TITLE: No Mistakes, No Regrets
SUMMARY: Bella is dating Edward, rich, handsome and violent Edward. When the new guy in town gets entirely too close for comfort, and Bella falls hard for him, it leads to a life changing choice. Pregnant and frightened, Bella runs away. She moves into a shelter in Phoenix, Arizona, determined to leave her past in the past. Sixteen years later, Bella is 34 with a teenage son on her hands, a teenage son who now wants to find his father. So Bella packs her bags, and goes back to Forks, to confront the past she has spent years running from - only to find that both Edward and Emmett are still in town. One has never stopped looking, the other doesn't care. But can you undo sixteen years and give a father back his son?
WARNING: M rated, violence, smut, non-con. Emotional trauma, so read at your own risk.
PAIRING: Some Bella/Edward, ends up Bella/Emmett.
A/N: Yes, it's another big, emotional, hardcore storyline, this time focussing on domestic violence. No particular reasons behind this one, just the idea came to me. Again, I really, really value your feedback. One of these days, I promise I'll do a chaptered fic with minimal angst in it.
OK, now, about the format of the story. Setting is going to be the key here. When I say it's FORKS PAST, I mean before she moves to Arizona. When it's ARIZONA, obviously, she's in Arizona. When it says FORKS she's gone back to Forks. These will be written in bold and underlined, so they won't be missed. If there's any questions or it's not clear, please let me know so I can improve it.
FORKS PAST
I'm running behind schedule. I'll have to skip girl-time with Alice and her girlfriend Rose. Edward gets mad when he isn't fed dead on six-thirty, and I won't have any time to make sure that happens if I meet them. With a sigh, I pull over and pull out my mobile.
"Alice, I -"
"Let me guess, Bella. You can't come, because if you do, Edward will get mad."
"I'm sorry, Alice."
"Bella, when are you going to leave him? When are you going to realize that he's scum, and so not good enough?"
"He's lovely once you get to know him, he's just insecure." And violent, I add silently.
"You say that every single time. Those exact words. Come on, just come for a bit. Rose is getting upset that she's barely even met my best friend yet."
"Tomorrow, I promise."
"Fine. But you'd damn well better come tomorrow."
She's mad at me, I know that. And if it was only just insecurity and possessiveness. But it's not just that. The secret Alice can never, ever know. The secret that nobody can ever know. That Edward Masen is not the man everyone thinks he is, and that I am not lucky to have him. That he beats me because he can, has sex when he wants, never mind when I want it, and essentially runs my life. Everyone only ever sees that he's slightly possessive. Not one person has even begun to guess at the secrets that Edward Masen, heir to the Masen Electricals fortune, hides behind the polished façade.
His dinner is right on time. He is not. I reheat his lasagne silently, serve him, then retreat. I wash the dishes, wash his plate when he's done.
"How was your day?" I ask, quietly, when he's finished his beer. Those are the rules - don't interrupt while he's eating dinner, and drinking his beer. I take the can and put it in the recycling bin.
"Fucking bullshit," he snaps, looking at me for the first time. I wince. I know that look. "It was fucking shit."
"Can I do anything?"
"Of course not, you fucking useless whore," he snarls. "You wouldn't even begin to understand."
"I'm sorry."
"Come here." I go over to him and he pulls me into his lap. I straddle, as he likes it, and then wait for orders. He puts his hand up my skirt. Another Edward rule. Always wear a skirt in the house, and don't wear panties. I feel him fumbling with his zipper, and I know he's hard. He's probably already been to some cheap club, let some poor girl give him a lap dance. He pushes inside me, and I grit my teeth. He's not gentle, he never is. It's always about him. He never uses a condom either - I have to take the Pill. He doesn't want any mistakes. He finishes off with a groan, then pushes me off him, tucking himself away.
"I'm going out, don't wait up," he says, roughly. Before I can stop myself, I ask him where he's going. There is silence in the kitchen. He glares at me. "Since when was that your business?" he spits at me, advancing slowly. He shoves me against the wall of the kitchen, my head smacking against the tiles. His hand wraps around my throat. His fist, when it hits my stomach, is an iron ball. He drags me upright by the hair and slams me back against the wall. I can't breathe. He's winded me completely, and his hand is getting tighter around my throat. He lets go just as I'm starting to see black spots in my vision. I fall over, gasping for breath, clutching my stomach. He gives me a kick to the ribs for good measure, once more knocking the air out, and then slams out of the house.
I drag myself off the floor only after I hear his car leave. I finish the washing up like a robot, then go upstairs. My throat is going to bruise. With a sigh, I find a polo neck sweater, pulling it on. I'm just contemplating having a hot bath and a glass of wine when the doorbell rings.
It's the new people from across the street. Well, one of the new people.
"Hi," this new guy says, with a dazzling smile. "I'm Emmett, me and my parents just moved in across the street."
"I'm Bella," I stutter out.
"Hi, Bella. We needed a favour, and you seem to be the only house around. We're struggling to find the heating, I don't suppose you could help?" I nod, say sure, pull on ballet flats and follow him outside. He takes me over the road.
"Mum, Dad, this is Bella from over the road. She knows where the heating is."
"Hello, Bella, I'm Esme, this is Carlisle. Were your parents not in? I didn't mean for Emmett to disturb you."
"Oh, I don't live with my parents, I'm living with my partner, Edward. He wasn't home. The heating is actually inside the cupboard in the master bedroom. The cupboard that you may have noticed serves no actual purpose?"
"We wondered what that was. Well, thank you, Bella. I don't suppose you know anywhere good in town to have dinner? All the kitchen things have mysteriously vanished."
"Yeah, just past the high school there's a restaurant. It's good prices and good food."
"Thank you. Emmett, will you walk Bella home?"
"Oh no, it's fine," I say.
When I get home, I shut the door and slide down it. Emmett is stuck on repeat in my head. Those eyes, those dimples, that hair. His smile, the smile that had turned my knees to jelly and my brain to mush, and the voice that had made my hands shake. This is not good.
EmmettPOV
She was beautiful. Dark eyes and dark hair, skin like porcelain and so tiny. Like a delicate little doll, but carried herself like a princess. And living with her partner. She can't be much older than me, how can she be already living with her partner? It's always the pretty ones.