Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Unbeta-d, so this chapter may contain errors.


Chapter 2: Meet Edward


"The only people I owe my loyalty to are those who never made me question theirs."
-Anonymous


"Sorry to bother you, Mr. Cullen, but Mr. Volturi is here to see you." I nodded at my secretary, Peters. First name? I don't know and I suppose I don't need to know. She showed splendid potential when I first met her and accepted her right out of college. These days it seems she wants to show me her gratitude in a special way.

I closed my laptop. "Send him in." The message he sent me sounded desperate and personal. Very different from the business dealings I've had in relation to this missing person.

While Peters ushered him in, I tapped a button underneath my enormous desk to secure the area and the surrounding one mile of the office of any listening devices. A very handy tech for the owner of The Grand Palazzo, a five-star rated hotel and the owner of a very private and small company that I personally lead.

"Good morning, Mr. Cullen. Thank you for reading my letter and for seeing me on such short notice." He headed straight towards my desk and I rose to shake his stretched hand. He had a firm grip despite his age and my respect for him grew. I see he is not taking the pitiful relative route.

He glanced around the room and I knew immediately what he was thinking, "It's safe to talk, don't worry." I gestured for him to sit.

"Thank you, I just really need to find her." He started to unbutton his suit jacket after loosening his tie and saw his face wrinkled with worry and panic.

"I know, Mr. Vol-"

"Please, call me Marcus."

"Marcus, we know your urgency but with the information you gave us, I'm telling you it's not much to work with." I shook my head and omitted mentioning the others that came before him. I knew how difficult this job was going to be since five different people were looking for this girl. Five different people from wealthy families. It's going to be a damn mess when they find her and I'd rather stay low to not risk my identity and my position by being in the middle of it all.

"I brought some more files, hoping one of them would be a lead." He retrieved a thick folder from his suitcase and handed them over to me, "I got them this morning, my people found them in one of the burnt houses."

Carefully looking at the papers inside, my brows furrowed at seeing the same piece of information from the other clients who wanted to hire me. I sighed inwardly, fully knowing there wasn't anything I could do to help but the photo at the end caught me by surprise.

A young girl was sitting by a bonfire, wrapped in blankets with her luscious dark and wavy hair pulled on one side of her shoulder. She looked to be about seventeen and by god she is beautiful. This was the most recent photo I've seen, the others must be looking for her blind, guided only by a photo of an eight-year-old.

After rejecting the five people who came to me in the hopes of using my services to find her, I did not hesitate in answering, "Let's go find your Ms. Swan."

Marcus wiped his forehead of the sweat that gathered from his nervousness and beamed at me, "Thank you for this, Mr. Cullen. I hope you find her soon. She is one of the most important people to me." He stood up and extended his hand towards me, gripping tightly - the kind of grip that shows he's giving me his trust in finding Miss Swan.

I stayed standing until he left my office. With the click of the door, I reached for my phone and pressed one.

"I need a copy of the applicants from the housekeeping department again. Send it to me right now." I looked at the photo of the young Isabella Swan one more time and smirked.

My laptop pinged with an email and I swiftly opened it. I remember that there was a girl with the same set of facial features when I skimmed through the list this morning.

The files for each applicant had an icon of the photo taken by human resources and when my eyes started to hurt from the lack of blinking, there she was. Her hair was in a bun and her lips set in a straight line, hiding her perfect teeth that I saw on the bonfire photo. She looked slimmer but nevertheless more beautiful than she was when the old photo was taken.

I didn't have to find her because Isabella Marie Swan Morello had found me instead.


And there you have it. A short glimpse as to what Edward's role is.