A/N: Another crack at a mafia story. Here we go!

I rolled my head back and forth, trying my hardest to ease the tension bundled at the nape of my neck without being too obvious. The thirty-story building I had walked into was not new to me, I had been here plenty of times- but in the years that had passed since I last graced the halls, it was so unfamiliar. There were more floors added, fresh carpeting, new staff- nothing compared to the makeshift office space I knew from years ago. It would seem that he did get everything he wanted- no matter what he needed to do in order to get it.

I looked impatiently from my watch to the office staff sitting around. They were all very beautiful, and looked similar to one another. Tall, blonde, slim, polite enough and soft-voiced. Now that's not his type, is it? I had to contain an eyeroll at the treacherous place my thoughts went. What did that even matter to me anymore? I had lost all interest in him romantically; I was here on business. That was it.

Really! That was it.

"Miss Swan?" The receptionist called from her oval desk after gesturing towards the wide double doors of his office. I stood up in a haste and made my way to them, pausing for only a moment before pushing them open.

You can still run. You can find another way to help those kids… you don't have to do this.

But I just imagined the looks on those babies' faces- and I strutted further into his office without another thought. He was nowhere to be found, just a big empty office with chic furniture and lots of art adorning the walls and nooks. I looked around on a whim, my hands folded behind me as I studied one piece in particular; it was a large oil painting with washes of blue and green filling the canvas. It reminded me of summers as a child, when Dad would take me with him on business trips to the most beautiful and exotic places. Open water was my always my favorite, and there was never too far of a trek to get to a beach-

"Isabella." His voice was dipped in honey, like it always had been. My knees almost grew weak at that one word he spoke- as though I were a seventeen-year-old virgin again. I took my time in turning around, full-on facing him after collecting myself.

"Edward." I tipped my head back to him in respect.

Somehow, he had gotten handsomer since the last time we saw one another. He was visibly older now, that jagged scar still marring the entire side of face above and below the green eye that started back at me. The green iris on the side of his face that was blemished seemed to be a bit cloudier than before, but he was blessed to even have both eyes after what had happened to him. But he was still breathtaking and imposing.

"Drink?" He gestured to the wet bar in the corner of his office.

"You drink now?" It came out before I could hold it back. The last thing I wanted to do was make friendly banter with him, or God forbid reminisce. I was here with one specific thing in mind, and it was going to take more than a dry whiskey to get through it.

Edward smirked, a small scoff sounding. "No. But everyone else in San Francisco does." He gestured once again to the chilled decanter, and I politely nodded in acceptance. Edward had never been a waxing poet- he was always short and to the point, never fully saying what he meant to at any given time. Getting him to talk was like pulling teeth. He handed me the whiskey in the palm of my hand, one of his fingers lingering across my wrist as he pulled away.

The small, otherwise innocent touch sent my body's signals off. I remembered what it was like… to be with him, in every sense. The endless hours we spent on my parent's estate, wondering through the woods like scavengers. The stolen kisses, the secrets we shared… I even remembered the way it felt to be touched by him, every inch of my body-

"I've lost you." Edward snapped me out of my reverie. Those words had double meanings, hadn't they? "Still a daydreamer." That wasn't a question, it was a mere observation.

I sent a tight-lipped smile in response, then cleared my throat and prepared myself to state my case. "So, um- I'm not here for just a, uh… drop-in. I'm-"

"I've heard this pitch before. Many times, in your father's office." Edward was almost grinning, if only he knew how to do that. Small half smiles and full-on smirks were the only things that he seemed capable of doing since I met him! He had heard me start plenty of conversations with my dad when I needed things or wanted permission- nothing happened without my dad allowing it to. That's just how life worked. He knew how cruel and controlling Phillip Swan could be, he had worked for him for years. Edward caught onto the iciness that entered the room at the mention of my dad and dropped his smile. "Continue, Isabella."

"Well…" I cleared my throat. "You know that I am a very trustworthy person, and I have never asked you for a favor. Ever." I emphasized that. He simply nodded, leaning back against his desk. "But there are these children- they're stuck in Capotia. A local church is putting them up for now, but who knows for how long? They were supposed to be extradited to Italy, but-" I caught myself rattling on and slowed down.

Edward hummed. "And how did you come across these children?"

"My…" Was he my boyfriend? Was he my partner, or just a friend? I didn't know how to label what Zach and I were. "My colleague runs an organization that champions and fundraises for children in crisis. The church that is helping them reached out for help."

Edward nodded, a stoic look on his face. "And you haven't exhausted the proper channels? The embassy? The authorities? You came here instead?"

"Edward." His name came out almost chastising. "We've been there. You know how it is." I pleaded with my eyes for him to understand my plight. If there was any way possible that I didn't have to be here begging him for a favor, then I wouldn't be here. He knew that. Capotia was backwards, stuck in a dark time where government had very little power and the corrupt syndicates held all of the authority.

"So, you want me to call my contacts, then?" A sarcastic look went over his face, and gone was all trace of a smile. "You're asking me to collaborate with criminals, then?" He pushed off his desk and took a step closer to me. "The same kind of people that you look down on. Thugs. The dirty people." He was throwing my own words from the past back at me. We had never given each other closure when things ended- we just went our own ways and didn't look back.

"Edward." I said through gritted teeth. He had multiples axes to grind with me, I knew that, but this was beyond our history. "You have lots of… friends there. And it's so close to Italy- we could move them across the border into a safe place for them. I have multiple organizations in Latanza that will take the kids in. I just need to get them there."

Edward looked at me with slight irritation. "Your father has more friends than me, Isabella, you know that." He took another step towards me. "Do you really hate him more than you hate me? If you came to me instead of him."

He knew that speaking of my dad was a soft spot for me. No one could understand the messed-up father/daughter relationship we had, and I didn't have time to explain it to him. He knew enough, didn't he? I think he just liked pretending that he didn't. it always got a rise out of me… well, it wasn't going to this time. "Antonio." I tried to warn him with my tone.

His eyebrows shot up. "Antonio?" He parroted. "The last time you used my middle name, you were leaving me."

My fingers tightened around the crystal cup in my hand. How old was that now? We both decided to end our relationship, and I don't remember him chasing me out the door!

"Edward." I corrected myself. I thought for a moment before I decided to pull out the big guns. It was both a gift and curse to know him so personally. "Think of your own childhood- if the mission had never helped you get here, what might have happened to you?"

He leveled a dangerous look at me before stepping one giant stone towards me, his nose and mine almost touching. "Isabella." His accent slipped into his tone, and it usually amused me. But he was dangerously close, and I was bringing up dangerously sensitive material. He had told me of his pilgrimage from a little coastal town in Italy and how the nuns at the mission near his home helped him get to New York City. He had survived, on his own, since the ripe age of ten years old. No family, no money, no English. But that was an attest to Edward's character and what I once loved about him. He was resilient, and when something was in his sights he always found a way to make it his.

"Please." I let the word slip out and sit in the air between us. "Please" and "sorry" weren't words that I said often because they weren't words that I heard very often as a child either. But if he wanted me to beg him on my hands and knees, I would. "Whatever you want, I'll do it. I have the money. I can work on your janitor staff. I'll do anything. Please help me."

Edward reached for my face, and it took all of my willpower not to flinch away. He tucked a stray brown curl behind my ear and ran a finger from my eyebrow down to my chin. "You're a lousy maid. And I have more money than you now." My eyes watered instinctively. My dad had taken that tone with me countless of times, usually right before he was about to pop my balloon. When he leaned further in, I didn't pull away. He placed a small, chaste kiss on the corner of my mouth then beneath my lower lip before landing one on top of my parted mouth. He stayed there for a second that stretched on for forever- I wasn't sure if he was trying to inhale me, take my soul, or if we were just stuck in a glitch in time. "You loved me once, didn't you?" We were too close to each other to look into each other's eyes, but I knew what kind of look he was giving me. There wasn't a mushy, lovey-dovey essence to this- it was cold and calculated, and he was going to make a point.

I nodded. He knew that I loved him. That was never in question.

"But not once you found out I was nothing more than a criminal." He muttered against my mouth and the small, jagged edge of his scar slightly rubbing against my cheek. "Because who could possibly love a dirty mafioso?"

I pulled back an inch to look at him better. "That's not true, Edward. Don't put this all on me."

Instead of replying, he smashed his mouth against mine and worked at my lips until they fully parted. The force of his advance shocked me enough to make me drop the expensive glass in my grasp, and my hands went to this chest as though I had been kissing him for the last few years. It felt so natural, his mouth moving against mine and our tongues intertwining. It was as though all the bad stuff had never happened. It was like… it was like stealing kisses in the back of my parent's car all over again.

He pulled away at last, a stormy look in his eyes. "You'd do anything?"

I nodded, not letting my uncertainty show. "Yes."

Edward straightened himself out and put more space between us. It was all business now, the steamy aura of before had vanished. "You will go with me to Capotia and then to Latanza in Italy to see to the wellbeing of these children. I'll ensure their safety in crossing. And then you will owe me a favor, and whatever it is and whenever it is I will choose. Can you agree to those terms?"

I perked up at hearing him bending to my will. I hardly even heard him talk about the favor. "No take backs?"

Edward smirked. "I should ask you that."

I stuck my hand out for him to shake, but he just looked at it. He learned that from my dad, then. Mafiosos didn't shake women's hands- they just used and abused them.

"It's a deal." I stated. "Are you going to make me sign a contract? Or can we just shake on it? For old time's sake." It was cheeky for me to say, but that was a part of the gift/curse that was our history.

He finally slid his hand into mine and gave it a gentle shake but didn't let go. "I won't need a contract, Isabella. You'll comply."

A/N: Please review and subscribe!