Edited by Stilldreaming85 and Banshee69

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Isabella Cullen.

I was awoken by an odd tingling sensation slowly making its way up the inside of my thigh. I tried to squeeze my legs together only to find I couldn't. There was something, someone sitting in between them.

I opened my eyes to be met with Anthony's aroused ones. My head turned to my side, the side Edward had slept on last night. He could not be that deep in sleep as to not feel there was three of us in the bed. However, Edward wasn't there.

"What are you doing?" I asked, licking my dry lips.

"Waking you up, it's late," he said.

"Mission accomplished, now get off of me."

"No, I'm very comfortable where I am," he smirked, pressing his hips further into mine, I was surprised at how well he was able to hold his balance on one hand.

My eyes widened when I felt his erection. He didn't seem to be ashamed about it at all, in fact, he looked rather smug.

Where was Edward when I needed him?

"Get off," I said, pushing against his chest, but my effort seemed to be nothing but wasted energy as he did not even budge.

"Look at you, feisty little kitty," he said. "Stop pushing against me, Isabella, it's only making me harder."

"You're disgusting," I spat. "Get off of me, or do you want your brother to walk in and see this, so he can put you to sleep for good?"

"That's your first problem, little lamb," he whispered against my cheek. "Your husband has left the building."

"Anthony, please don't do this," I begged. I never knew how serious or how far Anthony would take something, that was one of the many things, on the long list of things, I hated about him.

"Since you asked nicely," he said, dragging out the words, making his displeasure known. He rolled off of me and onto the other side of the bed. "Go and get ready, we have to head out."

"Where are we going?"

"No questions. Get ready," he ordered.

Why would Edward do this to me? I get that he was still angry with me, but to leave me alone with the devil?

I changed into a pair of yoga pants and a hoodie. Anthony didn't appear to approve of my choice of clothing. I could care less if he approved or not, I wasn't out to impress him.

Anthony made sure I was well fed. In fact, he made me breakfast himself, making sure I ate everything he put in front of me.

"Time to go," he said, taking my hand in his tight grip. I was left with no choice but to follow next to him.

"Where are we going?" I asked, when we had reached the front porch. Anthony led me down and around the house, towards the woods that surrounded the property, hidden from anyone's view.

"Just a little walk through the woods," he said. He let go of my hand, as he fished through his jacket to retrieve something.

"You don't strike me as the sort of person to go on a leisurely stroll," I laughed. However, my laughter caught in my throat when Anthony locked and loaded his gun in front of my face.

"You'd be correct," he said. "Come on, move along, we don't have all day."

An overwhelming sense of fear crashed through me with such force. I was unable to move a single muscle in my body. I had never been this afraid, not even before. This was it, this was the end of the road for me, the end of my life. Anthony was taking me out into the woods to end me.

Is that why there was no one in house, not Esme, not Carmen, not even little Sofia? Had they all agreed to this? Did they finally decided it was time to get rid of me? I had become too much of a nuisance?

"You can either walk, or I can throw you over my shoulder," Anthony said.

What was the point? Why take me out into the woods when there was no one here? Had that been Esme's request, don't stain her porch with blood?

"Why are you crying?" He asked.

Was I? I couldn't make my hand move to my face to check for myself. Anthony reached up to my face, using the pads of his thumbs, I felt him wipe away my tears. I was crying after all.

"Move," he said, putting his arm around me and resting it on the small of my back. He pushed me along as we made our way into the surrounding woods, walking deeper and deeper until the house was out of view.

We were in a clearing. There were fallen down trees and logs all around us. Three trees in front of me, were painted with red and white targets. Is this where they took their victims, their enemies? Were they buried under my feet?

"Stand over here," Anthony instructed, guiding me to a designated spot. "Here, take this."

"What?" I asked, seemingly finding my voice for the first time since we left the house. Did he just offer me his gun? If it weren't for the fact that he was holding it out towards me, I would have thought I had heard him wrong. Was this some sort of joke? Was he playing mind games with me again? I didn't know how much more I could take.

"Come on now, don't be shy, it's not going to bite you," he said. "Steady your hands first, the safety is off."

"Anthony...what are you doing?"

He frowned his brows in confusion, as if my question made no sense to him.

"I'm going to teach you how to shoot. What did you think I brought you out here for?"

"Teach me to what?"

"Shoot, kitty, shoot."

I let out a nervous laugh. He wasn't serious, was he? Teach me to shoot?

"What's the catch?" I could not help but ask. Anthony never did anything without having an ulterior motive. He was not going to teach me to shoot just because he could, no, there had to be another reason behind it.

"I figured you don't know how to properly defend yourself should the need arise, and I doubt my brother has taught you."

"Will...umm, will the need arise?"

He shrugged, chewing on his bottom lip at the same time. "The need is always there, Isabella. You never know when you need to save your own life, or someone else's."

~MINY~

After three hours, it was fair to say I was not a natural born shooter. Anthony, he'd had a lot of patience with me, but that patience was now slowly slipping away.

"Fuck, Isabella, it's not that hard!" he yelled.

"That's easy for you to say!" I yelled back.

"Look at that big red dot on that tree, look at it. It's huge, how can you miss it."

"I'm sorry," I said.

"It's not that difficult."

"I'm sorry."

"Aim again. Stand how I showed you, relax your shoulders."

I did as he said. Feet shoulder width apart, back straight, relax shoulders. Simple, right? Not for me. I aimed, I fired and I missed again. I was so frustrated, I threw the gun on the ground not realizing that it would go off from the impact. Both Anthony and I jumped up as the gun went off, firing one bullet. God knows where it went, but thankfully it had missed the both of us.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" He shouted, almost pulling out his hair.

"I'm sorry."

"Are you trying to kill us both?"

"I'm sorry," I said.

He came toward me with his arms stretched out in my direction. I stumbled back, flinching away, waiting for the impact of his blow to reach me, but nothing happened.

"Stop flinching away from me, I'm not going to hit you," he said, with a leveled tone.

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing for everything."

"I'm…" I caught myself before I uttered another sorry.

"You're really bad at this, aren't you?" he chuckled.

"Yep." I chuckled along with him, he was right, I wasn't just bad, I was a disaster. Who would have thought so much went into shooting a gun. It was heavier than I thought and made me lose my balance every time the bullet left its chamber. However, I didn't want to give up just yet. I knew that I could do this.

"Let's head back, before Edward arrives and realizes we are both gone," he said, retrieving the gun from the ground.

There was a car coming towards us, I could see its headlights as it approached through the path in between the trees.

"Too late," I said. "I think he found us."

Edward was unusually calm as he climbed out of the car. The first thing I noticed was his shirt. He had tried to cover it up with his jacket, but there was no hiding the dried blood on it, that, and his red knuckles. I wondered who had been on the receiving end of his anger today?

"Nothing?" Anthony asked his brother.

"Nothing that I didn't already know," Edward said. "What are you two doing out here?"

"I was trying to teach my little sister-in-law the fine art of firing a gun."

"Oh."

"She's terrible," Anthony said.

"I am not…"

Anthony gave me a look as if challenging me to defend myself. He knew I couldn't.

"She can't be that bad?" Edward inquired.

"We've been here three hours and she keeps missing that big ass target. Look at the size of it. How can anyone miss it? Sofia wouldn't miss it."

"Show me," Edward said.

"No!" I said. It was bad enough that Anthony would taunt me to the end about this, I didn't need Edward joining his brother.

"Come on."

Edward took his jacket off and placed it on a nearby log. His shirt was not only bloodstained in the front, but had a clear handprint on his back.

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I took his appearance in. He turned in time to notice my discomfort, but did not appear apologetic at all, although I never had expected him to be.

He pulled his gun out from the back of his pants, holding it out to me. I knew the drill by now.

I took it from him and went to stand where I had before.

I raised the gun ready to fire it when I felt him come and stand behind me. He placed his hands over mine firmly.

"Remove the safety," he said, waiting for me to follow his order. "Put your feet closer together, straighten your shoulders, lean your back into me."

I did everything he said. This was going to be a disaster, more so than it had been before. Edward's presence here was having a different effect on me, or maybe it was just his close proximity. The feel of his hands on mine, made my own shake. His warm breath on the crook of my neck made my body shiver.

He held my shaking hands steady in his. "Look down the top, can you see the barrel is on target with the dot?"

"Yes."

"Move it to the left, only a little."

I did.

"Now shoot."

I did.

My mouth hung open in astonishment. I had hit the target right in the center.

"I did it," I said, suddenly feeling giddy. I could do this, I knew I could. "Let's do it again."

I tried a few more times with Edward's hands still holding my own. I managed to hit the target.

"I'm going to let go of you now," he said.

"No."

"You got this," he encouraged.

He very slowly removed his hands from mine and rested them on my hips. I can do this, I said to myself as I let out a deep breath.

One.

Two.

Three.

I hit the target. I did it on my own. In my own excitement, I turned around and leapt into Edward's arms, wrapping my arms around his neck with the gun still firmly in my fingers. I didn't hesitate and before I knew what I was doing, my lips were on his.

What am I doing? I thought. My eyes snapped open, but his were closed. I tried to pull my head back, my mouth away from his, but he held onto the back of my neck, holding me there, trapping my lips against his.

I won't lie. I had enjoyed the moment we shared until Anthony cleared his throat and interrupted us. However, Edward did not seem to care. When he pulled away and set me on my feet, he could not hide the lust lying in his eyes. I'll admit, I liked the way he was looking at me now, he held the exact same look that man had for that woman in the club, wanting, longing. It was nice to have someone look at me that way, even if it was Edward.

"I think we should head back, it's getting cold out here," Edward said.

I was now sitting in the car waiting for the brothers. Edward had pulled Anthony to one side. They were deep in a conversation, even with the windows of the car down, they spoke in hushed whispers, making it impossible to understand a word. I wondered if they were talking about the 'incident' as Esme had put it. I had overheard her and Carmen talking about a murder that was linked to the family somehow. Esme had said that there was a possibility that Carlisle or Edward may be arrested for it even though they hadn't committed it.

Moments later, Edward entered the car, locking the doors just as Anthony tried to climb in.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"He can walk back. Maybe the wolves will get to him before he reaches the front door."

"There are wolves out here?"

"Wolves, bears, squirrels, I don't care, as long as something kills him." he shrugged.

"Is everyone else back at the house?" I asked, with caution. I didn't want him to think anything of my question.

"Rosalie and Sofia have left the country. Emmett escorted them to the airport today."

"Why?" I asked. Wasn't that a little extreme.

"Emmett has a tendency to over-exaggerate where my sister and niece's safety are concerned, no one can blame him for that."

"And your dad?"

"What about him?"

"Where is he?"

"Back at the house, why?" he asked, taking his eyes off the road to glance at me.

"No reason," I shrugged.

He took one of my hands in his and brought it up to his lips, kissing the back of my knuckles.

"Why, Isabella?" He asked again, with no hint of argument in his voice. His tone made it clear that he wanted an answer.

"I...umm...I overheard your mom and Carmen talking about what happened to a body," I said, as my eyes wandered to his bloodstained shirt. "She was telling Carmen about the FBI being involved."

"That was a set up, we didn't commit the crime. Not this time at least," he said. I was happy that he was telling me something, and that he didn't just ignored my question or shut me down. "The Feds know this, but that didn't mean they didn't want to have a chat. They have nothing to hold us with. Signing someone's name doesn't mean they committed the crime."

"You were arrested?"

"No, not arrested, just went down for a chat," he smiled.

"And your dad?"

"The same."

Great, I thought. It would not have bothered me one bit if the FBI had kept Carlisle with them.

"So if you didn't kill this person, then who did?"

"We don't know. There's someone that we can't see, someone who keeps getting past us," he said and I could not believe how open he was being with me about all of this.

"Do you think it's the same person that killed Eleazar?"

He shrugged as he pulled the car up to the house, shutting off the engine.

"This isn't going to be permanent, Dolcezza. I'm doing everything I can to find out who this person or persons is. I don't need you to worry about it."

"Are you ever going to forgive me?" I asked. I wasn't stupid, I knew he hadn't forgiven me for running, I hadn't forgiven myself. I didn't feel guilty about running, but I did feel guilty about Garrett. I could not believe Edward had put him in a coma. I wanted to ask what he had done to him, but something told me I won't like Edward's answer.

"Is Garrett okay? Is he awake?"

"He's fine. He's in New Jersey," he said.

"What's he doing there?"

"One of those things you don't need to know. However, he'll be back later tonight."

~MINY~

I had been awake for a while now, but I didn't want to get out of bed. Outside, the weather had gone south. Yesterday it had been beautiful and sunny, and now it was gray and miserable. The loud thunder clashed outside as the rain seemed to be never-ending. I turned on my side and pulled the covers tighter around me. I was content to lay here a little bit longer before getting out and facing my father-in-law for another day.

Carlisle made no attempt to hide his displeasure with me. The man knew how to hold onto his anger, and he was still very much angry at me for what I had done.

The bedroom door burst open, as Edward came rushing in with his gun drawn.

That got my attention. I jumped out of the bed as he placed his finger to his lips silently telling me to keep quiet. With the greatest of ease, he closed the door behind him, locking it.

"What's going on?" I whispered.

"There is someone in the house," he said.

"There's a few people in the house, Edward."

He looked at me as if I were completely stupid and in this moment that is exactly how I felt.

"Someone that shouldn't be here."

On the floor below us, a piercing gunshot rang out. It was so loud I had to block my ears.