So, there was such a big response to this story that I've decided to give y'all a little Thanksgiving treat and post another chapter! I honestly didn't think this story would do so well, it was just something I thought of while I was recovering from surgery. To be completely honest, I wasn't even going to post it but I figured what the hay. But thank you all for the support! I love that you like this version of Bella, I tend to write her somewhat submissive, but she needed to be a bit of a badass for this story. I hope you all continue to like it and show your support! Hugs and Kisses! Happy Turkey day and Happy Indigenous Day!

Chapter Six

Edward's POV

I walked through my parent's front door and immediately smelled the delicious food my mother was cooking. I was starved, I didn't eat today, and I could eat a horse.

"Edward is that you?" My mother called out.

"Yeah mom, it's me."

She squealed and walked around the corner, engulfing me in a big hug.

"It's so good to see you, you never come see me."

"What? I see you all the time." I laughed, "What are you cooking?"

"I'm cooking spaghetti and meatballs. Your favorite."

"Mm, it is my favorite." I said.

She walked back in the kitchen and I walked into the living room, where my siblings and my father were hanging out.

"Edward," My father said as he stood, setting his scotch on the table beside him, "It's good to see you, son."

I walked over and he gave him a hug, his arms wrapped around me, patting me on the back.

"Glad you came."

"I always come." I chuckled, "We always have dinner on Tuesday nights."

"Liar," Alice, my little sister said, "You haven't been here for the last two Tuesdays."

I looked over at her and made a face. Beside her, her fiancé Jasper laughed and grabbed her hand.

"It's good to see you, Edward." He said.

"You too Jazz," I said.

My cousin, Emmett jumped up and thumped me in the arm. He was a lot bigger than me, and a little bit older, so he loved to always mess with me like when we were kids. But I did pull rank over him, so if he pissed me off enough, I could send him on crappy jobs.

"Hey Emmett," I said, as he ruffled my hair. I smacked his hands away.

"Hey Eddie-boy," He knew I hated it when he called me Eddie, "Any fun plans this weekend?" He grinned mischievously.

"Oh yeah, tons of them." I smirked back, "Too bad you won't be included."

He made a face at me and sat back down beside his wife Rose. She didn't bother standing, either because she was pregnant or the fact that she never really liked me all that much. That was fine, I wasn't her biggest fan. She was sort of a bitch, and rarely let Emmett have any fun. Of course, we did get each other in trouble a lot.

Mom walked in, taking her apron off, and setting it on one of the end tables. She had a huge tray of vegetables, fruits, meats, cheeses, and crackers. She pushed it towards Rose. My mother's main source of affection was through food. She loved to cook for us, and she liked to make sure that we had plenty of it. She was also cooking a lot more since Rose was now pregnant.

I leaned forward and scooped myself up some of the ham and some cheese.

"Alice have you picked a date for the wedding?" My mother asked.

"Well, I think I'd like to get married sometime in the middle of December." Alice said, a dreamy look on her face, "I want a Christmas wedding. White and gold and red. And I just want it to be perfect."

"What about December fifteenth?" My father suggested.

"That's fine with us," Alice said, "We just need a find a venue in three months that can accommodate that."

"Oh don't worry," I said, "I think I have one for you. I've gotten pretty cozy with the owner of the Aspire. I can get us the observatory room on the 102nd floor. It overlooks New York."

Her eyes widened and she gasped, "Oh Jasper," She looked at him, "Can you imagine? The big windows and the snow. Edward, please please get us that room. It would be so perfect."

I laughed, "I figured you'd like it, so I went ahead and reserved it. I wasn't sure when your wedding would be, so I reserved it for the next year."

She squealed loudly, "Mom, we have to get to work now. I need my dress, and the girls need their dresses. Oh! And the boys, they need tuxes."

Mom laughed, "Don't worry Alice. Three months is plenty of time to plan the perfect wedding. It'll be absolutely wonderful."

"And perfect timing too," Rose said, "I won't be too fat by that point."

"And you'll be able to walk down the aisle with Emmett, so it works out," Carlisle said, "So, when are you finding out the gender?"

"Not until January. But I want to have a gender reveal party."

"That would be so sweet." Mom said, "I can't wait. We haven't had a baby around in so long."

Rose smiled and rubbed her little belly, "I can't wait either. Whatever the baby is, they'll be so spoiled."

Just then, my phone rang. I sighed and got up off the couch and walked into another room. It was coming from Laurent.

"What do you want? I told you not to disturb me." I snapped.

"James was shot," He said frantically.

"Shit. Okay, take him to the warehouse and call the doctor. Is it bad?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. It's somewhere in his leg, but he's bleeding a lot."

"Alright, I'll be right there."

I put the phone in my pocket and walked into the living room.

"Mom, I have to go," I said, leaning down and giving her a tight hug, "I'll come back, if it's not too late."

"What happened?" My father asked as he stood.

"James was shot."

His eyebrows raised, "By who?"

I shook my head, "Didn't say. But I need to go deal with it."

"I'll come with you," My father said.

Jasper and Emmett stood too. I knew if I was going, they would be coming too.

"Do you all have to go?" Rose asked. My mother and sister knew better than to ask. They'd lived in this life long enough.

"I'll be back, Rosie," Emmett said, squeezing her hand tightly.

We walked out of the door and into our own cars, except for dad, who got into the car with me. We didn't know how long this would take, so, it was safer to take our own cars. But I had told mom I'd come back, and my father would make sure I did come back to see her.

"You don't think it was the Russians?" I asked him.

"I'm not sure. We haven't had any problems with them in years. I thought they all went back to Russia." He said.

"Could be Caius and his band of pathetic thieves," I said, "He's always looking for territory."

"Well, if it was him, we'll consult with his brother. That'll put him in his place."

"Last I heard, Caius walked away from his brother."

"He did?" My father said in surprise, "Huh, I've been out of the game for way too long."

I laughed, "You're retired. These are your golden years."

He rolled his eyes. He hated it when I said these were his golden years. My parents weren't too old and were very active, so they seemed much younger than they were. And my father wouldn't be retired if he hadn't had that heart attack last year.

It was from stress. And when he had it, my mother about lost her mind. She demanded that he quit, or she'd leave him. He chose her of course. But it bothered him that he didn't have much to do anymore. He was used to running around New York and running his businesses and running our family business, but now it was killing him not doing anything.

So I ran the businesses now. And up until this point, I had really underestimated how much my father did. Now I could see why he had his heart attack. There was a lot of work to juggle. But I think I was managing it quite well.

We arrived at the warehouse where we conducted a lot of our business. We typically move between the several warehouses we own in case the feds or our enemies.

When we walked in, the doctor had James on the table and was cutting into his skin. He was whining like a wild cat.

"What happened?" My father asked. If he was around, I let him take the lead. I might be the boss now, but he had seniority over me.

"We went down to that new place on Bloor street. The one we told you about," Laurent said, "And we—,"

"The fucking bitch shot me!" James yelled as he gripped the table.

"Who did?" I asked.

"The owner, she's like some scrawny, fucking ten year old. We gave her the little insurance pitch and she went back into the kitchen and had a fucking gun."

"I want to burn that fucking building down," James snarled, "I want to beat the shit out of that crazy bitch."

Emmett started laughing, "You got shot in the ass by a girl."

The rest of us burst into laughter, including my father, although he tried to cover it up. It was actually very funny. James was our wild card and he got shot in the ass by a girl. The fact that it caught him so off guard was hysterical.

"It's not funny!" James snapped, "I was fucking shot!"

"By a girl." Jasper chortled.

James growled and looked forward. Dad put his hand on his shoulder.

"It's alright. Things happen," He said before turning to me, "Perhaps you should go over to that shop. Feel it out. See if it's worth collecting from."

"Don't worry, we'll collect," I said, "Bloor street is our street, and everyone pays. I'll go over there and talk to her."

"Rip her fucking head off." James snapped as the doctor removed the bullet.

"I'm not going to do that," I said, "I'm just going to go talk to her. And not underestimate her." I gave a pointed look at Laurent, "Just because she's a girl, doesn't mean she's not dangerous."

The Next Day

That morning, I had put on one of my good suits, to look more professional, and hopefully get my point across better to the shop owner. Last night I tried to research the new business, but all I could find was that little website that showcased Bloor street. It didn't say much about the owner, and apparently she hasn't made an impression on the internet.

I was imagining some backwoods hick that could probably bake like a saint, but wrestled bears in her spare time. I had read on the page that the girl's name was Bella. But there wasn't a picture or much of a bio. It was kind of irritating.

The shop opened at ten, so I headed over there around eleven. I was hoping it would be busy that way I could scope out the place and find some advantage.

From the street, I could see an apartment around back. I bet I could corner that girl and scare the shit out of her. She would surely have her gun with her, but I had mine.

I got out of the car and headed down the street to the little bakery. There were a few people, but they had already gotten their items and were walking out. I spotted a little girl with wild red hair standing behind the counter. I walked in and looked at the desserts in the display.

"So, I saw this place just opened," I said, as I browsed.

"It did. It's doing pretty well," The girl said, "The owner's in the back, bringing out some more of the specials."

Ah, so this wasn't the owner. "Well, I'll just wait for a special." I said, putting my hands in my pocket.

Just then, the door behind the girl opened, and a beautiful woman walked through it, carrying a huge tray of sandwich cookies.

My heart seemed to stop. I had never seen a more beautiful woman. She was perfect. Everything that I preferred in women was embodied in this incredibly beautiful woman. I was in shock by how stunning she was.

She placed the tray in the display cabinet, pushed her dark brown curls aside, showing her big brown eyes, and looked up at me.

"Hi, were you asking for me? I'm the owner, Bella." She smiled, "I was just walking out with the tray. These walls are pretty thin." She chuckled.

My throat suddenly felt dry.

"Uh, yeah," I shook my head sharply, "I-I'm Edward Cullen. I was just in the neighborhood and I saw the grand opening, I figured I'd try something. I don't really eat too many sweets."

She nodded and stepped closer to the counter, "Well, what do you like?"

I looked at the counter at the different desserts, "Um, that sandwich cookie looks pretty good."

She reached in and handed me one, "It's really good. It's the special this month. I called it the grand opening cookie."

I took a bite of it, "Wow," I said, "It's really good."

Her face lit up, and she somehow looked even more angelic than what she was. She might as well have a halo.

"Thank you," She giggled, "I'm so glad people actually like the special. I was so worried."

I shook my head and took another, bigger bite, "No, this is so amazing."

"That'll be 8.50," She said.

"Could I get something else? For uh, my mother." I didn't want to leave quite yet.

"Awe, that's so sweet. What would you like?"

"What do you recommend?" I asked.

She licked her full lips and looked at her display, "Well, the lemon cake is very delicious if your mother likes lemon. Actually, all the cakes are pretty good today. Cupcakes are always good. I have several flavors."

"Uh, you know what, I have a bunch of sisters I'm seeing too," I said, "You know what, I'll take a dozen assorted cookies, uh, two slices of each cake, a dozen assorted cupcakes, and a dozen of the specials."

Her eyebrows raised and she nodded, "Oh wow, you must have a lot of sisters.

I chuckled, "Yeah, I do."

She smiled, "Maggie, will you ring him up and get him all sorted out? I'm going to go get a big bag from the back so he can carry it.

"Not at all," The little girl said, "It'll take me a moment, but I'll go ahead and ring you up."

I nodded and pulled out my card. Bella walked back into the kitchen and I wanted to beg her to stay or go back to the kitchen with her. I tapped my foot impatiently, waiting for her to come back.

"So, that'll be ninety-eight dollars." Maggie said.

I swiped my card, put it back into my wallet, seeing my cash. I took out a hundred and shoved it into the tip jar. Maggie's eyes were wide watching me do that. I smiled at her.

She put all of my items in the boxes. Bella finally walked back out holding a big bag.

"This is sturdy enough to hold everything. I really hope your mother and your sisters will love everything." She placed the boxes in the bag.

"Thank you so much," I said, "I can't tell you how much I appreciate this."

"Of course." She smiled, "Come back and see me again."

I nodded, "Oh I definitely will."

I was reluctant to leave. I wanted to stay and get to know her. I walked out of the building, trying to stare at Bella for as long as possible without looking too creepy.

When I got back to my car, I looked at the huge bag of sweets. Crap. I needed to go back to work, but I had all of these desserts. And I knew my sister and my mother had all of the bridesmaids over. If I walked into that hen-fest, there was a big chance I wasn't leaving. I also didn't want to leave this stuff in the car. Bella had worked so hard to make it.

I sighed and headed to my parent's house.

So, a lot of people have been wondering why the other neighbors didn't go into detail about what was going on. I figured I'd explain because it's not going to explain itself in the story. Basically, the neighbors didn't tell Bella what was going on because they were afraid she wouldn't take it seriously, or not believe them. And a big part of it was fear too. They're all terrified of these jerks because they've done horrible things. Maybe that sounds silly or unrealistic but meh, it's my story ha-ha. I hope you continue to enjoy it! Leave me a little review and let me know what you think!