Mob chapter. Don't like it? Don't come complaining to me.


"So…you're honestly asking me for a favor?" Brenner asked slowly, making sure he had heard my request right. I sighed and perched on a desk in front of his.

This morning I had learned that dates for prom over the age of 21 were not allowed. After some questioning I discovered that if the student got a member of the faculty to vouch for their date, it would be allowed. If the of aged date brought in alcohol or such things, the staff member would be in serious shit. So not many teachers put their approval out there.

"Please," I pouted with a decidedly whiny voice. He rolled his eyes at my dramatic antics. I kept the pout up.

"And how am I supposed to know that Mr. Eduardo isn't going to cost me my job?" Ultimately I knew that he was giving me a hard time and would say yes. I was just humoring him.

I narrowed my eyes. "You know Edward wouldn't do that. I'm not dating a druggie either. Please?" And then I was back to pouting. Down the hall Rosalie was having this same conversation with our Trig teacher.

Brenner raised an eyebrow, just to annoy me. "What happened to boys are stupid?" He quoted, doing a poor imitation of my voice. I was not going to deny that I had at one point, sincerely believed that.

I huffed loudly. "I was like 14 when I said that! Cancels out the credibility of that, don't you think?"

Brenner sighed with the hidden mocking tone that I loved to hate. "Fine, I suppose you can go to prom Swan. But if I get shit for this I'm taking my seven iron to the guy." It was almost a sweet gesture.

"Perfect!" I said with excited mocking. He rolled his eyes and dismissed me by going back to his dumb laptop.

That had been my momentary panic of Friday. I had got it squared away and was back on track to my successful prom night. But on Saturday, while Edward and I were eating a late breakfast before I had to go get my hair done, there was another issues. And this wasn't going to be solved as effortlessly as Brenner.

I huffed and narrowed my eyes at Edward, immensely frustrated. "I want a gun!" I reiterated for the 10th time.

Edward had decided (apparently awhile ago) that I did not need a gun. It could affect my safety, he had told me with a sweet finality of his voice.

Yeah, that wasn't going to exactly cut it with me.

He was also getting completely unjustifiably frustrated with me. He sighed loudly and massaged his temples with one hand. "Bella, I told you. You don't need one."

"Yes I do!" I disagreed vehemently. Of course I needed a gun. If some guy comes at me with a gun what exactly was I suppose to do? Mumble, "Oh hey, you can't like shoot me because my boyfriend never allowed me to have a gun?"

Edward's hand dropped and regarded me with agitation. "Why exactly do you feel the need to carry a weapon?"

I fought the urge to slap my forehead. This was literally the forth time he had asked me that question. I knew he was just using a great circumlocution strategy. "So I can shoot people with it!"

"No."

I was going to slap the man very soon. "What?" I questioned disbelievingly, "That's why you have yours!" I argued. Objectively, both of our points were growing exceedingly pathetic, but my argument was still stronger than his.

Edward shook his head. "Irrelevant."

And that's where we were with that subject.

As Brunico styled my hair quietly in the bathroom, occasionally humming I thought about what Edward's arrival had meant. I was thrilled that he was with me again. But the reason for my push on the right to bear arms topic had not come randomly. I knew that Edward was still in danger of his past, and I would feel much better if he wasn't the only one packing heat.

I suppose my resolve was slightly selfish. I wanted a gun so I could stop people from harming me or Edward. I hoped it would never come to that. But I knew there was no way I would be able to handle Edward getting shot. Period.

Regardless of that, I was hoping that my prom night wasn't going to be broke up by the mafia.

I pushed all thoughts about Edward's past out of my mind. I had all my life to figure that out. But tonight, my heart was racing. I slid into my deep blue dress excitedly while Esme buttoned it from the back. I was so eager to see Edward in his newly obtained tux. I had told him he could wear his military dress wear. But he had just shrugged it off and said that he'd save that for a military ball. I was intrigued.

I really wasn't savoring the moments of preparation for senior prom. I had always imagined it to be a really special experience that would take hours to get ready for. But then Edward arrived and I was sure as hell not going to waste any time with him and spend hours on my lipstick. I would save that shit for my wedding.

Esme rushed downstairs ahead of me and snatched the camera up. When I turned to the stairs and put my hand on the railing I gasped. I had a perfect view of my overwhelmingly handsome soldier.

Edward's head turned when he heard me gasp and a lazy yet amazed grin spread across his face. He looked completely striking with the black jacket contrasting his nicely tanned face. The white made his eyes so bright that I could see them shining from a stair case up. Instead of a black bow tie he was wearing a blue silk tie the exact shade of my dress. Lord help me…I hadn't stood a chance with this man.

Instead of making my way slowly downstairs in a grand gesture, I lifted my dress up so I wouldn't trip on it and rushed at a respectable speed down the stairs. Edward's grin grew wider by the time I arrived in front of him. "You look…." Edward searched for the right word but then gave a chuckle, "great," he finished with a nod. I smiled brightly.

"You happen to clean up nicely too." Inwardly I made a face. That was legitimately the largest fucking understatement of all time.

My compliment was met with rolled eyes. He looked me over again before settling on my face. He grinned and held his arm out to me. "Come on my Cinderbella, off to the ball."

Then it was my turn for me to roll my eyes. But I smiled nevertheless and took hold of his arm. Oh Edward, I thought silently, I would gladly trade Prince Charming for a soldier any day.

Of course Esme made us take thousands of pictures.

And then Emmett and Rosalie arrived, both looking equally decent. Emmett opted out of the military look like Edward and was wearing his suit. Rosalie looked positively stunning in her scarlet red floor length dress. It was strapless like mine and had a sparkling bodice. Her mom had spent hours on it. It looked amazing with her curled blond hair cascading down around her shoulders.

Needless to say…we took more pictures. Finally, Carlisle made Esme put the camera down and go get ready for a work meeting. We all thanked him.

Since Rose and I didn't broadcast our relationships…well, I guess I was the one in the relationship. After a year I still didn't know what the fuck to call and Emmett and Rosalie. I knew they loved each other, but I didn't know if they were in love. Or at least if they had come to terms with that. I just thought of him as her boyfriend because to me it was inevitable.

Anyway, Rose and I didn't really gush much about the guys. We had a lot of friends, but I just felt so immature if I started talking about Edward like he was some high school crush. To me that would be an insult to what we had. We were in this for the long run, and that seemed like a difficult concept for people who lived for Friday night football games to grasp. And really, I wasn't trying to sound imperious, because there's nothing wrong with our friends. We just wanted to go to dinner with the two of them ourselves.

It was a fun night. We had a quiet dinner at a very nice restaurant. Emmett and Edward told us stories about what they really did in their down time in Iraq. They interrupted each other and chimed in with laughs about every other sentence. Rose and I laughed, then shook our heads…and there was definitely some eye rolling. By the time our dinner actually arrived, Rose and I were launched into a story about the frosh on our soccer team.

I hadn't laughed so much since last summer. The fact that for once I was truly happy and enjoying myself wasn't even the best part. Edward was looking at me all evening with such adoration that whenever I glanced over at him, I felt myself grow warm from the love he was emitting from his gazes. He made me feel like I was without a doubt that most special woman in the world. And really, I think we all hope for that in the people we're attracted to. I was so fucking lucky to have found that at my young age.

This year our school had decided in indulge on a ballroom for prom. They rented the reception room at one of the local upscale hotels instead of a gymnasium. Their theme was decidedly cliché, being titled "A Night under the Stars." But the student council did a great job with the decorations.

By the time that we arrived, most of the couples had already migrated to the dancing floor. With amused smirks on their faces, Emmett and Edward led Rose and I out to join them. I rolled my eyes. When Edward said he'd do anything for me, he meant senior prom too. I knew he wasn't thrilled to be dancing among my student body, but he was being a trooper.

A slow song started to play from the DJ booth and a few couples bowed out, probably not serious couples. Edward however wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled my up against him. I smiled against his jacket as I rested my arms around his neck. We swayed back and forth to the beat without a care in the world. Dancing with Edward was a whole new experience that took my breath away.

It was something I could check off of my bucket list. When I was 12, I had made a list of 100 things I want to do before I die. Number sixty something had been to dance with someone I am completely in love with. As much crap as I had gotten for that whimsy goal, I realized how much truth there was behind that statement. I honestly felt pity for those around me who were convincing themselves that they loved their boyfriend enough to fuck him on prom night. I felt pity for those people who hadn't found what I had found in Edward. It didn't seem fair to me that it took some people years to find someone and I had already done that before graduating high school. I wasn't complaining; I was thanking God.

After about an hour I decided to put Edward out of his misery…well maybe not misery. Actually, he seemed to be enjoying himself among strangers. I was having fun with him. I didn't want to stop dancing. But I also just wanted time alone with him somewhere, and prom wasn't the best place to do that. So we said see ya to Rose and Emmett and exited the building.

Esme had insisted on Edward and me driving her Escalade here. She didn't think a truck was appropriate. Then she decided she actually needed her car. So guess who rode a motorcycle? Oh yes. She was one cool woman.

Unfortunately, she parked the motorcycle about two blocks away from the hotel. It was in a parking lot next to a closed bank because she had wanted room to park. Edward and I had to cross through an alley between the hotel and a run down insurance brick building.

I had an eerie feeling the minute I set foot between the encasing space of the two buildings. Edward must have too, because he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me under his arm. We made it about a forth of the way before things started to go down hill.

When the first gun shot was fired I let out a shriek of surprise. I looked around pointlessly in the dark for a split second before Edward pushed me back behind him. My heart started to pound when I watched him draw a gun from the waist band of the back of his pants and point it commandingly ahead.

"Ed-" I started to ask before I was up cut off abruptly by a terrifying hand covering my mouth and jerking me away from Edward. Edward spun around instantly as I felt a freezing metal probe against my temple. I didn't have to be a G.I. Joe fan to know there was gun against my head. The hand released my mouth and I fought the urge to spit in disgust. Instead it grabbed my arm on the opposite side of the gun. It was clearly a man's hand.

I was completely terrified that this could be the last few seconds of my life. But looking at Edward, I irrationally knew that wouldn't be the case. I had an insane trust in Edward's abilities and I knew that he would do whatever he could to save me. Even with the fear seeping through every pore of my body, I had nothing but faith for the soldier in front of me. He was trained for this. And he was good at his job.

Edward looked at the man holding me murderously before he grew…exasperated? No, that couldn't have been it. With the gun still pressed against my head I realized that exasperated was the right word. Edward let out a sigh before addressing the man.

"Come on man! What the fuck happened to chivalry? For example, maybe not pointing a gun at my girlfriend's head!" Edward exclaimed, frustrated. Since I had never been in one of these situations, I kept my mouth shut. I did however raise an eyebrow at him.

When the men replied to him, he sounded young, not more than 25. "It died when women were allowed the right to bear arms." He almost seemed to be grumbling.

I rolled my eyes, annoyed. "Does it look like I'm packing heat in this dress?" I exclaimed, not daring to turn to face him. Edward's lip twitched up just the slightest before he went back to glaring at him, gun still poised at him.

The guy didn't respond. Maybe it was the adrenaline making me so…sassy…but hell, if I'm going down, I'm going out with my sarcasm intact. "No. Exactly! Now since I'm not allowed to have a gun, I think we should reinstate chivalrous behavior. It would be very polite of you if you moved that killing machine away from my vital organs."

When the guy still didn't respond I willed Edward to meet my eyes. He locked gazes with me and with such subtlety that I wasn't even sure he did it, he moved his gaze down. He looked back up searching for an inclination that I understood. I moved my eyes down to the road in question and he moved his head forward the tiniest bit. I mentally counted to three in sync with my captor's heavy breath. Then, with sweaty palms, I used the elbow being loosely held and jerked in back into him before quickly ducking to the ground.

I heard a gun shot and then another one back in response before the man who had been holding me fell to the ground in a heap. My ears were ringing from the shots. "Come on!" Edward rushed, holding his hand out to me. Frightened I grabbed his hand hurriedly and stood out of my crouch. Gun in one hand and me in the other, Edward and I started to run.

I quickly assessed the alley we were in. There was a dumpster about twenty yards away and a shitty car about ten yards past that. The alley didn't end for about sixty yards and I had a feeling we were screwed. There were a few turned over trash cans and other crap, like broken lobby chairs.

Another gun shot was fired from somewhere and Edward pulled me down. Instead of shrieking I ducked immediately with him. Idly I was very grateful I had learned to walk in heels because now I was running for my life with them.

When Edward and I made sure that neither of us had been the victim of someone else's gun we rushed to one side of the large green dumpster. I looked to my right to see that there was no one shooting at us from that direction. I ducked down while Edward leaned around the dumpster, firing shoots. I shrieked when the shooter hit the dumpster with a loud boom.

"Stay down!" Edward yelled over the gun fire. Freaked out, I looked at him, he didn't see the glance. He was too concentrated on leaning out around the dumpster before ducking back in and then repeating the motion. There sounded like more than one shooter in that direction now.

I became overwhelmingly furious. Someone was honestly trying to kill the only man I'd ever love. Like hell I was just going to sit there.

With Edward still cursing wildly next to me, I slipped my heavy four inch heels off of my feet. I hooked them together in my hand as my bare feet touched the cold grimy pavement.

Cautiously I crept to Edward's side. He had just ducked and was getting ready to take another shot. I leaned with him as he took his shot and saw that there were two men lying dead on the ground where he had just been. But, that wasn't the bad part; there were two more men, still very much alive firing bullets, only about twenty feet away.

Throwing all fucking caution to the wind I took one of my heels in my right hand and whirled it in the closer man's direction. I chucked with as much force as I was possible capable of and hoped it wouldn't fall short. Edward yanked me back behind him just as the heel of the shoe connected with the man's neck.

I allowed myself a smug grin.

The man swore very loudly, and if I may say, very offensively at me. Edward's jaw tightened and gave me a look. I had never seen a more conflicting glance. It was chalked full of annoyance, adrenaline, anger, amusement…and pride. I guess not every girl nails the mafia with their heels.

Momentarily the shooting stopped. Edward's head fell back against the dumpster and closed his eyes for a split second. When he opened them, determination was the main emotion present. Well…that was second, only to ridiculously pissed off.

"She threw a fucking shoe at me!" The man griped incredulously. Again, he sounded fairly young. "Whatta bitch Masen!" he addressed Edward, agitated. Edward looked over at me and gave me a quick and breathless wink.

"Watch it Al, she's got another one," Edward called back in warning. His voice almost startled me. When Edward got mad at someone his voice took a cold and commanding tone.

"Who the fuck brings their girlfriend to a shoot out? Motherfucker." Al grumbled. I could hear some frightening clicking of a gun that wasn't Edward's.

Edward's eyes narrowed at no one in particular. "Well, maybe next time you shouldn't ambush me on her prom night, fucker."

"It did work out rather perfectly didn't it? You were so unsuspecting," Al goaded mockingly. I raised a confused eyebrow. Edward rolled his eyes.

"I brought a fucking gun with me. You still haven't been able to get a decent shot. You must have a fucked up definition of perfectly," Edward replied, baiting. "Dumbass," he added with distaste.

Al's voice grew angry. "Watch it fucker. You couldn't possibly think that Joe and I were the only ones tracking your arrival." This caught Edward's attention. He looked around to make sure that we were the only four in the alley. "A billion dollars is a goddamn lot of money, don't you think? People kill for hundred bucks. I know there are plenty of others who wouldn't mind your blood on their hands."

Edward's deadly stone face didn't react. The only indication that he had heard him was the slight shifting of his jaw. Finally, he replied with murderous calmness. "Kind of like I wouldn't mind your blood on mine?"

Before I could blink or process his words, Edward was up like a flash. He jerked his gun out around the dumpster and fired an immediate shot. I couldn't tell if it had hit him or not. But Edward continued to fire shots without ducking back.

After I was convinced that my pounding heart was beating far too fast and I could possibly die…the shots abruptly ended. Edward closed his eyes and let his gun fall to his side. Thinking it was safe, I stood up from my uncomfortable crouch. I placed my hand on Edward's arm and leaned around the dumpster to see that the two more men were now down on the ground.

I let out a shaky breath, feeling my stomach knot at the sight of the bodies. Edward sighed exhaustedly and moved away from me. "I have to make sure," he mumbled. I nodded and he started to walk towards the assumed corpses. He took all of two steps before I darted over to him, not wanting to be away from him. I grabbed his hand and held it tightly.

The first three bodies were definitely dead. Edward had got two straight in the heart and the other one in the neck and chest. It was extremely gruesome to see their pools of blood. I held back the vomit. I could handle this. It would have been perfectly understandable for me to be repulsed and sickened. But I just felt hate for these men who had tried to thoughtlessly murder Edward for their own personal gain. It was absolutely disgusting to me.

Edward expertly felt for the last body's pulse and moved away when he didn't feel one. I was just about to say something before a single shot was fired. I gasped at the noise and looked over at Edward to see him doing the same. Then we realized that neither of us had got shot. I looked around alertly for the gun that had shot.

Then I found my eyes settling on Elliot's body. He was holding a gun straight at us. He was standing at the beginning of the alley way, in his tuxedo, straight out of prom. I couldn't see his face, but I could definitely see the gun. My stomach flipped and my heart just sank. A thousand thoughts raced through my head with possible scenarios, but none of them looked good.

"Move Bella," he commanded just loud enough for me to hear him. My eyes widened as I realized that I was standing between him and Edward.

"Elliot! No!" I pleaded desperately. Fear coursed through my body as I looked over at the guy who I had fake dated and had been watching out for me for months. I couldn't believe that all this time he had been waiting to kill Edward. The betrayal made me downright furious. "I'm not going to let you fucking shoot him for money Elliot! I'm not moving."

"Some things in life are important Bella. Now move."

And with that, a shot was fired.


It's too late baby, there's no turning around
I've got my hands in my pocket and my head in a cloud
This is how I do
When I think about you
I never thought that you could break me apart
I keep a sinister smile and a hole in my heart
You want to get inside
Then you can get in line
But not this time

Cause you caught me off guard
Now I'm running and screaming
I feeling like a hero and you are my heroine
Hero/Herione by Boys Like Girls


Thank you all for you amazing responses last chapter(: I teared up at a few of your reviews... You're all amazing (as I've stressed billions of times) I'm so lucky I have such supportive, brilliant people following me. SO, SO lucky.

Oh, yeah! Cliffie. My bad...