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.

Edward Cullen.

I was thankful, relieved even, that I hadn't ended up killing my brother. However, I know if Isabella hadn't done what she did, Anthony would have died that morning. I knew I'd gone overboard with him, but I guess I didn't realize the extent of the damage I caused, or in that moment, I simply didn't care.

However, no matter what had happened, that didn't mean I wasn't furious with my own wife. What she did had been reckless and downright idiotic. Anthony wasn't the only one down in those cells.

I wanted to murder Garrett for even listening to her and agreeing to take her down there. She had insisted Garrett was innocent, and by the time he'd chased after her, she was already down there. She must think I'm stupid or maybe she simply forgot that this underworld has cameras and sensors in every single corner and dark hole; nothing escaped me down here. Nevertheless, I let it slide. When her eyes welled up and she started backing away from me, I told her I wasn't mad and I let it go. I let her walk all over me.

Anthony hadn't taken anytime to recover either. No matter what the doctor ordered, my brother was up and out of that bed only a few hours after he'd woken up. That was good because - as it turns out - I needed his help.

Whoever this Michael was - no matter what I did or where I looked - it was always resulted in a dead end. I even went and dug up Liam's file to make sure he was, in fact, dead. I looked into his whole family; there were no brothers, no sisters, not even a cousin that I could find. There was just… nothing.

Anthony had his own theory. He believed Liam and Michael were the same person. Even though I'd proven to him Liam was, in fact, dead he wouldn't get the thought out of his head.

"You know I'm right," my brother said.

"No!"

"Why not? It's not like she'll be going out and meeting with him personally. She'll be right here with you controlling us, hovering over her."

"No, that's not happening," I said.

Anthony's idea, as good as it was, it wasn't going to happen. I hated the thought of Isabella having any part in this; even if she would be sitting right beside me. It wasn't her battle to fight. She had already been involved with this more than she needed to be. Michael made her a player in this game, but I would end it. Anthony and I, we would find another way of luring Michael out.

"You've been very... quiet lately. Is everything okay?" Isabella asked.

I was in my office, sitting in my chair behind my desk. I brought Isabella with me. I have made it a habit of taking her everywhere with me, ever since the incident at the hospital. I wasn't going to take any chances where she was concerned.

Someone tried to breach our security at the hospital. A nurse, attempted to slip my father a little "something extra" in with his regular medication. It would have worked if it weren't for the fact our security and my mother knew his medication schedule by heart.

Whoever paid her to do it, she never gave them up and my mother had very little patience with her.

"I'm fine," I said, turing my attention back to the laptop screen in front of me, watching as money continued to disappear from my father's account and I was powerless to stop it.

"You know you don't have to lie to me."

"I'm not lying." I sighed, slamming the screen shut in frustration. This whole thing was messing with my head more than I cared to admit. It angered me that it was still going on. It angered me that we haven't been able to track down whoever was doing this and make them pay. It angered me because it made me feel powerless, useless.

"You're restless. You've been bouncing your knee up and down for the past hour; I'm surprised it hasn't given you a cramp yet," she said.

"You're very observant, aren't you?" I said, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"You also haven't been sleeping well. Do you even get four hours a night?" She asked as she came around the desk and stood before me. Taking my face in-between her hands, she smoothed her thumbs over my cheeks and under my eyes. "I hear you when you wake-up, I know when you get out of bed and leave. You think I'm asleep, but I'm not. What's going on Edward? Please tell me the truth."

"It's nothing for you worry about, dolcezza." I kissed the inside of her palm as I pulled her down to sit on my lap and nuzzled my face in her neck. She smelled so good, she was so warm, so inviting.

Things have been good, too good with her these past weeks. It's almost hard to believe she was the same person who had been fighting me all that time. I'm not complaining though. I'm glad we are here now - at this point - even though it has taken us a while, taken her a long time to reach it. But I can't help to think it's all too good to be true. Something has to give because nothing is this easy, not for us at least. However, I'm determined to enjoy every moment of this while it lasted.

"Don't do that, Edward, please. If we are going to do this whole marriage thing then we need to be open and honest with one another. You want me to tell you every single little detail about me, yet you won't give me anything from you."

I sighed as I held her close to me. I let my hand wander under her shirt, letting my fingers trail up and down her spin, enjoying the moment as she sank further into me as she held me tighter.

"I love you, dolcezza."

I wasn't holding my breath, I knew those three words might never leave her mouth but I still held onto the hope that maybe one day they might leave her lips.

She raised her head, staring me right in the eyes. It was obvious she wanted to say something. She looked as if she was having an internal battle with herself. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but whatever it was she wanted to say, she never did. Her eyes trailed off to my hand resting on her thigh.

"Things... I think everything is just starting to get the better of me," I admitted.

"Let me help you then."

"Dolcezza, there's nothing you can do to help. I don't even know what to do."

"Is this about what happened with your father at the hospital?" She asked.

"How do you know about that?"

"Anthony told me."

"Of course he did." I sighed again, shifting her on my lap so I could have access to the laptop again.

"So…"

"So... I thought this all would be over and done with by now. I never had to chase someone for this long. Someone's been trying to kill us for months now, Isabella. Months. No matter what I do, or where I look I can't find them."

Laurent was the guy transferring money out of my father's account and now he was dead and the money is still disappearing. There's another player in all of this; someone invisible, someone I am desperate to discover, but every time I get close they seem to slip between the cracks.

"Do you think it's Michael?" She asked, chewing on her bottom lip nervously to the point where she had no doubt caused herself to bleed.

We had only spoken about Michael once and she had told me everything she knew, or so she claims she did. I'm not an idiot, I know she only skimmed through her story. I don't know what actually happened between them. I don't know what he said or what he promised her, but I know she's still protecting him. And that made the rage build-up inside of me all over again, and I found my fingers digging into her thigh.

"Ow," she yelped, jumping out of my lap.

"I'm... I'm sorry," I said, shaking myself out of my thoughts. "I didn't mean to... Did I hurt you?" I asked not meeting her eyes.

"It's fine," she said, rubbing the spot my fingers had just unintentionally assaulted.

"No, it's not fine," I said, standing up.

And now, here she is close to me again. I looked at her and all I could picture was her with him. Him with his hands on her. Her kissing him and that anger, that... jealousy - that's what it is. I'm jealous another man touched my wife, that he offered her comfort when I couldn't because she wouldn't let me. All that rose to the surface again. I thought I had dealt with it all, clearly I was wrong.

"Edward?" She reached out to touch me, but I stepped back. I couldn't do this right now. I let it all get the better of me, and I knew I needed to calm myself down before I did something stupid, something I would regret.

"Get out," I said.

"Edward, what's…"

"Get the fuck out!" I yelled, slamming my fists down onto my desk.

Her eyes widened and she looked at me in a way I never wanted her to: scared, shocked, even hurt. Nevertheless, she ran out of my office, slamming the door behind her.

I had to get a grip. I couldn't keep acting like this. I thought I was past all of this. I thought the progress we had made outweighed all of this. I guess I was wrong.

I managed to calm myself down, getting a grip on myself and my emotions. It wasn't fair to her for me to react like this every time Michael was brought up. Now, I had to apologize.

I went to our room only to find it empty. She wasn't in Anthony's either, thank God for that. So, I went up into the main club area.

I saw Garrett sitting by the bar, flipping through the pages of some old magazine. I scanned the room until my eyes landed on them. Isabella held a phone to her ear as she appeared to be speaking softly to someone. Her back was to me but my brother noticed my appearance. He motioned for me to keep my mouth shut. My eyes narrowed in on him; the motherfucker went against me, against my word, and made her call the bastard anyway.

I took soft, gentle steps towards her. I didn't want to startle her. I could only get so close to her. Anthony put his hand on my chest stopping my progress of reaching her.

"She is the best shot we have of luring the asshole out," he whispered harshly in my ear. "Don't fuck it up just because you can't keep your jealousy under control."

"I am going to destroy you," I whispered back, grabbing the back of his head, digging my nails into the spot I knew I'd injured him.

"We can fuck each other up later, brother, it will be my pleasure. But you aren't going to ruin this for me," he said.

"No... No, Michael, I swear I'm fine," I heard Isabella say.

I let go of Anthony, giving him a slight shove as I walked closer to her so I could hear more of what she was saying. She still had not turned around and I doubt she was aware of my presence right behind her.

"I stole one of his phones. I'll delete the number after I end the call, I promise he won't know. He'll kill me if he ever finds out," she said.

I closed my eyes as I listened to her conversation. My hands balled into fists by my side. Just hearing the way she spoke to him. The gentleness, but most of all the sincerity of her words…

"I... I miss you too, Michael. ... No, I promise, I'm fine. I'm not hurt. ... He doesn't hurt me. ... I know."

Each word felt like a knife stabbing deeper and deeper into me. Regardless of what she said, she obviously felt something for this... dead man, something she didn't feel for me.

"I can't wait to see you too," she said.

She let out a small laugh, he said something to make her laugh, not a forced one but an honest to God genuine laugh.

If I could see myself right now, I'm sure I had steam coming out of my nose and ears. I had to have looked murderous, and my attention was solely on her or else Garrett wouldn't be pushing me away from her.

"Ok, I'll see you then," she said. "Yes, I'll be able to get away. Don't worry."

She hung up the phone. She clutched it to her chest as she turned around meeting my gaze. For the first time she became aware of my presence. Her eyes widened and her mouth parted slightly. I noticed her hands started to tremble a little, causing the phone to slip between her fingers and fall to the floor.

I shoved Garrett out of my way and went over to her, knocking Anthony over as well. I grabbed onto her shoulders and pushed her up against the wall, pinning her body there with mine.

I was aware I was scaring her right now. I was aware she feared me. However, I didn't give a fuck anymore. I knew exactly what I needed to do to her.