Chapter Twenty-Nine—Bloody Hands
At a loss for words, Edward internally freaked the fuck out. In his mind's eye, he saw himself tug at his hair, blood roaring in his ears. What had he done? If he hadn't walked away, Bella would be with him in the hospital, visiting with his father.
"Hey." Emmett caught his attention, raising his hand to pull Edward's hand from his hair. "Did something happen when you last saw them?"
Everything spilled out of Edward's mouth in a tumbled, hurried mess. Yet, from the shock and sheer terror in his father's eyes and Emmett's gaze, he'd say they understood him. He explained the events leading up to him walking away like a fucking coward.
"Stop that shit," Emmett hissed, pointing a thick finger at Edward. "You're not a coward. You're human, so shut the fuck up, and keep going."
Edward knew Emmett was right. It wasn't the time for his usual self-deprecating bullshit.
"As you were leaving, did you see anything?" Emmett looked about ready to pull his own hair out.
"I saw her at the window, but she closed the curtain. I left right after." He allowed his head to fall back as he sat down, his eyes on the plain white ceiling. All he saw was the look on Bella's face before he pulled out of her driveway. "I drove around for a little while and ended up here." Checking his phone again, he continued. "That was almost two hours ago."
"Fuck." Emmett glanced at Edward's father and grimaced. "Sorry about that. I just don't know what else to do. My dad has people looking for them."
"Has she checked in with anybody?"
Emmett looked unsure, but answered anyway. "Bella called my dad and told him that her dad took off and locked her in her room."
"Like that would stop her." Edward shook his head, rubbing his mouth as his thoughts turned to the worst possible scenarios. "She was carrying when I left her. If he locked her in her room, she'd just shoot her way out." That explained the door to her room at least.
Carlisle didn't know what to say about recent developments. His instinct was to tell his son to pack up what he needed and leave town without looking back. He'd get himself and his wife out of the state within a day or two. Edward was headstrong, though. The second Carlisle suggested that he leave, his son would do the exact opposite. A part of him wanted to send Edward to seek Charlie's daughter, knowing she was in desperate need of help. Charlie had done everything he could to teach his daughter to defend herself, but Carlisle allowed Edward to stay innocent of their past, leaving him wholly unprepared for the current situation.
"So, she did shoot her way out of her room. At least that's better than being taken." Emmett pulled out his cell phone.
Edward and his father listened as Emmett notified his father that Bella had been without contact with anyone for approximately two hours.
Emmett's voice went up an octave. "What do you mean he hasn't checked in?" His brow tightened as his father ranted about loose cannons and fucking vendettas. "Dad, stop. When is the last time you talked to Mike?"
Edward clenched his hands into fists at Mike's name, wanting to go after the fucker for setting them up. They were supposed to meet him, but instead, the fucking assholes sent them a message.
Edward caught Emmett's attention, asking him to listen. "Mike set us up earlier. He asked Bella and me to meet in private down the trail behind the house. Instead of Mike at the meeting place, two dicks showed up with itchy trigger fingers."
"You got that, Dad?" Emmett said, keeping his glacial gaze on Edward. Was Emmett upset with him?
Edward had no doubt in his mind, Bella's cousin wanted to kick his ass. The way he was feeling, even knowing it would be painful and bloody, he would deserve it. There wasn't time to fight; Bella was in trouble.
Bella's always in trouble.
"Keep me posted." Emmett stabbed his finger in Edward's chest, sending him back a step. "You better hope she's okay, because if she isn't, the guilt all over your face will eat away at you."
Of all the things Edward thought Emmett would say, that wasn't it.
"Bella knows what she's doing." Edward wanted to believe his words, but in all honestly, she was too close to the situation. She was just too invested in finding those who were responsible for Peter and Charlotte's murder—and on vengeance.
"She really doesn't." Emmett buried his hands in his dark hair. "Her confidence in her abilities will be her downfall. And I think my uncle has reached a breaking point."
Edward thought the same thing, and it scared the fuck out of him. "What do we do now?"
Emmett glared at him. "We aren't doing anything. I'm going out to look for her. You're staying here with your dad or somewhere else public. The last thing we need is those fuckers going after you to use against her. They would do it, just to make her suffer."
Emmett turned for the door, but stopped to look at Edward's father. "I'm sorry about what happened to you and your wife. Dad wanted me to relay a message: the armed transport to the hospital in Seattle will be here at nine in the morning."
They didn't have a chance to protest or get a word in, watching as Emmett's long gait had him at the end of the hall in seconds. Edward wanted to go after him, but his father stopped him with two words.
"Your mother."
Edward's eyes closed and turned to look as his father. "I'll be here in the morning." His father nodded as if he knew exactly what he'd say. "To see you two off."
"I know."
Edward reached the parking lot in a few minutes, and only because the elevator was a piece of shit, older than his father. He ran toward his car, his keys in his hand, when he heard a terror-filled scream coming from the ER entrance.
Instinctively, he turned toward the cry, his eyes landing on a woman screaming and pointing at Bella.
Bella looked like something out of a horror movie, walking toward the automatic doors covered in blood. Nurses and a doctor flew out to meet her, but she waved them away, pointing to an unfamiliar black BMW.
It wasn't until she was surrounded by people that she started to scream.
"It's not my blood. It's not my blood."
Edward's mind finally registered the need to move, his hand reaching for his phone, dialing Emmett. He was thankful for their first brief introduction that seemed a lifetime ago when Emmett had given Edward his number.
"I found her, Emmett." He ran toward the frantic voices. "Hospital ER." The words seemed to take forever to slip through his lips, his feet pounding on the pavement to reach her. "She arrived in a black BMW."
Emmett cursed and ended the call, and Edward knew reinforcements would arrive soon.
The team of medical staff worked on the person they removed from the car, as Bella stood aside, watching the scene with blank eyes, and weaving on wobbly knees. The tips of her hair were saturated with blood; the front of her shirt was drenched with it. A splatter of it sickeningly adorned her neck. Her skin was pale white as he reached her, taking her hands in his.
The move woke Bella up again. "No, no, no, no!" she screamed, as Edward pulled her against his chest. "I don't want you to have b-blood on your hands." The rest of her words were muffled against his neck as she sagged against him, a gurney rushing past them.
Edward didn't want to look. "Who?" It was the first thing he thought to ask. He hated himself for thanking God it wasn't her fighting for her life inside the hospital, but it could be her father. Shit.
"It's Mike."
Charlie watched the scene outside the hospital from down the street, breathing a little easier now that his daughter was safe. What a mess he had created; he'd gone half-assed, half-crazed to bring down The Mayor on his own.
Ryan Arthur Stanley, the Mayor of Forks, lived in a damn fortress. Not that it mattered to Charlie earlier; thinking rationally had gone out the window after they shot at his daughter. It was as if he lost all logic once Bella revealed she knew Stanley was on top. In that moment, he knew it would only be a matter of time before the warnings and scares became a death sentence for his baby girl.
They wheeled in Mike through the ER doors—a young man Charlie hadn't wanted to trust since the falling out with his son Peter. All the help and information Mike provided had signed Mike's death certificate, but it didn't compare to the fact he took a bullet likely intended for his daughter. Charlie helplessly watched Edward sweep Bella into his arms, her body going limp in his hold.
As her father, he should be in there with her, but she told him to stay away until authorities called him. The Mayor and his people didn't know he'd been there in his half-crazed attempt to protect his daughter, trying to find a way inside the iron gates at the Stanley estate.
Bella had erased all video surveillance evidence of him being there. Everyone had to believe he hadn't been involved, for it would put a price on his head in mere minutes, and possibly Bella's, too.
It was time to head home, for appearances' sake. "Fuck, I hate this shit," Charlie said to himself, driving away before someone caught sight of him.
By the time he reached the house, and had stepped through the front door, his phone rang.
The deputy explained about the shooting, and told Charlie he was needed since Mark had to leave early for a family emergency.
"I'll be right there."
"Chief, uh, your daughter arrived at the hospital with the victim." Charlie heard the anxiety in the young man's voice; one of the few deputies he knew wasn't on Stanley's payroll. "She wasn't hurt, but, you better come down here."
"Are you sure Bella's okay?" Charlie did his best to express his honest horror and surprise. He asked more questions, but the officer assigned with the task to call him only said to come to the hospital. He ended the call and turned for the door, only to find Emmett on the other side of it.
Charlie didn't see it coming, but he damn sure felt the fucking punch to his jaw. "You only get one, kid," Charlie said, sniffing and wincing as the pain radiated to his ear. "I got to get to the hospital."
"I'm getting her shit and taking her to Seattle."
Charlie shook his head. "They won't let us leave, Emmett. They'd be right behind us, and we'd have prices on our heads."
"Find a way to excuse her absence. I don't care. Give me a day or two, but I will get through her thick ass skull and get her to stop going after them. Two weeks, that's all Dad says they need, maybe ten days."
"Good luck with convincing her to leave." Charlie tested his jaw and walked past his nephew. He needed to get to the hospital; any delay would look suspicious. He wasn't stupid enough to believe his daughter had been completely honest earlier. If she left, she'd return if Charlie, Sue, Leah, and her baby brother remained.
"Rosie's pregnant, Charlie. I have to step away, but not until I get Bella to do the same."
Charlie stopped midway to his cruiser and looked at Emmett, seeing the truth in his eyes. "That's a low blow to use something like that against Bella."
Emmett crossed his arms over his chest, carelessly shrugging. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep her heart fucking beating."
"She won't leave without the boy now," Charlie said, jumping into the cruiser.
Emmett grunted in reply, and delivered another piece of information. "You know, if Mike doesn't make it, it means shit is about to get worse, right?"
Charlie nodded. "All-out war within the organization." Seemed too cruel to hope for such an outcome, but hope was all he had.
