Bella could only gape at Edward. Of course he knew who she was! She'd been at camp with him for weeks!
His behaviour towards her the night before, and now his sudden weird statement, sat uneasily with her. It made no sense and she didn't like it.
"Go and sleep it off," she hissed at him as she closed the door on his wincing face.
Not to be deterred Edward knocked again and again. When she opened the door the next time he knew he was going to have to be ready to say more than he already had. He opened his phone and went back to the same page he'd opened on his browser the night before. He scrolled to the section with her profile picture on it and tried his best to keep his hand steady while he knocked with the other.
Bella pulled the door open violently and as she opened her mouth to shout at him to go away he held the phone up for her to see. Her own picture looked back at her. It still made no sense to her.
"So?" she asked indignantly. "I told you my name."
"Nooo," Edward said, elongating the o's to make his point. "You told me your name was Isabella. You never said you were Isabella Swan."
"I never hid who I was, if that's what you're implying. I never lied about my name and I have no idea what you're on about," she sighed. "Go and sober up and come back when you can make some sense."
She attempted to close the door again but this time Edward put his foot out. He winced when it got wedged between the door and its frame but was quite willing to take the pain onboard. "You don't understand," he began softly. "I know who you are," he said firmly.
"And I know who you are, or at least I thought I did before last night," she replied. "I don't know who you think I am, but I'm exactly who and what I told you I was. A silly, mixed up little girl with no future and no interest in being treated like a leper by you."
With that she slammed the door in his face and went back to her bedroom. She whispered a quiet 'sorry' to Angela when it became obvious that the door slamming shut had woken her, but Bella didn't come out of her room again until mid afternoon when Edward's incessant hovering and her grumbling stomach drove her to it.
Jasper's fingers hovered over the buttons on his cell phone for five long minutes before he hit 'call'. He held his breath while it dialled and when it was eventually answered he cursed the monotone voicemail instructions.
After being told to leave a message after the tone he drew in a long breath and then tried to steady himself before doing just that.
"Mr Cullen this is Jasper Whitlock calling. I need to speak with you at your earliest convenience. Please return my call on this number or to my office as soon as you are able," he rattled off both numbers as evenly and as clearly as he could.
He dialled again, this number being more familiar, and waited while I endured the same monotone voicemail instructions. "Isa-Bee," he began, using the childhood nickname he'd adopted for his sister in law in an attempt to keep his voice light and jovial, "It's me, Jazz. Hope you're having a blast down there. Just wanted to touch base with you, hear all about your time so far. Give me a call back when you get a minute. Would love to hear your voice, baby girl."
He ended the call and put his phone back onto the blotter on his desk, staring at it, willing it to ring. After ten minutes of silence he shoved it aside and took up one of the five file folders beneath it.
Pressing the intercom button by his desk phone he asked for Mike, his colleague and friend, to join him in his office. Once they were both settled at the conference table at the far right of the office Jasper laid out four of the folders and told Mike to take a look at them. He kept the last one to himself for the minute. He gave him a few minutes to peruse the contents and then began to spill his churning guts.
"I need for this to stay confidential," he began. "Not just regular confidential between client and attorney, I mean personally confidential. Nobody can know that I have these five files. Well, obviously everyone knows I have this one," he said, tapping the thick manila envelope that bore the name Edward Cullen at its uppermost corner. He took that one back and put it in front of himself, leaving Mike the other four. "But the others... shit..." he huffed before scrubbing at his face with the palms of his clammy hands. "Mike this is some serious shit. At least I think it is. That's why I need you to take a look and tell me I'm not seeing things."
Mike, for his part, had no idea what he was looking at at first. He knew the names on the folders. Hell, everyone in the city knew the names, but why Jasper was so freaked he had no idea.
"Give me a minute to read, yeah?" Mike asked his friend and returned his eyes back to the page he'd been reading.
It didn't take him long to see what Jasper saw. A big assed conspiracy theory that looked much less like a theory and more like corruption with every new line he read.
It didn't take a legal genius – and Mike wasn't naive enough to think that anyone thought of him as one – to work out that there had been, or was going to be, some pretty heavy corporate, political and judicial 'shit' going down with four of the biggest hitters in town.
He skims each of the first few pages of each of the folders then closes them in turn before moving on to the next. As he read Jasper fidgeted.
Taking the folder marked 'Billy Black' from the top of the pile Mike held it open at a particular page and pointed to two of the highlighted lines. "Who drafted this?" he asked.
"Ken did. It was way before my time," Jasper told him, referring to their boss, and the founding partner of the law firm.
Opening the second folder, the one marked 'Carlisle Cullen' the process was repeated. "And this? This is the real deal? Is this the current Carlisle Cullen on this, or his father?" When Jasper confirmed it was the current Carlisle, Mike returned to the file. "These foreclosure statements are a matter of public record?" Mike asked an already nodding Jasper. Taking the third folder he opened it to the second page and pointed at yet another line. "And this here," he motioned, "This is Charlie Swan, your father in law Charlie Swan?"
"One and the same," Jasper muttered.
"Fuck me," Mike almost choked. He opened the fourth folder and eyed it carefully. The other folders on their own could have been passed off as career profiles. If they were looked at individually that is. But if you put the three folders and their contents together you could see the correlations and make the same leap no doubt Jasper had made. But the fourth folder stood out as odd. Tapping the name that was uppermost in the folder Mike turned back to his friend. "Jacob Black. Help me join the dots on this one," he implored Jasper. "I get that he's Billy's son, but where does he fit with either the deals or anything else? He wasn't even born when this deal went down, I mean. He can't be prenatally complicit."
"Of course he couldn't," Jasper agreed. "Let me walk you through what's in the bottom of those files and then you tell me if you see what I see?"
"Shoot," Mike said, reaching for his coffee and taking a big slug of it before leaning back over the paperwork that Jasper was spreading across the table.
"This here," Jasper said, tapping the first in the sequence of papers, "This was the first record of a deal involving these three men that I could find. Cullen Senior had already made his mark in the property market before Junior took over the reins. The business wasn't booming, but it did alright. Then, twenty nine years ago, it spiked so high because of this one deal and it's stayed spiked ever since."
"Okay, so this one deal made a fortune," Mike agreed. "Keep going."
"Right, it made a fortune, for all three of them," Jasper said as he pulled another two of the pages closer. "Cullen Junior, Swan and Black were all friends at high school then on through college. Junior took over from Senior, Swan went through law school and Black got heavily involved in local politics because of his work on the student government at college. That's the tie between those three," he said matter of factly even though Mike could make that leap for himself. "Scroll forward nine years and we see Black accepting the party nomination and getting himself elected to public office, Swan making a name for himself taking on and winning some pretty big criminal cases and Junior not quite able to live up to Seniors legacy because the ass has fallen out of the property market. Late 80's sees two of the three flying high, the other not exactly floundering but with the economic climate the way it was nobody was making money from property, not just Junior. He's already built two of those ginormous sinkhole estates out in the western district, and they do make him a pot of money, but not enough to weather the stock market issues."
"So his buddies decide to help him out, and make a little extra for themselves," Mike chimes in, getting it easily.
"Exactly," Jasper agrees. "But, the other two had stakes of the business right from the get go. As soon as Junior took over from Senior his friends got in on the action. Junior took their investment capital to get the first sink hole estate up and running and by the time he was ready to start the second he'd paid that back, plus a healthy dividend, and I guess they both thought he was good for the cash so they invested in the second. Then the ass fell out of the stock market." He takes another sheaf of papers and fans them out on the tabletop. He points at each one in turn as he speaks, "Saint Jude's Women's Shelter sat on this prime piece of land and it was struggling to keep up its financial commitments. You have to remember that at that time almost all businesses were struggling and more than half folded, even these qazi-charitible ones."
Mike took up one of the pages and whistled lowly, "Let me guess, the three joined forces – anonymously of course - and stepped in and generously paid out the outstanding loans, then sold off the pieces of the place, demolished what was left to build their estate. After a suitable amount of time of course?"
"Not quite," Jasper replied and put yet another page into his friends hands. "They aren't corporate raiders. In fact, none of them have ever dipped a toe in corporate buying or selling. It's much simpler than that. Black sat on the Public Works Committee at that time. That's his voting record for the period."
Mike read it and began to shake his head. "Ahh, I get it now. Black was the swing vote," he muttered, already despising Black even though he had never personally met the man. "Four for, four against, Black votes to foreclose, the loans are called in and then he goes in with the other two to make an offer for the land."
"Got it in one," Jasper nodded. "Much neater, and cheaper, than a corporate takeover wouldn't you agree? Swan, already moving up the ranks in the judiciary, calls in a few favours and before you know it zoning, planning and permits are available. Black smoothes over the public opposition to the project and Junior builds the monstrosity that sits there now."
"Anything criminal?" Mike asks idly.
"Nothing provable," Jasper concedes. "Could probably build a case for corruption or insider trading, but that's not the biggest problem here. Plus, it's not like it doesn't happen every day. Its how the system works. It's no different to lobbyists forging alliances to get the best deals."
"Alright, I can see that. So tell me where Jacob fits in all this. He isn't listed here for any of the transactions and unless you've got his name on deeds or titles it doesn't look like you can link him to any of this."
Jasper gathered up that stack of papers and shoved them back into their respective files before taking Jake's out and spreading out its contents. "You're right. I can't link him to any of it. And that's what makes me think he's right in the thick of it."
"You think he's involved in corruption because you can't find any evidence of him being involved in corruption?" Mike laughed. "Jeez Whitlock, you need a hobby."
"Hear me out," Jasper chuckled, realising how ridiculous his statement sounded out loud. "Black Senior is about to retire. He's got nine more months before he'll finish up. There is another deal being brokered between the three parties. Similar to the others. A big sinkhole estate that'll turn into a slum in a decade. Nice parcel of land owned by a respectable but floundering private business. There isn't time for Billy to vote on the foreclosure in front of the committee before he retires. He can't personally guarantee the vote at committee this time so they get the land free and clear from a decision to foreclose on loans. That means the trio need another body on the committee. Billy's not contesting the next election in his district, but Jacob is," he told Mike as he lifted one of the pages to show his friend the official document that clearly stated Jacob's name and intent to run for office.
"Fuck," Mike muttered darkly.
"Yeah," Jasper chuckled, now more relaxed knowing his friend could see what he'd seen too. "So, Jacob will slip into his father's shoes as far as the land deals are concerned. The other two will still need permits and zoning and for someone to smooth over public concern as these estates go through due process. That'll be up to Jake just like it was Billy's job in the past. At first I just thought that it would be a smooth transition. Billy steps down and Jacob steps up and fills the void his old man leaves."
"You don't think so now?" Mike asked as yet another page was put in his hands. "What the fuck?" he scowled as he read over the page. "You sure about this?"
"I am," Jasper replied sadly.
"Who drafted this?" Mike asked, disgusted.
"Swan did," Jasper informed his now obviously appalled colleague. "Seems Jacob was shopping for a wife and my sister in law fit the bill. Compliant, elegant, good breeding yada yada yada. He's running for public office and needs a wife at his side. He knows, as well as his campaign team does, that without the respectability of a wife he hasn't got a hope. Not with his womanising reputation. Carlisle needs the permits pushed through, Charlie is a major investor himself so it's in his best interests that someone sympathetic to the cause gets elected, Billy's retiring and Jacob's counting on Isabella to redeem his reputation and get him elected so the whole project gets off the ground. That contract underwrites Charlie's investment as long as the marriage occurs."
"But this is tantamount to slavery," Mike spat.
"I agree," Jasper sighed.
"It's not even written like a pre-nup," Mike hissed as he turned the paper over and over in his hand. "It's a fucking business contract. That's fucked up."
"It is," Jasper agreed. "At its simplest Jacob marries Isabella, Charlie's investment is assured of a return, Carlisle has the capital on hand to build and Billy retires with a nice pot of money to sit on."
"Fucking hell," Mike mutters as he gets to his feet and goes to the windows. Looking down at the scurrying people in the street below he starts shaking his head. "Okay. I can see the picture you're painting here. What I want to know is what's your angle? You fishing for something criminal to prosecute? You want to distance yourself from Swan? You want in on the deal? What?"
"This guy," Jasper said quietly, pushing Edward's file folder into the centre of the table. "This guy is the key to what I want."
Bella opened the door with an exasperated sigh. He'd been sitting under her awning all afternoon. His cell phone chimed on an off over the hours he'd been there, but she'd never heard him have a conversation with whoever was calling him. He'd worked his way through an entire pack of cigarettes and looked and smelled like utter hell when she opened the door.
She wanted to go to the dining hall to get something to eat but she knew that getting past as very intent Edward was unlikely. Manning up she took the chair opposite him and took a cigarette from his pack.
After lighting it she leaned back in her seat, eyeing him carefully. He really did look awful. "I don't understand what went on here last night," she began softly. "Something has obviously upset you but if you don't share it with me I can't help."
Edward stubbed out his own cigarette and dragged his hand through his greasy, dishevelled hair. He too sat back in his chair. "Say my name," he insisted, pointing at the nametag he still had stuck to his shirt form the night before.
"What?" she asked, getting more confused and more angry by the second at him for ignoring her attempt to play nice and help him.
"Say it. Out loud."
"Edward Cullen," she said firmly.
"Again," he insisted.
"Edward Cullen. What the fuck is going on?" she seethed, the expletive dripping from her lips quite easily in her frustrated state.
Pulling his cell out of his pocket he held it up for her again. "You are Isabella Swan and I am Edward Cullen," he announced formally. "I know you."
Shaking her head Bella couldn't quite grasp what he was trying to tell her. "Okay. Good. You're Edward Cullen and I'm Isabella Swan. Nice to meet you, again. Now go back to bed and sleep the alcohol off," she huffed and stood, ready to go back inside.
"I'm not drunk!" Edward hissed. "Can I come in?" he asked, nodding towards the cabin door, tired of squinting past the sun to see her face.
"No," she said firmly. "Angela's still asleep."
"I need to talk to you," he sighed. "You said that if something had upset me I should talk to you about it. That's what I want to do. In private. It can't wait."
Totally confused but needing to know what the hell he was talking about Bella agreed. But the dining hall was out; there were always people in there. His cabin was out if Emmett was in it. Tyler was always in the reception centre and there would be corporates crawling all over their half of the camp. "I know a place," she sighed. "Give me five minutes to throw some things in a bag and I'll show you."
Edward agreed and tried to wait patiently for her under the awning. True to her word she was beside him in five minutes with a bag over her shoulder. Nodding towards the playing field they set off. He reached for her hand but wasn't surprised when she denied him by pulling away fiercely. He deserved that.
Not a word was said between them as they walked over the field and beyond it. The path was overgrown but still visible. At its end it opened up to expose row after row of what used to be grape tethers. The empty trellis' still held their stock but vines no longer wound their way to the top of the forms. They picked their way through the rows and picked up another path that led them right to the door of the dilapidated building Rose had told Bella about. As she knew they would be the front doors were stuck shut, the hinges long since rusted over. When Edward pointed it out Bella threw him a glare and barked at him to follow her around to the side of the building. Right where she knew it would be was the side door and it was unlocked just like Rose said. Shoving it inwards Bella made her way inside with Edward right behind her. Streams of sunlight crisscrossed the interior where cracks and gaps in the walls had slowly opened to the relentlessness of Mother Nature.
Setting her bag on the floor at her feet Bella told Edward to stay where he was while she made her way to the back of the main room to look for the storeroom. There was only one door behind what had probably been the main counter of the pressing shed so Bella took a chance on it. The storeroom smelled like musty old wine and dust but she found what Rose had told her was there.
Setting the candles in their holders onto the counter she lit them with the matches that were still there from the previous users and once they were all glowing brightly she went back into the storeroom for the blankets.
She threw two of them onto the dusty floor at Edward's feet and then sank down onto them.
"Now, what the hell is going on?" she asked as he slid to the ground to join her.
"What is this place?" he asked as he looked around.
"Winery," she hissed. "Do you want my critique of the scenery or are you going to tell me what the problem is?"
Sweeping a hand through already disastrous hair Edward sighed long and deep. "You're Isabella Swan," he mumbled.
Crunching up her eyebrows Bella nodded. "Not this again," she muttered. "Yes. And you're Edward Cullen," she said softly. "So?"
"Say it to yourself a few times," he encouraged as he folded his legs beneath himself. "I'm Edward Anthony Cullen."
"You're Edward Anthony Cullen," Bella whispered to herself as he'd suggested. It was obvious by the way he kept saying it, and now that he'd asked her to say it too, that the name should mean something to her. She said it twice more before the realisation hit her. She had heard that name before! She slapped her hand over her mouth to hold in her squeal of shock. "Oh my god. You're Edward Cullen," she said, pointing right at him. "Are you that Edward Cullen?"
"Yeah, I am," he sighed. "And I know you too," he mumbled. "I know your family. I know your sister and your mother and I definitely know your father."
"And I know you," Bella whispered. "At least, I used to." It was such a shock. The connection was vague to her, but there was a connection. She couldn't deny that. She knew the name. She knew the family too.
"Your sister is Mary Alice," Edward said to prove that he knew about the connection too. "She married Jasper Whitlock, right?"
"Yes."
"Jasper Whitlock, the lawyer, right?"
"Yeah."
"Your father is Charlie, Judge Charlie Swan."
"Yes," Bella whispered. She felt as though she should apologise, though what for she couldn't fathom.
"Fuck," Edward grumbled so darkly it startled Bella. Shrugging by way of apology Edward reached over and took her hand into his. The immediate relief and comfort he felt was not echoed in Bella. She sat stiffly even though she graciously allowed the contact. "Do you remember me yet?" he asked carefully.
"I don't know," Bella admitted freely. "I think I remember your parents a little bit. But I was heaps younger when I met them. Is your mother Edna?" she asked and when he corrected her and said his mother was Esme she nodded, thinking that sounded about right. "And your dad is Carlisle, the property developer, right?"
"Right," Edward sighed. "That's us. It wasn't until last night that I placed who you are," he said so sadly Bella's resolve to be angry with him almost flew right out the very dusty remains of the nearest window.
Almost.
"Alright, we know each other. At least our families do. And I'm guessing that your attitude towards me last night was because you worked that out. What I want to know is why is this news bad?" she asked. "Is there something about me that you don't like now that you know my family name? Is there some problem between your family and mine?"
"Those are reasonable questions," Edward began. "I remember you in my house," he sighed, ignoring her questions for the time being. Hoping to steer her away from that for just a little longer he tried to jog her memory back to something if not pleasant, then at least more palatable. "You were only little, maybe ten, twelve or something. You hid under the buffet table at a party, you were reading."
"I remember that," Bella giggled softly. "You brought me a salmon puff and told me you'd keep my secret."
"I did. You liked them and you offered me a place beside you, under the tablecloth, in payment for the food and if I wanted to escape the party," he chuckled.
"But you said you couldn't," she sighed. "You said your dad needed you to be a grown up and that you would be in trouble if he couldn't find you when business needed to be discussed. I remember that now."
"Yeah," Edward replied with a heavy heart. He could picture her there so clearly. She had been a lovely little girl. Charming and kind even then. "I got into trouble that night anyway for talking to you. How much trouble were you in when your mother found you?"
"A heap," Bella cringed. "I got yanked out of school and had to come home to regular school after that. It didn't last though. They shipped me off to boarding school again before the next semester was done."
"God, I wish I'd been sent to boarding school," Edward said idly.
The sadness on his face was tugging at her heart but nothing he said, no memory he jogged for her could stop her from wondering why it was so bad that they knew each other, however tentative the link was. "Okay, so we remember each other. Why did you treat me like that last night?" she asked eventually.
"I panicked," he admitted easily.
"About what? So what if we know each other? So what if I know of your family and you know of mine? You were so mean to me last night. I asked you what was wrong over and over and you ignored me."
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," he began to chant. "I can't do this, I can't do this."
"What, what is it?" Bella begged, clutching at his arm, all thoughts of being angry leaving her as she took in his obvious anguish.
"You're engaged to Jacob Black," he said. It wasn't a question.
"I told you I was," Bella insisted, calming slightly.
"No, you didn't," he all but yelled, taking his arm out of the grip of her tiny fingers and sitting up straighter. "You called him Jake, but you never told me his surname. Oh fuck Bella, this is bad. This is really, really bad."
"It's true I don't know much about him but he's not bad, my parents think he's great," she all but laughed, but Edward was already shaking his head violently. She had no idea why and asked.
"He might not be bad, Bella, I grant you that. But his reputation is bad. Very bad. Could be just rumour or even lies, but it's bad, Bella. So he might not be bad himself, but his father is. Definitely."
"You know his father too?"
"I do," he admitted.
"How?" she asked, a frown of worry beginning to take its place on her normally serene features. It was obvious to her that Edward was distressed but she still couldn't join the dots to form the picture he wanted her to see.
"Because, I helped set up the deal between our parents for the development in the west canyon," he told her, though it meant nothing to her. Seeing the confusion on her face he pulled her hand back into his lap and caressed it carefully. "Our parents are connected through this property deal, Bella," he told her pointedly. "But Senator Black is a stakeholder too."
It still meant nothing to Bella. She'd never been privy to anything to do with her father's work, or any investments he'd made. She couldn't see what Edward was getting at and said so.
Hating having to spell it out for her Edward sighed before he began, "My father, your father and Billy Black went in together on this land deal. I was forced to sit in on the negotiating. Bella, Senator Black agreed to sign off on this deal in his district only if you agreed to marry his son. He needed some insurance. He's not planning to run for another term in office, so he can't guarantee the permits and things would go through committee. But, Jacob is running and that will guarantee it, if he wins. Pledging you to Jacob meant that your father would have to guarantee the permits went through unhindered, his words not mine."
"I don't understand," Bella whispered, her eyebrows scrunching up in confusion. "If Jake runs and wins then he can guarantee the permits. Why marry me? I have no influence, no pull with any of that. That makes no sense at all, Edward."
Sighing heavily Edward clutched at her hand more firmly. "Jake has somewhat of a reputation, Bella. He's been linked to several scandals, of the personal kind, over the years. He needs to marry someone legitimately suitable if he's got a hope of winning the election."
Bella thought on it for a moment and then began to shake her head. "No, you've got it wrong," she told him firmly. "Jake decided to ask for my hand. My father told me that himself. Jake came to our house and asked. And he's got nothing to do with any property deal," she said confidently. "He's a politician; he's nothing to do with any land deal. My father wouldn't do business that way, he's a judge. He wouldn't sell me that way," she hissed.
But Edward knew better. "I'm sorry Bella, but you're wrong. I was there. I was in the room when it went down. My father insisted I was there even though I hadn't graduated yet because he expects me to be on the team heading the whole thing up."
"Was Jake there? When this was planned?" she asked and when Edward shook his head she relaxed just a little. "See? He's not involved. He met me at a party and asked to talk to me. He sat with me for ages, just talking. If his proposal was a business deal why bother speaking to me at all?"
Edward wanted to say that Jake was probably making sure that she was suitable. Attractive enough. Demure enough. Poised enough. But he didn't. He couldn't bring himself to hurt her that way and there was no way he wanted her to start second guessing herself and her worth as a person, and as a woman.
He felt so bad having to explain this to her. His stomach was in knots. Not because he knew her and her family but because he knew what a shit her father was. He also knew what a bastard Jacob Black was. He hadn't been in the room when Billy negotiated the terms with Bella's father but any man who agreed to marry a woman because of a business deal his father was a part of was not going to be a knight in shining armour.
"When was that party?" he asked and when she replied, after a moment's thought, his stomach plummeted. She'd proved his point but he couldn't say that either. "And how long after that first meeting did he ask for your hand?" when she told him it was only a little while he sighed. "Bella, sweetheart, he made no effort to get to know you at all before proposing. It's an arrangement. I know that hurts you to think about, but you must think about it."
But Bella didn't want to, or need to think about it. "No, I don't believe you," Bella said firmly as she got to her feet. Looking down at him she could see the hurt in his eyes and for a split second she toyed with the idea that he could be right. Logic and reason told her otherwise. "No," she said again as she slung her bag over her shoulder. "You're wrong. My mother might be controlling but she'd never condone something like this even if my dad did. No. Just no."
"Is your mother involved with your father's business dealings?" he asked, hoping to come at the issue from another angle to make her see.
"No," Bella conceded as she looked at the floor. "But I refuse to believe that either of them, no matter how cold they can be towards me, could do this for the sake of a business deal."
She made for the door but Edward called her back. She didn't turn to face him as he spoke. "Why did they send you here?" he asked.
The question seemed unrelated to the discussion they'd had but Bella answered him anyway. "Because I needed a rest before getting married."
"That's bullshit," Edward barked. "That was your answer a month ago when you first got here and even then you told me you weren't tired. You know this marriage isn't right. You know he's not a good guy. Not if he's gone along with this deal with our parents. You can't go into this so blindly. You have the right to know who you're marrying, Bella. You have a right to know what sort of man he really is. So tell me, why did they send you here, truthfully?"
Shocked at his words Bella's shoulders slumped. He was right. She did have a right to know what she was headed for. She didn't have any idea how to find that out, and sitting here in an abandoned winery arguing about it wasn't going to help any. She knew there could be some truth to what he was telling her but she also hoped that her parents wouldn't do that to her. Whatever they may be, good or bad, they loved her.
"Come on Bella; lay your cards on the table for me. Why did they send you here?" Edward asked again.
It was the first time she felt she might be better off to be truly honest about her situation because if he was telling the truth there was no point lying about it anymore. And it felt like a great relief to tell him the truth. "Because I got depressed and sick thinking about having to marry Jake," she whispered just loud enough for him to catch.
"Did you ask any questions about him, about who he was and what he did? Did you try to find out anything about him yourself? Did you tell anyone you didn't want to marry him?"
"No. There was no point. They wouldn't have listened anyway."
"I'm listening," he said softly.
"Alright," she sighed. "You're listening but it's already too late. I'll be going home in eight weeks time and I'll be marrying him. The invitations have gone out and it's all planned. I gave him my answer when he asked and..." she trailed off, not willing to get into the whys and wheres about her impending marriage until she had a chance to find out for herself if any of what he'd said was true. "Why did they send you here?" Bella countered, steering the subject away from her.
"Because I didn't want to be in on the deal our parents are setting up and it made me sick," he said, feeling freer than he had ever felt for finally being able to tell the truth to someone. "It's not just this deal that I don't like, though. I don't want to be a businessman at all. I never did, this deal just cemented that for me. I don't belong in the business world. I don't have the balls for all the backhanded deals and the secrecy that goes into property developing."
"Did you tell anyone you didn't want to be a businessman?" she asked, echoing his question of her.
"No," he said solemnly. "There was no point. They wouldn't have listened to me either."
Considering her answer Bella reached for the door and opened it before she spoke. She still didn't look him in the eye as she said her peace. "Until you're ready to defy your parents you don't get to judge me for not defying mine."
Bella returned to her cabin after her talk with Edward and sat staring at her cell phone for hours and hours. There was nobody she could think of to call to verify what Edward had told her and nobody who she thought would listen if she wanted to admit that she didn't want to get married.
She had several voicemail deposits – that she would normally delete without listening – but one message caught her eye. It was from Jasper's personal cell phone and it piqued her interest.
She listened to the message twice then deleted it.
She liked Jasper and she trusted him. He'd always been good to Alice and he'd never given Bella any reason not to think he wouldn't listen, but was he the right person to go to with this?
She thought not. If what Edward said was true she didn't want her sister and her husband involved. No, that wasn't true either. What Bella didn't want was to find out that her sister and her husband already knew that what Edward had tried to tell her was the truth.
Surrounded by hundreds of people at camp Bella felt more alone than she ever had at home, or at boarding school.
Edward stayed in the pressing shed for many hours. He too stared at his cell phone and wondered who he could call to help him through what he considered one of his darkest hours.
Would anyone believe him? Could he prove any of what he knew to be true? Would anybody want to know? Did anyone at home care that Bella was being used? Did anyone at home care that it hurt him to think of it? Did anybody care that he was having a personal crisis? And if anyone did what exactly could they do about it?
He considered Emmett for half a second before dismissing the idea as foolish. Emmett wasn't the sort of person who was going to be able to help even if he did listen and sympathise. So instead he sat there, on the dusty floor in the candlelight and stared at his cell phone.
He deleted all the messages from his mother and father and sat staring at the one number that he didn't recognise. It was a cell phone number but not a number used by any of the stored contacts in his phone.
He listened to the message, his heart nearly missing a beat when he heard the name of the caller. He knew who Jasper was and he knew what he did. He was a hot shot lawyer who specialised in wills and legacies. What he wanted with Edward was anyone's guess.
That in itself was reason enough to return the call, but the coincidence that nailed the decision for Edward was his talk with Bella. The law firm used to set up the deal between Cullen, Swan and Black was the one Jasper worked for.
Edward listened again to the return call number and hit dial, his heart in his throat as he waited for it to answer.
Emmett wasn't too surprised to find his roommate missing when he emerged from his shower cleaner but not exactly feeling tip top. He looked all over the camp for Edward but came up empty at each stop. By sundown he had no choice but to go and eat alone in the dining hall.
When the fourth Monday of the private guests stay came, and busloads of new corporate types arrived, a now sober and not quite so achy Em went in search of some new suckers to fleece.
He did his best to locate his errant roommate but came up empty on all fronts. He had no way to know if Edward had come back to the cabin during the night and had left early that morning because the guy was a neat freak. His bed was always perfectly made if he wasn't actually in it, so there was no way to tell if it had been used the night before. He lodged an enquiry at the reception desk and asked that if Edward showed up could someone come find him right away.
Nobody in the office seemed too concerned and one of the girls actually suggested going door knocking on the other private cabin doors to find his friend. Seems that cabin or bed hopping during their stay was quite normal for the private guests.
But Emmett had already asked the others in their group and each of them had told him that Edward hadn't shown his face all night, or at breakfast. Bella said she'd seen him in the afternoon the day before and that if she saw him herself she'd come find Emmett right away.
Bella was worried, but not enough to go searching. Edward had as much on his mind as she did and she had no clue how to help him with his issues when she couldn't sort out her own.
Emmett had to let it go and instead he turned his attention to the sorry state of his finances. He had just eighty dollars left to his name and was determined not to call home and beg for money.
He hadn't had a drink since the Saturday night and was feeling pretty good even if the bruise under his left eye was still slightly green and his lip still had a scab on it. If he was honest his gut didn't feel all too good from all the drink, and the weed had given him a hangover the likes of which he never wanted to relive ever again. He'd avoided any further contact with Rose. She wasn't exactly searching him out anyway.
So that left Emmett to his own devices. Everyone he knew at camp was tied up within their own little personal dramas and lives.
His roommate was quite obviously smitten with the engaged Bella and Emmett didn't want any part of the catastrophe that was looming for his friends. They'd obviously had a tiff, if Saturday night's behaviour was anything to go by, and figured that if either of them wanted his help with anything they'd ask for it. Seeing as neither of them had he assumed that the little affair was over or they'd sorted it out for themselves.
Ben and Angela were still joined at the hip. Tyler was like his usual ninja self and hiding out in the conference centre doing whatever Tyler did all day. The two girls in the other cabin were like wraiths. They never joined in anything and they didn't socialise with anyone. Rose was not an option. She freaked him out. He had no idea how to make her smile. He had no clue how he could get her to notice him and he wasn't sure he was the sort of person she should be noticing. He'd leave that alone, it was better for them both that way.
Thinking that Ed didn't seem happy, from the glimpses of his roommate he had seen over the course of the day prior he decided that the guy needed a little distraction. And what better motivator than cash he thought.
Emmett also needed to get a move on with his latest money making scheme because the repairs on the storeroom and toilets were coming to an end. That meant that a truck would soon be arriving to take back the portable toilets, one of which Emmett still had standing behind his cabin.
He hung back in the dining hall after lunch on that Monday and introduced himself around to the new stuffed shirts as he liked to call anyone with a nine to five job.
He made sure to target the nervous looking guys and steered clear of the ones who looked obviously conscientious. A certain amount of moral flexibility was required for his latest money making scheme so he sat down with a group of likely looking lads who seemed as though they weren't altogether keen to be involved in the team building exercises and bonding sessions scheduled for their groups.
Always quick to find a mark Emmett soon had a healthy book with bets placed and distances guessed at from a dozen of the more fun loving corporate pirates in situ.
Setting the time and place for his scheme he wished them all a good time at their first group sessions and went in search of his friends. He found Ben, Tyler and Angela in the gym and soon had another hundred dollar bet set down.
Checking his watch and seeing it was just before dinner he figured that if Edward was on the grounds he'd find him in the conference centre at the piano so he went there first. Sure enough he was. He didn't look all that good. In fact he looked wrecked, but he was there, thankfully.
"Dude, where the fuck you been at?" Emmett asked as he approached.
"Had some shit to do in town," Edward shrugged; ending the piece he'd been playing and turning on the bench to face Emmett who had thrown himself down into a chair nearby. "What's up?" he asked.
"I need a hand with something," Em grinned. "I'll understand if you don't want any part of it," he told Ed rather pointedly, "so if you want to be able to deny any knowledge of this now might be a good time to say so," he laughed.
"What have you got planned this time?" Edward asked cautiously as he shut the lid of the piano.
Nodding his head in the direction of the exit he asked Edward to accompany him on a little walk. When they rounded the corner of the dining hall, and had come to a stop outside the storeroom where the still had once lived Emmett began to grin and Edward got a little nervous. He knew that grin. Nothing good could come of Emmett grinning that way. "Twelve potties were delivered," Emmett began, pointing to the row of toilets in front of them. He left Edward to make a quick count of those he could see for himself.
"Where did you stash the twelfth?" Edward asked after making a count. If there was one missing and Emmett had told him there used to be twelve that could only mean his roommate had plans for the other one.
"Behind our cabin for now," Emmett laughed, pleased that his friend had picked up the clues he'd laid out for him. "I've got five hundred dollars worth of bets on how far off the ground I can get one of those things," he told Edward proudly. Cringing at the thought Edward could only ask the obvious question of how he was going to get one off the ground at all. "I know a guy," Emmett began as he began to stroll away from the storeroom and back towards the cabins, "he's very kindly supplied me with some rockets. I'm betting I can get it about five metres in the air but I've got bets ranging from nothing right up to twenty and even one for thirty."
"Rockets?" Edward asked gingerly. The idea of Emmett having explosives stashed somewhere made him uneasy.
"Yeah," Emmett admitted as the two began to walk to where Emmett had the toilet behind their cabin. "I bought six all up and I reckon that should be enough to get it off the ground about five metres."
"If you've got bets from nothing to thirty how will you make a profit?" Edward asked as they rounded the corner and he got his first look at the toilet.
"We," Emmett corrected. "We've given two to one odds for every bet," Emmett told him. "If it doesn't get off the ground we only owe that one guy double his bet. If it goes ten metres we owe that guy double his bet back. The rest we keep as profit."
"Fair enough," Edward agreed about the betting, grateful that his roommate was willing to share the booty. Looking at the portable toilet he had to wonder if six rockets were going to launch the thing into space or just create a crater underneath it. He'd learned his lesson thinking Emmett knew what he was doing so this time he asked pointed questions.
For each one Emmett had what sounded like a well thought out and logical answer. Yes the rockets were good quality. Yes they were in date and not world war two relics. No they wouldn't throw out any shrapnel. Yes they'd do it far away from any buildings. Yes they'd use more than just glasses and gloves for protection this time. Yes they'd do it at night and no Bella wouldn't be involved.
Smirking at Edward's protectiveness of the girl Emmett assured his roommate that nothing could go wrong this time and Edward believed him. It was a simple plan with a good chance of working. Edward wanted more cash so he could take Bella out to dinner in town so they could really talk, and he'd get a chance to apologise for upsetting her. Emmett wanted to be able to fund his drinking without having to ask his parents for more money. Everyone would win.
A/N: Thank you for reading.
Just so you know, all this legal/business stuff looks and sounds pretty complicated. I wrote all this and read and reread it over and over and in the end I decided that because Jasper and Mike are both lawyers themselves they needed to speak to each other in a professional manner.
Edward, on the other hand, isn't a lawyer as you know. And Bella is even less able to understand the legal ramifications of what the parents are tied up in. So, when it comes time for the pair of them to be 'told' exactly what's going on it will be dumbed down considerably. :)
Please review.