Chapter 22

~Bait and Switch~

The three of us piled into the car—Emmett driving, me riding shotgun, and Jasper stretched across the back seat with his laptop. Jasper continued trolling local street cams using facial recognition technology and watched for chatter that might involve Bella. At some point, we'd need to explore the rumors that the fire at The Paradise was arson. I didn't give a shit what the official report stated; I knew as well as anyone that cases could be closed and stories spun if the right palms were greased. Or lives threatened.

I fidgeted, bouncing my leg up and down and tapping my fingers impatiently. The drive seemed to take forever. "Can't you go any faster?"

Emmett laughed, shooting me an incredulous look. "E, I've broken every traffic law. Short of being able to fly, I'm doing the best I can!"

To his point, the speedometer hovered close to one hundred miles per hour, and horns blared as he weaved in and out of congested lanes.

"Sorry. I just need to know she's not . . ." The words stuck in my throat. I had to know she was alive so I could focus on finding out who set the fire. Maybe it was just a rumor at this point, but my gut said otherwise.

Saint Mary's hospital was up on a hill. Almost every window was lit in the three-story, tan brick building. Hospitals never slept, and we had little chance of walking in unnoticed.

"Jas, any way you can find out what room Jane Doe is in?"

"On it. I'll text you."

Emmett went in the front door, pretending to look for his grandmother who was picked up by the police after she wandered away from home in a confused haze. While the woman at the desk was asking all around the ER, I slipped in and entered a quiet hallway. I was hoping to find a lab coat or scrub top, but this wasn't the fucking movies. I did walk as if I owned the place and knew where I was headed. The few people I passed in the halls simply nodded or ignored me altogether. I found an alcove with vending machines and a few chairs. I hung around in front of the candy, pretending to look through the choices. My phone vibrated a few minutes later.

Room 319 ~J

Let Em know I'm going up ~E

I found a nearby stairwell and took the steps two at a time. When I reached the third floor, I peeked through the window before cautiously opening the door. The unit was dim and quiet. Soft voices came from around a corner, and I listened for a few minutes until I was sure this was the nurses' station. The sign on the wall indicated room 319 was in the opposite direction, almost at the end of the hall.

Allowing the stairwell door to close gently behind me, I strolled casually toward the room with my heart thundering in my ears. I've never been a praying man, but I prayed hard. Please, dear God, let Bella be alive. I didn't promise to be good because I knew it was a lie, and I might be struck down for it later.

I made it to the room without incident. The door was slightly ajar, and I pushed it open ever so slowly. The lights were off and the curtain drawn most of the way as if to block outside disturbances. I closed the door behind me and stood still, listening. A heart monitor beeping with regularity was the only sound. After a few minutes I ventured closer, peeking around the edge of the curtain. The ambient light of the monitors allowed me to see the shape of a woman with long, dark hair.

My breath caught, and I ventured closer, reaching out to touch her.

Click!

I froze.

A bright light blinded me from the other side of the room. I wasn't worried about the brightness; I was worried about the gun I saw pointed at my chest when my vision returned. Whoever it was thrust it forward so I could see the silencer screwed on the end. Fuck me.

My mind whirled crazily. If this was Bella, and the assassin wanted to kill her, she'd be dead already—unless I'd caught him in the act, and he was cornered. The bed was a barrier between us. I could duck and pull the curtain down, try to distract him, but that would put her directly in the line of fire. I slipped my hand into my trouser pocket and pressed the button on my phone that would send a signal to Emmett that I was in trouble. By now Jasper would have told Emmett what room I was sent to, and he'd waste no time getting here.

"Whatever you're being paid, I'll triple it."

The reply was a derisive snort. Okay, not a paid assassin. Someone with a score to settle, but was the grievance with me or Aro?

I took a few steps toward the end of the bed so Bella was no longer between us. The assassin rose from a seated position. The blinding light only allowed me to surmise this was a male, approximately my height. I reached behind me, hoping for a chance to grab my piece.

"Uh-uh."

"You must want something, or you'd have shot me already." Keeping my hands within view, I took two more steps away from the bed and tried like hell to remain calm. Come on, Em!

The assassin pivoted, shooting toward the bed four times. Three of the bullets hit Bella, and the other took out the heart monitor.

"Princess!" Without thought, I threw myself in the line of fire. There was a scuffle of feet and something smashed into my head. I was flung to the floor, half-conscious. "Don't you fucking touch her!" I yelled. My arms were yanked behind my back and a hood tugged over my head. I fought to remain coherent, but it was a losing battle.

Princess! God, please protect her.

The world went dark.

I jolted awake when a bucket of cold water was dumped over my head. I coughed and sputtered, trying to shake off a wave of dizziness. My situation was dire. I was strapped to a chair in semi-darkness. The sight of a drain set in the concrete floor beneath me sent a chill up my spine. Moving only my eyes, I took in the sparse surroundings. I knew exactly what this was—a place of torture and death where my screams would never be heard.

"Wakey, wakey, asshole." The gravelly voice was muffled. I fought to see him in the dim light, but my captor wore a welder's mask.

If his orders were to take me out, I'd be dead already. Clearly, he didn't want me to know his identity, so either he thought I wouldn't talk to him if I knew who he was, or he was waiting for the moment of death to reveal himself. Maybe both.

I spit at his feet. "Be a man, and show your fucking face!" That earned me what I was hoping for—a backhand across the face. Pain bloomed in my head, making the world a lot sharper. I needed my faculties if I were to have a chance in hell of leaving this room alive.

He shoved the gun under my chin roughly. "Don't speak until I ask you a question."

I stared at him, trying to see through the slot in the mask, but I was only rewarded with a ghostly image of myself, wet and bruised. My goal was to save Bella, and I prayed Emmett had reached her in time. If so, it was okay if I didn't make it.

A chair scraped across the floor, and he sat in front of me. He wore loose coveralls, which made it difficult to ascertain his build. Work boots added an authentic touch and offered no information. This fucker could have been a welder, construction worker, thug, anyone. There were no details for me to use as identifiers. Part of me admired his work.

He began questioning me. "What were you doing in that room?"

"What were you doing there?" I countered.

He whipped me across the face with his gun. "What were you doing there?"

"Visiting a friend."

He slammed me in the forehead. Blood trickled into my eye, burning like hell. I used the pain to shore up my strength.

He pressed the barrel of the gun between my eyes. "You're of no use to me unless you talk. I can just move on to Mr. Hale. I'm pretty sure he won't fight too hard."

Jasper wouldn't last ten minutes. He wasn't trained in the fine art of surviving an interrogation. Alice would follow me to the afterlife and kill me again if anything happened to him.

I clenched my jaw, grinding my teeth. Showing weakness wouldn't save me. Either this bastard needed me, or he didn't. I leaned forward, pressing my forehead harder against the barrel of the gun. "Do it, you piece of shit! But take the mask off first, you coward!"

He chuckled and sat back in his chair. "You're a brave motherfucker, aren't you? I admire that. Now . . . what were you doing at the hospital?"

I decided not to test his patience any further. If he did have Jasper, I didn't want to put him at risk. "I came to see if Jane Doe was Volturi's daughter."

"Why?"

"I suspected the announcement of her death was a ruse."

He leaned closer, his hand tightening on the gun. This fucker had a personal stake in the game. "Did you set the fire? Come to finish the job?"

"No!" Emotion got the best of me, and I strained in his direction so hard the chair shifted forward a few inches. "Fuck you! You're the one who shot her!"

"Did I? Or was it one of the Masen brothers, taking revenge? It's not much of a stretch, is it? Your father hates Aro Volturi and would love nothing better than to take away that which is most precious to him."

I jerked hard against my restraints. "I'm not my fucking father!"

"What made you think the report of her death was a ruse?"

"It was released too soon, as if the family wanted to convince someone they had succeeded in killing her."

He stared at me from behind the creepy mask for a few beats. "And let's say I believe you. It still doesn't explain why you were there."

"For the very reason I'm chained to this fucking chair! My family would be the first suspects for setting the fire."

He rose and started pacing, the gun aimed at the floor. "Why did you throw yourself in front of a spray of bullets?"

"I just . . . reacted."

"You could have fired off a shot or run from the room. What happened to your hand?" He gestured at my wrapped hand.

"A side effect of this life, just like the bruises on my face and the huge fucking lump on my head."

"You called her 'princess.'"

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about."

He went still, staring at me from behind the mask. He sighed and lowered his head, contemplating the gun in his hand.

Oh, fuck. This is it. He's going to kill me.

I closed my eyes, not out of cowardice, but so I could see my beautiful princess behind them one last time. The soft way she looked at me, like I was the one who hung the moon. The way the hair curved around her delicate face. The sexy sounds she made when I loved her. Bella needed to be the last image I saw before I met my maker.

A loud crack reverberated around the room, but it wasn't a gunshot. Surprised, I opened my eyes. The welder's mask rocked back and forth on the concrete.

Standing over me was Aro Volturi himself.

"Aro!" I gaped at him.

"You called my daughter 'princess.' Explain."

"You fucking shot her!"

Aro slapped me. "Did you set that fire?" His voice was low and dangerous.

"No! We don't kill women."

Aro snorted. "Maybe you and your brother don't." He sat on the edge of the chair and lunged forward, grabbing me around the back of my neck and pulling me closer until we were nose to nose. I stared into his intense, onyx eyes. "Let's try again. You called her 'princess.' I want to know why."

I couldn't stop the truth from coming out. "Because I love her!"

"And you threw yourself in front of a hail of bullets because . . . ?"

"I would die for her."

"Good. That's what I needed to know." He released me and sat back in his chair. "Jesus Christ—you're a pain in the ass, Masen!" He laughed, shaking his dark head.

"Is she okay?"

"Other than a touch of smoke inhalation, she's safe and unharmed."

"Who was in the hospital room?"

"A decoy. Isabella was never anywhere near Saint Mary's."

"Thank fuck." I slumped back in relief. All that mattered to me was that Bella was safe.

Aro raked a hand through his disheveled, inky hair. "Does she love you?"

"Yes."

"She's engaged to Santiago Lanzo."

"I'm aware."

"They have almost everyone fooled, but I know real love when I see it." Aro looked down, his eyes unfocused. "Love is beautiful, but it can destroy."

"I found out what happened between you and my father," I said quietly.

"Oh? I'm curious how he spun it."

"The story didn't come from him—it came from someone who was around back then and is now my right-hand man."

"Jiminy Cricket." Aro smiled. "He's a good man, an honorable one."

I'd forgotten they would have known one another, maybe even were friends at one time.

Shaking off his nostalgic expression, Aro's keen gaze returned to me. "What are your intentions with my daughter?"

"I want her to be my wife. She deserves more than having to sneak around behind everyone's back."

"And you think I find you good enough for my baby girl?"

"All due respect, I don't give a rat's ass what you think. We will find a way."

Aro chuckled. "I like you, Edward, so I'm not going to slit your goddamn throat and hose your blood down the drain." He grabbed my jaw with one large hand, forcing me to look at him. "If you hurt my daughter, it will be the death of a thousand cuts for you. No mercy."

I stared back at him without fear. "The last thing I want is for Bella to be hurt. You saw what I'm willing to do for her."

He nodded. "I did."

"Where is she? I need to see her."

"Caius!" Aro bellowed.

Caius sauntered into the room, nodding to me. He didn't seem perturbed in the least to see me trussed to the chair. Then again, he probably helped put me here.

"Yeah, boss?"

"I only want the most trusted men here, and everything is on a need-to-know basis."

Caius nodded his blond head in agreement.

"Let Edward get cleaned up, and then we can reconvene."

Caius led me down several dimly lit halls to a sparsely furnished, windowless bedroom. The walk-in closet was another matter altogether. It was almost as large as the room it was attached to and contained men's clothing from casual to suits in a range of sizes. There were several rows of shoes from sneakers to wing tips.

"What the fuck?" I muttered.

"Take your pick. There's something for everyone. I'll leave you to it." With an amused look, Caius left, closing the door behind him.

I reached in my pocket for my phone, but of course it was missing. So were my guns and my knife.

I longed to put on something comfortable, but I didn't want anyone to mistake me as anything but the head of my family. I opted for a three-piece suit and slicked my hair back in the en suite. With a rainbow of cuts and bruises on my face, I looked like a hands-on leader.

I tried the door to the bedroom and was surprised to find it open. I looked both ways. Everything looked the same—generic gray walls and flooring with dim lighting.

Since we came from the right, I decided to venture left. I passed several closed doors until I saw warm light spilling into the hall. Rounding the doorway, I found an office that was an exact replica of Aro's office at the strip club. Aro sat behind the desk, humming along with an Italian song.

Without looking up, he said, "Come in, and have a seat."

I sauntered in slowly, taking in my surroundings, and sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

Aro closed the journal he was writing in and patted the cover. He looked me up and down, taking my measure. "Good choice, Edward. That's what I would have done too—dress the part."

"What is this place?"

"A bunker of sorts. Only a handful of people know about it." Aro suddenly looked angry, and he fisted a hand, slamming it down on the desk. "If my daughter didn't know about this place, she would be dead! I want the heart of whoever tried to kill her on a fucking spike!"

"On that we agree. What does this place have to do with the fire?"

"My office at The Paradise has a safe room, and the safe room has a secret passage into an underground catacomb which leads here. Isabella was always a curious girl, had to know every nook, cranny, and hiding place. When she started working for me, she came upon the keypad to the safe room, so I let her in on the secret." He banged on the desk again, looking furious. "Edward, there was no way out of that office, and a chair was found wedged under the doorknob. Whoever set that fire intended for Isabella to burn to death."

Anger flared inside me. "I want a piece of whoever did this."

"What if your father was involved?"

I stared back at Aro, my resolve strong. "Then he deserves whatever he gets. Let me make myself clear, Aro. I love Bella, and I want to marry her."

"You better be telling the truth, my boy. I've let you into my safe house, let you see and hear things no outsider ever has. I'll kill you myself if you cross me."

"I'd expect nothing less." Now that the finer points were worked out, I wanted to lay hands on my princess. "Where is she?"

"Sleeping close by."

My heart stuttered, and I took a deep breath to calm myself. "Is Angela safe?"

"She's here too. I take it she knows about you two since she and Isabella are joined at the hip."

"Yeah, she's helped us immeasurably. I'm glad she's safe." I hesitated to mention Santo because Aro might take him helping us as a betrayal.

"Edward, what happened to your hand?"

"I burned it in the fire, searching for Bella."

He stared at me for a long moment. "I don't know how the fuck this is going to work, but you have my blessing."

"Thank y—"

Screams echoed in the hallway, plaintive cries of terror. I knew it was Bella, and I was up and out of my chair, following the desperate wails.

The door to her room was open, and Caius stood sentry. He didn't try to stop me when I pushed past him.

Bella was in the throes of a nightmare, flailing in the large bed and becoming entangled in the sheets. She gasped for breath and clawed at her neck.

I rushed over and climbed on the bed. Leaning against the headboard, I pulled her close, cradling her in my arms. "Shh . . . it's okay, princess. You're safe now."

She settled almost immediately, her hands seeking me before letting out a sigh of relief.

"You found me," she whispered.

I stroked her hair tenderly and murmured, "Not soon enough."

Someone is going to pay for this—with their life.

~oOo~

This is sure to cause problems with Daddy Masen for a lot of reasons, both past and present. They now have Aro's blessing-a huge hurdle. Love all the theories you guys come up with! Keep 'em coming!

**I receive many queries asking if this story will be HEA. Prepare to be twisted into a pretzel, but this will definitely be HEA.

I post teasers and links to updates on my blog and on Facebook in the No Rules Twilight Fan Fiction, The Twilight Fanfiction Finders, and It All Started With Twilight groups.

Thanks and gratefulness as always to my awesome betas, SassySue (chayasara) and Wendy (wmr1601). These ladies make my stuff much more presentable! (Translation: save me from sounding like a blathering fool)

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PSA: Fanfic has made a ridiculous update that will turn email notifications OFF. This is the default setting. You will need to go to "settings" in your FF account and opt in to receive email notifications. Even if you do this, this setting will automatically default back to NO every six months, at which time you will need to change the setting again. Just one more way FF is making our lives difficult.