Protecting Him by twiXlite.pdf

Protecting Him by twiXlite

Synopsis: Edward Cullen is the only son of billionaire Carlisle Cullen. He has always been

surrounded by fake, money-hungry people. That is the way of life he has always known. But when

Edward's life is threatened, Carlisle has no choice but to send him away to the barely noticeable,

out of the way town of Forks, Washington. While there, Edward meets some new friends that,

even though he is wary to get to know in the beginning, finds that the change his life in ways that

he never imagined possible. But is he safe. Has the threat to his life been quelled or is the danger

closer than both Edward and his father realise?

Chapter 1: Edward Cullen

EPOV

"It's not safe for you here at the moment, Edward. You know that!" My father, Carlisle, snapped at

me, as he paced back and forth behind his desk.

"But I don't want-" I started, but he cut me off.

"I'm afraid that it's not about what you wany anymore, Edward." He said, stopping at his desk and

leaning his hands on the edge, looking extremely worn. "This is about your safety. You really think

that I'm going to let my only son sit here, being threatened and not do about it?" He sighed and sat

down in his chair. "The only problem is, I can't do anything about it while you're here. It's too

dangerous." He looked at me, his eyes pleading. "I won't risk you, Edward. You mean too much to

me."

"To you, or to the company?" I countered and he looked at me, shocked.

"How can you ask me that?" He asked, his voice full of sorrow and pain. "You're my only son. I hate

to have to send you away, but it's the best and really the only option I have if I want you to be safe."

He sighed and looked at me again. "I really am sorry Edward. You're leaving tonight. I'm not going to

tell you where you're going, the walls have ears you see, but Jason knows, so you'll be safe with him.

I hate that you have to go Edward, I really do. If I had it my way, I would keep you here under lock

and key until we found this maniac. But things rarely go the way we want them to in life."

"As I'm beginning to find out." I muttered standing up. "Can I at least say goodbye to my friends?"

My father looked at me a grave expression on his face. "I'm afraid not, son. It's too risky. Go and

gather up some things. You'll be leaving in an hour." He looked down at his papers and it was clear

that there was going to be no more discussion on the topic.

I couldn't stay in Chicago.

I was leaving.

Enough said.

Most of the time, being me was great. And then there were times like these, when it sucked.

I'm the only son of billionaire businessman Carlisle Cullen. Something that generally worked in my

favour. I was popular, athletic, smart and I got what I wanted. I was spoilt. I knew it. But Carlisle

never gave me anything without my having to prove myself first. For example, when I had become

old enough to drive and got my liscence, he had bought me a brand new Volvo, but I wasn't allowed

it until I proved myself academically. I knew I had an average of 4.0 but only he knew my exact score

and he wanted me to prove that even though my average was damn near perfect, I could still

improve. I guess I did that, because at the end of the semester he handed me the keys to the Volvo. I

was ecstatic. I think that knowing that my father had tested and proved me worthy of having it made

it even better. There were other tests that he used for me to prove myself when I wanted or needed

something from him. Even though millions were like pennies to him, he always ensured that I

appreciated what I had. And I did. I knew that Carlisle had taken a huge chunk out of his life making

his company a success. He always made sure that I knew what he had given up. And I did.

I knew that even though we had a lot of money now, it wasn't always that way. And it made me

appreciate the small stuff even more.

At first the company had begun as a way for Carlisle to support himself and my mother Esme, who,

by the time the company was launched, was expecting me. That knowledge drove him even harder

to make the business succeed. Who knew that seventeen years later he would be one of the

wealthiest men on the planet? He certainly didn't. And he knows that it could have gone the other

way just as easily. I knew that he thanked whatever power it was, everyday, for causing his company

to become this huge. It operated on every continent and had offices in almost every single country. It

was huge.

The only problem with this situation now was that someone had decided they wanted in on the

business.

And they were using me to do it.

Over the past couple of weeks there had been emails from an untraceable address, letters from an

unknown source, phone calls that were too short to be traced, and all of them had one main subject.

Me.

For some reason, someone had decided to terrorize my family, taunting that they were watching me,

that they would get what they wanted or my family would never see me again. My safety was on the

line.

The worst thing was, we knew that they were telling the truth. Because with every email there was

an attachment that held photographs, with every letter there were photographs included and with

every phone call, photographs would be faxed through at the same time. And they were all of me.

Nobody else was ever in the picture with me, which made my parents worry even more, as obviously

this person could see me when I was on my own. They were recent pictures as well. There were

pictures of me around the house, at basketball games, even in school. The ones of me sleeping were

the most worrying ones. As they were close ups. When my mother had seen them she wasn't able to

hold back her worry.

Then the threats to my life had begun.

The threatening letters, emails and phonecalls had become less frequent but they were all the more

disturbing for it. Carlisle told me that he didn't want me or my mother to read them. That they were

just too graphic for either of us to handle. I managed to sneak a look at one that was laid on Carlisle's

desk after he had read it. It had gotten him pretty distraught, and in his panic I had managed to

glimpse at a sentence or two.

I wished I hadn't.

The thought that someone was out there, probably watching me right now, reading this, and for all I

knew writing another sickening letter or email made me nauseous.

I couldn't fathom why anyone would threaten me other than for Carlisle's money. But they hadn't

asked for anything. That was the strangest thing. They hadn't asked for anything at all. Not a penny.

Not that Carlisle hadn't offered it. He had offered thousands, millions, to get this sicko away from

me, but nothing he offered seemed to appease this guy. He only said that he was going to make

Carlisle pay for past mistakes and that he would claim his prize when he was ready.

It was that that broke Carlisle.

He knew that I couldn't stay here anymore. Hell, I knew that I couldn't stay here anymore. It didn't

mean that I was happy about going. Carlisle and Esme couldn't go with me, which was the one thing

that upset me. I was being separated from my parents, because some psycho had some kind of

vendetta against my Dad. Something that I had been dragged into. I hated that I was something that

someone thought they could use against my father, as a form of blackmail as it were.

My father had enlisted the help of everyone he could think of to try to get rid of this lunatic. He had

called the FBI, the CIA and various other organisations that I had never heard of. My mother and the

house staff had heard of them, so I knew that they weren't underground mafia type organisations.

And yet, it was all to no avail. He was still out there, he still managed to get close to me, and slip

through the cracks.

So we come to my father's decision to send me away. He knew that the person stalking me knew

when I was here, when I was at school and where I was pretty much every minute of the day. The

pictures proved that much to us at least.

The plan was for me to leave tonight. We had received the latest phonecall this morning. The one

that broke my father. He had been unrecognisable this morning. This wasn't the father that I was

used to. This was a broken man, at his wit's end, trying to think of ways to protect his only son. And

coming up short, save sending him away. I would be leaving in around forty-five minutes. There were

three or four identical cars that would be leaving the garage of the mansion that we lived in at the

same time. All of them heading towards different airports. One would be holding me and the others

would be holding decoys. My father was hoping to confuse the stalker long enough so that he would

go after the wrong car, giving me some time to get through the airport and onto the plane safely. I

hoped that it would work. It had to. My father was at his wits end, and not to mention I was going to

go insane if I had to spend much longer wondering if I was being photographed, if my movements

were being documented. I think I would always have that fear, but if I was in some other place, I

might actually be able to relax somewhat. At least, I hoped so.

Everything was being piled into cars. Decoy bags and people were milling around. The decoy men

that would be used were actually members of the security team that were coming with me. Even

though they were members of the security team none of them really knew what was going on. My

father didn't want to divulge to anyone what was happening, save it getting back to the stalker. The

only ones who knew the plan were my father, my mother, Jason, our head of security, who would be

accompanying me to wherever it was I was going and myself. Nobody else needed to know. At least

not in Carlisle's eyes anyway. All they knew was that they had orders to meet in a certain place and

that was that. They knew not to ask questions, just do as they were told.

Nobody knew of the threats. The only ones to know about that were the ones who knew about the

plan and the various law enforcing organisations that Carlisle had employed. They were all still

working, but it seemed that nothing was coming up for them.

I climbed into the back of one of the cars, Jason following me closely, making sure that I never left his

sight. I couldn't say goodbye to my mother and father, lest the stalker become suspicious as to what

was happening. So far, there had been no phonecalls or anything to mention that he did know what

was going on. I had my doubts that it would work, but I had to trust my father. He knew what was

right.

"You okay, Edward?" Jason asked me quietly, as I began gazing out of the window, watching

everyone getting everything sorted.

"Honestly, no, I'm not." I admitted turning to look at him. "I'm being forced out of my home by some

psycho who seems to want nothing more than to destroy my father, using me as the bait. I hate this.

I want to be able to stay. I want to be able to do things without worrying that I'm being watched all

the time. I just..." I took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of my nose with my thumb and index

finger. "I just want things back the way they were."

"I know you do." He sighed. "We all do. This is all so fucked up."

"Yeah, well." I sighed and resumed looking out of the window, waiting for everything to be set up.

People had stopped moving around now, and everyone was getting into cars, three people to a car.

One to represent the driver, Mitch, that had just got into the front of my car, one to represent Jason

and one to represent me.

Looking out the window, I saw the huge garage door open and all four cars pulled out at the same

time, travelling down the driveway in single file, splitting off in different directions when we reached

the road. Two cars went each way before splitting at the closest crossroads. I didn't know where the

other cars were going, all I knew is that they were going to different airports. Each decoy and myself

would be boarding a plane and landing in Nowheresville, in whatever state. I wasn't happy about this

arrangement but I knew that it was necessary.

A little while later we pulled up at the airport. I didn't see which one it was, because we pulled into

an enclosed area, so that I wouldn't be exposed outside. If the maniac watching me hadn't taken the

bait and had followed me then it was all over and they didn't want there to be a chance that I could

be seen outside.

I got out of the car and was rushed through boarding, Jason taking care of everything that needed to

be done. Yes I was flying on a regular passenger aircraft, but only because taking the jet to wherever

it was I was going would be too obvious and lead this guy straight to us. I sat next to the window in

first class and sat there impatiently while the other passengers boarded the plane. I hated sitting

here. I was a sitting duck. Jason seemed to be a little anxious as well, as if he knew the same thing

that I did. The longer we sat here, the more dangerous it was for me.

"It's alright Edward." He mumbled to me. "We'll be in the air soon enough. It'll be fine."

"Right." I mumbled. I looked down at my right wrist and ran a finger over the crest that lay there. The

Cullen Crest. Sacred symbol of my family for centuries. It was also the icon for my father's company.

He reasoned that seeing as it was a Cullen business the crest symbol was perfect. I agreed. It

certainly was individual. With the lion standing on the arrow that held three clovers, a hand at its

head. It certainly was an individual crest. There was no other like it. And it made sure that no one

attempted to plagarise it as well. Something like this, the mistakes are easy to spot.

After a little while of waiting we were in the air, and part of me relaxed. I knew that we were away

from this manic, for the time being that is. Who knew where he was, what he was doing, if he had

figured us out from the beginning. I keep thinking that theres no way he could have worked it out,

seeing as my father only put the plans in place this morning after that last phone call, but then again,

another part of my brain argues that this guy has managed to get unthinkably close to me for god

knows how long. Who knows when he started watching me. Might have been years ago, but he only

just been able to act in the last couple of weeks.

I shook my head, trying to rid myself of these thoughts. They always left me freaked out. I

concentrated on watching the clouds beneath me. They have it easy. I thought. Nothing to worry

about. No cares in the world. Was I seriously just comparing myself to a cloud? I must be going

insane. I leaned my head back against the head rest and closed my eyes, content in listening to what

was going on around me.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, Jason was nudging me awake. We were on

the ground. How I hadn't woken up when we made contact I had no idea. It always woke me up. All

the stress of the day must be getting to me, making me more out of it than I already was. I rubbed

my eyes, clearing the sleep from them and we disembarked from the plane.

It was the same process at this end, only in the opposite direction. Instead of going in, I was going

out. Jason, again, took care of all the formalities at the airport, while I was being ushered into a car

similar to that which I had made the trip to the airport in at the other end. Even though I knew it was

necessary, and they were only doing as they had been told, I felt the need to tell all of the security

members around me to shove off. That I could walk myself. Just show me the direction and I can take

myself there. I wasn't a baby. I didn't need to be mollycoddled. Only, because of the situation, I did.

Another thing I hated this maniac for. Taking away my freedom. Moments after I got in the car, the

door opened and Jason slid in across from me and the car pulled out. I looked at the driver before

putting up the glass divide that separated the driver from Jason and myself. I was relieved to see that

it was Mitch in the drivers seat. He had obviously been on another flight, or somewhere else on the

same flight as Jason and I. Either that or I hadn't been observant enough to notice that he was on the

same flight. Personally I was going with the latter.

Pulling out of the airport, I saw that we were in another city. Not as large or the buildings as tall but it

was a city nonetheless. For some reason cities fascinated me while I was in the car. They didn't any

other time. I guessed it was the way the buildings looked through the glass of the window. My

mother and father told me that this was something that had followed me through since childhood.

I snorted. Childhood. My childhood had ended at aged thirteen, when I was to be "groomed" as it

were, to take over the company. I hadn't really been allowed to spend a lot of time with my friends

at that time. I had to go straight from school, which had been a private school, obviously, home to

take direction from Carlisle or one of the many teachers that he had employed to direct me in the

ways of the business.

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