Edward dropped me off at my penthouse after giving me a prolonged kiss.

He gave me another kiss, but this time on my cheek. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too." I gave him a small smile. "Thank you so much for sending me."

"That's what boyfriends do." He gave me his crooked smile in return. "I'll be at your house for dinner."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "For what?"

"To cook." He said. "I'll be there by five thirty. I—"

His cellphone suddenly started to ring, and he got interrupted. He looked at me for a second before answering his phone.

"Cullen." He snapped. The person on the other side started to talk and Edward pinched the bridge of his nose, frustrated. "Bring him to the warehouse now. I'll meet you there and take care of it."

He then ended the call and the haze of anger in his eyes disappeared when he looked up at me again. He sighed. "Just another someone who isn't paying up his debts." He told me. "I'll need to get some ingredients from Walmart before going to your house."

"You tell me what you need and I'll get it for you. I'm free this whole week." I suggested.

"Alright. I'll just text you. Fair and square." He remarked.

My hand went up to the side of his face and pulled him into a kiss, but it became heated as an overwhelming need for him grew stronger by the second. Our tongues fought for the upper hand as my fingers tugged at his bronze hair. Edward, who was taken aback for a second at my move, held me at my waist. His lips covered mine fully and I pulled away a little, biting his lower lip gently. He groaned and the hem of my shirt gathered up my stomach. Unbuckling my seatbelt, I moved over to straddle his lap. I could feel his erection growing under me but suddenly Edward broke off our kiss. I whimpered at the loss of his lips on mine.

"Bella, no." He whispered.

"Edward—"

He placed his finger on my lips, my sentence faltering. "I have to go. Tonight, okay?"

I sighed in hesitation. "Tonight?"

"Yes, baby," he promised. "Tonight."

I hugged him and we stayed like that for a few seconds before I gave him a very chaste kiss. "I'll miss you." He told me.

"I'll miss you too." I replied. "See you tonight."

He gave me a last smile before I got out of the car and he drove off. I went up to my penthouse alone and I changed from my t-shirt and jeans to my black lace dress that ended an inch above my knees and the sleeves ended right below my elbows, planning to go to headquarters for a few hours before buying the foods. I wrapped a black headband on my head and I wore on matching black kitten heels. I shrugged on a red loose-fitting coat and was ready to go off.

For the first time in days, I got into my car. I drove to headquarters and when I made my entrance, the chatter around the hall quietened down into hushed whispers. I slowly came to a stop when I realized my heels were the only sounds I could hear clearly. I glanced at everyone and they immediately stopped their private conversations, their eyes on me. I frowned and continued making my way to my office.

"So you're dating him?" The constant noise of clogs on the marble floor annoyed me as Jessica Stanley, resident gossiper, tried to keep up with my fast pace. Jessica wasn't a field agent like me, but she stayed behind computers with a much different job than what Rosalie did which required her to stay in the HQ for her job. I couldn't blame her for being bored and start spreading rumors about fellow colleagues. She was one of the few who dared talk to me— the rest judged me based on my family's reputation, making me untouchable in their eyes when I was like them in a lot of ways.

"Dating who?" I asked monotonously.

"You know who," Jessica rolled her eyes. "Edward Cullen, leader of the mafia ruling New York. Are you?"

"Why would it matter to you?"

"Uh, because it matters to everyone here." She said it in a tone that made me assume that it was obvious.

"It doesn't. It only matters to me because it's my personal life and you all work with me professionally." I arrived at the door of my office and unlocked the door with a fingerprint scan.

"So you're dating him?" She assumed.

"What makes you so sure that I'm dating him? I might as well be dating a normal member of the public or a fellow colleague here."

"You wouldn't date anyone here," she said. "You probably think that dating a general member of the public would be too risky too—"

"Then wouldn't dating the leader of a crime family be riskier than that altogether?" I turned to face her fully. "Your observations are invalid and if you ask anymore about my private life, you will get kicked out of SIGO, and you know how we dispose of our ex-members who have the potential to let out vital information, don't you?"

She froze up. "Uh... yes, ma'am."

Huh. So I'm ma'am now. How appropriate, I muttered in my mind. "Do you get my message or so you need me to remind you again?"

She shook her head and turned away, walking. I smirked and opened my door.

"You owe me info, Swan."

I groaned. "Oh my fucking god, Rose, how did you get in here?"

She lifted up a small flimsy piece of rubber and shook it between her fingertips.

An imprint of my fingerprint.

I rolled my eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

She ignored my words and sat down on the seat in front of my desk. "What happened last night?"

I dropped my dark red Salvatore Ferragamo bag on my table. "We went to Chinatown for the night. We talked and stuff, but nothing much happened."

She narrowed her eyes into slits as if she didn't believe me. "You're kidding."

"I kid you not, Hale. Anyways, we didn't sleep with each other or anything. We slept next to each other." I told her, emphasizing.

"You said something about him saying he loves you this morning," she paused. "Did you confront him—"

"No." I cut her off. "It doesn't really matter now anyways. We're in a relationship and I guess that's bound to happen."

We were in an uncomfortable silence for at least a minute until she asked: "But do you love him?"

"I don't know," I admitted.

"Well, he sure knows he loves you." She smiled softy. "Put away both of your careers and I would have never seen a better match than you guys. Other than me and Emmett, of course."

"Really?" I asked, a little shocked by her words.

"Of course." She chuckled. "You guys are obviously big on cuddling. Your lips are still swollen from the last time he kissed you."

I reached up to feel my lips and it felt much plumper than usual. Edward & I kissed probably less than two hours ago, but it was still evident on my face.

"We're having dinner tonight again," I told her. "At my house."

Her eyebrows shot up. "You're cooking or ordering in?"

"He's the one doing the cooking."

She gasped. "Damn, Bella. What I wouldn't do to get Emmett to do that just once."

I rolled my eyes again, but laughed. "You've got to find a way to get him to do that— just supervise him in the kitchen, though."

She nodded, grinning ear-to-ear out of humor. She stood up. "Have a great dinner, Bella."

"Yeah, sure." I said. "I'll talk to you soon."

She slipped out of the office silently and I busied myself with some paperwork before leaving to buy the foods that Edward requested through text. As I passed by my aunt's office, I paused and decided to stop by her office. Knocking on the door, I waited for her call.

"Come in." I heard her say out loud. I twisted the doorknob and entered.

Siobhan had her hair swept up in a bun and she was just finishing up with a conference call when I opened the door. She looked up at me and smiled. "Bella."

"Aunt Siobhan," I greeted. "Uhm, I just wanted to check up on you."

"I'm fine, darling. How are you?"

"Well...," I drifted away a little while and then cleared my throat. "I guess I'm doing a little better than fine."

She chuckled. "Does a certain twenty-one-year-old mafia boss have to do with it?"

"Kind of." I scratched the side of my head awkwardly. "We're having dinner tonight, actually."

"Oh?" She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Okay. It seems that everything really is doing quite well with you." Her eyes wandered a little to the small surveillance televisions at the corner of her desk and frowned. "Bella, I don't think you'd want to leave through the front door right now."

"What?" I took a step closer. "Why?"

"Charlie & Renèe are here." She replied. "Stay in my office, would you? We still have a lot to talk about."

She then left the office and I was a little curious to what was happening outside, so I moved over to Siobhan's desk. It showed the hallways and my parents were walking together, but they weren't talking. Their faces were as straight and expressionless as they could be and I then saw another person coming into the picture. Siobhan smiled and greeted them. My mother's face was serious even when she greeted her back. A few word were exchanged between them as my father watched them both. I couldn't exactly see Siobhan's face, so I only could see my parents and I was going to lip-read my mother.

What do you mean she's not here? I read Renèe's lips. A few words from Siobhan suddenly had her on edge. No, I know she's here! Don't hide her from me. I went to her house and no one responded. I called her so many times and she never answered. Is she in her office?

The reply from my aunt had my mother glaring daggers at her. If she's not in her office, where is she? Let's talk in your office now, shall we?

My aunt stopped my mother from walking past her.

Is she in your office? Is my daughter in your office? Renée asked. A few beats of silence and her eyes were widened. Let me see her now!

All three of them walked out of the surveillance camera's sight and I started to panic. I knew that the office had a secret doorway that was an entrance and exit other than the main door that was obvious. I reached up on my toes, feeling for any uneven corners of the bookshelves behind her desk. The secret doorway wasn't hiding there and I lifted up the carpet on the floor a little. Still no doorway.

The door was yanked open and my head snapped up. I let go of the carpet and it fell back down to the floor.

"Bella, you are in serious trouble, young lady!" Renée shouted.

"What?" I blurted out.

"Are you dating Edward Cullen?"

My eyes widened and I looked to Siobhan's way. She just nodded. "I... I, uh, I am." I replied shakily.

"You do know all too well about what he does, don't you?" She asked sharply.

At the mention of what Edward did for a living had me building a wall up instantly. "Well, why do you care anyway?" I replied back defensively. "How do you know that I'm dating him, unless you broke Alice's promise! Alice made you guys promise to not check up on who I left with at Crystal and you guys broke it!"

My father stepped forward. "Bella, you don't have the right to talk to us like this. Be rational."

I laughed humorlessly. "Rational? Why don't you tell Mom to be rational first then I will!"

"This is not how I raised you to be!" Renée exclaimed angrily.

"I'm not how you raised me to be because you weren't there for the last few years!" I told her off in the same tone. "Aunt Siobhan took over both of your places when you weren't there. She cares more about me. If I'm with Edward, what does it even mean to you?" I lowered my voice.

"You're dating a criminal! You know that it's against the rules!" She snapped. "This will not only tarnish our family values, but our reputation as well!"

I scoffed. "This was all about reputation all along?" My cellphone vibrated and I took it out. A text message from Edward came saying the he looked forward to tonight's dinner. I looked up at my parents. "I'm heading off, but if you or anyone you hire follows me discreetly, I will cut off all communications with you and you all will not be able to locate me anywhere in the world."

I walked past them swiftly and replied to Edward's message, saying that I was looking forward to seeing him too.

"Hey, baby." Edward picked me up into his arms and peppered my face with kisses. I giggled at that and he put me down. I moved aside so that he could go in.

"What are you planning to make?" I asked.

"Haven't you gotten a clue?" He laughed, walking straight to the kitchen. "Soy sauce, noodles, sesame seeds..."

I shook my head. "I'm not that big on culinary stuff."

"Cold soba," he finally told me. "Originated from Japan and is now eaten all over the world. It may sound disgusting since it's eaten cold, but it tastes delicious."

"Delicious but life-threatening?"

He narrowed his eyes into slits playfully. "Very funny."

"Need any help?" I asked.

"Nope. I can do it by myself. This dinner is supposed to be for my girl." He wagged his eyebrows jokingly and it only made him seem more like a dork.

"I'll just be here to supervise you. If you burn down my house—"

"You will move in with me and sleep on my waterbed." He interrupted. I gave him my middle finger and he shook his head as he laughed. When he was done making dinner, he served it on the dining table. I slurped up my cold soba as I looked at him, trying my hardest not to laugh.

"This is one of the worst dining etiquettes, but it's fun." I commented.

"We're just eating it the traditional way," he replied. "Where did you go just now?"

"I went to my headquarters. Nothing much happened." I quickly answered

There wasn't a response from him for three seconds and I knew I couldn't fool him. "Bella, what happened?"

I sighed. "My parents found out about us and my mom was screaming at me. I screamed back at her saying that she wasn't much of a parent and... yeah. Nothing else happened."

"Does that mean that I won't be meeting your parents in any way pleasant soon?" He asked.

"No."

He nodded solemnly and offered to pick up my plate. I accepted his offer and as I sat there, I thought about last time. I was so close to my mother that we were basically each other's best friends. Now that we drifted off, we seemed a little... foreign to each other. We both changed a lot and we didn't know what was happening in each other's lives. We were literally mother and daughter to strangers on the street. I missed her.

"Bella, love," Edward kissed my cheek softly from behind, "do you want to go somewhere to forget everything?"

"Sure." I replied instantly. "Where?"

"Bring your favorite gun." He said. "We're going to practice some shooting."

HEYY. Late update. Sigh. I'm still recovering from those stupid tests and so I feel like I'm going to sleep soon. Anyways, I saw that I have over a hundred people who have put this story on their favorites and over two hundred of you guys have put it in your alerts! Thank you guys. You all are so cute.

Scarlett