A/N: Hi! Thank you guys so much for all the positive feedback! The amount of reviews, alerts and favs my story has received leaves me amazed and giddy at the same time. ;D

Huge thank you also goes out to my betas, Jennrosee and BelleDuJour, for working through my mess and making this chapter actually decent.

On with the drama. Remember when I said there was a chance you wouldn't like all the characters in my story...

Bella

I couldn't breathe.

It felt as if my lungs were without any air and, no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't refill them. It felt as if a heavy boulder had been placed on my chest, threatening to crush me under its weight. Gasping and panting, I tried to refill my lungs with the oxygen I needed as desperately as I needed my little baby.

They couldn't...they couldn't take her away from me. How was I supposed to live without my little heart? I couldn't... They just...couldn't.

Both Emmett and that Jasper guy took a step towards me, and instinctively I stretched my arms out to hinder them from getting to Josie. I knew that if it came down to it, physically I wouldn't stand a chance, but I wouldn't go down without a fight.

"Isabella, shh, calm down. You need to calm down." Emmett tried to soothe me as he took another tentative step forward.

"Please, do-don't take h-her. Please."

"You really need to calm down. I promise you that we are not here to take your daughter away from you," Emmett tried again.

I looked from him over to Jasper and the blonde woman that stood a little to the side and who hadn't said one word yet. Both of them nodded their heads in assurance. It wasn't that I trusted them all of a sudden—or as easily as that—but I admit that hearing his words and seeing the truth in their eyes did pacify me a little.

"This," Cullen continued as he waved the blonde over to him, "is Rosalie, my wife. Jasper is her younger brother, okay?" Emmett waited for my nod before he continued. "When I said that we are here because of Josie, I didn't mean that we were going to take her with us. What I meant was that-"

"Mommy?" My daughter's small voice suddenly sounded from behind me. I turned around to find her standing a few feet away, her favorite stuffed animal, Jojo, clutched tightly to her side. Josie was chewing on her bottom lip and looking frightened.

Sobbing, I quickly walked over to her. She held her arms out for me, signaling that she wanted to be in my arms. I obeyed gladly, picked her up and held her closely to me. She pressed her head into my neck and I buried my nose in her hair, inhaling her sweet scent to calm me down again.

We remained in our embrace for several minutes, and I tried my best to ignore the fact that Emmett, his wife and her brother were here in my apartment. I was angry with myself for falling back into old patterns so easily. Though I had never broken down like that in front of one of them before, the feelings of insecurity and intimidation, on the other hand, were something I'd felt more than just a few times whenever they were near.

I thought I heard some mumbling about calling someone and canceling something, but I really couldn't care less about their business appointments or dinner reservations. All that mattered to me—what I cherished the most in my life—I held in my arms, clinging to her as tightly as she clung to me.

"You wanna go back to your room and play?" I whispered into Josie's ear once I had fully composed myself. She shook her head "no" and I left it at that, for I wasn't ready to let go of her either.

My mind was still spinning and my knees felt weak, threatening to give out any second. Wiping the remaining moisture from my face, I kissed her head and walked us over to the sofa to sit down. Though it couldn't have been more than a few minutes, and despite my being still as clueless as to what the fuck was actually going on, it felt as if the conversation had been going on for hours—hours in which I had aged several years at once.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and when I looked up, I saw that this Jasper guy was holding Jojo in his hand – Josie must have dropped it when I picked her up. I gave him a weak smile and took the white and cream colored, floppy-eared, stuffed toy from him. He returned the gesture in kind.

I was about to demand Emmett finally tell me what the home invasion was about when there was another knock on my door.

Standing up with Josie still in my arms I went over to the door. I opened it and, within what felt like a fraction of a second, slammed it shut again. Or rather, I tried to but my somewhat shock-induced movements were too slow for the inhumanly fast reflexes of none other than the spawn of Satan himself.

Carlisle Cullen.

There he stood, in all his tall, blond, blue-eyed, pale-skinned and designer suit-clad glory. If it weren't for his stern and arrogant face, and my knowing how ugly he was on the inside, I'd actually call him handsome. Out of all the things I could say about the Cullens, the only thing remotely positive was that they were all absolutely good looking—beautiful even.

I guess that was given to them by nature as a disguise to cover up the darkness and ugliness of their interiors.

He pushed the door open wider, and I instinctively stepped back farther into my apartment, like prey backing away from a predator about to attack.

Placing a hand at the back of my little angel's head, I pressed her closer to me, needing to feel her close. And just like that day in the mall, I tried to protect her just as much as myself.

"What have you done?" I hissed at Emmett with a quick sideways glance as I passed him. As the pace of my staccato breathing increased, I settled my watering eyes back on Mr. Cullen. It was only when he stepped into my small apartment further that I noticed he wasn't alone.

The bile was rising in my throat as eventually Carlisle Cullen, his wife, Esme, and his beloved niece, Alice Cullen, were all standing in my apartment.

And they all had their eyes set on the little form in my arms.

The alarm bells were ringing louder than ever.

"What are you doing here?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Well, Ms. Swan," he said casually while he took a glance around the space that connected the open kitchen area with my living room. "Rumor has it that there is something you have that could be of interest to my family." The emotionless, all-business tone in his voice sent shivers down my spine. "You see, my son over here told me a little story the other day about a little incident in a certain mall here in town. It was quite boring and irrelevant, to be honest. That is, of course, until he mentioned your name and the fact that the little girl you had with you resembled my youngest son in certain aspects." He walked over to the sofa and sat down as if it was the most natural thing for him to be in my home. "You have anything to say about that?"

The audacity of this man rendered me speechless.

I was still shocked to see him and his fucking entourage here in my apartment, to be face to face with them for the first time in six years. When I thought that Emmett's presence had the effect on me to fall back into old patterns, it was nothing compared to how I felt in that moment. It felt like I was seventeen all over again.

But I couldn't let that happen.

"The only thing I have to say to you, Mr. Cullen, is get the fuck out of my home!" I sneered at him.

Someone snorted disdainfully, and when I turned my head, Alice strutted over to the sofa as well and sat down next to her uncle with ostentation. If there ever was a person that made me want to punch them repeatedly in the face simply for breathing, that person would be the spoiled brat that was Alice Cullen.

Esme remained in the same spot she had taken when she first set foot into my apartment. Her eyes rested on Josie for a little longer, but eventually, she followed her husband and Alice and sat down on my small sofa, too.

And then there they sat, looking utterly out of place and being as unpleasant and unwelcome as dirt smudges on a new canvas or blotches of tomato sauce on a new dress. They were like a stain seeped so deep into the fabric that no matter how often or how hard you tried to remove it, no matter how tiny or faded it may be, its remnants would linger forever.

"You may fool the others, precious Isabella, but you can't fool me."

"Oh, Isabella... I'm sorry, but this is not a good time. We have guests over... Edward keeps Tanya and Irina entertained..."

"How much do you want, hmm? What is your price? How much do I have to pay so you leave my son be?"

"Promise me, Alice! Promise me that you won't say a word to her."

"Fine, Edward, I won't say a word to your precious, little toy. But that will cost you."

"Anything. What do you want?"

"Hmm... I always had a thing for fast and expensive cars... A Porsche."

"Fine! Just... send me the details, and you'll get it... I have your word, though! Bella mustn't ever know."

"You are nothing but an insignificant little girl. You see, if you at least had the looks, you'd make a somewhat decent trophy wife to some old sap...but definitely not my son!"

The memories rained down on me in a series of punches straight to the gut, causing all air to leave my lungs once again. But this time, instead of panic, I felt something different.

Before any one of the intruders could react or mutter one single word, I was out of my apartment, down the hallway, up the stairs to the next floor and knocking on Angela and Ben's apartment door.

The latter opened the door after the third knock. "Hey B! We were just about to-" He stopped himself and furrowed his brow. "You okay?"

"No, I'm really not. I-I don't think we can have dinner tonight. I... could you please take care of Josie for a bit? I know it's forward, but I can't have her down there with me right now. I don't know what is going to happen, but I know it won't be pretty. Please, Ben, I promise I'll make it up to you!" The words left me in one, rushed string.

"What happened?" he asked worried but took Josie in his arms nonetheless.

"They are here...and I-" I started but he interrupted me.

"Say no more – I understand. But let me tell you this, if I don't get a 'Yo Ben, all's good and I kicked some serious ass' from you within thirty minutes, I'll call the chief!" I could tell that he was angry. He and Angela knew the whole story and joined the 'Anti-Cullen Front' as soon as I was done telling it.

I nodded, kissed my baby on her forehead and then went back down, taking several deep breaths and mentally braced myself for whatever was to come.

I slammed the door shut behind me after re-entering my apartment. All heads turned around to face me, but only one person spoke.

"You still haven't answered my question, Ms. Swan."

"And you still haven't left my apartment, Mr. Cullen!

It is on!

Yep, there is going to be more drama to come.

Thanks so much for reading. Share your thoughts and maybe leave me some love? lol

-Sue