Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Unbeta-d, so this chapter may contain errors.


FULL SUMMARY

After her parents got killed, Bella vowed to never stay in one place for too long to avoid getting caught. Settling down in NY, it was the one place they would find her without even trying.

A tracker-in-disguise, Edward Cullen was asked to find a high-valued person. To his surprise, he didn't need to look for her since she found him first.


PROLOGUE


A cold, damp finger slowly ran down her cheek and she fought the urge to shiver.

The last words of her father rang in her head, 'Don't move, sweetie. If you want to live, please don't move.'

She tried. But it was difficult when her head felt like it was gonna explode. She had no idea what was happening, and she'd just seen her father get killed. Her mother was missing from the passenger's seat and now she had to stay calm for her own survival.

She realized this was what her parents had prepared her for, all those years of camping and simulations that felt like they were on Survivor. She had to prove she could do it. She wasn't going to let them down.

'Imagine you're dead,' she reminded herself. 'Imagine you're fucking dead or else you'd be dead for real' her inner voice chimed in.

The person with the clammy finger grunted and let go of her.

"She better be dead, Liam. Make sure of it." A rough voice yelled as heavy footsteps got closer to her.

"Make sure of it? How?" Her heart started hammering at the thought of how this Liam was going to do it.

"Positive! Let's get out of here." Almost flinching at the volume, she realized he was only a few inches from her.

"I see no goddamn bullet hole on her. I told you to make sure." The one who had just arrived growled and she felt the car move, she assumed someone's body was slammed into it because of the groans heard.

At the cock of a gun, she opened her eyes and looked in the direction she heard the voices from.

'I'm not dying without knowing what these people look like,' she thought to herself.

All she saw was blue eyes and surrounded by the morning light before a loud gunshot rang in her ear and blackness took over her.


CHAPTER 1: Meet Isabel


"While I'm alive, I intend to live."
- Everett Ruess


BELLA

My eyes opened only to see flashes of black and white static all over, a common occurrence everytime I forced myself to see in the dark. The only thing on my mind were those blue eyes that looked so gentle... but also deadly.

Ten years have passed by in the blink of an eye. At twenty-eight, I feel like I have aged fifty more years. Moving to a new and unknown place when the calendar repeats is getting exhausting and because the thought of meeting new people freaks me the fuck out, it does not help at all.

Yes, I was eighteen when my parents died. Eighteen. At that age, kids are supposed to be preparing themselves to enter their dream college and get a start on their journey to the real world. Not me. I admit I was still childish and immature then. I don't know what it was about me that couldn't get a grasp on reality at that age. Needless to say, I was useless.

How, you ask? It's because I can't remember anything that happened before the accident. Only bits and pieces.

All I remember are those blue eyes.

When I came to, I was at one of our vacation houses a few hours away from our house with my body bandaged up. Waking up alone and not knowing where your parents are is terrifying for any child, no matter how old you are. I broke down and had been in a trance for two days before it hit me that there were people out there looking for me and would not hesitate to kill me. I had no time to figure out who it was that saved me, all I cared about was getting as far away from that place as fast as I could.

I rummaged through my parents' closet and looked for documents that I knew my parents kept for emergencies. I had to burn them before they got their hands on them. What I found instead were eight different identifications with my photo, plus a generous stash of guns and ammo which I knew how to handle since dad kept teaching me, even though I never really wanted to because seriously, when would I ever use it? Guess the joke's on me now.

My thoughts wandered to all those times he insisted on letting me come with him to the firing range, or when he'd spent a few nights a month in the middle of nowhere learning the ropes on how to survive on your own.

There were lots of times shortly after losing my parents that I should have let them come for me. I didn't know how to live without them. But getting death at the hands of someone I've never met pisses me off. No one signs me off unless I say so.

From there, I thought about being in some sort of witness protection program and my parents were most likely not my real parents. It hurt to remember that dad did all those things to help me.

I rubbed my chest at the sudden stabbing feeling in my heart that I always felt whenever I thought about them.

I knew I had to stay alive, I owe them my life and there was no way in hell I was going to let it go to waste.

With that mindset, I got myself to where I am now; in Reeds, New York.

I flopped back down on my worn-out mattress after looking at the watch on my wrist and seeing that I still had fifteen more minutes until I needed to get up.

Getting to the city was an absolute pain. This was the first time in the ten years of non-stop moving that I chose a well-populated city. I figured it was time for a change and the hometown on my very last alias was this. I've been putting it off for the past few years because I knew it was a rather large and modern city - very easy to spot people, but also very difficult to locate because of the growing population.

I washed up early since I had to be at the building before six am and the walk there was about thirty minutes. I was not going to take the risk of riding a bus because I knew there had to be cameras there. I tucked my Eagle in the waistband of my pants as well as sliding a few of my knives in my boots.

I would rather have it and not need it than to need it but not have it. Ten years of being alone, you'd learn a thing or two about protecting yourself, especially when you live in that part of town where no one knows anyone, hence no one would care if you're still breathing or not.

Currently Isabel Dwyer, and about to start my new job that is off the focus and out of the eyes of inquiring minds.


This is a B/E story so POVs will be alternated, but not repeated (like an EPOV of the same scene Bella has already narrated)

As you've read, this is set in a fictional city. Everything is fiction so please don't take take my mistakes to heart and those I am sure to make in the future. I also am not living in New York but will do my best to stick to that NY vibe.

This story started out as a WIP on watttpad before I decided that all I could envision as the cast were Edward and Bella so voila

Here's to hoping some of you are intrigued by this.

Photos of outfits and other graphics will be uploaded on tumb|r, ff blocked the link on my profile so just type it in: apricuous dot tumblr dot com