Chapter Eleven

Isabella's Pov

My head was banging. Looking at the clock on the wall I realised it was just 3:30am. Alice was sleeping heavily beside me, she was planning on selling her house. If I was the one too, I wouldnt want to go back to that house. Where are my painkillers? I ask myself checking the drawers in my room. I must have left it in the office. Yes I went to get it for Edward when we got back from the Sparks residence. I put on my robe and scratch my head. A lot of things had happened yesterday, Edward's confession which we didn't talk about, Bradon was missing and it was our fault, whatever had happened to him was our fault. Immediately we got back to the office, we called Alice and Jasper and filled them in on everything. We also told the police about Bradon and the possibility that the auction might have happened but they had said the person that was put outside the venue did not notice anybody going out or coming in so everybody was just so lost right now, no way to find Bradon or to catch Laurent. I opened the door to my apartment and feel the cold breeze all over my body, I wrap my hands around my body, it was still very dark. The team was meeting later today to discuss our next step. I take the stairs one step at a time. At first I didn't see anything then I use my hand to muffle my scream. There he was, his golden hair dirty now with blood? Bradon was on the ground infront of my office, he wasn't moving, no sign that he was breathing. Was he dead? No he couldn't be. I walk closer to the body, his hand was in a not right position and it looked like his leg had been shot too. I look up at the glass door of Arsenal and there written in blood at least that was what I thought it was- was a message Be warned Arsenals or next time we wont hesitate.

Next time we wont hesitate? Does that mean Bradon was alive? I didn't bother to check instead I ran upstairs to get my phone.

…..

"Gun wound on his right leg, three broken ribs, his right hand is broken, his left ankle is also broken. His head must have been hit many times cause theres a swelling at the back of his head. He's lucky to be alive, if you hadnt found him when you did he might have bled to death or the swelling would have gotten worse."

"Can we see him?" Edward asks beside me

"Not yet. I'm afraid you'll have to come back tomorrow and even then it depends" the doctor shrugs

"Thank you doctor" I hadnt realised I was shaking till Edward puts his hand around me pulling me to him. "He'll be fine"

"He's in this condition because of us. If we hadnt gone for that stupid party, one of us would have been there with him, this might not have happened. You could have been there"

"Stop Bella. If I had been there, I would also have been hurt"

I shuddered at that thought, I didn't know what I would have done if it was Edward instead on the ground. I hadnt shed a tear yet and I was really surprised, I would have completely broken down if it was him. I shake my head trying to clear my thoughts.

"Hey guys" Jasper rushes in carrying a sleeping Lily. "How is he?"

"He's alive" Edward says taking his daughter and sitting down on one of the waiting room chairs beside Alice who was curled up sleeping, I sit on his other side.

"What are we going to do?"

"Nothing Jasper"

"How can we do nothing?" I ask frowning

"What do you want to do? We are obviously in over our heads here. Did you see the message? I cant lose you...I cant lose any of you."

"So you're saying we should give up?"

"I'm not saying that. I'm saying we should just lie low for a while, focus on Riley and james' case then later see if we can find something that we'll use to restart the case. There's nothing else we can do Bella." I shake my head in defiance. What was going to happen to all those girls while we laid low?

He continues "Laurent is on to us. He will be watching us. When Riley was arrested, Laurent would have known that we had probably seen the phone and the text so he either changed the venue or the day. Eitherways, we are totally in the dark now, we don't know anything so we wait."

I knew he was right, despite the fact that I wanted to help those girls badly, we had nothing to work with. We just had to put our energy to making sure James and Riley spend the rest of their sorry lives in prison.

.….…..….

My hands were shaking, I look to my left to Edward who was tensed, his jaw was tightened. Alice was sitting on my right and was looking at Jasper who was sitted at the front. After everything, this was it. It was finally time for him to pay for what he did to me, to Mary and whatever other criminal acts he had done. Nothing could go wrong, nothing would go wrong. We had the recording, the hospital report, Angela's statement. I look up at Angela who was sitted beside Jasper. she looked like I did, anxious. We had been waiting like this for about 20 minutes waiting for the little jury in our town to make a decision. I didn't trust that none of them had been bribed but I trusted the judge, he was someone who couldn't be bribed, or could he? I look back, two rows behind me I see Laurent and his wife. He was glaring at me but his wife just looked lost, sad. This must be hard on her, her son and cousin were in jail now, I wonder how she must feel. Edward turns beside me and the look he gives Laurent makes him flinch and look away. I had almost forgotten how scary Edward could be. His daughter, Lily was with my father. We had gone to Charlie's house this morning at the edge of town. I hadnt seen him since forever, he had been travelling around with his new girlfriend Sue -I haven't even met her yet-, having fun, he only came back yesterday. He was shocked to see us on his doorstep this morning and he agreed to babysit Lily if we promised to tell him everything that had been going on when we got back. Hopefully, this goes as planned and we leave here happy. It had been two weeks since we said anything about Laurent and the trafficking. We were still keeping our eye out for anything suspicious sure but that's the thing, he never did anything, he mostly just stayed at home. He didn't participate in politics anymore seeing as his son was not a candidate and he didn't exactly have a job. The elections had been postponed, there were a few people who had come out now to show their interests, I wonder what had kept them quiet before now. Any of them would be better than James Sparks.

The judge's arrival draws me out of my thoughts. "The jury has made a decision."

Edward holds my hand tightly "The accused has been charged with rape using violence and threats. The accused has been found guilty of this charge. It is also known to me that this is not the accused first victim." I glance at Edward who shrugs. "So in order to avoid this type of situation from occuring again. I hereby sentence the accused, James Sparks to life imprisonment"

I release my breath and Alice jumps up beside me laughing, Jasper was already walking over to us. I look around the room to see a lot of happy faces. Angela's mother was crying with joy, Laurent and his wife must have left already then my eyes meet his. His expression was full of shock, he probably hadnt expected to be found guilty, he glares at me and I couldn't help but smile as I blew him a kiss, that shocked him too. Edward pulls me into a hug forcing me to tear my eyes away from James as they took him away, it was the happiest I had been in years.

I don't know if that's how verdicts are given but I think I tried. James won't be able to hurt Bella or any other woman again for the rest of his life. Please don't forget to REVIEW.