WRONG DECISIONS
Disclaimer: The Cullen's, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she brought them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.
The awesome and talented dowlingnana searched out my errors and corrected them.
Victoria knew that she didn't really have the time to go to her father and she knew what would happen if she did. Things were already in play that she didn't have full knowledge of and had no way to stop it. No, she had to do something on her own to protect all three of them.
CHAPTER 21: HERE COMES HELL
Victoria slowly but quietly retreated the way she had come to keep James from being aware of her return. She returned to the door she had used to enter the house and, in an effort, to appear as if she was just returning, opened it and then slammed it shut.
Hearing James cursing from the other room and then acting as if his sudden appearance in the doorway leading to the living room startled her, she asked him to help with taking the groceries into the kitchen. He gave her a long look, then with a lot of grumbling did as he had been asked.
He left her in the kitchen putting away the groceries and returned to the living room where he continued quietly with what he had been working on before her arrival and making another phone call or two. James was fully unaware of the fact that Victoria had heard him on the phone earlier and was at that moment trying to figure out a way to save the children and herself.
It was hard to know how to get the young ones out of the house. Any reason she could possibly come up with she knew immediately that it wouldn't be acceptable to James. He was determined to keep them in hiding. So, it seemed to be a hopeless situation.
Victoria had her suspicions of what her father and uncles did for a living but it wasn't long before she had full knowledge of her family's lifestyle since James wasn't afraid to talk about some of the things he had been asked to do over the years. That was when he had let it slip that he was her guard, and she asked a guard against what? It didn't take him long to explain more fully the dangers of other mob families and how she could be used against her family.
It was while Victoria was lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice James's approach until he was standing in her pathway. Of course, it gave her a start just like before, which she tried to hide but he didn't seem to be aware of that fact as he was intent to look around to see what she had been doing. He saw that all the groceries were pretty much put away and then he cleared his throat and told her, "I'm going to be gone for three or four hours so make sure that you and those brats stay here. Don't let them outside for any reason even though you think they should have some fresh air. If someone should happen to see them then all our plans are out the window. Okay?" He finished by asking in a tone that left no doubt that it was an order despite his approach.
All Victoria did was nod her head but asked no questions. To her surprise this would give her the unexpected chance she needed to get the children and herself away from James's threat of death. But how? That was the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question.
Unbeknownst to Victoria, her father was busily working out a rescue plan with Mario; the Cullen's were busy discussing just how far they should trust the information Marcus had relayed to them while James was getting ready to leave for a while.
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"Are we sure that this plan will work without getting anyone killed at that moment?" Marcus asked Mario who only nodded his head in the affirmative.
About the time they were getting ready to execute their plan the burner phone Marcus used to talk with the Cullen family began ringing. He debated with himself on whether to answer it or ignore it. Finally, he gave in and answered, "Yeah."
He listened to what was being said and then finally agreed with the request that had been made. "We'll be there in about thirty minutes." He told the caller and then hung up.
"Mario, the Cullen's want to see us immediately at their hotel suite." And the two men left to go to the requested meeting.
Marcus and Mario left without knowing that a second call was only minutes away that would have saved everyone a lot of time and pain.
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Victoria decided, after checking on the twins, to try and call her father after James left. However, once she did try there was no answer. She waited about fifteen minutes and tried again but received the same result: no answer.
So, with that plan not working she had to try to think of something else to do to get the three of them out of the house and away from James with all of his crazy ideas and plans. She was afraid to wait any longer because she didn't know exactly when James would be putting his plans into action. Al that she did know was that the time was extremely short for the Cullen's to make James's demands and she did know that that would be the signal for James and his cohorts to make their move.
The only problem she had was that she didn't know if James had someone watching the house or not. To her knowledge he never had anyone over, always conducting his business by phone or leaving for a while. He had taken the car, so she had no transportation of any kind.
She's doing everything she can to keep from freaking out and having a panic attack. By this time, she hears the young ones waking up and talking to each other. She walks into the room where they are being kept seeing if they need to use the bathroom to which each answered yes.
Victoria tells them to quickly use it and to make sure they have their shoes on and to be ready to go. They look at her for a moment and then begin doing as they're told after she repeats her instructions and adds that they are leaving. That information hurries the twins along. "I'm going to try to get you back to your mother." She tells them.
She walks back into the front of the house and takes a quick peek out the window to see if she can spy anyone keeping a watch on the house. Seeing no one doesn't really give her any confidence so she decides to try her father one more time.
Still no answer so she takes a moment to think about how she can pull their escape off. An idea comes to mind, and she decides to act upon it. Time is running out and she only has an hour to get them out to her way of thinking since James has been gone for two hours already.
She quickly calls Uber to have a car waiting for her and the kids in about twenty minutes. She gives an address that is two blocks away from where she is now located, not wanting to take any chances that someone might observe her leaving with the children.
Victoria is planning to take the back way out which happens to be fenced in and no movement can be seen from the front. That way they can leave without being seen and come out the block over by going through the yard behind them. She was fairly confident that James didn't know the layout of the land in the back of the house since he never took the time to check it out for himself; he only took her word about everything.
Victoria had taken the time to go into the backyard whenever James took off from time to time and the children were asleep, so she knew that it was totally fenced in and there was a small undetectable gate at the very back of the yard.
Once on the next block she will see about getting them one more block over to the pickup sight and get them safely to a motel that was completely out of the area until she can get a hold of her father.
And as luck would have it, her plan worked without a hitch. She and the children got away without being stopped by any of James's men and without knowing it she had managed to leave in the nick of time.
James returned to an empty house since he was unable to locate Victoria or the brats, and that was when he began trashing the place. Then he placed a call to one of his men to ask if they had seen Victoria and the children leave or if anyone had come to the house. The answer was "No." no one had seen anything out of the ordinary.
James went back through the house doing a more thorough search looking for any clue as to what might have happened to Victoria and the brats.
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Marcus and Mario arrived at Cullen's hotel and immediately went up to Carlisle Cullen's suite. His knock was answered straight away, and the two men were invited in.
Carlisle rose and greeted Marcus and his companion before inviting them to take a seat, to which Marcus took that moment to introduce Mario to the Cullen family.
Carlisle didn't waste time getting to the point of the meeting, "Volturi, we've decided after weighing all of the facts and receiving a call from Hunter reminding me that time was getting short that we need to move now without any more delay."
"Cullen, what has suddenly happened other than that call that has caused you to change your position from a few hours ago?"
"One of my boys happened to have spotted James Hunter here in the hotel talking with an FBI agent and the conversation that he positioned himself to listen to was exactly what you had told us and so much more.
"He isn't only planning our demise or yours, but he is even going to double-cross the agency as well. He wants all witnesses eliminated. Or, at least, as many as he can get."
"I see. So, what are you wanting, for me to call my brothers into this situation?"
"Personally, I don't give a damn who you do or do not call. All I'm doing is giving you the courtesy of notifying you that I'm about to take action against James Hunter and his cohorts.
"You can either join us or not that is totally up to you. I do however need to know the address of where my grandchildren and your daughter are staying with this lunatic." By the time Carlisle had finished speaking there was no doubt in anyone's mind as to how angry the head of the Cullen family was.
It was brought to his attention most forceable just how little time was remaining to fulfill James Hunter's demands of getting rid of the Volturi family. He had demanded for them to be completely wiped out. But to have it confirmed by more than one party that the asshole was still planning to kill his grandchildren no matter what, was the straw that truly broke the camel's back as far as he was concerned.
"I'm not going to ask you anything except how many of my men you might need?" Marcus quietly asked Carlisle.
"I don't need any of your men. The less we have involved, the less likely we'll attract attention." Carlisle commented and then continued speaking, "My son, nephews and I will be involved and you're welcome to come with us but I don't believe that we need anyone else, least of all your psycho brothers."
But before Marcus could respond to what Carlisle had said, Esme, Alice and Rosalie all spoke at one time, "Like hell will you be leaving us behind." All five men looked over to the three women in surprise and then Marcus asked why the women thought they should be involved in male business.
"Don't give any of us that look, Mr. Volturi. We are very much involved from time to time in Cullen business and we all are very proficient in defending ourselves both with weapons and self-defense.
"So, having us alone will only increase the odds of being successful without involving anyone from the outside in this situation. The fewer that know of what is about to happen the better, wouldn't you agree?" Esme finished speaking for the women. Then she looked over at her husband with a look that dared him to contradict her.
Carlisle looked a bit uncomfortable and gave what he hoped was an unnoticeable swallow but said not a word except to ask, "Are all of you sure about this?" And the response he got was a simple nod of the head by all three women.
"Husband, we are in a better position to take care of the twins than any of you would be."
"You're right, Mom. None of us have given that a thought." Edward answered.
"Okay. I would suggest that we all get ready and meet three blocks from where the children and your daughter are being kept in forty-five minutes from now, Volturi." Carlisle suggested to which Marcus and Mario both quickly agreed.
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"Aro, I have some news that you need to know about." Caius yelled at his brother as he quickly ran into Aro's office.
"What the hell are you carrying on about, brother?" Aro asked as he was annoyed at being interrupted and by the fact that he hadn't heard anything from Marcus or about where the Cullen brats were being held.
"The whole Cullen family is here in Seattle staying at their hotel."
"Why am I just now learning about this? Get me the details immediately." Aro shouted, then he added, "We're being kept in the dark about too damn much and that needs to change as of now."
So, Caius left to find someone that would be able to get the necessary information they needed to be able to act if they had to. There was no other reason why the Cullen's were in town other than to try to find the kids and to accuse the Volturi family of taking them. That meant they needed to be prepared to defend themselves.
AN: Victoria is taking steps to protect the twins and herself after finding out James's true nature. Due to an unexpected sighting the Cullen's were able to verify what Marcus had told them. So, now all of the men are planning a complete takedown of James and his friends. The women tossed in their intentions and dared the men to contradict them. Also, Aro and Caius are now finding out about Cullen's being in Seattle.
Who's going to win and what is going to happen to each group?
Thanks for reading and looking forward to your comments.