Moonlight

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.

A/N-thank you very much to everyone who kindly read and reviewed the last chapter.

Be warned, there's a lot of angst flying around in this chapter.

Chapter Forty-One-Revelations

A good cop sees the clues and logic, yes, however in this instance Charlie wasn't just a cop, he was a father. The fury he felt when he looked at Edward Cullen's immovable face couldn't be described. He had no evidence to hold him-the cell phone footage one of the witnesses had shot was grainy, and was more in Cullen's favour than Jacob's. It showed Bella struggling in Jacob's hold, from the outside it looked like she was trying to escape his clutches and run to her ex instead. And this was the angle that Cullen used to defend himself.

Of course, this was hotly denied by Bella. She had given a statement, testifying that Edward had deliberately blocked the road in order to instigate a confrontation and that Jacob was merely trying to hold her back from attacking Edward because she was so angry.

The problem was Cullen's car was parked on the verge of the road; it wasn't blocking anything. The witnesses in the other vehicles had also made statements, stating that Bella looked very distressed and that they thought Jacob was intimidating her in some way. It was the female passenger in the lead vehicle who had placed the call to the authorities because she was concerned the situation was on the verge of escalating into full blown violence.

Charlie rose out of his seat slowly, placing the palms of his hand on the table that separated him from Edward Cullen. He wanted to smash his fist into the guy's face. Still, Cullen was showing little emotion, he was like a freaking stone statue, cold and unfeeling. He wasn't human. The very fact that he had crawled out of the woodwork again without Charlie knowing about it, just enraged the police chief further.

"Don't think I don't know that you engineered this whole situation deliberately to try and paint Jacob in a bad light." Charlie seethed. "You failed!"

Edward's face remained motionless. "I did no such thing; I was only looking out for Bella. I'm concerned about her welfare." His eyes narrowed slightly. "As her father, it's something you and I have in common."

Charlie's face heated up, hot with fury. "You entitled prick. You left my daughter dangling without a word-and now you come back and pretend to care about her welfare?"

"That was a misunderstanding." Edward answered smoothly.

Charlie's face flushed. "Misunderstanding! Don't you dare think I'll tolerate you hanging around. You can go and crawl back under the same rock you came out from."

Edward's jaw pulsed slightly, the first sign he'd given that he wasn't as totally unaffected by Charlie's rage as he was letting on. "I'm not sure what the exact plan is…but I think my family will be moving back here. So, I will be around, Chief Swan."

Charlie shook his head, the vein in his forehead pulsing. "You will stay away from my daughter. I don't trust you. You're rotten to the core. I won't let you mess her up again. She's with Jake now and he's good for her. If you even try to breathe the same air as her, I'll slap a restraining order on you so fast, you won't know what hit you. Do I make myself clear?"

The door to the tiny interrogation room opened then, one of the deputies poked his head in. "Chief, the kid's lawyer has just arrived."

"Of course, he has." Charlie muttered through gritted teeth. He turned the full force of his glare onto Edward, only to find him wearing the same empty expression as before. A cold shiver ran down the police chief's spine, there really was something unnatural about Edward Cullen, his threats had made no impact at all. He got the feeling he might just have to resort to underhand methods to eject the cold creep out of his daughter's life for good. He may be a cop but he was a father first.

Without another word, he turned on his heel and abruptly left the room.

Bella was huddled against Jacob's side in Charlie's office. His fingers gently trailed up and down her upper arm in a soothing motion. Even though he was still wound up after what had happened, he was managing a semblance of calm for Bella's sake. She had already been through so much in the last twenty-four hours, he wasn't sure how much more she could take. A lesser person wouldn't have been able to cope with all that Cullen had thrown at her, if anything it had just proven again how strong she was.

"Are you okay?" He ventured, breaking the silence. "You've been very quiet since you made your statement."

Bella glanced up at him with worried eyes. "I'm thinking about whether I should tell Charlie about Edward assaulting me."

"If that's what you want to do. You know I'll support you." Jacob reassured her.

Bella's eyes remained tight with stress. "I can't prove it, though. Just like all the other allegations…." She hung her head in defeat.

She sounded so crushed that it about broke Jacob's heart. He cupped her chin in his warm hand and gently turned her head so she was facing him again. "You know Charlie will believe you if you decide to tell him."

Bella gave him a sad smile. "I know he will…but if I tell him, he'll have questions, and I won't be able to answer them without revealing too many secrets. And I'll still have no proof. Its my word against Edward's."

"You shouldn't have to keep secrets." Jacob's voice darkened a pitch, his expression turning resentful. "None of us should…." He stopped speaking suddenly.

"What is it?" Bella whispered fearfully as she clutched at his arm.

"Dad's here. Sue Clearwater is with him. He must have asked her to drive him over here."

As soon as he spoke, the door opened and Billy rolled his chair into Charlie's office. His face was heavy and drawn, but as soon as his gaze landed on his son, his dark eyes brightened with relief.

"You don't know how worried I was when Charlie called me."

"Hi, Jake. Hi, Bella. I'm glad you're both alright." Sue Clearwater greeted them tiredly from the doorway. There were black circles under her eyes, signalling lack of sleep. She was still in the early throes of grieving for Harry. "I'll wait outside while you talk." She added solicitously as she closed the office door to give them privacy.

Jacob gave Billy a reproachful look. "You didn't need to get Sue to drive you over here. She's still grieving. I can handle myself."

"I had little choice. There was no one else available. And anyway, she said she didn't mind. She wanted to get away from the four walls for a while." Billy answered curtly. "And don't tell me to stay away. You're my son. Of course, I was going to come when Charlie told me what happened."

Jacob sighed, rubbing his aching forehead. Having Billy here felt like another problem he didn't need. He wanted his focus to be Bella, his father's presence was going to be a distraction. "Dad, I know you mean well, but there's nothing you can do here. They'll probably release Cullen soon – "

Billy's expression turned grave. "I know that. I saw the fancy lawyer marching past me into the station. Money talks."

"There was no evidence to hold him. He made sure everything went in his favour." Bella joined in the conversation for the first time. "Even with my statement, it all comes down to is he said, she said."

"I'm surprised he took such a big risk. His coven will certainly be shocked that he took such a drastic step, to what end exactly?" Billy questioned. "And where's the seer in all this? She must have seen what he intended to do. Have you spoken to her?"

"Maybe you should ask Uley about that." Jacob muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"Alice is blind when the wolves are near." Bella explained, taking over the conversation again. She hesitated for a few seconds as Jacob's hand found hers. "Sam has had her under constant watch. I doubt she knows Edward is even here. It was a shock to me when he snuck onto the res last night when Jake was out chasing Victoria with the others. Edward took advantage and broke into the house…and…and…" She fell silent, two spots of red coating her cheeks at the memory of Edward's icy hands roaming her face and body.

"What?" Billy's pallor had turned grey. He put a shaking hand over his mouth momentarily. "Bella…my dear…I didn't know…are you okay? You must have been so terrified." His eyes slid to his son, he noticed the slight tremor in Jacob's hands, the only outward sign of how deeply all of this was affecting his only son. He swallowed thickly, feeling sick to his stomach. "He has gone too far. He has broken the treaty…."

"Fuck the treaty!" Jacob snapped suddenly; his mouth taut. "It should never have been made in the first place. It only encouraged the Cullens to move back here whenever they wanted."

"Jake." Billy whispered hoarsely.

"Edward Cullen's days are numbered. I will end him. And the others, too, if they try to interfere." Jacob continued grimly. "And Sam is no leader. He's just making one bad decision after another…and a huge part of that is down to his inner turmoil over Leah and Emily."

"What do you mean? Emily is Sam's imprint…she grounds him. I understand he carries a lot of guilt how things ended with Leah, but…"

"It's not about guilt!" Jacob exploded angrily. His pent-up fury at Billy's lack of understanding was getting to him. "Its about love. Sam didn't willingly choose to leave Leah and break her heart, there had to be an element of manipulation from Emily involved. I'm in his head when we're phased, I've seen it. You know full well - "You become whatever she needs you to be, whether that's a protector, or a lover, or a friend."-your words to me, remember? Emily wanted Sam as a lover."

Bella had listened in horrified silence at the fresh revelations spilling from Jacob's lips about imprinting. She jumped to her feet, incensed. "You mean Emily took Sam's choice away from him by manipulating the imprint in her favour to make him leave Leah? Why am I only hearing about this now, Jacob?" She demanded.

Jacob looked at her miserably. "I wanted to. But its not my story to tell. It's Sam's. We may be at odds right now, but I owe him his right to privacy. I shouldn't have said anything now. I'm just so fucking wound up about everything!" His iron hard control on his feelings finally began to slip. "I'm sick of all the secrets. They've brought nothing but harm. So many people are continuingly getting hurt because of them."

"Oh, Jake." Bella felt tears well in her eyes as his unhappiness communicated itself to her. The echo of his pain twisted inside her. His pain, her pain. She wrapped her arms around his waist, desperate to wipe the expression of misery off his face.

Billy watched as Bella's touch had an instant affect on his son, Jacob relaxed, the muscles in his arms flexing as he wrapped Bella up in a tight embrace. Hearing first hand how much all the secrets had traumatised not only Jacob, but Bella, and everyone connected to them had shaken him to his very core. His guilt felt like lead in his chest. He didn't have long to dwell on that guilt as Charlie opened the door and walked in, his face puce with anger.

"Chief?" Billy barely managed to talk around the lump in his throat.

"He's been released without charge." Charlie informed them all stonily. His eyes drifted to his daughter, still encased in Jacob's arms and his expression faltered. "I'm sorry, kiddo. With the evidence we had I couldn't make anything stick…but I promise you, I'll make sure that creep won't be able to get anywhere near you, no matter what I have to do to make that happen."

"What do you mean by that?" Billy asked, his hand going to his throat. He had never heard Charlie talk that way before.

Jacob and Bella seemed oblivious to the underlying threat in Charlie's voice, only someone who knew him as well as Billy did, knew that the police chief was prepared to cross a very serious line in an effort to protect his daughter.

Enough was enough.

It was time for the secrets to end.

"Let's go back home to the res." Billy said, feeling surprisingly calm now that his decision was made. "We'll stock up on some beers on the way, you and I need to talk."

A/N-thanks for reading! Please review.