Bella eventually cried herself into an exhausted sleep next to Alice. It was as if the heartache was too much for her to bear and she had just given into to sleep to get away from Edward's betrayal.

Across town, the opposite was true of Edward. He could not sleep a wink. He kept moving about his place like a cage animal, berating himself for handing the speech over to Aro all while hoping against hope that Bella would walk through the door.

Of course, he couldn't change what had happened, and he knew that Bella wouldn't come near his place, not with the way things stood. Somehow, he refused to admit to himself that this would break them. She would forgive him. She had to.

At one point the emotional exhaustion took its toll on him and he made his way to the bedroom, but Bella's scent was still in the air and small things like her make-up bag, perfume bottle, and the shoes she had decided not to wear were still strewn about. With all those little mementos reminding him that only a few short hours ago they had been together and they had been happy.

He had made his way back to the living room and lay on the couch for a while, but sleep eluded him as the look on Bella's face when she realized what was happening kept repeating itself in his mind.

When morning finally arrived, he showered, dressed, and made his way to the office.

He was one of very few people in the Capitol building since it was a Sunday.

When he finally did arrive at his office, he really couldn't concentrate enough to get anything done and was just staring at his computer monitor when Emmett finally made his way into the office, Alec following close behind.

"You look like shit, Edward," Emmett said as he stood by the door.

"You don't look all that great yourself, Emmett," Edward said, taking in Emmett's tired, haggard appearance.

Emmett just shrugged and motioned for Alec to sit down. "Have a seat kid." He then looked to Edward and added, "I'll be at my desk."

Before Edward could ask why Emmett wasn't joining them, Em had closed the door behind him as he left the room. Frowning he turned his gaze to Alec and said, "You don't seem surprised to be here."

Alec, who sat slouched in his seat with his hands in his pockets and his jet black hair hanging over his eyes, shrugged. "I'm not."

"Then we won't beat around the bush. Did you take the speech Bella wrote from my place when you came to see me the other day?" Edward asked.

"I did," Alec said without hesitation.

Edward felt the anger inside of him rising like a geyser and he barely managed to hold back his anger as he asked the simple question that was running through his mind, "Why? Why would you do that?"

Alec frowned. "Do you know how much trouble you are in with my father, Edward? All he's been doing for the past few months since you and that…that woman have been all over the news is complain! He's pissed! You were on the brink of being fired! Fired!" As Alec spoke his voice grew higher and louder.

"So you decided to fuck with my personal life by betraying me…her! You've ruined what I've had with her!" Edward's own voice was growing louder with each word.

Alec waved his hand in a gesture that was very reminiscent of something his father would do. "There are other women, you only have one career."

Edward was more than a bit taken aback by Alec's demeanor and words. He had never seen so much of Aro in the boy as he did at that moment.

"My father was very pleased last night," Alec said as he stood up, "You should have seen how happy he was when I told him you had asked me to give him those papers."

Edward was too shocked to say much anything and just fell back into his seat, feeling as if the air had been knocked out of him. He was still trying to understand not only the fact that Alec was completely different from the kid he thought he knew, but he was also trying to come to terms with Alec's betrayal.

"I did you a favor, Edward," Alec said with a shrug as he stuck his hands in his pockets, resuming his usual slouchy posture, the same emo kid back instead of the manipulator Edward had just caught a glimpse of.

"Anyway, I'll see you around," and with that Alec left the office, leaving a stunned Edward sitting there.

He could hear Alec out in the front office telling Emmett that he didn't need a ride.

Edward sat there in silence for a while, the hurt spreading across his chest like a slow burn. If Bella was feeling one tenth of the betrayal that he was at that moment, there was no way that she was going to forgive him. He was sitting there, wondering how he was going to make things right when Emmett walked into the room.

"Edward? You all right?" Emmett asked quietly.

Edward seemed to take a while to process Emmett's words and then he said, "I'm pretty fucking far from all right, Em."

Emmett sighed at Edward's words and nodded before he ran a hand tiredly over his face. "This might not be the best time, man, but…I thought I should give this to you now before more time passed." With that Emmett seemed to square his shoulders as he stepped forward and handed Edward an envelope that he had been holding in his hands.

Edward looked confused as he reached out and took it. "What's this?"

"It's my resignation," replied Emmett.

)( )( )( )(

Across town at Senator Cullen's house, Bella, Jasper, and the Senator sat in his home office as Bella held out a very similar letter to Carlisle.

A/N: Yes, it is a short chapter, but hey, you just got one yesterday.

I realized yesterday that there hasn't been much in the way of author's notes for this story. Some of you will read this, some of you won't, but I did want to thank you all for taking a liking to my story. I have gotten back into the groove of things apparently. I would love it if some of you would take the time to read some of my other work. Lonesome Hearts is a completed story with a Western setting. Why We Protect Our Imprints: Quileutes Legend is a one –shot that is also completed. The Life and Death of Elizabeth Masen, the story of Edward's mother, is also complete and can be considered a bit of a Twilight prequel. As for my other stories (Marcus & Didyme, Succubi, and Little Witches) they are on hiatus because everyone seemed to lose interest (or it was never there in the first place). I may continue them some day (have to admit that Marcus & Didyme is my favorite). Also, I am currently writing a story called We Hold These Truths about Bella and Edward and in an American Revolution setting. I will be updating that one about once a week if not more.

If you have any questions concerning Politics & Prejudices, please include them in your reviews and I will try to answer them with an author's note in my next installment.

For those of you that have recommended this story to others…thank you! I really do appreciate it! Please be sure to let me know who recommended the story so I can give them a shout out.

Remember the 3 Rs: Read, Review, & Recommend.