A/N: Thank you all for your favorites and words of encouragement.
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
He pulled into his driveway quickly. The entire ride up to his brownstone her body had been shaking uncontrollably. She would whimper in pain whenever the car jerked too much. He didn't even want to imagine what kind of shape her body would be in.
He got out and slammed his door. She jumped and looked up at the large house in front of her. The fact that she knew that for the rest of her life she would be tortured with no hope of escape because someone had bought her, made her dead heart sink lower and lower into the pit of her stomach. She hadn't noticed that he had made his way to her door. He opened it and let her out. He held his hand out for her, only to have her jerk away in fear.
He hated the way she flinched when he was about to touch her. But it was her sobbing that broke him. He hated seeing women cry.
He persisted; eventually getting hold of her wrist. He held her wrist lightly as he walked up the stairs that led to his front door. He opened the door and led her inside.
He seated her on the couch in his living room and sat on the coffee table in front of her. He spoke then. "How old are you?" he aksed.
She paused. His question perplexed her. "17, Sir." She stuttered out after a second.
"Shit." He whispered as he brought his hand up to rub his chin. He could tell that she was young but not that young. He didn't know all of the inner workings of Aro's business but he knew that it was sadistic and depraved.
But he was glad that he had gotten her out of there. He looked at her thoughtfully. She was looking down at her hands. He had barely even seen the color of her eyes…just flashes of molten brown every so often when she would risk punishment to look up at him. She was always looking down.
"My name is Edward Cullen." He spoke as he reached forward to tilt her head up. She flinched but let him take hold of her chin. He tilted her head upwards so that she would look at him. He paused for a second, letting the depth of her brown eyes consume him.
They were startling. They held years of pain and sorrow. They held knowledge though. They were wise and experienced. They were not the eyes of a 17 year old.
He saw the confusion in her eyes. She had forgotten what his name was, but she was certain that that wasn't what he said it was.
"I'm an agent in the FBI." He tilted his head to the side as he studied her reaction.
"W-What do you want from me then?" her voice shook with fear and confusion. He was certain that he heard hope in her voice. Aro and the others had always said that the police would never find out about Volterra…no one would ever come to save her. The fact that he was from the FBI made her hope that maybe the other girls there could be saved.
"Nothing." His eyebrows came together. "I just couldn't leave you there." He spoke quietly. She waited for him to continue. "I've been working on this case for over a year now, trying to build as much evidence as possible against Aro Volturi. When I saw what was happening there, I knew I was close to getting him convicted."
"Of what?" her voice was small.
"Soliciting prostitution, rape, murder, slavery, kidnapping." He listed the charges off. She figited with the hem of her dress and bit her lip. She looked up at him and then away. He understood what was wrong. "You don't need my permission to speak." He spoke quietly. She looked at him skeptically. He clenched his jaw. "If you want my permission, you have it." His voice was a sad whisper.
She swallowed thickly. "Why am I here?" she whispered.
He took a deep breath. "I couldn't leave you there. I saw you and I couldn't bear the thought you having to go through any more torture. I'm not sure if we have enough evidence to get Volturi convicted and if we did, I wouldn't want you to have to sit through his trial and testify against him. I knew that it might possibly take years for the trial and in the mean time you would be locked away because he would try to have people hurt you…more." He tacked on the last part because he knew that people were always hurting her. "I just couldn't stand the thought of you going through that." He whispered.
She wrapped a stray piece of string hanging from the hem of her dress around her finger; pulling it tight before unwinding it. Angry red marks surrounded her deathly pale finger. She tugged on the string; evenutually pulling atleast an inch more off of her dress.
She hated the dress and she was slowly destroying it.
He watched her for a moment before continuing. "I'm going to help you." He stated. "I'm going to find your family." He reached his hand up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear but she flinched. He pulled his hand away with a sigh and settled for caressing her fingers. "I'm going to teach you that not everyone wants to hurt you."
She looked at him with a bewildered expression. She didn't know what to think of his revelation.
His eyes suddenly darkened. She gulped in fear, thinking that she was stupid for getting her hopes up. She braced herself; certain that he was going to hurt her but his next words confused her. "What happened to you in that room this afternoon?" she wondered why he was asking her this. It was as if he actually cared.
She shook her head and looked away from his probing green eyes. She felt a lump in her throat and she swallowed against it.
"Who hurt you Bella?"
Her eyes flew back to his face. She began to cry then. Large round tears rolled down her cheeks; falling too quickly for her to wipe them away. Her parents had called her Bella. She had always hated Isabella. She decided to tell him. "J-Jacob Black." She whispered. "His name was Jacob Black, Sir." She repeated. She wiped at her tears messily.
He let his large hands wrap around her shoulder and her small waist. He gently lifted her so that she could take comfort from his presence as he held her silently. She shook against him; thinking that he was going to hit her. He had always hit her for no reason. "Are you sure?" Edward asked her incredulously.
She was confused by his disbelieving tone and the fact that he didn't hit her. She nodded. "Yes, Sir."
He held her tighter. "Don't worry. I'll protect you from him."
"Why?"
"Because I care." Was his simple reply.
"Why do you care?"
"I don't know." He answered her honestly. He had no idea why he was putting his career on the line for her. If anyone from the bureau ever found out that he had bought her; that he risked the investigation; that he risked compromising himself and his undercover alias; he would lose his job for sure.
He was positive that he would probably end up in federal prison. Other than having it covered up, he didn't know what to do. He knew that he could always lie about his reasons for buying her…say that he needed a witness.
She heard his heart thundering loudly. "You know him, don't you Sir." She surmised.
Edward chuckled darkly. "I work with him."
Her shivering stopped suddenly and she froze. "Don't worry Bella." He whispered into her hair. He needed to distract her. "Would you like to take a bath? I have a really big tub." He said with a smile.
Her shaking abruptly begun again. "P-please don't…" she begged as she pushed her fists against his chest. He held her tighter so she wouldn't be able to hurt herself in her struggle to escape him.
He held her away from his body so that he could look at her. "Don't what?" he asked.
Her eyes held tears as she drifted off; lost in one of her horrible memories.
She felt someone holding her and she fought against their strong grip. She was tired.
Tired of the pain; the tears; the sadness. She was just tired of everything. She was tired of life. She knew it wasn't fair. She knew that she had done nothing to deserve what had happened to her.
She heard someone shushing her. She faintly registered his words. It was his voice that calmed her down. It was smooth and soft, yet deep and strong.
Her struggles ceased and she collapsed against his hard chest, completely exhausted and thoroughly defeated. "Please don't make me take a bath." She whimpered desperately.
"What did he do to you?" he said this mostly to himself. She began crying because she didn't want to remember. She wanted to forget. Edward shushed her. He was trying his best to placate her tormented mind. "Its okay, Bella. You're safe with me, do you understand?"
"Yes Sir." She said through her sniffles.
He sighed. "Call me Edward…if you want."
She looked up at him from her place on his lap. He hadn't realized what his words meant to her. He had just given her a choice. She had not had the right to make her own choices in years. Something so simple made her heart ache with gratitude. He didn't even know that his small suggestion was so significant to her.
"Thank you…Edward." She said quietly.
He felt his heart increase in pace after he heard her say his name for the first time. "Why are you thanking me?" he asked as his brain actually registered what she had said before whispering his name.
"You gave me a choice." She buried her face in his chest, listening to his heart thump loudly. "You said that I could call you by your name…if I wanted to."
He looked at her shivering form and realized that he had given her something that she hadn't had in a really long time. He knew then that he had to find out more about her if he were to ever be able to locate her family. He had to know her full name, her date of birth. He had to know where she was from originally. He had to know when she was taken.
She sighed softly as her tears finally stopped and her sobbing and hiccupping quieted. He reached his right hand up to her face and cupped it softly. She had turned her head away slightly instead of flinching. Her skin was so smooth beneath his touch. He longed to feel it everywhere but knew that his desires would never be answered.
Her eyes flew open and they held panic. "P-please don't…" she said again.
His eyes widened. He slid his hand upward so that his fingers were in her soft silky hair and so that his thumb was rubbing soothing circles on her temple. "Bella…shhh." He cooed at her and rocked her back and forth. "I'm not going to hurt you." He tried to reassure her.
He looked into her eyes and saw the familiar faraway look in them. He knew that she was getting lost in one of her memories again. He couldn't let that happen. He had seen how much pain she had been in after a different memory had pulled her into the darkness.
"Tell me what's wrong." He whispered. He kissed her forehead softly. He fluttered kissed all over her face. Her skin was clammy and sticky. She had broken out into a cold sweat and he hated himself for triggering this reaction.
"H-He used to touch me here." She brought her left hand up and cupped the spot on her face where Edward had touched. "Then…then he would slap me." She turned her face into Edward's grey suit and let it soak up the tears that had begun to descend down the pale flesh of her cheeks. She continued then. "I-I just thought that you…you were going to hit me too." Her voice was a whisper by the time she finished.
He shook his head softly. His lips were still firmly planted on her forehead. "I would never hurt you Bella. You have to believe me. You have to trust me." His voice was pleading.
"I can't." she said weakly.
"Why not?"
She shook her head. "I-I don't know. I just…can't." Her voice was nothing but a quiet broken whisper. The pain it held tore him apart.
A/N: Yes, I know. It's not exactly what you were expecting. I know that I probably just lost a shitload of readers because this story isn't a Darkward story. Sorry folks. It's just the way I want it to be.
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