Summary: Isabella lived a perfect life with her husband until the abuse started. With the death of her mother, she may have just been given life changing gift: a way out. But with it comes a whole new world that she may not be ready to face. Maybe with the help of her green-eyed savior. Mafia, Crime, Abuse, Hurt/Comfort.

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. Stephanie Meyers owns characters but the plot is of my original work.

Enjoy!

Chapter 13: Elevated

After Christmas, New York City was hit with severe snowstorm warnings. News channels advised all residents to stay indoors as much as possible and to stay warm. Outside, we had about five inches of snow and more was to come within the next couple of days. Despite that, today was the day I was accompanying Charlie to his office. Charlie had nonchalantly asked me to go with him one day, and he smiled so happily when I agreed. So, here I was, currently sitting next to him in the backseat of his SUV.

Charlie's bodyguards had exchanged their trademark attire for thick, black, snow jackets and boots. I couldn't help but laugh at how funny they looked as they escorted us to the car. The roads were icy, but fortunately, we made it to the city safely. The car drove into the underground parking lot where a private entrance was located.

Apart from FSC Tower being the headquarters for Charlie's empire, it also had restaurants, shops, ballrooms, exhibitions, theater halls, residences, an observatory deck, and a five-star hotel that took up twenty floors. Charlie had his own personal entrance for safety reasons. FSC Tower, with its one hundred floors, was a very busy place. Thankfully, we weren't out in the cold for long because the elevator was ready for us when we arrived. They huddled us in quickly, and Jacob waved a keycard on the scanner.

With Alice's help, she had picked out a 'trendy' outfit for me to wear today. It was to fit in with the office attire of the company—she insisted that I looked the part.

As expected, Charlie's office building was sleek and modern. The floors, the wall, and the windows were glossy and shiny. When we finally arrived at the top, I couldn't help but gawk at the sheer beauty of the view. The entire city below looked so small from up here. Everything was white, and due to the current snowstorm, the streets weren't so busy.

Charlie showed me around and introduced me to some of the staff working on his floor. After a while, I couldn't remember all of their names. Everyone greeted me with disbelief on his or her face—no one knew that Charlie even had a daughter.

"Some of my employees are off on vacation so the office is empty for the most part," Charlie explained as we walked around. "The others are at home due to the snowstorm."

"Exactly why are you working two days after Christmas?"

"Honey, I never have a day off," he patted my back gently.

"That sucks Charlie," I laughed.

"Indeed it does," he agreed.

Two hours later, I found myself sitting in Charlie's chair in his incredibly lavish office. He had gone off to a meeting. He told me that if I needed anything, I could just ask his secretary. The suits had disappeared once we were inside the building. I figured they were in the parking structure waiting for Charlie to go to his next destination. Although I wasn't bored, I didn't want to sit in Charlie office for the next two hours or so. So I stood up and decided to explore the building.

"Hey," I said awkwardly to Kim, Charlie's secretary.

She immediately jumped up in her chair and asked, "Ms. Swan is there anything you needed? Coffee or maybe some food?"

I shook my head and motioned for her to sit down. "No, no," I gasped. "I'm fine. I just wanted to explore a bit, more if that's okay?"

"Of course!" she exclaimed. "I can have someone show you around?"

"Oh, no, don't bother," I waved my hand quickly. "I just wanted to look at the view and go to the restroom. If Charlie asks, just tell him to call me. I'll be in the building somewhere."

"Oh," she said apprehensively. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Okay, Ms. Swan," she smiled.

So, I mindlessly made my way around and admired the way everything looked. I figured that if I got lost, someone could help me find my way back to Charlie's office. At one point, the lights flickered a little. From the looks of it, the weather had gotten worse since we left the house.

When I arrived at the elevator, I ran into a woman getting off. I asked her where I could find something to eat, and she told me there was a restaurant on the second floor. I pondered the thought for a second before I decided I should pick up some food for us. It had only been an hour since Charlie went off to his meeting. He would be hungry by the time he got back, and according to Tammy, he had a tendency to forget to eat. I leaned against the wall as I waited for the elevator to go down. On the eighty-fifth floor, it stopped, and the last person I wanted to share an elevator with happened to get on.

Since the infamous slap on Christmas Eve, I hadn't spoken to Edward. Even while opening presents, I stayed as far away from him as possible. After I had left him on the patio, I returned to the family, while he remained outside until it was just about midnight. I had presents for everybody, and when he opened the dream catcher I gave him, he gave a curt nod, and it disappeared within the pile of gifts by his feet.

I felt guilty and angry at the same time. I was offended that he thought of me that way, but I've also never physical hurt someone in that manner before. Not once in my life had I ever laid a heavy hand on someone. With the anger that bubbled up inside of me, I slapped him without giving it much thought.

When he walked in, he was too busy looking at his phone to realize we were together in a confined space. Only until after the doors had closed did he look up and find me standing next to him with my arms crossed.

"Fuck," I heard his mutter.

I rolled my eyes and focused on the panel in front of me.

Suddenly, the elevator shuddered, and a screeching noise came from above. The entire cart shook so hard, I lost my footing and flew against the wall. There weren't rails to hold onto, so I found myself falling to the floor. The lights flickered, and the noise got louder. Dust started to fall through the cracks on top of us. I was so focused on figuring out where to place myself that I didn't notice what Edward was doing as he wrapped his arm around me in a protective manner. He used his body to shield me from the debris falling from the ceiling.

There was a final shudder from the elevator, and the sound of metal moaning. Then everything became still. The room was pitch black, and all I could hear was Edward breathing on top of me. After a couple of seconds, I finally released my grip on his forearm. He quickly distanced himself and asked, "Are you okay?"

I swallowed nervously and said, "Yeah."

I heard him fumble around for a minute before a bright light came on. He used his phone to shine it at the panel. He stood and pressed the call button.

"I think it's the snowstorm," he said. "Probably took out the power."

He pressed the button a couple more times before finally sitting. I was firmly pressed against one wall, and he occupied the other side.

"Shouldn't there be a generator or something?"

"Should be," he replied. "It'll come on in a second."

I sighed and leaned my head against the wall. I closed my eyes and tried hard to keep my breathing under control. I wasn't claustrophobic, but being stuck in an elevator was terrifying. Especially with the way the elevator came to such a rocky stop. It felt as if something had broken. I was currently dangling eighty stories above ground, and to make matters worse, I was stuck with Edward.

I pulled my phone out and frowned when I found no signal. When I looked at him, he seemed to realize the same thing.

"This is just great," I groaned.

"Won't be long," he said.

"How do you know that?"

"Just trust me."

I laughed darkly. "That'll never happen."

I pulled my legs against my chest and crossed my elbows on top of my knees. I just wanted to ignore him for the rest of the time we were trapped in here. I really hoped that something would turn on soon. The only light we had was from the flashlight on Edward's phone. He placed it on the floor, and it illuminated the space adequately. After a couple minutes, nothing had happened. I couldn't even hear anything outside the walls, which told me we were probably stuck between two floors.

"Okay, look, I'm sorry," he suddenly said.

"For what? It's not like you broke the elevator."

"No, for the other night."

"Oh, for calling me a whore?" He sighed in frustration. "Oh, wait, you didn't call me a whore. You called me a high-class slut who needed a sugar daddy to gold dig."

"What was I supposed to think?"

"How about asking?"

"I've known Uncle Charlie my whole life. How was I suppose to know that his long-lost daughter was back? No one told me."

"No one told you?"

He nodded. "I wasn't exactly asking about you," he explained. "From my understanding, Uncle didn't have any contact with his ex-wife. All of a sudden, you're here, and you're living with Charlie. You're a young, attractive woman, and you don't look like Charlie, so how could I know that you were his daughter? Last I heard his daughter was in Africa. You're not exactly the main topic of our conversations, Isabella."

"So, what? Is this the part where I accept your apology, and we magically become best friends, then we live happily ever after?"

"I know I say a lot of stupid shit," he dragged a hand through his hair. "I'm not exactly the nicest person in the world—"

I scoffed. "You can say that again."

He narrowed his eyes at me and shook his head. "I'd just like to start over, that's all I'm saying. I don't expect us to be friends, but I do want us to be civil."

"You didn't exactly start us off right," I reminded him.

"In my defense, I just came back from a trip that morning. I was jetlagged, and I maybe had two hours of sleep the night before."

"Well, you completely ruined my moment," I huffed.

He gave me a lopsided grin and chuckled. "I'm sorry I destroyed your flower sniffing with my attitude."

I fought hard not to crack a smile, but when I looked at his face again, my resolve completely broke. We laughed quietly together for a bit, and I took a deep breath.

"Fine," I agreed.

He looked at me apprehensively for a couple seconds before he nodded his head. He stretched out a hand to me and said, "I'm Edward."

"Bella," I replied, and I accepted his hand as a truce between our war.

"Nice to meet you," he said.

After that, I relaxed a little more and sat comfortably against the wall. Not long after, there was a soft, mechanical whirring that came from the ceiling above us. We both looked up but the sound stopped after a couple of seconds—it seemed as if something was jammed. A soft yellow light came on, and a beep came from the speaker.

"Mr. Cullen, Ms. Swan," a male voice spoke.

Edward stood and pressed the button to speak. "We're here."

"The snowstorm cut the power throughout the whole grid. The generators came on a couple of minutes ago, but unfortunately, there was a malfunction with the elevator cart you are both currently in."

I groaned in frustration and laid my head against my forearms.

"What happened?" Edward asked.

"We believe there's a mechanical issue from the outside. We called some technicians to come in, but the storm has worsened so getting here is a problem. Let's hope they arrive as soon as possible, but for now, I would just sit tight."

"Has Mr. Swan been informed?"

"Yes, Mr. Cullen," the man replied.

"Okay, keep us updated."

"Yes, Mr. Cullen."

Edward sat back down across from me. He pushed away a little bit of the debris that came from the ceiling and then he looked at me.

"Guess we're stuck here until then," he sighed.

"Well…" I trailed off.

"Well?"

"Since we're both trapped here…I gotta ask," I repeated his words from the other day and he narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Why did you hate me so much?"

"I didn't hate you," he rolled his eyes.

"You sure made it seem that way."

"You're obviously a very strong-willed woman, and I'm a very dominant man. When we first met, our personalities clashed immediately."

"Why didn't Charlie tell you I was in town?"

"Because I wasn't in town." I cocked my head to the side. "Like I said, I just came back from a trip the morning we first wet. Then later that same day, I left once again to go to Macau. I came back home for a couple of hours then flew to Seattle.

I was tired, I wasn't informed, and I had my mind on other things. I'm not saying that it was an excuse to speak to you like that, but to me, you were a stranger. You were in my parents' home, and then you barged into Charlie's office like it was no big deal. You demanded to speak to him privately, and you made it clear that you weren't going to take no for an answer. But see, no one talks to the Charlie the way you did. If it had been anyone else, you wouldn't be here right now.

Therefore, in my mind, I thought you were his girlfriend. It was the most logical reason to me at the time. It's also been a taboo subject when it comes to his ex-wife and his daughter. Emmett and Alice don't remember Aunt Renee, but I do. Once he told me in passing that you were in Africa, but that was the last time we spoke about you. I didn't know how you looked, and I didn't expect you to be a spitfire."

"A what?" I laughed out.

"A spitfire. A vixen. A woman who speaks her mind and doesn't let anyone trample over her. I thought you were annoying, but at the same time, I admired how you stood up to me. Most women let other men push them around, but you didn't. You fought back, and you put me in my place."

I could feel my heart beating so loud in my chest.

"You really think I'm a 'spitfire'?" I asked.

He nodded.

"But, if I'm honest, the reason I distanced myself was because I attracted to you."

This chapter was edited by SunflowerFran. Thank You!

4/11/2018