I'm not going to say anything yet. This chapter needs to be read, I think, before I answer questions. So here goes :)

"Hello loneliness." -The Everly Brothers, of course


CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

As soon as I numbly assure Agents Weiss and Fields that I don't know Renee and Bella's whereabouts—as soon as they leave me with a vaguely threatening goodbye—I leave work. I don't even tell anyone where I'm going.

I just leave and drive all the way to Bella's house, faster than I ever have before.

When I get there, I don't really know what I expect. I know what I hope for. I hope that Carmen will greet me and Bella will be up in her room or by the pool, drinking Coca-Cola out of a glass bottle and pretending to live in a different time. I hope that this is all some kind of mistake or joke or something. Anything.

But what I find doesn't surprise me either.

I drift through the house. I go from room to room, looking for something or someone. And then I go outside, past the pool and into the guesthouse that I called mine.

My heart beats hard, painfully.

But my mind tells me I'm a fucking idiot.

Everything makes sense, no matter how bad I don't want it to.

I want to live in ignorance a little while longer, but I'm a lawyer and I've seen cases like theirs before.

I did do a background check on Renee and Bella. I did it the moment Bella started acting so strange. But everything checked out. A couple of details were slightly vague, but that meant nothing.

But now it meant everything.

Her name was a lie. Her story was a lie. Her everything was a lie.

The guesthouse is empty and silent, and I can't stand it, so I go back outside and sit on a pool chair. I sit until the clouds overhead get dark, and the first splatters of rain start to fall.

Fucking idiot.

I dig in my pocket until my fingers brush crinkled paper. And then I pull the note out and read the daintily written words.

I love you, I love you, I love you.

And I think maybe even this was a lie.


"Carmen, please," I say.

Carmen is standing in the doorway of her apartment, a young child held in her arms. Her eyes are wide, and the screams of her other children sound behind her. "Mr. Cullen, now is really not a good time—"

"You have to tell me," I say, and I sound desperate. A desperate fool. That's what I am. "You have to tell me if you know where they are—"

"I don't! The FBI have already asked. They even made me take a lie detector test. But I will tell them what I told you: Mrs. Swan or Dwyer or whatever her name is, she told me I had fulfilled my duties as their maid and she let me go. That was the last I heard."

"Please," I beg. My voice breaks and I don't know what's happening to me. I'm pathetic. I was played, and I'm so desperately looking to find anything that tells me otherwise. But I already know the answer. "Please, I need to know something."

"There's nothing—" Carmen begins.

"I'm begging you," I whisper lowly. I see my hand reach out to grab hers. And I hold on. "Please."

She stares at me with conflict raging in her kind, brown eyes. It seems to take an eternity for her to soften. Finally, she nods ever so slightly. "I have something for you. Stay here."

With that, she shuts the door on me.

I think maybe she might have been lying to get me to leave her alone, but a moment later she returns, holding a slip of paper.

"It's from her," Carmen murmurs, and there's no need for her to specify which her she means.

My fingers tremble as I open the note.

My vision blurs as I quickly read the words.

I have to scan the letters twice just to make sense of them.

I told you you'd hate me.

But I love you.

Marie

My stomach lurches. I've never in my life been so unhinged, and it's all because of this girl who has shattered everything and left me with only eleven little words.

When I raise my bloodshot, sleepless eyes back to Carmen, she looks at me with pity—something so rarely bestowed on me until now.

She says, "She did love you, Mr. Cullen."

I think she's trying to soothe me. But I'm beyond that.

I just shake my head and crumple up the paper. "Did she really?" is all I say before leaving.


Two Years Later

"Cullen!"

I glance over my shoulder as Heidi skips down the courthouse steps, a smile on her feline face.

"Twenty to life for Wyman, huh?" she asks, hitting my shoulder. "You have no mercy, do you?"

I smirk and continue walking towards the street to hail a taxi. "The judge decides sentencing—not me."

Heidi follows me a little too closely. "Well, Wyman would be a free man right now had you not pissed him off to the point that he blew his insanity plea—right on the stand for God and everyone to see."

I just smile and shrug.

"All in a day's work, right?" she asks playfully.

"You'd know better than I would."

"Oh, a sweet talker."

Heidi's words remind me of her, but I refuse to let my thoughts go too far. There's no future in thinking about Bella anymore. There never was a future with her, anyway.

"So how about that drink you promised me two years ago? I think this qualifies as sometime," Heidi jokes.

And even though I've already decided Bella is a lost cause and an old memory, I still shake my head and smile. "Not tonight, Heidi."

She just nods because she already knows.


I'm elbow-deep in paperwork and the words are starting to blur together.

It's two a.m. and I'm the only person left in the office building.

And then my phone rings.

Sighing, I pick it up. "Yes, Tanya?"

There's a brief, hesitant pause before a blurted, "Pardon?"

I frown at the obviously male voice and smooth out my tie. "Excuse me. I thought you were someone else—"

"Is this Edward Cullen?" the gruff voice demands before I can even properly finish my sentence.

My eyes widen, and I almost crack a smile at the abruptness. "Yes, it is. Who is this?"

"My name… I'm… My name is Charlie Higginbotham."

I go silent.

The ticking clock in the corner of the room suddenly grows deafening in my ears.

"Mr. Cullen? Are you still there?"

"Uh, yes." I rub at the back of my neck, apprehension starting to creep into my stomach. "Mr. Higginbotham, I really don't think I should be speaking to you—"

"Will you please meet me somewhere? It's absolutely urgent," Charlie says, clearing his throat.

"You're in New York?" I ask, frowning.

"Yes. Just to see you."

"Mr. Higginbotham—"

"Please," he says, and his tone is so familiar to me that I pause. "Please just meet me right now at the subway station closest to your office."

And with that, he hangs up.


Charlie doesn't show up at the subway station.

I wait for a full hour before I give up.

I don't even know why I wait that long.

But I certainly don't bother questioning why as I head home. It takes too much energy.


As soon as I open the door, I know something's off.

I don't even flinch when I find a stranger sitting on my couch. He's tall, graying, with a dark mustache and serious eyes.

The eyes favor hers.

That's how I know not to call 911.

"Sorry if I scared you," Charlie grumbles, standing and shaking my hand like he hasn't broken into my apartment.

"That's okay," I reply, guardedly.

"The phones were probably bugged. I didn't want anyone listening in to our conversation at the subway station, either. I mean, I might just be a paranoid old fool, but I had to be careful."

"Uh-huh," I say, dropping my keys and briefcase on the coffee table. "Uh, have a seat."

Charlie eases down.

I take the chair across from him. "Why are you contacting me?"

"She told me to," Charlie mutters, almost so low I can't hear.

My stomach twists sharply and her name gets stuck on my tongue for a moment. But finally, I say, with relative ease, "Bella?"

"Her name is Marie," Charlie snaps, not looking quite at me. He stares at the floor instead. He hunches with years worth of weight, and he leans his arms on his knees uneasily, like he's ready to bolt.

"Right." I nod carefully.

"Anyway, Marie told me to call you. She said you could… she said you could help."

"Help?" I ask slowly.

Charlie nods and finally looks up. He pierces me with intense eyes and tentative hope, the way his daughter would. "She wants to come home."

I don't know how to do anything but let out a half pained laugh. "If she comes back into the US, she'll be arrested immediately. I'm sure you've read the news."

Charlie shakes his head. "She said you were a lawyer. She said you could maybe help."

"Look, first of all, I'm a prosecutor. I work to convict, not acquit."

Charlie doesn't want to hear it, though. He's still shaking his head, frowning at me with dark eyes. "She's on her own. She finally got away from her mother. Finally. And she finally contacted me again. For the first time in years. She said that she trusted you."

I lean back in my chair, my heart thundering. But my face is relatively calm, at least. "I mean, she could make a case if it's true about splitting from her mother. Maybe she could work the angle of being under duress. It could work, but—"

"But what?" Charlie growls, anger shooting his voice lower. "What else is there? She doesn't want to run for the rest of her life! And I was under the impression you were someone who cared deeply about her. Deeply enough to try."

My own irritation sparks, and I glare. "That's all I could do, Mr. Higginbotham—try. Do you really want her to come back home and stand trial only for me to fail? And then she'd spend half of her life in prison?"

"She said it was worth the risk."

"Jesus Christ." I stand up sharply. "This is crazy. This is all too fucking crazy."

"She said… she said to tell you that…" Charlie huffs, his thick brows pulling low over his deep-set eyes. "She said to tell you that she loved you."

I still in my pacing. I reluctantly meet the angry gaze of her father.

He blows out a breath and mutters quietly, so low I don't think I'm meant to hear, "I think you're a little old for her but what do I know…"

I run my hands down my face and press my palms together, my fingers beneath my nose as I contemplate.

My mind whirls like crazy, a thousand thoughts a second. I can barely keep up.

"Maybe," I say. "Maybe I could get a team of defense lawyers—good ones. I could call in old favors. I could help, of course. I could predict what the prosecution will do…"

Charlie perks up. His eyes get unfairly hopeful.

"This is all incredibly risky, though. She isn't promised anything. She could very seriously face prison time. In fact, I'd say all odds were in favor of that. The chance that she'd get off with nothing at all is next to impossible."

"Please," Charlie whispers. "I need… I need you to get my little girl back. I need to see her again. I don't care how. And she doesn't, either."

I drop my hands and stare at the older man who holds such a big piece of Bella's heart. I say, "She'll need to be informed of the risks."

Charlie swallows. He nods. And then he says, "Tell her yourself."

I stare at him in perfect silence for a whole twenty seconds. "Excuse me?"

"She wants to see you." Charlie stands up, unable to stay still. "She said she wanted to see you in person before she came back. She wanted you to be with her on the plane, to make the arrangements—"

"No," I say, firmly. "That's out of the question. I can't do that. You can't just walk up and chitchat with a fugitive."

"But what if you're her lawyer? Isn't there some kind of loophole?" Charlie asks.

"The answer is no. I don't even know where she is—"

"Paris. She's in Paris. Only for a week, she said. She said she'd wait for you a whole week in Paris—some hotel. I wrote the name down. She said she'd wait, and that if you didn't come, it would be her sign that you didn't think it'd be a good idea to come home. So she'd disappear for good."

"God. She's still so fucking melodramatic," I mutter, exhaling.

Charlie isn't exactly enthused by my statement, but he chooses not to respond. He merely says, again, "Please."

And I don't know what to say anymore.


Okay, so. I'm not gonna lie. I was amazingly overwhelmed by all the reviews and questions and comments. I love, love, love them. And I also stress because I want to answer all of them, but there are so many. I'm just really saddened by it, to be honest. BUT I'm going to try to answer all the questions here. If I miss any, please, please message me! I feel like y'all think I must not care at all because I so rarely answer reviews, but I DO! I promise! I'm just a little neurotic and I panic easy so I get overwhelmed by all the reviews. Anyway, message me, please. I'd love to hear from you and talk personally.

Anyway. Major questions and answers:

How could Bella get in trouble for what Renee did? Bella helped her mom do A LOT of things. She wasn't innocent, by far. But why she helped con people leads me to the next question.

Why did Bella help her mom/stay with her mom through all this? I know this might seem weak to a lot of you, but it's simple: she loves her mom. You love your parents, even if they're shitty. I've seen it a thousand times. Up close and personal. I have a member of the family that does some very questionable things and has been the worst parent, but her kid still, regardless, loves her. I ask her why and she simply says, "It's my mom," like that answers everything. And it does. Despite what they put you through, a part of you always loves them, I believe. I can't speak for everyone, I know, but for Bella's case, despite her mother's many short comings, she still loves her mom. That DOES NOT make Bella weak or stupid, in my opinion. It's just the way things go sometimes. It means she has a lot of love in her heart. And deep down, Bella has always seen a better side of Renee. Because Renee is not straight evil. She's just messed up. And Bella sees that, which makes it even harder to be done with her. Even now that Bella's gotten away from Renee, Bella will always love her, I think.

Why is Alice even around? She's the only one that knows the secret. Because Bella and her are very, very close. Alice is just really careful as to when she sees Bella because of the FBI always sniffing around. That's why Renee hates Alice so much because Alice could blow everything.

Does anyone else know about Bella and Renee? No.

Was Renee trying to con the Cullen family? That's really up to y'all to decide ;)

Why does Edward live in a shitty apartment if he's a lawyer (this one cracked me up, by the way)? Because he's a prosecutor. It's my understanding that they don't make as much as defense attorneys. That may be wrong, but I don't know. Edward has his family's money, but he won't use it. He's proud like that.

Are the FBI agents on the level? Yes. They were telling the truth. They're both just a little sadistic, as James and Victoria always are, in my mind.

Is Bella really 17? Yes, she is. I'm sorry. I know I said 1993 was when Charlie and Renee married, but Bella wasn't born until later. So, no, she really is 17. Sorry. BUT 17 is the legal age of consent in New York.

How did the FBI find Renee and Bella? No one tipped them off. They just found Renee through her illegal art dealings.

How did Renee and Bella know the FBI were onto them? I don't know much about the life of a criminal, obviously, but I'm guessing they've been at it so long that they see the warning signs. Renee probably saw someone doing surveillance on them or something.

Why did Charlie just give up Bella? Renee is a master manipulator. She took Bella with her and used Bella as a bargaining chip for all these years. She made Charlie feel like, if he were to ever turn them in, Bella would suffer for it, too.

I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting some things. So please, PLEASE message me if I did. Thank y'all so much oxoxoxo and now, on to the last chapter!