CBWR? Chapter 27

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"Put the gun down, Edward."

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Chapter 27:

"So this is how it goes," Jasper said. Rosalie tapped a few keys on the laptop and brought up a bunch more diagrams. "We hit Aro and Laurent simultaneously – Emmett's group takes Laurent, which should be fairly quick and easy. Aro's group will be tougher, but we have The Pack and they have absolutely no idea we're coming."

"We have the flights booked," Alice informed us all. "Jasper and I head off immediately for Itlay, and Edward, Bella will be on a flight to Paris six hours later."

"Why later?" Bella asked. She had been occasionally inserting herself into a bunch of the planning, which I found…interesting, at least. Surprising, too.

"You and I are going to make a pit stop," I told her. "See if we can locate your chip."

Her eyes met mine and her teeth bit into her lip. She nodded and dropped her eyes to the ground. She still did that all the time, even though I told her she didn't have to anymore.

"Look here where there's a dark spot on the surveillance camera," Rose said as she pointed back to the video of Aro's abode. "There's a lot of electronic locks – not just at what looks like the main doorway, either. A whole bunch of them in a row. Get it?"

"The slaves," I said quietly as I glanced at Bella out of the corner of my eye.

"Has to be," Alice agreed.

"Bella's mom could be there," I replied with a nod.

"What's your mom's name, Bella?" Jasper asked. Of course he would ask. It hadn't even fucking occurred to me to ask for her name.

"Renee," Bella said. "You think she is there?"

"Definitely," I responded.

"What the fuck, Edward?" Rosalie snapped at me. "You have no idea if she is there or not! Stop giving her false hope, asshole! You don't even know if she's-"

"Shut the fuck up, Rosalie!" I screamed at her, finally losing it. I didn't need her this badly. She was only here for the tech, not the killing, so I didn't fucking need her at all anymore. I definitely didn't need her saying anything to make Bella feel worse than she already did.

I yanked open the nearest drawer in the kitchen and pulled out a Heckler and Koch and aimed it at the bitch's head. At the same time, Alice stood beside me, her Berretta a mere half dozen inches from my temple.

"I'm fucking sick of your mouth!" I shouted at Rose. She just continued to glare at me, figuring I wasn't about to pull the trigger.

I may have had her in my sights once or twice before.

I could hear Alice's breathing next to me, but I didn't look at her. I did remember she said she was fucking Jasper, and the chances of her letting me fuck up his sister probably weren't all that great. Emmett stood up from his chair, walked slowly around the table and stood between us.

"Put the gun down, Edward."

"Fuck you." There wasn't a lot of oomph in my voice left, but the sentiment was still there.

"Edward, you're scaring your girl there."

Okay, that got my attention.

My eyes swiveled to Bella, curled up on the couch and biting her lip with wide, terrified eyes.

"Fuck," I mumbled, and I shoved the gun in the back of my jeans.

"It's all right Bella," I heard Jasper saying. "They've done this before."

"I think we're done for now anyway," Emmett said. He took Rosalie by the hand and folded her laptop up for her, kissed her on the cheek and said they'd be back in the morning. Rose just glared at me, but I didn't acknowledge her.

"You wanna come home with me?" Alice asked Bella. "You don't have to stay here with ass-wipe."

"Yes she does," Jasper said.

I was about to say the same thing, but I was kind of glad he spoke up first, because I really didn't have a good reason other than wanting her here. I wasn't even sure why I wanted that, since it just seemed to continue to lead to more jerking off.

"Why?" Alice asked.

"She's still chipped," Jasper told her. "I doubt Aro is checking up on her, but he may notice if she's spending her nights away from his place, you know?"

He was right, of course.

With that settled, everyone started to leave, with Rosalie managing to smack me upside the head on the way out, promising the next time I pulled a gun on her to turn it around and blow my face off. Alice followed with another kidney punch. Jasper was the last to leave, and I walked him to the door while Bella excused herself to the bathroom.

"I should have all the paperwork from Jenks tomorrow," he said. "We spend tomorrow night planning, Alice get's The Pack ready for their part of the show, and we'll be hosting this little party come Monday morning."

"Good." I nodded.

"She's going to need you," Jasper said as he nodded his head in the direction of the hallway. "You suck at this shit, so I hope you can handle it."

"Handle what?"

Jasper shook his head.

"You're so fucking clueless, Cullen," he said, but his tone really wasn't that pissy or mean. "I've seen the way you are with women before, you know. You suck at it."

"Thanks," I said – sarcasm set to stun.

"You do," he confirmed with another nod. "You know you do, which is why you went this route in the first place. Anyone with a fucking clue would have hired a hooker, or at least checked out a legitimate Dom/sub club or something – but not you. You have to take it to the extreme. Well, the extreme is going to bite you in the ass, now. Good luck with that."

He walked out the door without another word. I dropped down onto the couch next to where Bella had been sitting and dropped my head into my hands. Several minutes passed in silence while I contemplated my hatred of Rosalie Hale, and wondered again how the same parents could have produced both her and Jasper, who was kind of a decent guy – all things considered. Eventually, I felt the couch shift as Bella sat back down beside me.

"Were you really going to kill her?" Bella asked quietly.

"Maybe." I shrugged. "I usually want to kill her. She needs to keep her fucking mouth shut."

"I thought you all were friends or something?"

"No, it's just business."

"Who are your friends, then?"

"Don't have any," I replied. "Never saw the point."

"But you and Rosalie really don't like each other, do you?"

"Not much."

There was another long pause before Bella spoke again.

"She thinks my mom is dead, doesn't she?"

"No!" I cried out as I raised my head back up to look at her. "Shit…no, she isn't, okay?"

"She might be, though?" I watched the pain flood over her eyes, and I couldn't lie to her.

"I don't know," I admitted.

"He said if…if I did what he wanted…she'd…she'd…"

I held her again as her tears soaked my shirt, and prayed to a God I didn't believe in to make her mom all right, because there were some things I just couldn't fix enough to make a difference.

Her mom had to be okay, right?

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Chapter End Notes:

Yeah, the gangs all here, but some of them want to fuck each other, and some of them want to fuck up each other. Hmmm.

Not exactly the normal Cullen household, but that's what you get with a life of crime, huh?

More E&B; time in the next chapter, which should be tomorrow.