DO I REALLY WANT REVENGE?
Disclaimer: The Cullens, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.
All of the chapters of this story has been beta'd by the lovely dowlingnana and the chapters with mistakes are being replaced.
With no sleep for the past few days and refusing to allow Prince Edward any time in her schedule, Bella arrived early into her office and stayed late. She wanted to be alone, but, busy so she didn't have to think about how things existed between her and Edward. It wasn't that she didn't want to be with him, but, the idea of allowing it caused her to have second thoughts. What sort of repercussions could that have upon her country and her personally? There were so many questions running around in her head that she had to find a way to escape for a while.
She really did need to talk with Alice and Rosalie about this. They might be able to shed some light upon her mixed up feelings. Give her a different view of looking at things to finally be able to make a rational decision about all of it.
As she walked in this morning Angela gave her a frown, but, said not a word. She knew Angela was aware of what she had been doing, even though; she wouldn't let Angela stay late.
Angela followed her through to her office with a stack of papers, a listing of her appointments for the day and any requests that needed to be dealt with as well. After going over all of the details, Angela paused a moment, not sure how to approach the next subject. This hesitation caused Bella to look up at her secretary with a raised eyebrow in question.
"There is a problem?"
"Not really, Majesty, just not sure how you are going to handle the next and final request."
"Well, there is really only one way to know. Tell me what it is."
"The King and Queen of Wystonia have formally requested the honor of a visit from Vargia's Queen Isabella and Prince Consort Edward. The purpose is to hold discussions as to how to better improve relations between the two countries."
"When are they requesting our presence?"
"The beginning of next week."
"Has Prince Edward mentioned anything about this purposed visit?"
"No, ma'am, I'm not sure if he knows yet."
"Check with his secretary to see. If she is unaware then bring her up to date and inquire as to whether his schedule will permit it and let me know. At the same time follow through with my schedule for the same purpose."
With that being decided, Angela returned to her office to begin the day's work schedule.
CHAPTER 16: THE START OF KNOWING YOUR ENEMY
Bella continued sorting through all of the paperwork and proposals that Angela had placed in front of her as she had entered her office a short while ago. Most of the proposals were not beneficial to the country as a whole, but, to a small section only. They were not something she was comfortable entertaining unless they were meant for an emergency measure of short duration and created only to relieve extreme circumstances. She knew of three such areas and felt justified in approving the proposals for those situations.
As she thought that she had seen all of the suggested relief projects, she suddenly sees one last proposal. Then after reading the summary page, she stops and begins again, then jumps to the financial page showing the total of the over estimated cost of the project and then located the page of what the entire project was expected to achieve along with the believed benefits of the project from beginning to end including the long range effect of the finished project. From there she went back to the financial page looking at the estimated overall cost again to the projected financial gain over the coming years.
For what she had briefly seen in the different sections of the proposal, Bella decided that it was worth going over the whole thing from start to finish. As she finished she called Angela into her office. With Angela's entrance Bella handed out some paperwork towards her, "I need for you to read this over and give me you honest opinion after you have finished. This has priority over some of your other items. I need your report on my desk within the next half hour." And Angela took that as a dismissal, so she turned, closing the door behind herself to return to her desk to comply with the Queen's command.
"Angela, I want you to call Ladies Alice and Rosalie and have them to come to my office immediately. Upon their arrival show them into the conference room to look over the same project proposal that I gave you a little earlier. They have thirty minutes to look at it and form an opinion. Then all three of you are to come into my office to give your reports which is not to be discussed amongst yourselves. Be sure that they are aware of this fact and that it is my express command."
"Yes, ma'am."
Bella moved on to other items that needed her attention until she received word from Angela that Alice, Rosalie and she were ready to report and offer their opinions upon the required reading they had been assigned. With the acknowledgement, Bella told her for all of them to enter immediately.
"Ladies, I would to know your honest thoughts and opinions concerning the reading material I asked for you to look over."
For the next hour and half, they explored tore apart and re examined every angle of the facts and figures that were stated. The excitement coming from each of the four women overflowed filling the room. "So, your collective recommendation and opinion is a resounding vote in favor of this project?"
"Yes, Majesty, for I don't see how it can do anything other than benefit more than just our people and country. It will bring financial benefits to both Wystonia and Noragia. I don't see any down sides to doing this." Angela told Bella.
"In my opinion, I have to agree with Angela. I see where it would put many people to work that would help to assist in providing for their families bringing financial stability on the home front." Rosalie added to Angela's statement.
"And, I agree with the fact that it will give a better working relationship with the different countries that would be benefiting from this project," Endorsed Alice.
" Majesty, who is the individual that put all of these facts together and made the proposal through the Ministry of Business and Aid and, by the way, is that the name of the new ministry the Prince Consort is getting organized?"
"Yes, it is. But, in regards to who put all of this together isn't mentioned on the cover sheet, so, I have no idea, but, plan to find out."
"I don't want one word of what we have discussed in here today to be leaked to anyone outside of this office without my express permission. In the meantime, Angela, you will personally go to speak with Prince Edward and inform him of our complete approval to this project and he is to start getting it up and running as of yesterday.
"He will be completely in charge of getting the engineer hired that will deal with the onsite project from that point onwards and the engineer hired shall be held accountable to His Highness." With saying this, Bella signed and attached her royal seal to all the necessary documents granting the support of the crown for the project. She hands this to Angela and then motions for all of them to leave as she has other work to get finished. As they near the door and are about to walk out, Bella reminds them of her command of silence. She gets back to the work she wanted to finish before she called it a day.
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"What do we know at this point?"
"Well, we know that the royals of Wystonia have invited the royals of Vargia for a visit. But, we haven't been informed of the answer or what the security measures will be if the invitation is accepted."
"So, in other words, we don't know shit. Is that what you are telling me? With all of the people we have bribed and paid, we are lacking vital information?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Then I suggest that you correct that situation immediately and get it back to me," were the words uttered in absolute rage.
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Angela had arrived at Prince Edward's office only to be greeted by his secretary, Carmen, who informed her that His Highness was in a meeting and left orders not to be disturbed unless it was an emergency. She did inquire if such an occurrence existed to which Angela replied no it didn't.
"Do you know how much longer he might be? If not too long then I'll wait for a few, but, if it is going to be an hour or so, then I'll return after lunch."
"Angela, I don't think he will be much longer, but, you know how meetings can go. If you like I can call you as soon he has finished and hold up any other appointments until you have spoken with him?" Carmen suggested.
"Yes, I think that would be good. Thanks." With that she turned and headed back to her own office. Knowing that the Queen wouldn't be happy about this, but, there was no other choice since she had no idea of the meeting content. However, she was about half back when she heard Carmen calling her name, so, turning around she returned to the Prince Consort's office.
"He just signed that the meeting was over. I'll step inside to let him know you are waiting to have a word with him." Angela nodded and sat down to wait. And, she didn't have long to wait before four men were ushered out of Prince Edward's office and Carmen motioned for her to enter.
"Angela, what can I do for you this morning?" Edward asked while smiling at his wife's secretary.
"Her Majesty was looking over some proposed projects this morning and this is one that has caught her interest. She wanted me to bring it to you for you to handle the necessary particulars in regards to hiring an engineer to get it started immediately. The Ministry of Business and Aid will be overseeing the whole project from start to finish." Angela explains to him rather hurriedly. She hands over the entire folder containing all of the paperwork concerning the project, the proposal itself with the cost factors, the profit factors long range and the benefits that would be forthcoming from the project. Of course, she did have the original in her office.
Edward looks down to see what project she was talking about that had her so excited. A look of surprise quickly crosses his face to be replaced with his business façade. He was surprised to see that the project he felt would benefit the country the most was the one the Queen had given full approval.
"And, when did she want this started?" he questioned.
"Immediately was my impression, although, she was not specific about that." Angela answers. "Also, while I'm here, Your Highness, are you aware of the pending invitation from King Carlisle and Queen Esme for Her Majesty and you to visit Wystonia next week? The queen had asked for me to check on that as well."
"No, I wasn't aware of that invitation, but, did have several others that have been issued that Carmen was going to coordinate with you to see if we could get a workable travel schedule together for upcoming visits. I think they would be of benefit to help improve even further the working relationship between our countries."
"Okay, I will get with Carmen and we'll see what we can work out and then let each of you know for final approval."
"That sounds good."
After Angela had left his office, closing the door behind her, Edward let his excitement show. The fact that Bella had approved his project without knowing all of the details meant a lot to him. It was something that he and his cousins, Jasper and Emmett had worked on along with Tanya, Kate and Irina Denali.
With this project actually going to be used he would have to try to find them and make sure they were compensated for the original work they had done on the school project. For back when they were in business class, it was assigned that students break into groups and design a project that would benefit the country and all surrounding areas, giving jobs to the people and having a long range profit benefit for all involved, it had seem impossible. But, they all had come up with the Sykes River project.
The whole idea was to get Vargia, Wystonia and Noragia all involved since the river flowed through each country, starting at Port Alton Bay and the delta area where the wide river mouth met the ocean. The river could be widened even further to allow ships to move further inland to dock for loading and unloading thus giving more space for larger trade. Then all along continue to widen the river for such stops that smaller ships would be able to maneuver for the same purpose, and this allowing the isolated countries to have readier access to the port areas, thus, cutting the transportation costs and increasing the profit side of things for all of the countries involved. It would give work to the people of each country for the building, maintaining and the shipping side of things. Jobs that would be steady and well paying for all hired. And, helping the financial side of each country as well.
The instructor had praised the project and used it as an example to the others as to what he had wanted each group to produce. The other students had been jealous about being shut down in such a fashion, but our group was excited due to all of the hard work we had put into it.
Of course, after the disaster concerning the girls' father and then their mother, Edward and his family had lost touch with them. No one knew where they had gone or what had ever happened to them. But, with this project moving forward, Edward knew that he would have to locate them to make sure they shared in the profits as they began to come in.
So, with that in mind, Edward called Carmen into his office to give the necessary instructions to get the Sykes River project off the ground and in the beginning stages of moving forward. He, also, asked if Carmen was working with Angela about the upcoming proposed state visits that were being requested. She assured him that she was and they would have that information ready for both Her Majesty and him by tomorrow morning. He nodded and dismissed to get on with the rest of his work schedule.
"Oh, Carmen, put in a call to my cousin, Prince Jasper, before doing anything else. I need to speak with him concerning this project." He told her as she was about to close the door.
Edward allowed his thoughts to wander back a few years to the time that the Denali's were welcomed at court, that is, before Herbert Denali had been caught and charged with treason. His sentence had been death and in a short three months after that Marine Denali had committed suicide. They had heard that a distant relative in another country had taken the girls, removing them from the tragedy that had taken place with their parents. No one heard from or of them again, but, he now had reason to try and locate them due to the financial gain from the project that they had help put together all those years ago.
A/N: Oh, Edward, without knowing it you are about to open a can of worms that is going to turn your life and world upside down. Get ready for a very bumpy ride now. And putting the proposed state visits into the picture as he begins the search for the Denali's…. What can I say?
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