Chapter 16 Bonus Scene

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Chapter 16 Bonus Scene

"Vincent." The raven-haired beauty pouted from the bed when he stood up to get dressed.

"Sorry, babe," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'm supposed to meet Anna for dinner shortly and I need to go by the office first. Next time I'll see if I can stay longer," he told her and didn't try to hide the fact that he wasn't sorry at all.

He'd been sleeping with Bianca for some time now. As a matter-of-fact, they'd started seeing each other on the side almost as soon as he and Anna picked up where they had left off. Bianca was a hellcat in bed but she certainly wasn't country club and charity fundraiser date appropriate. He figured as long as he had them both, he had the best of both worlds. Not to mention, Anna was always ready and willing whenever he was, so he felt like one lucky motherfucker.

He kissed Bianca quickly on the lips, pinched a naked nipple, and then walked out of the apartment he had her set up in. His car was waiting out front, and he climbed in the back and headed back to his office in downtown Chicago. He passed the Cullen Publishing offices and cursed Edward under his breath. Man, he really, really despised Edward, so fucking much.

"Brody," Vincent barked when he hit a button on his phone, "get Josh, Cameron, and Trent and meet me in thirty minutes. I'm almost to the office."

He threw his phone down on the seat beside him and leaned his head back. He hoped the others had good news for him. They'd better or else there would be hell to pay.

He closed his eyes and thought about Edward. Christ, he hated that smooth motherfucker. It hadn't always been that way though, at least not at first. When they'd first crossed paths at prep school, Vincent had hoped they'd be friends. He didn't have many and Edward was the new kid so he figured it would be kind of easy to get to know each other. Vincent was sort of an outcast, not coming from one of the families of Chicago, you know, old money. He knew his father had a reputation for being a shady businessman, bilking unsuspecting authors and agents out of their hard-earned money. Vincent didn't much care about any of that, though. He got whatever he wanted whether it was the newest electronic gadget, the nicest clothes, or when the time came, the best, most expensive car. As long as the money flowed, it made no difference to Vincent where it came from.

When Edward first got to school, everyone tried to be his friend, but no one succeeded. He kept to himself, at least for the most part. As they'd all gotten older, he opened up more, but he was never one to hang out, go to parties or the night clubs the kids in their circle always managed to sneak into. No matter how aloof he was, everyone was still in awe of him. He made straight A's. The girls all thought he was mysterious and sexy and the guys, as much as Vincent hated to admit it, were all pretty much intimidated by him, and Vincent was no exception. He didn't understand why he acted the way he did and didn't really try very hard either. The more Edward succeeded, first in prep school and then in college, the more Vincent hated him.

From his vantage point, it seemed like everything came so easily to Edward and Vincent envied that with a burning intensity. No matter how hard Vincent worked, he was never quite on par with Edward and that was one bitter fucking pill to swallow and had been for almost twenty years now.

Well, Vincent thought with a menacing chuckle, he hoped his luck was about to change.
He arrived at his office and noticed with satisfaction that everyone was already waiting for him.

"Okay, tell me where we stand with McMasters and Sons," he began without preamble when he sat down at the head of the table.

"According to my sources," Brody began, "they are still holding firm to sell to Cullen Publishing."

Vincent sat back in his chair and rested his chin on his index fingers. "Fuck, Brody. Deaton-Hall was easy; what's the damn hold up with this one? I want McMasters," Vincent stated emphatically.

"Man, I know you do, but old man McMasters is all over Edward's junk or some shit. I can't get them to budge. I've tried everything, offering money under the table, threatening, hell I even offered to send the old man and his wife on an around the world cruise; he's not budging, Vince. I don't know what else to tell you," Brody huffed.

"Well, we're just going to have to try harder," Vincent said in a cold voice.

He had no business going after them, and he knew it. Brody and the others knew it, too, but it didn't matter. The stockholders would have his ass if they caught wind of it, but he didn't care about that either. All he cared about was beating Edward and he didn't care what he had to do in order to do it. He was over-extended, by a huge amount, but it didn't matter. If he could come out on top and ahead of Cullen Publishing and Edward, it would all be worth it.

Or so he tried to tell himself.

He was playing a very dangerous game. If he lost, the repercussions would be monumental, but even knowing that and what he stood to lose, the prospect of besting Edward was too enticing a challenge to back down now. He just couldn't let it go.

"What about the project Emmett and Isabella are working on? Do we have any more information on that yet?" he asked the group.

Trent fidgeted in his seat. He really didn't want to inform Vincent that so far, they'd found out very little, at least nothing they could build on and use for their own. "I'm afraid not, Vince. Edward is being extraordinarily tight-lipped about whatever it is. From what we've been able to gather, only Edward, Isabella, Emmett, Jasper, Marcus, and Alec know the particulars of what is going on. There have been some preliminary meetings with the heads of the departments, but we don't have enough to go on to figure out what they're up to yet. Sorry, Vince," he said in a somewhat mousy voice.

"Son of a bitch!" Vincent roared. "We need to know what Cullen is up to and we need to know yesterday. I have too much riding on all this right now. One wrong move and all of us are going to find ourselves in a heap of hurt," he warned. If he went down, he'd damn sure make it so he didn't go down alone.

Vincent took a few deep breaths and pulled himself together. "The opera is this weekend and Cullen is going to be there. I'll just have to try to get little Isabella alone and see if I can't persuade her to open up. I can be very persuasive when I need to be," he chortled devilishly.

There was no doubt about the fact that he'd certainly enjoy it at the very least. Isabella Cullen was certainly a prize worth taking a few risks for. His dick got hard just thinking about the scrumptious Mrs. Cullen and his hate burned a bit more as he thought about how fucking lucky Edward was...again.

"We need to find out what's going on," Vincent warned again and then stood up, indicating the meeting was over.

As everyone filed out of his office, Vincent sat in his chair, staring unseeing out his window as he plotted and planned, trying to find some way to beat Edward. Surely the man had a weakness, right?

Far above the two otherworldly beings looked anxiously at each other. They weren't allowed to interfere with the free will of humans, though there wasn't a time either of them wished that wasn't so. Especially right now. Vincent Sinclair was the worst kind of foe; the kind that would stop at nothing to get what he wanted, even if that meant hurting people in the process. In this case, Edward and Isabella would be the ones harmed and neither angel wanted to see that happen.

"Gideon," Seth said in a distressed voice.

"I know, my friend," Gideon answered in a subdued voice that rumbled loudly with barely contained anger.

So much bitterness and rage within Vincent, Gideon thought with a sad shake of his head. If there was ever any doubt about the kind of man Edward was, all one had to do was look at Vincent and see the kind of person Edward could have easily allowed himself to turn into, but didn't. It would have been so simple to let the hurt and bitterness of his childhood fester and stew and make him uncaring and apathetic like Vincent. Instead, he protected himself, and even though he hurt people in the process by not allowing them to love and help him as he needed, he'd never become so cold and heartless as to turn his back completely on who he was destined to become like Vincent had. Vincent had unfortunately been lost long ago. As evidenced by Edward's metamorphosis, Edward was not; he'd only lost his way.

"Seth, I know it's hard to sit back and not interfere, but you know we cannot. Edward and Isabella will be fine; you must believe that. Together, they are so strong, so formidable, that even one as odious as Vincent Sinclair cannot come between them. Have faith in the two of them, my friend. I have a feeling you might be surprised just how strong they are," Gideon said reassuringly.

"If he hurts either of them," Seth growled loudly and it sounded like boulders smashing against one another.

"Yes, Seth, we all know how you feel about your two humans." The older angel chuckled. "It's going to be an interesting weekend. I hope you are prepared."

Seth's ice blue eyes twinkled. He was apprehensive about Vincent and his ill intentions toward his Edward and Isabella, but he did have faith in both of them. "As prepared as I can be," he answered. "Those two have been surprising me more and more of late; it makes me nervous."

"Ah, my friend. Our jobs wouldn't be half as much fun if everything went according to plan now would it?" Gideon flippantly said and again Seth had the feeling his mentor was saying much more than he understood.

However, he answered anyway. "No, I suppose it wouldn't," he said and then went to prepare to return to his two favorite humans.

"If he only knew." Gideon chuckled with his own twinkle in his eye.

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