We spoke about a few other things that we had left unclear before he and I left. Officially clearing the air.

It was pretty obvious that one thing had been clear to us. Protect the baby, at all costs. That and take out our common enemy.

Even if it meant involving the high table.

By the time we finished talking, it was around five in the morning, and I had grown extremely hungry and was now in the mood for some Belgian waffles.

"You're hungry?" He asked me with an amused expression.

I nodded in response, biting my bottom lip shyly. "I want Belgian waffles topped with whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries." I told him, biting on my bottom lip.

"Do you want anything else?" He asked as he pulled out his phone.

I nodded, "Some orange juice, scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausages, please." I replied, licking my lips.

He smiled and sighed before putting the phone to his ear. "Go wait in the living room, I'll take care of it." He mumbled tiredly.

I nodded before walking towards the couch and slowly sitting down, and throwing my head back on the cushion with a sigh.

I stared at the ceiling thinking about the events that led me here as I closed my eyes.

Two Months Ago:

A month had passed since Edward and my unconventional date.

He assured me that this wasn't a regular occurrence, and that he wished to make things official.

Though I was hesitant at first, his insistent pestering managed to convince me to see him again.

I finally decided to agree after I got back from a mission in D.F, Mexico.

I had been gone almost a month yet he somehow managed to acquire the number to the phone back at the loft.

When I walked into the loft shortly after I had gotten back, noticing that I had over six dozen messages. But that's not what surprised me.

As I looked around the room, I realized the loft was in shambles.

Complete disorder. Nothing was left untouched. The kitchen. The small sitting area, my bathroom.

I could feel my annoyance grow as I looked around.

Who the hell could have done this?

"What in the hell happened here?" I gasped, dropping my bags by the door as I slowly made my way through the mess, all while I murmured unintelligibly under my breath.

Nothing survived. Not the clothes in the closet, not the sheets on my bed, or a lot of the furniture.

As I found the couch, I finally dropped into it feeling exhausted and famished.

I suppose I should call Tia to see if she or any of the girls knew what happened.

When she replied that she had no idea, my mind went to two possibilities. And I didn't like either of them.

I told her to search the security cameras for the past month and check for anything else out of the ordinary before hanging up.

I checked everything, and cleared up the mess, before checking to see if anything was missing.

I thought about calling him, but hesitated because I didn't want him involved just yet.

That and I was too tired to deal with it all.

As I debated whether or not to call him, I went to sit on the only piece of furniture that had survived. My dad's old leather armchair.

I didn't have to call him though, because as I felt my eyelids begin to drop, my phone rang.

"I was just thinking about you." I answered, as I held back a yawn.

"Hey bird, how was the trip?" He asked.

The sound of his voice made me smile as I heard it.

"Successful." I told him evasively.

"Something is telling me that you're not telling me everything." He said.

"It was a bit complicated at the beginning, the person who was supposed to help me never showed up, so it made communicating with the investors a bit complicated. I mean I speak Spanish, but those guys acted like they knew what was best. It was annoying and made handling the situation rather difficult." I told him.

I always did dislike dealing with cartels, especially in Mexico. Most of the men were sexist, and don't believe in the word 'no', making the job difficult and a bit more dangerous than most.

Alice, Maggie, Sul and I went. Opting for Sul and I to go and do the dealings while Alice and Mags stayed behind and observed the situation.

Still, that situation was like waddling in a pool of cold water. Before we had left for Mexico, Ianah mentioned that Yiannis had been trying to find out my location from her associates and connections.

If he was snooping around it wasn't for good reason.

Meaning I had to be careful or this cover would be blown to shit.

"But you handled it. Right?" Edward asked amused.

"I did. Managed to get them to agree to proceed with the contract, after giving them a little motivation. Anyways, how'd you know I was back?" I asked.

"I didn't. I just hoped you were." He admitted.

I sighed, "While I do appreciate you checking in on me. I need to go. I have a few calls to make to a few business associates and my insurance company." I told him.

"Insurance company? What happened?" He asked, a hard edge appearing in his voice.

I bit my lip, wanting so badly to avoid telling.him this but when he spoke, his voice turned harsher, "Isabella."

Fuck. How could the sound of his voice make my insides turn to mush and my core throb all in one?

"Someone broke into my loft and trashed it." I informed him.

His sharp intake of breath was heard on the line before he began swearing in fast Italian before I heard a door slam and rushing footsteps.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked frowning.

"I'm on my way." He replied.

My eyes widened in response, "Why? What for?" I asked him, surprised.

"Don't ask stupid questions, and stay put." He replied before hanging up.

The phone dropped from my hand in surprise, before my eyes narrowed.

"Who the hell does he think he is?!" I growled, as my fingers curled into a fist, as I shot out of my seat and stomped up the stairs.

I made the calls I needed to make before I turned to assess the damage.

Not a lot was salvageable.

I found that cleaning the mess had given me something to focus on. Rather than stressing myself more.

The sheets were torn off, but I luckily always stored a fresh set in the closet.

One the bed was made, I threw the trash over the railing and went into my closet.

A lot of the clothes were ripped and torn, except a few things. The shoe boxes on top of my closet were untouched.

Making quick work of the closet, I put all the salvageable clothes in one pile while the torn and shredded pieces were gathered in a pile.

As I bent down to pick up the shreds, I heard someone enter the loft.

"Bird?"

I ignored the sound and made my way towards the railing and threw the pile down, before making my way down the stairs.

"What the fuck?"

The four large black bags that were placed by the door were now overflowing with all the broken crap and trash.

"What's all this?" He asked.

"It's the mess I cleaned up. What are you doing here, Edward?" I asked, annoyed.

"I came to see if you needed help." He replied, as he stood by the door.

"With what?" I asked, as I moved to pick up the bags.

"Hey, let me deal with that." He said as he grabbed the bags effortlessly and took them to the garbage shaft.

As he left, I moved to sit down on the armchair, dropping my head into my hands after I sat down.

"Did you find out who did this and why?" he asked me when he walked back in.

"Not yet." I mumbled, unhappily.

"Are you safe here?" He asked, concerned.

I sighed, biting my lip, before looking up to answer him. "Honestly?" I asked.

"As honest as you can be." He replied as he leaned on the wall by the doorway.

"Then the answer is I don't know. Because I won't know if I am until I get all the facts." I told him.

"Well, you can't stay here if it's unsafe." He pointed out.

"I know that. But where else am I supposed to go? My friends are out of town." I told him, pretending to be worried.

Rose and Alice had asked the girls to relocate to one of the safe houses close to here. Meaning I was the last one within this building as of last friday.

"Why don't you come stay with me?" He suggested.

Well, that worked out better than I thought.

"Is that a good idea? I mean—" I began before he began to nod.

"I think it is. You don't feel safe here. Why not let me keep you safe? I won't force you to go. It's just an option while you fix everything here." He told me.

I chewed on my bottom lip, before debating.

I knew I had nothing to lose. Plus this gave me a bit more time to solve a few kinks in the Soriano plot.

"When can I go?" I asked him.

He bit on the inside of his lip to keep from smiling before moving towards me. "Whenever you want." He replied.

I nodded before grabbing my coat and bags from my trip. "Let's go now then." I replied.

He smiled in response, before taking my bags and gesturing for me to lead the way. Smirking at each other as I locked the door behind us.