I have no Beta, I apologize for any mistakes. I do not own Twilight or any of its accessories.
Chapter One
Bella Swan stared at the television screen and ground her teeth together until the pain shooting along her jaw made her let up. A scene taped earlier that day flickered on the ten o'clock news. Grinning broadly, James T. Smythe swaggered to a waiting limousine, a small group of supporters cheering him on from behind the prison gates.
James T. Smythe, the most notorious serial rapist in Forks Country's history, was free. And the tests Bella had performed in Washington's State Crime Lab were responsible.
Since the day she'd received the order to perform the DNA comparison between blood found under the finger nails of a victim and the DNA of the imprisoned Smyth, she'd feared this would be the result. But she'd hoped the police would be able to shoot holes in the impossible theory that Smythe had a DNA clone out there committing rape-before he won his appeal for new trial. She'd never dreamed the governor would bypass the criminal justice system completely and give the Smythe Pharmaceuticals heir a pardon.
She wrapped her arms around herself. She felt sick to her stomach. But as sick as she felt, she knew it had to be worse for ex-husband.
As if echoing her thoughts, Fork Country's new District Attorney Edward Masen's face flashed on the television screen next. Outwardly he looked the same as she remembered with hair the color of a bronze coin, the long angular face and the sharp, jade eyes. But he had changed in the past year and a half; she could see it clearly in the hardness of his now dull green eyes, and the rigid muscles along his jaw. He seemed even more judgmental than he had the last time she'd seen him. The time she'd been the one on whom he was passing judgment. The time she'd come up wanting.
She shoved the bitter memories from her mind. She couldn't waste her life being bitter. It wouldn't change anything, and looking at Edward's face on TV, the solemn line of his lips, the tortured squint of his eyes as he answered the reporters' questions bitterness was far from her reach. She felt only regret.
Bella pushed herself up from the couch and switched off the television. Wrapping her terry-cloth robe tighter around her, she padded out of her comfortable little living room on bare feet and started up the staircase leading to the bedrooms.
Reaching the top of the stairs, she strode past her own bedroom to the closed door at the end of the hall. She paused for a moment and listened. Hearing nothing, she turned the knob and pushed the door open.
Though Bella had closed the windows against the humidity, the air still smelled like fresh June night outside. She squinted her eyes against the darkness, the full moon obscured by drawn curtains. Only a feeble light from the hall chased away the shadows and revealed the white bars of the crib in the corner. The crib that held the most precious thing in her life.
She approached on stealthy steps and peered inside. Seven-month-old Luke lay on his back, his head turned to the side. His little chest rose and fell with each breath. As always, a wave of love and gratitude surged through her at the sight of him. His peaceful face, his clenched fists, the tiny bit of curly bronze hair on his head.
Just like his daddy's
She meant to tell Edward at first, even after the blowup. After all, he'd had a right to know. She'd even telephoned him a few times, but he'd refused to take her calls. And whenever she'd forced herself to drive to his house, she'd invariably driven away without stepping from her car. She just couldn't make herself face him.
She'd kept seeing the scorn in his eyes when she'd defended her father, when she'd taken her first wrong step. She kept hearing Edward's bitter words from the last night they were together, the night her refused her a second chance, the night he told her he no longer wanted her.
She shook her head, shutting out his harsh words, and focused on her child's innocent face. No matter what Edward had done to her, he still deserved to know he had a child. And if things were that simple, she would have found a way to tell him.
But things were not that simple.
Leaning over the crib gate, she reached out a finger to touch the soft hair down on her baby's head. He'd given her the strength to go on after Edward's rejection, after her father's crimes and his subsequent death from his co-conspirator's bullet. Luke was her little man, her life. He was everything she had.
She couldn't risk losing him.
Snapping out of her thoughts, a new feeling shadowed her pebbled skin. A feeling that had nothing to do with the child sleeping in the crib. A feeling of being watched by malevolent eyes.
She jolted up right.
Too late. A hand closed around her throat, a sweet smelling cloth closed over her nose and mouth.
She held her breath, she didn't dare scream. At any opening of her mouth, she'd lose consciousness. She wouldn't be able to fight, she kicked back connecting with a shin.
A guttural growl exploded in the darkness. "Damn bitch."
She flailed her arms, trying to hit her attacker, trying to loosen his grip. Swinging low with one hand, she hit his hip, her fingers grasping something soft hanging from his belt. A rope. Oh, God, he intended to tie her up. Or just slip the ligature around her throat. Once that happened, she didn't stand a chance. Panic bolted through her. She flailed harder. Once first connected with the side of his face.
Another curse erupted from his lips. The hand on her throat tightened, cutting off her breath. Cutting off her life.
She hit him again, trying to put more force into the punch, but he only increased his grip on her throat. Her pulse danced in her ears. Dizziness swam in her mind. Her fist connected again. She needed air. She couldn't let herself pass out, Luke needed her.
Suddenly the grip on her throat loosened.
She gasped in a breath. Then another. She tried to twist in his grip, tried to her away, but he held her fast, the cloth clamped over her mouth and nose. The scent of chloroform tickled her sinuses and filled her lungs. Her head reeled dizzy, and slipping.
Landing on the ground with a loud 'thump', she glanced up at her attacker to find a glimpse of blonde hair before
Darkness closed over her.
