Alright so here is the chapter that I wanted to write for a while. Hope that it is good because it's the longest chapter I've ever written in all of my stories. So, I shouldn't waste time letting you guys read this. So READ AND REVIEW.

Disclaimer = I don't own Twilight.

Chapter 24

A plan in motion

Eleazar's Point of View

The club parking lot was already packed at this hour. Considering it was close to midnight, my shock was easily contained. James must have done something quite large to get this many people. Parking my car in the only space available, I got out and looked around, seeing some men walk out of the club with large grins on their faces, some even putting their wedding rings back where they should be. How some of these men even got away with doing things of this sort made me absolutely sick. It was revolting to be in a relationship and go to places such as this. It was a false relationship, simple as that.

Walking into the club, I looked around to find men sitting everywhere, women dancing on their laps or handing them drinks. All of the men were smirking as they placed their hands on the women's hips and helped them move around them. It was absolutely revolting. There was even a man was using a small hand metal detector on the new men walking inside the club.

But what really caught my eye was the woman on stage, singing as the other men goggled at her beauty.

It was Bella, singing in a small silver V tank top and a short jeans skirt. Her singing was absolutely beautiful—it was as if her voice was heaven—but with the men looking at her… hungrily… it simply made me sick to my stomach. No one should have to be looked at that way, especially not a young nearly eighteen year old woman.

Just as I walked up to the security guard, a man with light brown short hair and dark eyes looked over at me before gazing over to his singer. He smirked so cruelly at her that it made me slightly clench my fists. But just as I was unclenching my fists, the metal detector went off and the man looked over at me. "Sir, you need to take off all electronic devices with a camera. What do you have in your pockets?" the security guard with the black dreads asked, scrutinizing me with narrowed eyes. Was someone already on my tail? This couldn't b e good…

"No need to be so hostile, Laurent," the man with blond hair said, walking over to us with his hands behind his back. Something told me that the man who had just interrupted Laurent had to be James. No one seemed that sinister… As the man stopped in front of us, he placed a hand on Laurent's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "You can just ask him to show you his phone and determine if it's a camera phone. No violence necessary."

"My phone is quite primitive," I said, taking it out of my pocket to show them the small Samsung flip phone. Laurent took it and looked it over; verifying every angle of it to make sure that it was safe. When he looked back at me and gave me my phone back, a small smile went to my face, knowing that this plan wasn't ruined already. "Does it come to the satisfaction of this club? I only came here to be entertained but never have I seen such security at such a place."

"We only make sure that the men here don't take pictures of the women and post them online. If that would happen, people could sue this place and we would be out of business. Considering the amount of people coming here, it would be a shame for that to happen," the man said, motioning with his hand towards the men, all in a state of apparent bliss.

A fake smile appeared on my face and, with a small nod, I said: "It would be quite a shame."

"My name is James. I'm the owner of this club. Tell me, what can I interest you today?" James asked, his smile making my skin crawl. It was quite interesting for him to come up to his clients and ask how they were doing. It wasn't something that was normally done… Maybe he was making sure that he would get the money they were offering. "We have many available women to satisfy your every need."

How could this man be so cruel? He took girls and forced them to act this way to satisfy horrible men's needs. James took girls from their lives and brought them here so that those girls could make money for him. How revolting… But if I wanted to get the information I needed and to talk to Bella, I needed to act as if this pleased me.

"Hm…" Looking around, seemingly interested in his offer, my eyes scanned the room for the girls. They all seemed so young, so innocent. But some of them had smiles on their faces, as if they liked this. James had converted them that badly… Half of the other girls seemed repulsed, which seemed to turn the men on even more. It disgusted me to no end. Tapping my finger on my chin to make the illusion even more real, I kept looking around but finally landed my eyes on Bella, still singing on the stage. "What about that girl?" I asked, pointing to Bella as she looked over at me, fear now making her way into her eyes as she saw me point at her. Was she up there just so she didn't have to please these men? Good girl…

James frowned ever so slightly but composed himself just in time to look at me and smile ever so slightly. "She's our singer. Bella's been bringing in more men lately since she's been on stage. But unfortunately, she's a complete klutz. You wouldn't want her. There are many other—"

"No… She… She fascinates me. I want to see what she has to offer." Looking over at James, he was a little sceptical but it was to be expected. Luckily, Janet had given me a wad of cash in case James seemed to act this way. Taking out the amount of cash out of my pocket, his eyes lit up like a small child at Christmas. It was so typical… He only wanted to make money. James would sacrifice anything for a simple wad of money at his disposal. "I'm willing to pay anything you ask," was my final answer, which seemed to have broken his hesitation.

"Well… I suppose she'll just have to shape up now, won't she?" James asked, smiling as he placed the money in the inside pocket of his coat. James placed a hand behind my back, making me want to remove it immediately, and motioned with his free hand to the rooms on the far side of the lobby. "Those are the private rooms. You can just ask my nephew Jacob in the DJ booth for the song you want during your… session… and I'll prepare Bella before bringing her over to your chamber," James explained before patting me once on the shoulder, flashing a cruel smile and made his way over to the stage just as Bella finished her song.

When looking over at Bella, she seemed to be in a state of desperate fear. It was something that I hadn't seen on a person's face in many years. The act alone made my heart clench and feel extreme sympathy for her. Soon, if things went according to plan, I could talk to her and try to free her as soon as possible.

Walking over to the booth, James' nephew seemed slightly horrified—probably because he was hiding his emotions very well. When opening the door to the booth, I looked over at him and closed the door behind me slowly, placing a smile on my face to try and work the façade.

"Hello young man. James tells me you are the one who arranges the music in the private rooms?" I asked, placing a hand on the table beside the door, looking over at the CD collection on the table.

"Are you the guy who wants to go with Bella, the singer you just saw?" Jacob asked and I nodded slightly, running my fingers over the CDs and looking at the titles. Tanya seemed to listen to these bands and so, they were familiar to me. "Look mister, I know that you're looking for a good time but Bella, she's—"

Just as he was about to continue that sentence, I grabbed the first CD on the stack of cases and 'accidentally' toppled over the stack. The cases scattered across the floor and sometimes opened the cases to splatter the CDs across the floor, making the cleanup longer. As James' nephew sighed and bent over to collect his CDs, I said: "Oh my, I'm so sorry. Let me help you clean up," and bent down to help him. As he reached for a CD, I grabbed Jacob's hand, which made him look me dead in the eyes. "Are there cameras in this booth?" Jacob shook his head and a small smile appeared on my face. "Good, then we can talk privately."

"Who are you?" Jacob asked, picking up the CDs slowly as he looked at me confused.

"My name is Eleazar and I'm a detective. I work with the police who are trying to get Bella back to her family," I responded, picking up half of the CDs as Jacob began putting the CDs back in the case. "But I need you to follow along and act as I tell you while we're in this booth. We can't let James figure out our plan. All of this is just an act to try and get to talk to her alone."

"It'll be hard for you to get past James' security. He might not have any cameras in the booth or in the private rooms—he tries to give the men 'privacy', the disgusting pig—but James isn't one to be fooled. He'll find out what you're up to soon enough," Jacob explained, standing up slowly with an expressionless face.

A fake smile appeared on my face as I stood up as well, placing the CDs back where they belonged. But when placing them back, I snuck my cell phone in front of the stack so that James wouldn't be aware of the act. It just seemed as though I was simply putting Jacob's collection back. Jacob looked down at it for a second before looking back up at me with an inquisitive glance.

"There's only one way to get Bella out of here and that's if we trace his location. When you go back to where he's hiding Bella, make sure to give her this phone. Dial the number before you hand her the phone so that she doesn't suspect what is happening. Have her call the Cullens and make sure that James isn't suspicious of what is going on. Now, act as if I asked you something incredible and you're not sure of the act," I said, trying to make our act all the more believable. Jacob did as he was told and looked away, seeming to hesitate. Getting a fifty dollar bill out of my pocket, I approached my head towards his ear and began whispering in it. "Her family wants her back. James might have ruined her chances of living again but they haven't given up on her. And they won't until she has returned to them. I intend to get her back to her family where she belongs. And, seeing as you seem to be unhappy with this life, maybe we can help you as well." Slipping the bill into Jacob's front shirt pocket, he looked down at it and placed a hand on his pocket, seeming to lose the 'hesitation' in his eyes. "The Cullen number is in the bill I just handed you. Put it in your pocket without James seeing what you're doing. We don't want him to know what is going on."

With all of these explanations, Jacob seemed to understand what was happening and nodded, moving his hands towards the DJ system. He lifted up a CD as an act to ask me if this was the right disc that I wanted and asked instead: "If this doesn't work and he finds out, you know that she will die right? He won't hesitate in killing her like the other girls…"

Nodding at him, my tone became melancholic, even if the smile was still plastered on my face. "I understand that, which is why, if he finds out, you'll have to get away from him as soon as you can," I explained, trying to sound confident. If James were to ever find out what we were up to, this plan could burst into flames.

Jacob nodded and placed the CD in the system. "It'll be hard. James has electric collars around our necks when we're at his house. If we try to escape, they'll go off and shock us so badly that we'll be knocked out. I tried once," Jacob explained, looking at his screen as he began putting the songs in the playlist for the room. Luckily, his mouth was hidden by the booth's edge so James couldn't find out what we were saying. Looking in the room, James was nowhere to be found, probably getting Bella ready for the 'session' he explained. Hopefully, he wasn't hurting her but that was doubtful. James seemed like the kind of person who loved to cause pain to others, even his own nephew.

"With the amount of money that I just offered James, try to get him to let Bella off the hook this once. Try to persuade him that you both don't need them this time," I explained, hoping that this plan would work. As of now, it felt as though it really wouldn't which frightened me terribly. This had to work… "Try anything to get him to keep those collars off. Tomorrow will be the third day that Bella was taken, so James shouldn't want to kill her for another five days, if I'm correct. If you can get all of that accomplished, then we'll have James in prison and both you and Bella free of his clutches." Jacob stood up and shook my hand, looking me straight in the eyes as if we had just done a good compromise with the song choices. But it was much more than such a state. It was fright mixed with hope and admiration. "Please trust me Jacob."

"I do… I just hope that you know what you're doing," Jacob explained just as he released my hand and I went towards the door to the booth.

"I do. I'll go and explain the plan to Bella but I promise you Jacob, nothing will happen to the both of you," were my final words before exiting the room and seeing James drag Bella unwillingly to the private room. He smiled cruelly at me while Bella struggled against him. She looked terrified. The poor girl... Hopefully, the explanation of my plan would lessen her fright. "I think I can handle it from here, James."

James nodded and tossed the girl to me, letting me grab her by her arm slightly roughly to keep up the pretence. I would have to apologize to Bella afterwards for this… "Well, you have a pleasant time now, sir," James said, seeming to glare at Bella before he walked away to consult with his other customers. When peering down at my watch, it read five to midnight. At best, I had maybe five to ten minutes to explain the whole plan.

Looking down at Bella, she was shaking in my hold. Her eyes plainly told me that she didn't want to be in this situation. Neither did I but it was the only way to talk to her alone and safely. Bringing her to the room, my grip lessened on her as we walked but Bella kept resisting. It was as if her fear overtook her as we walked over to the room, opened it and walked inside. The room was lavishly decorated, with a red heart couch and many flowers decorating the rooms. The smell of scented candles lit up the private room, illuminating a dim light. Even the music that Jacob had put in the room was playing dimly in the background. People interested in these kinds of activities to escape their marriages were pigs to me.

Looking down at Bella, I released my hold on her completely and she took a few hesitant steps away from me, shaking even more. Luckily, she was wearing waterproof mascara because a few tears began falling down her face. "Please… Please I can't do this… Please don't…" she begged, wrapping her arms around herself to keep herself together. She was such a brave girl to even try and attempt to reason with someone who apparently wanted to take advantage of her.

Shaking my head, I cupped her cheeks, which she recoiled at the touch. "Bella, you don't need to be afraid. Your family sent me to try and get you out of here."

At the mention of her family, Bella immediately tensed up and stared at me dumbfounded. This must be the complete opposite of what she was expecting to do in this room: talk about her family and her chances of escaping. "The… the Cullens sent you?" Bella asked shakily.

Nodding slowly, Bella seemed to slightly relax under my hands, sensing through my eyes that I wasn't going to hurt her. "The police have been trying to find you but they weren't able to find anything as of yet. But Edward and his siblings worked hard on trying to find information to help you. They found the number to the club and here's where I come in. My name is Eleazar and I'm here to help get you out of here," I explained, removing the part about my daughter causing all of this out of the explanation. Bella had enough worries to think of without this to worry about.

Bella shook her head sadly, my hands letting go of her slowly. "I shouldn't be freed… I don't know why they kept searching for me, after all that I did to them, but they shouldn't try to get me back. James will—"

"We're trying to act so that James doesn't find out what our plan is and doesn't hurt you or worse. The Cullens have been worried sick about you. I've talked to Jacob while James was bringing you here and he has agreed to help me get you out. By tomorrow, you should be back with your family without any problem, Bella. I promise you," I swore, taking her hand softly and just noticing the small bruise that was forming on her cheek. Another was already in bloom on her arm, where James had grabbed her. My gesture from before probably hadn't helped the case. Moving my hand slowly towards it, she recoiled as my hand went towards her skin but didn't fight me. When placing my hand on her cheek, she flinched slightly at the slight pain and a frown appeared on my face. "He won't hurt you ever again, not if all of this works out the way it should."

"Why have they been searching…? I'm nothing anymore… Nothing because of him…" she asked, mostly to herself but somehow, I felt obligated to answer.

"Because they cherish you and consider you their family. Carlisle has been a friend of mine for many years and, just looking at him, I knew that you were very important to him, to all of them. They wouldn't dare leave you behind like this, especially not to the hands of a brute and a psychopath such as James," I explained, removing my hand from her cheek slowly but never losing eye contact with her. Tears began streaming down her face once again and she looked away, obviously torn between believing my words and feeling the guilt that has been building inside of her for nearly a week now. Taking her hand again, I placed a finger under her chin and lifted it softly so that she could look at me. "I promise you Bella that by no later tomorrow, you will be safe and back with your family."

Bella seemed to be having a hard time believing me but she nodded slowly, lying ever so slightly to amuse me. She had a hard time believing that she was going to be out of the hellhole that she has been in for the past few days. But we will get her back. Mark my words…

As I explained to her the plan, she fidgeted with her hands ever so slightly. We might only have had a few minutes left to explain but it was better than none. And she was cooperating. With everything that happened, I was certain that she would have rejected the idea but she seemed to go along with it. Every time I mentioned the Cullens, she tensed a little, probably still remembering the pain that James forced her to cause them. But she shouldn't feel guilty. He had manipulated her into doing that; she hadn't wanted to do it. There was a difference. But, considering that she kept tensing at their names, I left out the part where Jacob was going to let her talk to them. It would be best if Jacob simply told her he had a phone call and let things unfold from there. But he had to make sure that she kept talking. It wouldn't work if Bella simply cut the phone line in the middle of the conversation.

But when we were done with the explanation, she cried a few tears and sobbed a little but it was better than I had expected her to act. But, sadly, it was good that she was shedding tears. It made it more believable that she had hated her experience in this room rather than wept over her soon freedom. I wrapped my arms around her soon after the explanation and patted her hair, trying to help her sobbing. When hugging her, I tried to get her scent on me in case James was suspicious of my behaviour afterwards. But, all in all, it was a comforting gesture that I was offering Bella, nothing else.

"I promise you Bella that you won't live in this hell hole any longer. We'll get you out and you can go back to your family soon. I promise you…" I swore and she nodded against my chest, trying to compose herself with little success.

After a few seconds, she stopped sobbing and wiped the tears from her eyes, looking up at me and simply stared in sadness. Obviously, she had a feeling that the Cullens would not accept her if she returned. But they would.

Suddenly, something occurred to me. There was one thing that I was forgetting. "There's one more thing that I have to give and tell you. It's from Edward. He wanted me to give you something if I found you," I said, beginning to take out the locket from my pocket. When she saw it, her eyes never looked away from it.

Tears began forming in her eyes but they never fell this time. "He… He wants me to have this…?" she asked, clearly shocked to have something as beautiful as this given to her at this time, especially by Edward Cullen. Janet had explained to me that James had forced Bella to break up with Edward so that James could break Bella to pieces. James wanted to tear Bella as far away from the Cullens as possible and, looking in Bella's eyes now, it looked like he had succeeded… "But… but why…?"

"Because he wants you to know that this locket is the only thing that will remind you that the Cullens are still your family and that you are still one of them. He wanted me to tell you that he doesn't care what James made you do or told you to do or tell you to tell them. Edward really doesn't care about any of that. He says that he loves you and that he always will. He also wanted me to tell you that he would bring you home but I believe that I have made that abundantly clear enough," I said, eyeing her the entire time. When finished with the speech, I placed the locket in her shaking hand and looked at her reaction.

Bella seemed absolutely speechless. It was as if she had lost the entire will to speak anymore. With everything that James made her do, to hear a message from Edward saying that he loves her… it would be a shock to anyone. In Bella's eyes, it showed that she believed that she had lost every single member of her new family, even her true love. But that was untrue. Edward still loved her and wanted her. When Bella opened the locket, it seemed as though her heart stopped beating and the tears, this time, fell from her eyes. She was looking at the picture of the two of them together, smiling like there were no fears in the world. Obviously, this picture had seemed to pain and relieve her at the same time. She wanted to go back to that but felt as if she couldn't, that it was too far away for her to reach now.

But it wasn't. There was still hope. Bella simply had to believe that again.

Bella looked up at me and nodded slowly, wiping the tears away and putting the locket away in her bikini, keeping it close to her heart as she could and seeming to hope that James wouldn't find and steal it away from her. "Thank you…" was her only answer.

Nodding slowly to her, I placed a hand on her shoulder and looked back at the door. "We have to go back… Do you think you can make it for the rest of the night?" Bella nodded slowly and took in a deep breath. "Alright then, we'll head out and I will return to the Cullens," Another short breath from her at the sound of the name. Bella had stopped retorting about her escape but she still felt horrible guilt for her actions, making her unsure of the Cullens' actions. How did I know? It showed in her actions, "and I will tell them about what happened tonight. The police will want to try and find you as soon as possible."

Bella nodded and I began making my way towards the door but she grabbed my wrist lightly. Looking back at her, Bella looked so melancholic that it nearly tore my heart apart to see her this way. "Please… Please make sure that they don't get hurt… I couldn't bear it if anything happened to them," Bella pleaded, looking me deep in the eyes. "I don't know what will happen from now on but I don't want the Cullens to get hurt for my actions… Please, protect them."

That one plea made me determined to get her back without any harm coming to anyone. She was so willing to put her life above anyone else's that it made me even more determined to end this entire torment of hers. Nodding to her, I placed a hand on hers and looked back in her eyes. "I will, don't you worry Bella. Everything is going to be just fine," I swore, smiling softly at her and she nodded slowly, letting go of me.

Turning around, my mind wandered to the love I felt for my wife Carmen and the bliss came to my eyes. A small blissful smile came to my face and I stepped out, seeing James speaking to some of his clients. Bella stepped out in a rush, fast-walking over to the stage so that she could try and compose herself for the men wanting to hear her sing. If things worked out, this would be the last night that she had to satisfy men this way ever again…

James walked over to me and, when seeing my hopefully believable blissful expression, he smirked and crossed his arms across his chest. "You seem quite happy, sir," he said with that cruel smile of his. "Was it to your liking?

"At first, she was reluctant but, when she discovered who was in charge here, she changed and it was very satisfactory. That Bella is quite the keeper." Just speaking the words made me want to throw up. All men who acted this way disgusted me… I was even beginning to disgust myself with this fake acting.

James nodded and smiled. "I believe that I might just let the men take her from time to time…" he retorted slowly, beginning to think to himself. I just hoped that he wouldn't use her tonight…

"Well, you do what you will. But thank you for letting me take her tonight. It was quite a night to remember…" I said and extending my hand. Letting him shake it with good faith, all my heart felt was to hurt this man for hurting so many innocent women, even to the point of death. "Thank you and you might see me again soon," was my last 'happy' remark before James let go and nodded with a grin. My feet brought me out of the club and went towards my car, my mind still wanting to kill this man on the spot. But I had to hold myself together until I was back at the Cullen house and Janet could find this man where he lived.

Getting in my car, I looked at the time and saw that it was nearing twelve thirty in the morning. It was a five hour drive back to Forks and it was getting very late. I would have to stop for the night to get my strength back to drive early in the morning.

Driving over to the nearest motel, I called Janet and explained to her the short version of the situation: met Bella and told her that we were going to get her back to the Cullens. It was a very short version of it but I wanted to explain things better in person. It only seemed right. Janet agreed to the short version and was even gladder when I told her that she would get the entire version tomorrow morning when I would come back to Forks.

Hanging up the phone, I went to my motel room and went straight to bed, getting ready for what was to come tomorrow: preparing Bella's escape.

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Mortal-paralight20

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