There's no relief, I see you in my sleep. And everybody's rushing me, but I can feel you touching me. There's no release, I feel you in my dreams telling me I'm fine. Every time I close my eyes, it's like a dark paradise. No one compares to you, I'm scared that you won't be waiting on the other side. Every time I close my eyes, it's like a dark paradise. No one compares to you, but there's no you except in my dreams tonight. ~ Lana Del Rey, Dark Paradise

EPOV

You'll never get another dime from me. You'll never get another dime from me. Bella's words from our meeting with the Swan's ran through my head for days afterwards. It was a lost cause focusing on the work I had in front of me. It was late, nearly three in the morning, and I couldn't concentrate on anything.

Bella was softly snoring in bed next to me, something she only did when she was exceptionally worn out. She gripped the blanket around herself tightly, and I could see the frown lines on her face even as she slept.

Without thinking much about what I was doing, I pulled up her online banking account. There, it was obvious. She had still been financially supporting Charlie and Renee, had been since she was seventeen. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were deposited to them every year.

Christ, how did she do it? How did she look past all of the shit they put her through and still find it in her to take care of them? She's a million times better than you, that's how.

"What are you doing?" Bella mumbled, draping a leg over mine and leaning up to rest her head in my lap.

"Just working. Go back to sleep."

She frowned up at me. "What's wrong?"

With a sigh, I closed the laptop and laid down next to her, eye to eye. "How could you still do it, still support them after what they did to you?"

Second chances were not something I gave out lightly. If the situation were reversed I would have severed all ties with the family years ago. Maybe thrown in a little light torture to send the message. I wouldn't have given them another cent.

"I know it looks… odd. But, they were my family, Edward. For the entire first half of my life, they were all I had. In the grand scheme of things, I could have had it a lot worse than Renee and Charlie. I felt like I owed them that much."

"She was horrible to you, Bella."

"Renee was, yes, but Charlie was nothing but good to me until my arrest."

"I'm sorry," I told her, not even knowing what I was really apologizing for. Her arrest, her time in jail, her ruined relationship with her family because of me, all of it.

"You don't have to apologize, Edward. They crossed the final line with that book. This is on them."

I played with the ends of her hair, thinking. "You're too good to be with me, Isabella Cullen."

"You're too smart to be thinking that, Edward Cullen."

Dark…

It was no secret that the past few months had been a challenge. Neither Bella nor I had the chance to get back into any kind of routine because shit kept coming in the way. For the time being, it seemed we were past the bulk of it. We were done with the Swan's completely, though I would check in on them from time to time and make sure they weren't going to cause us anymore trouble. Call was finally off of our trail. The last I talked to him he was practically fucking giddy after arresting Viktor Petrov.

The Elena issue was everlasting, but Bella seemed okay with it. My wife wasn't easily fooled, and she knew she could never trust Elena explicitly. That didn't mean she didn't have that innate desire to have a relationship with the woman that gave her life. She just wasn't going into it blindly. Whatever the issue, I wouldn't let her get hurt by Elena again. I had a personal meeting with her scheduled for tomorrow.

It was time to get back some sense of normalcy. Tonight was Emmett's birthday party, and I was determined for it to be the start of our new normal. Emmett's birthdays always went one of two ways; either he had decided to grow up and had a simple dinner with the family, or he overcorrected and threw a party a kid living off of his trust fund would be jealous of. This year, it was the latter. Yes, my thirty-three-year-old brother was throwing a rager, but for once I was looking forward to it.

It was time to forget the last few months and let go of all the stress that came with it. I hadn't really partied in years, but fuck if I didn't need a stiff drink and pretty brunette on my arm.

Emmett being Emmett planned his whole day himself. It was nearing noon and I had gotten about fifteen messages about being late to the casino where he was spending his day until the party tonight. I would meet him later, but I had a more pressing matter to attend to. Namely, my wife that was currently napping all alone in our bedroom.

I was only going to run home and change, but then I stopped and listened to the mumbles coming out of Bella as she slept. The words cock, fuck, and suck were all mumbled together. So, I really had no choice when I crawled into bed with her.

Kissing along her slender neck, I whispered her name softly. Bella simply sighed and started to roll over in the direction of my voice. I kept her in her spot, needing her on her back for my next plan.

I kissed my way down her chest while slowly sliding my hands underneath the silky short nightgown she was wearing. As my lips roamed and my hands squeezed, Bella started showing little signs of waking up; a content sigh and a shiver as my breath blew over her lower abdomen.

Settling between her legs I took my time giving plenty of attention to her thighs. Kissing my way up to her center, but never going where I wanted. It was sexy as hell, practically watching as her arousal grew. Sliding my hands back up her body, I toyed with both of her nipples as I finally tasted her. It was then, when I took a rough lick up her entire pussy that Bella jolted awake.

Neither of us said anything as our eyes met, Bella's wide and shocked for only a moment before they darkened and rolled back into her head. Her entire body, which had tensed as she woke, relaxed back into the bed which I took as my cue to continue.

I knew her body better than I knew my own. I knew what spots would get me the best moans, and I knew exactly how to draw out her release to drive her the right amount of crazy.

Bella rolled her hips with her entire body, her hands coming up and covering mine on top of her breasts. I gave them each one last pinch before interlocking our hand together on the bed beside her. With each lick, with every flick of my tongue, Bella's hands squeezed mine in a silent form of communication. For every squeeze I got, I gave her one in return. Each one saying something different; I love you, more, yes.

Her moans became more desperate as I circled her clit with a light pressure, so I pulled one of my hands away and started to steadily fuck her with two fingers. With her back arched, almost violently, I knew she was almost there.

Tearing my mouth away from her, I leaned over her body, my lips at her ear. "Now," I grunted out, pressing her clit with my thumb and feeling her instantly come on my fingers. All of that paled to the look on her face, the one of complete and utter pleasure.

As Bella started to relax back into the sheets, her breathing still heavy, I kissed her softly before getting out of bed.

"W-what are you doing?"

"I've got to meet Emmett," I said, turning around to smirk at her. My gaze darkened as I did, though, because she had removed the flimsy silk and was now completely naked. Just waiting for me.

"But, what about…" Instead of finishing her thought, Bella's eyes darted down to my very obvious erection. This woman was a conundrum. One second I've got my head buried between her legs, and the next she blushes because I caught her staring at me.

Reaching a hand out to her, Bella took it immediately. I pulled her to my chest, groaning as soon as she rubbed against my very hard problem. "As much as I would love to completely devour you right now, I do have to go."

Bella followed me into the closet as I changed out of the suit I had been in for about fourteen hours. I pulled on jeans and a button down because I had no clue what kind of trouble Emmett was going to get us in tonight.

As I turned to leave, Bella stood in front of me and roughly pulled me down to her level for a passionate kiss. With her lips at my ear she whispered, "I'll return the favor later."

Dark…

"What brought on this most recent bout of immaturity?"

Emmett, Jasper, and I were currently sitting in Jasper's casino at a private table and had been here for about four hours. Emmett had lost thousands of dollars, because he sucked at poker, but the smile never left his face.

"Rose wants to have another kid."

"Is that a bad thing?" Jasper asked, folding.

"No, I love Alec. Having kids is… surreal, you know?"

No. I didn't. Never would. But that was okay.

"Shit. I didn't mean –"

I held up my hand to stop him. "It's fine."

"They're just a lot of work. I thought I should have at least one more wild birthday before I'm a dad of two."

I nodded. "Well, you have impeccable timing. A party is much needed."

"You and Bella okay?" Jasper sat forward, looking concerned. I waved him off.

"We're fine. Life has just thrown us a few punches lately. The Swan's have been a pain in the ass, Call put Bella through the polygraph, and the whole Elena issue… We both just need a fresh start."

Emmett threw his cards down and I smirked, piling my winnings in front of me. "How the fuck did she ever pass that polygraph?"

"Isabella Cullen is a woman of many talents," I told him, trying to conceal the embarrassing smile that threatened to take over.

"Fuck it. The bar should be set up by now. Let's go," Emmett said throwing his cards down. I took a quick peak at them and noticed he had a shit hand, most likely the main reason for him suddenly wanting to leave.

I was okay with it though. Because Bella was probably already there with Alice and Rose, and she had a favor to return.

As expected, the bar was nearly full to capacity when we arrived, despite it still being early. It was no secret when the Cullen's were throwing a party, and that meant a crowd. There were cheers as the three of us entered, all directed at Emmett, and I was able to easily slip away as he was pulled into conversation with some of his old college buddies.

She was easy to spot, maybe because I was so attuned to her. She was at the bar, sitting next to a very disgruntled looking Alice. Bella, however, looked anything but upset. Most likely due to the sea of drinks that surrounded her. I did tell her we were letting loose for the night, so it seemed she started without me.

Both women laughed at something as I approached. "I guess I don't even have to offer to buy you a drink."

Bella swung around, very nearly falling off of her bar stool. I kept my hands on her waist as she straightened herself out. "No, I have plenty of drinks. Would you like one?"

I grabbed what looked like a scotch out from the pile. "Why on earth do you have so many?"

"Well, apparently I'm very popular among this crowd. Half of them think they can get me to cheat on you. That's this pile here," she pushed a large pile of napkins toward me. As I flipped through them, they all had phone numbers on them. "The other half are very thankful that Aro is dead and Viktor Petrov is gone. That's where most of the drinks come in."

It didn't matter that it had been years since the Aro incident. Still, whenever I took Bella out to any kind of Chicago-based function we ran into someone that subtly thanked her. Of course here, at Emmett's party, most of the guests would be aware of just how much trouble Aro caused them and their families. That, I could live with.

It was this large stack of phone numbers that frustrated me. "Have you been having fun flirting with other men, Isabella?"

Bella gasped and turned to me, again nearly falling over. I grabbed her by her waist and took the moment to look at her. She was in a black slip of a dress, edged with lace. The black leather jacket covered the inked skin of her arms, then I got to her legs. Covered in fucking thigh-high boots. No wonder she had a stack of twenty phone numbers.

"No! The first one came up and I scared him off, then Alice said I should see how many I could get before –"

I cut her off with a searing kiss. Because all of those men could leave their numbers and hope she would call, but I knew the truth. She was mine, and I was hers.

"I'm sorry. Really, most of them just dropped the napkin and left. I didn't flirt or anything. I don't even really know how to flirt. You're supposed to bat your eyelashes or twirl your hair, right? There was no hair twirling, but I probably blinked a time or two –"

"It's okay, Bella. I was kidding. Mostly." I took the stack of numbers and dunked them in one of the many drinks surrounding her. In my mind, I could hear the sighs of frustration of men around the room.

"Besides, it's all Alice's fault. She told me to, then she said I had to drink for me and her because she can't."

"God, I forgot how fun a drunk Bella was," Jasper said, smirking from his spot next to Alice.

Bella twisted at the sound of his voice, apparently unaware of his presence. "Jasper! Would you like a drink? I've got a few." She laughed at her own joke and pushed a pink drink topped with an umbrella toward Jasper.

"Bella I –"

"Drink it. We can't let it go to waste," Bella said, pushing an empty glass away from her and pulling another one, what looked like a martini, toward her.

I grabbed it before she could take a sip. "How about some water for now?" The night was about letting go, but it seemed she had already let go quite a lot. I didn't want her sick in the morning.

"Who will drink all of my drinks, then?" She looked genuinely worried, her eyes wide, looking over the collection she had in front of her.

"Someone will drink them, I promise."

Bella sighed. "Okay. I'll have a water, Steve."

The bartender, Steve apparently, smiled and quickly set a large glass of water in front of her. A couple of women brushed past us then, one of them saying something about liking the song that was playing.

"Thank you," Bella replied calmly, taking a sip of her water. Alice and Jasper gave her matching looks of confusion. "I wrote it. About you." Bella accentuated her point by tapping me on the nose.

We were never supposed to make it half this far. And I lived so much life, lived so much life. I think that God is gonna have to kill me twice.

There was no stopping the grin that crossed my face at hearing my wife's words. I would have preferred hearing her sing them, but this was better than nothing. I sat next to her, taking another drink from her stash, and watched her talk with Alice and Jasper about the song, and telling them the others she had written that they may have heard of.

As the night wore on, we did finish all of Bella's drinks. I managed to get Bella a little more lucid and coordinated, but still happily drunk. It was nearing midnight when I succeeded in pulling her out to dance with me. The name of the song playing was a mystery to me, but it didn't matter. What mattered was the way Bella's uninhibited mind let her roll her hips into mine without caring who was watching.

"I'm assuming you, Emmett, or Jasper own this place?" she whispered in my ear, barely audible over the sound of the music and crowd.

"This is one of my establishments, yes."

"You have an office here then?" There was no need to question why she wanted an office as her hand reached between us and gave my uncomfortably hard cock a squeeze.

Instead of answering I pulled her away from the crowd, down the back hall that lead to a few small offices. My office was practically empty save for a desk and a chair. I had owned this place for years and it practically ran itself.

As soon as the door was closed behind us Bella had her hands fumbling with my belt. Her lips were at my neck as she worked and I pulled her as close as possible, trailing my hands up the smooth skin of her legs.

"I really am sorry about the phone numbers," she mumbled against my jaw. "I didn't –"

"I know." My wife was beyond attractive. It was rare that she was out without me, so men took advantage of it.

"I'd be pissed if the situation was reversed. I'm sorry."

She didn't need to apologize, had nothing to make up for. But still, I whispered, "How are you going to make it up to me?"

With that, she dropped to her knees and returned the favor from this afternoon.

By the time we got back to the party, the crowd had thinned a little. I caught Emmett's eye, waving as Bella and I made our way out. She stumbled a bit as I pulled her down the sidewalk as opposed toward the waiting car but asked no questions.

"This is nice," she sighed, leaning into me as my arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"That's because you're drunk."

"No. Well, yes. But not so much anymore. It's just nice to be us for a while and not have to worry about a million other things."

"Yes, it is." I understood completely. It was the whole reason I wanted us to relax tonight.

I stopped walking, halting Bella as well. She looked up at me with an arched brow. "I thought we would stay here tonight." Here was my newest residential project. An upscale apartment compound in the heart of the city. All completely booked up.

"What is this?" Bella asked, walking toward the door. The architecture outside was beautiful, everything about this location was gorgeous. Mostly because I had everything modeled after my wife.

The entire place was designed to be warm and inviting, the colors and furniture in the lobby all welcoming guests in with open arms. But, at the same time, there was an undeniable air of elegance to everything.

Bella froze as I swung open the door for her, finally catching the name etched on the glass door. The Isabella.

"You named a hotel after me?" she asked, looking up at me with complete and utter shock on her face.

"I named what will be the highest rated, five star apartment complex and spa after you." It had been a project in the making for years. We had the penthouse suite, of course, so I thought today would be the perfect day to show it to her. The other residents wouldn't open for a few more weeks, but our penthouse was ready.

Bella took everything in, her head twisting in every direction as I walked her over to the elevator. She was fidgety for a few moments as the elevator started moving, then out of nowhere I was pressed against the back wall. After a second to recover, I turned the tables so Bella was pressed into the corner. Somehow, during the whole thing, our lips never parted.

My hands slid up the dress that had been teasing me all night, squeezing the soft skin of her thighs. The ones that were wrapped around my head his morning. We both groaned as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open.

I had been here many times, of course, so I watched Bella's reactions to everything more than I paid attention to our actual surroundings. Her hands slid over the creamy marble countertops in the kitchen and she sat on the plush couch in the living room for a minute.

When we got to the master suite, Bella sat down on the small bench at the end of the bed. This room was my favorite. The dark mocha of the walls contrasted nicely with the creamy linens on the bed. Everything about it was comforting, inviting.

"Why'd you name it The Isabella?"

"Because you're the most important thing in the world to me."

No matter how many times I had said something similar, Bella always got the same look on her face when I did. A mixture of awe and shock, maybe a little confusion. In a flurry of motion, we ended up naked and intertwined in the middle of the bed.

I enjoyed the view as Bella rolled on top of me, chest to chest. She sank down on my length and we both moaned at the connection. With Bella leaning over me, one hand on my chest and the other gripping the headboard behind us, I had the perfect view of her; eyes wild as she concentrated on her movements, chest heaving with heavy breaths, her entire being was wrapped around me.

This woman was mine in every way, but it was never enough. I would never tire of her skin under my fingertips, and I would never get enough of the taste of her lips. There would never be a time where seeing her move above me and use my body for her pleasure didn't remind me that I was a lucky bastard.

Dark…

"Your five o'clock is here, Mr. Cullen."

My five o'clock. Elena Rossi. I still couldn't decide how I felt about the woman. "Send her in."

Leaning back in my chair, I rubbed my hands over my face, already exhausted by the thirteen hours of work I had put in so far today. Thankfully this was the last thing I needed to do before I could go home.

I never even heard the door open, only the slight squeak of the chair opposite of me as she sat down. Quiet as a mouse, just like her daughter.

Sitting up, I stood and held my hand out to her. "Elena."

"Mr. Cullen," she responded, obviously nervous. Her voice was shaking slightly, and she had a deep blush covering her cheeks.

"Edward, please."

My politeness surprised me, but the second her blush deepened I understood where it came from. She reminded me too much of Bella. Her blush, her nerves, the shaky hands. All things I knew how to calm in my wife. I had to put that part of my mind in check, I couldn't let it distract me from the task at hand.

"What do you really want from my wife?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to know she was happy. If she doesn't want to see me again, I understand."

"She wants to see you again. She's longed for a mother that cares about her, her entire life. If you're just here for now, or if you want money or notoriety then you need to tell me now. I won't have you breaking my wife's heart again."

Elena sat back, staring at me for an inconceivable amount of time. She was going to ask me for money, and then she was going to be gone. Fuck, I never should have given Bella her letter in the first place.

"I don't want anything from her. I just want to know her," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

I watched as her head fell, her dark hair falling from behind her ear, and I started to understand where all of the good in Bella came from. It wasn't from Aro, and it wasn't from the Swan's. Maybe Elena was simply a good kid who had gotten in with the wrong crowd and didn't have the strength to save herself.

"She's a wonderful woman," I told her, catching her off guard. "Don't hurt her."

"Thank you for taking care of her. It's obvious how… connected you two are. She moves, you move. You know she needs something before she does. And I just spent one dinner with the two of you."

I smiled. "I'm a very lucky man." Sobering up, I continued. "But, if you hurt her, there will be consequences." I didn't want to scare the woman off, but I needed her to understand.

"I know. She's worth the risk."

Fucking hell. Someone else finally got it. Maybe Elena Rossi wasn't such a pain after all.

"Yes," I agreed. "She is."

Dark…

"Your wife is here, Mr. Cullen."

"Excellent. If you'll excuse me." Nodding to the room full of associates, I followed Jessica out of the boardroom and met Bella sitting in my office.

"Were you in a meeting? I thought you said two," Bella said, looking at the watch on her wrist. I smiled, looking at it myself. She had made exceptional progress, wearing more jewelry on her wrists and not being bothered by it in the slightest.

"I did. Come with me." Wrapping an arm around her waist, I led her to the boardroom. She faltered for a second, seeing the faces surrounding her, but never backed down.

"Isabella, this is the board of directors for Cullen Productions. You've met most of them before." She politely shook everyone's hand, still looking at me skeptically out of the corner of her eyes. "With the chairman of the board finally here, we can begin."

"Oh, who?" Bella asked, looking up at me as I led her to the head of the table.

"You," I whispered, holding her chair out for her.

"Um," she sat and looked around as I took my spot next to her. "The chairman –"

"Simply put, is the most powerful person in the company," I told her.

"But I –"

"Know more about films and have more experience in this industry than everyone in this room combined."

"Oh, but –"

"You have the maximum shares of the company. You came to me with the idea, I simply did the legwork of getting it off of the ground." Of course, I left out the part where I would be using the company to launder money throughout the country, but she already knew that. And was surprisingly unfazed by it.

After that, Bella thawed a bit during the meeting. Eventually she got into intense conversation with everyone about the direction the company should go, who we should work with and whatnot. It was phenomenal, watching her in her element and hearing her discuss the company. There was no doubt in my mind that she would make sure it was a success.

"You could have warned me," Bella grumbled as we retreated to the privacy of my office hours later. We sat in the lounge area, resting after the meeting.

"Where would be the fun in that?"

"I'm still not sure –"

"I'm sure. You're already proving yourself to everyone. You can do this."

There was no more arguing after that. Bella sat with me for a while, going over the notes she had taken during the meeting while I finished up some last-minute things. I still had a surprise or two for the new Chairman.

We walked hand in hand out of the office, Bella veering toward the parking garage while I pulled her in the opposite direction.

"What are you doing?"

"Come," I said, giving her hand a squeeze and pulling her closer. We walked in silence for a while, enjoying the busy streets of Chicago. It still irked me, the amount of stares we got as we were simply walking, and the number of people I saw scramble for their phones as we passed. Bella was either a master at avoiding it, or far too used to the reaction.

"I don't understand how you have so much confidence in me," Bella said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Why wouldn't I have confidence in you?"

"I only have a high school degree. I don't know what a chairman even does. I read lines for a living –"

"No. Don't take this the wrong way, but you manipulate for a living. That's why you'll be exceptional. You know what you want, and you know how to get other people to do it for you. If I wasn't absolutely sure you could handle this, I would have given you a smaller role. Don't worry so much."

Bella barked out a laugh. "Okay, Pot. It's nice to meet you, I'm Kettle."

"I have to worry so much so you don't have to."

She rolled her eyes, so I reached down and pinched her delectable ass. We finally arrived at the second surprise. Bella bumped into me as I cut her off to open the door to the restaurant we were passing. Her embarrassed blush as she walked in had me shaking my head at her odd bouts of shyness.

Shouts of surprise and congratulations echoed as we entered. We had a private room for dinner, but that didn't stop our family from accosting us at the front door. Once everyone had embarrassed her enough, we started toward our private room. We were nearly there when a solid hand landed on my shoulder.

"Why weren't we invited to the party? We're family, after all."

Carefully pushing Bella behind me as I turned, I came face to face with the four people who were able to call themselves her half-siblings. Fuck, it never felt right to even think of her as one of them.

"Brave of you to show your faces in this town, don't you think?" I asked, squeezing Bella's hand behind my back, a silent plea for her to keep quiet though I knew it was wishful thinking.

"Odd of you to choose the… ugly step sister over the both of us, don't you think?" Tanya spat out.

"Pathetic of you both to still be holding on to a crush on him, don't you think?" Bella stepped out from behind me, winding her arms around mine and gripping my bicep. I didn't have to look to know her multi-million dollar wedding rings would be on display for the two jealous harpies to see.

Demetri eyed me, and I knew the mostly-harmless banter was coming to an end. "At least none of us have committed patricide."

There was an almost comical gasp from the women in the family behind us. Bella stood still next to me. "You've all said what you wanted. We know you're as petty as ever, you can leave."

"Our families used to be close to an understanding, Edward. Then you and this bitch come along and she –" Demetri stopped talking as he felt the cool barrel of my glock against his abdomen. Jasper and Emmett stepped forward, forming a wall around us so that none of the surrounding patrons could see what was happening. Jasper tried to pull Bella away from me, but she didn't budge.

"I believe you owe my wife an apology."

"Christ, Edward get a fucking grip."

"Apologize and you won't leave here in an ambulance."

"I'm sorry… sis." His tone was anything but sincere, but it was as good as it was going to get.

"Now get the fuck out of here."

A/N: Oh, boy, am I sorry at how long it took me to get this out. I was on vacation for a week, and then got sick the day I got back. I could hardly think straight, let alone finish the half of this chapter that still needed to be done.

I know I mentioned a cliffhanger in this one, but my nearly two weeks off from writing helped me organize my plan for this a little better, and I changed a few things around. I also just really wanted to get this out to you guys ASAP so it's a little shorter than I anticipated.

I hope you enjoy – next chapter will be within a week, I hope!

Italicized lyrics in the middle of the chapter are from Young & Menace by Fall Out Boy.