Fiche A Sé (26)

A/N: Wow, we are almost at the end. I'm getting all emotional, but I'll save all the emotional stuff for Friday's post. Thanks to my prereaders- Maplestyle, Bitter Harpy, AGoodWitch, SassyNoles, and 2 brown eyes. Also, to my beta Mel Cee, she has helped my writing more than she will ever know. Thank you for all your reviews and support. They mean the world to me. This chapter is split POV, so let's get onto it.

P.S. This chapter has a violence warning. Like seriously, it gets graphic. Enjoy!

BPOV

The next morning, Edward told me the plan about trying to get Aro to help us with the whereabouts of his son. Carlisle was the one that needed to try and make this deal with him, especially since they had dealt with each other already, and there would be more outrage that Caius had messed with Esme. I wanted to be insulted with that information, but the mafia was very much a man's world, and to anyone who didn't know me, I was just the family doctor sleeping with the boss. It was sexist and wrong, but it was what it was.

It was back to business as usual for me and the girls. We drove to the clinic with Liam and Garrett like every day. It was what I saw when we got there that took my breath away. All of the glass windows and doors were smashed in. My heart sank because I knew this was going to be the least of the damage. Liam and Garrett ran in before us, making sure that there wasn't danger still lingering. Once they gave us the all clear, we all slowly made our way into the building and discovered that anything that could be broken was. Computers, phones, shelves.

I knew that we had insurance, really good insurance actually, but I was still devastated. The glass would all need to be replaced, the holes in the drywall patched, all new computers and phones installed. Liam walked Alice and me back to the SUV. Garrett grabbed Rose's laptop that she always brought to work, and she connected to the server so she could download info for all the patients that she could reschedule and others that may prefer a referral. Liam pulled out his phone, and I assumed he was probably calling Carlisle or Edward.

After a little bit of talking, he handed me the phone. I was glad when I realized it was Carlisle. He was much better at being calm than Edward was. I was already righteously angry enough for both of us. I knew this was the work of Caius or the Italian family. I was assured by Carlisle that everything was going to be covered by insurance and that Aro had agreed to meet with him. I talked to him for a few minutes longer until Rose came outside. She said that she and Garrett were going to wait for the cops to arrive, and she would take care of all the paperwork for the insurance claim, as the office manager. We had to have a police report for the insurance company. I gave her a hug, worried about leaving her there, but I knew Garrett would keep her safe; I saw him in action last night.

The drive back to the Cullens' was quiet. I think Alice was processing, and I was thinking of new, fun, inventive ways to kill the blond-haired asshole. When we arrived and I looked for Edward in the living room, the look on Carlisle's face told me everything I needed to know. Edward knew and he was livid.

"Did he—"

"No, Bella, my meeting with Aro is tonight. We don't know anything yet; he's just upset and needed to take a drive. You know how he gets, iníon."

I just nodded and tried to keep from getting emotional. Since we got back from rescuing Esme last night, he kept calling me iníon. Of course it was another Irish word, and Edward had told me it simply meant 'daughter.' It was a surprise but still made me feel important. I knew that I was considered a part of the family, but now I had proof that I was treasured by them. "I do. I just hope he's not gone long. Do you think there is any way he's going to let me get close to Caius when it happens?'

"I understand you're angry, and understandably so, but going off half-cocked when you are emotional is not the way things should be handled."

I wanted to point out that last night I was more emotional, but I thought it best not to argue with Carlisle. It was funny to me that I wouldn't argue with Carlisle, but I had no problem doing it with Edward, and Edward was the boss. I imagine it was because Carlisle was still the patriarch and that was how I would always see him. I nodded and now that the crisis was mostly over, or behind us in terms of my office, my exhaustion let itself be known. I headed up the stairs to Edward's room. Once inside, I pulled the door closed and peeled my scrubs off, stripping to my bra and underwear. I climbed into bed, grabbed his pillow, and hugged it to my chest, inhaling his scent, and fell asleep quickly.

EPOV

When I heard about what happened to Bella's clinic, it was hard to contain my anger. I needed to not be around anyone or breakable things, so I got in my car and drove as fast as I could. I wasn't really able to go fast on the city roads, but it still felt good to be out of the house and this situation, if even just for a few minutes.

Soon, I started to feel guilty because, no doubt, Bella was back home already, and I just left her alone to deal with shit on her own. One of these days, I was going to get the hang of being a better partner for her. She deserved better than me, but she chose me, and I hated to feel like I was taking advantage of that. When I got home, I felt more like shit because Carlisle told me that Bella had gone upstairs and hadn't come back down, so either she was upset or she was asleep, again by herself.

When I entered my room, Bella was tucked in a little ball, holding my pillow to her chest, and I felt my heart lurch. It was the middle of the day, but we hadn't gotten a lot of sleep last night, and my girl needed me right now. I slid in the bed beside her and I extracted the pillow from her grip as gently as possible. Then pulled her body next to mine, her head still finding my chest in her sleep. She stirred and then stared up at me with sleepy eyes.

"Am I still dreaming?"

"No, a pheata, I'm actually here."

"That's exactly what Dream Edward would say." She lifted her hand and poked my chin.

I chuckled. "Did I pass your test?"

"Hmmm. Well you're just as handsome as the real Edward, so if you're not him, I guess you'll do."

"Sleep. We'll need to meet when Carlisle gets back from speaking with Aro, and I want your sharp mind and smart mouth there."

She gave a bright smile and kissed me, hard. I knew she had been worried that things were going to go back to how they were before, but she had good ideas and showed herself to be more than capable last night. I needed to get my dad's opinion. Bella was still our doctor, and even though after this situation was resolved, none of us would be going out into the "field" much, she could get hurt tonight. Em and Jazz's promotions had left holes in how many soldiers we had, and this was personal, otherwise, we as the upper levels wouldn't be dealing with this.

Even though I became an underboss at twenty years old, I still always had a hard time scaling down my duties from when I was a soldier. I knew now as the boss, I was going to have to. The family needed a leader, and since I wasn't going to have children, Jasper would need to take over eventually and teach his prodigy to do the same. With Alice as my sister, it was staying in the family, just the last name would change. My parents were obviously disappointed when I told them that I wasn't going to have children, but they had made peace with that possibility the longer I had stayed single. Bella was the only woman I had wanted, and would ever want, so no kids wasn't a deal breaker for me.

I looked down at Bella and saw she was fast asleep again. I pulled her to me a little tighter and just reveled in the feel of her: her warmth, the smoothness of her soft skin, her hands fisting into my shirt. Everything about her brought me comfort and made me feel at home. She accepted everything about me and my life without once asking me to change or stop. She was part of my family, and strangely enough, I cared for her crazy sister, even though I had to admit she kinda worried me sometimes.

It felt like I had just closed my eyes when Alice was standing above me, waking Bella and me up. "Dad just got back, and Jazz told me to come get you."

Bella waited for Alice to leave the room before she flung the covers off and got dressed. I followed her lead, and we headed down the stairs, hand in hand. Bella went to go sit down next to Eleazar like she had last night, grabbing his hand and smiling at him. Eleazar smirked like he was the happiest guy in the world, and I got it, 'cause my girl just had that effect on people.

I cleared my throat. "Dad, you have the floor. What happened?"

"Well, Aro heard about my 'accident' and offered his condolences. We shot the shit for a little bit before I told him the nature of my meeting with him. He was understandably upset that his son broke the golden rule, and he was actually pissed that he tried to attack Bella. He has agreed to help us, but he wanted something in return."

This was not surprising. There was always a tit for tat aspect to these dealings. "What did he want?" I replied.

"Protection. He and Sulpicia have kept in contact with Jane, and they have been allowed to see Gianna often. They want to make sure that if Caius is taken care of that they will still be safe. Aro thinks that with Felix and Caius out of the picture, someone who will uphold the accord we made long ago will take over. This will mean that the golden rule won't be dishonored, but he can't be sure of that. Especially after I explained what happened in the family that led to this whole mess."

"And what did you tell him, Dad?" I asked, getting a feeling that he already agreed to this stipulation.

"I agreed. There is no threat from him, and I'm in agreement that whoever takes power next will be better than Caius and Felix. There is no one in the immediate family, but there are cousins that may end up taking over."

"Okay, so do you have information about where Caius is?" I was starting to lose my patience, my temper short.

"Yes."

"I want you to give the information to Garrett, Dem, and Jazz. You boys knew where to take him. Then when you call us, Em and I will join you," I said. I wasn't going to chase after this fucker, but I was going to be the one to show him what happens when you fuck with my family, especially my mom and my girl. It was when Bella loudly cleared her throat that I was brought out of my murderous thoughts. Everyone in the room just looked at her. When no one said anything, she huffed, rolled her eyes, and stood.

"And what about me?"

"What about you?" I raised my eyebrow in question.

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Stay here with Liam, Alistair, and the girls until we get back," I said, dumbly.

I saw the fury flare in her eyes, and I knew that I had made a mistake. "Are you kidding me? That asshole tried to attack me twice, and I think that I proved last night that I am just as smart and able as the rest of you."

My nostrils flared because she was going against me in front of everyone, and the weird thing was no one would look at me. Knowing that she wasn't going on the mission to capture his ass, she would be relatively safe, but again, I was worried that seeing his death would not only traumatize her, but that she would look at me differently. I was pulled out of my inner turmoil when she tugged on my elbow. She gestured that she wanted to talk to me privately. I followed her, because I would follow this woman into hell if she asked me to.

Her hands cradled my face and she pulled me to look at her. "You keep waiting for me to run screaming from you at the next turn, Edward. I'm telling you—it won't happen. I would turn myself inside out for you, but thankfully I don't have to. Stop thinking you don't deserve me, because I'm not perfect. Neither of us are, but we fit together perfectly." She threaded her fingers with mine, and I smirked, nodding.

"I know you are capable, mo grá, but I can't have anything happen to you," I said softly.

"Same here, Edward. We're strongest together, you know this," she said back in the same quiet voice.

I nodded because, as usual, she was right. We have proved it over and over again. "Okay, but if it gets to be too much, I want you to have Liam get you out of there. This isn't gonna be glamorous."

"Good," she said simply.

We joined everyone again and ran through what was going to happen. The only change was that Liam and Bella would also be joining everyone when Em and I did. The only thing left to do was wait for the call from the others.

Fortunately, it didn't take long for the reconnaissance mission to happen. I kissed Bella slow and deep because from this point on, I was letting the monster take over. She started to really get into the kiss, but I had to gently push her away. As much as I would love to just devour her, we had business to attend to. I gave her a humorless smirk, and she started breathing heavier—interesting.

We headed out to the SUV and Bella asked a question that I was surprised she hadn't figured out. "So, if you and Dem have really expensive cars, why do you always ride in the SUVs?"

Em, knowing that I was preparing for what was about to happen, answered her. "Because one, their cars are a little bit flashier, more conspicuous; and two, the SUV is a lot easier to clean. We can't have anything tied to us, so when something like tonight happens, we have to get rid of DNA and trace evidence."

Bella just nodded and didn't say anything. She seemed to get lost in thought. Liam and Emmett had worked with me before, so they kept quiet. I soothed myself with thoughts of separating Caius's spinal column from his head. Unfortunately, I couldn't think about her or how she might feel about something while I was in the moment, so I told Liam before we left that it was up to him to make sure she was okay. I expected him to bitch about having to be her babysitter, but he told me that he respected Bella and her strength. I hoped I wouldn't have to talk to him about developing a crush on my girlfriend.

We made it to another one of the warehouses that the Italians owned. I knew that this one was currently completely vacant. There were no plans to expand and remodel it, so it was just left there to sit empty. Tonight, it would become Caius's tomb. I pulled on a pair of black nitrile gloves. Everyone wanted to be flashy and don black leather gloves, which looked cool, but the only option when you were planning on getting dirty, was to burn them, and the nice ones were always too expensive to just dispose of in that manner. We all donned hospital booties over our shoes. I holstered my gun and grabbed my combat knife, sheathing it. We walked to the building, and I heard Bella speaking to Emmett. Her words were indistinct, but I think she knew something was off, different.

When we entered the warehouse, Caius was tied to a chair, just like he had left my mom. He saw me and started panicking. The sight caused a laugh to bubble in my chest, but when it came out it was devoid of even the slightest touch of humor. Instead of knocking him out like I wanted to, I crouched down to his level and backhanded him, hard. His eyes started to water. "Oh, don't turn into a pussy now. We're just getting started." I stood, pulling my suit jacket off, and rolled the sleeves of my dress shirt up to my elbows. I noticed him looking at Bella, so I got right in his face. "This isn't your show anymore. Look at her again and I'll gouge your fucking eyes out and make you eat them."

I unsheathed my knife and let him see how sharp the blade was by cutting a slit from his elbow halfway down his forearm. He wouldn't lose enough blood to die, but it would start to sting soon, especially since I soaked the blade in saltwater before we left. I started to pace in front of him. "You know I could stand here and tell you how you fucked with me just one too many times, or that messing with my girl and my mom was the final nail in your coffin. But you know all this. You knew what you were doing. You also know that no one is going to avenge you. Not since you broke the golden rule."

He started to shake his head and tried to talk behind the tape over his mouth. "Oh, I know my mom was an accident, but the fact that you were going after my girlfriend isn't going to help your case. Now I will give you permission to look at her. Look at my Bella. Do you see the way she is looking at you? She doesn't feel the least bit sorry for you, and I bet if I asked her to come over here, she would take great pleasure in causing you all sorts of pain. What do you say, Caius? You want my beautiful Bella to carve you up? She's got years of practice with a blade, but as you've seen, sometimes accidents happen." I crooked my finger to Bella to bring her over to me. She looked a little shocked, but just like last night, she lifted her chin and straightened her shoulders. She looked directly at me the entire time, and I felt a jolt of arousal shoot through me. Once she was standing in front of me, I handed her the knife. "Embrace that darkness, just like you did last night. Make him feel pain. Think of what he did to my mom, what he planned to do to you," I told her, egging her on. I knew this was a side of me that she wasn't used to seeing, but I also saw the desire in her eyes. She wanted to do this to him, and she wanted to please me.

She leaned close to Caius, bending over at the waist, giving him a good look down her top as it fell forward. She dragged the knife down the side of his face, gently. Then on the second pass, she started to apply pressure, cutting into the flesh, drops of crimson bubbling to the surface. Caius cried out behind his gag. Bella smiled at him—it was a beautiful smile, but it was cold and devilish, her usual warmth gone.

She surprised the fuck out of me when she slashed the knife, cutting across his chest, and ran her finger across the cut, opening it further with her fingers; it was brutal and I loved her more for it. When she stepped closer to him, she grabbed a fistful of his hair and brought the blade to his throat, but I didn't stop her. If she wanted to end him, I would be disappointed it was over so quickly, but I shouldn't have underestimated her.

She was pointing the very tip of the knife in his skin, just enough to bring a few beads of blood to the surface. Being a doctor, she knew the places that would make him lose the least amount of blood but cause him maximum pain, so she continued to cut him, and at one point she carved the letters IDDM into his other forearm. She pushed his arm away from her when he lost consciousness. She handed the knife back to me, her hands coated in the proof of her vengeance. I wanted to claim her right there, but I refrained, 'cause I'd hate to kill everyone in this room for seeing her naked.

I sighed. "Em, take the tape off. I'll give him a chance to make peace before I blow his fucking head off." Emmett followed my orders, adding a slap to Caius's face to wake him up. I had the gun pointed to his forehead before he fully understood what was going on. As his eyes widened, I pulled back on the hammer of the gun. "You have about twenty seconds before I put a bullet in your skull and end your sorry ass. I'd use it to pray to whatever god you believe in because they are the only one that can help you now."

I heard Caius whisper an Italian prayer, counted to twenty seconds, and then pulled the trigger. Blood and brain matter splattered out the back of his head, and I was thankful no one was standing behind him. Caius's body slumped in the chair, his sins dying in his increasingly chilling corpse. Jazz and Dem got to work removing the tape and bleaching the floor. I took off the gloves and threw them in the garbage bag that they were filling to light on fire away from the crime scene. I grabbed Bella, picking her up so she could give Jasper her booties. I carried her to the SUV and kissed her hungrily, desperately.

"Have I told you how fucking hot you are when you get like that?" I asked her.

She shook her head and gave me her usual smile that was filled with warmth. "You haven't yet, but when we get home, you can show me. And Edward?"

"Hmmm?" I hummed.

"I want it rough," she whispered in my ear, biting my earlobe. I groaned and kissed her again, then we turned to watch the flames of the burning warehouse lick the sky.

A/N: Well, there you have it. Ding dong, the dick is dead, lol. How do we feel? Leave me a review and let me know what you think. Badass Bella made another appearance. See you lovely people on Friday for the conclusion! Later lovelies!