Bella POV
Only when we'd all seen Sasha's form retreat through the electric door were we able to breathe a sigh of relief. Tanya, still seemed a little shaken up by the confrontation as she buried her face in Charlie's uniform, but she'd bounce back. She always did, most especially when Charlie was around.
"I will kill her." Rose said with no remorse, looking both Charlie and Emmett dead in the eye. "I don't care what she has to say about me, but to say something—anything about my baby." Emmett tried on numerous occasions to grab her, and stop her pacing, but she was liked an angry lioness.
She just kept pacing, brushing off Emmett's every attempt to settle her, as she cussed, hands flailing wildly. The whole time though, I noticed that Tanya hadn't even lifted her head. She'd passed out cold clinging to Charlie.
I turned away, ignoring Rose, to look at Charlie. "She can't take her, can she?"
Though I knew she was mine. Legally, in my heart, and every other way that counted she was mine, but I couldn't afford to treat her threats as idle.
"I don't know too much about family law, and all the rest of it Bells—but I'm pretty sure this little girl is yours. If she gave up her rights willingly, I don't know a judge in the county who reinstate them."
"Dad, could she bring up my mental state?" Charlie shook his head.
"She can try, but it won't matter. You were never an endangerment to those children. Swainbrook could clear you of that too."
"There was also never anything mentally wrong with you." Esme said as she rubbed my arm.
"I know that, but what if she tries to say that when my breakdown occurred it was postpartum or drug induced or…or…What if—"
"Bella, don't. She can't win."
"You're willing to put everything on the line and find out?"
"There's no risk Bella. I'd bet my life on it. She's ours."
"I can't lose her, Edward. Not again." I whispered into his neck Sue, probably sensing that I needed my girls, slid Charlee into my arms. Unlike her sisters, she was wide awake, but she seemed content enough in my arms.
"Hello?" A confused Carlisle called as he stood at the front door of the boutique, his eyebrows mashed together in a typically Edward fashion.
"Long or short?" Emmett tried to joke, no one laughed though which made Carlisle look to Edward and I.
"Sasha's back, she wants Tanya and her rights back." Esme deadpanned as Carlisle frowned.
"She can't, the courts won't give her rights back, she voluntarily terminated them. There's no way to get them back. It's impossible. I could call Vasilli, if you really want me to give the most honest answer, but from recall, rights terminated cannot be reinstated, no judge can do that. I mean she signed those in front of her lawyer and from memory she had notary signatures on there and you signed in front of your lawyers and a notary."
"He's right, Bella. I mean it's ringing some bells here—I studied this stuff back when Eddy was going through it, I'm not pro. But I'm pretty sure they're right. Belly, she's not getting Tanya." Emmett smiled as Rosalie finally moved toward him after calming herself, the positive news seeming to please her more than it could quell me.
"Is there a way that we can stop her even seeing, Tanya, Daddy?" Asked Alice as silence slowly covered us.
"Bella, come down to the station, I'll get the paperwork ready for a restraining order, I'm sure I if I pull some strings I can have it filed for you by lunch time tomorrow. It's as good as we can get to keeping her away, she can't fight the order."
"I can call in a few favours; we just might be able to have something solid tonight." Carlisle interjected.
"What are you two waiting for?" Esme said, her eyes moving between Carlisle and Charlie. "Charlie, give that girl to Emmett, Carlisle, you two have calls to make."
Charlie and Carlisle looked at Esme, and then each other, but still didn't move. It wasn't until she clapped her hands, grabbed Emmett by the collar and pushed him towards Charlie did they start moving.
Tanya didn't stir as she shifted hands, and the way that Emmett clutched her to him, I knew he was scared too. Rose had told me once what it had been like when she'd started dating Emmett, and what he'd been like with Tanya. This was probably opening a bunch of old wounds he thought would never see the light of day.
With that thought, I turned to Edward. If these were old wounds for Emmett, my heart was ceasing up at the idea of how much this was actually affecting Edward. She'd ripped out his heart before, and managed to rip the heart of this family out too, it was like she was back and ready for round two.
I was not going to be able to sit around and do nothing, but first, I needed to know how Edward was really feeling.
I rose my eyes, to meet his. Like he already knew, he looked down toward me, though I could see the pain in his eyes, he tried to offer me a reassuring smile.
"I don't want you worrying over this, Bella." Edward cooed, resting his forehead against mine. He had to be careful not to rustle Allie too much. I had to keep Charlee away from Allie so she wouldn't wake her.
"She's our daughter Edward. I'm sorry you're able to be sure about this, but the very idea of losing her about cripples me."
"I know it does, Love." Edward offered, speaking lowly. "But I did everything in my power to make sure that she couldn't try and claim her. She's ours. Only ours. Sasha may have birthed Tanya, but she terminated her every chance of raising her daughter, Carlisle's lawyer friend made sure of that."
"Legally, Edward. She terminated her every legal option, but her showing up here. Well, how do you know she won't do anything illegal?"
"I—,"
"Edward, Carlisle needs you." Esme cut in, pulling Rosalie behind her. "But Rose can keep you company Bella." I heard Esme quickly telling Edward to put Allie down before he joined Carlisle and Charlie.
Emmett had already settled Allie in the nursery, and at some point Sue had even gone so far as to close the store early.
Rose stood with me, as we watched Edward leave the nursery after putting Tanya down. He tried to give me a reassuring smile as he passed, but it didn't have its intended affect. The seed had already been planted.
There was no way she could legally get Tanya, but what if she did something illegal? I know I was being irrational, but I couldn't settle my thoughts. She came here for a reason, and though I didn't know what that was just yet, I would find out. I had to.
The door being pulled shut on my office is what broke me. I fell into Rose's open arms and just cried. She held me to her, mindful of Charlee, as she let me get my tears out.
It wasn't until I felt a small hand against my cheek did I look down at Charlee.
"Momma's sorry, Baby. I've been a real mess today haven't I?" I sniffed back my tears, so I wouldn't have any fall on her. "You've had such a big day, Momma's surprised you haven't fallen asleep like your sister's and cousin."
Rose stepped away a little giving me some space for Charlee. When I got a smile out of my girl, I knew she'd be okay, and I hoped I'd be able to get her to settle soon. It would be a lot of hard work later this evening otherwise.
"Thanks for helping, Rose. I appreciate it." She looked a bit sceptical. "I mean it. I need to keep myself busy—I need normal. So, I'll be in the storeroom if you need me, and I'm taking Charlee. Could you maybe pop-in on the girls every once and a while?"
She nodded her head, but I could see she wanted to say something else, anything really. She didn't trust that I was feeling a little better, and I didn't blame her. But I needed to do something productive, I had to. Maybe having Charlee with me would also serve to keep me grounded. My kids had already seen their mother go loopy once, I didn't need them to see a repeat of that.
Rose didn't look happy as I grabbed the baby monitor from behind the counter, but she let me go. I hoped that maybe a part of her understood where I was coming from, though I doubted it. She only knew the fear of losing a child, she hadn't lived through an experience—however cerebral—like I had.
I used every distraction I could find in the store room; I finished the color coordinating, Alice and Rose had started, I began making my way through all the marked down merchandise that hadn't sold, and all of our returns—though there were few. Mostly change of mind purchases. I'd reached the third box of new arrivals, when I could feel Charlee's heavier breathing against my shoulder. My little fighter had finally given in and let herself fall to sleep.
Not wanting to jostle her, I took a seat on one of the new chaise lounges we were waiting to move out to the main floor. Alice had already ripped off the plastic, so sitting on was like sitting on a microsuede cloud. I didn't know where she found some of this stuff, but I was considering just taking this home with me, it was entirely too comfortable.
I chose to lay down with Charlee, placing her closest to the back of the sofa so she couldn't roll off. I couldn't help but watch her. She was just so innocent, and young.
I wondered if any of this affected her at all, and Allie. I wondered if they had that fabled twin telepathy, or if they felt each others pain. Did they think about Tanya at all? Did they understand what was going on with their older sister?
I didn't know the answers to any of those questions, but I did hope that things they saw were okay and happy, and that everything we faced didn't touch them.
I dozed off myself, watching Charlee sleep. The days events having finally gotten to me.
I was startled awake by the sound of babies crying. I spotted Allie's immediately, and recognised the other as Tristan.
It wasn't completely uncommon to hear the girls crying from time to time. It was mostly Tristan though, because the twins didn't really cry unless they'd hurt each other. What was odd though, was that I couldn't hear Tanya trying to calm them down.
She could sleep through a lot, but not her sisters and cousin when they were crying.
I don't think I'd moved so fast in my life, as I rolled off the sofa and shot to my feet. Charlee was still sleeping soundly, though she was often quick to startle from Allie's cries. I grabbed the monitor not really thinking too clearly.
"Edward! Rose! Esme!"
They pulled themselves away from whatever it was they were busy with, joining me on the shop floor as I headed towards the nursery.
I all but ripped the nursery door off its hinges when I rounded the corner and when I was finally in the room…
"Catch her!" Alice screamed.
My daughter was gone.
Edward POV
"Charlie, call the Squad, is that restraining order effective yet?" I hoped with everything that order would stand, she'd be going to jail just for breaking it, add kidnapping and she's be getting locked up for some time.
"It's not effective yet, Carlisle and I have one more call to make to Afton or Alistair, whichever we can get a hold of to get it signed and mandated." Charlie sounded so torn, he wanted to get out there and send every man he had out to find Tanya, but he wouldn't jump the gun, it was too against everything that he was about.
"I'm going out, Emmett watch Tristan, if I find that bitch, I'll call you, whatever state she's in when you find us, she was that way when I found her."' Rose seethed, I really wanted to be the one to find my daughter, but Rose needed this, maybe more than Bella, because from 'hello' Sasha had treated Rosalie as if she were better than her, and that was definitely far from the truth.
"Rosalie…what are you going to do." Emmett sighed.
Rolling her eyes, Rose answered. "I'm going to do anything, I may have to pull a two year old off of a slut as she tries to kill her, but I am not going to do anything." She didn't leave word for anything before she grabbed Alice's Porsche keys, brandishing them to the room before she left and the walls shook as she revved the engine aggressively before taking off.
"Alice, please tell me your car is stock?" I asked hoping Rosalie would have some kind of restriction from completely flying off the handle. Rosalie was probably the most confident woman I'd ever met behind the wheel of any car, she could probably give some guys on the pro racing circuit a run for their money.
"I wish I could, that things just legal. Rosalie modified it for me when I got it and she was bored—she probably knows how far to push that car more than I do"
"Shit!"
The whole room settled as we just tried to calm the girls and wait for Charlie's boys to show up.
Emmett had a harder task settling Trsitan than Edward did Allie, but I think that had more to do with Emmett's fears for Rosalie foreshadowing his soothing attempts. Edward was worried, but he was better able to focus on Allie.
"Bella, where's Charlee?" Alice asked, looking around the room before casting her eyes back to Bella as she worried her lip, from where she sat on the bottom bunk.
She waved the baby monitor and told her she was sleeping in the storage room.
"Bella you know that's a transmitter, not a receiver right?"
I watched on as she looked down at the monitor in her hands and swore again, before crossing the shop floor again to get Charlee from the storage room. She'd only just woken up from what I could tell, and was trying her best to look around at all the faces in the room, though she seemed pretty content.
By the time, Bella reached us again, Emmett finally had a better handle on Tristan, as I quickly changed Allie. Bella gave Charlee a quick sniff check, and she seemed okay for now, so we decided to put them both down in their porta-cot.
After settling the girls, I turned towards Alice, as a thought was niggling way at me.
"Alice what's the top speed?"
Alice ran her fingers through her hair as she seemed to be thinking back over either a conversation with Rosalie, or maybe something she'd read in an instruction manual. "Um, nearly two hundred miles I think? Rosalie upspecked everything though. Jesus, I shouldn't have let her take it."
"Not even Jasper could have stopped her, Alice. Emmett might have lost his balls for trying. As much as I hate saying this, the only option was to let her go. Sasha better hope Charlie's boys find her before Rosalie."
Japser, who I hadn't even realised was here, joined Alice. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he quickly kissed her forehead. He wanted her to know that there wasn't anything she could have done either.
"How much do you guys know about Rosalie and what she is capable of?" Jasper questioned the room.
Emmett was the first to answer, offering the basics of what he knew, and probably—for his sake and Rosalie's—omitted some information, Jasper shook his head though, when Emmett was finished, as if to say: 'There is so much more'.
"Look okay, you can say whatever you want about Rosalie after I've told you this, but you say it in front of me I may very well end your lives okay?" With affirmative nods and raised eyebrows he continued—well began.
"Y'all know how the story goes for the most part of our parents getting together, but you don't know how bad my dad was, or how bad Rosalie's birth mother was. Everything Rosalie knows she learnt so her mother wouldn't beat her. She's seen the darkest corners of the world that girl and she knows how to kill a person if you ever really wanted to know, it probably doesn't help you though, given the current situation.
"See when Rose was only seventeen, a month before she turned eighteen her mom the psycho rhymes with witch, arranged for Rosalie to marry some guy who was loaded. She was actually pretty happy with the arrangement because she thought that having a ring on her finger would stop people leering and pursuing her for her body. Now, I didn't really know her at this time, her mom had custody when our parents started dating but John had always been open and told me what was going on with Rosalie.
"The guy, I never learnt his name, her father wouldn't tell me his name in fear I would track him down and kill him, but Rosalie was raped a week before her wedding by that bastard, he actually left her for dead, beat her within an inch of her life. She feared she'd never be able to have kids but luckily that was proved wrong.
"When Rosalie went into recovery she threw herself into everything that could distract her, she got a degree in engineering I am sure a lot of you suspected but didn't know, she took modelling classes and she knows enough self-defence moves to start a class and make a living off of it. Mixed martial arts, weapons mastery classes, she's a loaded gun; but that's only on the surface. She may have found a way to overcome what she's been through, and move past it all, but those scars are still there.
"It wouldn't surprise me if everything that she is doing now, is probably a repressed retaliation, her mother was shit and ruined her life, her rights were terminated because she did nothing to stop what happened to Rosalie, but she still tried to get her daughter back, even though Rose legally would only have been under her care for another two weeks until she was legal.
"Rosalie, retaliated though, she stole her mom's car, and because her mom refused to teach her how to drive, Rosalie learned for herself and ran wild, having no license on her and bearing a striking resemblance to her mother who's license remained in the car attached to the visor, Rosalie blew every red light, ran every stop sign and I have no idea how she managed this one, but she entered and won an illegal street race.
"Her moms' car was a stick shift, normal family sedan according John, and Rosalie had been fine tuning her engineering skills on this car and she had managed to up everything on it, and re-worked the system so it was direct fuel injections, she re worked it's power source and adjusted it's levels, I am talking tens of thousands of dollars' worth of modifications Rosalie had managed to do with some pretty ordinary tools.
"She managed to get her mom locked away for all of the laws, I don't know how she actually did it too, she was like some crazy driven criminal mastermind. But she doesn't really remember any of that, I mean she knows her mom got locked up and she doesn't care, she's probably repressed it all. Her having your Porsche, baby, is not ideal, but it doesn't matter. Either way, we would have lost any fight we'd tried to have with her, and right now—no offence chief, but if anyone is going to find Tanya, it'll be Rosalie."
The way Jasper spoke, I could have sworn he lived that past with Rosalie. He spoke from such a sad place, it was hard to tear Jasper from Rose and treat the story as it was, a retelling of someone else's past. It made me remember that there was so much about those two I didn't know. I'd met their families, and known them for a while, but them like most people had their own secrets too.
"Jasper, why hasn't she shared this with me before?" Emmett asked distraught, our lives were turning fast into an episode of Jerry Springer. All we need is for the Denali family to show up with Bella's parents and this would be something to make ratings.
"Her psyche eliminated all of the fear and the pain, it's probably buried deep down in some recess of her mind that she can't touch and for that you should be happy. The men who did this to her died Emmett, even her supposed to be fiancé, he wanted to try and drive his limo and his friends were fucktards, they were all pissed off their faces and probably died painlessly as he drove them off a cliff, you know it's not something you want her to remember. What they did to her body! Her mind! Be thankful she's still here and didn't need to be put on suicide watch because she'd have found a way to have killed herself if she'd wanted to."
No one knew how to go about things from here, other than calming down the kids and putting them back down in the nursery.
I was terrified for Tanya, because I wanted my baby. It felt like my heart had been put in a vice and every moment she was away the vice grip got tighter and tighter. I knew there was nothing that I could do though. I couldn't look for her, or protect her the way Rose could, or Charlie could. I was only good at waiting at the shop, hoping she'd turn up in one peace, or that one of Charlie's men would find her.
I couldn't let on to Bella how much was killing me, because when she came to, she was going to be hysterical, deranged even. My wife would absolutely lose it. I had to put my faith in my friends and family, and trust that they could do this. Without that trust, I had nothing and right now, I couldn't afford to lose that.
I joined Bella on the bottom bunk, and pulled her into me as I just held her. I wanted to protect her and our girls from all of the ugly in the world and I was clearly doing a bang up job.
I'd reached the point where I didn't care what happened to Sasha anymore, I just wanted my little girl home. I didn't care if she was found by Rose first, or one of the officers, as long as she wound up in my arms again.
Rosalie POV
That fucking bitch was going to pay. Never in my life would I let someone do that to anyone in my family no one touches anyone from my family without their consent. Tanya, the most precious thing in our family, I mean she practically brought us all together. Even me.
I think she was six months old when I met her. I was on break and decided to just wear some street clothes on a walk through the park. No brand, no logo, no way to recognise me. I saw a big burly guy rolling down a small hill crying 'watch me!' it seemed cute until I saw a little baby roll down after him, giggling as she went, I'd nearly had a heart attack. She wasn't mine and I didn't even know the guy, and he let a baby roll down the hill, I was about to tear him a new one when he stood and a started going off at some woman.
From what I could hear of the argument she was supposed to watch the baby, or at least stop her from crawling after him, of course during this argument he may have forgotten about the baby himself as she started crawling around towards a pond.
I grabbed the girl as she started batting at dragon flies flying near the reeds, she didn't take too well to me, but she didn't fight me as I took her back toward the beast and the bitch. I didn't even know her name, but I didn't need it, she was a bitch period.
"Worse date ever!" the crazy cow screamed as she stormed off on the balls of her feet as she tried to stop her heels from sinking into the grass. Who wears heels in the grass?
"I really hope you don't have kids!" he shouted muttering 'crazy ass bitch!' under his breath as he flipped out. She was out of ear shot when he panicked.
"Tanya! Tanya, baby, come to Uncle Emmett!" He called, assuming the baby in my arms was Tanya, I walked over to him. In hindsight, that was probably the craziest move I had ever made in my life, but it wouldn't have stopped me, I was drawn to his crazy.
"Um…Hi, are you looking for something?" I asked, he didn't really look up, just started lifting lids and plates, now I know babies are small but the seemed a little brainless.
"Yes, yes I am. Now call me a bad Uncle, whatever, but I am looking for my niece and my brother is going to kill me if I don't find her and that would of course be before my parents, and then his boss and then my boss. Fuckshitmotherbastardwhorebitch!" he cussed, normally I think if I'd been any other woman standing with his niece who watched quietly from my arms, I'd have been appalled and would have walked to the police station with her, but his distress made his hulk-like build seem far less intimidating. He just seemed approachable. I tried to ease some of the tension, by questioning him.
"Will her mother worry, that is unless your brother has a life partner?"
"No, she won't and he's not."
I'd never seen someone so hurt, he hunched over, still not facing me. I could only see the build of a line backer, broad shoulders and muscles like thick ropes wrapping around every exposed inch of his body and short black curls, he still had no face.
"Can I make a suggestion?" I offered shyly, my confidence and appearance having no real play in this conversation—the first of many.
"Well I can't possibly fuck up any more than I have."
I didn't dignify a response and instead just walked up the hill, I knelt down a little, the little girl obviously named Tanya in my arms as I brushed against his shoulder, he didn't turn toward me, but I could see unshed tears in the corners of his eyes.
"Look at me." I nudged, he shook his head a little, then gathering himself he looked at me with a slight sniffle. His eyes caught me first, they were so blue and widened when he looked at me. They were a little glazed with his tears and I could actually see dimples, odd, considering how glum he actually looked.
"Tanya, do you want to go with your Uncle Emmett?" I asked the little girl as Emmett continued to stare at me, she nodded her head, her hands extended as she reached for Emmett.
"Thank you, thank you so much." He cried before grabbing Tanya from me and pulling me into his embrace, his lips were on mine in seconds, I assumed the kiss was meant to be a small peck, but as his lips sat, soft and warm on mine we began moving our lips together against each other's. I pulled away to breathe, my cheeks were actually a little flushed.
I smiled as I disentangled myself from his arms.
"I think I should go now." I stood, about to walk away.
"Please, stay. I have a picnic here if you'd like to join me, Tanya seems to have warmed to you so I don't think she'll crawl her way down the hill if I roll down."
"Okay, if you can answer me one question?" I paused, I don't even know what made me ask, but I just wanted to know this and his nod assured me he was going to answer. "What's your surname?"
"Cullen, Emmett Cullen, to return the favour, can I ask you the same?"
"Hale, Rosalie Hale." I was shocked the first thing he said was, "Your Bells' and Tinks' head model, right?"
"Do you mean, Bella Swan and Alice Swan?" He knew them?
"My sisters, well kind of. See I work as their Dad's deputy and I've always thought the two of them sisters, so wow. Small world. I've never seen their store yet, but I know that it's getting along and Alice is starting her line or something…"
Tanya was the reason my life had turned out, the reason I even found Emmett and the reason our relationship worked. I loved her for being the only thing able to make me see men, I'd have become a crazy fish lady, because I was allergic to cats, and seriously fish are quite boring so I would have had a pretty sad life and they probably would have died when I travelled, because I would still be travelling if it wasn't for Emmett.
I was getting Tanya back, I knew that much and I saw what she did to Edward, the first day I met Emmett I ended up going back with him to his parents' house, Edward was there.
I'd never seen someone so broken in my whole life, he looked so pained. He had shadows under his eyes and it was almost as if he had this perpetual frown, like there was nothing that could lift his mood. Then of course Tanya called a loud 'Da!' and he'd shot up and pulled her into his arms in seconds.
He spoke to her like she were his world, his voice not high pitched and childish like so many young parents adopted, but rather soft and gentle. He didn't use made up words and garbled sounds, he spoke to her correctly and she seemed to hang onto his every word.
"She looks just like him." I smiled as I spoke to Emmett, his hand was resting lightly on the small of my back and I kind of wished he'd take my hand, but this was only day one, hour three, but day one.
"Good, I don't think he'd have fared as well if she were to have looked like her mother."
"Was she ugly?" I was a little confused, but surprisingly Emmett was quick to explain.
"No, she left them the day after Tanya was born."
"Emmett, if I'm with you and I see her again, can you point her out to me so I can kick her ass?" I questioned with utter repulsion, who would do that? I was regaled a bitch and even that was beyond humanly decent.
"I would find a way to make it legal, Rosalie, if it meant she got what she deserved." He replied with a devious grin, making me fall a little more for him. He was it for me. The one person you know will happen and will be yours, but you don't know where to look, well I was falling for him the first day I met him.
I pushed Alice's car, living in the moment as I raced over the back roads. I was considering where Sasha would try and take Tanya. She didn't appear stupid enough to try and take her anywhere in Forks, everyone knew she was the chiefs' Granddaughter, so maybe she was heading for Port Angeles? I just hoped that I would find her somewhere off the beaten track so I could paint the asphalt with her face.
Testing the torque of Alice's car had all new meanings when I was pushing 150 on curving road, I'd been meaning to test this car at some point and nothing felt more right then to track down my niece.
I shifted through gears taking every corner and passing cars with ease as I started looking for something out of the ordinary. This was a pretty small town and the more prestigious of cars were owned by my family so something new or shiny should have been a dead giveaway to foul play.
A small and shiny Volvo hatch seemed out of luck as I drove down a narrow straight to get on the freeway so I could head to Port Angeles. I pulled in behind it, I would offer to help them, but something about the car was oddly familiar, not quite out of place, Port Angeles had a Volvo dealer and there were a few families in the area, so you saw them; but this car wasn't the typical family car, this particular model had its base and it's luxury edition, the luxury having a killer sound system and top of the line leather interior.
This particular car had no purpose here, not with ridiculously dark tinted windows either.
I walked carefully toward the car, opting to approach from the passenger then the drivers' side, I felt ill at ease coming toward the car either way, I know Emmett probably would kill me for approaching a strange car on the back roads, my parents would too, and I wasn't even going to think about what Jasper would do, but I needed to think, maybe being under the hood of a car would help.
I could already see blown tyres on the car as I rounded the side; but what shocked me was the dumb bitch that'd blown the tyre to begin with. Sasha. Her window was rolled down slightly, I could see her white blonde hair and hated it, her naturally tanned skinned painted a fugly orange was the only other indicator as to who the driver was.
Now I had to make a serious choice. Kill the bitch and make it look like an accident, or help her and take my niece from her. I was so torn.
I ducked a little sliding down the side of the car as I approached it, wondered if she had considered using the childproof locks or any at all for that matter. Tanya seemed to be pouting, she had puffy red eyes and I knew by the Edward smirk on her face that she was planning something and whatever it was, if her living with Bella for the last year or so was anything to go by it was going to be interesting to let the little girl do a little damage on her own.
I could hear bitch face on the phone and I was curious as to how aware she was of everything, I tried the doors to see if she had locked them I could have cried hallelujah when I heard the click and the door gave a little, I peeked again and bitch face hadn't even noticed what was going on, but Tanya had. She waved and smiled as she saw me, but quieted as I signalled her to do so, happy once again that Bella had made sure she knew her manners.
I had no idea what I was doing, not really. I had no plan, just an objective: get Tanya back.
I tried for the door again and I was able to open it with Sasha not even looking over, Tanya caught on—the kid was some freaking genius—and was slowly making her was toward me.
I didn't know how Sasha didn't hear me, and I didn't care. I just wanted to get Tanya back to her distraught parents, especially Bella. Honestly, I don't know how much more that woman could take before she broke for good.
Tanya, the sneaky little cherub she is, had already unclipped her seatbelt and was making her way toward me. As soon as I has her sliding out the door, and in my arms I was running her towards the Porsche. It wasn't the safest option, but it was the only one I had, as I buckled Tanya into the bucket seat without a proper child restraint. I'd deal with the police, or her parents if I happened across them, but for now, I didn't have a choice.
"Wait here for Aunty Rose, okay baby?" I said with a smile, as I kissed her forehead, and wiped away some of the tears that hadn't quite fallen from her eyes yet.
She just smiled through tears and nodded her head.
I centered myself before walking back over to the car, chaneling everything I had in me to appear kind and cordial.
I approached her door knocking softly as she glared at her phone, she seemed a bit out of it from her phone call, but she welcomed help as she wound her window down some .
I hoped my glasses and the hat and scarf Alice had sitting in her car disguised me enough as I tried to moderate my voice.
"Need a hand?" I questioned, someone would have helped her, we were a small town she'd have been waiting for it, so I played the good Samaritan.
"Only if you know how to change a flat tyre." She said dejectedly. Of course I knew how to change a tyre.
"Only if you have a jack and a spare." I replied.
"In the trunk, I think there's a jack back there too." I didn't smile I went to work, I already text Emmett and told him to get here, would slashing the fuck out of her spare be too much.
Nope, I decided, as I found a small Swiss army knife in the compartment where her jack was kept. I made a few incisions, and went about pretending to change the tyre, I feigned a bit of ignorance as I messed with pointless things to delay the inevitable. Charlie would be about ten minutes away and I had to make something that could simply take two minutes, last nearly fifteen.
Crunching gravel finally distracted me as I checked over my shoulder, Edward and Bella were flying with Charlie looking the other way as he followed behind Edward's driving. He must have been worried because he was driving his Vanquish, a car I'd only seen once or twice, but I'd never had the pleasure of being under the hood.
I signalled to them and pointed to the drivers' door, Charlie was quick and grabbed his gear before stepping up to the door and tapping on the window.
"Excuse me miss, can you please step out of the vehicle?" he began calmly, speaking with undeniable authority, Emmett stood by the hood of the car out of her line of sight as I stepped away from her tyre, it was changed and leaking air as we spoke. As soon as she saw me she did a double take, looked around for Tanya and tried to drive away.
The tyre on her car actually split when she tried to take off, catching on a rogue rock, she spun out, the passenger side, Tanya no longer occupied slamming into the side of a tree. We all watched with bewilderment, me especially knowing Tanya not twenty minutes ago occupied that side of the car.
Charlie and Emmett both ran to the car, Edward was on the phone to Carlisle and Bella had gone to take Tanya out of Alice's Porsche. I watched my man work, they were gentle enough with her all things considered, until they saw Tanya's face.
I could see my opening and I took it, cracking my knuckles as I crossed the distance between us, before I landed a solid right cross to her face. I managed to land the hit right between the eyes. She was dazed from the punch, but it didn't stop her from swearing and carrying on as Charlie and Emmett had to force her into the cruise.
'Come at me bitch', I would have told her if she was game, but something told me she was all talk.
Kidnapping was not a light sentence. Kidnapping the Chief of Police's granddaughter, was bad news, tie that in with Esme and Carlisle's clout, and Sasha didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting out, or landing any kind of deal.
I looked up Edward and Bella, and watching them cling to their baby girl, I knew that if the time ever came again I wouldn't do anything different.
Bella POV
"Momma?" Tanya called from her room, she'd fallen asleep as soon as she was clipped into her car seat so we just carried her to bed.
I wasn't surprised in the least that Tanya had woken up. We were all gathered in the living room, so I stepped away from every one so she could see me.
"I'm here, Baby."
Tanya clutched the railing as she carefully navigated her way down the stairs, as soon as she reached the bottom floor she rushed me, jumping into my arms as she cried my name. She kept saying she was sorry between crying my name and Edward's.
"It's not your fault." I shushed, as Edward rushed to us and wrapped his arms around the both of us.
"Momma and Daddy and so happy that you're home safe, Baby." Edward offered, "All that matters is that you're home. That's all that matters. We love you so much, baby girl. Calm on now, stop crying, momma and daddy are here."
I knew it wasn't her fault. What she went through today with Sasha would never ever be her fault. The woman to blame was exactly where she needed to be, locked behind bars, where she couldn't touch my family again.
Sasha is still lucky it was Rose that found her, because if it were me, I wouldn't have called Charlie. I'd have killed her myself.
I'm wanting to get the last of these edits completing and this story up and complete again. It's been a much longer process than I'd originally intended, but for any and all of you who have managed to stick this out, I truly appreciate it.
