Chapter 75 – All in the Family

Bella

Hatred and evil could take many forms. Angry words, physical abuse, even total neglect. However, when it manifested as an entity inside a body, it could be more terrifying than staring the devil himself in the face. By all accounts, that was what Edward and I were doing right now.

"How did you get in here?" I hissed, still disbelieving that she was here.

"I let myself in. Some of my best friends these days are ex-cons. They taught me everything I know about locks. When your big brother spends loads of time reforming prisoners, something's bound to rub off. By the way, you really need a better lock on that apartment door," she laughed. "It was way too easy to pick. Skulking around in those damned stairwells with Laurant also helped me learn to move without being seen. It's amazing the things you can learn by hanging around with the right people," she sneered, moving over to get a better look at us.

"Get up!" she spat at me, pure bile dripping from her voice, as she kept the gun trained on Edward. "That was quite a show, by the way. I hope you enjoyed 'worshiping' each other, because it's the last time you'll do it in this lifetime. I think it was rather generous of me, waiting until you were finished."

My stomach lurched, as I realized she had been watching us from the time we had come back into the living room and had seen everything we had just done. I wasn't sure which emotion was stronger…embarrassment, terror, or anger. As I stared at her, my blood began to boil, and anger won out. How dare she!

The fact that Edward and I were still totally nude only made me angrier, as she looked him up and down appreciatively before turning her steely glare back to me. She motioned for me to step away from Edward, raising the gun up to his head again when I didn't move.

I reluctantly began backing up, while she stepped forward, the gun pointed right in his face. She reached down with her free hand and began fondling Edward's bare manhood, smirking at me smugly and taunting me, as my fists clenched and my face flashed red from rage. The back of my leg caught the edge of the coffee table, and I stumbled in true klutz fashion. I tipped the table over, as I flew backwards gracelessly, landing flat on my bare back in the middle of the pile of papers Edward had left on the table. My only thought had been to find some way of distracting her long enough for Edward to get away from her, and all I had managed to do was make her day.

Jane howled with laughter. "Seriously, Edward? You could've done so much better for yourself than this bumbling twit. I don't know what Laurant ever saw in her. That blonde I dropped in the stairwell at the hospital would've even been better than her." I was shocked that she would mention killing Dr. Stanley so flippantly, as if it was as common as changing socks. "Too bad that wasn't really you, Bella. I might've considered letting lover boy here live, just to get a chance at him properly."

She continued moving her hand on Edward, as he looked at me with pleading eyes, trying to get me not to react. She knew exactly what she was doing to me by touching what was mine. She was tormenting him and torturing me, while loving every minute of my misery at being helpless to stop her. Seeing me suffer, unable to fight back without risking Edward, was obviously her goal, as she cackled at my angry red face.

"See what a real woman feels like, Edward?" she purred evilly, as she ran the barrel of the gun up and down the center of his chest, all while watching me for my reaction. "Laurant wasted his whole life trailing behind that piece of crap when he could've been concentrating on me and fully enjoying what I was more than willing to give him. What a waste."

"Why do you want to hurt Edward? He's done nothing to you! Kill me if you must, but please, don't hurt him," I begged through tears that were spilling down my face from my rage and fear. Edward looked like he wanted to come to me, but Jane pressed the barrel of the gun firmer into his stomach, effectively stopping him. She finally released him from her repugnant grip, tiring of the game.

"He may not have done anything to me, but you have. You stole Laurant's love from me, and now his life. Now, you get to stand back helplessly, just like I did, while the love of your life dies, too. I think it's only fair."

I had to think fast and keep her talking until I could come up with a distraction. "Jane, I had no idea Laurant was even aware I still existed," I stammered, trying to think of something that would shake her resolve. "Had I known he had feelings for me, that he was even coming anywhere near me, I would've told him to stop. I would've tried to help you get him to see that you were the one he really should be in love with, not me. I would've helped you." I kept talking, trying to shake her, all the while looking for something, some way, to move her away from Edward. Then, I saw it. Peeking out from underneath the disheveled stack of papers was the handle of Poppa's old revolver. I'd recognize it anywhere, because he had taught me a healthy respect for it when I was a kid, and he had also taught me how to use it.

It felt as if I were suddenly acting in a scene from an action movie shootout. The sound of the front door opening startled Jane, who spun around at the same time I screamed at Edward to move. I reached for the revolver and dropped Jane where she stood with one shot. But not before she shot first.

Standing in the doorway was my mom, holding her hand over her abdomen, her eyes wide with shock, as blood trickled through her fingers and splashed onto the wooden floor silently at her feet.

"RENEE!" my dad screamed, as she fell back into his arms.