Capitolo Sedici

I believe that every single event in life happens as an opportunity to choose love over fear.

Our honeymoon in Italy was as spectacular as one could guess. Edward made sure that I got the full experience. We visited the Sistine Chapel, the ruins of the Colosseum, and Pompeii. There were so many museums and monuments we visited that it was mind-boggling to think we made it to all of them. We toured the island of Capri, drank wine in the vineyards of Tuscany, and took a gondola ride in Venice. It was so relaxing that I wanted to stay forever. Edward and I were in our own little world the entire time. No Ted, no shadows creeping outside our room at night, no possible peril or doom.

Unfortunately our time in Italy had to come to an end. Edward had work awaiting him, and I had people that would miss me if I never came back from overseas. I had talked to Rose a few times, and she shared with me how she had told Emmett about being pregnant. Just like I knew he would be, he was all-in with her and would follow her lead on everything, but he wanted to be a part of her and his kid's life. I was confident he would choose that, but I knew she had needed to hear it for herself.

When we returned to New York, things went back to the way they were. Edward worked and I spent my time trying to find things to do every day. I still had my cooking lessons with Nonnie and Esme, but now I also had lots of organizing to do. We had gotten a lot of presents for our wedding, and I needed to work on sorting through them all. Rose and Alice came over a few days after we got back to help me open the gifts and send out thank you cards. I also had received my boxes from Washington, but I was putting off going through that stuff. I wasn't ready for the emotional toll it was sure to take.

About a month after being back and being married, I felt like Edward and I were starting to fall into a groove. It didn't feel weird or awkward with us, and things were pretty much the same. The key difference was we shared the same last name now. The people that were after me before the wedding were still around, but they had only tried twice to get onto our property. Demetri was good at his job and the security cameras helped. The main problem was there were places to hide on our property. Our backyard was huge and had a lot of bushes. It had been trimmed and landscaped, but there were still hiding spaces.

Most recently though, I couldn't shake the feeling that Edward was keeping stuff from me. It was only in the last few days, after the second attempt by our unknown assailants. He was definitely stressed or overwhelmed, and it seemed like he was withdrawing. I had no idea how to make him snap out of it. Currently, I was staring at the nightgowns that I had left from Alice's collection that I hadn't taken with me on our honeymoon. I had a choice between cute and sexy, but I couldn't decide which would be better to wear in my attempt to destress my husband. I chewed my thumbnail while I thought it over. Before resorting to eenie meenie minie moe, I went for sexy and grabbed the light bluish purple colored sheer one. It had dark and light blue flowers embroidered on the cups and bodice, and the skirt had a little ruffle at the bottom. When I slipped it on, I noticed how short it was, so I pulled on bikini underwear that was closest to the color, refusing to wear the thong. After brushing my hair and spritzing some perfume, I headed to Edward's study.

It was kind of sad that I was stooping to this level, but we hadn't had sex for almost a week, which so wasn't like us. I was going to let him get whatever frustrations he had out, and if it resulted in orgasms for me, then all the better. Luckily Dem was parked outside for the night, or there was no way I would walk around with my body on display like this. I opened the door to Edward's study cautiously. He was on the phone and turned to look over at me when he heard me enter the room, closing the door behind me. When I was standing in front of him, so he could see me fully, he swallowed and his eyes hardened. I refrained from fist pumping when he cleared his throat and adjusted the way he was sitting in his seat.

"That all sounds good. I gotta go. We'll go over it again in the morning," he said into the phone, his eyes never leaving my body. I leaned against the bookcase he had stuffed full almost the minute he moved in here. My Edward—the bad boy mafia underboss—was actually a closet bibliophile. It was just another layer to the enigma that was Edward. He hung up the phone and then rose from his chair, stalking over to me. "What are you doing, principessa?"

I shrugged, trying to be seductive. He stepped closer to me again, caging me in with his arms against the bookcase. I ran a hand down his arm, and he caught it, grabbing my wrist with his hand. He grabbed my other wrist, trapping them together in one hand and lifted them above my head and pushed them against one of the shelves. Sliding his free hand up my thigh, his eyes roamed up and down my body. Grabbing the hem of the skirt, he pulled it upwards, bunching it up at my breasts. I moaned as he kneaded the flesh of my hips and stomach. "Did you walk through the house looking like this?"

"From the bedroom. No one saw me. I knew Demetri was outside."

He pushed his body flush with mine, pressing my back into the wood of the shelves. I hissed at the brief pain. He smirked and slid his left leg and thigh in between my legs. "You must have noticed how irritated I've been the last couple days, yet you walk in here, dressed like this and thought I wouldn't devour you?"

"I was kind of counting on it." I saw that muscle in his jaw twitch and knew he was gritting his teeth. He pushed away from me, letting my hands drop, and I was stunned again by his restraint and the distance between us. What was going on with him? "Hey, what's up? Why are you acting like this?"

"I'm stressed out, Bella. I don't know what is going on. Why you still have someone gunning for you? The Volturi are getting antsy. My dad is acting weird, and someone is offering a lot of money to buy one of my clubs."

"Okay, well I may not be able to offer any solutions, but I can listen. You can't just keep all this inside and then shut me out. It's not fair because I keep thinking that I did something wrong."

"You didn't do anything wrong." He shook his head, eyebrows furrowed.

"I know that, Edward. But the fact that you are walking around here like a ticking time bomb and won't talk to me? It makes one second guess themselves. We haven't had sex in almost a week, and you barely touch me when you come to bed, not even a hug or kiss."

Edward stepped closer to me again. "Because when I'm like this, I can't trust myself. I don't want to hurt you."

"Are you saying you're going to hurt me?" I asked him honestly.

He shook his head, frowning. "No. Absolutely not."

"Okay." I grabbed his hand and threaded our fingers together. "So then you won't. Plus how do you know what I can handle?"

He kissed me, pulling me to his chest, hard. I locked my arms around his neck, and he grabbed me by the thighs, hitching my legs around his hips. We left his study with him still carrying me. Instead of carrying me to our bedroom, we went downstairs and he deposited me on the dining room table. He stepped away from me to grab his shirt and pull it over his head, tossing it behind him without looking. Then he removed his pants, leaving him standing there in only his boxers. Gliding his hands up my thighs, he hooked his thumbs in my underwear and slid them down my legs.

He leaned down, his lips following his hands as they skimmed up my legs and under the skirt of my nightgown. When he nipped the inside of my thighs, close to my pussy, I rolled my head back, arching my back, causing my hips and chest to thrust forward. His tongue licked up my slit and circled my clit, and I weaved my hands through his hair. I pulled on the strands, causing him to glance up at me. The visual of his handsome face staring at me with those jade eyes and hovering over my sex caused me to moan, and my lids fell closed so that I could preserve that picture in my mind forever.

When his warm hands pressed my legs to the table, splaying my thighs open for him, my eyes snapped open. His head moved down and his mouth devoured me. His teeth grazed my clit, and his tongue licked at my entrance before it slid inside me. I groaned in surprise, giving myself over to the pleasure he was trying to wring from my body. He inserted two fingers into my heat and then concentrated on my clit, and I knew that it wouldn't take long before I climaxed. Using his free hand to cup my ass, he pulled my body closer to his mouth.

"Jesus, Edward, don't stop. I'm so close."

"Yeah, ragazzina, come all over my tongue. I want to taste every drop you have to give."

"The stuff you say." I moaned. "Is so hot." I rolled my hips to get his fingers to go deeper and the pressure of his tongue against my clit to build. With my fingers still in his hair, I controlled the movement of his head, pressing his face closer to my sex. Panting and moaning, I did nothing but focus on the pleasure he was bringing me, climbing higher and higher. I wanted to climax, but I also didn't want this to ever end. I knew that he wouldn't stop until I orgasmed and maybe not even then.

He replaced his tongue with his thumb, rubbing my clit and still thrusting in and out of me. His free hand traveled up to my breast. I could feel the heat from his hand through the sheer fabric. Pulling the straps down, he released my breasts, kneading and rolling the flesh. He leaned down again to lick my nipples and nipped the tips gently with his teeth. "Shit!" I moaned, feeling my climax building until something inside me snapped and my first reflex was to try and clamp my legs together. Edward's hand that wasn't inside me pulled my legs apart again. He licked my clit again, and my legs continued to shake, my body rolling on top of the table, falling apart under him.

Edward lapped up my release and continued to lick me as I felt the warm fuzzy feeling roll over me. He removed his fingers from my heat and I sighed. I was exhausted, and I wanted to just curl into a ball with him. Once my senses came back to me and I was clearheaded, I noticed the bulge in Edward's boxers, and I knew we weren't close to being done. I sat up, surprising him when I grabbed the waistband of his boxers and pulled them down his legs, letting them pool at his feet. Feeling his prominent erection, I stroked the smooth skin up and down. His head fell to rest on top of mine, placing a kiss there. His hips thrust forward, causing me to stroke him harder, faster. "That feels so good, principessa, but I'm on a mission to make you come again while I'm inside you."

"Wait. Condom," I reminded him. We made the mistake of not using condoms a few times while we were on our honeymoon, so we had to make sure that we were more careful.

It didn't take him long to go and grab one, and then he was standing in front of me, his cock sheathed in the thin latex. He pumped his fingers inside me a couple times before he removed them. Laying me back down on the table, he shoved inside me, causing me to moan. Hard and fast thrusts set a quick pace to our fucking. Our skin was flush when he leaned toward me, his hands coming underneath me, pulling me closer to him. He kissed me, his tongue battling with mine. I loved it when he kissed me like this. Like he wanted to dominate and devour me. I locked my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck, anchoring him to me.

Just like he promised, he made me come before he did, and since I was still hypersensitive from my first orgasm, it didn't take him long. He kissed along the column of my neck, followed by licking it. His mouth went to work on my nipples again, and I cried out when my climax hit me, surprising both of us with its suddenness and its intensity. "Fuck, with you squeezing my cock like that, I'm not going to last much longer."

I had no answer for him but another grunt of pleasure, glad that for once I was the one making him lose control. After thrusting for a few minutes, he stilled inside me, grunting with his release. He slid out of me and then laid his head on my stomach, catching his breath. I played with his hair, gently tugging on the strands. I knew it was something he liked because he almost purred when I sometimes did this before bed. He hummed and burrowed his face into my stomach, kissing the skin there. I was slightly ticklish so it caused my stomach to contract and I giggled. He pushed up off me, moving to dispose of the condom. Once he was standing and had his boxers pulled up, he offered me a hand to stand up. He helped me situate myself in my nightgown, then he retrieved my underwear and pulled them up my legs.

I wrapped my arms around him, just needing to hold him for a moment. He returned the embrace, kissing my temple. "I'm sorry. I will work harder on talking to you and not pushing you away. This life, I've never really been able to share it with anyone else. Just living two different lives was something I got used to, and I put you in the category of everyday Edward."

"I'm not going to lie, Mob Edward scares me a little—he's kinda intense—but I am here for both sides of you because it's who you are. No pretending, no hiding, no acting." I looked up at him, hoping that he was serious about trying to include me more in his life.

"Mob Edward just made you come twice on top of that dining room table, so I would say he probably excites you a little," he said, giving me that cocky smirk.

I playfully pushed him away from me, scoffing. We headed to bed and I fell asleep the minute my head hit the pillow.

~NDMN~

The next few days were fine, but by the end of the week, I was crawling up the walls and needed to get the hell out of my house just for a change of scenery. Rose and I went to lunch, and it was so needed. Dem was there, keeping watch as always.

"So, how are you and Em doing?" I asked, my concern for her and him at an all-time high.

"There's not much going on. I still haven't told my parents, and Em and I still can't be together just because Royce and I aren't engaged anymore." She shrugged, sighing.

"You're gonna have to tell them eventually, Ro. I know it's scary, but they are going to notice eventually that you are getting larger and have morning sickness." I grabbed her hand to reassure her, smiling.

"That shit sucks, and it is a misnomer. It comes anytime of the damn day. I did see a doctor though. I'm about twelve weeks along. Em went with me to that appointment," she told me, grinning at the fact that she had Emmett in her corner.

"It's a start, right?"

She nodded, smiling at me. We talked for a little bit more, but soon I had to go to the bathroom, realizing that I had been going much more often lately. I resolved to take the test I had in my purse and shrugged it off, heading for the bathrooms. Dem made to follow me, but I told him I was going to the bathroom and he really didn't need to follow me there. He smiled and nodded, watching me go. I hurried in the bathroom, doing my thing and washing my hands. When I came out, a hand covered my mouth and an arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me against someone's chest. I tried to scream to draw Dem's attention, but it came out muffled.

"Mrs. Cullen. You know, I'm supposed to kill you, but I don't think anyone will blame me for wanting to keep you for a little while. Have some real fun."

I kicked and thrashed, but nothing landed or deterred this man from what he was planning on accomplishing. When he pulled out a knife and I felt the steel drag against the skin of my throat, I froze. I had no idea if the guy had the balls to actually use it, but since he was supposed to be here to kill me, I was assuming he did. "There we are. Nice and quiet. We're gonna go out that back door," he explained, pointing to the fire exit. "There's gonna be a van parked there. You're gonna get in it with me, without fighting."

I yelled at him, but of course it was muted by his hand and not seen as the threat it was meant to be. He pushed me in front of him, guiding me to the exit. We were almost to the door when there was a very distinct clicking of a hammer, causing the man to freeze. Then I heard Dem's calm voice. "You're not taking Mrs. Cullen out of here without a fight. Let her go."

The man turned around and his knife was back at my neck, and he was using me as a shield. "How are you going to stop me? I can slit her neck before you could shoot me. Then you'd have to explain to your boss how you got his wife killed."

Dem lifted his gun and in response, the guy pressed the knife harder into my skin, breaking the surface, causing me to whimper. I was so angry that this guy caught me off guard and that I was standing here crying, acting like a victim, instead of doing something. My dad didn't raise me to be this girl. I struggled again, and when the guy dropped his guard briefly, I stepped on his foot, smashing my heel in and twisting to crush as much of it and injure him the best I could. He dropped the knife and then slapped me as I tried to spin away from him. Dem got in close and pressed the barrel of the gun against his head, causing the guy to let me go completely. Rose was standing behind Dem, and I rushed over to her. She wrapped me in her arms and kissed my forehead. She got a chime on her phone and then pulled me outside, where Edward was waiting.

"Where's Dem?" he asked me, but Rose answered him.

"Inside. Taking care of the guy who grabbed Bella."

Edward pulled me to him. "He said he was sent to kill me." Edward nodded and checked to make sure that I wasn't harmed, his eyes scanning up and down my body, then he pulled me close, embracing me. I was still shaken and I said nothing as I let him give me the comfort he could. Dem came over to us, exiting from the back of the restaurant. It wasn't lost on me that yet another guy was probably dead. Edward had that murderous look on his face again, and it was aimed at Dem. He kissed my forehead and then walked over to him. I rushed after Edward, pulling his arm, but he didn't stop until he was standing in front of Demetri. "Stop. Edward. He saved my life." I shook my head.

Edward still had an angry expression which was understandable. "That guy shouldn't have ever had a chance to grab you."

"I told him not to follow me to the restrooms. I thought I would be fine." I pointed to myself, showing him that this was all on me.

"It doesn't matter, Bella. I still should have followed you," Dem said quietly.

"You address her as Mrs. Cullen, and no you shouldn't have listened to her. I entrusted you with keeping my wife safe, Demetri. Not my girlfriend, not some fuck buddy—my wife. Do you get that?" He hissed at Dem, getting in his personal space.

Demetri winced when Edward used his full name, and I tried to keep from sobbing because this whole thing was my fault. "It was my fault. Don't take this out on him, Edward! This was my fault." Edward and Dem both looked at me, surprised that I had yelled at Edward. "I don't plan on fighting anything you need to implement because of this, but this is on me."

"We will talk about this at home later. I need to go talk to my uncle. Dem, take her home and make sure she doesn't leave. Rose, can I give you a lift home?" Edward's expression now seemed calm on the exterior, but I knew the anger was still simmering under the surface.

Rose looked at me and I nodded to her. She gave me a hug and then followed her brother to his car. Dem escorted me to the vehicle we came in and I sighed, getting in. "I really am sorry, Dem. I didn't want to get you in trouble."

"Bella, I shouldn't have listened to you though. Edward had the right to get mad at me, and I think he might be worried that we are getting too close," Dem stated gloomily.

I shook my head because I didn't see it as a hindrance. "I trust you because I know you. I wouldn't trust some guy who didn't speak and just acted like my shadow. I would actually try to actively work against someone like that."

Dem chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, probably. I doubt Edward is gonna spare you the lecture, so prepare yourself."

I nodded, knowing that there was almost no chance of me dodging that bullet. We arrived home, and I went inside while Dem went to his "shack." It was how I lovingly referred to the guest house he stayed in that had his security monitors setup.

Once I made it up to our bedroom, I pulled the pregnancy test I bought before my lunch with Rose out of my purse. My period was a week late, and I knew that Edward and I hadn't used condoms on the honeymoon, which was over a month ago, so really it was to ease my mind more than actually thinking I was pregnant. I read the instructions, feeling silly that I had to pee on a stick so I got a paper cup from the stack we had next to the sink and decided to dip the stick instead. After I set a timer for three minutes, I set it on the counter and tapped my nails on the counter, getting impatient as I waited.

I told myself that there was no way that I was pregnant. Once you stopped getting the shot, you were no longer protected against that, but my doctor had told me that it was a good chance I wouldn't be able to conceive right away, which was fine because Edward and I weren't ready yet. Regardless of the result, I would have to tell Edward I took a test. When the timer went off, I silenced the alarm and took a deep breath before picking up the stick, looking down at the results window.

The answer was there clear as day. Well fuck me.

A/N: There is about still 6 chapters and the epi left of this story. So, we are getting there. Until then let's keep trudging forward. Leave a review and let me know what you think! Until later lovelies.