AN: I've broken this up into ten small chapters. I'll be posting two a day. In this chapter, we'll meet the Cullen men and the other Swan girls.

I tried rolling over and getting comfortable enough to go back to sleep, but Jacob was the most inconsiderate prick ever. He didn't care that not only was he keeping me up, but he was probably disturbing Alice and Rosalie, who were home from college on summer break.

"Can you keep it down?" I asked not too nicely. "You're gonna wake the girls up," I hissed.

"Fuck them," he spat despite the grogginess of his voice. "I hope they're getting fucking jobs while they're home. There's no fucking way I'm supporting them."

Him? Supporting them? Yeah, fucking right. When our father died, besides leaving me his business, he left us each seven million that the girls weren't allowed to touch until they turned twenty-five. I was supporting them at the moment; putting them through college and paying for the apartment they shared while attending MIT.

Alice and Rosalie were as different as night and day in every imaginable way except when it came to intelligence. They both tested as geniuses when they took an IQ test offered by MIT when enrolling. It was unnecessary, though, as both of them were labeled geniuses at the age of ten. Their love of computers and shopping were the only things they had in common outside of school.

"Whatever, Jacob. Just hurry up and leave so I can go back to sleep."

For being an engaged couple, there were so many things that Jake didn't know about me. The one major thing being my favored choice of passing time, which was why I had to let so many things go when he angered me. It would be so easy to put a hole between his eyes before he could even register what was happening, but the time wasn't right. I wasn't stupid by any means, and killing Jacob now would not end well for me.

..oOo..

Today wasn't a very busy day, but it was still important. The shipment from Columbia had come in around three in the morning and was supposed to be under lock and key, manned by one of my most trusted employees, until I arrived at the warehouse.

Even more important than that, though, it was payday for the Cullens. Austin, who usually made the delivery, had gone missing, which sadly wasn't that uncommon.

"Alec?" I called through my opened office door, after sealing the thick manila envelope. "Can you come over here a second?"

"What?" he asked rudely. He would never speak to my father like that, but I guess he had his reasons for not liking me. He was still the number one guy in my business.

"Austin's … gone, so would you mind delivering this to Mr. Jasper Cullen? You know where the drop is, right?"

Jasper was the youngest Cullen brother who, despite his father being the boss, was still making his way up the ladder. I always paid him directly. The usual meeting spot was at Jasper's gas station, which provided the front for a legitimate business. It allowed them the space to conduct family business while serving the community. Every Thursday by noon, he wanted his family's cut. Jasper was also rarely the one to actually receive the money. He made sure that he had a highly trusted employee there when he wasn't around, which wasn't often.

"Yeah, I got it." Swapping the envelope, which contained over a hundred and sixty thousand, he stomped out of my office.

By three o'clock, I was already exhausted and dragging my feet, but every pound of cocaine was accounted for and every block of marijuana was sent out to be distributed and sold.

I had only been sitting for a minute when I heard the familiar sound of a gunshot, followed by my door being flung open and a 9mm pointed at me. The only thing that stopped me from reaching for my own gun was that Emmett Cullen was the one holding the trigger.

"Eddie, in here," he hollered. Edward Cullen quickly, but confidently, strode into my office.

I had only seen him a few times in passing in recent years, but it was always easy to recognize how handsome he was. His eyes were a deep, captivating jade color. His features were sharp and his body was lean. His hair was always neat and slicked back. However, it was hard to fawn over his looks while his gun was jabbed underneath my chin. This had to be the gun that had gone off outside as the heat scorched my flesh. I had no doubt that he would not hesitate to kill a woman.

"Where the fuck is our money?" he asked in an eerily composed voice while digging the gun deeper into my skin.

"I sent it with Alec hours ago. He knows the drop off spot." I tried to remain calm. This was the only family that intimidated me. The amount of power this one family had over the country, and among many European cites, was staggering. It was my belief that the family mainly operated in Washington State to remain inconspicuous while dirty dealing, but their home base was always New York. However, with the name Cullen, it was hard to go unrecognized, even in the civilian world.

"Well, Alec never made it, and this is the second week you haven't paid up. I think I'm being extremely generous right now by letting you explain and not blowing your fucking brains out. I've done worse for less." He dug the gun deeper, and I was almost positive that I would have a circular burn scar in the spot permanently. I could almost smell burnt flesh in the air.

"I don't know what to tell you," I stammered. "This is the first time I'm hearing that you didn't get paid last week. I thought you would have come then if you didn't receive your money." Instead of responding, he wrapped his free hand around my throat and squeezed.

"Are you saying that we're not doing our job right; that's we're going soft?" He squeezed tighter and jabbed deeper. "You're beautiful, but I'll kill you if you're trying to play my family for fools."

"I'm not playing anyone," I tried saying, spit flying loosely while I tried talking around the constriction of air. He loosened his grip when my words came out slurred, but didn't altogether remove either his hand or gun. "I could kill you right now if I wanted to, but I respect your family too much." Once the words were out of my mouth, I realized how stupid they were. I was so used to being on the other side of the gun that I forgot to filter myself.

"Did you hear that, Emmett?" he laughed. "She thinks she can kill me."

"I think you should let her try. It'd be fun to watch," he replied, an excited grin spreading across his face.

"You don't know who I am," I countered. I wasn't trying to seem threatening, but merely trying to get Edward to remove his gun. The heat of the gun began to fade, but my skin was aching–literally felt like it was on fire.

"Should I know who you are?" he asked, laughing yet again.

"She's the Dark Swan," I heard a voice say from the doorway. I knew that voice as if it was my own. They couldn't have picked a worse time to stop by.

AN: I review would be nice ;)