A/N… I apologize for the delay, so I'm doing this a day early. I know you're all like Brad Pitt from Seven – "What's in the box?!" So I'll let you get to it.

~oOo~

Chapter 27

BELLA

"Take your time, beautiful. I'm ready when you are."

Edward's voice sounded firm, but I met his gaze, trying to see anything else in those rare-green eyes I loved so much. He'd ridden an emotional rollercoaster since we'd arrived, so I didn't want him to hurt any more than necessary.

Elizabeth Masen knew exactly how to take the sting out of her death with her son. She knew him so well that she'd made it a mystery for him, a game. He was highly intelligent, and she knew it. By nature, he couldn't stop himself from solving the puzzle, searching for the answers, or unraveling all the clues. That was the only way his mind worked.

However, that thought had me hugging him closer, because if she had left him the small hunt for clues like she had, then she knew she had a target on her back.

"Shit," I hissed, squeezing my eyes closed. "She knew." I gaped up at Edward. "Baby, she knew she wouldn't make it."

He nodded once, his eyes traveling around the yard. "I know. As soon as I read the second note…" He trailed off, meeting my gaze as he nodded once more. "I don't even have to open that fucking box to know that much."

I grimaced, but he was right. Kissing his lips softly, I wished I could take all the pain away. I wanted to shelter him from this next thing. However, I could see that we'd brought the perfect group of people with us. I had a feeling this would take all of us to keep Edward surrounded by love and support and to piece these last clues together that Elizabeth had left behind.

"Look at me, Edward," I whispered, and he met my gaze. "I love you. And we got this. Okay?"

"Okay."

His one-word answers had been happening all day. It probably stemmed from the memories and this damned house. So far, he'd maintained his temper, but I could feel his anxiety as he clung to me. I was his life raft in this sea of heartache, and I was perfectly fine with it. Edward deserved peace from his mother's death after this was over.

And oh, my fucking God, I would kill Ed Sr. myself if he were still alive.

That last thought had me slipping down off Edward's lap, and he followed suit, slamming the tailgate on his truck closed. When we walked back into the house, everyone in the kitchen looked our way. Emmett looked fiercely protective at the moment. Esme was a bit of an emotional mess, not that I blamed her one bit. My dad and Carlisle seemed angry, though both were loving fathers, so I could imagine they hated Ed Sr. as much as I did.

Tanya, however, met my gaze, asking the silent question – was Edward okay? I nodded once, and she moved from the other side of the counter to walk to him.

"Bestie, if you need more time—"

"I'm okay," he interrupted her, but he accepted her hug just the same.

Everyone at the counter shifted to make room for us as Edward reached for the box we'd pulled out of the wall in the basement. Slowly, he lifted the lid and peeked inside. He pulled out a stack of composition notebooks. There seemed to be about a half dozen or so, and then there were two Nike shoeboxes inside. And I had to smirk that they were most likely from Edward's childhood, because they were boys' sneakers according to the label on the outside.

"Son," Dad called him, lifting the lid up.

Taped to the underside of the box's top was an envelope, and Edward's name was written in pretty script.

Edward reached for it, carefully removing it from the cardboard. "Thanks, Charlie."

Before he opened that envelope, he lifted the lids on the two shoeboxes. Inside one was an old camcorder with a row of those small tapes that it used. The other was a wide range of things – photos, a USB thumb drive, and one of those digital voice recorders like the media sometimes used.

However, my gaze shot up to Edward's face as he finally slipped a finger under the flap of the envelope to rip it open. Elizabeth had written a longer note this time, using the same paper as the other two. Edward smoothed it out on the countertop, and the rest of us were eerily quiet, because instead of reading it to himself, he read it out loud.

Edward, my love…

The first thing I owe you is an apology, because if you're reading this, then I'm no longer with you. I need you to understand that I never wanted this to happen, but there was no other way. If I'm gone, then I did it to save you, my sweet son.

The father you know now is not who he always was. When I met Ed, we were in NIU, and we had goals and dreams and love – just like any other couple. However, as time moved on – after weddings and jobs – your father was seduced by power and money…and eventually other women.

We were happy when he was a public defender, but eventually, he'd defended enough of Marcus Volturi's men that he decided to hire your father as his personal attorney.

I wasn't quite sure what that entailed in the beginning, until I started to do some research. I went to your father, begging him to please reconsider working for those men, but he couldn't be swayed. It was then that I knew Marcus had something on your father – some sort of information or blackmail.

When I found out I was pregnant with you, I was adamant that you remain a secret. It was the biggest fight we'd ever had, and I decided that it was time to go. He didn't want children, and I refused to give you up because you, my beautiful boy, were all I ever wanted in this life.

It took a couple of years, but I put together a plan to get back home, back to Seattle where I had family, support. My parents were gone, but your Aunt Esme was more than willing to help me get settled.

Once I got to Seattle, your father wasn't far behind. He knew where I'd go, so instead of granting me the divorce I wanted, he promised things would change. So we bought this house you're standing in. He promised things he had no business promising. He'd never be free, no matter what he did or how far he went.

You became the one thing he could threaten me with, the one thing he could take away. And he had enough power through the Volturi brothers to carry through with those threats.

He left me to essentially raise you alone, and he provided us with a comfortable living. He'd travel between Seattle and Chicago, working for the whole Volturi family. It was the only way.

So I shut up, and I started to pay attention. It was fine…until it wasn't.

While Marcus would've probably let things continue, his brother, Aro, wasn't so benign. There were a few quiet years, until one day, your father took a call that sent him straight to the county jail.

Aro's son, Caius, had beaten a woman. Aro demanded that Ed get him off – technicality, temporary insanity, bribery, anything. But there were too many witnesses, too much violent history.

When Caius was sentenced, he was killed in prison not two days later. Which brings us to why you're reading this instead of hearing it from me.

What you'll find in the boxes I left for you is everything you'll need to put the Volturi family out of commission. Aro gave your father a choice – a son for a son or a son for his wife.

My fear was something happening to you. Not me. Edward, my love, I need you to be smart and strong. I need you to understand that if he chose me, then you could go on. However, if your father is ever arrested, Aro would kill him before he could talk.

There are phone conversations, recordings of meetings, and threats on video. There are documents and photos. I've been gathering information since we moved to Seattle.

I love you, my sweet boy. I loved you enough to give you something to knock you out tonight, so that I could make your father choose me. It must be me. You'll understand when you have children of your own someday – you'd die for them, you'd hand them the world, and you won't ever think twice about it. I hope you find love and happiness, peace and joy. I hope you become whatever it is you want to be and that you're the best at it.

And I hope one day you'll forgive me, but I know it'll take time. But my hope is that this gives you all the time in the world.

All my love, all my heart,

Mom

Elizabeth Masen had to have been the bravest woman who ever lived. Every damn step she took had been done with her son's welfare in mind. But there was a touch of vengeance in that letter; she'd begged and pleaded, bargained and spied in order to take down the men who posed a threat to the only thing that mattered to her – Edward – and she'd finally sacrificed herself in his place, because she knew Ed Sr. would choose his son instead.

She didn't allow for a few things, though. She didn't give Ed Sr. enough credit for shady behavior and creative lying and harsh threats. It took what she'd done and set it back not only the year it took to find her body, but also the additional fourteen damn years Edward was traumatized by the entire thing.

Esme swiped away tears, leaning into Carlisle as he pressed kisses to her head. Rose had backed away from the kitchen counter, and Emmett was staring at the contents of the box like it was taking all his restraint to leave it alone for the moment.

Edward, however, hadn't moved. His arms were braced on either side of those pages. I couldn't imagine what he was feeling, but I was pretty sure it was every emotion imaginable. When tears hit the letter, I ducked beneath his braced arms and wrapped my arms around his middle.

He didn't move immediately, but I also wasn't the only one who decided to wrap him up. Tanya, Rose, Carlisle, and Esme all came over to hug him. No one said a word. They didn't have to say anything. Edward was hurting, and I could feel it in the shaking of his arms as they wound around me.

However, the fact that he was here, that he was standing inside the house that had haunted his memories for so long, was a fucking massive step for him. So we were all going at his pace.

There were whispers of love and apology to him, and he nodded. Soon, the rest pulled away, but he didn't let me go just yet.

"You need another minute to step away?" I whispered in his ear.

"No," he mumbled into my shoulder.

"You're doing fine, you know."

He inhaled deeply, pulling back just enough to meet my gaze. His eyes were the greenest I'd ever seen them, and I reached up to gently brush away tears and the hair from his forehead.

Under the surface, though, I could feel his strength and temper as he eyed all the stuff from that box. And I knew now that it was anxiety fueling that temper.

"Easy, Edward," I whispered against his cheek. "We're all here to help you. C'mon, tell us what you need. What would you like us to do? Pack it up and get the hell out of here? Or everyone take a piece and get to work? You're in charge here, Detective."

His gaze quickly shot to mine, but I seemed to have gotten his attention. In a good way.

"I need my laptop." Edward's soft voice came out a little raspy. "It's in the truck."

"I got you, bro," Emmett piped up, catching Edward's keys when he tossed them his way.

Edward finally let me go, pressing a heavy kiss to my forehead. He seemed to zero in on all the things that had come out of that box. He picked up the thumb drive, turning it over in his hand.

"I'll take this," he stated softly.

"Buddy, I'm taking the video camera," Emmett stated as he came back in through the door.

"I'll help you, Emmett," my dad volunteered.

"I'm taking these," I said, reaching for the six or seven composition notebooks, because I wasn't sure I could handle watching or listening to Ed Sr.'s meetings or threats or whatever.

"Want some help?" Esme asked softly, and Tanya and Rose were with her, nodding slowly.

"Yeah, for sure."

The four of us took the kitchen table, each grabbing one of those notebooks. There were years written on the front of each one. It seemed each one covered a couple years or so. Honestly, I wanted the most recent, and Esme wanted to start at the beginning.

"I want to know why she did what she did at the end," I muttered, glancing up when the girls with me huffed and nodded.

"No, shit," Tanya stated, sliding the notebook to me with the most recent year on the front.

Esme took the oldest. "I'll take the start," she said, shaking her head a little. "None of this is surprising – not her protection of Edward or her ability to keep stuff secret or even that she set this all up. Nothing about that surprises me. What shocks me is that she didn't tell me that she needed me for Edward's sake."

"Mm," I hummed in agreement, nodding once. "I think she underestimated Ed Sr.'s narcissism."

Tanya snorted, raising an eyebrow my way. "You might have a point. He spun it all around and then lied to keep Edward quiet and under his fucking control."

Esme tsked at her, giving Edward a surreptitious glance. "Language."

Tanya grinned. "Oh, hell no. My language is bound to get worse before this shit is all over. You're just gonna have to live with it."

I laughed a little because Tanya had a point, but I loved that Esme treated us all like we were her own children.

"Don't encourage her," Esme scoffed.

"I'll apologize now for whatever language we all let slip, okay? You should've heard Jasper and me growing up," I told her. "Dad gave up somewhere around high school."

Rose and Tanya chuckled, but I could tell we needed a minute of light before we lost ourselves in the dark we were about to read.

Dad and Emmett pulled off the covers that were on some of the furniture and TV in the living room. Dana took a stool next to Edward at the counter, and Carlisle joined them, but he reached into one of the boxes and pulled out that voice recorder and a stack of papers and pictures.

Finally, I found the courage to open the notebook in front of me that was labeled fifteen years prior. Edward would've been about thirteen, give or take. I thumbed through Elizabeth's handwritten pages. She'd written in the book like journal entries. It didn't seem to be an everyday thing, but when she did write something, the date and time were noted.

What I was most grateful for was that she wasn't writing to Edward. I wasn't sure he could take seven damn notebooks of words from her. No, she wrote like someone giving a report. She wrote like someone who knew that details fucking mattered.

April 4, 2008 8:47pm – Ed received a call during dinner tonight. He immediately left the house. I listened in as he quickly called others on his phone. Aro Volturi's son, Caius, was arrested…

~oOo~

EDWARD

There were hushed conversations all over the house. Emmett and Charlie were hooking the camcorder up to the TV, and every woman in my life was now poring through the notebooks like they were studying for an exam.

It felt so fucking familiar to have them all rally around me. They'd done the same thing when I'd finally found my mother in the basement. Back then, they'd only known what they'd been told, and it wasn't much by me. My dad had told them my mother had left us, so any changes in my behavior or whatever wasn't really mentioned.

My friends and Rose were fourteen, with short attention spans and happy dispositions. At the time, I'd been embarrassed and scared – specifically scared that my father would make good on his threat to move me to Chicago.

When I finally figured out what he'd done and once I'd finally told them everything, not one of them judged or berated me. They'd wrapped me up, held on tight, and helped me grieve. Uncle Carlisle alone was responsible for securing this house, my inheritance, and probably my sanity.

"You okay?" Uncle Carlisle asked, glancing up from a stack of photos.

Nodding, I swallowed thickly. "Yes, sir." I grimaced, meeting his gaze. "I don't know. Maybe?"

He smiled sadly and wrapped an arm around my shoulders for a brief second. "Maybe."

Lt. Mitchell huffed a humorless laugh. "No, you're not. But you will be. Let's see what's on that thumb drive, Edward." She nudged me with her elbow. "Your mom was a smart cookie. She may have put all of those videos and whatever is on that recorder onto that thing."

My eyebrows flickered up, but I nodded again. "Okay."

I opened my laptop and stuck in the thumb drive. Immediately, a window popped up with the list of folders and files. The list of folders was what I'd expect – documents, photos, media, backup. My mother had been extremely adept at using a computer; it was more than internet or social media. She'd played a few games with me and against me, which had always been fun for us, but she also kept up with current events and news.

The documents folder contained important papers concerning me, the house, insurance policies, and bank statements. It was information we'd already known. However, the more I scrolled through them, I saw that my mother had found the house in Chicago where Jane had lived, which meant that Jane had been around way longer than I'd assumed. The papers on that house dated back to about a year prior to my mother's death.

The photo folder had some subfolders. It seemed my mother wanted to save pictures of me, of her family, and even some of her college days. Another folder was filled with surveillance shots of my father. It wasn't in Seattle but Chicago, and they were dated around the time he'd bought the house for Jane.

"She had my dad followed in Chicago. Wonder who took these for her?" I muttered to no one in particular.

"A college friend, Edward," Bella piped up from the kitchen table. She tapped the page of the notebook in front of her. "Someone named Heidi Middleton."

"I've met her," Aunt Esme piped up. "She was Liz's roommate at NIU."

"You know," Dana said softly, "if your dad owned that house in Chicago, it's now yours."

Smirking her way, I let out a laugh. "Are you saying I need to take it back? Evict my dad's mistress?"

"Oh, kiddo, I'm definitely telling you to get some payback," she said through a dark chuckle. "I think your mom set you up to open up the gates of hell and push all these monsters inside." She nudged me a little. "I think she did more than place herself as a shield in front of you. I think she gathered an arsenal of information to end organized crime in not only Seattle, but also Chicago."

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, but I turned when Emmett called my name.

"Your mom recorded every meeting that took place in this house, which was way too often, if you ask me. Ed Sr. was a confident asshole," he stated, pointing to the TV.

The video was paused, and front and center was my father at the desk in the study. Sitting in front of him was none other than Aro Volturi and one of his goons standing in the background like a bodyguard.

If I was guessing correctly, she'd set that camcorder on the bookshelf just inside the doorway to the right. She would've been able to camouflage it with house plants and picture frames.

I pointed to the screen, slipping down off the stool. "No matter what you hear on that, it's gonna be considered attorney/client privilege."

"Maybe, unless your father was participating in the crime with Aro. Then…that shit is evidence." He grinned widely, nodding when Charlie piped up.

"He's right. If you can find just enough information in all of this, you could go to your undercover Fed with it," he told me solemnly, holding up a finger when he wasn't finished. "Even better? Pay that asshole a visit and get him to confess."

My brow furrowed. "He knows what I am now. He knows I'm a cop. I get what you're saying, and no, the bastard doesn't scare me, but if shit goes sideways, then everyone in this room would be in danger. And some who aren't here."

Garrett and possibly Alice and Jasper would be used against me. Aro would seek out everyone and everything to stop any illegal information from leaking. I shook my head, raking a hand through my hair.

Charlie stood up. "You might be right about that," he conceded softly, pointing to the screen. "I think he's been watching for you, Edward. Look."

I focused on the screen, and Emmett took the remote and rewound the video. My mother's face appeared on the screen out of focus. It hurt to see her, but her face was solemn as she adjusted the camera. Once she stepped away, I could see myself at the age of maybe twelve or thirteen in the background, reading in the chair by the window.

"C'mon, love. You can read on the sofa. Your father has a meeting," she told me.

I nodded, marked my page, and stood up as three or four men entered the study. Aro smiled my way, and my father scowled.

As I left the room, Aro's eyes were on me, which made me frown, because I didn't remember this at all. In fact, I wasn't sure I was ever introduced to anyone who met with my father. He certainly wasn't going to say anything.

However, it was my dad's face I focused on in the video. While Aro's eyes were on me as he wore a wicked smile, my father's eyes were on him, and there was fear there and nerves.

I tilted my head a little as I walked closer to the TV when their meeting started.

"Your son is growing fast, Masen," Aro said softly. "He's going to be as tall as you, I think."

"Perhaps," my father allowed. "Sometimes the boy's smarter than I give him credit for."

Aro grinned. "Teenage boys will do that to you. Mine drove my wife and me crazy with his antics. He still does."

"Hmm," Dad hummed noncommittally. "Edward's well behaved. I'll give him that much."

Aro shook his head. "I'm not sure my sister, Jane, would mind much if she knew about the boy."

Ed Sr.'s temper flashed across his face. "I'm not in any position to say anything just yet."

"You have my word, Masen. I'll say nothing about the boy to my sister, and you'll keep my son out of trouble," Aro bargained with a grimace. "Though, I fear you'll have your work cut out for you. He got his temper from his mother, but I need his control of heroin distribution. They cover Seattle all the way to Portland. One day, Caius will take over for me." He smirked wryly. "Terrifying thought, isn't it? That they're our legacy?"

"I can almost promise you that my son will not follow in my footsteps. His mother will never allow it," my father scoffed, but I saw the expression on his face. Whether he didn't think I'd live past him or that he was okay that I wouldn't follow in his footsteps… I couldn't tell which of those he wanted.

My eyebrows shot up with that info, and the whole house came to a stop.

"Well, now we know what Aro was holding over Ed Sr. It was you. But your mom said Marcus was blackmailing him too," Emmett piped up, pausing the video.

"He was," Bella said, getting up from the kitchen table and bringing the notebook with her. "It was one of the last entries she'd written. Aro was blackmailing Ed Sr. with your existence, because Ed Sr. didn't want his mistress to know he had a son. Marcus's blackmail goes back to before you were born. Your mom said that Ed Sr. owed Marcus money. Lots of it. So instead of making him pay it, he used his position at the public defender's office to pay it off."

"Huh," Emmett huffed. "Wonder how many shady fucking deals were made for Marcus's men just to keep from getting his legs broken by the damn mob."

I sighed, shaking my head, but I took the notebook from Bella, flipping through the last few entries. It was essentially my mother's regret concerning my father, but the last thing she wrote made my heart hurt, because she wrote it not long after I'd turned fourteen, but just before she was murdered.

August 29, 2009 1:25am – My regrets run deep when it comes to my husband. To be lied to and manipulated, to be cast aside for someone else, to be a pawn in a dangerous human game of chess – all these things plague me. However, the one good thing to come out of my marriage is my son. He's all things good and kind and smart. He's gentle and brave, and I have no doubt in my mind that he will grow up to be an honorable and loving man. If I've done anything worthy, I hope that I've taught him well, guided him as a man, and assured him a long life. Because he deserves more than a life in the illegal shadows.

"Christ," I barely breathed aloud, meeting Bella's gaze before anyone else's. "She left so much shit to go through."

"She did," Bella agreed softly. "What would you like us to do?" She gestured around the room. "You've got current cops, retired cops, and a member of the DA's office. You've got best friends, a girlfriend, and blood relatives. Take your pick, and delegate some shit, Edward."

Emmett cracked the fuck up, and it was contagious as all hell.

I grinned, nodding a little.

"Kiddo, I'd be happy to go through these audio recordings," Dana offered, pulling the shoebox closer to her. "And the stack of stuff in this box."

"Edward, give me that thumb drive," Charlie said, pointing toward my laptop.

"I've got the videos," Emmett stated.

Bella looked up at me. "Me and you? We'll take the notebooks. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay," she repeated back to me, her brow furrowing as she brushed my hair from my forehead. "Now, while we're here, do you want to take anything from this house?"

"Yes."

"Perfect. I'll get the boxes out of the truck," she said, walking toward the front door.

However, I looked to Aunt Esme and swallowed nervously. "If you… I mean, if there's stuff of Mom's that you… I've kept it from you."

My aunt walked to me, taking my hand. "C'mon, sweet boy. Let's do it together. What do you say?"

I could only nod for a few seconds because I was overwhelmed. A part of me wanted to run from this house, not giving two shits about what they did, but honestly, I was kind of tired of hiding from this place, my childhood, and my responsibility to my mother.

With a glance around at everyone, including the beautiful girl who had been my rock today, I simply said, "Thank you."

~oOo~

A/N… This story isn't quite over yet. There's a bit more to it. I do thank you for your patience, though. My hope is that I have the next chapter by next Monday, but we'll see.

Make sure you check out the Eras Contest on my fave authors list. There are three stories up now, but they need more. They're accepting entries all the way up to Oct 31. So go give those a read, and for those that write, give it a shot – any pairing, any era, and genre. GO! ;)

Until next time… Mooches, Deb ;)