EPOV

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Placing the ring on Bella's finger and seeing it there made our whole marriage real. I guess when we had run off to a little town in the middle of the night to say vows to one another in a small church; it all felt like a dream but now I can look upon my loves finger and know that it was better than a dream because this was reality. I was married. I married the only woman I have ever loved or will ever love.

"Like it was made for you." I marveled at the sparkly diamond on her finger.

"It's…just…uh…symbol." She intertwined her hand with mine and pulled me onto the bed. "I was made for you."

"Yes, you were." I stated sincerely looking into her eyes. I brushed my hand upon her cheek and pulled myself in for a kiss. This was it. The moment we had been waiting for, for nine years. I started undoing my pants and pulling off my shirt never breaking the kiss, instead I deepened in. I pulled the covers back and crawled on top, our naked bodies melding together.

My wife.

My wife.

She opened her legs ever so slightly and I lined myself up with her entrance. I was going to make love to my wife. I pushed inside not waiting any longer. We had waited long enough and my god it was everything I hoped it would be, to be able to feel ever single particle on my body. My mind this time clear from alcohol to fully capture all the sensations and feelings I had. To know that this time when I was inside her, this was what we both wanted and not just some drunken adolescent naughtiness.

I broke the kiss and started working on my loves neck. I knew how much she loved being nibbled on. I couldn't stop pumping in and out of her. I could feel her pull her legs up to draw me in deeper.

"Oh god I love you." I managed to cry out. I pulled back to see her face. I wanted to look into those deep pools of perfection while I made love to her.

"Bella, what's wrong?" I instantly ceased all movement. My shaft buried deep inside her. But she was crying. Not the type of crying when you become overwhelmed and shed a small tear. She was silently sobbing.

"Baby." I was suddenly frightened. Did I hurt her? Was she not ready?

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Just…please continue..." She tried to wipe the tears away but she couldn't stop more from forming.

"Please tell me what's wrong? Did I hurt you?"

"No…No! I'm just…I'm sorry." She opened her legs wider and pushed her pelvis up so I would go deeper. "Just make love to me."

"Talk to me, Bella." I pleaded.

"I don't want you to leave. Please don't leave me. Tell me you'll stay." She begged.

My heart broke because all I ever wanted was to give her everything she could ask for and this was something I couldn't give her. I could see the desperation in her eyes that pleaded with me.

"I can't…I have to go." I replied lamely.

"But you married me. I'm your wife. I thought…I thought if I married you…you would stay."

"What?" My brain was going every direction.

"I love you and you love me. We could have this be our every day. Every day you could make love to me. Every day we could be together. You could…I don't know buy a tiny island….we could live there and it would always be perfect. I would give you everything. I could give you children." She sobbed. "I can give you lots and lots of children…don't you want that?"

"Bella, I will come back. I am going to make lots of children with you but I don't want those children to live without knowing all the wonders of this beautiful world. I will make it safe for us first. It will only be a few months…please…please baby."

She started to cry harder. I pulled out of her and she turned over to face away from me curling herself into a ball. Not even married twenty-four hours and she was already miserable. Not even married twenty-four hours and I was already lying to her.

I didn't know if I was ever going to come back. The truth was that James was very powerful hence the reason I couldn't take him down in the first place. He was very well guarded and had a wide arsenal of resources that I did not have. If I honestly believed that just shooting James point-blank, one of the many opportunities that I had had would have worked, I would take that chance. However when you smuggle in half of the countries illegal drugs, taking one man out of the picture was not enough.

I tried to hold Bella as best as I could but she was in such a position it made it difficult. She tried to shrug me off and I felt hurt but then something inside me fired up. She was my wife. I wasn't going to allow her to push me away. I forcefully turned her over and pulled her to me. She fought me but I would always be stronger.

"No. You want to cry, go ahead and cry but I am your husband now and you will not cry alone. I will hold you while you cry….it is my right to hold my wife even when she's mad at me. I don't care if you regret marrying me…it's too late and now you're stuck with me for a husband and as your husband I will not allow you to pull away from me."

Her breathes stopped and she looked up at me.

"I don't regret marrying you…I just wanted…I don't want to be alone. I'm scared." She confessed.

"I know you're scared, sweetheart. So am I but I know that my mind will be one hundred percent focused if I know that you are here with Seth. A place only I know. I need to remain focused. Do you understand me?"

She nodded solemnly but didn't say anymore.

I held her tight to me and rubbed my hand over her back. We only had a couple of hours left before I would need to take her to the safe house. I needed to fly back tonight to be at work the following morning. I was barely holding it together but I needed to be the strong one now. Bella, needed to have confidence in me and she wasn't going to find that if I was crying with her.

She finally fell to sleep and even though I wished that our last hours were spent another way, I wanted here to find peace with my decision. I pulled myself from her to go and make us a meal…a last meal. Stop thinking like that Edward. You ask Bella to have faith in you but you don't even faith in yourself. She was right, we could run. I could buy an island but I think of the price we might have to pay and not monetarily, and who knows if it would even work. I didn't want there to even be a small chance that James could show up in twenty or thirty years and take her from me. I just couldn't allow that.

I had just finished all the garnishes on our lunch slash breakfast when I heard her screaming. I dropped whatever was in my hand and took off up the stairs in a flash.

"NO! NO! NO!" I could hear her scream. "Oh god, No." She was sobbing.

"Bella." I busted through the door to see her sitting in the massive bed shaking and sobbing. I ran over to her and climbed into bed.

"What is it? Did you have a night…"

"Don't do that!" She smacked me in the arm. "Where did you go? Don't do that to me." She hit me in the chest and I stopped her fists of fury before she could hurt herself.

"Baby, calm down. Baby." I pulled her to me.

"I thought you had left. I thought you didn't say goodbye. I thought you had left me and didn't say goodbye."

"I would never do that to you."

"Yes, you would. You said before that you were planning to leave me." She snapped.

"Bella, I said before that I was going to be leaving at the end of the weekend and yes I wanted to keep that from you but I would have told you toward the end…I would have told you. I have a little more finesse then that."

"Finesse." She scoffed. "You don't have finesses. You think you're so charming, Masen. You charmed me into marrying you. You charmed me into staying behind and being taxed with wondering if you're still alive…"

"Whoa…first of all I didn't charm you into anything. You were the one who brought up marriage and I didn't charm you into staying here. You would have stayed here whether you liked it or not. Worst case scenario had me chaining you in a basement. I wouldn't have liked it but if it guaranteed your safety…" I was fucking sarcastic, obviously. Like I would really chain her but there things I could have done to ensure that she never came back to Los Angeles, she would have hated me for them but at least she would be alive to hate me.

"Chaining me in a basement? What is this some weird sex game?" she huffed.

"I would never have Seth perform sex games while you were chained up." I dismissed.

Her tears were drying and I knew our little banter was causing her to calm.

"Like I would even have sex with Seth. I always knew you were a freak. You picture me in chains on my knees as some…some sort of…submissive."

"Well it would be a step up…maybe then a man could get laid around here." I regretted those words the second they flew out of my mouth. I could see Bella take them in and lower her head. "I'm sorry…that went too far…I'm sorry."

"No. You're right…I…I haven't pleased you. I haven't done my job…as a wife."

"No…Bella…no…of course you please me."

"No not in the way a man needs…I want that for you….I do but every time we start…" she started crying again. "I can't help but think that this is the last time."

"Hey, what's the matter with you? You made me promise to come back and you think that this is the last time? What happened to having a little faith or putting negative mojo out in the universe?"

She didn't reply instead she just snuggled into me and wiped her tears on my chest. A little while later I pulled myself from her and started to pack up her bag. I had wreaked it earlier that morning when I went to look for a proper wedding dress. Part of me felt bad that I didn't give her this grand wedding that I knew so many girls looked forward to. However, I knew Bella and I knew that our wedding is what she wanted. She didn't have Charlie anymore and her family and friends were minimal. She wouldn't have wanted to be put on display and have everyone watch her as she walked down a long aisle.

Bella sat in the bed just staring at me while I cleaned up the room and got everything together for our trip. I had a car arriving soon and then our last hour would be spent in that car before I left her behind. We didn't say much to one another; in fact she didn't say one word to me. I helped her get dressed and it was like trying to dress a zombie. She was already shutting down on me and that frightened me. If she didn't have hope then she would become a shell. But I allowed her moment of grieving; I didn't press her to talk to me the whole ride to the small town I was planning on hiding her in.

I held her close to me and tried to calm her with my soft touches already hating what I was about to do.

Seth met us as our car drove up to the house. The house which wasn't more than a small cottage stayed hidden from view by tall trees that surrounded it. It reminded me of something from a children's book. I hoped that Bella could find peace here. The small town nearby had less than five hundred people residing there and that was ten miles away. No one around for ten miles in every direction. I did want her to still converse with people, I had learned my lesson from our Aspen trip and didn't want her finding anxieties once again when she finally did come home.

"How was the ride?" Seth asked as he helped bring Bella's bags in.

"Not long enough." I replied.

Bella walked into the house and looked around despondently.

"Not much but the woods around her are great for training in. Trust me, you will find it much better than any gym." Seth tried to encourage.

She didn't reply.

"Seth, would you give us a couple of moments." I asked and I think he left somewhat relieved. I waited until the front door closed before starting.

"Bella, I know you're unhappy…"

"I don't want to train anymore." She interrupted with a small whisper of a breath.

"You don't get a choice." I stated firmly.

Her head snapped up to me and this is the part I had been dreading.

"You will train. You will eat. You will sleep…all according to what Seth asks of you and I don't want to hear otherwise. As your husband, you will listen to me now. I don't want you just lying around being miserable. You will train because it will help you become stronger, mentally. I need your mind strong because this is going to be hard for both of us. I don't know how long I will be away but I am not making a request. You will do what Seth asks of you and if I hear progress reports that state you have uncooperative then I will find a way to strike at you anyway I can. Do you understand me?"

She stared at me and I could see her eyes fill with angry tears.

"Strike at me?" She questioned.

"I have never hit you and I never will but there are ways to punish you if you act out. You work hard, you will be rewarded. If you don't then you will have certain liberties taken from you. Training…what you have been doing the past few months, all of it takes discipline. You are still in need of great discipline. You are an amazing woman, Bella. You have overcome far more then I have which makes me believe that you are better than this. You are better than being in a state of mourning. You work harder than I ever did. I have faith that you will be better than me which is why I am being so harsh with you. I love you and that will never change and it is out of love that I do…all this…for you."

I walked over to her one last time and pulled her into my arms. I kissed her. I kissed her with everything I had in me. I kissed her for all the time my lips would be away from hers. I kissed her knowing that this could be the very last time I would ever kiss her. All my heart, all my love, all my desperation went into that last and final kiss.

I pulled back and let go of her.

"NO. NO." She sobbed clinging onto me. "You're not leaving…you are not leaving me."

I had to be strong. I had to hurt her.

"Stop it, Bella." I pulled her arms away from my body and held them out in front of me.

"I love you. I love you. Don't leave me." She cried. The tears running down her face were great. She fought me trying to get me to release the grip on her wrists.

"You will stay here. Stay!" I ordered.

My heart broke and the only way I was ever going to make it out of that house alone was to become someone I never wanted to become.

"Edward….I love you…I will do anything you want…please….please…"

"Stop crying. Be strong. Let me go." I let go of her wrists and she once again latched onto me. I knew she wasn't going to make this easy for me. I picked her up and carried her over my shoulder to one of the bedrooms. I pulled back the comforter and placed her in the bed securing her with the sheets. She started thrashing about to get to me but I was stronger.

"I love you. I will always love you. Good bye, Bella."

I stood up and quickly exited the room closing the door behind me and locking it before she could reach me. She banged on the door screaming obscenities at me and questioning my love for her. I kept walking trying to place as much distance as I could between us.

I could still hear her screaming when I exited the cottage.

"You okay, bro?" Seth asked.

"Just…" I lashed out and then calmed myself knowing my problems weren't because of him.

"I'll be in touch."

I got into the car and told the driver I was ready.

I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready to break my wife's heart. I wasn't ready to leave her but I was ready for one thing and that was to do whatever it takes to take down James and his whole organization.

The plane ride was long and tedious. Me, left alone on a flight with nothing but my thoughts to occupy me. Thoughts of Bella and the look of betrayal on her face. I had a feeling no matter the outcome that this day would forever haunt me.

My plane touched down in Los Angeles and even though the sun was shining brightly and California did it's best to look beautiful, I didn't appreciate it as I once did. Suddenly I was a teen again and thinking of how I made a promise to my best friend that we would go to New Hampshire and then to California where we would never need to see snow again unless we wanted to but now I would gladly take snow as my greatest problem.

The first part of my plan was the worst. Leave Bella. The second part of my plan I wasn't exactly looking forward to either.

I arrived at Cullen International and once again became that irritable asshole that everyone had come to fear.

"Edward." Alice gasped when she saw me arrive off the elevator. "I have been trying to get ahold of you since I had heard what happened. Where's Bella? Is she okay?"

This needed to happen. I saw out of the corner of my eye, Jessica sitting at Bella's desk watching with rapt curiosity.

"I don't give a fuck. Bella and I are done. She humiliated me in front of all my clients and the most important people in our industry. Good riddance to that bitch."

Alice jumped back at my words completely speechless for just a moment.

"Edward…"

"The last time I checked, I was Mr. Cullen to you." I cut her off.

That did it.

"Mr. Cullen? What are you talking about? You loved Bella." Her eyes turned beady as she laced her words with venom.

"I can't love someone so below me that doesn't even have proper manners. How am I ever going to keep rising in this business with someone like her anchored to me? She has issues. Lots and lots of issues. I don't want to speak of this anymore Mrs. Whitlock. I expect you to remain professional in the future." I turned and headed off toward my office.

Alice followed me not even bothering to shut the door behind her.

"What is the matter with you? How dare you speak about Bella this way. She is a good and loving human being. I don't know what happened between you…or what just happened to you but there is something seriously wrong with this picture and I refuse to just sit down at my desk and take it. You don't deserve someone like Bella. Hell, you don't deserve anyone but yourself which is fine because you don't love anyone but yourself. You selfish entitled asshole."

Alice's screaming I'm sure wasn't missed by the ears listening outside. Someday I would have to thank her for such a great performance she didn't even know she was giving.

"Then I suggest you tender your resignation. Cullen International cannot be affiliated with you any longer. Please leave your keys with Jessica on your way out."

I turned in my seat away from her and it was my high back chair which saved my head from the glass award that Alice picked off my desk and threw at me. The whole incident threw me completely off guard but it was brilliant.

"Security." I called on my intercom. "Please be advised I have an unruly former employee in my office who is threatening. Please see she is escorted off the premise immediately."

"I hope you burn in hell, Edward Cullen. I hope your whole fucking building collapses on you, asshole." Alice screamed as she slowly made her way out of my offices. However it didn't take security long to reach her and they pulled her the rest of the way.

It was something that needed to be done. I had come to care for Alice and I truly valued her as a friend for not only Bella but me as well. I didn't want her anywhere near James Sayer and the only way I could be sure that he wouldn't target her was to make sure that he was aware that she was no longer friend or confidant to me. I knew Jessica would get the message back to him. Jessica, would be important in this game and how easily I could play her.


AN: Thank you for reading and reviewing. I know the next couple of chapters may be hard to get through since I'm sure we all loved the distance between these two in New Moon, however I will try and make it brief.