Chapter 28 Ultimatum
Eyes wide, Bella smiled at Emmett and remembered the phone in her hand. "Zafrina!" she exclaimed.
"Bella? Do you really remember everything?" Zafrina asked slowly.
Bella nodded and told them of what happened after she'd gotten in the life raft.
"...and then the wave hit me and that's when I guess I blacked out." Bella finished. She'd turned her phone on speaker phone so that Zafrina could hear Emmett and vise versa.
"Okay. So what happened after that? What's the first thing you remember?" Zafrina asked.
Bella remembered waking up in a weird house that later she came know belonged to Jacob. "This boy saved me. His name is Jacob." Thoughts of Jacob swam through her brain and she flushed lightly.
Emmett saw this and the corners of his mouth turned into a smile. "Looks like somebody likes this boy." Emmett teased.
Zafrina gasped. "You do? I must meet him!"
Bella laughed lightly. "We're just friends." she told them.
"I bet you want to be more than friends." Emmett pressed. "And I am totally cool with that."
Bella rolled her eyes. "We'll see." Bella muttered. "But first we have a bigger problem."
"Whats that?" Emmett asked dumbly.
"Are you an idiot?" Zafrina asked rhetorically. "It's obvious Edward isn't going to let her out of his sights after all this has happened."
Bella nodded and sighed. "Yeah. He won't be letting me out of this house until after the wedding."
Silenced reigned before Emmett looked at Bella, eyes sparkling. "This is true, but we have one advantage."
"What's that?" Bella asked.
Zafrina was also curious and remained silent while Emmett spoke.
"He doesn't know yet that Bella has recovered her memory. Therefore he won't be as on his guard." Emmett said.
"Thats true!" Bella exclaimed. "Maybe if we come up with a plan, I can escape."
The trio spoke in hushed voices of a plan to get Bella out of this house without Edward's knowledge. Unbeknownst to them, Edward was standing outside of the room listening to ever word they spoke with a smirk planted on his face.
~Jacob and Rachel's P.O.V~
Rachel threw a pillow at her brother. "Okay! Get up right now!" she growled.
Jacob ignored the pillow and continued laying down on the bed with his back to her. "Go away Rachel. Aren't you supposed to be be heading home today?" he asked tiredly.
"I was going to leave today, but with you all down in the dumps, I can't just leave you here like this." she responded.
"There's nothing you can do. So just leave me alone." he muttered bitterly.
A moment of silence and Jacob turned around briefly to find that she had finally left. He turned back towards the wall and continued to wallow in sadness.
Jacob yelped from shock when he felt freezing cold water poured over his body. Rolling off his bed, he jumped to the floor and glared at Rachel who was holding a now empty bucket. "Oh great! You're up. I made dinner."
Jacob pushed her out the room, before peeling off his wet clothes, toweling dry, and throwing on some sweats and an old T-shirt. He looked at his soggy bed and sighed. Decideing to let the sheets dry on their own, he left his room and entered the kitchen.
Rachel walked up to him with a plate of fish and corn. "Don't complain. It was all that was left in the fridge." she told him, shoving the plate into his chest. Jacob took the plate grudgingly and plopped down on the couch.
"What time is it?" he asked, taking a forkful of the baked fish into his mouth.
"Half past six." Rachel responded.
"Really?" Jacob asked incredulously.
"Yeah!" Rachel smacked the back of his head angrily. "You idiot! You've been in that damn bed all day!"
Jacob laughed briefly. "Have I really been in bed all day?" he asked.
Rachel pointed to a clock. "Does that answer your question."
Jacob looked at the clock and sighed. "Sorry."
Rachel pouted. "Had me worrying about you and stuff." she grumbled.
Jacob set the plate down and leaned over to give Rachel a hug."Thanks for always being there for me." he whispered before pulling away.
"Always Jakey." Rachel replied, tussling his hair and receiving a scowl.
"So where is dad?" Jacob asked, turning on the TV.
Rachel shrugged. "Probably fishing. He's almost never home anymore."
"Anymore? You don't live here. He's never here. Period."
"That was good when Bella was here." Rachel mused aloud.
Jacob smiled sadly. "It was. " Thoughts of Bella consumed his mind and he grew quiet.
Rachel began channel surfing but couldn't find anything good on TV. "Geez, the only thing on is that stupid love story between a vampire and human. I'm still upset about how they threw a werewolf into the mix and he got passed over for that damn vampire." Rachel ranted. "The vampire was so lame. And wouldn't you find it creepy to walk wake up and find him sitting on your bed because he crawled through your window?"
Jacob laughed at his sister's rant. "I know what movie your talking about. It was called, Darklight or something." Jacob looked at the TV screen and saw the vampire protaganist scowl at the werewolf. "Me and Bella watched it once. She liked the movie and said she really connected to the human girl." He sighed and set his plate down. "I need to get over her. You warned me after all. I'm surprised you aren't going 'I told you so'."
Rachel smiled at him sheepishly. "I already did. But you were asleep."
Jacob rolled his eyes, then changed the channel. He stopped on the news channel and dropped the remote onto the table.
"...Thats right Austin. We're appalled at the change. But it has to be done. Now let's turn it over to Katie with our current events." The news camera angled away from the woman speaking, and turned to a different woman.
"Thank you Chelsea. We are all excited about tomorrow. The wedding of the year." Chelsea smiled. "That's right everyone. The handsome Edward Cullen is finally marrying the stunning Isabella Swan tomorrow at noon. I don't know about you guys, but I am green with envy. Isabella is so lucky to be marrying the heir to Cullens inc.-"
Jacob clicked off the TV and stormed to his bedroom.
Rachel watched him go sadly. Turning back on the TV, she heard the end of the Chelsea's wedding talk.
"...-and the wedding is to be held in their Tokeland, right off the coast of their mansion. Back to you Austin with the weather."
~End of Jacob's and Rachel's P.O.V~
The plan was set. Emmett was going to distract Edward and Bella was going to hightail it out of the mansion. She had enough money on her to get a one way flight anywhere, and she wouldn't contact anyone until the day after the wedding. She was also not going to go anywhere to close. Emmett had even suggested out of the country, but Bella felt that was too extreme.
The plan was very simple and they hoped that because of it's simplicity, it would work.
Emmett set about finding Edward, and Bella waited the five minutes they had settled upon, before leaving out of the back door in the kitchen. She cut through the backyard and entered another person's yard before running on the sidewalk, down the street. Bella didn't stop running until e reached a coffee shop almost a mile away.
Staggering and out of breath, she entered the shop to catch the end of her wedding casted on the news. Every time she thought of her wedding, she felt nauseous. This time wasn't an exception. After ordering a regular coffee, she hailed a cab told the driver to take her to the airport.
"I know you!" The cabbie announced, turning around in his seat to get a good look at her.
"Uh..." Bella didn't know how to respond to this.
"Oh!" the man flushed from embarrassment. "I mean to say, I saw you on the news. You're marrying that Edwin guy."
Bella laughed at the guys mess up of Edward's name. "Yeah. Thats me. Now do you think you can take m to the airport?"
The cabbie turned around in his seat and scratched his head. "I can. But why are you going there?"
Bella didn't feel the need to explain to this man of her dire need to escape her abusive fiancé. So she lied. "I'm going there to pick up a friend for the wedding tomorrow."
The cabbie began driving her to the airport. "Oh. Thats cool. Hey! Can I get an invite? I won't charge ya the fare." he promised.
Bella shrugged. "Uh, sure." She reached into the purse she was carrying out and passed him a wedding card. "Thats your ticket to getting in. Don't lose it." she lied, passing him one of the stray cards that had made into her purse and she had yet to remove.
"Thanks!" The cabbie then focused his attention on the road and less than twenty minutes later, he pulled up beside the airport's main doors.
"Thank you for the ride." she opened the door and slid out of the cab.
"My pleasure." he smiled at her and after she closed the door, he drove away.
Bella hurried inside the airport for it had started to rain and she was sans umbrella. Walking confidently up to the counter, she prepared to ask for a ticket to the first flight out of Tokeland. A smile was etched into her face as she saw how smoothly the plan had gone. In fact, it had gone without a hitch. Her smile began to faulter as a shiver ran down her spine. Someone was watching her, she could feel it.
Turning around slowly, Bella blanched as she came face to face with Edward, her fiancé.
"Edward?" Bella nearly gasped.
"And where might we be headed?" he asked coldly.
"I-I-I-I"
Edward grabbed her hand roughly and planted a fake smile on his face. "Let's go." he said through gritted teeth. "Struggle and you know the consequences." Bella whimpered in fright, then let him drag her out of the airport and into the limo waiting for them. He tossed her in and she scurried to the other side of the familiar limo.
"How did you know I was here?" she asked when he got in.
Edward narrowed his eyes at her. "I overheard your ridiculous plan and when Emmett came to 'distract me' I locked him in my office and went in search of you. Good thing I knew you were going to an airport. I lost track of you when you cut through the backyard." Edward raised his hand as if to strike her and she flinched, closing her eyes. Only, the strike never came. Peeking her eyes open she saw his hand frozen near her cheek. "I can't hit you the ay before our wedding." he muttered, caressing the side of her cheek gently. "I can't have my blushing bride looking bruised and battered." He ran a hand through her hair and suddenly gripped it tightly. "But after the wedding, punishment is given where it's due." he growled, throwing her head away and she narrowly escaped hitting it against the window.
Bella turned towards him and finally snapped. "I hate you!" she screamed, beating her small hands against his chest. "You ruined my life! I won't let you keep doing this!" she continued beating him until Edward snapped out of shock and restrained her easily. He'd taken a few good hits in the stomach, but aside from his now disheveled appearance, he seemed fine.
He grabbed both of her arms and pushed her away from him.
"You can't honestly think I'm going to marry you!" she spat, glaring at the man she used to love.
Edward's anger seemed to intensify and for a moment, fear flickered across Bella's face. But this was it. This was the moment. She would rather they get into a huge fight now, ad she walk away than have to suffer his abusive ways for the rest of her life. "Bring it!" she held up her tiny fists and Edward's hand twitched as if wanting to hit her. But almost instantly, he calmed and a smile broke out onto his face.
"Oh Bella. Bella, Bella, Bella." his smiled deepened and turned into one that chilled Bella to the bone. "I don't need to hurt you, or force you to marry me." he told her.
Bella's eyes widened in shock at this. Was he going to let her go freely? That was unlike him. Something wasn't right here. "Why is that?" she asked, instantly regretting her question when she received his response.
"Because you're going to marry me of your own free will." he told her, eyes gleaming evilly. "For if you don't I will kill Jacob and his family."
Bella blanched and began to shake from the promise she heard in Edward's voice. "You wouldn't..." she whispered, eyes glazing over with unshed tears.
Edward leaned close to her and brought his lips to her ear. "Try me." he whispered.
Pulling away, Bella couldn't help but to unleash her tears. "But you'll go to jail!" she shrieked at him, desperate to push this threat from his mind.
Edward merely laughed and leaned back in his seat. "Bella, I have very good lawyers. Don't worry about me." he replied after his laughter subsided.
The driver pulled into the driveway of the mansion, then rolled down the black-screen, separating him from th two passengers in the back. He unpluged his earbuds and looked at Edward. "We're home." he told his boss.
"Thanks Aro. You are dismissed for the night."
"Cool." Aro popped the earbuds back into his ear, then exited the limo.
"So what'll it be, Bella?" Edward asked. "Marry me without anymore of the b.s running away? Or, will I have to kill Jacob and his family?"
Bella's tears slid endlessly down her reddened cheeks. She looked into Edward's dark eyes and spoke three words he was surprised to hear her say again. "I hate you."
A/N: I'm happy ya'll seemed to enjoy that last chapter. As for this one, whatcha think? Want me to update again soon? Leave a review! ^w^