A/N: So you may notice a ** towards the end of the chapter. I've decided I think that a song fits so well with this part of the chapter that I'm going to warn you and then give you a clue to play it if you wish to do so, just like those sound books when you were little kids…So, if you'd like to do that please have "Breathe Me" by Sia ready and hit play when you get to the **. : )

I sat banging my head gently on the headboard the next morning. With every thud, I heard "stupid, stupid, stupid." I glanced at the clock. It was nearly noon. I couldn't avoid it anymore. My stomach growled loudly. "Yeah yeah I'm getting up."

I crawled out of bed, walked tentatively towards the door, and inched it open. A whoosh of relief washed over me. Edward's door was closed. I tiptoed down the hallway towards the kitchen.

"Aro please just listen to me."

I stopped before I reached the end of the hallway. Aro was here. And Edward was talking to him. What the hell was this all about? I crouched down and listened.

"Edward I am very confident in Bella's ability to handle herself on the job, why do you think otherwise?"

"It's just that she's still new and learning everything. And I…I just don't know if I trust her enough to handle a big job like the Denalis." He was pleading with Aro. That bastard. I needed this to put them away.

"She will go with you today to meet with the Denali's associates. It's a relatively small meeting, just the initial one to set up for the big one next month. She is perfectly capable Edward. That's my final say."

Edward knew better than to argue with Aro, so assuming their conversation was over I walked confidently into the room eyeing Edward.

"Bella." Aro smiled. "We were just talking about you."

"Yeah I heard."

Edward looked down, refusing to look at me.

"Well then. You and Edward will be going to meet with some of the Denali's people today to discuss our next business deal with them. The meeting is at two fifteen at the 5th street dock." He turned towards Edward. "Make sure to give her some heat." He smiled at me and left the room.

"Thanks for trying to throw me under the bus asshole." I poured my cereal into the bowl and sauntered back to my room.

By 1:30 we were on our way to the dock to check it out before the meeting. Edward hadn't spoken a word to me. The only communication we'd had was him sliding the pistol across the countertop to me before we left. I kept stealing glances at him as we rode the subway.

"So are you going to ignore me all day…?" I looked straight ahead. He didn't respond. "I'll take that as a yes."

We made it to the dock with about fifteen minutes left until they were supposed to be here. Edward did a quick scan of the dock area before he allowed me to come onto it. I told my eyes to avoid the spot by the dumpster. I didn't need to lose my focus right now worrying about Jake.

The dock looked a little different from when I was here. There were large wooden boxes scattered all around the place and some concrete blocks along the edge near the water. The boat's motor alerted me to their arrival.

Two men stepped off the boat and onto the dock. They both wore black t-shirts and black pants, very professional looking. Edward extended his hand to them.

"Laurent. James." Edward smiled. "How are ya? This is our newest associate," he gestured towards me. "Bella."

I put myself into work mode and walked forward, taking their hands and smiling warmly.

"And she's not one of Aro's arm candy?" James laughed. I rolled my eyes slightly.

"Nope. She is perfectly capable of doing her job." I didn't miss the sarcasm in Edward's voice as he mocked Aro's words. He turned towards Laurent. "So how is business my friend?"

"Business is going fairly well. We have a big shipment coming in next week."

"Excellent." Edward sat on the edge of one of the large wooden boxes. "Speaking of business, the boss wanted to set something up for us." He crossed his arms. "We're looking to acquire some of your product in about a month. Could we arrange something?"

Laurent walked over and sat next to Edward. James walked idly in a circle in front of me.

"Actually Edward," Laurent leaned in towards him. "We have a different arrangement now." Edward's panicked eyes shot to me.

"Bella get out of here!" By the time I could comprehend his words it was too late.

Laurent grabbed Edward, holding his arms behind his back. Edward struggled against him. James pulled a pistol out of his jacket and aimed it directly at Edward's head.

"No Bella," he smirked. "Please stay. And while you're at it, you can toss me the gun you have on you." He cocked his pistol and put the steel right at Edward's temple.

I didn't need any convincing, not when Edward was concerned. All the anger and all the hate I felt for him earlier evaporated instantly. I bent down slowly and took the gun out of my ankle holster and slid it on the ground towards James. As soon as I straightened back up I felt the punch to my cheek. I hit the ground, hard. Then someone with extremely pointy toed shoes started kicking me in my ribs.

"Enough Victoria." Laurent said. I winced in pain as someone stood me up and pulled a knife on my throat.

Edward struggled harder against his grip.

"I would calm down if I was you Edward. That was supposed to be a little motivation for you to behave." Edward instantly froze.

I chanced a glance to the side of me. All I could see was long flowing red hair. It was a woman. That bitch probably broke my ribs.

"You're probably wondering why…we've decided to change our business arrangement." The woman behind me snickered.

"See," James continued. "We don't really like how powerful you guys are getting to be up here. We're starting to feel the repercussions of it way down in Miami. And if we feel the repercussions, you're going to feel the repercussions, get it?"

They're going to kill us, I thought. They wanted to send Aro a message. There was no way we were making it through this. The cement blocks suddenly had a lot more meaning than just idle objects. They were going to kill us and tie our bodies to the blocks. We wouldn't be found for months, if ever. The tears started to form in my eyes. I looked up at Edward. He knew too.

"I'm sorry…" He mouthed. His eyes were warm again, just like they had been back in his room.

James laughed at our exchange before smacking Edward on the side of the face with the butt of the gun. Edward shook his head and spit some blood from his mouth. I don't know what it was, but something inside me snapped. I felt the urge to…protect him. The burning anger within me began to rise exponentially. My breathing increased.

"Bella no. It's fine. Just calm down." Edward was comforting me. "I'm fine."

James and Laurent shared another laugh at our expense. With one quick movement I grabbed Victoria's arm and pulled her over my shoulder, slamming her to the ground. The knife flew out from her hand and landed in the water. An instant later the second gun I had in my jacket was out and pointed directly at James.

"Drop the gun now or so help me God I will shoot you." I placed my foot on Victoria's throat to hold her down.

"Whoa. Legs here thinks she's going to shoot me. Do you even know how to shoot a gun sweetheart?" He walked slowly towards me, provoking me.

Edward took his momentary distraction as an opportunity. He slammed his head back into Laurent's, freeing his arms. He and Laurent started wrestling around. Edward kicked him several times, leaving him motionless on the ground.

James turned slowly towards Edward. "Bad move Edward." He raised his gun to him and a shot rang out.

James fell to the ground. Bleeding from bullet wound in his head. I froze. I'd never shot a person before, except for in training. But that was all fake. This was as real as it got. Edward rushed over to me.

"Bella give me the gun." He tried to pry it from my still outstretched arms. He was finally able to get it away from me. I stood, still stunned, staring at the gaping wound in James. I barely noticed the movement beside us. Edward spun around quickly and emptied the rest of the bullets into Laurent, who was reaching for James's gun.

He started tugging at my shirt. "Bella we have to get out of here. The cops are coming." I could hear the sirens in the distance. "Now!" I couldn't move. My mind wouldn't tell my legs to move. Edward scooped me up and ran around the back of the dock just as the police cars were pulling up. He didn't stop running until we were a couple of streets down. He still held me in one arm as he pulled his phone out.

"Jazz. You need to come get us. The deal went bad. We're in the alley behind the Corner Market." He hung up the phone.

"Damnit!" He yelled before looking down at me. "Bella." He grabbed my face gently and shook. "Bella come on. We're okay." He sat us down and pulled me onto his lap until Jasper got there. Emmett jumped out of the passenger side and ran over to me, taking me from Edward's arms and carrying me to the car.

"Edward what the hell happened?"

"It was a setup. Laurent and James are dead. Victoria was unconscious when we left."

Jasper screeched the tires as he sped away. "What's wrong with Bella? What did they do to her?"

"I don't know man. They hit her and kicked her a couple of times but she won't say anything."

Emmett put his arms around me. "Bells?" I stared straight ahead. I just killed someone. I almost just got killed. I shivered. "I think she's in shock."

"She shot him Emmett. She shot James."

I walked like a zombie up to the penthouse. Just one foot in front of the other. Step. Step. Step. It was all I could do to focus. All I kept seeing was James's face in my head as the shot rang out.

Emmett guided me to a chair and sat me down. Edward bent down and whispered in my ear. "I'm going to start you a bath okay?"

I slowly nodded my head and he disappeared.

He was back a few minutes later and helped me to the bathroom.

"I'll take care of her guys. It's okay."

Emmett and Jasper watched us strangely was we walked down the hallway.

**The bathtub was already almost full. Bubbles were overflowing. Edward turned the water off and turned towards me.

"I put some bubbles in. You girls like that shit right?" His eyes were full of concern as he looked at me.

I shrugged my shoulders as I stared at the bubbles, past the bathtub, right back to the dock. It replayed over again in my head. I jumped with the bang of the gun.

"Do you need help?" Edward said softly, leaning in towards my face.

I looked at him with tears running quietly down my cheeks. I slowly raised my arms above my head. He reached for the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head, kissing my forehead gently. His fingers fumbled at my jeans and finally pulled them down.

"Step."

I stepped up and out of them. I kept my bra and underwear on and inched into the deep warm water.

"Just umm…yell if you need me okay?" Edward started towards the door, stealing glances back to check if I was okay. He paused as he started to open the door.

My soft crying broke into sobs as I pulled my knees to my chest, rocking back and forth in the water. I pressed my face down into my skin, enveloping myself in darkness. I heard the door close and moments later I felt him get into the bathtub, wrapping himself around me.

"Shhh…" His arms tightened around me.

He just sat with me as I cried. Eventually the sobs died down and I just laid still, clinging to him. His lips brushed against my shoulder, grazing slightly against my collarbone before placing a kiss at the base of my neck.

We stayed like that until the water cooled and all the bubbles had dissipated. I finally pulled away from him.

"I think I'm ready to get out now…" I eyed the door.

He instantly leaped out and grabbed me a towel, his boxers dripping all the way across the floor. I looked down and saw that he had discarded his jeans and t-shirt before getting in. He held up the towel for me and I stepped out, enveloping myself in its soft fabric. His hands rubbed up and down my arms, attempting to keep me warm. We walked slowly to our rooms, not knowing what to say or what to do.

"Thank you Edward…" My mind may be numb at the moment, but I was fully prepared for him to do his whiplash of emotions and turn into a jerk any second. Besides, what he'd done for me in there was beyond anything he'd ever done, the Dickward repercussions were sure to be massive to even it out. For every action in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction.

I sighed and closed my bedroom door.

There was a soft knock. I opened the door slowly to find Edward, looking down at his feet.

"Edward what are you doing?"

He looked up at me, his emerald eyes shining. "Something I should have done a long time ago…" He stepped forward and a moment later he pressed his lips against mine as we descended back into my dark room, my towel falling with a loud thud to the floor.

A/N: YAY! Big moment we've all been waiting for. Hope it was worth the wait. XOXO