AN: SO it has been awhile. To be honest I thought I was going to abandon this story until I saw all the reviews! I was so inspired that I actually planned out the next five chapters. Thank you for all the support and I'm so sorry for leaving this story. It's been about three years since I wrote this story, and some of the writing is cringey. But I decided that instead of editing it, I'll finish the rest of the story first.
Edward POV
Yet again I was here, at my Red Room office, looking down at my ledger filled with notes. This time with Jasper, trying to figure out what the fuck was up with the Italians. I was born and brought up a perfectionist, making sure that nothing was out of place or unaccounted for. One slip up could mess up your entire life in this world.
Jasper was one of my right hand men, good for finding information. He was amazing with computers, and nothing could get past him. He also had always been kind of the nerdy one growing up. Being the oldest Cullen sibling, he always looked up to me, and I know he would take a bullet for me if he had to.
Since my youngest sibling, Emmett, married young, Jasper and I were always getting into trouble with the ladies together. Oh the number of girls we'd shared. It was fucking amazing.
"The source of the fire was definitely Aro's room. His body was identified with dental markings from his remains. Security looked like it was protecting that room as well. Everything leads up to the middle" Jasper explained as he leaned back on the chair across from my desk.
I mirrored his movements and stretched out my legs. "All this means is that the job was done from someone inside his inner circle, someone who had access to Aro himself".
"It has to be James. I just know it! He's the only one who survived in that blast!" Jasper blurted, confident that he had everything solved. For someone so smart he could be so illogical. My eyes shifted so I was no longer looking at him, but rather looking through the two way mirror at the dancers entertaining a new round of customers.
"That's not necessarily what that means. We cannot get too cocky here Jasper. We can, however, be sure that whatever happened at Aro's place, James has a pretty good idea of it. No doubt the Feds are out there looking for him too. We can't waste time looking for him" I pointed out. We already were pushing for more deals to make more profit. If we suddenly asked some of those men to go off on a mission, profits could be compromised. Not to mention the increased risk of getting caught by the Feds.
I got up from the chair and began to walk. Jasper's eyes followed my figure as I paced from side to side and contemplated the situation. If Aro's entire team had been taken out, he must have pissed someone off. That same person could be out to get other mobs in the area. It could even be the Feds. Of course there's no one would be so stupid as to take the chance to take us out, but I did not need to take that chance.
I was Edward Cullen and I had most of the underworld under my belt and ready to suck my cock if I asked. At least, I had to make sure that that was still the case. Things were going remarkably well for my enterprise and I wanted to keep it that way. I didn't want my disloyal pigs thinking that they could take that away from me. Of course there still was the matter of James.
"James was always a fool. There's no way he could pull off a stunt like that on his own. He's probably out there working for someone, someone we know", I concluded as I came to a stop right in front of Jasper. Reaching past him, I picked up a glass and a bottle of whisky and poured myself some alcohol. I motioned over to a security guard to get some ice and put it into the glass. "It also doesn't seem likely that he'd be capable of pulling off something like this, especially alone. Someone else had to have been there that night. We need to find James and figure out what we're missing". Edward Cullen had to know everything, damn it.
I sat back, watching our dancers, and the patrons of our club clearly enjoy themselves. Everyone came here, it was the place to be in New York. Swirling the contents of my glass, I knocked it back and let the whiskey burn my throat in a way that I loved. Jasper waited quietly for instruction. He knew to give me my space when I was thinking.
In my business, it was important to know everything. Including who was loyal to you and who was not. By not coming to help out with the drop off, Aro showed that he wasn't as loyal to me as I thought I was. If I let other people know that disloyalty didn't go punished by me, it would leave room for others to think to stray. And there was no way that I, Edward Cullen, was going to tolerate disloyalty.
"Hey man, we should talk", Emmett said as he peered through my open office door. He always has the worst timing in the world.
"What Em, Jas and I are busy right now". I turned to face him, placing my empty glass on the desk.
"Rose and I are taking tomorrow off remember? I'll take over security again tomorrow, but as of right now Garrett is going to be your man." I saw Garrett walk in and give me a little head nod. Unlike Jas and Em who were my younger brothers, Garrett wasn't family. And he knew that he needed to give me respect at all times no matter what.
"You're headed to Rose's friend's wedding right? Have fun and be careful" I said with a warning tone, waving at him and dismissing him.
"Yeah everyone's going to be there. It'll be great. See ya man" he said, leaving swiftly and closing the door.
I leaned back, sitting pensively. Emmett's word's barely registering. But when they did...
"Fuck man, I got it. Let's throw a motherfucking party" I said, sending Jasper one of my signature grins.
"A party man... what the fuck does that have to do with anything" Jasper questioned, his arms crossed out in front of him.
"This is my ticket into keeping up with everyone we know. Make it a huge ass party. Anyone who knows what's good for them would be dying to get in my favor so they can get in. We'll check up on everyone, and see what's up". I'm the King of New York, and it's been awhile seen I've seen the people that serve me.
Cullen parties are super rare, since we don't let too many people by the mansion. But we do have a section of the house reserved for just this. Besides, I loved to fucking party. And James will show up for sure. There's nothing better than working hard and playing hard.
Bella's POV
I already knew it was late by the way the sunlight hit my face from the window. But apparently I needed to be reminded.
"Get up! Are you serious Bella? It's already 10:00. Where's the girl who's always up by 6:00. By this time you usually have your scheme of the day planned out!"
I groaned and picked up the nearest pillow and flung it at her, hitting her square in the chest and landing on the floor with a thud. My pillow was so soft and the sheets were so warm and I really really did not want to wake up. After the long night I had I certainly didn't need Alice to fuck up my sleep.
"Get your bitch ass up. You have shit to tell me! You came home at 3:00 am, or so I'm assuming, and didn't even wake me up to tell me! I was scared shitless when I saw someone in my bed!"
The girl was one decibel away from splitting my eardrums. Groaning, I rolled over so my face was pressed up against the pillow, somehow unconsciously willing this sleeping position to drown her out better than the last one I was in.
Alice knew me better than anyone. How could she not? She and I were good friends and although she never helped me out on my heists, she was there when I needed her. I discovered her on a mission at the Rolling Hills Mental Asylum, a corrupt institution that served as a site for contracted slave labor from people who were either insane or captured. I was just there to steal a bit of the cash that they made from it. For the couple weeks that I was there undercover, I befriended her, and realized that she wasn't insane. In fact, she was quite smart, especially when it came to technology. She was captured by the asylum when she tried to hack into their system to let all their prisoners out. Just the way she carried herself made me know that she had the determination to be useful to me. In some ways I saved her life because if it weren't for me, she'd still be rotting away in that asylum. She pays me back by hacking into things whenever I needed and letting me sneak in sleep in the apartment I bought for her, much like I had done last night.
So, she certainly knew I wasn't going to wake up soon. She bent down and took the pillow I threw at her and started to whack me in the face. However, before it could touch my face I caught her wrist in my hand and threw her on the bed next to me. With a thump and a groan she rolled her eyes. She was the only person that I let myself be loose with. There was no need to be the hard and intense Isabella around someone I knew so well.
Finally, I sat up on the bed and stretched my arms out with a yawn as Alice still laid down beside me.
"Good morning to you too, bitch". I shot her my signature shit eating grin to which she rolled her eyes again and ripped the blanket off of me.
"I'm serious Bells, what happened" she said quietly as her eyes took in my lean body which was now uncovered by the blanket. Bruises from last night had appeared on my arms and legs and apparently I had gotten a cut on my hip from that idiot George. Now it was my turn to roll my eyes.
"You worry way too damn much. I'm fine. For someone who hasn't seen me in a month or so you really should be more happy that I'm here". At that her eyebrows shot to her forehead as if to say "You're kidding me, right?" In some ways she reminded me of a pet dog, kind of like Jacob had been, always protective and whatnot. Lord knows that I certainly did not need her protection. She looked at me for a couple of seconds unblinkingly and then leaned towards me. Before I knew it, her arms were wrapped around the upper part of my body in a tight embrace. Never one for hugs, I sat there with my arms on my sides but began melting in her warmth.
She pulled away significantly slower than how she hugged me in the first place. Rubbing her hand back and forth across her neck, she cast her eyes down on her now crossed legs. I sat a bit straighter and rubbed the small of my back to ease some of the tension from my sleep in my muscles. Although it might seem like an awkward encounter to an outsider, it was actually comfortable to the both of us because we both knew how the other would respond.
Before the sweet moment had a chance to get ruined, Alice sprang out of bed and pulled the blanket from beneath me, making me fall to the floor from the bed.
"Are you serious Alice? For someone who's an adult you act so much like a child", I moaned as I began to stand up and let her have her fun. She began laughing which immediately brought a smile to my face. The bruises on my body had hit the floor with such a force that I could feel the stinging. I suppressed the slight wince, making sure that Alice couldn't see my pain. If any other person tried to come at me like that, they'd be dead.
"You snuck into my apartment in the middle of the night so the least you can do is help me make this bed". I raised my eyebrows and moved over to a patch of light coming from a window. I leaned down to touch my toes and began doing a bit of yoga to get my body ready for the day.
She rolled her eyes at my antics and continued to make the bed herself. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, basking in the warmth from the sun. Lowering myself on the floor, I began to sit cross legged in a meditation pose. I could still feel Alice moving from one side of the bed to another. I sat thinking about the previous night's encounter, and tried to unpack everything that I learned. I knew Cullen was a jackpot, but I needed to figure out a way to get in. Perhaps Alice could help me out a little. I just needed to figure out where this safe room is. If it's so heavily guarded, it probably wouldn't be at one of his clubs, even if its the Red Room.
And then my stomach growled, disrupting my speech and making me open my eyes to look at Alice who was now fluffing the pillows, satisfied with the perfect bed that she made. She laughed, clearing hearing my predicament.
"I'm going to make breakfast. You're hungry. Just get ready and meet me in the kitchen".
I sighed and realized I forgot something. "Do you still have any of my old clothes from the last time I was here?". I really needed to change out of this uncomfortably small dress.
"Oh fuck no. I shredded that as soon as it went out of style". She's insane. And so damn annoying.
"Then what the fuck am I going to wear?" I responded, barely restraining my tenseness. I knew that I get angry easily, but I couldn't take it out on Alice.
"Relax Bella. I bought you new clothing for whenever you would come back. These clothes are a lot more flexible, warm, and comfortable. Basically, it's everything you need for your...endeavors". While Alice's technology helped me a great deal, I never want her to know the actual details of my hits. The less she knew, the better.
I nodded to her and waited until she left the room. Hurrying over to the bed, I moved the nightstand that was next to it and bent slightly down. I pried the wooden plank on the floor up to reveal a safe that I have here full of passports, money, guns, and anything else important that I wouldn't want Alice finding. Inputting the code, I retrieved Aro's folder on Edward Cullen, which I stashed here before my adventure at the Red Room. I certainly couldn't let Alice find that without me talking to her first.
In my haste, the picture that was paper clipped to it fell to the floor. As I picked it up, I couldn't help but stare into his eyes. He was way too fucking hot, no he was...distracting. Shaking my thoughts out of my head, I stuffed the picture back into the folder. I had to stay focused to my mission if I wanted to succeed. Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself.
Then, I headed to the bathroom. It was a small bathroom, compared to the rest of the house. I expected clothing to be sprawled out all over the floor, but the floor was completely clean. In fact, the whole bathroom was. The shampoo was neatly lined up in a row on the side of the bathtub and all her hair supplies were put in trays underneath the sink. On the sink, our toothbrushes were in a fancy cup, along with some toothpaste. Hers was a bright purple one. The bristles on it was so bent and soft that it was almost ready to be thrown away. Next to it, my black, plain one looked new. I placed the folder on the opposite side of the sink for later and picked up my toothbrush and toothpaste. As I started to clean my teeth, my thoughts started to wander.
Somehow, someway, I had to get to Cullen, and I needed to give Alice the right kind of information to convince her to come on board. I pulled the information that Aro had on him out to look at while I brushed. Unlike other hits he had given me, this didn't have much. In fact, the only thing he really had on Cullen was where he lived and the areas he worked. But that was all common knowledge. People knew to avoid that area because it specifically was his. No one dared to go against him.
Alice wasn't stupid. She definitely knew who he was. So I couldn't just give her an address to look up. I sighed. I had to tell her more than I anticipated for this one. I would have to tell her that I would going after the Edward Cullen that everyone in New York was afraid of. I just hoped that she would trust my ability to keep her safe. I decided it would be best to just give it to her straight.
Twenty minutes later I was clean, changed and in the kitchen watching Alice put the final touches on the omelettes and coffee she made for the two of us.
Although I haven't been there for a while, I still knew where everything is. Part of me congratulated myself for getting her such a nice place to live. It had the highest technological defense system money could buy, complete with camera systems, retinal scanning, and trick bombs for anyone who tried to break in. Along with that, the house was in the middle of nowhere, in a forest, so there were no neighbors to worry about. No one else knew where the building was because the people that constructed it were now dead. Alice herself maintained the property, only leaving occasionally when she needed food from the nearest town over.
"So..." she started, her voice drifting me out of my thoughts as she cut a bit of omelette and put it into her mouth. She chewed and waited for me to talk. The both of us took a sip of our coffees, while a comfortable silence filled the air. I swallowed and thought about how to phrase my sentence. She knew I was there for a specific reason, that's why I always come. I never rest. Once one job ends, another begins, and it usually involves me getting Alice's help.
I looked down at my coffee and began to speak. "I was in Aro's neighborhood and I came to know that the Italian's latest hit was going to be Edward Cullen...", at this I could see from her peripheral vision that her eyes started to bug out, "...annndd I know he has goods that are worth a lot".
She blinked twice in incredulity and brought the coffee glass to her lips. I took that as a sign to continue.
I took a deep breath and just spit it out.
"I took them out and now I am going to go after Edward Cullen's money myself". At this she spit out her coffee in surprise and coughed a bit. I guess the "ripping the bandaid off" technique was a little too shocking for her.
After composing herself the lecture began. "Are you kidding me Bella? Edward Cullen? The same man who has the entire New York and then some eating out of the palm of his hand? The same man who all of the underworld fears? You can't possibly think that this is a good idea". She sprang up and started pacing around while flinging her arms around.
As she spoke, I calmly began eating. Her omelettes taste way better than I remembered.
"Are you even listening to me?" I could hear her voice getting louder and louder.
I shot her a hard glare, satisfied that she shrunk away a bit. "Aro always had the best hits and he always knew where the money is. You can't possibly think that an apartment like this was cheap? If that pathetic idiot could somehow pull this off then I think that I'll be more than okay".
Ignoring the echoes in my head of Aro's doubts before he died I continued, "I know the whole thing, Edward Cullen's done things that only the underworld knows about. Edward Cullen has the police force and some of the FBI on his payroll. Edward Cullen the mighty and powerful. Blah blah blah". I continued to bullshit to her about how strong I was, and how I clearly knew what I was doing, even though I wasn't too sure myself. I could see as I talked that Alice became less and less apprehensive about the plan. The key to getting things like this past people was talking in a determined manner. She started to visibly relax into her chair and finish off the food that was on her plate. That's when I knew I could drop the second bomb on her.
"All I need from you Alice is to get me the blueprints to his mansion".
Again, her eyes started to bug out. I could tell that she wanted to say something back to me, but she knew I don't like being talked back to.
"That's where I suspect he keeps all of his important things. Please Alice, you're so important for this. I'm not going to take anything of importance, just something small that he won't notice" I lied, biting my lip to look more vulnerable to her. She sighed and ate it all up. I could almost see her resolve crumbling. Still there was a slight bit of fear in her eyes.
"I know that you aren't going to back down because it's not in your nature. Therefore, I can get the blueprints for you. But it's going to be up to you to find a way in. This is Cullen we're talking about. People fear even saying his name. Just do me one favor and don't get yourself killed" Alice said in an almost defeated manner. I knew she could see the determination in my eyes and when I get focused on something, I don't back down. Edward Cullen thought that he could rule New York untouched, but he hasn't met me yet.
"Alice you know me. There's nothing Edward Cullen can do that I can't. I'm sure of it".
She looked at me almost wanting to argue back but I stared at her, challenging her to say anything otherwise. She sighed and pushed her chair out from under the kitchen table and walked back into her bedroom leaving me alone with my hot drink and my thoughts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A few weeks later ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It had been two weeks since I talked to Alice about getting me the blueprints to Edward Cullen's mansion, and two weeks that she had gone to do exactly that. Usually it didn't take her this long, and usually she didn't need to go out to do this kind of work. I just hoped that whoever she talked to from her little hacking group didn't end up alerting Cullen, but she had assured me that everyone was completely trustworthy. The wait was agonizing. In the meantime, I spent my days and nights looking at Aro's folder. Actually, I obsessively looked over it, making sure I memorized every detail I could. Since there wasn't much on him in the first place, memorizing wasn't that difficult.
With each passing day I could feel myself get more and more energetic. The rush of a new mission completely taking over my body like ecstacy. I'd been pulling out the picture of Edward Cullen from Aro's folder and imagining the look on his face when he realized that he'd been outsmarted. But none of that could happen if Alice didn't get back with what I needed.
That's why I felt tremendously better when I spotted Alice approaching the apartment from the live cameras in the house, with her backpack around her shoulder. I didn't care much for how she got it, just that she did because it meant that my plan could finally continue. I started to shake with excitement, and ran towards the door, eagerly waiting for her to get through the security system.
Before I knew it, the two of us were looking at her laptop on the kitchen countertop and examining Edward Cullen's mansion. The blueprints anyway.
"I looked for this everywhere Bells, and it took me getting through a shitton of security. Hacking into this was harder than hacking into a government".
His house was huge, so big that you would expect some part of it to be overlooked but there was none. There was evidence of security rooms, and triple locked, heavy metal doors. Tall towers surrounded the outside of the house, which looked like they could be manned by snipers, or other guards. The house was constructed so that there was a huge gate, much like a wall outside of the house. Even the windows were placed strategically in places that were hard to reach. The blueprint didn't account for any additional security that Cullen had in place.
"I'm telling you Bella. I looked at this myself already. There's no way Cullen would let anything slip by him. It's nearly impossible", she exclaimed after nearly half an hour of just staring at the laptop. She ran her fingers through her spiky, black hair, styled perfectly even though I would be the only one to see it. Alice was always one to look good, even in dire circumstances.
"But that's the thing Alice, it's nearly impossible. Which means that there is a slight chance that we can find something. It may not be here in the blueprints but it's out there".
I ran my eyes over and over the blueprints. Each time I did, something new stood out to me. His mansion was amazing. The need for security was present even in the way the mansion was built. The Cullen family was crafty in everything that they did.
Alice, on the other hand, didn't have the kind of patience I did apparently. Pretty soon, she was stomping off to the fridge to go fix herself some ice cream.
"You know I don't know why you even bother. This is going to get you killed" she said as she closed the door to the fridge.
I rolled my eyes. She really wasn't going to let this go. She appeared in my field of vision with a giant bowl of vanilla ice cream and her special ice cream spoon. It was then that I remembered that Alice only eats excessive ice cream when she wants to feel better.
I finally pried my eyes off of the laptop and to Alice where she was wringing her hands. This was a sure sign of nervousness.
"What is it Alice". I quietly demanded in a no nonsense voice. She knew better than to hide anything from me.
"I found something out but it seems almost too good to be true. I really wish that you wouldn't use this as a way to get in but, it appears that Cullen is holding some sort of a party next month. Most of his mafia contacts are going to be there, which means that security is going to be pretty hefty". She looked down on her hands as she confessed this piece of information.
I stood up straighter and eyed her carefully. "Do you honestly think that I won't be able to do it?"
She quickly snapped her eyes back up to me and rushed to correct herself. "No, no, no. You've grown up under such insane circumstances and I know you're crafty when you need to be so it's not like that... it's... it's just that I'm a bit scared", she sighed and continued, "It's nothing really, just nervousness. I'll keep watch on how they prepare".
I gave her a quick nod of my approval as she left the kitchen. I stayed and sat there, contemplating how I was going to use this information. The thing with Cullen was, he wasn't easy to analyze, but big parties seemed to be his thing. It was a show off thing for guys like him. The bigger the party, the richer the guy, the bigger his dick. Or so they think. Getting into a party like that shouldn't be hard. One way I could prepare myself was to do so physically, and that meant hitting up the gym. The gears started to turn in my head, planning out a schedule for myself. I also needed to figure out who was on his team. I smiled into Alice's laptop, staring at the blueprints she presented to me. By the end of this month I was going to be so prepared for Cullen, he won't even know what hit him.
Please leave a review! I don't have a beta so let me know if you find any mistakes.
