were. Or is it that she's carrying your child? Your blood, Edward." Then Aro chuckled. "That was a rather clever idea on my part, wasn't it?"
Keep it together. Edward couldn't afford to show his cards—he needed every single one he had. He didn't allow a single muscle to so much as twitch.
"What we do not know is if Bella's feelings for you are real. She's certainly stayed with you, even participated in another marriage ceremony—out of fear, perhaps? Surely she is aware that you would not let her go, at least not until you have possession of the child she carries—the heir to the Cullen family dynasty. Or perhaps it is a matter of practicality. Your wealth must be an attractant." Aro tilted his head to the side. "But your feelings could be your undoing, Edward. You're an honorable man, a noble man—I have always said so. Your military service record shows that well enough."
His service record was sealed. All intelligence officers' records were under seal. If Aro knew—
If Aro was disappointed that Edward didn't react to this last revelation, he didn't show it. He did smile, however, in a manner that suggested how much he seemed to be enjoying himself. "It is quite delightful to be the one in the know, I must admit. But you'll be there soon enough, if you choose to cooperate. I wanted to make sure we came to an understanding first." Aro looked around. "I doubt a room like this one would inspire much fear in you, just as I know it wouldn't be effective in procuring your cooperation. Your training would see to that. I also want to stress that I would never hurt a child or pregnant woman. Only a mostro senzo anima—a soulless monster would do that." He cleared his throat. "However, I do believe that Bella is quite close to giving birth, is she not?"
You've made plans. You have assets in place, Edward told himself. Focus on them.
He was trying to hold onto his reasoning, but the exhaustion and terror of the last two days were catching up to him. His more primal mind was clambering up from where he had suppressed it, and it brought with it all the knowledge he had of what happened in rooms like the one he was in.
Aro was going to torture his wife if he didn't cooperate.
Well, he was damn well going to cooperate . . . at least so far as Aro knew.
"I haven't come this far to watch you hurt my wife, Aro."
"I'm glad to hear it, Edward. But of course, you agreed to come assist me in any way that I require. I didn't say what that might be."
So tell me what you want, asshole.
"As much as I've enjoyed the cooperation between our two organizations, it appears that we are at an impasse. You understand the circumstances facing my own."
Boy did he ever. He and his father had only been partially right. The Morandis weren't just a sieve in terms of security, they could soon be insolvent too. Was that why he was here?
"I'll need help if you want me to acquire financial assets," Edward said. He'd need a whole lot of help if it came to that. With the Cullens having pulled out of some recent transactions, it appeared other partners had smelled the blood in the water and followed suit. Filling in the black hole of Morandi spending would require electronically robbing more than one bank to help Aro make up the difference.
"Oh, we can save that for a later time. First, I have a much simpler task for you," Aro said. "Though you might not find it so."
"What is it?" Edward snapped. He shifted in his seat. The muscles in his arms ached from being immobilized for so long, he was exhausted, and he had long since lost patience with Aro's games.
"Not it. Whom."
"Then who?" God, could the man not get to a point before dancing around it for ten minutes?
"The head of a rather profitable and strategically-valuable organization."
Edward closed his eyes. "You want me to murder somone."
"Oh no, not you, Edward. I wouldn't ask you to be directly involved. I simply want you to facilitate it. In doing so, you will be demonstrating to me your willingness to cooperate fully."
Not an improvement, moral or otherwise—but fine. He would play along for now. "You haven't said who it is."
Aro hummed. "So I have not. Well, he'll be quite familiar to you."
Edward didn't have time for his stomach to sink further before Aro spoke again.
"Carlisle Cullen."
In the oppressive silence that followed, Aro stood. "I'll give you some time to consider your choice. Your wife and child or your father, Edward. Do let me know." Then he turned and left, the door clanking closed behind him.
- 0 -
Note from Eeyorefan12:
Erin always envisioned The Loose End as a multi-part story arc rich in character development. Rather than post it as several shorter stories with sequels, two of which would have ended in very unsatisfying ways, it's been published all as one story with indications for where each segment ends. If you've been reading her author's notes, you probably remember where those are, but since a handful of reviewers have suggested the story felt overly long, I thought I'd clarify them again; the first section ends with chapter 16, the second with chapter 35, and the third section with chapter 47. There are four more chapters and an epilogue to go in this fourth and final segment. The entire story was also pre-written prior to posting, although editing is still an ongoing process for us both.
For what it's worth, my absolute favorite chapter is still to come. ;)
Fifty-eight full chapters in thirty-five weeks. We're almost there, guys!
DISCLAIMER: S. Meyer owns Twilight. No copyright infringement intended.