Summary: With the unexpected and mysterious death of her mother, Isabella was given a life-altering gift; a way out of the abuse she endured at the hands of her husband, James. However, the new life she enters is filled with truths she may not be ready to face. 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 14: Relations

"What?" I breathed out in disbelief.

"I wasn't lying when I said you were an attractive woman, Bella," he rolled his eyes. "I'm not afraid to admit that. I'll own up to it."

"That doesn't really explain why…"

"Charlie may be my uncle, but he is also my boss. He's a powerful man. He can have anything he wants with a snap of his fingers. If you were what I thought you were, I'd be a dead man; nephew or not, future heir or not."

"So you were an asshole to me because you thought I was Charlie's girlfriend? I'm not actually following, Edward."

"It goes a lot deeper than just physical attraction," he said. "Out of respect to Uncle Charlie, I didn't want to be attracted to you. For everything he's done for my family, and me, I felt guilty for feeling that way, and I was angry with you because of that. Even now, after knowing you're really his daughter, I still feel the same. I disliked you, and I pushed you away because I respect him too much."

My eyebrows furrowed. "I'm new to this whole 'sacred family bond' thing, so you'll have to explain to me what you mean."

"Here's a little Swan and Cullen history lesson for you. We've been a part of the black market and illegal business ordeal since the beginning of time. Our families have been tied together since our bloodlines started in Ireland. The Swan and Cullen men have been notorious for being very dangerous, but one thing that never changed was the way they took care of their women."

"Excuse me?"

"I didn't say to it to objectify women, please don't misinterpret," he held his hands up defensively. "I just meant that they fiercely protect the woman they love. Uncle Charlie never remarried because he loved your mom so much. He worked day and night to protect her even though she wanted nothing to do with him.

If you were his girlfriend and Charlie found out I was attracted to you, things would have become territorial. I would have become a traitor. When you helped me out the other night, people could easily misinterpret the fact that you spent the entire night alone with me in a bedroom to something else."

"Okay, now it makes sense why you were scared to tell Charlie," I nodded my head slowly.

"Not only that, when you said you were Charlie's daughter, instead of being relieved, I actually felt nervous," he admitted.

"And why is that?"

"You're the rightful heir to his empire," he raised an eyebrow knowingly at me.

I groaned out loud and laughed.

"Honestly, don't even worry about that," I shook my head. "I get that I'm his real daughter, but I have a teaching degree. I'm not exactly fit to be the CEO of some rich, successful company."

"Charlie could always train you."

"But I have my own problems to think about right now," I said. "I'm not taking over the business, Edward, it's yours. You worked hard to be where you are today. Now, it's my turn to do the same and figure out what I want in life."

"I don't mean to pry…but what happened?"

I bit my lip and breathed out nervously. "Let's take things one step at a time," I told him. "We just barely became friends."

He smiled at me when I said that.

"So, we're friends now?" I rolled my eyes at his words. "I only expected us to be acquaintances, but I'll take being your friend any day."

"I can take it back," I warned.

"No," he laughed and shook his head. "Everyone in my family already raves about you, or at least Emmett does. But, clearly, they all adore you. To me, you just seem so mysterious, and you came out of nowhere."

"You make me sound like I'm enigmatic. I'm just someone running away from her past and trying to start a new life. I didn't know I had a family here; when my mom died, I thought I was alone."

"Well, clearly you're not," he smiled.

I was mystified by his words. I went from completely hating Edward to being his friend. It was laughable, considering who he was. Calling him a friend seemed so childish when I think about the dangerous world he belongs to and I'm not just talking about the mafia. He was smart, or at least smart enough to be enthroned in a multi-billion empire. He was a very handsome man, and most of all he grew up in this world. He was fed with a silver spoon and with that comes a certain class and social ranking. He wasn't just another stranger.

He was a Cullen.

It was one thing for him to admit that he felt attracted to me. I felt both frightened and flattered at his admission; frightened because of my past with James. Edward was, if not more so, as powerful as my former husband. Flattered because a man such as Edward Cullen noticed me. Not only that, he called me a vixen—that I didn't let anyone walk over me like a doormat. I wanted to laugh so hard because if only he knew. I also wanted to cry because I felt so different from the person I was before: emotionally, physically, and mentally.

"I'm sorry about the slap," I apologized. I bit my lip and looked at him.

"I was way out of place," he disagreed. "I deserved it."

"But I shouldn't have hit you," I said. "I should have just yelled at you."

He laughed. "Oh, but you did!"

"I mean, yeah, but I shouldn't have hit you!"

"As I said, I like how you stood up to me. I'm not saying I'm not a gentleman, but Esme raised me better than that. My logic at the time wasn't the best."

"Jacob didn't say anything to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Jacob was my security detail when I was outside of the country," I explained.

"I knew that," he said. "But Jacob and I aren't exactly on speaking terms."

"Was it because of the fight?"

He shook his head. "It's a longer story than that," he said. "But let's take things one step at a time. Like you said, we just became friends."

I groaned, playfully at that. To my utter mortification, my stomach grumbled loudly. I clutched my torso as I remembered why I was in the elevator in the first place.

"Hungry?" He asked.

I bit my lip and nodded. "I was on my way to get some food."

"Me too," he admitted.

Suddenly, the intercom beeped and right away, I knew it was Charlie.

"Bella?"

I stood too quickly, but luckily, Edward reached out in time to help steady me. Sitting in a position like that for too long had put my legs to sleep.

"Hey Charlie," I responded.

"The technicians are almost here. How are you guys doing in there?"

I glanced at Edward before responding. "We're just a bit hungry, but we're okay."

"Sit tight, honey," he said. "You'll be out soon."

X

Two hours later, the technicians finally arrived. The storm outside turned into a full-blown blizzard. Even though we were all given fair forewarning, the blizzard moved in faster than expected and the maintenance staff kept us updated on the severe weather conditions. Charlie had made special calls to get the technicians here faster, but it was just impossible. According to him, it was too dangerous to drive because the wind was blowing at sixty-five miles per hour. Everyone in the building was stuck here until the storm passed.

The entire building was accessible; it was just unfortunate that our elevator became stuck—the other carts were fully functional. They reassured us that we wouldn't fall to our death because the elevator was hooked up to multiple steel cables.

"Hey folks," a new voice came up on the speaker. "Sorry for the delay."

Edward sighed as he once again stood.

"I'm hoping to hear some good news."

"I'm glad to be giving it," the man replied. "The electric motor that controls the sheave for the steel cables had a malfunction. Luckily, it's an easy fix, and we can have you both out of there as soon as possible."

"That sounds amazing," Edward chuckled.

"We'll head up to the maintenance room and get you folks going."

Edward sat back down in front of me and gave me a reassuring smile.

"So, if you don't want to take over the company, what do you want to do?"

"I have a teaching degree from the University of Chicago," I told him. "After I graduated, I didn't start a new job immediately, and then one thing led to another. Next thing I know, I'm teaching children in Uganda how to speak English. It's not exactly what I pictured myself doing, but it was the best experience of my life."

When I looked at him, he had a wistful look on his face.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" I asked.

He shrugged his shoulder.

"It's just that I've always wanted to travel that way. To forget about everything in my life and be by myself. Don't get me wrong, I've been to plenty of countries, but I've only been on vacation a handful of times. Not only that, they've always been with family or have been business related."

"I didn't exactly go to Africa because I had the luxury. I had to," I told him.

"Whatever your reason was, it's clearly the best decision you've ever made." He paused. "Even if you don't want to take over the business, consider taking a part in the company in another way. If anything, Charlie can create a job for you," he shrugged.

"I wasn't raised like that, though," I argued. "I don't want special treatment just because I'm Charlie's daughter. I don't want Charlie to 'make a job' for me. Maybe I don't want to be a part of the company right now. Who knows what the future holds. My point is, you worked hard to be where you are now. Sooner or later, Charlie will want to step down, and you're best suited for that position."

"You're a bright person, Bella," he said. "I can see you doing something within the organization and when that happens, I'll be more than happy to help you out."

"Thanks, Edward," I smiled at him.

"Isn't this weird?"

I laughed out-loud and threw my head back.

"Yes," I agreed. "This is weird. Would you have said something to me if the elevator didn't get stuck?"

"Probably not," he admitted.

"Why not?"

"I insulted you," he said. "In a way, I disrespected Charlie, too. I feel ashamed of what I said. Sometimes, I don't think about things that come out of my mouth."

I scoffed. "Sometimes?" He narrowed his eyes in return. "I feel like you're just nice to me now because you know I'm Charlie daughter."

"Don't think of it that way," he explained. "But in hindsight, I guess so."

"So if I wasn't a Swan…"

"It's different," he said. "You know about the type of world we belong to. I'm positive you haven't seen the side of Charlie that most people are accustomed to. The same goes for my father, and my brother. The things we've done, it can send people running in the other direction. I already have my stairway to hell. So, to answer your question: if you weren't a Swan, I don't think our paths would have ever crossed."

"Are you saying that because I wasn't rich while growing up?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm saying that because above having financial differences, we both live very dissimilar lifestyles."

"I haven't exactly been living a saint's life either," I said dryly.

He stared at me and then said: "In that case, I'll see you in hell."

I laughed and agreed.

X

The jostling elevator cart roused me from my sleep. I must have dozed off. Edward and I didn't really have much to talk about; we didn't know anything about each other and chitchatting like best friends definitely wasn't in the picture as of the moment. After we had addressed the elephant in the room that was it. I wasn't too comfortable asking him what his favorite color was and I'm sure he felt the same.

"All right folks," the man said. "Problem fixed."

"Finally," I sighed.

Edward stood, and held a hand out to help me. We both stood there stretching as we waited for the elevator to reach the next floor. As soon as the doors opened, we came face to face with Charlie. He had worry etched all over his face.

"Thank God you two are okay," he breathed out.

"I'm just starving," I told him.

"How's the weather outside?" Edward asked.

"It hasn't let up since it started," Charlie said gravely. "Luckily, there are plenty of things to do in the building. When you're tired, Bella, there's a suite ready for you. For the meantime, let's grab something to eat."

Edward disappeared as we were heading to the restaurant and Charlie said he had something to take care of and that he would be fine. Some part of me felt disappointed that my time with Edward was over. Our reconciliation in the elevator had ended, and there would be no other opportunities for us to be in the same room like that again. I was extremely glad that the bad air between us was gone, and although I didn't expect our relationship to develop any further, I felt sad.

Everything he told me about the Swan and Cullen men just made me more interested in learning about my family. I wanted to hear more about the mafia business, and why Edward and Jacob weren't on speaking terms.

I wondered if he would ever tell Charlie how he treated me, and most of all, I was curious to see who the other side of Edward was.

This chapter was edited by SunflowerFran. Thank You!

4/11/2018