Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, the series, or anything affiliated with it. All belongs to Stephanie Meyer.
Rated M for "Mature".
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The sun peeked through the shutters of the hotel room, but I covered my eyes with a bare arm- the sun needed to sleep for another hour or two! A soft chuckle in the corner of the room brought me to attention as I creaked my neck around and peaked over my pillow at the intruder; Edward was sitting at a mild desk, with his hands clasped behind his head and a small plate of fruit in front of him. A folded newspaper and a stack of papers was signature and I wasn't surprised at their presence. "Who are you laughing at?" I sent a few daggers his way before sitting up and bringing a wrinkled sheet around my naked body.
"Certainly not at my dashing fiancé, whom now loathes the sun." I rolled my eyes but gave into the smile he gave me. I slipped out of bed and shuffled to him, taking a seat perched on his lap. He opened his arms so that they settled on my wide hip bones, instead of my smaller waist. "I did have intricate plans to feed my famished woman in bed," He teased as he nuzzled my neck, "but I had an early meeting this morning."
I took a deep breath and popped another grape into my mouth. "I thought we were on holiday?" I inquired and stared heavily at the glittering engagement ring on my finger- it symbolized what I gave ot this man, and what this man gave to me. "Work has nothing to do with a holiday."
Edward planted a firm kiss on my bare shoulder before resting his chin there. "I work so that these vacations are readily available for you." He always used that card- he always tried to make things about me and my needs!
"You could not have gone an entire week without a meeting or business phone call, could you?" I shook my head in a show of disappointment. Edward was work-orientated, when he wasn't trying to win my heart over. Sometimes those two matters crossed, and priorities got a bit mixed up, though. Money and glory was all he could see, with nothing else on the horizon- even when he touched my skin, I knew he was at the same time thinking about business deals and clients. "Even now that you have the most precious gift of my womanhood, all you can think of is bald men in bland suits?" I quirked my neck in his direction and sent him a pointed raised eyebrow.
His lips twitched into a smirk. "I apologize, Bella. You are first and foremost on my mind, to fall below no other." He then went to make love to my neck, attacking it with every stroke of his tongue and lap of his mouth. I moaned a lot of things and finished my plate of fruit before taking him to bed for more leisure lovemaking, spending hours upon hours until his thirst was sated and he feel into peaceful slumber. It was only nine o clock, and I was barely feeling sleep take over my vision when two stern raps sounded at the door while we were napping, and I was sore to realize it had only woken me from sleep. Edward was still snoozing lightly beside me, curled up against my back. I got up and wrapped a complimentary robe around my frame before I unlatched the door and opened it widely, forgetting there was a naked (from the waist up) Edward in the background. Alice shot through the door and prompted me to shut the door behind me. I was confused but did as she said and turned back to her. Her arms were folded in front of her and as she paced, I could see the quiver in her lips. I imagined what horrible deed Fred must have done, and how I would be very willing to kill him at the drop of a dime. She still hadn't said anything, just let her eyes dart back and forth across the expensive plaster of the wallpaper. "Where is my brother? Is he still in town?" She touched at her stain scarf with e touch of impatience.
Her voice wasn't recognizable to me, not at all. "No, he's uh… in bed." I pointed to the open shutters connecting to our bedroom to the suit. "Is everything alright, Alice? You don't look so well-"
"Wake up my brother." She cut me off and then averted her twinkling blue eyes. I was caught off guard by her blunt attitude for a few seconds, having seen this side of Alice but once before. I got up and did as she bid anyway- there had to be a method to her madness, there had to be a very logical explanation for her rudeness. I went through the doorway and around to his side of the bed to shake his shoulder until his eyes cracked open. His sly smirk made my stomach do summersaults, but I had to pull away before his selfish lips found mine; Edward's eyebrows furrowed at my retreat and the crass look on my face.
"Alice is here- I think something is very wrong." He shot up and slapped on a fresh pair of bottoms and a fitted shirt. Even in this emergency, I wanted to run my fingers all over his bulky chest and muscular back. But I ignored the sensations and moved with him back into the sitting room. "Alice?" Her back was turned to us, but at my voice she turned her head.
At the sight of her brother, she began crying her little blue eyes out- but she wasn't sobbing or wailing like I would have thought, she gusted tear after tear. I took a step for her, but Edward grabbed my hand and entwined our fingers together to keep me from moving through. "Alice, calm yourself." Edward was tightened his jaw to keep himself even, but I could tell how much it affected him to see his tiny sister like this.
She shook her head and held up her purse in a gesture of surrender; I hurried to grab it from her and she murmured over and over again, "open it". I followed her directions and gasped at what I saw- what on Earth was she doing with something like this? "Edward…" I rasped out and pointed her square, fine leather Louis Vuitton tote in his direction. His emerald eyes became daggers when the steel glistened in the fluorescent lights of the suit. Edward snatched it from my hands and took out the gun before throwing the purse to the ground (I nearly fainted when the priceless beauty fell right to the floor, did he know how much one of these cost to be sent to the United States?). And though I was never subjected to guns and the likes when I was younger, seeing as I grew up in a Christian household, I was sure handheld firearms were not supposed to be this big! "Alice, please- please tell me-" So many thoughts raced through my head- what had she done with that thing? Why was she even in possession of such a weapon?
Weapons brought violence, and it was a subject Our Savior would frown heavily upon. "I don't even have an alibi." Her eyelashes fluttered furiously, but the shining blue backdrop of her irises broke down the animosity in it all. "Edward, I- there really wasn't much time for thought. I wasn't thinking… I wasn't even settled with what I had done, I just did it. I… I…" Her mouth moved but no sounds came out.
Edward's lips seamed into one thing line. "Alice, did you use this handgun?" My heart pattered furiously in my chest- they had to know I had never been around a thief, let alone a murderer. And Ali, of all people? She couldn't harm a fly! Which I suppose made her the perfect killer.
Without a word, she untied her scarf and deep red indentations showed all around her throat. My eyes watered at the sight; who could ever hurt such a dainty little creature like Alice? She was so sweet and soft-spoken, with not one ounce of mean inside of her… well, until now. "These aren't the first marks, and definitely not the worst. They would not have been the last, if I had not been so… heroic." Her rock hard tone sent shivers down my throat, so I reached for the nearest chair and plopped down on it. "He was out with that girl again… I brought him here, right to her city so that I could see it for myself- so I could see that I wasn't making all of these things up in my head. But I should have known to never doubt a vision to vivid." She added in an afterthought. "He came back in between club hopping, and I confronted him."
The room began to spin all round me, and I could just see the red blood stain the white carpets beneath my feet. "Fredrick denied everything and… hit me, maybe even meant to choke the truth out of my brain." I shut my eyes against the pain of her blood-curdling screams and the help that never came for her. "I waited until he fell asleep before I went through his suitcase, and there this was- it's his father's, you know. Fredrick carries it around like he would know how to use it." Alice sniffed primly before sitting down on a couch across from me, but I could feel her eyes boring into my forehead. I couldn't even look at her, her deeds were making me sick to my stomach. "I considered making it painful for him, using the kitchenette's cutting wear, but I weighed the risk of him overpowering me. He always overpowered me, so I wasn't going to give him the chance." Bile rose in my throat, choking me and I was absolutely sure I would vomit the little fruit I ate that morning. She planned cutting him into pieces, or stabbing him to death? My father was the Chief of police, this didn't seem like one of those completely spontaneous crimes. Alice thought of it, long before this early morning. "And now I am free of him, brother. I've finally left him, Bella, and he wont ever lay another finger upon me."
"But this makes you a murderer." I blurted before I could control my words. I was very religious, and believed God was the ultimate parent to impress- what would happen when Alice met him at the pearly gates of on Judgment Day, and he didn't accept her soul to wander the streets of gold for eternity? Seeing as she had no mercy for Fredrick's deceased being, would He have any mercy upon her? I promised myself that I would pray for her soul every day and every night from here on, seeing as she would need every prayer she got.
"I know." There was so much agony and lack of shame on her face, but I found that I could not look away from her mesmerizing, now beady eyes. "And I will live with that for the rest of my life.
"No, Alice, you will live with that for much longer than the expanse of only one lifetime. For eternity, Alice." I spoke to her as if the knowledge was completely new to her- didn't she know killing was both a sin to God and crime to the state of New Jersey?
A/N: PLOT TWIST!
I'm really loving this story right now! And just so you know, my vacation was fabulous! I'm hoping to write a piece about San Francisco, since I'm headed to spend a few days there in a week : ).