Chapter 22
Diamond Man
Bella paced up and down Edward's apartment for 2 days she hadn't heard anything, she put her hand through her hair and sighed again, the girls were equally worried, Emilie, Victoria and James' daughter had been staying with Bella, Victoria's mother didn't have space because she had just moved joints. Bella stopped pacing when she heard the tiny patter of Emilie's feet, she was rubbing her eyes and her hair was notty and roughed from her sleep.
"Morning Sweetheart, food?"
Emilie nodded eagerly and sat down on the seat while Bella busied herself with making Emilie's breakfast, while she was doing that she thought back to Maranzano's conversation when he barged in here with her mother.
Flashback
"I swear canary, if he thinks he's going to try anything you better tell him there are a lot more people I can hurt"
Bella crossed her arms and glared at him and her supposedly mother who hadn't spoken much
"If I didn't know better Maranzano, I say you were scared of Edward"
"Bella?" Emilie was at the top of the stairs and Bella panicked
"Gop to your room sweetheart"
"Emilie nodded quickly before running back to her room
"I'm not scared of no-one, you just give him the message" he was walking to the door but stopped short and then turned round with a smirk on his face "On second thoughts" he reached into his pocket and got a knife out, Renee jumped from the chair and looked at Bella in terror "Let's leave Edward a little message"
End of flashback
The cut still hurt her, 2 days later, he had cut her across her stomach, leaving a giant ragged scar across her torso, she tried to fight him but that only made him dig further into her skin, she winced slightly as she pressed her hand against it, she had asked her friend to stitch it for her, he didn't ask any questions he just did as he asked and gave her a hug and asked her to be careful. She placed Emilie's breakfast on the table and smiled as the little girls face light up as she began to eat her breakfast, she heard a knock on her door and she asked Emilie to stay in here, ever since the Johnny incident, she kept a gun in her inner thigh, no-one knew what Johnny had done to her, not even the girls, she got the strap from Rosalie who had designed it to be a lacy garter. She looked through the key hole to see a man wearing a hat, and who wore well fitted suit with a while silk tie
"Who is it?"
"Miss Swan?"
"Yes?"
"My name is Paulie Rossi, I'm the man who got your Fiancé and his associates out of jail, I've been asked to collect you, as proof Edward asked me to tell you the first night he talked to you, you slapped him in the face" the man smirked slightly and Bella smiled, "May I ask is Emilie there with you?"
"Yes"
"Victoria and James need her too, they miss her"
Bella unlocked the door and opened it wide, the man's eyes widened slightly but quickly composed himself "Would you like to come in and wait?"
Edward sat patiently in the waiting area, they had been given fresh clothes, and he was currently drinking scotch on rocks and smoking a cigar, He heard the doors open and Victoria practically flew towards the door,
"Emilie sweetheart"
James followed shortly behind her, Bella was hugged by James and he thanked her for taking caring of Emilie
"No problem" Bella replied smiling, as soon as she saw Edward she ran to him and hugged him tightly "Where the hell have you been you jackass"
Edward chuckled breathlessly and hugged her tighter "I'm sorry, we had to wait apparently"
"I'm nagging your ear later about those bloody guards" she pulled back and bit her lip "Two are dead though"
He furrowed his eyebrows "How do you…"
He was interrupted by the screeching of females Rosalie and Alice had joined them, Bella looked to the corner and saw Jack sitting there drinking his drink and looking down, it must be hard for him, Bella kissed him on the cheek and walked up to Jack, he smiled and stood up, she hugged him tightly and then Rosalie and Alice joined her
"Well this is certainly delightful" Jack said smirking and winking at the boys, they huffed "What can I say; I'm every woman's dream"
They were taken to the main room, James and Victoria played games with Emilie and asked her what she had been doing
"Then me and Auntie Bella went to the park, I fed the ducks, one nearly bit my hand but I pulled away quickly, and then a nasty man visited Bella"
Edward turned sharply to Bella and Bella felt light headed and she heard bells ringing in her ears "Maranzano" he whispered she nodded, he took her chin and looked her in the eyes "Did he do anything" she didn't say yes or no but she did say they would talk about it later, everyone in the room shared a worried look
"Is that why…?" Rosalie was about to ask if that was why she wanted the garter strap but quickly shut up, not wanting to start an argument, first thing was first was to figure out who they were waiting for, Emmett kissed Rosalie's head and kept her close, Rosalie had told him of the miscarriage and he asked her if she was ok, she nodded and said it was for the best but she will miss her child. The door opened at the front and Bella saw the woman who had warned her the pigs were coming and another female beside her, then it was Mr. Rossi who walked in, Bella's breath though paused as soon as she saw the two men entering, they both had grey hair but the one who was slightly taller and the most, the taller one had rings under his eyes, his face was old but you could tell he was dangerous, he wore a masked face, his eyes were blue which pierced right through you. The slightly shorter man had the same colour of eyes, but his cheeks were slightly puffy she had the feeling she had met him before but she couldn't remember where from.
The men sat down and they looked round and when they both saw Bella the slightly shorter man put a hand over his mouth
"Isabella Swan, I presume"
It wasn't a question, he already knew what her name was, there was no anger in his eyes, Bella could tell they were…tender towards her,
"I don't suppose you remember me? Or my brother here" she shook her head
"That doesn't surprise me" he turned his attention to Edward who was holding her hand "your love for each other is obvious even to a blind man, congratulations on your engagement, that's a beautiful ring you've bought her Mr. Cullen"
"Thank you"
The taller man who had not taken his eyes away from her begin to speak
"You're all confused right now, but as I'm sure your aware our good friend Mr. Rossi here has explained it's because of you taking care of Miss. Swan here, and we would also like to finish up this business of the feud between Mr. Cullen and Mr. Maranzano, he is a disgrace and must b dealt with"
The shorter man began to speak again "My name is Vito Marino and my brother Antonio Marino"
Everyone's eyes widened, the two most famous, respected, feared mafia lords ever known, as Bella could recall they lived in Italy, so why were they concerned about her and her welfare?
Vito signalled the woman to come forward, the one who she hadn't seen before "Introduce yourself dear, no one speak until she has finished"
She smiled kindly at the man and looked at them all with a deep breathe "My name is Julie…Maranzano, and I sent Kelly here" she indicated to the woman who had come to warn Bella and Edward from the pigs "To come and warn you, but obviously I was too late, I want this to stop, what he's done is too much, and when I heard what he did to…Elizabeth" she held back the tears "I knew Elizabeth when I was younger, she used to look after me, that was the final straw for me, I'm sure you don't need telling he has a temper, a couple for months back he said to me patience is not my virtue, you should know I took yours"
"He raped you,,,his own sister?" Jack said in disgust when she nodded Jack shook his head
"I travelled to Italy…well…Bella you've been lied to by Renee"
"Tell us something we don't know" Edward said, not in a harsh way more sarcastically
"Renee and Charlie aren't your parents"
The world seemed to stop for a few moments
"That's…That's impossible I have my fathers eyes and I take after my dad's mum in singing and well…it just can't be true"
Edward held Bella's hand stroking his thumb over her knuckles, he had his suspicions, the whispers about Renee and Charlie Swan, but he didn't say anything o Bella because he had no real proof
"Isabella" she turned to Vito and he looked at her, she was shocked to see tears in his eyes "You were once my daughter"
The room gasped and Edward's eyes were focused on Bella and Vito, suddenly he pieces fell into place, that's why they came here, that's why they thanked him for keeping her safe that's why they got him and his crew off the hook,
"So…I'm your daughter?" Bella said slowly, almost as if she was testing it to see if she had the words right, he nodded
"You have a birthmark on your back, you have a little scar on your knee, am I right?"
She nodded, her breathing was shallow, "So it's true" he nodded "How did I get the scar on my knee"
He chuckled "You were such an eager child, always trying to run before you could walk, you fell down on the harsh pavement just outside the house, gave your mother a fright"
"Why…how did I…how did Charlie and Renee become to have me?"
"They didn't, you were taken from us, 15 October 1902, you were just 2 years old, we searched relentlessly, your mother, your real mother, she was in distress, she hasn't come today because…well she didn't want to be broken hearted is you didn't wish to…continue communicating with us"
"Of course I will, but wait my father…um Charlie he…was he involved with kidnapping me?"
"No" Antonio spoke "on the night you were taken when you were chased, the guards only saw one figure in the car, now we know her name is Renee, We did some research on her when Julie came to see us and told us everything, apparently Renee had a miscarriage and she panicked, Charlie had devoted the entire fortune to her, or so she thought, so she kidnapped you and brought you back to Chicago, she had been away from Charlie claiming she was visiting family, by the time she would have returned you would have been the right age of 2 and your birthday would have been the same, a lucky coincidence on her behalf but I would expect Charlie must have expected she was lying"
"Why did she lie to Bella? Bella said she left when she was 5"
"She must have found out the fortune wasn't to her, it was to Bella, I believe you had a meeting with Mr. Jenks? Julie has told us, Julie also was told that this Renee told Maranzano if she killed Charlie then she would have right to the money"
"Why did she do that?"
"So Charlie would be out of the picture and you and her would be closer, again she was wrong, she wanted you with Mr. Maranzano because he was the richest, until now"
"How do you mean?" Jack asked
"Mr. Maranzano was seen robbing a bank by one of our contacts, it appears he's being desperate, more backgrounds checks and we found out Mr. Maranzano is running out of money, his greed has done no favours for him" Vito answered
"So…where does this leave us exactly, why release us?" Emmett asked "I get it that you love Bella and wanted her safe but is there more to it?"
"Edward has been a great asset to us, he may realize it or not but he distributed a great deal of cash our way, which has helped with the construction of a new orphanage in Italy, were you aware of this?"
Edward nodded "I was yes, I didn't realize it was you personally I was doing it for though, my late auntie Elizabeth has one here, I'm organizing an event to raise money to keep it open"
"I will assure you our friends will be there to distribute" Edward nodded to Antonio
"You have also helped us by getting rid of certain people"
Bella knew Edward had killed in the past so this didn't come as a shock to her
"What's going to happen to Maranzano?" Jack asked, Vito turned to him
"A severe punishment will be made, and then death" he turned to Bella "I heard this child" he smiled at Emilie who blushed and hid in her mothers neck, Victoria held her close with a smile and James brushed her hair "Emilie isn't it?" Victoria nodded "say 'a bad man visited you' would this be Maranzano?" she nodded and she gulped "Did he do anything to you child"
She bit her lip
"That's a yes then, your mother bites her lip as well when she's hiding something, she's terrible when planning my parties" he chuckled and then got serious "What did he do?"
She looked to Edward "Don't do anything yet, you heard what Vito said a severe punishment and then death, promise me you won't storm out of the room and go to him"
He nodded hesitantly she turned to them all "Would it be possible if I could show yourselves and Edward? I just don't feel comfortable with showing…everyone else yet"
"Of course, ladies, gentlemen if you could be so kind to go through that door and relax, from here myself my brother and Edward and Bella would like to talk"
They nodded and went out of the room, Bella stood up and looked at Edward "Remember your promise" he nodded and she lifted up her dress and shown them the jagged, pink/red scar which was across her torso,
"Disonore" Antonio spat
"I assure you my child, Maranzano will pay with his life" Vito said calmly, Bella put her dress down and Vito walked over to her, he kissed her forehead and walked out of the room with Antonio giving her a nod of respect, just before Antonio left Edward asked if they all could go home
"Yes, my friend, we will contact you soon"
Maranzano was drinking in his room when he heard a knock at the door
"What?"
One of Maranzano's men walked in cautiously "The Marino's are here, in Chicago"
Maranzano snapped his head up, he gulped visibly in front of the boy, he nodded and the boy left
Edward had been silent for the ride home, Vito and Antonio had organized their ride back, Bella kept on looking at Edward in worry, they reached his apartment and he looked round, Bella went a little OCD and ended up cleaning it non stop just for something for her to do, he closed the front door and looked at Bella, he placed a hand on her cheek
"I've seen my parents die, my father s, Carlisle shot and my mother Esme drown, I've killed people, I've seen men to terrible things, I've nearly been beaten to death in the past and in the jail but what he's done to you tops all of that, I wasn't there for you and I'm ashamed of that, everything will be alright, when I deal with Marazano with Antonio and Vito everything will be alright, I promise"
"Edward you said you didn't want me anywhere near Maranzano and I can very much assure to you the feeling is mutual"
He didn't say anything, he picked her up bridal style and carried her to his room
Disonore – Italian for Disgrace