To clarify: If it's true, Tony would have been conceived a few months before Edward met Bella. Some people seemed to be under the impression he cheated on her early in their relationship, and that is not true.
Did you think we'd be fine? Still got scars on my back from your knife. So, don't think it's in the past, these kinds of wounds they last and they last. Now, did you think it all through? All these things will catch up to you. And time can heal, but this won't. So, if you're coming my way, just don't. ~ Taylor Swift, Bad Blood
EPOV
"Are you and mom getting a divorce?" I choked on the sip of coffee I had just taken. The coffee that was going to get me through the day after a night of no sleep. The caffeine hadn't kicked in yet, though, and the question only made my migraine worse.
"Are you?"
"What makes you think we're getting a divorce?" I asked, disliking the word on my tongue immediately. Yes, things were about as fucked up as they had been in years, but a divorce wasn't an option.
Aiden shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. I grabbed my coffee and my son by the shoulder, leading him into the living room and sitting him down on the couch. Sitting on the coffee table across from him, I took another sip before getting into things.
"Why do you think we're getting a divorce?"
"Alec was home last night. He told me mom ended up there for a while and was talking about how you don't need her anymore."
Alec, it seemed, had ended up with his mother's ability to gossip about everything. It was a habit I was going to have to squash soon.
"We're not getting a divorce," I told him certainly.
"How can you be so confident? Mom left you at the restaurant and went and got trashed. I've never even seen mom drunk before. Half of the kids at school have divorced parents. I don't want to have to choose between you two, or be some kind of mediator between fights. What if –"
It was wrong to laugh, but I couldn't help it. The boy had Bella's knack for rambling when nervous, and it was equally as amusing when he did it. It was also comical to picture myself not married to the girl that had been by my side for years.
No, I hadn't talked to her since she left with Ben. I didn't know what was going through her head, but I knew for damn sure that divorce wasn't on her mind. Maybe if this had happened twenty years ago I would have been nervous, thought it might be for the best to let Bella go and get away from this life, but I didn't have those doubts anymore.
It was just hard to explain to a seventeen-year-old how that felt, because I'd had Bella by my side longer than he'd been alive.
"You've had girlfriends, yes?" Aiden's cheeks flamed, and I took that as my answer. "You've never brought anyone home to meet your mom and I, but we know you've been seen out with a girl or two."
"I wouldn't call them girlfriends," he mumbled.
"I know you think it's probably fun now, going from girl to girl. I did the same thing, but one day you'll understand how I can confidently say that your mother and I will never get divorced."
"But what if –"
"You know probably eighty percent of what we've been through together. All of the big stuff can define our relationship, but it's the little things that make it so I know, without a doubt, we will never get divorced."
Aiden sat and thought for a minute, staring at me critically. While we had told him everything he wanted to know lately, there were still little things he was unaware of. Things that weren't necessarily important to anyone but Bella and I. Like how she learned some basic emergency medical skills after watching Jasper stitch up my side, or the way she's never thought twice when I've asked too much of her.
Our relationship had become so engrained in us, it was hard to remember a time when she wasn't there. It seemed like lifetimes ago when I wasn't waking up next to her every morning, or when I ever thought sleeping with Tanya Volturi was a good idea.
"It's my fault. Mom finding out about Tony is my fault. I had no fucking clue, Dad, I swear."
"It's not your fault," I told him adamantly. "We don't even know if it's true."
Aiden frowned at me. "You think they're lying?"
I chose my words carefully, not wanting to give him any reason to worry. "It wouldn't be the first time a Volturi tried to fuck us over."
The entire night, a thousand different scenarios ran through my head. I was itching to get to the bottom of things, and had the nearly uncontrollable urge to pummel someone, but I also had a wife who went on a bender sleeping upstairs.
Technically, it could have been true. My memories were fuzzy, but I knew I had hooked up with Tanya in the months prior to meeting Bella. Too much shit had happened since then, though. Aro surely would have known and wouldn't have waited to throw it in my face. Aro wanted our family and our legacy, marrying into the family because of an unwanted pregnancy seemed like a good way to get it done.
If it was true, why didn't he ever do anything about it? Why did Tanya never tell me to try and sink her claws back into me? The odds were in my favor, it was entirely unlikely that this Tony kid was actually my son. But, there was a little voice in my head that told me it was an excellent long game. Waiting for just the right time, using my son against me in the worst way possible, it was fucking devious. Something I wouldn't put past the Volturi's.
As a crime family they were basically extinct, but the women left in the family were just as petty and vindictive.
"I want to help," Aiden said, breaking me out of my thoughts.
"Help with what?"
"With whatever you're going to do to get back at them. I want to help."
A year ago, I would have welcomed the offer with open arms. I would have been excited about the prospect of working with my son, sharing the only life I had ever known with him.
Things were different now.
"No."
"Dad, I –"
"No. End of discussion."
"I know I fucked up but I want things to go back to how they were," he told me quietly.
"Things can never go back to how they were," I said honestly. "We'll find a new, good normal, though. Your normal just isn't going to include revenge against the Volturi's."
The second I said it I saw the determination cross his face. It was a look that told me something in my son had switched. He had a new outlook on our lives and that part of him that was engrained with the need to protect the family as fiercely as I did, had been switched on.
I would do my best to make sure he never had to use that drive.
Aiden and I parted ways after he made a point of leaving to go finish some school work, all part of his plan to convince us he was ready to graduate. He had already been going to an advanced private school before we pulled him out, and his home tutoring was done at his own pace, which was also advanced. He had the credits, but he was still a kid. The thought of him having the freedom that college allowed made both of us nervous.
I could hear some rummaging from upstairs and made Bella a cup of coffee before heading to our room. She was getting back in bed when I opened the door, burying her head in a pile of blankets.
"Rough night?"
Bella groaned, sitting up and pulling the blankets around her. Her hair was knotted on top of her head and she still had little indentions from her pillow on her cheeks. Fucking adorable.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled, scrubbing her hands over her face.
Handing her the cup of coffee in my hands, I got in bed beside her. After Bella took a sip and set the cup down I pulled her into my lap, sighing in contentment at the weight of her on top of me. Some people liked to have important conversations sitting at a table, or pacing around each other, but I preferred it like this. Chest to chest, eye to eye, while Bella nervously tugged at my hair with her arms around my neck.
"Do you really think I don't need you?"
It was the only thing from last night that truly upset me. I had gotten to Emmett's house two minutes after he called me and told me Bella was there and listened to her drunken rambling as she talked to Rosalie.
"Sometimes it feels like you do more for me than I do for you. The only thing I've given you that you couldn't get on your own was Aiden."
"That is… utterly absurd, Bella."
She looked at me, her eyes blinking back her surprise.
"Isabella, you put your entire life on the line to protect me and my family."
Bella rolled her eyes. "That doesn't count, Edward. It was years ago, and it wasn't the same thing."
I didn't bring it up often because I knew she didn't like talking about it, but I had no idea she didn't see how monumental what she did for us all those years ago was.
"You could have very easily spent your life in prison," I told her, ignoring the way her entire body tensed as I did. "Nobody, myself included, would have blamed you had you taken a deal and gotten yourself out of trouble."
"I never would have done that," she said quickly, frowning at me.
I ran my fingers through her hair, cupping her cheek and keeping her eyes on me. "I know. And that loyalty, that trust you have in me… those are just a few of the million things you've given to me."
With a sigh, I pressed a soft kiss to first her left cheek, then her right. "I know you get lost in your mind sometimes, and it tricks you into thinking you don't give me anything or that I don't need you. But I need you every day."
The second that piece of shit called me dad, another life ran through my mind. One where my parents found out Tanya was pregnant and I was married to her within days. A life where I was stuck with her as my wife and never grew out of my toxic ways. I never would have stayed faithful to her, and God only knows what shit Carlisle would have gotten the family into if I never got my head out of my ass and confronted him. Something that only happened because of the pretty brunette in my lap.
Bella dropped her head to my shoulder and I felt a soft sigh escape her lips.
"I know it's hard for you, but don't worry about this until we know for sure." I didn't need to give her details, she would know what I was talking about. "And please, for the love of God, never tell your security not to tell me where you are."
As much as I appreciated Ben's loyalty to Bella, it could be a pain in the ass sometimes.
"Thank you," she mumbled against my neck. "For always knowing what I need to hear," she continued, peppering kissed up to my chin.
"For never getting mad when I overreact," she went on, her lips just barely brushing mine as she spoke.
"It's you and me, Bella," I told her, framing her face with my hands so there was no escape. "Always."
Bella let out a shaky breath, staring at me with an odd, almost star struck look on her face, before she pressed a searing kiss to my lips. We both groaned as our tongues met, and I snuck my hands up underneath her t-shirt, giving her waist a gentle squeeze.
Eventually the heated kiss wasn't enough and I got her on her back underneath me, squirming at every little touch. Her shirt had bunched underneath her breasts and I took the opportunity to pepper kisses along her stomach, enjoying the way her muscles tensed at every peck.
She was in a pair of simple, cotton panties and nothing else. I nibbled my way from the tattoo bearing my name on her hip to the sensitive spot right underneath her navel when a knock at the door made us both freeze.
"God damnit," Bella muttered, panting underneath me.
I pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, getting her attention. "You're okay?"
Her frustration faded from her face as I asked. I just needed a final reassurance that everything was good. She gave me a small nod before begrudgingly getting out of bed and heading for the closet.
When I opened the door, Aiden was standing there with his tablet in one hand and a glass of a revolting green sludge in the other.
"What the fuck is that?"
"A hangover cure. For Mom."
Before I could laugh Bella exited the closet and asked the same question I had. Her cheeks flushed when Aiden explained it.
"What mother doesn't want her seventeen-year-old son to bring her a hangover cure," she mumbled, taking the glass.
…Dark…
Later that afternoon I was in my office downtown trying to figure out how the fuck this situation happened. I hadn't been in charge when Tanya was supposedly pregnant, so I wasn't sure if Carlisle had surveillance on all of the Volturi's at that time or not. Probably not, considering they were working together. Then why the fuck did no one know about this kid?
That was how every possible scenario in my mind ended. Either Tanya locked herself away for nine months, or she's a fucking liar. Those were the only two options.
I scrubbed my hands over my face, frowning when I realized it was much later than I thought it was; the sun was down and the traffic was a mess outside of my window. There was some kind of commotion outside my door, but I ignored it, figuring I was any one of the usual mundane office issues that popped up; coffee spills or jammed printers. Shit that I didn't care about.
Then my door opened and Viktor Petrov walked in.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" I asked, pissed that he not only barged in, but that he was supposed to be in Russia, where all of the Petrov's moved after Luka's death.
"Paying a visit to an old friend," he said, his accent thicker than I remembered. Without an invitation, he came and sat down across from me. "Have you missed me, Edward?"
"Cut the bullshit. What do you want, Petrov?"
His nostrils flared, his eyes burning into me. "I want my family back."
I waited for him to continue, because we both knew he wasn't finished. "You've been in charge too long. You Cullens always get your way. Your pretty little wife threw me under the bus to get out of trouble, and you ruined my father until the day he died."
"Your father ruined himself by trying to kill me. He trusted the Volturi brothers when he shouldn't have. That's not my fault."
I was goading him, and we both knew it. He was right on the edge of exploding, but then he relaxed. "Tell me, how is your son?"
It was my turn to tense. "My son is none of your concern."
"Excuse me, I meant your eldest. Anthony, I believe he is called?"
Fucking hell.
"You're the missing piece."
Viktor smirked. "He's not actually your son. It was just a little game I wanted to play."
It was my turn to be on the edge of a meltdown. "Who the fuck do you think you're dealing with, Petrov?"
"You're a cockroach," he spat out, leaning toward me over the desk. "You can't be killed no matter how hard we try. But, you do have weaknesses. That addict son of yours, for instance. It was fun watching him go from the golden boy to complete fuck up in an instant."
I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood.
Petrov reached over and grabbed a picture I had on my desk, one of Bella standing on stage accepting an award. "This has always been your biggest weakness, though. It was a pleasure watching her drink herself away after thinking you had a child with someone else. I can't wait to pick her apart then watch her slowly go insane as she rots in prison."
My eyes snapped to his at the mention of prison, and my blood ran cold. "I could frame her for the unsolved murder of Felix and Demetri. Or, I could show the police the footage of her emptying a safety deposit box that didn't belong to her."
Christ, there were only a hand full of people that knew about the bank. None of them would have told –
"Your son is quite the conversationalist when he's enjoying a good high."
My hand tensed on the weapon I had taped underneath my desk. I could have a bullet between his eyes in three seconds, but he knew that. He would have backup plans in place. This wasn't a last-minute show he had put together, and he wasn't acting just to get ahead of the family.
This was pure, unadulterated, vengeance. The kind of revenge that took years to boil over and plan. The kind that ended in bloodshed.
Killing him now wouldn't do any good. Not yet.
Viktor stood, buttoning his jacket and smiling down at me. "You can tell your wife that her parents, the Swan's, they're alive because we had a good chat about her. They hate her just as much as I do."
…Dark…
I locked myself in my office for hours after Viktor left. At first it was so I could calm down and didn't go put a bullet through his head. Then, it was because for the first time in a long time, I didn't know what to do. Most of the time my work came easy to me, and in the last few years things were simple. We didn't have people like Demetri or Viktor around, waiting for us to slip up so they could swoop in and take us down.
Shit like this wasn't supposed to happen. It was a common occurance when Carlisle was in charge, when he was sabotaging us at every turn. We were supposed to be good now, solid and strong. I was supposed to make it so none of this happened.
Now the thing I worked day and night to try to avoid was happening. Even worse, it was happening before I even knew what the fuck was going on.
Viktor meant every word he said, these weren't empty threats. If he knew about the safety deposit box, he had to have more evidence than the word of a high seventeen-year-old. Everyone knew Demetri and Felix were dead, found shot in their office. The crime scene was perfect, and the police ruled it a suicide, both brothers tragically taking their own lives in a suicide pact.
There was no doubt that with the smallest bit of provocation the CPD would reopen the case and look for ties to the Cullen family. I wouldn't watch my wife go through another trial. I vowed to myself a long time ago that she would never be so much as questioned by the police again.
Viktor would have backup plan after backup plan for any move I made. He was a thorough bastard, which was why I jumped on the chance to get him locked up so long ago. Hell, he could be talking to the police, or telling someone else to do it right now. There was only one option I could think of to keep Bella from being hurt by all of this, and she wouldn't like it.
The house was dark when I got home. There was a soft hum coming from the direction of Aiden's room, which I knew would be from his television; he left it on every night as he fell asleep.
I had every intention of telling her what I knew when I got to our room, but I froze the second I saw her. She was curled up on her favorite chair in the corner, book in her lap, and reading glasses on her nose. She didn't see me at first so I had a few seconds to watch her; admire the way her nose wrinkled at whatever she was reading and how she chewed on her bottom lip.
She was going to be furious with me for a long time after tomorrow so I made the impulsive, probably stupid decision not to tell her anything. Just for tonight. I needed one more night with my wife as she was; blissfully unaware of how fucked we were.
"Are you okay?"
I blinked and suddenly Bella was standing in front of me, wrapping her arms around my neck. I cupped her cheek with the palm of my hand, running my thumb over the circles under her eyes. No matter how tired she was she always waited up for me unless I told her I was going to be gone all night. It didn't matter how many times I told her to go to sleep.
"I love you, Isabella Cullen," I whispered, pressing a kiss to her pillow-soft lips.
I meant for it to be a soft, gentle kiss, and it was. At first. Scenarios started running through my head again, repercussions of what I would do tomorrow that would follow Bella around for the rest of her life. I wondered if maybe my discussion with Aiden this morning had been a lie, that Bella eventually would want a divorce.
The thought of her with another man made my vision go red. A moment later I had her pressed against our bedroom door, feeling bad about the force I used to get her there. The guilt was erased as she moaned into my kiss and hitched a leg over my hip.
Clothes were shed slowly, because neither of us let our kiss end for longer than a few seconds to get the articles out of the way. Bella's eyes studied me sometimes, knowing there was a reason behind my frantic hands, but then they would glaze over as I slid a hand along her breast, down her side, wherever I could reach.
My name fell from her lips on repeat as I dropped her last piece of clothing to the ground. Her hips flexed against my hand as I teased her, barely dipping one finger in and out of her slowly.
This beautiful, talented, mesmerizing woman was mine, had been for decades, and the thought of destroying all of that left a hole in my chest.
"Need you," I mumbled against her neck, groaning as she hitched her legs around my waist just as I was lifting her up. I froze, the tip of my cock just barely brushing her heat.
"Tell me you're mine," I grunted.
"Yours," Bella whispered, nipping at my bottom lip. "Always yours."
The moment I was completely encompassed by her, I stilled for a moment to hear the satisfied little sigh she let out every time. The one that told me she was just as desperate for me as I was for her.
Bella whined against my lips and I finally started moving, taking in every reaction she gave me. The way her hips moved in time with mine. How her nails dug into my shoulders.
"Fuck, Bella," I grunted, hoping the way her body slammed against the wall with every thrust didn't leave a bruise in the morning. I was too far gone to focus on anything but her skin under my fingertips and her pussy convulsing around my cock.
I watched her closely as she came, memorizing the way her hair flowed down her shoulders and her eyes that burned into mine. Two more deep thrusts and I came, sucking on her bottom lip as my heart rate slowed.
"Whatever it is," Bella mumbled sleepily as I got her situated in bed beside me. She nestled herself into her favorite position; her head buried against my neck and a leg thrown over mine. "You can talk to me about it."
"I know," I said, doing my best to ignore the way my stomach twisted with guilt. "Tomorrow."
In my effort to make the night last as long as possible, I didn't sleep at all. I let Bella sleep for an hour or two at a time before I woke her up, sometimes with a soft kiss to her lips, other times with my hand between her legs, already working her up into a frenzy as she slept.
I had her underneath me, our hands intertwined beside her head as I moved slowly within her when I saw the sun finally start to rise.
…Dark…
I left Bella to sleep in. After showering I pulled on jeans and a t-shirt, making sure it wasn't one of the ones Bella liked to sleep in. It was early, but I still sent out the mass text message to the family to be here in an hour for a family meeting. It would get everyone's attention, because we'd never had a full family meeting before. Never had a need for one.
There was never a time when I didn't have my affairs in order. The bottom left drawer of my desk had everything Bella would need should I get arrested or turn up dead. I reminded her of it once a year, and once a year she told me to fuck off because she would never need it. I pulled all of the papers out, double checking that everything was correct.
"What are you doing?" Bella asked, her voice tentative as she carefully walked into the office. She got the message too, she would know something was happening.
I smiled up at her, hoping to ease some of her worries.
"Everyone should be here soon. Come," I stood, grabbing her hand and twirling her in a circle before tucking her underneath my arm.
"What is the meeting about?"
I kept my mouth shut as we walked to the formal dining room. The table was big enough for everyone, and Aiden was already seated, frowning and tugging at a string on the sleeve of his sweatshirt.
"You can relax. It's nothing to do with you," I told him, pulling Bella's chair out before taking a seat next to her at the head of the table.
Technically, it was about him. Alec let it slip to Aiden that Bella had done something with a bank, and Aiden told Tony. It wasn't his fault, though. He didn't know what he was doing.
Everyone silently filed in; Emmett and Jasper looking more curious than anyone. Alice and Rosalie looked terrified, and the younger Cullen's looked intrigued, almost excited about being part of the meeting. Maggie was the last to arrive, apologizing as she sat down and looking a little frazzled.
I took a deep breath before saying the words I never thought would come out of my mouth. "I'm turning myself in to the police."
The room was silent.
My ears started ringing.
There were gasps across the room, but the smallest one came from the woman beside me. I was a coward and couldn't look her in the eyes.
"All of this… it was all planned by Viktor Petrov. He targeted you," I said, looking over at Aiden. "And lied about Tony being my son, just to fuck with us. He's got evidence against Bella for something she did a couple decades ago, and won't hesitate to frame her for Demetri and Felix's murder's either. He won't stop until you're either in prison or he destroys us."
Again, there was a long string of silence. And, again, I was too much of a coward to look at my wife.
"So…" Jasper started, frowning in my direction. "He's just fucking with us. He can't have any evidence on Bella. How the fuck does he even know about it."
My eyes snapped to Aiden for just a second.
"No," he muttered, tugging at his hair and squeezing his eyes shut. "I didn't mean to –"
"It's all right," I told him. "I'm taking care of it."
Bella huffed beside me and I finally looked at her. Her eyes, the ones that were full of love and passion last night, looked at me as if she wanted to lock me up herself.
"Over…" she shook her head, like she was too angry to even speak. "Over my dead fucking body are you turning yourself into the police."
"Isabella…"
"No!" she shouted. "The second they have you on something as petty as this they'll stick you with a thousand other charges and you'll never get out." Her voice cracked on the last word.
"Can I… can I ask a question?" Alice chimed in softly. She looked as confused as everyone else. We always had a slightly strained relationship, Alice and I. She was younger and never really understood what it was that we did. She enjoyed the perks of being a Cullen without having to do the dirty work. I remember, as a teenager, resenting her free spirit and constant happiness.
As we got older, we got better as ignoring the tension. Or maybe we just saw each other less and that was it. It wasn't until Bella got arrested that she really started to understand how high the stakes were. Since then, we were a little closer, but she always shied away from talking about work.
I nodded for her to continue.
"What did you do, Bella?"
"I robbed a bank."
"Bella!" Alice and Rosalie gasped simultaneously.
Bella rolled her eyes. "I didn't hold them at gunpoint or anything. I emptied a fucking safety deposit box that was in my name according to their computer system. That's it." Her eyes were on me again, an amber fire burning behind them. "Something I will take full responsibility for. Not you."
"No," I told her simply. I let her protect me once, and I wasn't going to do it again.
Before Bella could fight back, Emmett interrupted. "I don't see how you turning yourself in solves the issue, Edward."
"Petrov just wants revenge. He's going after Bella and Aiden because he knows they're my weak spot. Once I turn myself in I'll have made the biggest hit against myself. He won't have to torment you two anymore to get to me."
Maggie started talking then, some bullshit about self-sacrifice not being healthy, but I ignored her.
"Fuck this," Bella muttered. "You're not turning yourself in to the police. That's… suicide."
"I'm not going to let him torment you and Aiden, or anyone else."
"I'm not going to let you spend the rest of your life in prison," Bella challenged.
I rarely lost my temper at my wife. Even now, I knew she was simply fighting to try and protect me, but she didn't see what the alternatives were. Maybe she needed a harsh awakening to understand what was going on.
Before she could flinch away from me, I grabbed both of her wrists tightly as they sat on the table in front of her, and held them together. She tensed, but it wasn't what her reaction used to be to something like this. I squeezed her wrists tight enough to mimic the snap of handcuffs.
"You remember it all, every day. I can see it in your eyes, when something takes you back there. You remember Biers slamming you down against the table because you wouldn't talk, and you flashback to getting beaten while you were handcuffed. You think this would be any different, any easier? It's not murder but it's a fucking bank robbery and whatever else they want to try and make stick."
I expected Bella to back down at that, thought it would be enough for her to see reason.
"I don't care."
"Look," Jared said from down the table. "It was a picture, correct? It wasn't anything with a high monetary value. The penalty for that charge will be minor."
"You know as well as I do that the feds always have a handful of charges waiting for us," I replied, keeping my eyes on Bella. Her eyes were squeezed shut, but her face didn't look pained. With a sigh, I loosened my hold on her wrists and she immediately pulled her arms to her chest.
Bella didn't glare at me, and her eyes weren't burning with rage anymore. They were contemplative, probably trying to think of another solution. I wouldn't accept any solution that didn't guarantee her and Aiden's safety, though.
"Bella," I sighed, cupping her cheek in my hand and brushing away a stray tear. "It'll be okay."
"Ben was right," she whispered. "We got soft. We had a baby and things got easier and we lost that edge we always had to have."
I understood the sentiment, sort of. Bella got softer after we had Aiden. She wasn't as defensive and on guard all of the time. She enjoyed being a mother and not worrying about the things that lurked in the corners.
But, did I get soft? Did I lose sight of how dangerous my world was? Had I gotten distracted by my son and wife and given Petrov the opening he needed to take us down?
As Aiden grew up, I was always home for dinner unless there was an emergency. Twice a week I came home early to help him with baseball when he started playing. I started spending more nights with my family than I did at my office, but I thought I still had everything under control. I assumed I was still the same heartless bastard that I used to be.
Bella wasn't making the argument she thought she was, because this just solidified my decision to take the brunt of the consequences myself.
"We got soft, so Petrov showed his cards and now we have the advantage."
"Bella – "
"You're not just going to roll over and let him win, Edward! That's not you."
It wasn't, but I didn't see many other options.
"Anything we do, Bella, is going to put you and Aiden at risk of being hurt, one way or another. That's a non-starter for me."
Bella looked at me, her eyes glassy with tears threating to spill down her cheeks. She had more control over her emotions than anyone I ever knew, though. Sometimes, at least. And in an instant she hardened, blinking away the unshed tears.
"What if he thinks he's winning?" she asked, waiting a moment for me to interrupt. When I didn't she continued. "Make him think his mind games are working. It'll make him hold off on everything for a while if his goal was to fuck with us."
"That's just delaying the inevitable though, if he's got some kind of evidence for the bank," Jasper added.
Bella looked at Jared. "The bank was in Los Angeles. The LAPD would have jurisdiction for the crime then, yes?" He nodded. "We'll find out if they have any kind of case and if they do I'll turn myself in –"
"Bella, no." I wasn't budging on this.
"You donate money to the Chicago police department to grease palms and get away with what you do," Bella said out of the blue. It was true, but an odd time to choose to talk about it. "I donate money to the city of Los Angeles; the schools, the police department, fire department… everywhere."
"You're bribing the city of Los Angeles?" Aiden blurted out.
"I'm making sure the people in the two cities where we've committed crimes know we're not complete scum."
It still wasn't enough. "Bella, just because you've donated doesn't mean they'll go easy on you. The judges, the prosecutors… they're not getting that money. They're –"
"They're people who get free passes for themselves and their families to movie premieres and concerts. People who reap the benefits of an industry that keeps that city alive, one that we have quite a lot of power in.
"In Chicago, everyone sees us as criminals. In Los Angeles, we're heroes."
"God damn," Emmett muttered with a dark chuckle. "Girls got it all figured out."
"If you turn yourself in you'll go through another trial. Go through God knows how long of people destroying your reputation again."
Bella rolled her eyes at me. "I don't care about my reputation, Edward."
I leaned back in my chair, looking at the faces around the table. Most of them stayed quiet; Delilah and Maggie whispered together, and Alice and Rose sat contemplatively next to their husbands. All of these people were my responsibility.
Maybe Bella was right and I had gotten soft. Maybe that was why my first instinct hadn't been to fight this time, but to give in to protect Bella and Aiden.
Bella had a damn compelling plan though, one that she thought of on a moment's notice. She always told me she tended to panic when something threatened to tear us apart, and she was always good under pressure.
My eyes floated to Emmett and Jasper, both of whom nodded.
"You could get arrested," I told Bella.
"I know."
"I can't let you do that for me again, Bella."
There were so many things out of my control the last time, but this time I had the power to spare her from getting arrested again, getting questioned and having her name dragged through the mud. I was a fucking coward to let her take the blame again.
"If they get you, even in Los Angeles, they'll pin you down with enough crimes to send you to prison for life. They can't do that to me."
It was a logical argument, but I didn't care. "I can't watch you go through that again."
The entire scenario was fresh in my mind, like it was a week ago instead of a few decades. I would never forgive myself for all of the shit she went through when she was trying to protect me.
"Please don't do it," Bella whispered, so quietly I almost missed it. Her eyes were focused on her fidgeting hands, like she was scared to look at me.
I never wanted her to be scared of me.
"Okay," I conceded.
The table erupted in discussions. Emmett and Jasper talked with Jared about the kind of evidence someone would need to convict for this type of bank robbery. Rosalie scolded Alec, because he admitted that he let the whole thing slip to Aiden months ago. Alice talked with Delilah and Maggie, her eyes shifting to me every few seconds.
Aiden, Bella, and I were silent. My eyes traveled from my wife to my son. Bella looked exhausted and distraught, but I knew more anger would be headed my way soon. Aiden looked… motivated. Determined.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized she was right. I had gotten soft, let things slip by that I wouldn't have normally. If Petrov had come to me with these threats years ago I wouldn't have simply given up like I was about to. I would have burned the entire fucking city down before I let him near Bella or Aiden.
Which was exactly what I needed to do now.
A/N: I hope this clarifies some of the confusion some of you had about the last chapter. It was the first chapter I posted where nearly every review was telling me they hated it, and I very nearly deleted the chapter because of that. I hope you guys can kind of understand where this is all going now.
Next chapter might be another EPOV, I'm not certain yet. See you in a week or two.