When Dawn Breaks 58

“Thank you.”Rosalie said to the driver as he opened the door for her.She reached her hand back to help Bella out of the car admiring how her mate looked all dressed up. They had spent the last two days researching the attendees of the charity auction as well as working with the wolves and going through the stuff they brought back from Maine.They hadn’t found anything incriminating about the people they were surveilling but had gotten a few bugs and trackers placed. Now Rosalie and Bella were in Washington DC dressed in outfits Alice provided them preparing to spy on some of their targets.Offering her arm to Bella she led them to the doors of the Washington National Cathedral where there were men flanking both doors and one a stern looking man with a tablet in his hand standing behind them.When he noticed Rosalie and Bella he lost his composure as his eyes widened and he immediately approached them.

“M…Ms. Ms.Shurlong welcome.”He stuttered out holding out his hand to Bella.

“Thank you and you are?”Bella asked as the man held Bella’s hand a little to long.

“Oh uhm. I’m Keneth and I am one of Mrs.Bowan’s assistants.I am here to personally escort you to the hostess.”Keneth said.

Bella gently extracted her hand when it became obvious that Keneth wasn’t going to let go.“We don’t want to pull you away from your post.”

“Nonsense.Brad can take over for a few minutes.”Keneth handed his tablet to Brad and motioned for Rosalie and Bella to follow him into the building.

“Ready?”Bella asked Rosalie.

“No.” Rosalie admitted.She would rather be back at the estate doing something important.She quickly amended that thought.Rosalie would rather she and Bella were in Vermont enjoying their vacation.

Before Bella could reply they were met by a dark haired woman wearing a red mermaid gown, with diamond stud earrings and a diamond pendant necklace.She took one of Bella’s arms and leaned in to give her two fake cheek kisses.The woman didn’t seem to notice how uncomfortable she was making Bella nor the soft growl coming from Rosalie.

“Welcome Ms.Shurlong. I’m Janet Bowan.I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am that you reached out for the invitation for this event.”Janet said.

“Please call me Bella.”Bella motioned to Rosalie.”This is my girlfriend Rosalie.”

“Well then you must call me Janet, Bella.As this event is to raise money to fund music and art programs in schools I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your donation.A mint condition first edition copy of Alice in wonderland signed with an inscription to one of your ancestors is going to raise a lot of money for the cause.Why once we advertised that we were going to auction it off we were overwhelmed with people reaching out to have a chance to bid on it. We had to hire extra staff to handle the call in bidders for that item alone.”Janet gushed.

“It’s no problem.Once Rosalie and myself learned of your cause we knew that we wanted to offer something for the auction.That and I have other copies of the book.”Bella added.

Janet’s eyes went wide”You have other copies of the book?”

“My personal collection contains thousands of signed copies of first editions.This book was picked because it was the one most appropriate that had multiple copies.” Bella told her.

“Have you had them cataloged?”Janet asked. It was quite obvious the woman was trying to figure out a way to get a couple other books from Bella.

Bella shook her head.”Rosalie has been pushing me to not only get some people in to catalog and store my books but other antiques as well.”

“Well I can offer you a few names of people who would be more than interested in helping out with that.Do you have a card so I can get in touch with you?”Janet asked.”Or maybe we can trade phone numbers.”

“Here is her personal assistant’s card.Bella isn’t the best with paying attention to her phone so Tala is the best person to get ahold of.”Rosalie handed Janet a card.She had expected many people to try and get Bella’s contact information so she had gotten Tala to give her some of her cards to hand out.The only people she would give a direct number to were the ones they wanted to make contact with.

Janet quickly hid the frown as she took the card.”That’s perfect I will get ahold of her and give her my recommendations.Now I hate to do this but I must make my rounds.If either of you would like a drink then we have an open bar that serves both alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages.There are also people going around with trays of hors d’oeuvres.”

“Thanks, I think we will go and look through the items for the auction.”Bella said.

“Of course.”Janet left them seeming very pleased with herself.

“I think you made her life by not only showing up but donating that book. If you actually buy something from the auction she might have a heart attack.” Rosalie told Bella.

Bella kissed Rosalie on the cheek.”Just think we will have people throwing themselves at our feet all night.”

“Do we really need to look at the auction items?”Rosalie asked.”I mean we did donate something really valuable.”

“Unfortunately we are still expected to buy something.Not something cheap either.”Bella quickly added before Rosalie could get her hopes up.

“They better have something good to spend our money on.”Rosalie grumbled.

“If not we can always buy back the book.”Bella suggested.

“Do people really buy back items they donated?”Rosalie had never heard of such a thing.

Bella nodded.”All the time.It’s a way to show off their wealth.”

“Rich people are weird.”Rosalie didn’t understand why someone would just want to throw away money to show off to other people.

“You are a rich person sweetheart.”Bella reminded her.

“Yeah but I’m smart enough to stay rich by not spending money on silly things.”Rosalie said.

“Regardless have you seen any of our targets?”Bella made sure to lower her voice so only Rosalie could hear.

Rosalie scanned the room.“No, but you are getting a lot of looks.”

“Are there any young people?”Bella and Rosalie’s plan was to infiltrate the younger crowd. That way they could hopefully form a friendship with some of the men and women they were going after’s children.

“One is coming this way now.”Rosalie told her.

“You’re Bella Shurlong right?”A man in a tuxedo asked.

Bella held out her hand.”That’s right and you are.”

“Simon Benford.”Simon shook Bella’s hand and motioned to the woman standing next to him.”This is my girlfriend Brianna.”

“A pleasure to meet you.”Brianna said.

Bella put her arm around Rosalie’s waist.“This is my girlfriend Rosalie.”

“Hello.”Rosalie was trying to be polite but it was hard with the way not only Simon but Brianna were looking at Bella.

“This is the first time we have seen you in D.C. are you planning a move?”Simon asked.

“No, we are just staying at my family home for a few days.” They actually hadn’t had a chance to do more than change at the hotel down the street because of how late they were running.Luckily they once again took a private plane because Bella figured they would have been later on commercial.

“I have to say I love your dress. Who are you wearing?”Brianna asked.

Bella looked down at the blue backless dress she was wearing.”I have a personal designer who made it for me.”

“You have your own designer?”Bella nodded.Brianna’s eyes widened a bit before she gained some composure.”So she only designs for you and no one else?”

“I pay her quite well to do so.”Bella hated bragging. It was part of the plan though. She and Rosalie had to make others believe that she was just a heiress that spent her money freely. They were hoping it would have the people they were looking for come to them for investments.That was another reason they needed to get into the younger crowd.Rich kids like having the best of everything.That meant they would complain to their parents of all the things Bella threw money on that they didn’t.

“Did she make your suit as well?” Brianna asked Rosalie.

Rosalie shook her head.”No this is a piece from the new collection Tom Ford is working on.”

“What do you mean working on?”Simon flashed his eyes to Rosalie.

“He hasn’t released the collection yet but when Bella’s people asked him for something he sent me this. Bella’s designer altered it to fit my style.”Rosalie told him.She could almost feel the jealously coming off in waves from the pair in front of her and Bella.It was obvious that they were trust fund kids and were used to people bending over backwards for them.

“I didn’t realize he would do something like that.”Simon said.

“He wanted to do a custom piece but we decided last minute to come so we didn’t have time. We were going to set up a meeting with him so if you want I can give him your information.” Rosalie offered.

“I would like that thank you.”Simon pulled out his phone to take Rosalie’s number.

Rosalie pulled out the phone they set up to speak to the people they met in DC and rattled off the number putting Simon’s in there as well.”I’ll make sure to talk to him.”

“Were you looking over the auction items?”Brianna asked.

“Yes, I was hoping to find a gift for Rosalie.”Bella told her.

“I don’t know if you are interested but my father offered use of his personal yacht for a week.It would be the perfect place to entertain.”Simon said.

Rosalie held back the eye roll at Simon’s attempt to get an invite to hang out with them.”We’ll have to look. Bella was thinking about buying one so it might be a good idea to try one out before we commit.”

“That’s true.You didn’t like the idea of me buying you a private jet until you flew on one.Now that’s all you talk about.”Bella said.

Brianna glared at Simon.“You bought her a private jet?”

“Not yet because she wants a custom one built.”Bella told them.

“I told her she didn’t have to but when she gets something in her head she can never be convinced otherwise.”Rosalie pulled Bella close and buried her head in her hair whispering softly.”There is the daughter of Senator Williams.We need to talk to her.”

“So since we are new to the scene would you be willing to introduce us to a few of your friends?”Bella asked.

Simon immediately brightened at the request.”Of course there are a few here that would more than love to meet you two.”

It was with that that Bella and Rosalie had found themselves spending over two hours shaking hands and making small talk with many of the next generation of the D.C elite. It wasn’t just the younger people they spoke to either but many of their parents some who shared stories about her grandfather with her.They even met two of the men and one of the women they needed’s children and had exchanged numbers.Bella was exhausted by the time the auction came and noticed that even Rosalie looked grateful for the chance to sit down.

“What did you decide to purchase?”Tamera one of their mark’s daughter asked like there was noway someone would out bid Bella.

“That all depends on Rosalie.She has my paddle and permission to buy anything she wants.”Bella told her.”Who knows she may buy everything.”

Tamera laughed.”I need to get a girlfriend like you. You absolutely spoil Rosalie don’t you?”

“Not as much as I want to.”Bella said honestly.

“My friends and I are going to check out this new club that opened downtown tomorrow night.Would you and Rosalie like to come as well?”Tamera asked.

Bella held back from declining the invitation knowing this is what Rosalie and she set out to do.”We would love to.”

“Great I’ll text Rosalie with the info.” Tamera seemed very pleased with herself and Bella knew it was because she was getting a chance to claim she was friends with a Shurlong.”It’s starting.”

“Are you going to bid on anything?”Bella asked.

Tamera shook her head.”I wanted that sapphire necklace but my father would never allow me to spend that much money on it.”

“Hmm.”Bella paid little attention to the items being presented until the necklace came up. She leaned into Rosalie and whispered.”Buy the necklace.I want to give it to Tamera.I’ll explain later.”

“OK.”Rosalie raised the paddle.She wasn’t excited about spending the money but she knew Bella had a plan. She just wished it didn’t cost the $175,000 they just spent.

“Oh it looks like Rosalie got it.”Tamera said sadly.

“No I got it for you.As a thank you for the invite.”Bella told her.

Tamera sputtered and Bella was afraid she was going to choke.”You didn’t have to do that.”

“I promise it’s no problem at all.”Bella knew that it was a little on the expensive side but it was the perfect way to get a bug into Tamera’s father’s mansion.Even if they only got a few conversations it would be helpful.Leaning over to Rosalie she reminded her.”You need to buy something else.”

“I know.”Rosalie did know, she just didn’t like it.It wasn’t until a seven day use of a Swiss chalet came up that Rosalie bid. Not only would it fulfill the need to buy something but it would also stretch out Bella and hers vacation. Not surprising some people bid to bring up the price and Rosalie had to hold back a wince when she finally won it for $100,000. She turned to Bella,raised her voice slightly and in a bored tone told her.”That’s all I want.”

Bella leaned over and kissed her cheek.“Well, keep the paddle just in case.”

Rosalie chased Bella back to her seat and gave her a proper kiss on the lips.”Thank you sweetheart.”

“Anything for you my darling.”Bella told her.

Rosalie sighed when Bella rested her head on her shoulder. The day had been tiring and Rosalie desperately wanted to go to bed. She couldn’t wait to see what Bella’s Washington home looked like because the land itself was bought before the building of the nation.Bella called it a modest home but Rosalie knew that meant little as Bella had called the estate an old house with some land.Now all they had to do is wait until the auction was over and they could make their escape.Then she could ask Bella why they spent so much money on jewelry for a stranger.