In Love And War

by KittyTylz

Young mob Prince. I'm ruthless, powerful, good looking and wealthy. At times women die for me, literally. How hard can it be getting one teenager to fall in love with me? Apparently, impossible... She's spirited. Her mind works backwards. And I can't get her out of my head! They said 'all's fair…' They lied. Now I'm playing dirty. And I'm keeping her. AH/AU Mobward/Possessiveward

2. Party of Charades

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, quotes, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners and are simply used under 'fair use'. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. This story is for legally recognized adults.

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In Love And War

*~*~* Chapter Two : Party of Charades *~*~*

'Well, I'm working through the night. But I just can't stop watching you.

I got to keep looking out through the window, trying to read your mind.' (Peter Cincotti)

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The chatter in the hall hasn't died down since Swan made his fucking announcement. The humming stream of voices around us makes my nerves twitch. This is fucking insane. How the fuck did this happen!?

"Well, son, I guess we should be grateful that you researched this well," Carlisle's voice dripped with a mixture of both sarcasm and humor as he commented snidely at my side. "Imagine our position had we not anticipated this."

"Some faith, Father," I reply as calmly as possible. Holding my temper is proving to be fucking difficult. I don't like things out of my control and right this second, I couldn't be any further from the motherfucking driver's seat, "this is nothing but a minor setback."

I don't need to face the three men to know they are unsettled by the turn of events. Apparently, my composure sparks interest in Southern.

"So, there's a new plan?" Jasper questions, tactfully low.

I grunt in annoyance and turn towards them.

Emmett snaps his head to Jasper and scowls dryly. "Of course there is." His words are produced through slightly parted smiling teeth so as to not raise suspicion. It's quite a fucking sight.

He jabs his head in the direction of the brunette in question. "We can't dangle a candy cane before her fucking eyes and coax her to follow us now."

There's no fucking plan. Getting her age wrong fucked everything up. It would have been fucking easy to scoop a toddler, even if it was from under their noses but a sixteen-year-old is too lucid and able to kick up a fuss. Too big of a risk to take while in their house. At fucking best, the most we can hope for tonight is to talk to her and gain some footing, so we can do something at a later stage when things aren't as hot.

"True." I agree but chose to elaborate when Em stands smugly before us. "We've gotta try a different route," I give him his inch then continue, "but we're still going to have to sweet talk this broad."

I can practically hear crickets in the background, that's how blankly these idiots are blinking back at me.

"She's sixteen and impressionable," releasing a raging breath down my nostrils I elaborate further because I've apparently brought piss poor company tonight, "but most important she's sixteen and hormonal. Tonight just win her favor… her trust. Just get her a bit comfortable around the idea of us, where we can possibly be seen as no form of threat from her point of view. Just business associates, like her old man. Nothing more," I warn them not to push for more than that. We'll start slow. We have to start slow. Fuck me, we'll be lucky if we even manage to get that far with her tonight.

"The organization that's trying to whack her father's?" Jasper's brow moved up incredulously.

I snigger. "Hence winning her trust. Just fucking get her a bit easy on the notion of conversing with us." Cogs are turning and I finally see those light bulbs flickering on above their heads. "She's possibly capable of being manipulated thereafter. Without realizing it Isabella will end up being the perfect weapon to use against her father." I end evenly.

"Won't be easy." Jasper reasons but doesn't shoot down the idea.

I know for a fact that none of them will veto this. This wouldn't be the first time we've manipulated a female.

I nod my head, yes. "That's why we're starting tonight." There's more than darkness in my voice and for some reason it unsettles me.

"Win her trust?" a wicked smile graces Jaspers calm features as he speaks, "We'll be able to do that."

Raising my glass, I toast to it."Get ready to charm Miss Swan."

"Got it, Boss," Emmett answers for both himself and Jasper.

We're all in agreement.

Father, however, asks the million dollar question, "And exactly when do you propose this be done, son?"

My reply is simple, because simple is clean and works best.

"When the opportunity presents itself." I grasp my glass tighter, "And if it doesn't then we'll create it, but for now, gentlemen, enjoy this maddening occasion to the fullest and I mean fullest. Keep your eyes open for anything useful." I direct them when I realize something's off.

My watchdog isn't watching my target. No, Emmett's engrossed on his cell. Of its own accord, my head snaps in the direction Isabella should be standing in and surprise, surprise, she's not there anymore.

Way to keep your fucking eyes open.

I dart my gaze erratically through the crowd trying to pinpoint Isabella, but she isn't anywhere. I scan the entire expanse of the crowded grand hall quickly before finally, finding her.

Clearing my throat, I shake off the dumbassness of my actions and watch her closely.

Gracefully standing on the tip of her toes, she's mere feet away from an exit. Emmett seems to notice this as well and I have to quickly put a steadying hand on his shoulder to refrain him from moving forward to grab her. Despite my understanding of his need to destroy this family, I have the strong urge to deck him, because he's allowing his feelings to control his actions and get in the way of the job.

"Back the fuck up."

Now, is not the right time, and definitely not the right place.

Swans daughter was surrounded by guards at the moment and we are in their territory. The gathered crowd in the hall makes things no easier. Far too many witnesses.

I'd never make the mistake of underestimating the Phoenix. If there was one thing that the Swan men were not, it was stupid. Even if Swans' guards fucked up during this 'party', there had to be state of the art security monitoring his daughters every move. The Phoenix were best known for their technologically inclined ways. It was their strong point, much like weaponry was ours. Whereas they were excellent planners who tended to use astounding technology, the Masens forte were mind games, stealth and artillery. They're the biggest pain in our asses for a reason. The only difference was how we acquired our information to formulate and carry out our shit, but that aside, we were neck and neck in absolutely everything.

There would be no room for attack tonight, they'd be prepared for it. Messing with their heads was a far more viable point of attack.

I watched silently as Billy Black moved towards her flanked by his guards and noted that behind him, six random heads systematically shot up.

I inwardly smirked, I knew Charles Swan pretty well.

The Phoenix men were aware of his every move.

Billy stopped an appropriate distance away from her and a vile smile crept onto his wrinkled mug. His spawn Jacob had not accompanied him tonight. However I did recognize the faces of Sam, Embry, Quil, and Blacks right hand man, Harry Clearwater, and his young son whose name evades me. The boy couldn't be older than 14 and it was easily seen that he was being laced into the business tonight by the prideful way his old man stood beside him clad in a fuck ugly suit.

The suit was seriously fucking with my retina. Coal black and bright yellow lined the old man from his double chin down to his flipper feet. Tilting my head to the side I couldn't help but liken the round Clearwater bastard to a fucking penguin.

My feet glided forward, strolling closer in a seemingly harmless gesture and coming to stop at an available table that was within hearing distance of them. My men soon joined me, and the Masen guard followed suit.

As the Swan girl looked up, Black cleverly covered his menacing smile with a seemingly friendly one… kind even. On the inside I cringed. It's a smile that makes you order brain bleach, stat.

He really is a fucking idiot.

It became apparent that we weren't the only ones who noticed the action. Too fast for Billy's comprehension, he was suddenly face to face with Riley. His appearance at his sister's side making Black's introduction die on his lips.

"Riley Swan." The venom coating his voice belied the neutral face he donned. "I see you've been hiding quite a gem here from the world."

Riley smirked as the old man looked away from his sister to him. "Well, you of all people know what a dangerous place the world can be Billy." His calm voice masked the threat perfectly from the girl beside him, but the dead coldness in his eyes conveyed the message clearly to Black who, much to my amusement, flinched.

Like I said before, the Quileute's Boss is a pussy compared to the Phoenix.

Clearing his throat and putting on a seemingly genuine smile for her benefit, Riley turned to his sister and gestured formally to the Quileutes, "Isabella, this is Billy Black."

Isabella chewed on the inside of her cheek for all of two seconds before speaking, "Black?" She questioned, a cute frown forming on her brows as she mulled things over.

The fuck—?

Mentally shaking off my bullshit, I strain my ears and listen in on the exchange.

"That's the one," Riley confirms, looking down to her briefly, as if reading her mind. "And these are his associates— Sam Uley, Quil Ateara, Embry Call and Harry and Seth Clearwater," he continues monotonously.

Isabella smiles graciously at them, receiving nods and deceiving, stiff smiles in return.

Sensing her discomfort, Riley cuts things short. Not as short as I would've liked it, but at least it's fucking over.

"Come now, I'll introduce you to some others." He leads her away.

As they walk, Riley pivots his head infinitesimally until he faces the Quileutes again. His hardened gaze conveys the warning silently over his sister's head. He won't take lightly to any harm swung her way.

"Well, it's more than apparent that they are protective of the girl," Carlisle voices the very thought that was playing in my head.

"It's of no relevance to our course of action," I reply keeping my eyes on her and rethinking our plan. "We'll be visiting her later," I conclude as I carefully note her mannerisms, "when she's not being watched so closely by the moron brothers." There's poison in my words that makes the back of my throat ache for a cigarette.

"She's going to be startled, Edward," Father said, doing a piss poor job of masking his distaste, "the last thing we need is their pet squealing bloody fucking murder to alert the others before we get to work."

The hate coming off my old man was measuring close to an 8 on a fucking Richter scale. It was mirrored by Southern and Em.

It came as no surprise to me. I knew how much this opportunity meant to my father and the family. The years of battle between the Masens and the Phoenix had been exhausting. Neither family had an edge over the other, and now this could tip the balance in our favor.

"Then, how about we get to work on minimizing the shock, shall we?" I replied straightening up my jacket and walking away. The girl was getting too far away for my liking, making observing her difficult.

Riley was standing across the floor with James, judging by the looks on their faces they were taking care of a problem. Speaking heatedly to some of the Denali guard while Isabella mingled with some of the other guests, Tanya, if I wasn't mistaken.

Perfect.

"Well, look what we have here" Tanya's smirked, breaking her conversation with Swan's daughter.

I was grateful that my smile came off as genuine. The Denali fucking Princess would effectively serve as an easy introduction to Swan's daughter. Seeing her was no great treat, but Tanya didn't have to know that, now did she?

It was no secret that she was fond of me. She was hot, strawberry blonde, great rack, huge ass and tall. But if there was one thing that annoyed me more than a much too eager woman that was bordering on an 'easy slut', it was a persistent, much too eager woman that was bordering on an 'easy slut'. Tapping that was child's play if your pockets were deep enough.

The courteous greeting that accompanied my charade was brought to a screeching halt when Swan's daughter twirled away from Tanya to see whoever it was that she had spoken to.

Me.

Brown eyes locked onto me and I was suddenly hit with an onslaught of stupidity. I thought 'Bambi'.

The moment she spun around, I was fucking speechless. Her hair flew out in a halo around her tiny frame and came to stop around her delicate shoulders. The shorter layers fell in waves, framing her flushed face as she took me in with large, liquid chocolate orbs. I barely noticed Tanya excuse herself to head off and see what was going on with her guard and Swan's sons.

Too stunned to move as I drank the elfin-sized girl in, I was exceedingly grateful when Jasper mistook my silence for lack of enthusiasm to speak to a Swan.

"Hello, there darlin'," he lay on the southern charm and extended his hand to her, "name's Jasper."

I wasn't sure if I was more grateful or pissed when she broke eye contact with me to look at the Masens now flanking me.

She was easily towered over and Jaspers customary thick drawl took on a charismatic note, to ease the tension that was obviously about to rear its ugly head. Surrounded by the enemy while trying to achieve the impossible? If I was being perfectly honest, there could be no better night than tonight to showcase his fucking brilliant knack for persuasion. Smiling down at Bambi whilst taking her hand in his for a polite handshake, his uncanny ability to control the room had once again made its target.

"This is Carlisle," Jasper introduced Father, cleverly omitting our last names.

"Hello, sweetheart," Father's mask of graciousness was flawless as he took her hand.

Up-close it was easy to see her self-contained nature. She was proper, self-assured and possibly fucking kind. Isabella smiled legitimately at my old man, tipping her head forward in greeting and I swear the blood was fucking pounding in my ears.

Fucking hell.

I'd admit she had a brilliant smile, but I really fucking wanted her to speak.

"Emmett," Jasper continued cordially.

I held back a snicker as she whipped her head towards the Mammoth and did a double take, her face morphed with pure alarm while grappled hard to retain her initial politeness.

Coughing our laughs back hard, we kept pretenses and remained poised as we watched Em take her hand in his far larger paw and smile broadly at her, forcing out his dents to help ease her obvious discomfort.

Worked like a charm motherfucker.

Her shoulders relaxed but she remained wide-eyed, caught off guard by the sheer magnitude of the grizzly that is Emmett.

Orphaned in infancy, both Jazz and Em had been raised by my parents. My brothers per se, and the big lug's grin-dents were a sure winner right from our childhood. No one suspects a smiling giant. But we know better. Harmless motherfucker, my ass.

"And this is Edward," Jasper finally fucking got around to introducing me.

Lightning bolts tore down the sky outside as she turned towards me and a blush creeped up her face under my gaze.

"Hello, Isabella," Her name rolled off my tongue, tasting like fucking honey. I tried to ignore it and offered her my hand like the others had.

She took it, but there was something wrong.

I had to fight motherfucking Zeus before I could force my fingers pry themselves away and let go.

The fuck? When they did, finally, fucking work properly, I released her hand like it was poison ivy.

Bambi frowned, a small dent between her eyebrows, before dismissing it and taking a small step back so that she could address us collectively.

Unfazed by my behavior or the men in her presence, the girl fucking grinned at us, too genuine to be rehearsed. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. Thank you for coming." She nodded her head courteously to my back extending the welcome to my guard.

And there it was. The memorizing voice of Isabella Swan.

"Likewise," Jasper assumed the role of mediator once again, shrewdly donning a smile, kind and harmless enough to melt ice, to serve as a counter to the shitstorm his next words would likely cause. "We represent the Masens."

On instinct, we went on alert, in full on defense mode waiting for her reaction and the descending Phoenix that would follow.

However, there should've been crickets or some shit in the background as the seconds ticked by.

Nothing.

For a split second when the words left his lips, Bambi's eyes flashed in surprise, then comprehension, but just as quick as it came, it was gone.

I was thrown for loop for a second there myself.

She didn't make an excuse to leave. She didn't motion for assistance from anyone in their organization. There weren't warning bells sounded. No, she remained as is.

All things considered, her surprising behavior worked to our advantage. So my curious urge to shake some sense into her, had me rubbing at the back of my neck trying to get my shit together.

The others continued their façade. Pretending as if the fact that she was still standing there with her fucking white teeth and genuine, fucking warm smile didn't irk them but I knew better.

She was either fucking brave or fucking stupid. But regardless, of which way we swung it… it was fucking shocking.

Bambi read our expressions and laughed softly under her breath, shaking her head. She was about to respond to it, when something just to my side distracted her.

She leaned her head a bit more to get a better look and then cocked her brow looking fucking adorable.

My own brows lifted. Come the fuck on! Where the fuck had my balls gone off to?! She didn't look fucking adorable. Adorable's not a fucking word in my motherfucking vocabulary.

Cogs were turning in her head and curiosity got the better of me so I followed her gaze to see what had caught her attention.

It was nothing truly fucking spectacular. I wished she'd just speak again, because I'd turned into an attention whore at some point during the past 5 seconds that she wasn't conversing with us and I wanted her focus to never fucking deter again.

I mentally grabbed my balls and held them firmly in fucking place.

And so to repeat… What the fuck Cullen.

Pushing aside what's clearly the effects of too much alcohol, I ignored the bullshit surrounding this chick that was fucking with my clarity, and flicked my gaze back to what had her so fucking engrossed.

Harry Clearwater and his son.

And if I was going by the looks of it, I'd say if we weren't at the Phoenix residence right this very second, the older Clearfucker would have knocked the runt out by now.

Dribs and drabs of Harry's speech were decipherable through his mouth movements, and ghosts of his hissing whispers drifted in our general direction, making it a bit easier for me to catch on to what he was saying.

Chancing a quick glance at Swan's daughter, I figured she had no fucking clue what was being spoken but she appeared to know enough to gather something wasn't right.

"What the fuck is going on?" Harry was hissing at his son.

The tike's hair bristled, visible fear.

"I pulled a lot of strings to get you here, Seth." Clearfucker goes on, unaware of the eyes subtly focusing on him, "This entire fucking night is a huge deal. No-one is ever going to fucking get an opportunity like this again, the biggest get together, ghost daughter being introduced and here you are, you ungrateful little bastard—" He stops short. Pressing down his penguin pinstripe jacket and reining his shit in. A happy face is plastered on and with a Botox smile he goes the fuck on like the confrontation was a good ol' chitchat. "You're embarrassing the family." He warned, pushing busters tie high enough for it to choke the half pint, but not draw any unwanted attention to them.

Kid winces and tries to back away, only to be stalled by Harry's firm hand on his shoulder.

"Tonight, son, can do great things for you."

When the boy said nothing to contradict him he tightened his grip. A fatherly gesture to anyone on the outside but the strain on his sons face said otherwise. It was fear that kept him quiet while his old man was getting his point across. "Sam is watching your every move." He advised with a forced smile. "Impressing them tonight guarantees your swearing in." Dusting himself off he pats his kids head and raises his hand to acknowledge Aro's wife, Heidi across the hall chatting to Sam. "Now grab a drink and don't fuck this up."

He thrust his scotch in the younger Clearwaters hand and moved to address some of the other representatives of the families in the room.

The whole exchange was rather amusing because, despite personally almost pitying the boy, I couldn't be bothered with fucking assisting him due to his alliances. The act would hold no benefit to me, so it would be pointless.

Unable to do much else, Seth brought the liquid to his nose and sniffed. His tyrant was away, but he conceded, and sipped the amber in the glass begrudgingly when he caught sight of Sam and the others across the room, only to cough up a storm once the strong liquor hit his palette and shot up his nostrils. Harry's cold eyes darted to his son instantly. I found it amazing that the boy didn't die on sight at the glare he was on the receiving end off.

The corner of my lip twitched and Emmett chuckled. We thought nothing of the exchange. It wasn't the first time that Clearwater had done his son down under the false assumption that he was being discreet.

Swan's daughter, however, was on a different frequency from us.

"It was great meeting you, gentlemen, and I hope we get to speak again later on, but could you please excuse me?" Oblivious to our judgment of both Seth and Harry, Isabella dipped her head and smiled apologetically at us.

"But, of course, Miss Swan. We will definitely speak again," Jasper promised.

Unknown to her, we meant every word.

"It was a pleasure," Emmett chivalrously raised his champagne glass and gestured for her to continue on her way, "please." He stepped aside and allowed her to pass.

Mother would be proud. Apparently fuckwit was raised a gentleman.

I followed her with my eyes as she walked towards the bar and spoke to a waitress. Bewildered once again by her actions, we could only assume she asked the girl working the bar to search for something, because the chick went on a hunt for God-knows-what the second she stopped speaking.

A smirk pulled my lips upwards. The second the female's back was turned, Isabella reached over the counter and grabbed for a bottle. It was impossible to know what the bottle contained, because Swan's daughter moved that fucking fast to hide it between her body and the black wood counter. She was smart enough to know there were no secrets in this life, so regardless of what the task you were carrying out was, if you knew it could cause a shitstorm, the rule was simple, trust no one.

None the wiser, the waitress turned back to Isabella and shook her head, apologetically confirming that she couldn't locate what Bambi had asked for.

I snickered, internally amused at watching her. She was interesting. Completely different to anyone I'd encountered before.

Bambi gave an understanding nod to the bargirl and smirked hugely to her back as the girl walked away.

I heard Emmett chuckle at Bambi's little league 007 mission and shot him a look to shut the fuck up. He shrugged and went back to grinning like an idiot as the four of us went back to trying to figure out what the fuck was going on.

She slid the bottle to her side, perfectly hidden as she crossed the room. If we hadn't being watching right from the get go we would've never noticed she had anything in her possession as she moved. That's how stealthy the movement was.

She stopped to politely greet Chelsea, one of the Volturi ladies before quickly excusing herself to a table that was somewhat hidden behind the flower arrangements lining the eastern walls.

There she pulled out a champagne flute.

I did a double take. When the fuck had she swiped that?!

Father raised a brow and appraised the girl. Each of us, in our own way, was eagerly awaiting the fucking climax to this freak show, so we could get a clue as to what the fuck she was doing.

Bambi filled the flute to the brim with the contents of the bottle before sliding the bottle down her arm craftily and burying it behind a rose bouquet.

The. Fuck.

Maybe we were on to something before after all. She may just be the oddest person I'd ever encountered.

Her behavior was thoroughly fucking confusing and it only further complicated matters when she walked to Clearwater's son grabbed his glass out his hand before replacing it with the one she had brought with her.

"She's gonna take out the runt?" Emmett snorted, flabbergasted.

Swan's daughter poisoning Seth. The thought was hilarious, but I kept watching.

Irritation began pricking at my ears as she bent down to whisper something in the kids ear.

Even Seth's reaction irked me. He simply watched her with distrust. He looked too. Fucking Long. My feet moved forward once, before my brain snapped back into play and halted me.

The kid brought the glass to his mouth and took a sip, instantly looking back up at her with a disbelieving smile on his face, a smile that she warmly returned, laughing lightly at the expression he wore.

I was pissy and not enjoying being out of the loop.

What. The. Fuck?

"Stay here," I barked callously over my shoulder and fucking flew as inconspicuously as possible toward the motherfucking rose arrangement so I could find out what the fuck was going on.

Carlisle, Emmett and Jasper followed, leaving our guard across the room, eager to be clued in themselves. Father's gaze darted to Isabella with visible dots of intrigue. He carefully noted the exchange between Seth and Swans daughter as James made his way to escort her to the dinner table while I reached behind the plant.

"Are you fucking with me?" I scoffed, fisting the bottle because I really must be imagining things.

The men turned to me, puzzled by my expression.

But fuck them. I was holding a bottle of grape juice.

In my head, I was laughing my head the fuck off at this neat little find. Swan's daughter bailed the Clearwater kid out. Shit didn't get more fucked than this. But on the outside, my mouth was sealed in a grim line.

"It's white grape juice." I toss the bottle at Emmett as I prance past them.

Jasper and Carlisle's heads whip after the bottle like fucking lightening. "What?"

"White. Grape. Juice." I break it down for their slow asses, gesturing to the bottle Emmett is holding out for them to see with a quizzical expression scrunching his face up.

Things go quiet for a while after that.

Masen giants, blinking at a bottle of juice. Yeah we must look fucking 'lethal' right now.

Unsurprisingly, Emmett's the first to crack. His robust laughter sparking humor I didn't know existed in my father and brother-in-law. Now this was ludicrous and it was this very absurdity that had my teeth showing broadly and chuckles slipping under my breath. It had fuck naught to do with Swan's daughter. There was no way in fucking hell it had jack-shit to do with her.

~.~.~

Shortly after our lapse in sanity dinner was announced. Making our way to the dining area allowed us to get our shit together. Admittedly, it was taking me longer to do it. On the real, I don't think I had my shit together since I figured out who Swans daughter was. It was sheer bullshit. It was simply because I couldn't believe he managed to keep her out of the underbelly radar for sixteen years. It fucking had to be. I mean, how the fuck did he pull that one of?

Throughout dinner I stole glances at her across the table. No matter what I was doing or who I was talking to I somehow found myself aware of her every move. If she flinched, I'd snap my full attention to her. When she reached out her fork and picked at her food, I unconsciously mirrored it.

Nothing she did seemed to slip by me.

She was seated between her brothers and there was but one word to describe her as she sat at a table occupied by Chicago's finest, deadliest and most notorious.

The girl looked bored.

Purely and utterly fucking bored.

I sniggered as I watched her over my wine glass.

"She'd look less pained if she were being tortured to death…" Emmett mused humorously through his mouthful of chicken.

Before I could respond, our attention flicked to Aro like a switch.

Clearing his throat, he appraised Isabella in a way I was familiar with. A nonverbal threat meant for the family via her. "Isabella is fine young lady, Charles, you must be very proud." He arched his brow at Swan, who in return, didn't dignify the action with so much as a blink of his eye.

I expected nothing less.

Volturi, however, was in the mood to fuck around because he turned his attention back to the daughter in question and undressed her with his eyes.

He was a stain on the organization. Fucker knew nothing, and acted on impulse at every turn, which is a devastating flaw for this line of business, but he gets by, which allows him some credit if I'm being fair. But, unexpectedly, I wasn't in the mood to be fair right the fuck now and with silent contentment, I noticed Swan was about to lose his shit.

A soft and steady voice broke through the threatening silence, engulfing the space between Swan and Aro, taking the table by surprise.

"Thank you," Isabella answered courteously.

Her doe eyes glanced in her father's direction, subtly calming him down and much to my surprise, Swan allowed her to speak directly to Aro.

This was not something I'd expected. This was something I'm certain no one expected. The women never deal directly with us. When it's down to the organization, they're show pieces. We provide, keep them safe, entertained, fed and depending on the family, showered with love, but business is ours. They sit out business.

A woman addressing us while a face-off between two Bosses is about to go down, is unheard of. What was more unfathomable was that Charles allowed his daughter to address Volturi, unaided no less. He sat back with ease and paid attention to the conversation like it was Sunday and we were at a church garden brunch.

I didn't trust Swan on a usual day. And when he acted like this, it bothered me. An air about him, contentment, with whatever was going on, because he was in on something another fucker wasn't. Only today my distrust was amplified, because it dealt with his daughter and despite attempts to keep tabs on the chick, nothing about her made sense to me.

Especially the fucking fascination I had with her.

Aro wasn't pleased with the lack of reaction from Swan either. He turned his gaze on Isabella like he meant it to glue her to the chair her tight ass was seated on. "You are still in school, yes, Isabella?" The way he elongated her name was laced with the right amount of malice, a threat that he couldn't actually be called out on.

I think the entire table was at least a little uncomfortable at this point. The women of the other organizations squirmed, looking at Aro on the sly, distastefully. Not approving of the way he was addressing the issue of a far younger girl.

Whilst Swan interlaced his fingers and placed them contently on the dining table, Riley and James were now unnaturally still and looked like they could cut a fucker.

Isabella remained poised. Placing her napkin in her lap she met Aro's gaze and motherfucking bettered it. "As is the norm by both social and government standards, Mr. Volturi," she answered in a voice that spoke volumes of how completely at ease she was holding a conversation with him, "yes, I am."

I'd have bought the act too, if I hadn't caught the two morons at her side grinning.

That's all I needed to know. Bambi was, in fact, truly not fazed by Aro's position on the food chain at all and was delicately bitching right back.

My pulse picked up and my bloodhound ears metaphorically picked up. My dick felt like fucking steel.

Holy fuck.

With no way of being sure, I could only assume that the words her plump lips muttered behind her glass was 'knuckle head', before she sipped on her iced water and smiled sweetly enough to rot Aro's teeth.

It was surreal.

A chorus of coughs covered the laughter around the table, before Aro's harsh eyes silenced them. In a second, all was quiet again. My men didn't give a rat's ass, and openly grinned at that fucker without a care in the fucking world.

Wisely, Aro, opted not to goad her after that. He shut his trap and went through dinner with an insincere smile. A smile that was replaced with his usual murderous scowl when he knew the spotlight was off him.

~.~.~

Just as desert was done with, Carlisle tapped on my arm.

"Yeah?"

Dad leaned closer to me and dropped his voice, a signal that this conversation would require the same from me, "We're going to invite Miss Swan to dinner tomorrow at the mansion," He whispered, as Jasper and Emmett lent their ears.

I humored him and dropped my voice to match his, but it didn't help much with my sarcasm. "Dinner?" Old man's gone senile.

Sure and maybe we can get Aro over for tea and scones with the Queen?

Father rolled his eyes and went on with conviction. "If this dinner is anything to go by, she may be well-bred, Edward, but she's also definitely spirited."

I agreed with him there, but come on, call her over for dinner? The broad's not fucking crazy, and it sure as fuck isn't gonna fly with her family either.

All these fucking rational thoughts and I say motherfucking nothing to contradict my father. I remain silent, waiting for a truly inspirational idea from my old man that will maybe, just fucking maybe, work.

Why I do something so stupid, I'll never fucking understand.

Carlisle? He follows up with this, "She'll attend." And me? I wonder how strange Swan's daughter would find it if I did a face plant into the tiramisu.

Dad reads my facial sarcasm now and sniggers.

"You're batshit fucking crazy," I shoot down his lapse in sanity, shaking my head once, no. "She's not going to waltz into a dinner party with us."

Father hits me with a look to say, 'look the fuck around you, Edward'.

"This is different—" I stop speaking when I notice Heidi lending her ears, and with a hard fucking glare in her direction, she minds her own and I get back to things with the old man. "She's got her father's entire fucking operation backing her up here, of course she's comfortable."

Carlisle mirrors my movement and shakes his head, no. "She reminds me of someone else I know. Brat doesn't like being told what to do. If they say no, she'll probably be more inclined to do it." If I didn't know any better, I'd think a smile was threatening to pull at his lips. "We just have to coax her, and trust me, if I'm right, she'll attend."

I respect my father and he sounds sure, so I concede. Trust building through dinner, it's ludicrous but here I am, going along with it.

On the offside, the worst that could happen is her squealing to her horde. Taking into account there's no love lost between them and us, it wouldn't exactly be a train smash, so moot point. The flipside had my full agreement, if she went for this, rebellious Bambi would be walking straight to me…

Slowly, the guests started to leave and so did we, walking out the door, but never actually leaving the premises. When the coast was clear, Carlisle, Jazz, Em and I switched jackets with the guard and sent them out to the cars while we lingered at the back of the hall.

With backs pressed against the wall, we keep to the shadows. Having earlier mentally mapped out the cameras, it was going to be fucking tricky getting to speak with Isabella alone and fucking impossible to take her off the premises without alerting someone. While she's around other families the moron duo never actually leaves her side, they linger close enough to know when she's in trouble, so we wait and bide our time, staying off the radar of the swarms of Phoenix guard still in the area.

"Miss Swan, it has been an absolute pleasure," Heidi said. It was quite a feat, because she looked genuinely pleased as she bid her goodbyes to Bambi. Heidi was not known to take too well to anyone out of the Volturi, let alone another female, but here she stood, wishing Isabella a hearty goodnight.

"Likewise. It was lovely meeting you, Mrs. Volturi." Bambi returned the sentiment with enthusiasm, smiling radiantly as she waved her off. "Thank you for coming."

"Miss Isabella, we're leaving as well," Seth interrupted, wanting to greet her before leaving. He grinned while Embry and Quil looked on displeased from across the room. "Just wanted to say goodbye and stuff. It was- you know- nice meeting you."

"Seth!" Harry bellowed from where he stood beside Embry, before making his way towards them. Seth instantly went rigid. His face held traces of fear and he grimaced as his father pushed his way between the two until he was practically standing off with Riley. "We're leaving," he addressed his spawn while keeping his venomous gaze on the Swan siblings. "Say your goodbyesto the Swans." The pun in those words caused his son to flinch and grind his teeth.

I was rather intrigued by the boy's reaction. The Quileutes hated the other crime families, the Phoenix's and Masen's in particular. We held a special spot in those black hearts of theirs so

the young one's reaction made me curious, but that was quickly over shadowed by the look on Riley and Isabella's faces.

While Riley held on to his calm mask quite nicely, his dangerous eyes spoke volumes in response to Clearwater's underlying threat to his family, whereas Isabella did nothing to cover up her dislike for the older Clearfucker. I was unsure whether her dislike was stirred by his threat to her family or the fact that he had been abrupt to his son. Riley, I was sure was set off by the first, but Isabella's eyes had shot up the second Harry began speaking.

"I'll take your leave, Miss Isabella, Mr. Riley, goodbye for now." Seth nodded once, ignoring the surroundings to speak his piece.

My ears perked up at the ending of the sentence. I didn't miss his change. Kid grew a spine after all.

"Have a good night, Seth. I hope to see you around," Isabella beamed at the boy like he was her favorite fucking puppy, while Riley simply nodded in his direction but still kept his eyes glued to Harry.

"I'd like that. Goodnight." Seth smiled at the siblings before turning to leave, walking ahead of his father, who turned coldly to watch his son stalk away.

"Is it me or does this guy, look a lot like the Penguin?" Isabella ground out through gnashing teeth, narrowing her eyes testily at Harry's retreating yellow and black form. "Because I'm really starting to feel like fucking Batman."

I heard Emmett snort in appreciation and almost smiled myself when I recalled my earlier likening of Clearwater to the flightless bird. I was grateful when Riley responded to her, ultimately breaking my deliberation.

He inclined his head a bit towards his sister and even though he put a restraining hand on her forearm his cold gaze never faltered as he watched the old man reach his son and tell him something heatedly. "Easy Tiger..." He cautioned her with amusement.

"No, let her go." James stepped forward, coming to stand calmly before them with a wine glass in hand.

At his words, Riley tore his eyes away to look at his older sibling like he'd lost his mind.

Maybe we were partially right; one of the siblings doesn't mind her untimely death.

His voice was level and bored but his eyes alert and lethal as he answered his younger brothers' unspoken question. "We're right here." No effort was required to make James words piercing. "What the fuck can Billy's bitch do?"

Then again…

"Bella, you need anything for your room?" James inquired, turning his attention to the brunette.

It was the first time that I'd heard anyone call her that. It was more informal and endearing, almost as if a facade had been shattered now that they assumed they were alone.

Granted, Riley seemed more emotionally attached to the girl. James is a stubborn ass, aloof as he remained, he allowed his walls to lower around her slightly more than I would've originally expected from the Phoenix heir. They both displayed legitimate emotions never seen before. I was shocked. A sentiment mirrored by Jazz, Em and my father.

"Yeah," Riley piped in, "we had it modeled according to your old room but if you want anything changed—"

"It's fine," Isabella dismissed, "Per—fect!" She broke down, speaking animatedly.

Only now that they were alone did I see her as her teenage self, and her brothers chuckled at her toffee childishness, seemingly pleased that she liked the accommodations.

Well, hand them a gold fucking star then.

My inner monologue died off when their sister continued.

"I loved my old room but this one is freaking awesome."

She started sticking out finger as she went through her list of gushy worthy crap that was pissing me off because it wasn't pissing me off. Go figure.

"The color, closet, TV, library and, sweet heaven, the coffee machine trolley! Hahaaaa!" She giggled and did a fist pump. "Wow!"

"Those were my strokes of genius," Riley smiled smugly, flipping his brother off. "Well, aside from the closet, James just had it modeled to what the furnisher said would appeal to you."

"Good, so you'll settle in fine. Father knew you didn't want to move here. His way of trying to make sure you don't get home sick." James spoke matter-of-factly, ignoring Riley as he turned to walk away, her voice stopping him mid-step and causing him to smirk in a way that almost made me acknowledge he was fucking human. Almost.

"Why would I be home sick? My family is here. I'm home finally." Her voice was full of emotion at this point making me realize for the first time that she'd been away from them for all of those years that the Phoenix where in Chicago.

"I missed you guys. It was lonely up there."

"We missed you too, pipsqueak." Riley ruffled her hair.

"Hey," she huffed, puffing out her chest. I stifled a groan at her tits perking out into the air now, as she tried to look tough. "I'm not that short anymore! I grew like a foot since I saw you the last time."

Right now, I hope she's exaggerating. Cause if not… Christ! How short was she before?

"Sure you're not. Smurfs around the globe are intimidated by your presence," James quipped easily, resting his elbow on her head for emphasis. "Now, come along, we have to get you to the old man before he kills someone… like me."

Riley snapped back into mob mode instantly, a scowl on his fuck ugly mug as he glowered furiously at his brother. "He find out about the Denali guard fiasco? I told you that fucker wasn't worth the trouble."

"I'm humbled by how reliant you are on my presence for your survival brother." Isabella's voice dripped with sarcasm as she jabbed James in the arm.

Once again serving as the oil that calms troubled waters, she effortlessly succeeded in lightening the mood between her siblings.

"Just come along." James smiled, leading the way. "I'm hoping having you around after such a long time can calm father the fuck down."

"Oh. My. God," Bambi gushed exaggeratedly, "A smiling James Swan? And that face actually survived! Dude, stop doing that! Someone could see! It'd kill your rep for good!"

She giggled as he glared at her playfully while Riley sniggered at the jibe.

"You're the nice one, little sister." James jerked his thumb at her as they walked. " My share of the 'kind' genes went to you."

"Working on that logic, older brother, I'm going to assume the planet's share of violence went to you," She rolled her eyes at him and went on, swiping an imaginary tear, "The Hitler's would be so proud."

Her siblings stared down at her for a long moment before snorting like fucking hyenas as they stalked towards the staircase.

"I'll meet you guys there. I have to get out of this dress before I kill myself." Isabella stared down at the dress with a frown, "No really, I'm dead serious, so quit laughing." She tried to shut them up and failed miserably.

She swatted their arms and bolted up the stairs like lightning, with them fast tailing her. Once at the top, they went in two different directions.

Keeping close to the shadows, we followed her. It was fucking difficult, the guards weren't stupid and the cameras were still on. The staircase was a red zone, two cameras focused specifically on it. Tampering with the camera or obscuring the lens would alert the security monitoring the place so we had to go the hard route and put the military training to work. Bending over motherfucking backwards, we had to scale the wall, clinging to the banister and slipping onto the beams that hung above, we crossed the area above the cameras, via the low hanging beams that connected the lights. Sweat lined my brow, the physical work was burning like bitch thanks to the heat trapped between the ceiling and lighting. Having to be stealthy cost us severe time and we barely made it to the first floor to catch which room she disappeared into.

Like this hadn't been a huge enough fucking risk, I found myself not shitting out my father. Instead, despite the idea being a long shot, and been rendered a bust, I remained stalking and shit against the wall and shadows, for some reason, reluctant to leave without knowing that I'd have some idea where the fuck to find her again.

Thank Christ! Just as we were about to call it, we heard a door click and she re-emerged from a room at the end of the hall.

Needing to hide my gun from her, I tucked it into my pants and swallowed thick as fuck when the slide skimmed along my fast coming to life dick when I got to really see her. Fuck me.

Isabella changed. Wearing low-cut dark denim jeans that hugged her like a second skin, a purple t-shirt that gripped her tits in a way that only I could notice, normal inexpensive denim converse and all traces of make-up wiped off except for slight shine on her lips from that oily shit chicks smear on.

Fucking stunning.

For the very first time in my existence, I felt the overwhelming urge to beat the shit out of myself.

I had to snap myself out of this shit and fast.

In an oddball move, my brain shut off blood flow to my dick to protect her. I thought and focused solely on the fact that she's five years younger than me instead of the reason that should really be affecting me… the fact that she's Swan's spawn.

We started to walk forward as she turned to shut her room door. Her movements halted as our footsteps became more prominent and almost jumped a foot in the air when she turned and noticed who was approaching her, causing me to smirk as she brought her hand to her chest in shock trying to calm her pounding heart behind those pretty tits.

Sick motherfucker. Sick motherfucker. My mind kept saying but it's like it couldn't convince me to buy that shit. The other half of my head was bitching back saying, "5 years? So what."

Carlisle chuckled at her reaction. "I'm sorry if we scared you, dear."

She stared at us dumbly for a moment, her jaw slack until she mentally slapped herself into consciousness, "Oh it's— erm fine. You just… took me by surprise." Despite her words, she watched us closely. Her eyes on alert, she did an instinctual scan, a fast paced check in all the right areas of our body to know if she was in any danger. Her brained seemed to finally catch up to the reality that no one was attacking her and she eased her frame, waving her hand in dismissal and smiling openly at us as she had before. "Can I help?"

Carlisle returned the smile. "I apologize. It's just that we were hoping for a word."

She blinked twice, doing a double take, kind of tongue tied, "My… dad normally handles the business. I could get him for you if you want—" Confusion evident on her face as she offered, but we fast declined.

"Actually," Father cut her off, "we were hoping to speak with you. The offer still stands, does it not?" He shrewdly continued, looking innocent as fuck, and I had to bite the insides of my cheeks to keep from laughing at the new expression that worked its way to her face when she figured she was the one being rude by not recalling her earlier rain check.

"Shit, my bad!" She exclaimed and her face drowned in that beautiful blush instantly. She quickly corrected herself. "God! Sorry, I mean, yeah, of course it does!" She mumbled some shit under her breath at herself before looking down the hall.

By force of habit, I already knew there was no one close enough to catch us in the act, but she didn't.

Her eyes skimmed the area as she continued, "But, could we continue this in here? The hall's not the best idea given… you know..." She let the sentence hang in the air as she opened her room door.

To say we were floored would be the understatement to rival all other understatements. Thank God she was facing the door, because we probably looked like absolute idiots or Satan's incarnate as we stared, shell-shocked and unmoving.

She was calling us to her room? My thoughts were both disbelieving and annoyed. And I was genuinely pissed that the latter even existed.

Does this girl simply have no sense of self preservation?

I was usually an expert at reading people but this girl didn't react right. It's like she was wired fucking backwards. And for some reason beyond my comprehension, I wanted her to rectify it. Be careful. Run the fuck away screaming.

Any other girl faced with her family's arch enemy would've bolted upon seeing us without waiting to hear a word let alone having a conversation. Yet here she was, inviting us to her room, no less.

Motherfucking Hell!

Snapping out of it, Carlisle walked in, followed by Jasper, Emmett and I, in that order. She closed the door soundly behind us and walked over to her bed, making herself comfortable, sitting Indian style at the foot of it. She looked slightly amused and gestured her hand to the room, stopping at the sofa to our left.

"Take a seat."

This time we were a bit more prepared for it, so her odd behavior didn't surprise us too much.

The walls were a lighter and darker shade of purple, there was a design of white flowers and vines cascading down at random points of the wall adding a feminine feel to the room. It matched her perfectly.

I think my dick mentally slapped my man-card back in my hand and I focused on anything but Isabella.

A large plasma screen was mounted on the entrance wall, next to it stood a monster music system. She had a large collection of DVDs, CDs, books and what looked like an actual fucking

coffee shop on a trolley. I snickered at that last one, remembering how thrilled she was by it, but what interested me above everything else, was that there were substantially more books than anything else in her room. Nice.

The other wall had two doors, one black and one white, which I imagined led to the closet and bathroom. Her king size bed sat at the centre point alongside the furthest wall, covered in a fluffed black comforter with purple pillow cases at the head of the bed.

The double sofa Emmett and Jazz were seated on was black with the same white floral design from the wall running across it. The single sofa that Carlisle occupied was the same; only on this the colors were inverted with the design in black and the actual seat in white.

I chose not to sit, reminding myself that this was no social call and instead made my way to the window that stretched from the entrance wall to the furthest one, completely replacing the wall that was supposed to be there with glass and providing a gorgeous view of the property. Tapping my knuckle against the cold glass, I confirm it was bulletproof. Knowing the window was ammunition proofed makes me mentally scan everything I see outside, before turning back to the others who were making small talk.

She looked perfectly content here in this room surrounded by the biggest threats her family would ever encounter. More at ease than she had been at dinner.

"You look much happier now than at supper," I stated out of nowhere. Both she and the men laughed, assuming it was an ice breaker. Whatever, as long as she replied.

"Not really my scene," She answered with a shrug.

"So we noticed. I guarantee that not all events involving our kind are as dreary. In fact, we will be having a small dinner tomorrow and I'd be greatly obliged if you attended. Consider it us welcoming you to our town." Carlisle spoke so kindly, I almost believed him myself. I knew he was mentally preparing himself to convince her, because sure as fuck, her answer would be no.

I watched quizzically as the girl chewed her bottom lip.

"Hmm. I have lunch with dad tomorrow, we'll finish late," she mused.

I snickered internally. There is it was. The polite 'no' would follow.

Jasper knew it was coming too and quickly jumped in with an evasive maneuver. "Don't worry," he rolled the words off his tongue with an easy smile, "supper usually starts late. Thanks to the workload and the ladies fashion habits," he joked, " especially Emmett's and my wives."

Isabella didn't look convinced. Wise cookie. But her next words shattered that dream fast.

"Are you sure?" She asked, "I don't want to inconvenience you guys or anything-"

She was hesitant to make supper a problem for us. Fuck me, Swan, educate your child!

No one else seemed put out by her severe lack of sense when it came to self preservation.

Then again, who looks a gift horse in the mouth? Sneaky motherfucker earns his keep and goes on imploringly, with faux passiveness. "Trust me," Jazz says, "it's no trouble at all. We're all late eaters. So, Miss Swan, would you inclined to join us?"

Before she answers, he adds in a tactful little gem that makes our story more genuine for Bambi and allows her alarmingly little room to refuse without 'offending' us. "It's a simple family dinner but if it makes you more comfortable, you can bring along your guard."

I could already see Carlisle's eyebrows knitting together as he thought of counters to anything else she may say.

She snorts to herself and mumbles, "My guard." Before shaking her head and grinning openly, "In that case, sure, thanks, I'd love to."

I did a double take. Warning bells sounding in my head, on behalf of her. It's a wonder Swan kept her hidden for so long. How the fuck else could he hope to keep her alive, she was born fuck-hot and suffered with an acute deficiency of self fucking preservation.

No fucking way could it be that easy…

Our inner disbelief was answered by simply glancing at the girl sitting happily before us. Happy, motherfucker. No trace of worry on her fuck awesome face. Fuck me sideways.

"That's it?" Emmett choked.

I swear I could've cut the fucker right there and then!

He pulled himself together fast at the subtle death glare he received and covered up his slip, chuckling, "What? No inquiries on the dress code?"

Isabella shook her head, no. "Well, you said small dinner right? I think I'll manage okay." she chuckled and raised a curious brow, "or is there any particular dress code?"

Emmett shook his head zealously. "Nope," he shrugged and went on jestfully, "come as you are… PJ's or cat-suit."

My brain shut the fuck down as the mental image of Bambi in a cat-suit filled my mind. My zipper bit hard into my raging dick as it saluted.

I shifted uncomfortably and tried to cool my shit down. What the fuck was wrong with me? She's a fucking Swan.

Her adorable laughter broke me out my thoughts that had instantly turned dark at the recollection of her last name.

"Well, then I'll definitely manage," She exclaimed enthusiastically, clicking together her converse, "Informal is perfect," She purred in contentment.

She didn't like to dress up.

I smirked.

She wasn't blind. When she caught sight of Dad's amused grin she elaborated, knowing that we'd notice she wasn't having the time of her life earlier tonight. "I'm kinda an oddball in most social regards..." she smiled and shrugged.

And there's that understatement again. Trust me Isabella… We've, noticed!

Her phone began to buzz and after a glance at the caller's name she answered like jet fuel worked her limbs. "Shoot!" She frowned, "Hey bro, I spaced, sorry. I'll be right there."

Carlisle, Emmett and Jazz stood up tall. I joined them.

She had said yes, so mission accomplished. We could get the fuck outta here now.

We went to leave, but Emmett tapped the back of his hand to my chest and nudged his head back to where she was. My feet halted beside my father's as she motioned frantically for us to wait.

Instantly, I went on alert. My hand slipped into my jacket, close enough for me to grab my piece if she tipped her brother off over the line.

Watching her carefully, I raised a brow, wanting to know whether she was playing us. I'd murder her brother in front of her if she was.

Slipping out my cell, I sent a text to Fred telling him to bring the car out back. From her window, I'd found a clean way to get off the property. It wouldn't be easy, but with the cover of darkness, it was surefire access to and from her room. I hadn't wanted to use it so soon, because with it overlooked by Swan, I could come back at any point if the need arose. I liked the idea of that a lot. Along the fence, there was an area neglected by the guard due to a fixed camera monitoring the space. This type of camera records for thirty minutes and has a 5 second window before it backs up the data and records again. As long as we cross the area within that time frame, we could use the trees to get past the guards. They wouldn't have a clue it was even happening. All it required was stealth and agility.

She got off the phone quickly and ran to the door pausing right next to Emmett.

David and Goliath in the making.

My expression remained grim despite wanting to move her away.

"Er…" she nibbled on her lip contemplatively, "down the second staircase to the right, there's a door." We stared at her disbelievingly as she continued, "Directly out the door is a staircase." She snapped her fingers and pointed at no one in particular, while we tried to figure out what she was on about, "Don't switch on the lights. Just follow the staircase and it'll spit you out in the underground parking lot. Just go from there, like you were never here. Kay?" She finally looked at us and snapped her fingers as if to ask yes or no?

I didn't like the snapping shit, but she was clearly in a hurry and this wasn't child's-play. We'd have answered her but English was a fucking problem for us momentarily.

"Just leave in like 30 seconds so I can ask the guard to escort me." She frowned at us when we didn't answer and just went on so that at least she knew we heard her, "It'll attract a lot less attention. Remember, 30 seconds or so. They might be confused that I need an escort, so I'll need a bit of time."

Jasper nodded on autopilot, his face blank. He couldn't succeed in smiling if he tried. Neither could I. I just watched her smile at us one last time and with that she was off.

Just like that. She waved and disappeared behind the door, leaving us there gripping hidden 9mms and staring mutely at a door.

"Did Swan's daughter just willingly provide us with a route to exit her house?" Emmett asked, blinking after a pause.

"Yupp," Jasper answered, scratching his chin, looking dumbly ahead, waiting for a punchline to jump out and smack him.

I snapped out of it. "Well, let's get the fuck on with it." Pulling out my glock, I tucked it partly, allowing my jacket sleeve to cover the handle, trigger and magazine while the very tip of the slide was visible. My finger rested comfortably on the trigger, I wasn't going to trust a Swan. Regardless of whatever transpired in this room, she'd surely come to her senses soon and send her father's flock running back to their positions.

"Wait, Edward." My father's hand clasped my shoulder, halting my movements.

I whipped my head back to face my father. "What in God's name for?!" I barked, "She could have their entire fucking operation on our asses in fucking seconds. This was a fucking shitty idea."

Carlisle didn't move. He shrugged. "I don't think she was fucking around."

I growled 'bullshit' under my breath, but I agreed. Bambi was genuine. But we remained armed regardless. Old habits die hard. Father whipped out the two semiautomatics hidden in the jackets we exchanged with the guards. Emmett had his and Jazz flipped one from Carlisle.

Locked, loaded and waiting.

Leaning against the wall with a foot propped up lazily, I lolled my head to Carlisle. "You didn't answer my question." I gestured with a cocked brow to my piece, "what's all this for?" Seriously, why the fuck were we still here?

Old man shrugged and dusted down his jacket, "We don't know how she'll be arriving tomorrow. She may need us to fetch her," Carlisle reasoned.

I was on both feet fucking fast and fucking furious. "Fetch her?" I gnawed out between teeth, "You're joking! Her transportation is not my problem!" I seethed.

"Come on, Ed," Emmett said.

I was liking this less and less every second.

"The girl just tried to get us out of here unscathed, the least we can do is to get her to our place in the same fashion," Emmett reasoned, holding his hands up defensively at my murderous face. I meant it. He knew it. I'd cut a fucker easily in this mood, I didn't give a fuck who it was.

Please. Oh motherfucking, Please tell me he was not warming up to her.

Jasper cut off my reply. "Em, has a point, Boss. She is a guest tomorrow." His face completed what it wasn't safe to say out loud if Isabella had crossed us… 'Whether or not we're inviting her to her to get to Swan'.

We could leave. It would be safer, but we wouldn't, because this was too important. So we remained in the dead center of hell. We could fight our way out if the need arose. It would be messy, and fuck yeah, I'm not dumb enough to think we were evenly matched and in just as much, if not more, danger, but the hidden guard we had lurking the streets outside would descend like wolves if shit went down. It'd be a blood bath on both sides. This is business. You have to take risks. And shit happens. You just deal, smartly, and the only plan you stick with is simple. Don't. Die.

Jazz knocks some of his blonde mop off his mug and clicks his tongue disinterestedly. "Plus, she's a lady, Ed, a lamb, coming to our territory. We don't even know if she drives. Esme will skin us if she found out we let her make her own way." He waves his hand, wielding his piece in a circle in a 'so and so' manner. "All that chivalrous shit ma keeps pushing extends to any woman. Even outside the family." He looks at me, emphasizing his point with his eyes.

It's true. Mother tries to raise us right. But still.

"She's just another fucking Swan!" I explode. "Do I need to remind you of all fucking people?" I shoot my daggers at the lot rapidly, unable to settle on one person in particular with my rage. "We hate them! Our entire history bears testament to it."

"Of course I remember, Edward." Father snapped. Squaring his shoulders he sighed and stared me down, an age old wisdom glinting in his eyes. "The girl just seems fucking different," he replied calmly.

The fuck— for the love of all that's fucking holy— I blow up outraged, "SHE'S WIRED WRONG!"

No one said anything. Pissed, we waited as the proverbial waters settled.

Carlisle tapped his glock against his temple and scratched it thoughtfully, "I know, son, but there's something that doesn't set well with me— it doesn't fit." Father's no idiot. He knows his shit inside out and isn't screwed over easy. And because I know this, I hear him out, even though I'm not open-minded about his musings. "If she's anything like the person she reminds me of, then she's— for lack of a better word, endearing."

I don't have to actually scoff. He sees me bite back a growl and looks me dead in the eye. "For fucks sakes, Edward," Father snaps, stern and calm, "think back to all the shit that went down tonight. Hell could've broken loose on several fucking occasions, and it didn't, because this girl with the backward wiring tried and succeeded in calming shit down."

He clears his throat and straightens his unruffled coat down. "Humor me," he states calmly, back to normal in the blink of an eye. "If I'm right about her… she may just be…" He doesn't complete it. He has an internal battle with himself, before just letting it hang in the air.

I've been impassive the entire time. I couldn't give a rat's ass about my old man's mood swings. If he swung at me, I'd bring him down. It's as simple as that. We've had our share of disputes, and now that I'm heading the organization, it's fair play. Being the old Boss, he's overseeing my shit for a while. Being the current Boss, however, I can do whatever the fuck I want if I deem it appropriate. I out rank him. We've come to blows before, but it's all good. We're fucked up like that. Carlisle views it as training and seems fucking pleased when I knock him out.

"Come on, Boss," Emmett tries in vain to pacify me, when my eyes don't leave my old man, "even you enjoyed the Seth stunt." He shrugs.

My teeth bare and I feel my face contort into a snarl. "Grape juice," I hiss, "isn't going to stop an age old fucking warfare."

"Whoa," Emmett chuckles, holding up his hands to say he comes in peace, "Relax bro. I'm not asking you to lay off the Phoenix shit," he scowls, "Fuckers will die," he mumbles, shrugging his shoulders and backs up, unsure of my temper. "I'm just saying, we should get her there safely tomorrow."

"You may have time to babysit the broad but don't expect me to warm up to a fucking Swan anytime soon." It sounded fucking fierce and believable to my ears, but in my head? Nah— I was fucked in my head. "I remember where my loyalties lie," I seethed convincing myself and them, "My stand point with them is never going to fucking change." I spoke through gritted teeth, about to blow a fuse when Carlisle spoke again.

"Well, the guards are probably back now so there's no point in arguing," He spoke coolly, dismissing my rant. "We'll just wait for her to return before sorting out the transportation."

It made sense. If she was coming in, the usual thing was to make sure shit was covered. What I didn't like was that there was a possibility my old man wasn't looking at this as business anymore.

"Whatever," I grind out and fuck off to the window again, "humor Swan's kid."

My eyes adjust quickly to the darkness outside and I carefully scan the area, mapping out everything mentally incase I had missed something before. If I was stuck here, I may as well get some valuable information.

I rescan the room too when I'm done. Refusing to sit down like my father had on the sofa or my so called brothers, legs stretched out comfortably on the girl's bed, with guns pointed at the door.

Fifteen minutes later, we hear footsteps. Systematically, our ears pricked and we looked up, a silent signal to each other to brace yourself. Safeties are off, guns loaded and aimed directly at the entrance.

I pat my free hand through the air, signaling them to lower their weapons. It's a single set of footsteps that I hear and it's too loud for it to be a threat. The person was skipping down the hall.

True to form, when the door opens second later, it's Bambi that walks in. The girl looks fucking flabbergasted, standing stock still in the doorway as she took in our forms. Her eyes were large, like a deer in the headlights, and her mouth formed a perfect fucking 'o', the slight pink of her moist tongue that was visible teasing my now raging hormones as I stared at her, frozen amusingly in the door way. She licked her lips, trying to wet her mouth enough to speak. My cock twitched like a fucking champion, waiting for candles to be blown.

Fuck, Bambi on her knees would look—

Fu—uuck! Where the fuck's my head at tonight?

"Oh my God!" Isabella cried putting her hand to her forehead worriedly.

You don't disrespect another family. This wasn't a sit-down, this could never be a sit-down because she's a woman but the worry was clear as fucking day on her face. Keeping a family waiting, leaving before both sides had said their piece, shit like that is likely to cause beef.

"I'm so sorry— I thought— You sounded like you were done— And, so, you know, I left! If I realized— I would've come back sooner, you know?"

She rambled apologetically, and I had to admit if I wasn't me, I'd have felt kind of shitty. We were playing this chick. And here she was, making feeble attempts to keep the peace, when in reality; she should be running like a bat out of hell in the direct opposite direction of us.

"I'm so sorry." Her hands flew wildly as she apologized one last time for good measure, not realizing the morons I associated myself with had decided to wait for her after the goodbyes to offer her a fucking car ride.

I didn't bother speaking. This was their show. They wanted to wait, let them fucking deal with this. Besides, I was pissed at myself right the fuck now and I didn't want to say jackshit to anyone. I couldn't help the reaction. The second she was insight, I wanted to ram my dick somewhere in her… mouth, ass, pussy. Fuck me, anywhere! It was fucking insane. She was Swan's daughter. It still wasn't working! And it ticked me off, anger like I've never felt before. So I focused on my earlier thoughts. She's 16, Edward don't go there. 5 years younger than you. Edward, don't fucking go there. Yet again this worked infinitesimally better, however, the fact that I was more concerned about her than the fact that she's a daughter of Phoenix still grated on my nerves. And I was fast running out of patience. We needed to get out of there. Now.

"Dear, don't worry about it," Carlisle addressed her. "We were on our way, but we realized we forgot a detail."

My mouth formed a hard line. My fucking father just gave this chick an honest fucking answer.

Bambi looked a fuckton relieved as she moved forward to sit sideways at the foot of the bed, her position enabling her to see Emmett and Southern, as well as Carlisle.

As she folded her legs beneath her, Jazz and Emmett righted themselves from her headboard and began to move away, lest they make the Swan uncomfortable. I scoffed internally at the thought, but her reaction evoked a new reaction.

Jealousy.

She gestured for them to sit back down.

Really.

As if it was nothing that they were sprawled comfortably in her room, she just motioned for them to not bother scampering off like good little puppies.

And they stayed. My eyes narrowed to fucking slits. They just fucking stayed. Surprised but content, they got comfortable again, like this was any other job we were pulling.

"So, what's this detail?" She rubbed her hands together, cold in the usual Chicago chill.

"Your travel arrangements, should we be sending a car for you?" Carlisle spoke whilst signaling Emmett with his eyes to hand her the pink jacket that was draped on the nightstand.

Shit didn't get crazier than this.

Rubbing at the back of my neck to ease some of the tension, I made a mental note to get some sleep tonight. Motherfucker, I must be working too hard.

"Whoa?" Isabella groaned, "I held you guys back for that? You could've called or something, you shouldn't have had to wait."

I agreed. We didn't have to wait. But Crazy-as-fuck wanted to test out his theory that you remind him of someone he knows.

Maybe that was the appeal. Isabella was impossible to understand. If Father could confirm that she reminded him of this person for a good reason, then maybe it's like winning some sort of competition. Like a gold star for figuring her out or shit.

"Do you have your cell?" she asked Emmett, taking the jacket from him and slipping it on.

Now, if what she asked took us by surprise, imagine my face when Emmett willingly and wordlessly handed her his cell.

She typed at it quickly and handed it back to him. "Here's my number," She spoke in general, "call anytime. Really, anytime, I don't care. My friends call at the strangest of hours so I'm used to it."

I never wanted to hurt my brother more than I did in that moment my entire fucking life.

"I'll do that," surprise was evident in Emmett's voice as he pocketed his phone.

"And I'll tell Dad to drop me off tomorrow," Bambi said.

The room erupted into robust laughter until we realized she was being serious.

Shit.

"Char- Your father isn't going to be happy with that, Isabella. You can have your guard escort you, and Charles will rest easy for the duration of your visit." Carlisle's composure was a flawless disguise.

Bambi shook her head, on a completely different frequency than us. "No. Really, Papa won't mind. I'll tell him to drop me off."

"I highly doubt that he will, Isabella," Emmett dismissed a bit sternly, aiming to make her see sense, "we're a rival mob."

He stopped short when she stuck out her hand for him to shake.

His mouth snapped shut, stunned, and he looked up at us for directions. I nodded my head, saying just fucking take it. And he did. Motherfucker moved to shake her hand.

She grinned, gesturing to her offered hand again, before he smirked and took it, humoring her, while clearly trying not to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

"Hi," Bambi greeted him, but didn't wait for a reply. Just as he was about to extend the same courtesy, she continued and he closed his mouth in confusion and listened. "My name's Isabella Marie Swan, but I prefer to be called Bella."

I didn't know where she was going with this but it was amusing all the same.

"I'm sixteen years old," she continued, shaking his paw, and I heard Jazz snort at Emmett's sorry ass. I coughed to cover my own snigger. This shit just doesn't happen. Gigantor was fucking mute, unable to laugh, and not sure what the fuck to do as his ass was verbally handed to him by a pint-sized brunette. Bet he missed Rose like bitch now.

Isabella smirked at his speechlessness. "My favorite color is purple. I have a pet Siberian tiger named Shere Khan. Yes, after the Jungle Book character. I drive a purple Ferrari 458 Italia that was gifted to me, even though I head over heels in love with Martins,"

I felt ten fucking feet tall all of a sudden. The Vanquish parked in my garage back home never seemed sweeter than it did right now.

"Dad probably did it as a joke to remind me of the Italian mafia heritage." She shrugged and wiggled her brows. "But don't get me wrong, I love my car! My brothers have identical ones in different colors. I love cars in general. I'd live in one if it had a bed. I also love staying at home when it's raining. I hate the cold," she emphasized passionately, "I'm terrified of thunder storms, squeal like a little girl at the first clap."

Like a little girl? I snickered, a smirk pulling at my lips, looking at little beauty, and wondering just how old she thinks she is.

By now, she was coming to a close with her rant, ticking off items with her free hand as she mulled them over and named her most important shit. "I pride myself in being a strong feminist. I revel in thinking outside of the box. I used to be addicted to Seinfeld reruns, but first and foremost," She opened her eyes and held his gaze to get her point across loud and clear, "I belong to nomob."

Silence.

We didn't really know where to go from there. How did you respond to something like that? Especially when it came out of the blue.

I hated to admit it, but that wasimpressive. I was impressed.

No one says shit like that. And if they did, they didn't mean it. The women, especially. The mob is a big scary place in their heads. You don't cross it. So to remain on the safe side, they simply never speak about it. Silent observers, never swinging one way or another.

Then, there's Isabella Swan. 'nough said.

Emmett shot me a look that read 'I told you so', bringing me crashing back to earth. I chose to ignore him and every other occupant of the room, especially Swan's daughter. The reply was extraordinary but I refused to let my guard down around a girl from the enemy's side. I couldn't risk it, not with my reaction to her.

"Well, then I guess you'll be making your own way then tomorrow." My voice sounded sharp as ice, even to my ears and the sudden switch in my demeanor had Bambi look up at me in wide-eyed alarm.

"And we will be eagerly awaiting your arrival," Jasper cut in smoothly with a smile moving her attention to him and effectively breaking the tension in the room.

Carlisle sent me a cautioning look that only I'd be able to pick up I'd seen my father wear it so often. "That we will," He put on a pleasant smile, agreeing with Jazz and turning calmly to Bambi. "But for now, we'll take our leave."

She accompanied us down the hall, distracting the guard so that we could leave. It almost worked too.

Then we heard that bastard call out my name and I turned to face Charles Swan head on. Instinctively, I withdrew my piece, flanked fast by the others as Riley and several of his armed guards moved towards us at the speed of a freight train.

"Riley!" Isabella called, "What are you doing?"

My hand froze as she moved to stand in front of me, blocking her brother or me I'm not sure, from clear access to each other.

"Isabella, move aside." Riley was visibly struggling to keep calm now that he realized she was here surrounded by us.

"Riles, calm down," Isabella spoke softly, calmly. Her tone passive but firm. "Father," she looked up at Charles, trying a different avenue, "I called them back as they were leaving to talk."

Bambi shocked the ever living shit out of me. Lying flawlessly through her teeth, she took the heat to calm the shitstorm about to unfold around her.

It took my all to mask my reaction to this new turn.

Focus as I might, I couldn't force myself to direct any rage on her, despite the strong fucking hate that was flowing in a river of fire towards her family. Fucking Bambi. My fingers itched to move her out of the way. Protect her from it.

I concentrated hard on her family to distract myself. Worked like a charm until Charles opened his trap.

"You what?" Charles didn't raise his voice. It was drawn out and hushed at his daughter, displaying fury that needed no highlighting. "Isabella, they're the Masens. You should know better. Our fam—"

"Papa, please. Not today." She bowed her head respectfully, but kept her eye contact. "The family hates them," She quoted and went on attempting to implore her old man. "I've heard nothing but that for a while, Papa. Trust me, I'm paying attention, I swear. I can recite the whole sordid tale of how it is that we hate them," she jutted out her chin a little and mimicked her father's frowned brows. She looked a fuck ton better doing it, "but no one can tell me why we hate them so I refuse to pass judgment." Her self-contained and confident nature shining through, she spoke in such timid yet self-assured quietness that her fuck-rational words somehow calmed the irate men around her.

"Isabella—" Charles called her name almost in a growl.

My jaw involuntarily clenched tight as fuck and my fingers balled themselves into fists around the handle of my glock.

Isabella didn't react. Not even a flinch. "Papa, please, not today. It's got nothing to do with me." She sighed, the exhaustion of her 'big day' finally weighing her down. "They're our guests for the night. They stayed behind at my behest and have been so kind as to invite me to dinner," she smiled up at her father with doe eyes and wringed her hands, firmly yet politely stating more than asking, letting him know that she was going to accept, "So, I'd really appreciate it if you lowered your weapons from my guests' heads." Her tiny form stood unyielding as she reasoned with them.

That earlier feeling returned, and I stared at her, semi-awed as the men begrudgingly lowered their guns. She beamed, leaning up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on her father's cheek. My look turned deadly. Pissed off but seemingly content with leaving her be, Charles turned on his heel and stalked off with his minions.

There were several things that ran through my head, 'that was handled well.', 'remarkable how neatly she can go from mischievous young girl to mature young lady at the drop of a hat when need arises'. My blood was still boiling because seeing her innocently place a kiss on Charles cheek reminded which family she was the daughter of… But what got to me was the last and most dominant one…'How the fuck did this man walk away when he knew his daughter was in the company of danger?!'

Blinded by fury, my finger tensed on the trigger wanting desperately to cap him more than I have before in my life. Even my breathing stilled as I watched him walk away from her. I didn't get it, I suddenly didn't want him dead just to gain the territory anymore. I wanted it slow, and painful. I needed to make him suffer. My vessels were singing for him to be carved up nice then lit like fireworks.

She breathed a sigh of relief and spun to look at us. "Sorry about that, Father is slightly edgy—" she stopped short when her gaze fell on me. I saw her cower under my glare and it wasn't even directed at her.

"It's alright, Isabella. We know." Jaspers calming voice came to the rescue again as he noticed what had caused her abrupt pause.

"Good night, Isabella, it's late. You should go inside. It's not that safe out here tonight given who your guests were." Emmett smiled at her and she returned it before waving and disappearing into the house.

"What the hell was that man?" Jasper asked as we exited.

"What?" My voice was low. My anger evident even though I remained nonchalant.

Emmett clicked his tongue, telling me I knew exactly what they were talking about. "She just put her ass on the line trying to stop a fucking blood bath." He tapped the back of his hand to my chest lightly.

"She was trying to save her family." I spoke through gritted teeth, still livid at her Father, that fucker Charles Swan.

Freddie pulled up the car. Two of the Masen SUV's at close range should something go wrong.

"Dude, that was as much for us as it was for them," Emmett continued as we got in slamming the doors shut.

"SHE'S A SWAN!" I was actually screaming at my-fucking-self, they just didn't fucking know it. "Know where your loyalties lie!" I gripped at my hair furiously.

I felt like a fucking loon.

This was mental, and I was losing it. I needed them to keep pushing my buttons.

Emmett didn't disappoint, "I'm not saying fucking run to the Swan's with a muffin basket! All I'm saying is that maybe the girl…"

My eyes finally left the window and he shut up hard enough to cut his tongue off if he wasn't careful.

I was seething.

"You have a fucking soft spot for her?" I demanded. "Are you fucking insane! She's fucking Charles Swans spawn. A daughter of Phoenix."

Emmett didn't answer. He knew better. Shit wasn't right tight now. And he recognized this side of me. I was capable of anything right now.

Minutes past, and the road flew by us. Thunder and lightning clapping loudly above us as the heavy rain slowed down the journey back to the house.

No one spoke.

Fuck, no one breathed.

And, in this silence, I couldn't escape the reality that every word spoken to Emmett was intended for myself.

"She seems different from them."

"Don't fucking patronize me, Emmett," I throw his words back in his face, cause it's bullshit and he knows it. He's no different from me, "you fucking went in there with the same fucking intentions as me! Get the girl. And we get Swan."

He clenches his jaw, unable to deny it. The silence this time lasts all but ten seconds, "Just like you, she was definitely not what I expected going in to this."

I breathe. In. Out. Inhale. Exhale.

Forcing back the Boss to allow the cousin to hear him out. It was taking everything in me to pull it off.

"She was supposed to be the bratty Swan princess. I just don't think it's the way it is." He watches me for a reaction before he continues cautiously, "She's innocent."

I watched Jasper in my peripheral vision. He was smart enough to remain aloof, on the safe side. But I knew him better, fucker was sold.

" I can't fucking believe this shit." My fists clenched tightly at my side in frustration. "Got an opinion, Father?" I arched my brow at him, wanting, no needing his backup on this one, cause this shit was personal. I was fighting myself.

"I know what you mean, Edward." Carlisle who had been silently taking in the argument and giving it much thought as per usual, spoke up finally. He coughed into his fist and straightened his shoulders. The head of the house was out to play, not the former Don, no, my father. "Boys," he referred to his children collectively, "the girl is coming to supper tomorrow and a wonderful time will await our guest." he put emphasis on the word.

There was no way Carlisle Cullen wasn't standing by me through this of all issues.

He looked to me, metaphorically slipping on his mob shoes on the other foot. "You can decide what you want to do after that, son. We'll stand by you, but know that she was invited by me as a guest, so nothing will happen to her tomorrow. I refuse to be a hypocrite in my own eyes. Though it was unnecessary, she attempted to save our asses back there. We owe her this one. Anything after that is up to you."

"Fair enough," I said, chewing on the insides of my cheeks. He had left the decision about the plan entirely up to me. I wouldn't go against his wishes about tomorrow but that didn't mean I had to be happy about it.

Tomorrow will be painful, interesting but painful. I don't know how this girl managed to worm her way through the concrete walls of my family, but I refused to let her break down mine because, if I was being honest, I'd have to admit that part of me wanted Swan to refuse her, keep her safely away from all of this and as a Masen that was unacceptable.

Either way, Swan was a wise son of a bitch. Judging from his subtle mannerisms today, I gathered that it wasn't a case of him not caring about Isabella. No, now that I thought about it with a straight head, everything about his behavior seemed to point to something far different… Swan seemed sure of her.

I had a nagging feeling she just may show up tomorrow after all.

~.~.~ Your R&R's warm my heart, thanks for reading, love Kat ~.~.~

Authors Note: I'm so blasted sorry for the delay *flowers*, it shouldn't be taking this long but I'm away for work and all I see are targets and reports. I apologize for 'Bambi' working its way in there, *laughs* Notting Hill is the only dvd my co-worker/bunkmate brought with her and she's killing it. Sending Redbull and hugs to our supermodel JustJJ, thanks for all the help hon. I've manipulated reality like crazy in this one, but it was to suit I plan I had way back when *winks* kick up your legs and enjoy the AU ride. See you soon with another update. Thank you to everyone, readers old and new, your support is what anchored me through the FF craziness. I've got D&D in the works *wiping brow, pumping fist*, Ch13's complete, and it'll be posted with 12.

Love always,

Kat