Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight. I just own this crazy, dramatic love story.
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Okay, so what the heck happened to Bella? We're about to find out. Many thanks to those of you putting me alerts and for the reviews. LOVE reviews – writers like feedback, especially warm and fuzzy ones.
Chapter 27 – Tight Situations
BPOV
A throbbing pain shot through the back of my neck as I slowly opened my eyes; however, I saw nothing but darkness around me. Beside me I heard a rustling sound, almost as if some kind of plastic bag was being opened. My back was leaning against a cold wall, and when I tried to move my legs, I could feel my ankles were tied together.
What the hell happened to me? My stomach growled, reminding me it must have been awhile since I'd eaten anything, but given my whereabouts, I'd doubt if I was able to fill my stomach anytime soon. Thinking back to the last thing I remembered, my heart started beating quickly when I vaguely recalled James showing me photographs of various dead people; all of which he blamed on Edward. Suddenly, someone touched me on my shoulder. I couldn't move quickly like I wanted; hell, I could hardly move at all, finding out that my hands were tied up as well.
"Open up, lady. Boss man says you need to eat something."
I still couldn't see anything in this darkness, but I didn't know if that was because it actually was dark, or something was over my eyes. I didn't feel anything over them at the moment, but I was pretty numb all over, which made me guess I'd been sitting in this position for awhile.
I opened my mouth to tell him to go fuck himself even though I was starving, but no words came out. They must've drugged me with something strong because I currently had no use of my vocal cords. Instead, something was shoved in my mouth which almost made me gag on the spot. The sweet taste of creamy preservatives warmed my taste buds as some kind of snack cake started to melt in my mouth. At least it wasn't something I hated like those little cream filled wafer snacks.
The man stuffed in another bite and started speaking to me as I chewed. "About time you woke up. Boss was getting worried that I had given you too much chloroform. I told him I had researched it enough to know what I was doing, but he thinks I'm just stupid."
Chloroform. That's why my memory was foggy, and my head was killing me. My mind gradually started remembering what happened as the man told me to open up again for another bite. The week was fuzzy, but I sure as hell recalled the hot sex with Edward - in my office. And it was wonderful. Why the fuck can't I get him out of my system?
He still had an attitude when he first arrived in my office which led me to believe he was still pissed at my alias, which is quite minimal to what his reaction will actually be when he finds out I'm throwing him in jail. If there was any way out for Edward, I wished I could find it. We had finally said those three little words to each other and now, after everything he's done, he wanted to get out of the business – for me. He was willing to give up the empire he'd established because of our relationship, and in the condition I'm in right now, it'd be a dream come true.
Ugh. Then the red headed bitch came into view and the god forsaken trench coat she wore. His hands tugging on her while she kissed him before I barged in made me want to pull each strand of her hair out one by one. There was a dinner too; a business dinner where Edward and I bantered back and forth until I stupidly poured my heart out. I was such an idiot.
Man, I'd fucked up so many things in this assignment. I let my emotions rule too much and now, I've really got myself in a bad situation. How am I going to get out of this one?
My butt was sore from sitting in this position; my hands and feet feeling the pain too as I began to feel the rope burns on both of them. I tried to clear my throat which was a little difficult, but I could feel the sound coming back.
"You had enough yet? I got to save the last pack for the other . . . visitors. For some reason, boss man likes you the best, so I was supposed to give you as much as you wanted." I nodded, and the man started to get up, but instead he got right up next to my ear and whispered. "He's treating you mighty special, because he has big plans for you. You'd better eat as much as you can to keep up your strength, if you know what I mean." The breath on this man was horrid and it was all I could do not to throw up all over him.
Holding my breath in as much as I could, I whispered back to him. What came out was a deep, raspy question as my voice was still trying to find its way back to normal.
"Who's your boss?"
It wasn't like I didn't know, but I needed confirmation. James showed me something before I was grabbed from behind but I couldn't remember exactly what it was. It infuriated me, but I knew I'd think of it sooner or later.
"You'll find out in due time, my dear." The nasty man stood up, assumingly taking the other snack packages with him, his footsteps diminished as he got further away.
If that filthy ass James thought he was going to have his way with me, he's got another thing coming. Also, if I had known I was given most of the food, I wouldn't have eaten so many of them. However, with my voice just returning, I couldn't have told him I was full.
So there were others held hostage as well. Interesting. I knew I could get out of these ropes, but I needed to try and keep my food down. I had no idea how long I was unconscious, so I needed the energy to get up before the dizziness would set in my body.
Screaming could be heard right outside the room where I was being held, and it didn't sound pretty. A man with a southern drawl shouted something about wanting to talk to the man in charge, and another voice told him to shut the fuck up. I knew I couldn't wait too long to get out of these rope ties, but I needed to get my bearings first. Feeling started coming back as I moved my body around, falling to my left side as I wriggled around a little. It was then that I felt the blindfold around my head.
What the hell did James want me for? I mean, I knew he was a little loony in college, but this? This was a whole new level of madness. It sounded like he had a few of us hostage, but for what reason? My head started pounding as I began to stress out about this. What if I couldn't get out of this? I had a lot of decisions to make, and I hadn't had a chance to really think about any of them. Maybe God had other plans for me; things looked a little bleak and while I usually was a strong person, my emotions started getting the best of me.
As I laid there for a minute, the voices got louder as more shouting ensued. There was a loud noise that sounded like someone being thrown against a wall and then something crashing down on another body as the cursing got louder and louder. Furniture was being smashed, and a gunshot rang out, followed by a blood curdling scream.
I pushed the side of my head against the floor, forcing the blindfold off my face, revealing the shithole where I was being held. Ugh. The floor was riddled with food wrappers and fast food cups, which seemed to have gathered the attention of every cockroach in Florida. Not that it would have taken much anyway. Those nasty, brown insects thrived in this state.
Looking down at myself, I still wore the once beautiful dress Alice had bought me for the business dinner which was now filthy and torn on the side. She was totally going to kill me.
Part of my FBI training included getting out of the tightest situations, especially those where you were hogtied. I'd be out of these ropes in no time. I brought my legs up toward my hands, sticking my stiletto heel up and in through the tight knot around my wrists. As I almost had it undone, the door busted in, and a man came running at me. Immediately, I acted like I had just fallen over, still drugged out and delirious.
"Get up now, girl. We're moving again." The man yelled at me, yanking me up under my arm, instantly making me lightheaded. I hobbled up to me feet as the man let go of me to walk out the door. While he was turned around, my tied hands reached up over his head, tightening around his neck as quick as I could. The man reached up to grab my arms, tried to pull me over his shoulder, but I had a pretty firm grip which made him gag profusely. My knuckles pushed up right under his Adams apple, cutting off all his oxygen, making him collapse instantly. One down, many to go.
I searched his pockets for a knife or something sharp while pushing the door closed, because I didn't want anyone else barging in here before I got untied. There was nothing in his pockets, but I quickly pulled up his pants leg knowing the man had to be armed somewhere. Sure enough, he had a small hunting knife in a holster around his ankle, so I snatched it, managing to put the knife sharp edge up between my legs and cutting through the rope on my hands.
As I was getting up, I realized I had to dispose of the dead man, so for the time being, I pushed his body into the empty closet then shut the door behind me.
There were more voices in the hallway which made me move myself behind the door in case anyone else decided to barge in again. I was halfway through slicing apart the ankle ties, when I heard someone enter through the front door of the house. Keys were thrown onto some sort of surface as voices were being raised, and I assumed someone was getting an ass chewing about the ruckus which just occurred.
Still lying on the floor, I put my head down near the door so I could hear what they were saying.
"Boss, he was out like a light one minute, then the next thing I know, my feet are thrown out from under me, and I came crashing down hard on my right side. The fucker came toward me and sat on my chest so hard that I couldn't get any air. I didn't have any choice but to shoot the prick!" The man's voice resonated toward the back of the tin shack where we were being held, and then I heard the all too familiar voice speak in return.
"Listen, I told you no one was to be shot unless I did the shooting. Doesn't anybody fucking listen to me anymore?" James' voice was loud, and I pictured him sticking his finger in his chest as he yelled at him. "Dammit, how bad is it? Is he conscious, or do I have to go and throw him to the fish in the lake out back?"
A different voice spoke this time. "I made it there in time before Bradley here began to start shooting again. I took the gun away from him when I heard it go off. The man is going in and out of consciousness I think. His wound isn't too bad unless we let it go for a long time without it being checked."
While the talking was going on, I decided to quietly sneak in on the guy to check on him. Peering out in the hallway, I saw that the table was not in my line of sight which meant I could slither over to the other room without getting seen.
When I approached the room, the smell of blood overtook my senses which almost made me gag. I put my hand over my mouth and ran over to the corner where a man about my age was sitting against the wall, sweat dripping off his face, making his blonde wavy hair wet and stringy.
I still had the knife with me, so I hurriedly took it out, cutting off part of the man's shirt to make a tourniquet for his leg. Then I cut off the section of his jeans where the hole appeared from the bullet to examine his wound. The good news was it went straight through, so nothing was lodged there to create any more infection. However, he needed treatment soon, or it would get gangrene.
The man was handsome with his squared off jaw and nice complexion but he was very pale from the blood loss. When I took the scrap material from his shirt and started to tie it above the bullet wound, he started to wake up.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he said through closed teeth, so low I hardly heard him. The man's eyes were barely opened as his jaw tightened, grimacing through his obvious pain.
"I'm trying to stop the blood. Don't talk; you'll waste your energy. This will help you, but you have to stay still. How many men are we dealing with?" His breathing started to pick up as he tried to push himself upright, realizing I wasn't the enemy here.
"I've counted six different men so far. Who are you anyway? You look familiar, but I don't know why." The man spoke with a southern accent, but the weakness in his voice was prevalent.
"My name is Bella, and I'm an FBI agent. Listen, I don't have much time because they think I'm still knocked out, so we need to form a plan. Do you think you can make a run for help if I can stall these guys long enough?" I took out the knife and began to cut the ropes off his ankles, then his wrists which were tied behind his back.
"Yeah, it's nothing I haven't had before. Thanks for the makeshift tourniquet. That'll help. Do you know who these idiots are and what they want with us? I don't recognize any of them, and they won't give me a straight answer."
Silently, I wondered who the hell this man was and why he thought he knew me. His face wasn't familiar, neither was his name. "I know who their boss is, but I'm not sure what they're up to. I might need you to take care of a couple of them while I distract the others. The keys are on the kitchen table, so I'm counting on you to rescue me later. Got it?" The blonde man looked at me with a defeated expression; I could tell he didn't think I'd make it out of here alive. "I need you to remember this badge number when I give it to you, okay?" The man's head tilted down a little, which was a sign he was fading fast, so he really needed to get out of here. "Call Charlie Swan, badge number 995480. He's with the FBI, and he can rescue me. How many hostages are here?"
"I think there's one other person here besides you. They haven't made a sound though, so I'm doubtful about their state of mind. The person isn't dead yet because one man goes in and feeds them. I'll do my best to get you out. Listen, thank you for helping me, and I promise I'll be back as soon as I can."
Suddenly, the voices got louder in the kitchen. "I can't believe I hired a bunch of fucking imbeciles. Why can't any of you do anything right? I should just shoot every fucking one of you right now. Did you even think how much ransom we could get for him? He's worth more to us alive than dead, so he'd better not bleed to death!"
I heard the front door slam shut and James' voice dying out which made me realize now was as good as time as any.
I suddenly realized I didn't get the man's name. "Hey, . . . uh, I don't know your name."
"Jasper. My name's Jasper Whitlock."
"Looks like an opportunity just arose, Jasper. James is their boss, and he just went outside. That leaves five now, so I'm going to fake an episode to distract them. Hopefully, you won't have to deal with anyone but James who is a real psycho by the way. Sounds like he doesn't want you dead, so if you can disable him somehow, and make a run for it, I'll do my best to keep the idiots busy."
Jasper took my hand in his. "Bella, don't worry; I'll be back with reinforcements."
I kept looking back at the door, making sure we were not being watched. "I know you will. Oh, I forgot. Take the knife. You're going to need it."
"Wait, what about you? Do you have another weapon?" Jasper started looking a little better which made me have a little hope for him.
"No, I'm fine. You just need to get out of here. Good luck!"
I peeked out the door and saw a few of the men huddled together like they were hatching a plan of their own. Hmm. Maybe they were tired of being call useless and fucking idiots. Well, Bella, I think it's about time to start being a little manipulative myself.
Sneaking back to my room, I pulled the dead body out of the closet so it was placed right in front of me as I sat in the corner. Afterwards, I tied the rope snugly around my hands and feet, but not so tight I couldn't get out of them later. The man had only been dead for a few minutes, but it was long enough for no one to be able to revive him. However, they didn't know that.
I positioned myself on top of the man, and then let out a terrifying scream. It was mere seconds that all the men ran into my room, hovering over me while I tried to press on the man's chest as if to give him CPR.
"I don't know what happened! He just grabbed his chest and fell over. He was being really nice to me, offering me some food and a drink of water when suddenly he just grabbed at his chest, gasping for air!"
All the men just stared at me, and finally one of them pulled up the dead man's head as if to give him room to breathe. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jasper sneak out of his room towards the kitchen, and I silently prayed he made it out the door without James seeing him. I didn't know where James was, but I hoped I could save one innocent life today.
"Get off him, lady, and let me work on him!" One of the men shoved me off the dead man, and I fell on my side, feigning pain.
"Owwwww!" I yelled out, but they weren't paying any attention to me as they were busy beating on the guy's chest.
"C'mon, Rodney. Breathe, dammit. You're going to be fine." One man took over sitting on his chest while one was at his head, and another took his feet, raising them high.
"What are you raising his feet up for? That's not going to help anything, you idiot."
"No, I saw once on The Doctors that raising your feet helps circulate blood flow."
"He's obviously had a heart attack you fool, that's not going to help anything!" The man who was currently beating on the dead man's chest actually said something halfway intelligent, despite the fact he was pounding on someone he had yet to check the pulse of.
I was hoping by now Jasper had gotten away. I hadn't heard any gunshots, so that was a good sign. With all the commotion and yelling, I didn't hear a car drive away, making me curious of his status.
One of the other men spoke up. "Turn him over; he's getting blue in the face. Maybe he choked on something. Ralph, sit him up and do the Heimlich thingy on him."
The dead man wasn't skinny; therefore it took three of them to turn him over while the other two watched in dismay. Then one of them got behind him and started giving him the Heimlich while we all sat and watched.
Jasper should have ample enough time by now to escape. One of the men rose up and turned toward the door when I spoke up. He was a short, stout man who reminded me of Chef Boy R Dee for some reason. He had this grayish moustache and was definitely the older one of the bunch. "Where are you going? He's dying and you're leaving? What's wrong with you?" Shit, I didn't want Jasper to deal with any more people than he needed to, so I had to stall him.
"The cell phones don't work in here which means I have to go outside to call the boss. He went to get supplies down the road. Shit! He's not going to be happy about this. We're in so much trouble." He looked at his co-horts as he spoke, but they just ignored him as they continued to work on the dead guy.
"If you're referring to James, the man who just yelled at you guys for ten minutes calling you all idiots and imbeciles, then yes, you're right. He won't be happy about this. You know what I would do? I wouldn't call him. Why do you all let him treat you like that? He sounds like a real prick."
The chubby man looked surprised I heard their conversation earlier. "He is a prick, but there's nothing much we can do. He's paying us to do all his dirty work, but we need the money. Once he sees Rodney dead, he's probably going to kill us on the spot. Maybe even you too."
My eyebrows raised as the severity of James realm of terror sunk in to me. At that moment, I suddenly remembered the pictures he showed me when I was kidnapped. Dead people. A couple of them I had seen through the newswire service and also through Charlie. James had said it was Edward who had killed them, but why would he say that? Better yet, why did he have to tell me? I had to figure out the James/Edward connection before things got more out of hand than they already were.
He desperately needed to be stopped. "Ever think of getting back at him? You know, a little retribution, perhaps?"
The man huffed as he shuffled closer to me. "All the time. None of us here have big enough balls to do it. He's got more power than you think, lady. He'll have us killed in a heartbeat."
With that being said, he turned on his heels and walked out of the room. Finally the men felt for a pulse, and deciding he was pretty much dead, stopped reviving him. I hunkered back down in my corner, thinking silently to myself that dealing with James wasn't going to be as easy as I thought.
. . .
EPOV
"Okay, Alice. Let's go over this one more time. What letter did you think was next?" I asked, my hands running through my hair for the fiftieth time since we returned.
The car we had chased around Miami earlier had been going so fast, neither I nor Alice caught the license plate number. Truth be told, we were more worried about catching up to them than writing the number down. As I paced back and forth, I kept trying to remember the damn order of the letters and numbers that I didn't hear Alice speaking.
"What do you think, Edward?" Alice looked as worn out as I did, with her hair all disheveled, her high heels now sitting on the floor next to the chair and dark circles slowly appearing below her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Alice. I didn't hear a word you said. What was that?"
She yawned for a few seconds before she spoke. "I said we might as well call it a day. We're no good to Marie half awake. Besides, we need our rest so we can have a clearer head tomorrow. Maybe we'll remember the numbers better then."
"No, I can't sleep. You go ahead home." We came straight back to the office instead of my house in case that fucker James had bugged it or something. Alice walked lazily over to the nearest couch in Emmett's office, plopping herself down.
"Edward, you have to get some sleep. Tomorrow is another day and you'll be able to focus better. I'm totally maxed out; my brain is on overdrive with all the information you just gave me about your past; it's giving me a migraine."
Naturally, Alice had lots of questions about what the hell went on this afternoon with Bella getting kidnapped right in front of our eyes. She couldn't believe someone would just chloroform a person in broad daylight, but I'd seen it done more times than I could count. Unfortunately, I even carried out a couple of those orders myself.
Filling Alice in on Jimmy, my mother, Jasper and others involved in my life made for a fitting conversation to say the least. I could tell she was trying not to be judgmental about the whole thing, but her curiosity was winning out. She had questions about my childhood, why I hung out with lowlife when I had a bright future ahead of me, and why Jimmy was so hell bent on making my life so miserable. I couldn't tell Alice about our drug business; one less person mixed up in this whole mess the better. That's another reason why I couldn't go to my house; Alice could very well be the next person to be pinpointed.
"There's got to be something we missed. What about the guy driving the black sedan? Did you notice any weird piercings, tattoos, anything like that? If we can't remember the license plate number, we could try to locate a marking of some sort on him."
The clock on the wall said it was two thirty in the morning. No phone call or anything from Jimmy which I knew couldn't be a good thing. All kinds of bad thoughts passed through my head. Would I be receiving a call telling me Jasper and Bella were dead? My God, what have I done?
Lord, I know I don't talk to you very much; well, actually not at all, so I'm going to try and make up for lost time here. Please, please let them come home safely, Lord. I promise I'll never do another bad thing in my life ever again. Bella's a great woman, and she doesn't deserve this; if you need to take someone, take me please. I know I'm not the best substitute, however; I could do all your errands for you. Just bring them home safely. Amen.
I wondered silently why God would listen to me, but as I've heard by many televangelists, He's supposed to forgive us our sins. Maybe that would include someone as bad as me too. Throwing myself on the other couch, I took a look over at Alice who was sound asleep. She had a rough night as well; her best friend and co-worker was kidnapped right before her eyes, and I was positive she hadn't seen anything like it before. She seemed quite helpless just like I did.
While I lay there, reality hit me like a ton of bricks. My eyes shut tightly, and suddenly warm tears trickled down my face. I hadn't allowed myself to cry since the night my mother died, making me fully comprehend the extent of my dire situation. Bella was gone, possibly beaten profusely all because of me. She had nothing at all to do with this like I previously thought. All this time I had her pegged as someone who was dead set on helping that scumbag get revenge on me when that wasn't the case at all.
I should've realized her feelings were honest and sincere when the whole Victoria debacle went down a couple days ago. The expression on her face when she walked in on us wasn't one of deviousness, but of sheer shock. I totally hadn't planned for any of it to happen; hell, Victoria had never come to my office before. Ever. Come to think of it, it made me curious as hell to her real motives. When Bella took off down the hall, my first instincts were to run after her; not once did I ever think of hurting her any more than I just did. The tears in her eyes conveyed to me I was a complete fool.
She was a victim in this as well – and I needed to find her. My heartbeat sped up as I thought to how Bella could be suffering in the hands of Jimmy's hired hands right now. I swear, as God as my witness, I would follow him to the ends of the earth, hunting him down until my dying day.
Wiping my eyes with my shirt sleeve, I raised up, ready more than ever to find her and bring her back home where she belonged. If we make a go of this, whatever this was, then I would be her knight in shining armor and ride that damn white horse to rescue my damsel in distress. As corny as my thoughts were, my feelings were stronger than ever. I wanted this. I wanted her; and the more I thought about it there was nothing else in the world I wanted more.
My tired feet touched the floor as my left hand ran through my hair once again. The ache in my right hand had nothing on the ache I had in my heart right now. I would have to live with it until I could get a handle on Bella's location; saving her from the pain she might be currently enduring.
Pinching the bridge of my nose helped me focus for a moment. Maybe it was time to call in some reinforcements. Bella was going to need support not only from me, but also her family.
I remember her briefly talking about her parents; hopefully, I could somehow contact them without letting them know her predicament. Would she have tried to reach out to her father? She talked about him quite frequently which led me to believe they were very close.
Grabbing the keys off my desk, I found the master and ran down the hallway to Bella's office. She had to have some personal files on her desktop computer which could lead me to her closest relatives. Putting the key in the lock, I twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open, hearing it smash against the wall with its force. While her computer was booting up, I pulled open her file drawer which she thankfully forgot to lock. I rummaged through it with one hand, finding nothing of importance when her password screen appeared on the screen. Assuming that would happen, I picked up the phone to call the head of our IT department knowing that he'd be pissed as hell to hear from me in the middle of the night. I really didn't care because I paid his damn salary, so he would do whatever I told him to do; especially in an emergency like this.
When he picked up the phone, I halfway told him the truth, filling him in on "Marie's" sudden departure and needing her important files right away. Luckily, he could access our mainframe from his house which is why I hired him in the first place. In a matter of minutes, he had me patched through; bypassing every password she had in every one of her programs. I hung up after apologizing to him and went to work through all Bella's contacts, email and otherwise.
After searching for about an hour, I gave up. Nothing in this computer had anything personal in it, which was highly strange. Doesn't everyone send some kind of personal email to friends or family every now and then? She had to have another computer somewhere, so I started exploring every inch of her office. Oddly enough, everything was in its place; no laptops, no rolodex, nothing to verify her background or relatives in any way. Hell, I even looked under the couch and between the cushions, not even finding a damn penny.
Another thought came to me. The only other place I was going to find anything personal on Bella was her apartment. I hated to have to break in there, but I really didn't have an alternative at the moment.
Snatching a notepad, I slowly scrawled out a short note to Alice letting her know where I was going. Being wounded in your writing hand was quite a disadvantage. Running out of Bella's office, I threw the notepad on Alice's desk and took off to her condo.
I arrived in record time and buzzed Raffi, my bodyguard who was still guarding her neighbor's apartment to come down and let me in the locked door. He wasn't thrilled either; apparently he'd been sleeping on the couch when I woke his sorry ass up.
"You're supposed to be guarding the door anyway, asshole." I firmly stated as he grumpily let me in the door.
"I can't stay awake twenty-four hours a day, boss. Besides, I've gotten kinda cozy with her. She's really a nice woman and after standing guard protecting her over the past couple of weeks, we've gotten to know each other a little better – if you know what I mean." Raffi had a grin on his face the size of Texas, winking at me in the process.
I knew exactly what he was talking about. Bella meant the world to me, especially now since the thought of losing her scared the living shit out of me. It just made me more determined to find out some information in her apartment to locate her family and friends in case something happened to her.
We got off the elevator, and I took out my box which contained my lock picks. I had to admit I'd gotten pretty good at gaining entrance to any door of my choosing over the years. Bella's door should be a cinch. Raffi stood guard while I examined the lock, then chose the specific pick to do the job. I was in her condo in less than four seconds, a personal best.
"Nice job, boss." Raffi whispered while patting me on the back.
"Thanks. I got it from here. Go back to your girl." I shook his hand and proceeded to go into the apartment, flicking on the light switch.
"No problem. If you need anything, just come and get me. I owe you one."
"Got it."
It seemed like ages since I'd been in her condo and looking around the living room made it seem all too real she's not coming back anytime soon. That wouldn't be the case if I could help it. Her scent was everywhere giving me a sinking feeling. I missed the hell out of her, which was only going to make me more determined to find her. Her laptop lay on her coffee table which was great, but I didn't have my IT guy here to help me get around her password. She had to have some other things laying around here with someone's phone number on it.
Everyone sticks pictures and shit on their refrigerator, so I walked over to the kitchen to check it out. Unfortunately, there wasn't a damn thing on it. Come to think of it, the whole condo was pretty bare with no personal pictures or sentimental mementos anywhere.
Out of curiosity, I decided to open up the refrigerator, so I pulled the door open. Damn! It resembled the apartment to a tee. She barely had anything in there to eat, let alone live on. All I saw was some condiments, a couple yogurts, a carton of leftover Chinese food, and about five liters of ginger ale. Man, does this girl ever eat? Looking in the pantry, she had some of canned food but mainly saltines. I remembered Alice telling me she had the flu, which explained the ginger ale and crackers.
I figured I would snack on them while snooping, so I pulled them out, unwrapping and carrying them around the apartment with me while I kept looking for some phone numbers. While I walked around munching on her crackers, I thought back to the first time we had sex. She was so hot that night, and it took every ounce of restraint I had not to take her in the hallway. I had to get her back.
Climbing the stairs, I reached her bedroom, noticing how tidy it was as well but didn't dwell on it. I finally spotted a picture on her nightstand of her and an older man, which I assumed was her father. They seemed happy, hugging each other in front of some building I didn't recognize. Opening up her closet door, I noticed she still had clothes hanging in it, so that was a good sign. Suddenly, her home phone rung, but I waited to see who was calling to in case if it was anyone from her family. I continued my snooping, picking up another photo on her dresser.
This one was a group picture of police officers standing in front of the White House. Well, that was certainly interesting. Staring for a minute, my eyes focused on the short girl in the front row with long brown hair, when I heard a voice over her machine speak out.
"Bells, you there? Listen, we got him. I can't believe it, but we finally have Emmett Cullen in custody, baby. It's all because of you, sweetheart. You've done an excellent job, and I know we have one more to go. We're so close and then you can come back home and take that much needed break . . ."
What the fuck? The pieces started falling into place quickly. Her reluctance to speak about her past, her fighting skills, knowing we were being followed that night. It all made sense. All this time I thought she was fucking Jimmy when actually she was after me to throw my ass in jail.
Not thinking clearly, I grabbed the phone as quick as I could before he hung up.
"Mr. Swan? You need to get to Miami as soon as possible. Your daughter's been kidnapped."
I hung up the phone as fast as I picked it up. No more words would come out of my mouth, and I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. Darting to the bathroom, I bent my head over the trashcan getting ready to throw up the contents in my stomach when something caught my eye.
Swallowing very slowly, I cautiously picked up the trashcan, fishing out the small white stick sitting on top of some used tissues and cotton balls. Picking it up, I could do nothing but stare at the positive sign glaring me in the face.
This changes everything.
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A/N: Well, most of you guessed right about Bella being pregnant. I couldn't resist; it makes the story that more juicy. It also changes Edward's attitude as well because he's going to be a daddy. I wonder how he'll feel about that? Let me know if you want to guess! Reviews are awesome and make me do a happy dance.
