Eala Chapter 16

Chapter 16

BPOV

I stare out the two-way glass in Edward’s office. All those people dancing without a care in the world, while in here Edward is cussing and throwing things against the wall.

Aro knows who I am, and he wants me. He wants to know what I know.

I hug myself tightly.

“Leanbh, he won’t touch you,” Edward vows as he stands behind me, pressing his chest to my back.

I lean back just a little and let his statement roll around in my mind. My father died to keep me a secret, and he trained me to protect myself. “I am not afraid of him. I’m upset that my dad died in vain to keep me hidden from him, that I didn’t get to rub it in his face as I killed him.” I don’t mean to sound like a bratty child, but really there are only a few things in life I want. And recently, one of those is taunting the bastard who killed my dad.

Edward turns me to face him, his eyes on fire. “Aro is a sick fuck, Bella, you have to promise me that you won’t let your guard down.”

I cup his face. “I won’t, Edward,” I promise.

He sighs and pulls away. “How the fuck did they even find out?”

His question is valid. We cut out our prime suspects, so the only people that know are here in this room and Carlisle. I click my tongue as the voices around me fade to noise. My brain is working out something... something.

“Jasper, where do you live?” I ask as the pieces to the puzzle begin to put themselves together. I need more information first.

“Why?” he asks, understandably confused.

“I need to talk to Alice.”

His brows furrow. “The way she made it sound, you don’t like her.”

I try to keep my cool. “I know, and I should apologize to her, woman to woman.” Fuck, that sounds stupid.

I watch his face, preparing myself for another stall. “Okay.” He writes his address down for me.

“Thank you, Jasper.” I smile, taking the paper.

Edward begins to leave with me, much to my annoyance. “Dathúil, I can just go by myself, I’m sure you have more things to sort out now. Seth can drive me.” I peck his pouting lips.

He grunts, “I suppose, but text me to let me know where you are, and I’ll see you at home, gra.”

I’m not even down the block before Edward begins to text me. I roll my eyes. “Seth, I need you to not make it obvious that we’ve arrived at Jasper’s place.”

He looks at me with questioning eyes.

I raise my brow in return. “I need this, Seth, I want to check something out without anyone knowing.”

He nods his head and does what I asked. Edward placed Seth with me because he grew up with him, and besides Jasper and Emmett, he’s one of the few men he completely trusts

I watch from the back, debating my next move, but then Alice decides it for me. I watch her look around like she’s waiting for something, and that’s when I see a car pull up.

“Follow her,” I demand.

“Yep.” Seth sounds upset at what he’s seeing, as am I.

He’s amazing at tailing them. We arrive at a dingy neighborhood with very dodgy people walking around. Alice gets out and walks to an alleyway.

“I need to see who she’s meeting, spot me.” I quickly get out and merge with the darkness and find my way to the alley where Alice is standing.

“I can’t tell you what happened,” Alice sniffles.

“Ally, you have to give me something or he’s going to kill me, especially after the kidnapping went wrong,” a bitter voice replies to her.

“I know that she was trained by her father, that maybe a week ago she was gone with Edward and they brought some files back.” She’s crying, by the sound of her voice.

“Thank you, I love you, sis.”

I keep the gasp trapped in my throat.

“I love you, too, James, but I can’t do this anymore. I love Jasper, and if they find out what I’ve done, they’ll kill me.”

“They will never find out, they’re too fucking stupid.”

With that, I decide I’d better get back to Seth. His expression is relieved once he sees me, but then he thrusts my phone in my hands.

Resigned, I put it up to my ear. “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND!” I hear Edward’s voice hollering through the phone’s speaker.

I blanch, then get pissed. “I don’t know who you think you’re talking to; you better check your fucking tone. I’m onto something, so when you’re ready to talk to me like your fiancée, call me back.” I hang up the phone and turn back to Seth.

“Take me back to Jasper’s.”

I manage to get by their security and into their museum-style home without any issues. This is why I want to have control of my security system, I know how to keep people like me out. I wait for Alice to return home, lurking in the shadows feeling vindicated and irritated.

The moment we found out that Aro knew, I knew that we had more than one traitor. This time it was within our circle. It got me thinking, Edward tells me about everything, that would mean that Emmett and Jasper would do the same thing. Then thinking back to the behavior of Alice in the store before the men showed up, I thought she had to be the mole. Now, I know it’s her.

Seth is waiting outside hidden so Alice doesn’t see him and give away that I’m here before I can confront her. I wait about twenty minutes before she comes in. Her face is puffy, and her shoulders are hunched.

I finally come out of the shadows. “Alice.”

She screams bloody murder. “Bella, what are you doing here, breaking into my home?”

I stalk around her. “I had a hunch and I wanted to see if I was right.” I flicker my eyes to hers, and they widen in fear; fear of being caught. “Tell me, Alice, how long have you been feeding information to the Volturi?” I’m closer to her now and see the sweat forming on her upper lip and forehead.

She finally bursts into tears and sobs, “A few weeks. My brother James owes money and I couldn’t give him any without Jasper asking too many questions, so I told him a couple things that I didn’t think mattered. Then he needed to know about you because something changed, and they weren’t getting the information they were before.” She grabs some tissues to wipe her nose. “James is the only family I have left. I couldn’t let him get killed, so I told him what I knew, hoping that it would be enough, and they would let him go. But he just seems to get deeper and deeper into shit.” She slams her hands down.

“How isn’t your brother part of the Cullen family?” I question.

She takes a deep breath. “My parents died in a fire, it was just me and my older brother James that made it. But he was only in the system for a year before he aged out, so we got separated. I found Jasper when I was seventeen, and he saw something in me. But the Cullen family doesn’t let just anyone in, and I didn’t find James until a year or two later and it was too late.”

I want to be so mad at her, but would I have done it any differently? I want to say yes, I would have confided in Edward and together we would have gotten through it. “Alice, why not go to Jasper? If you love him so much, why didn’t you trust him?”

She walks over to her couch and collapses. “I was so scared. I love my brother, but I’m ashamed that he’s an addict and owes money to the one family that hates the Cullens.”

I sit next to her. “We have to tell everyone; you have to come clean. If, and I mean if, your brother wants help and out beneath the Volturi, then we’ll help him.”

She leans her body towards me and grabs my hands. “Jasper will leave me, I’ll have nowhere to go.”

I sigh, hating the feelings that are happening inside me. Is that empathy? “We’ll figure everything out, but you have to come clean.”

Alice shakes her head. “You must hate me.”

“I hate the choices you made, not you. Well,” I pause for a moment, “I think you’re a spoiled bitch after our shopping trip and the comment you made about my ring, but still, I don’t hate you.”

She chuckles lightly. “I like how honest you are.”

I shrug. “I’m not going to sugarcoat shit for you. I have to text Edward, and tomorrow we’ll hold a family meeting where you’re going to come clean.”

She agrees.

“I’m serious, Alice, if you love Jasper like you say you do, you will do this. You need to decide what you want more, your future with Jasper, or to go down the rabbit hole with your brother.”

I let that hang in the air as I leave her house and get into the SUV that Seth has waiting for me. I text my irate man as I get into the back of the vehicle.

When I get home, he’s pacing back and forth, more angry than before.

“I’m home.” I start taking my guns off me and set them on the counter.

His eyes reach me, and they are black. He comes to me in just a few strides and attacks my lips. His hands are everywhere, trying to rip my clothes off. Edward finally pulls away, leaving my brain foggy with lust.

“You can’t do that to me, leanbh.”

“I’m sorry, but I had something I needed to investigate.”

He crashes against my lips again with more fervor than before. Our clothes fall to the floor and he has me on the counter and thrusting into me painfully hard, but I don’t want him to stop because it feels so good.

“Edward, more,” I moan, grabbing his shoulders.

“You like this?” he thrusts harder, making me moan louder.

“Yes, fuck yes!” I can’t help but chant out as he picks up his pace.

I begin to feel the tightening in my belly as I continue to chant his name over and over; when I finally reach the top, I fall blissfully over.

I don’t remember him carrying me to the bedroom where he curls into me. “Don’t you ever leave me, gra.”

“Never.”