A/N: PLEASE READ. I went back and read some previous chapter and realized that had wrong info in Ch. 1 and 2. I don't know what happened, but it is fixed. To recap: Riley is the Marshal stationed to watch Bella's family, James is the ex that cheated on Bella, and Edward is Carlisle's son, not nephew.That should be the only mistakes, but I am going through the chapters with a fine-tooth comb and making sure there aren't anymore. Sorry if that confused anyone. Anyways, Happy Monday. I continue to be blown away by the like, recs, reviews, favorites you so much!My beta, AlicesWhiteRabbit and my prereaders-LaMoMo, BitterHarpy, MaplesStyle, and AGoodWitch- were super awesome and got this done in like two days. They are amazing; love you all and a special shout out to AGoodWitch. She listens to me ramble and keeps my legal info in check! So without further ado!

When we made it to Utah early the next day, I wasn't expecting the amazing house we had just pulled up in front of. The front of the house was made of glass and wood. It looked like a log cabin, but much bigger, with large floor-to-ceiling windows in some places, and in other places, they were normal-sized windows. It actually went together very well. "This house is amazing."

"Yeah, that's all Esme. She's an interior designer as you know, but she worked with an architect for the design of the house itself."

"Why does she have this house in Utah of all places? You would think she'd have it in Seattle and be living in it?"

"She loves this house and wants to be able to relax in it, so it's a vacation home, making it free from any negative everyday vibes."

I laughed because he sounded so much like her when he said it that way. I felt a lurch in my stomach and a pang in my chest. I missed Alice and her crazy aunt. Esme raised Alice by herself, as her own, when Alice's parents were in a car accident when she was a child. I met Alice on my first day at Virginia Mason. She had come with her boyfriend, Jasper, to the ER when he broke his wrist. She and I clicked immediately, and we got coffee the next day and were friends from then on. It had been two years since that day, and we were closer than most people I knew who had been friends longer. "Hey, what's with the sad face?" Edward asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I shrugged, not wanting to seem whiny. "I miss Alice and Esme. I miss Rose and my parents. I'm sure it gets easier, but I'm still having a hard time with it."

"Bells," he said. He grabbed my belt loop and pulled me between his legs while he was leaning against the car. "This is hard. Don't feel like you have to hide your emotions. I miss my dad, Jasper, Esme, and even Alice. I'm more used to it though because I was in the military, and I've been doing this marshal thing for a while. I have more practice."

I gave him a small smile. "Show off," I said, teasing him.

He gave me his real smile instead of that sexy, smug, irritating smirk. This smile made me want to hug him and kiss him without coming up for air. He kissed me quickly before popping the trunk, grabbing the bags, and then rousing Katiya. We had stayed most of the day in the hotel yesterday while Edward got some sleep. When he woke up, we hung out until the sun went down, then we checked out and made our way to Utah, which was another eight-hour drive. I had stayed up the entire time with Edward, and now I was dead on my feet. "You need to get some rest, Bella. You look like you're about to pass out right here. Do you need me to carry you?" he asked, half-teasing because he would do it if I asked.

"No, just give me my bag with my pajamas and point me to a bedroom."

"Up the stairs, second room on the right. I'll bring your bag up in a minute."

I headed off in the direction he told me, betting all the money I had that I would be asleep before he made it in the room.

EPOV

I watched Bella trudge up the stairs. I knew she was tired. She had been awake for almost 24 hours with really small naps here and there. I had come to learn that when she was tired, apart from being completely adorable, she also let her guard down. Telling me that she missed Alice, and everyone, is something she never would have told me usually. She would have normally brushed my question off and changed the subject. Bella talked in her sleep, so I knew she felt guilty that she had to disappear while her sister was pregnant. I wanted to tell her that she would be back home to see her niece or nephew be born, but I knew that was a very slim possibility. We were almost a month into this mess and we still were stalled out on what Katiya's story was and why the mob wanted her so badly. It could go either way: with us running for a long time, or they could catch us, putting a sudden end to the whole thing.

Honestly, thinking about it rationally, I didn't even think WITSEC was an option anymore. There were too many people on the inside, and I was worried that they had infiltrated every sector of the government they could. I still didn't know what was going on and what had happened to Emmett in New York. I had gotten a text from Emmett last night saying that he had gotten some information from the prisoner and he had started his friend of a friend looking, but he would call me tomorrow after he had shaken the jet lag and gotten some sleep. He had been up almost 20 hours at that point, so I didn't plan on hearing from him for a bit.

I got all the bags hauled inside with Katiya's help. I gave her the suitcase that had all the games, movies, puzzles, and coloring books. I also gave her the activity case that Alice had put together for her. "I'm gonna go check on Bella and take her bag upstairs. If you want to check out your room, it's the last room on the left upstairs."

She grabbed her bag and followed me upstairs, veering off to the left at the top of the stairs while I went right. I quietly opened the door to my room. Well, at least the room I stayed in when I stayed here, which had been some time, but it was still the same. I had Katiya stay in Alice's room. It was the girliest, and she reminded me a lot of Alice. Such a big personality in a little body.

As I figured, Bella was out cold. I laid her bag next to the bed and leaned over to kiss her temple. She stirred in her sleep, sighing, but didn't wake up. I smiled and headed to the bathroom connected to my room and took a quick shower, needing to wash eight hours of car trip off me. I refused to think of Bella asleep in the next room because I wanted this to be a quick shower. I washed up and got out. I got dressed in the lounge pants Alice had jokingly bought me for Christmas—they were surprisingly comfortable—and a plain white T-shirt. I hadn't picked it on purpose but perhaps, subconsciously, because Bella loved that she could just faintly see my piercings and tattoos when I wore white shirts.

It was weird to think about how much my world had changed in three weeks. It had been 21 days since Bella had pleaded her case and asked for help. Before all this, I had been working up the guts to ask her out. Alice had seen the way I looked at her when we had crossed paths at the hospital after seeing my dad, and she could tell I was going to ask her soon, so she dealt the blow that Bella didn't date, and even if she seemed interested, she wasn't. All she would tell me was that she had been hurt and she didn't want to deal with the eventual fallout. I now knew that she couldn't have biological children and that scumbag James had cheated on her when he found someone who could father his children, with her best friend no less.

Now Bella and I were in a weird relationship area and keeping Katiya safe. Most days, when we didn't think too hard about the reason for all this, it was like we were a little family. I was fine with my life before, but it was lonely sometimes, and I knew that something was missing. Now I was an important person in two girls' lives, and they were just as important to me.

When I became a US Marshal, I changed my last name to Masen, which was my mom's maiden name. It was to keep my family safe, not because I didn't want to be part of the family. I was proud to be a Cullen. My dad, Carlisle, was always loving, and when my mom died when I was only 10 years old, he continued to be a good dad and left no doubt in my mind that I was his priority, but I still didn't have a full family. When he met Esme, I was already grown up and taking care of myself, but it still felt good to have a mom again. No one could replace my mom, but Esme made me feel like I was her own child, and she made my dad happy. Plus, even though Alice wasn't biologically her child, legally and in every other way, she was, so I had gained a sister.

As I made my way downstairs, I was pulled from my thoughts when my phone rang. I saw it was the same number I had called Emmett at yesterday. "Hey, man."

Emmett sighed heavily on the other end. "Fuck, Ed. Well, let me just start off by saying this is the Bratva, not the Chechens."

I was surprised. "I hadn't been expecting him to give away his mob ties."

"He didn't explicitly. I made a bluff and it paid off. I saw his face. When I asked what Katiya's parents did to be killed by the Bratva, he was surprised and fearful. He had no idea they'd been killed, and he said he knew why but it was information he wasn't willing to share with me."

I snorted. "Yeah, that would be a sure way to get shanked in the showers for sharing."

"Yeah. He did give me all of their real names though."

"He did?"

"Yeah, now I can't share all the information with you but Katiya's real name, her birth name, is Irina. Since she was six when they moved here, I assume they called her Katiya before they left Russia. They'd been planning to leave Russia for some time. Felix, the prisoner, told me they wanted out of the mob, but they knew that wasn't an option without fleeing and hiding. Again, he wouldn't tell me why."

"Wow."

"He also forged adoption papers for them to file in Russia, giving them 'legal' custody of Katiya."

"So, it wasn't exactly legal?"

"No, but he made it seem like her biological parents aren't alive or that her 'adoptive' parents had her for the majority of her life."

"Well, yeah, if she thinks that the parents who just died were her real parents, then, of course, she had to be young enough not to remember her other parents," I said, realizing how little sense that sentence seemed to make, but Emmett got it.

"True, and he just confirmed it. I didn't get as much information as I'd hoped, but it's enough for my contact. Having the real names they used in Russia helps a lot."

"It still doesn't tell us why the fucking Bratva wants an eight-year-old little girl so badly."

"I know, Ed. That's what we're trying to figure out, man. I know you're not used to this, but neither am I. Usually, when the mob is after someone, they can tell you exactly what they did to piss someone off. Katiya doesn't even know who she is, who her parents really were, let alone why the mob wants to essentially kidnap her. This is going to take some time, and the fact that the Russians don't play well with the US makes it that more problematic."

"Shit, I don't know what to tell Bella."

"She's not there with you."

"No, she's asleep. She was up for almost 24 hours straight, so I made her go sleep."

"You sound pretty tired too, Edward."

"No, I've only been up for 12 hours. I'm fine. This information is a little overwhelming."

"Some questions were answered, many more were asked. Sorry, man."

"Thanks, man."

"Oh, you can tell Bella that Riley contacted me and told me that her family is fine. I'm still not allowed to know where they are, but they're doing well."

I exhaled. I knew Bella would be so happy to hear that. "That's great. Did you let Ali and Esme know I was alive?"

"Yeah, Esme was a mess. I had to talk to Alice."

"Geez, I'm not dying."

"No, man, but they know your job can be dangerous, at least this part, and you've been taking small detail jobs for two years, so they're out of practice."

"Yeah, I get it. Thanks for that, man; hearing Esme cry is hard."

Emmett and I talked for a few more minutes about trivial bullshit. Soon, we hung up with his promise to get back to me when he had more info.

I heard small footfalls on the steps and saw Katiya make her way toward me. She stopped and just looked at me.

"What's wrong, Edward. You look upset."

"Oh, yeah. I'm okay, pretty girl. My family is just worried about me." I saw the worry flood her face, and I felt like shit.

"Are we not safe?"

"Come here," I said, motioning for her to come sit on the couch. She came and sat next to me and I put my arm around her, trying to comfort her. "I know Bella has given you some information. We're not out of the woods yet, but it's Bella's and my job to make sure that you are okay. I don't know how things were with your parents, but all Bella and I want is for you to be happy and safe, and we'll do our damnedest to make sure that happens."

"Some of the stuff that's happened is kind of scary, and I don't know why we keep moving, but I trust you and Bella."

"We're just trying to stay ahead of the bad guys."

"But you got the bad guys at our last house."

"We think someone else sent the bad guys; someone who is just as bad."

"This is just like the princess story."

"What do you mean, pretty girl?"

Katiya smiled and settled herself against the back of the couch. "Can I tell you a bedtime story now? Even though it's the middle of the day, I'm kinda tired."

I smiled back at her and opened my arms and pulled her in, lifting her off the couch. "Then let's do this the right way." I carried her to her room and got her settled in the bed, all tucked in, with me reclining against the headboard as we always did when I read her a bedtime story. I nodded to her. "You have my full attention."

"There was a bedtime story my parents told me all the time once we came to America. They said they made it up, and my mom and dad would switch off at different parts, which I can't do, but I'll tell it as best as I can." I nodded and she cleared her throat. "It's called printsessa, which is Russian for the princess. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess, born to the King and Queen, who were madly in love, but the King had a horrible secret that not even the queen knew. The Queen passed away shortly after the princess was born under mysterious circumstances. Most of the kingdom was fooled and believed the King to be a firm but kind ruler, but the workers inside the castle knew who he really was. One night a couple decided to take the child away from the cruel king. They took her in the middle of the night while the king was sleeping. The guards allowed them to leave, knowing the workers. They took the princess to a faraway kingdom to keep her safe from the king finding her. As they raised the princess, they knew there was a chance the king would try to find the girl, so they taught the girl to always be cautious of strangers and that, someday, someone might try to take her away from them. The little girl grew up kind, beautiful, and loved. Her parents told her the story of her origin, and the princess decided to stay with the parents and was always vigilant."

I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. I didn't let Katiya see it, but something was slightly off about her story. There were none of the usual elements included in a fairytale. Either her parents were horrible storytellers, or this story was truer than Katiya knew. "That's all? What about the sword fights with purple dragons, or the handsome prince to steal the princess' heart?"

"I think my parents didn't want to give me any ideas. It was just a story they told me, and then they would tell me that I needed to be like the princess and always be cautious and vigilant."

"Oh, Katiya, we will be vigilant. Always. Get some rest, pretty girl, and thank you for telling me the story."

Katiya snuggled into the covers and smiled at me as I left the room. I turned back and her eyes were already closed. I closed the door and stood there in the hallway, trying not to freak out. I needed to talk to Bella. Normally, I would feel bad about waking her up, but this was huge.

I shook Bella awake as gently as I could when I made it to our room. She woke up and looked at me, bleary eyed.

"Edward, what's up." She sat up quickly. I imagined the look on my face shocked her. "Is Katiya okay? What's wrong?"

"I know why the mob is after Katiya."

"What? Why? How?"

"Katiya wanted to take a nap and she told me a bedtime story that her parents told her. She's a goddamn mafia princess, Bella."

A/N: Welp! How are you feeling? I won't narcissistically drone on here at the end. Hit the review and tell me what you think. Love you all so much!