Good morning lovelies!

Thank you to Mel!

CHAPTER FIVE

Bella

"The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones."

― William Shakespeare

The vaults under the Academy were seemingly endless. Edward and I spent the first day just trying to orient ourselves in the labyrinth of information. When by dusk, we'd come up empty-handed, Headmaster Valencia offered us rooms on the grounds for the night.

He didn't bat an eye when Edward told him we would require two.

The rooms we were given were different than the dorms, though in hindsight, perhaps they were different from my dorm.

I was sure Edward's dorm had been spectacular and spacious given his relative status.

Alice had spent the entire day by the car, unable to step foot back in the Academy. I'd gone to check on her several hours after we arrived, and one look at her pale face had me sending her in the car toward the nearest town. She'd found a room at a local B and had posted up there, texting me every few hours asking for updates and providing her own as she searched the internet for more information on Cordova.

After the first day proved fruitless, Edward and I went back down in the morning, this time accompanied by a librarian. But without concrete information on what we were looking for, our guide was of little help to us.

It had been nearly five days of combing through the stacks now, and I was losing hope. What if I brought us here on a wild goose chase? What if this was all for naught?

The thought was dismal and distracting.

I set down the manuscript I'd been leafing through. It recorded a very different set of facts about the bubonic plague and its apparent intentional release into the world. The alternate history in the vaults were enough to topple empires and rattle the foundation of society. Part of me understood why it remained locked up, even while part of me longed for the information to be set free.

My eyes were starting to burn, and I needed to stretch my muscles and walk around for a bit. I wandered toward the desk where Edward was working his way through a thick binder of what looked like printed emails.

"Hey," I said as I approached.

He looked up at me and nodded. "Hey."

"What's that?"

His gaze dropped to the binder. "I thought I could figure out what that rift was about," he said, shrugging one shoulder. "But most of this communication is boring business crap." He shook his head and rubbed at his eyes. "We're getting nowhere."

I nodded. "I was going to head out to the grounds and get some fresh air, maybe clear my mind," I told him. "Wanna come?"

Edward shook his head without really looking at me. "No, I'm going to try to get through this thing," he said with a sigh. "I'm close to the year, so who knows what it might reveal."

He looked up at me in time to see me nod. "Okay, I'll be back."

Edward hummed as he focused once again on the binder. I made my way through the stacks until I neared the door where I found the librarian—a balding, middle aged man named Caius with elbow patches on his cardigan and a pen permanently tucked behind one ear. Caius was deeply engrossed in a book, so much so that he didn't appear to notice me growing closer until I was practically beside him and clearing my throat.

"Mrs. Cullen," he said, blinking at me in surprise. I scowled at the title. "Can I help you with something?"

I let out a tense breath and shook my head. "You're sure that there is no recorded information about the rift?" I asked.

Caius sighed and reached up, pushing his spectacles up the bridge of his nose. "We have the final records indicating that a rift had formed and sides had been taken, but there is, unfortunately, no official accounts of the events that transpired."

I scowled. This library had information going back a millennia; detailed histories that I'd never seen so meticulously recorded anywhere else. So why was there a gaping hole twenty something years ago?

"But surely you were around then," I said, not even trying to hide my observations about his age.

Caius scowled but nodded. "Yes, I was just starting my apprenticeship here," he said slowly.

"So you must know what was happening."

Caius shook his head. "The only ones who knew what transpired were the current heads of each family line, and none of them have ever spoken about it to anyone. Not even on record for posterity."

It just didn't add up. The vaults detailed gruesome acts and despicable choices all made by the Sixteen. What was so bad it couldn't even be written down here?

"I'm going upstairs to take a walk," I told him, shaking out my neck.

Caius nodded and immediately turned his attention back to his book, leaving me to head out of the doors and into the elevator.

Once I was outside on the Academy grounds, I let out a long sigh, reaching a hand up to massage my neck. This was a pointless search. We weren't going to find anything hidden down here. We were spinning our wheels for nothing.

I strode across the grounds, my path taking me north toward the gardens. I couldn't help but flinch at the memory of the last time I'd stood in this place, having just run for my life. How was it that I was back here, in the vaults no less, after everything that had happened?

I sat down on one of the low concrete benches scattered throughout the garden and let out a deep breath. Winter was coming and the air was biting with cold. Soon the gardens would be covered in snow and the Academy blanketed under a false sense of serenity and purity.

I'd often thought about what had happened since my arrival at the Academy. Had I always been doomed to this course? Had there been any way to stay hidden from Charlie?

I didn't think so, and the reality of that helped soften the blow of the way my life was shaping up. I was born for a specific destiny, and nothing could have changed that.

Across the garden, I saw a couple of kids in uniform stroll through, their laughter bright and loud as they teased one another. From my distance, I could see that they were dressed a little better, held themselves a little higher, and I knew they must be Sixteen children. What family horrors awaited them once they left this place? Would they ever know any sense of normal life?

Likely not.

In my coat pocket my phone buzzed, and I drew it out tiredly, glancing down at the screen. A text from my mom, sending me a photo of the beach she and Phil had driven to on yet another vacation. Eighteen years with me and the woman had never once taken a vacation, but as soon as she married Phil, it seemed like their whole life turned into one.

I hadn't spoken to my mom since Alice came barreling back into my life and the subsequent events that had revealed my mother's true identity to me. I wasn't ready to talk to her and hear her excuses about why she never told me who my father was or that she herself had been to the Academy.

I slipped my phone back in my pocket and stood up, needing to walk some of my frustrated energy out.

I paced the lengths of the garden, letting myself follow the path directly in front of me, even if it meant meandering in pointless circles. It was surprisingly meditative, and soon, despite the cold, I felt myself begin to relax.

Cordova had been to the Academy, he had even had some sort of interaction with Charlie, and then, the fallout of that had been big enough that he'd hidden this information here, keeping it from all the gatekeepers of Sixteen information.

Whatever Cordova had known, it was too big to let anyone else in on.

I shook my head and sighed.

Edward and I could spend the rest of our lives down in the vaults searching and not come across whatever Cordova had hidden. It was simply an impossible task.

I let out a frustrated grunt and spun, my eyes lifting from the path to take in my surroundings. I was in the center of the garden, beside the largest rose bush that …

I froze, my eyes blinking once to make sure I was truly seeing what I thought I was. In the middle of the garden was a rose bush in the shape of a heart. Unbidden, a scene from The Heart in the Garden comes back to me.

Evil always leaves a mark on the world. It is a gaping wound and after much time, an ugly scar. Carmen could see the mark of evil in the gardens now. Her eyes would not skip over it as they used to. She had to look.

The heart called to her, the wet beating sound in her ears so loud she could not think. She had to know the truth. She had to name the evil.

I felt like Carmen now, caught somewhere between hope and horror, terrified to know the truth but more afraid not to know.

This was it; it had to be it. A literal heart in the garden, of course.

I fell to my hands and knees, my fingers clawing at the frozen earth. Horrible flashbacks of the time I had to claw my way out of the cold ground came back to me, seizing my body and forcing tears to well up in my eyes, but I kept digging. Something had to be buried here.

My fingers made little headway in the hard packed ground, so I felt around for a rock, finally finding one big enough to strike the dirt again and again. I was frantic with fear and hope and desperate for an answer finally.

The ground gave way slowly under the rose bush, and I kept digging, rooting around in different directions, praying that I would find the answers soon.

I was growing hot from exertion, but I pressed on, not even bothering to take off my jacket.

I was close, I could feel it.

The rock thudded against the compact earth, and I opened my mouth, a feral, frustrated growl ripping out from between my lips.

I struck the rock down again and again, and I was lifting it nearly over my shoulder when I caught sight of the corner of a plastic bag sticking out of the mud.

Fingers shaking, I dropped the rock and focused my attention on freeing the plastic.

"Please don't be trash," I begged as I finally clawed the bag free. Inside of it was a thumb drive with WW written in Sharpie on one side.

Was this it? It had to be it, right?

Heart pounding in my chest, I scrambled to my feet and yanked my phone out of my pocket, not caring about the mud. I hit Edward's contact and brought the phone to my ear, all without taking my eyes off the thumb drive.

"Hey," Edward sighed in greeting.

"Edward, I found it."

There was a beat of silence. "Where?" he asked, and I could hear him getting to his feet by the rustling behind him.

"I'll be in my room."

I heard him agree before I hung up and carefully wrapped the thumb drive up into a small parcel that I tucked into my coat pocket.

Covered in dirt and sweat, I hurried out of the gardens and back inside, nearly running until I was finally in the safety of my room.

A moment after I closed the door, a knock sounded from the hallway, and I reached for the doorknob, pulling open my door to see Edward looking breathless and eager.

"I—" I started.

Edward shook his head, cutting me off. "Bella, not here. Hold on."

I stared at him, but then he was taking me by the hand and dragging me out of my room and down the hall into his. Once the door was locked behind us, he turned to me. "Okay, tell me everything."

I frowned at him. "Why are we in your room? Was this some super weird power trip just now?" I demanded.

Edward rolled his eyes.

"I figured you didn't disable the cameras and bugs in your room the first night we got here," he said, gesturing to a pile of electronics on the coffee table.

My eyes widened. "What?"

Edward nodded. "They are in every room. Grow up around here and eventually you get good at finding them."

"Wait, they were even in my dorm room?" I demanded.

Edward nodded. "They are in every room."

I looked at him, my anger blooming hot and bright. "Then they knew," I said, my voice nearly shaking. "They knew I was dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and buried alive, and they did nothing."

At the reminder of the events, Edward's face darkened. "I know. I'm taking care of it."

My eyes blinked. "What does that mean?"

Edward shook his head, looking murderous. "What did you find?" he asked, clearing his throat.

Slowly, I yanked the thumb drive out of my pocket and held it out to Edward.

He took in the dirt coating the plastic bag before his eyes shifted to focus on me. "Where did you find this?" he asked.

"Buried in the garden," I told him. His eyes widened, and I nodded. "I know, I know. It was so obvious once I figured it out."

Edward nodded. "You're shivering," he said, setting the flash drive down on the side table nearest him. "Go shower in my bathroom. I've disabled the cameras in there too. I'll grab you some clean clothes."

I balked at the idea that the Academy had been watching me shower, but nodded gratefully to Edward. I watched him slip out of the room as I headed toward his bathroom, stripping off my muddy clothes.

I flipped the shower on, letting the water turn scalding hot before I crawled in, shaking under the heavy spray. The shower stall was large enough for eight people at least, and it was equipped with more buttons and functions than I knew what to do with. The stall door was treated glass, and no matter how hot the water got, it did not fog up.

I heard a knock on the bathroom door and I glanced up to see the door cracked, but Edward was out of sight. "I have your clothes. Should I leave them out here?"

I swallowed hard. "Come in."

Edward hesitated, and then the door was opening and he entered the bathroom. Even across the room I could see his gaze darken as he caught sight of me. I took a breath and turned toward him, unembarrassed and unashamed.

Edward's gaze traveled over my body before finally arriving on my face. I watched him take a breath, and then he held up my clothes.

I nodded as he set them down on the counter.

I could invite him in, open the shower door or even merely wave him over. He would come and we would fuck hard and furious in every conceivable position in the shower, maybe even across the entire room. We could both lose ourselves in one another and stave off discovering what I was certain would be a horrifying truth once we opened that thumb drive.

We could avoid reality, but we shouldn't.

So instead of beckoning him in, I turned away, calling out a weak thanks over my shoulder. I heard the bathroom door shut, and once Edward was gone, I pressed my forehead to the tile of the shower stall and groaned.

If I couldn't trust my own goddamn husband to be intimate with, then who in this wretched world would I ever trust again?

…

Once I was clean and mostly dried off, dressed in jeans and a hoodie, Edward and I sat on the sofa in his room and plugged the thumb drive into his laptop. Our thighs were pressed together as we both leaned in to get a better look, and I couldn't avoid the warmth radiating off of him.

It made me want to curl closer.

"Here we go," Edward whispered, clicking on the drive once it appeared on his screen. I felt my breath catch in my throat, the anticipation killing me.

A screen popped up and I blinked, my eyes furiously trying to understand.

"It's password protected," I groaned, my stomach flipping over in disappointment and frustration. "Of course it's fucking password protected."

Edward shook his head. "Fuck, I should have seen this coming."

I glanced at him. We'd both leaned back in disappointment when we realized, and now our bodies were flush alongside one another.

"Can you crack it?" I asked, looking at him.

"I'm shit with computer stuff," Edward said, shaking his head. "I've always been useless with it."

I frowned. I wasn't sure I'd ever heard him admit to being bad at something before.

"What about you?"

I shook my head when he glanced at me. "No, I can't," I said slowly. "But I know someone who probably can."

I didn't definitively know if Alice was good with computers, but when we'd been planning our heist during our time at the Academy, she'd made several comments about hacking. If anyone could do it, it was probably her.

I grabbed my phone and pulled up Alice's number, setting the call on speaker.

"Hey," Alice said, her voice weary. "Before you ask, no I have not found anything new," she grunted.

"It's okay," I said, shaking my head. "We have. It's a thumb drive, password protected. Do you think you can crack it?"

Alice was silent for a moment and I glanced at Edward. "I can try," she said finally. "But I can't promise miracles."

I shook my head even though she couldn't see me. "It's fine," I told her. "We just need you to try."

Alice hummed. "Get it to me and I'll see what I can do."

I glanced at Edward who immediately pulled out his phone. "I'm going to call one of my security team to come transport it," he told her. "We're going to stay here in case there is more."

Alice was quiet for a moment and I knew her well enough to know it was because Edward was speaking to her directly. She still hated him, even after all he'd done for us.

"Fine. I'll be here."

With that, she hung up. I shook my head and clicked my phone off, looking at him. "Are you sure we can trust your team with this?"

Edward looked at me. "I'd trust them with your life, Bella."

I shifted, mildly uncomfortable at the turn the conversation was taking.

Edward finished firing off his text before he set down his phone. He leaned forward, ejecting the thumb drive.

He stood and picked up the drive, carrying it toward the door when there was a swift knock. He opened the door and handed the drive to the large man I'd seen skulking in the shadows around us before.

I could hear him delivering instructions to the man, who nodded and slid the drive into his pocket.

As soon as he was gone, Edward shut and locked the door, turning to me.

"We should eat then get some sleep," he suggested.

I nodded slowly. I was both exhausted and starving. Despite how badly I wanted to run after Edward's security team and go with them to watch Alice open the drive, I knew it could take some time for her to figure it out. The best course of action was to do exactly as Edward was suggesting.

"Okay," I agreed. "But I'm going to sleep in here. I can't go back to my room knowing there are cameras in there."

Edward nodded. "Agreed," he said softly. "I'll have your stuff moved over."

I took a slow breath and let it out again, my eyes flickering toward the massive bed. Fine, everything was going to be completely fine.

…

Despite the fact that we'd done it before, it was strange to share a bed with Edward. He felt miles away in the bed that somehow was definitely larger than a king, and yet, it still felt intimate.

He had pulled out a pair of reading glasses, which I'd never seen him wear before, as he looked over a document one of his security team had brought him. He was leaning against the headboard, shirtless and dressed only in pajama pants, and the whole scene felt suddenly so … domestic.

I leaned against the headboard on my side of the bed, my knees bent to prop Cordova's notebook open. I had the thing memorized by now, but it had become somewhat of a security blanket to have around.

On Edward's bedside table, I heard his phone buzz and glanced up. I watched him pick up his phone and immediately saw his eyebrows furrow. The text must be from his parents. Only they got him to scowl that fast.

"Everything okay?" I asked, gently closing Cordova's book.

Edward looked at me and sighed. "No," he said, shaking his head. "The Sixteen are calling a mandatory meeting. Heads and heirs only."

I frowned. "What is it about?"

Edward looked at me. "It's time to divide the Moroni estate."