Beautiful Tyrant
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FF Summary:
A modern day story of a Romeo and his Juliet. A tale of love and woe told in 100 word drabbles. Will this love affair end in tragedy too? Edward and Bella. AH.
I've received a few queries about relationships and events recently, so I thought it was a good time to do a little recap of who was related to who and what has happened so far, as things are really starting to get a bit intricate. This hasn't been beta'd and since I lost the original recap I started over the weekend it is probably a bit rougher than I would have liked – I had to whip this up at lunch and breaks between working on clients paperwork today…
A recap
The Setting:
Chicago 2010
The Cullen and Swan families have a long running feud which seems to date back to prohibition times when vice and violence in Chicago was in its prime. Charlie Swan and Carlisle Cullen called a truce many years ago when things had got out of hand, but lately their men have clashed a few times too many for the Commissioner of Police, Aro Prince. Prince has given them an ultimatum: clean up their acts or their business empires will fall.
The Players: The Cullen Family and Associates
Carlisle Cullen:
Head of the Cullen family at 52.
Married to Esme (Platt).
Children: Emmett (30) Jasper (28) Alice (24) and Edward (17)
Carlisle joined the military at 20, encouraged by his father who thought that the training and discipline would aid Carlisle in running the family business when it came time. When his father died, Carlisle came home and resumed his place running the business empire his family had accumulated over decades.
Carlisle is a real family man who adores his wife and children. He is worried about the effects of the emerging violence with the Swan family, particularly his older sons who are caught up in the altercations. He is also worried about Edward whose mood changes and sullenness are in direct contrast to when he was younger. He hopes it's nothing more than just the teenage hormones.
Esme Cullen:
Wife of Carlisle Cullen and is 49.
Esme comes from a socialite family of Chicago. She preferred to stay at home when her children were small, but has operated an interior design business part time since Edward entered High School. She is a caring wife and mother and loves to cook for her family who all still live at home, albeit in different wings of the house.
Emmett Cullen:
Oldest son of Carlisle and Esme Cullen at 30.
He works for his father in the family business mostly learning the ropes so that he can take over the business when Carlisle retires plus he is the lead for all US work the firm undertakes.
He is currently single but has dated a long string of society girls, the last being Irina Denali who he split from for being too clingy and a little bit uppity. He hadn't really intended to get serious with her, but she was the cousin of Jasper's girlfriend and Jasper threatened to make his life difficult if he upset Kate. He wasn't threatened at all by Jasper's threats but he'd thought he'd try monogamy for a while.
Emmett is rather hot-headed when he feels his family is threatened and does tend to fly off the handle a little too much. Something about the Swan boys is really getting under his skin.
Emmett is excited to be at the Ball because he hopes to find a new woman to replace Irina in his affections. He is wearing a young Henry VIII costume.
Jasper Cullen:
Second born son of Carlisle and Esme Cullen at 28.
He too works for his father in the family business, although he does concentrate on the more demanding international work which has been expanding over the last few years. Jasper has been trained by Garrett Mason, a former military associate of his father who now works for the family.
Jasper is usually the calm controlled one, but lately he seems to have let James Swan get under his skin. He thinks it's because he is distracted and confused about his love life. He dated Kate Denali for four years but ended things with her when he realised he was attracted to Garrett and it wasn't a fleeting thing. He has been single for six months while coming to terms with the way he is feeling about a man who until recently he thought was straight. Garrett surprised him just before the ball by intimating that he might not be as straight as he thought.
In the companion fic, Splendour Mine, they have just kissed for the first time in a secluded corner of the ball venue. Jasper is wearing a Musketeer Costume.
Alice Cullen:
Third born child and only daughter of Carlisle and Esme Cullen at 24.
Alice studied Art at College and now works for a Gallery in town. She loves her brothers dearly but they can be overbearing and have caused a few potential suitors to back off after one of them had a quick word to a boyfriend or two about how to treat their sister.
She is secretly in love with Riley Biers, the older brother of her best friend, Angela, who she went to school with. Alice has never said anything as she feels that Riley still sees her as the young girl who first befriended his sister. She has tried to make him jealous on a number of occasions by flaunting boyfriends in his face but he doesn't seem to see her as anything more than his little sisters friend.
At this point in time, Alice has just decided to forget Riley all together and pursue a new man that she has met instead. To get lost in the crowd at the ball to spend time with her new man and to avoid her meddling brothers, she is wearing a different costume under her cloak to meet up with him. Riley however has just asked her to dance and appears to be looking at her differently than he has always done. Alice is wearing a Guinevere outfit under her cloak.
Edward Cullen:
Edward is the baby of the Cullen family at just 17.
He was a surprise for his parents, who had not planned any further children, and has been doted on ever since. He is very much like his mother and sister and artistic in nature. He plays piano, paints and writes.
At the start of the story he has his family very worried about him due to a sudden change in behaviour. Previously he has a happy child, but now he is always moody and sullen and spends a lot of time on his own pondering his life. He feels that he is not living up to his older brother's standards, and feels that his father has no faith in him by not allowing him to train with Garrett and Jasper in preparation for joining the family business. He also thinks himself in love with an older woman he met at the library, Rosalie, who does not return his feelings.
He has felt better about things since he spoke to Garrett about his feelings. He's looked up to Garrett since he's come to work for his father and Garrett has a soft spot for Edward, as he reminds him of his own younger brother who died.
Edward sees the Ball as a way to get Rosalie to notice that he is more grown-up and mature than she thinks. Emmett has decided to help Edward secure Rosalie's interest by schooling Edward on the practice of seduction – his plan is for Edward to dance with Angela and ignore Rosalie, thereby making her jealous and prompting her to see Edward differently. Edward is wearing a Romeo costume to the Ball.
Instead, as Edward dances with Angela, he spots a young girl who looks to be his age and is everything his young heart desires, and then is left simmering with anger when an older man pulls the reluctant girl onto the dance floor….
The Cullen Associates:
Garrett: Garrett Mason is 32 and met the Cullen's through Carlisle Cullen, who was his superior officer in the military. Carlisle saved Garrett's life a number of times, and now that he has come to work for Carlisle has vowed to protect the Cullens with his life. He is very protective of them as they have treated him like a part of the family, and he has no one left since his parents and younger brother died in a car accident while he was on duty. Garrett is gay but none of the family is aware of that fact as Garrett has never come out. His father was in the military before him and was sadly homophobic. He is attracted to Jasper, which he thought was a lost cause until something 'came up' at the ball… Garret is wearing the 2nd Musketeer costume.
Angela: Angela Biers is 24. She is Alice's best friend and younger sister of Riley Biers. Angela is currently dating Peter Whitlock, who works alongside the Cullen boys. Angela is wearing a Queen Anne costume to match Peter in the 3rd Musketeer costume. It is Angela's birthday the day of the ball and Alice had fixed it so that Peter would return early from assignment to surprise her. She and Edward have just danced as per the plan that Emmett concocted but Edward became enamoured of a girl he saw on the dance floor and Angela has left him to go and find Peter.
Riley: Riley Biers is 29 and is Angela's big brother. He first noticed Alice when he came home from College and little Alice had turned 17. He was 22 at the time and he felt like a dirty old man for thinking that way about his sister's young friend. His feelings for Alice have never disappeared however he has never acted on them, since Alice has dated a lot in the years since seemingly only thinking of him as Angela's big brother. He hasn't been able to take his eyes off her since he walked into the foyer the night of the ball. He has asked Alice to dance….
Peter: Peter Whitlock has worked for the Cullen's for some years and he met Angela at a work Christmas do a few years earlier. He is wearing the 3rd Musketeer costume and while Angela was dancing with Edward, he was busy scoping out the ball for signs of danger for the Cullen family.
The Players: The Swan Family and Associates
Charlie Swan:
Head of the Swan family at 56.
Married to Renee (Higginbotham)
Children: Isabella (17)
Charlie has been brought up in the family business just like his father before him. His father was a hard taskmaster and Charlie seems to have inherited those traits from him. Charlie married Renee, who was ten years his junior, as she seemed pliable and young at the time. To his cost, he found out that Renee is a lying, manipulative shrew who pretty much makes his life miserable. The shame of it all is that he loves her.
When his sister and her husband were killed, he took in his 15yo nephew, James Swan. Charlie and Renee had trouble having children, having lost several in childbirth, so Charlie sees James as his successor for the business, as he wants to keep it in the family. He fears that Renee has spoiled the boy too much because since he turned 18 he has been a real hot-head when things don't go his way.
Charlie is envious of his old enemy, Carlisle Cullen, for producing such strapping boys and who have grown the Cullen business in recent years. His men have come off the worse for wear after altercations with the Cullens, and when the Newton family approached him to join forces he jumped at the chance, to better compete against the Cullens. He has a soft spot for his only child, Bella, but greed sees him making a deal with Mike Newton for Bella's hand in marriage, with the proviso that Bella agrees. Renee talked him into agreeing to the proposal with threats to leave him.
Charlie is suspicious of James lately, he's been closeted with Renee too much and then off missing and cagey about where he's been. Charlie sees an opportunity to put him in his place when the Cullen boys walk into the Ball by commenting favourably on them. Charlie is wearing the costume picked out for him by Renee – Lord Robert Dudley.
Renee Swan:
Wife of Charles Swan and is 46.
Renee met Charlie when she was dancing at an upmarket strip club in New York when Charlie was visiting (this has not been disclosed in the original story but I thought it a nice little titbit for the recap). She was 18 and he was 28. She is cold and calculating and has manipulated Charlie often since they've been married. She has tried to manipulate Bella all her life as well. She has never really been accepted by the local society women and sees her way into the group is by grooming Bella. Now that Bella is older and her natural beauty is shining through, she is jealous of her daughter and has seen the chance to get her out from underfoot by negotiating her marriage with Mike Newton. She is dressed as Elizabeth 1 at the ball.
Bella Swan:
Bella is the only living child of Charlie and Renee Swan and is 17.
When she was younger she looked up to her mother and wanted to be just like her, and tried hard to do what her mother wanted. Now she is a little older and has seen through Renee's exterior to the cold woman underneath. She is sick of being treated as Renee's puppet and is slowly starting to stand up for herself. She's met much opposition though and Renee's punishments of taking her books and music from her as well as removing her from school and home-schooling her, have meant that Bella is feeling very isolated and has no real friends. She only has James who she sees as a big brother she looks up to. She has acquaintances such as Mike Newton, Lauren and Jessica who attend the same society functions as she does, but that is all the outside contact she really has.
Bella has seen a loving mother only through the housekeeper, Mrs. Cope, who has treated her like her own daughter as she's grown up. Bella is outraged by her mother's latest plan – to marry her off to Mike Newton. Bella was outmanoeuvred by her mother and is now attending a charity ball as Mike's date to get to know him before making a decision about marrying him. She has no intention of doing so but is toeing the line, trying to get out of it while pretending to do what her mother wants.
Her first sign of defiance is to ignore the costume chosen by her mother which was designed to entice Mike's attentions, and is wearing a demure cream Juliet costume instead. At the ball she managed to elude Mike for some time, however she is currently on the dance floor with him when she feels a tingle run up her spine and she spots intense green eyes watching her every move….
The Swan Associates:
James: James Swan is 25 and is the son of Charlie's sister and her husband who passed away in a car crash many years earlier. He has lived with Charlie and Renee since he was 15 and is being groomed by Charlie to take over the family business. He has developed an inappropriate attraction to Bella since she started maturing, which he knows is wrong and has no plans to pursue. He does spend a lot of time with her though and is protective of her. He is seething about Renee's plan to marry her off to Mike for her own gains and hates her for reasons of his own. James has a lot of anger in him for the Cullens too. They have beat him and won a number of contract jobs over the last year which have led to the outbreaks of violence between the two families. Losing the fight with Jasper at the bar was the final straw. His plan for revenge against the Cullen's will also hurt Renee. James refused to wear the costume Renee had picked out for him – it was a skimpy roman toga – and instead wore something regal he chose himself. At the moment he spots the woman he asked to the ball on the dance-floor with another man and has taken off, leaving Bella with Mike…
Laurent: Laurent is one of Charlie Swan's employees who works closely with James. He is even more of a hot-head than James and has got them into a lot of scrapes over the years. He has been bested by Emmett Cullen recently in the bar fight.
Mike: Mike Newton is 24 and the oldest son of Terrance Newman, one of the society families of Chicago. He has seen the business opportunity to merge his business with Charlie Swan's business as a way to get Bella for himself. He has known her for a while and she has never noticed his attempts to get to know her better. He is ecstatic that Charlie has agreed to his proposal and thinks that it will be easy to get Bella to agree to marrying him if she spends time with him. He is dressed as Casanova and is currently dancing with Bella…
Hopefully I haven't missed out anyone or anything vital, but feel free to DM me if you have any questions.
So, on with the show…
Suz xxx
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