CHAPTER TEN
I was in awe.
I didn't know how long I must have stood there over Evie's crib. Probably not too long, since Bella was beside me, watching and waiting for the smile to come again.
A loud crash came from downstairs, followed by Esme screaming my name. She had opened the closet door where I had stashed all the items I had hidden from my cleanup.
"Crap!" My head snapped back towards the bedroom door. "Sorry, I have to go. I'll see you in a few days."
I rushed out of the bedroom and down to the closet to find Esme standing there with her arms crossed, tapping her foot.
"I know. I'm sorry."
"A lot of things may have changed about you in the last forty years, but this isn't going to be one of them. Clean it up. Put it away properly, and then you can start on dusting the fixtures. You're not going anywhere until this house is thoroughly cleaned. Your little mission may just have to wait a few days."
She stomped off towards the kitchen, leaving me with a huge mess. I sighed and began picking up all of Evie's things and running them back up to the attic. I didn't want to put them in with Bella and Evie, since they were surely getting ready for bed.
After the closet was clean and back to proper standards, I began the arduous task of dusting every single fixture and chandelier. Emmett and Jasper looked up at me polishing the brass near the ceiling and decided to come out and make fun of me.
"It'd be nice if I could get some help," I snapped.
"Well, we'd love to, but we don't want you to get so incredibly tired of us," Emmett replied, reminding me of my earlier sentiment when I had been speaking to Bella.
"Just get your asses up here and help!"
"I wish I could, but since we're going away for a few days, I'd like to spend some time with my wife. How 'bout you, Jasper?" Emmett looked over at Jasper, and he laughed, nodding.
"I think I hear Alice calling me now," Jasper chuckled.
Esme trotted out from the kitchen that she had been detailing for the better part of the day and stopped directly behind my brothers.
"Finally here to help?" Esme asked.
They both nearly jumped out of their skin.
"Sorry…I've got Alice…" Jasper sputtered.
"Rosalie…can't get enough of this…" Emmett stuttered.
"Esme, please, use them however you'd like," Alice offered.
"Yeah, we don't need them tonight," Rosalie called softly from Evie's bedroom.
Emmett and Jasper began whining, but Esme just pointed out to them where they could begin. Rosalie was thinking it would be better to sacrifice her husband for the night to keep Esme off her back the next few days over cleaning. I was just thankful for the help and returned to my task with a smile on my face, knowing my brothers were in the same boat I was in now.
It took the better part of the night, mainly because we might have gotten into a small water fight around midnight which set us back. However, around five o'clock, we were finally done, and I was thankful to get out before Bella woke.
I told Emmett and Jasper to be prepared to leave at six.
I waited in the foyer for my brothers to meet me. However, it was Alice who was first to come down. As soon as I saw her, I sighed and turned away, not wanting to have this particular conversation again.
"Would you just hear me out?"
"Why, Alice? I told you. I don't care what you've seen. I plan to change it. It's already changing, isn't it? That's why you're here, ready to pester me again. You've seen I'm set in my decision."
My brothers and Rosalie began to come down the steps, ready to leave…Rosalie to see Emmett off because she was certainly not there to tell me goodbye.
"Edward…" Alice began.
"NO! I don't want this life for Bella. If I care even a smidge about her, I'll do everything I can to see to it that she can have a normal human life. Evie deserves that, too."
"I agree," Rosalie said, and for once, I was happy she was on my side.
Alice looked flustered.
"And you don't care that she's your mate? That you can finally be happy? You can have what you always wanted."
"Who says I wanted a mate?" I scoffed.
"Oh please, it was so incredibly obvious that was one of the factors that sent you away in the first place," Alice argued.
I grabbed my bag and phone and prepared to leave.
"I'm going to do this. Please, don't fill Bella's head with fantasies while I'm away. It'll be better if I can just get this done so she can move on and out, and we can all get back to our lives."
I left without another word and Alice nearly steaming. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to have called my family. Things would have been so much easier if I had just run off one night and taken the Mercers out once and for all. But my plans were to see human justice prevail, which meant there would be nothing quick and easy for what was coming next.
We were twenty miles out before Emmett had the courage to even speak out loud. In Jasper and Emmett's minds, they were saying plenty.
"Man, what's that smell?"
I sighed, knowing to what he was referring, but I didn't respond.
"If I were you, I'd get a new car. That smell is…" he struggled to come up with an adequate description, "…there isn't even a word, Bro. Trash the car."
"Putrid. Ghastly. Spoiled. Rotten. Stinky," Jasper began sputtering off.
"Would you guys give it a break? I'll get a new car just as soon as I don't have the world on my shoulders," I snapped.
"Man, he hasn't changed one bit," Emmett thought. "Still got a stick up his…"
"Emmett!" I snapped.
"Hey, if you don't like it, don't listen," he defended.
I tried to focus on the outside passing world, but it wasn't enough to calm the anger that fueled me.
"Why don't we begin with a little research?" Jasper diffused the tension. He pulled out his laptop and set it up. I also noticed he threw a little calm my way to help. I wanted to be angry, but I forgave it. I knew they were doing me a favor by being here. I shouldn't have taken my anger out on them. Unfortunately, they were just innocent bystanders.
"Cal and Regina Mercer. Says they've been running this nonprofit since the early 2000's. St. Gianna's home for young pregnant women. A two-story old Victorian at the end of Warren Street."
"Saint Gianna?" Emmett asked.
"Patron saint for mothers and unborn babies," Jasper replied. "Listen to this, it's their mission statement: 'We will never stop helping young women and their unborn babies until they find a safe place in this world. Doing God's work, saving one soul at a time. Please donate below and help our cause. Over one hundred women and babies helped since 2006.'"
"Disgusting pieces of shit," I scoffed. "When we get there, Emmett, you follow Cal. Jasper, you take Regina. I want to know everything about them. Every conversation. Every place they go. Every shit they take. I'll search the house and see what I can get to hand over to the police. If they're helping redistribute these women and their babies, there has to be something in the house that'll direct us as to where they're being taken or who they're working with. The more evidence we can get, the better position we'll be in."
I pushed the accelerator and sped off towards our destination. The farther I was from the house and the inhabitants inside, the better I felt. Pouring all my focus into this project was exactly what I needed.
I found myself finding conversation topics to discuss with my brothers to keep myself from thinking about…her. What if Alice was right? What if Bella was meant for me? It was a depressing thought. It would mean I really was doomed to walk the earth alone forever. Alice was certainly right about one thing. One of the reasons I'd left was because I could no longer be around my happy family. All complete, except for me. I was jealous. I'd left because, for a few years, I'd thought I could go and find my mate by myself. But no one came who even remotely brought me joy.
We pulled into a small motel and left the car. We would continue on foot from here. The shelter was only a mile away, but it would be easier for us to tail the Mercers on foot rather than in a car.
We arrived at the shelter and stayed up high in the tree line behind the house. We could hear what was happening inside, I could follow most of it through their minds, but since my brothers weren't blessed with x-ray vision, they had to leave most of it to their imagination. It was still early, so Cal was in the bathroom, and Regina was downstairs making breakfast. So far, they seemed fairly normal.
"Olivia, your appointment is in an hour. We need to get going soon," Regina called.
Regina was the first to leave, carting along a girl who wasn't showing yet, so I was sure this Olivia still felt safe in Regina's care. Jasper gave us a small salute before following them on foot, leaving Emmett and I to wait.
Cal took longer. He made a few phones calls. Nothing of importance, and he spent the majority of his time in the bathroom. Emmett kept laughing like the immature child he was every time Cal would let one rip.
Finally, he left the house, jumping into his black Suburban. Emmett left to follow, and now I was ready to head inside. I checked to make sure there were no other thoughts and then slid in through the backdoor undetected. I started out by surveying the house. A little run down, but nothing too horrible.
Knowing I needed to find an office or search the master bedroom, I didn't waste too much time on common areas. However, a few times, I felt myself stop, picturing Bella waddling through with Evie filling her tummy. It ran a chill up my spine just imagining Bella and Evie here a few short months ago.
I shook the thoughts from my mind and pushed on to find the office. I opened the double sliding doors and was met with a giant, unholy mess. Papers were strewn across every available surface. There were mounds of folders, and filing cabinets with their contents spilling out, keeping them from being shut properly. I sighed before getting to work.
Mostly, it was receipts and tax information. Notice of filings and contribution reports. Nothing would help me in this mess. I headed upstairs to the master and went through the place thoroughly, but other than the closet filled with expensive designer clothes and accessories, there was nothing.
The fancy clothes and diamonds Regina enjoyed told me there was something going on, since I knew nonprofits this small would never garner the amount of money needed to purchase such fineries for the people running the charity. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of nonprofits out there where the CEOs made huge salaries, but St. Gianna was hardly one of them.
What was I missing? I was wasting time. There had to be something more. Something incriminating.
I needed to start from the bottom and go through every room and look for false floorboards. Hidden compartments. Something that would give me what I needed.
I was heading downstairs to begin in the basement when I heard Jasper telling me from the window that Regina was on her way back. I slipped out the backdoor and ran with Jasper into the tree line.
"Anything?" I asked.
"Nothing of importance. She took the girl to the doctor's appointment and then played Candy Crush on her phone the whole time. She acted happy when the girl came out and showed her a sonogram. The girl is only three months along."
I nodded and tried to not be too disappointed.
"What about you?"
"Nothing so far, but I'm going to give the house a more thorough search tomorrow."
Emmett came back a few hours later. I was hoping he would have something to report, since both Jasper and I'd had a bust of a day.
"All he did was lose money. First, the racetrack. Next, the casino. And last, he washed it all down with a trip to the sports bar to make stupid bets that'd ensure he'd remain a loser in the future."
I deflated from Emmett's report. We still had nothing, and we were through with the first day.
"We should stay here tonight. Make camp a few yards away and hunker down till morning," I suggested.
"Man, no cheesy motel porn and magic fingers?" Emmett joked.
"While that does sound exciting, I wonder what Rosalie would think about you watching porn while laying on a vibrating bed with your brothers," Jasper replied.
Something about his statement made me remember Bella asking about gay vampires, and I nearly laughed out loud from the memory.
"Calm down there, Edward. I wasn't being serious," Jasper said, looking at the cheesy smile that fell over my face. I immediately stopped smiling like an idiot and shook my head, irritated that he'd ruined the moment for me.
Emmett built a campfire, and we sat around it in silence, watching the flames dance upon the rock and wood.
"Man, I can't remember the last time we were out camping with one another," Emmett said.
"I can," Jasper and I said in unison.
We both looked at each other and busted up laughing.
"The angry mama bear," I said, bringing Emmett up to speed, and he immediately scowled. Emmett had gotten into it with a mother bear who had been in hibernation. If Carlisle hadn't been there to pull Emmett back at the right moment, that damn bear probably would have taken Emmett's head off. It was the first time a bear had ever gotten close to winning. Something we never let him forget.
As we were making fun of Emmett, my phone began to ring. I saw it was Alice and tossed it to Jasper.
"I'm not dealing with her again. You talk to her."
Jasper rolled his eyes and answered. As soon as he hit the button, we heard screaming coming from out of the speaker.
"Where's Edward?" Alice asked frantically.
I sighed and reached my hand out to take the phone.
"Yes, Alice," I answered.
"She's been screaming for nearly an hour. We don't want to wake Bella. She's…been a little off today. I think she needs to sleep. What can we do?" Alice asked.
"Put her on her stomach on your arm, and you're going to want to make a figure eight with your hips while holding her in that position," I explained.
"What?" Alice asked.
"Just do it!"
Alice explained to Rosalie what to do, and I could hear Evie screams get louder and louder.
"It's not working, Edward."
"You have to sing the song from Annie. Bella always sings that song. 'Maybe.'"
"We don't know the song," Alice snapped.
"Just put the damn phone on speaker."
I waited for a few seconds until Alice told me they were ready.
And then I began to sing. Something I had never done in front of my family before.
"Maybe far away
Or maybe real nearby,
He may be pouring her coffee
She may be straightening his tie…"
The song was sad. I always wondered why Bella chose that particular song to sing to Evie. A song about an orphan who held out hope that her parents would someday find her. Personally, I thought "Tomorrow" would have been a far better choice.
"So maybe now this prayer's
The last one of its kind
Won't you please come get your baby
Maybe..."
The screaming had stopped, and Alice said a soft thank you before hanging up. I put my phone down and looked up at my brothers, who were staring at me with funny little smiles on their faces.
"Lay off it. They needed help," I huffed.
Jasper held up his hands in surrender and replied, "I didn't say a thing."
But inside, he kept wondering if he should ask me something.
"Just ask it," I snapped.
"So, you're just going to be able to walk away from her? From Evie? Never…to know what'll become of her? This small…baby that you've spent months with…you can really just give her up?"
"I have to. I have to give her up…because that's what you do when you love someone. You sacrifice your happiness for theirs."
"And just to be clear, we're still talking about Evie, right?" Emmett asked.
I looked at them both and could hear the noise coming from inside their heads, ready to pounce if I said something contradictory.
"I'm going to hunt. I'll be back in a few hours."
And like the coward I was, I took off running, so I wouldn't be forced to endure any other questions that would cause me to think far more than I wanted to. When I made it back to my brothers as the sun was coming up, they agreed to not say another word about Bella and Evie. We had to focus. We were on day two and had nothing to show for ourselves.
After Emmett and Jasper left to tail their targets, I began back in the house. This time, I was going to start my search in the basement and work my way up. I unlocked the sturdy wooden door and flicked the switch on to light my path.
Immediately, I was overwhelmed by the stench coming from within. Far worse than any damage Bella could have inflicted on my Volvo.
"Hello?" I said, and then I heard it. A heartbeat. A faint one, but it slowly picked up speed.
I walked further into the room and saw a dirty, filth-covered mattress and a young, very pregnant girl whose wrists were tied to the posts.
"Please, don't…" she whispered.
"I'm not going to hurt you. I want to help. What's your name?"
"Sara."
I walked over and broke her confines in one swift movement.
"We need to get you to a hospital," I said, helping her up.
"No! I can't leave. They said they'd find me again. That they'd kill me. Please…" she begged.
"They won't hurt you. I promise. Please, let me help you."
I called Jasper and told him to abandon his mission and get back to the house with the Volvo fast. Once she was loaded into the car, Jasper promised to stay with the girl until the police arrived. This could be enough of the evidence we needed to make sure the Mercers were put away, but I wasn't sure.
I stood in the basement, staring at the horrific sight before me, and then something happened. I saw Bella there. Tied to the bed, with her belly full, and I became enraged. What if it had been her? Suddenly, all sensible thought was lost to me.
I waited for Cal and Emmett to return, but this time, we wouldn't be hiding in the tree line, waiting for some crumb of information. I was running out of time and patience.
"Still nothing to report. How 'bout you?" Emmett asked when he saw me.
"Hey, remember that game we used to play, when we'd throw something off a building and then run and see how long it'd take us to catch it?"
Emmett scratched his head.
"Yeah…" Already, he was worried.
"Let's play ball," I said, looking at him directly. "Bring Cal to the warehouses down the next street. They're fairly abandoned at this time of night."
I left without another word, searching out the right building for the job. Half an hour later, I heard the muffled yells coming. Emmett met me at the bottom of a three-story old warehouse.
As soon as I came into view, I could see the recognition in Cal's face.
"Nice to see you again," I slowly smiled.
His eyes looked enraged. He wanted to kill me. He thought if he could get out of the confines Emmett had him in, he could do it. I wanted to laugh at his stupidity, but a demonstration was in order.
"One dark soul can always find another, Cal. I knew when we met what a piece of garbage you were. Bella didn't even have to say a word. And then, I went by your house today, hoping to find something I could show to the police, and what do I find but a young girl chained up in your basement.
"Now, normally, I'd think…case closed. Enough to indict. However, I know how slippery scum like you always seem to find their way to an innocent verdict, so hence the game my brother and I are about to play. Emmett, care to spot me?"
Emmett rubbed his hands together and prepared to run. I grabbed Cal by the shirt and then threw him straight up into the air. Emmett whooshed off and climbed up the three-story building, managing to get to the top just as Cal reached him. Emmett reached out and pulled him onto the roof, Cal screaming the whole time. Although, I wasn't sure if it was because he'd just flown up three stories, or the fact that a man was the one who was able to accomplish such an unbelievable task.
"Going down?" Emmett asked and then proceed to drop him back down to me. I jumped up just in time and caught him.
Now, Cal was in tears.
"Calm down. It's only three stories. If I wanted to kill you, I'd dump you off a higher building, giving you enough time to have a heart attack. If I wanted to kill you, I certainly wouldn't give you an easy death," I scoffed. "Are we ready to talk? Or do we need another demonstration?"
Cal was shaking his head emphatically. I pulled the gag out of his mouth, and he fell to the ground onto his knees.
"Just remember, Cal. As big and bad as you may think you are…" I taunted, "…There's always something supernatural that'll bring you to your knees, crying like a little bitch."
"Damn, Edward," Emmett thought.
"What are you?" Cal asked.
"One of the damned," I replied. "Now, start talking. What happens to the girls when they leave you?"
He shook his head. "I can't. You don't understand. They'll kill me!"
I laughed. "I'm sorry, were you just not here a minute ago? I can kill you. You and your…wife. In far more imaginative ways."
"Oh, come on…" he begged.
I tilted my head and waited.
"Look, I don't know where he takes them or what happens to them after. I place a bet on a losing horse, and it's a code for how many more days until pickup. The girl in the house…she's set to be picked up tomorrow night."
"Sara," I said.
"What?" he asked.
"The girl. She has a name. Sara," I spat.
"Well, she's going to pop any day now. She was a runner, so we couldn't take her to a normal hospital. My contact is planning to her pick up tomorrow. If I don't have a pregnant girl to give him, he'll lose it."
"That's not my problem. I think it's time we show Cal and Regina just how accommodating they've been."
We took Cal back to the house and found Regina inside. We chained them to the bed and waited for word from Jasper. He seemed to be taking longer than I thought it should have been.
The phone rang, and Emmett and I both looked at each other in relief.
"Where are you?"
"Edward. She's dead. The girl. She died."
I felt myself reach a mixture of shock and anger I had never felt in my existence.
"What? How?"
"I got her there and helped her through the door. She collapsed, and they took her in. I hung around outside. They delivered the baby, but she died shortly thereafter. The deplorable conditions they kept her in, it was too much to her system."
I nearly crushed the phone in my hands.
All we would need to do was tie her back to The Mercers and we would be done. We could go home. Ruining the Mercers was the plan, and now, they would be facing murder charges.
I looked around and saw the living room Bella must have spent time in. I could see her sitting on the couch watching television, her hand resting on her stomach, and I wondered what would have happened if she hadn't had the good sense to get out when she had.
I thought about Bella's friend, Bree, and how Bella would spend the rest of her life wondering what had happened to her. We had the opportunity to investigate this operation further and find a way to help more than just making sure Bella and Evie were safe.
So many years I'd spent drinking the blood of lowlifes, murderers, and rapists, and I had thought I was doing the world some good. Now, I knew if I was ever going to find redemption, I couldn't turn my back on these victims. I couldn't walk away. This was how I planned to make the world a better place for Evie.
AN: Thank you for reading and reviewing. I really appreciate all the words of encouragement and your kind remarks. We are hanging in there. So far my husband is still battling pneumonia but thankfully the worst seems to have passed. My continued prayers and well wishes for anyone who has been affected by Covid. Please be safe and stay healthy.
There has been a lot of negativity in the Twilight fandom world recently which is why I have chosen to post early. Let me get one thing straight. I do not care what your personal beliefs, political beliefs are as long as they do not infringe on my right to happiness and freedom. As for all the lists going around. Feel free to add me to whatever one you think I belong on. I do not give a shit. I am thirty-eight years old and as much as I yearn for the days when I was young and carefree, I didn't very much appreciate high school then and I don't care to relive it now. If this means I am boycotted, then so be it. If anything the past year has taught me is to love what I have. Be kind and appreciate every single day I am on this earth and surrounded by the ones I love.
That being said, let's get back to what brought us all together to begin with and that is reading, writing, and appreciating the characters brought to us by Stephanie Meyer. There is a contest beginning tomorrow. I used to love contests because I thought it was a great way to support the authors, artists, and fans that help keep this fandom going. So many people put their time and energy to provide free entertainment and enjoyment. Go and vote for the stories, authors, and artists based on their actual talent and not on who they voted for in 2020.
Thank you to DOLLYBIGMOMMA for always dropping whatever you have going on to edit.
STORY IS MINE. CHARACTERS BELONG TO STEPHANIE MEYER.