Happy Sunday everyone! Hopefully you had a good week!

Chapter Twenty

I sighed in relief when my plane finally landed. What no one knew about me, and I would take this little fear to the grave, was that I hated flying. Not because it was uncomfortable, but because the turbulence, the landing, and the takeoff terrified me. I usually played it off, but on the inside, I was screaming.

I walked out of the Seattle airport to the rows of cars. I walked to the SUV where the driver was holding a sign with my name.

"Mr. Cullen," The driver said when I approached, "Are you ready to leave?"

"Yes," I said. He opened the door for me and allowed me to slide into the backseat.

The drive to Forks, Washington was a three hour one from the airport. I would've just stayed in a hotel today, but I wanted to get back to Bella as soon as possible.

As we drove into the small town, I got a taste of where Bella grew up. I was always curious about her childhood, she added little tid-bits here and there, but I wanted to know everything about her.

The town was very small, almost laughably small. There was one diner, an old pharmacy, and a few other mom and pop stores. I wondered if Bella ever hung out at those stores. She didn't seem like the type to just hang out in front of a store, but what else was there to do in this town.

I sighed in relief when we finally made it to the very small home. Two people, one of which I recognized, walked out of the house.

"Oh," Sue said, "It's Edward, Bella's fiancé." She said it to the man, who I assumed was Harry, her husband.

"Hello," I smiled warmly, hoping to ease any discomfort.

"What are you doing here Edward?" Sue asked, "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, everything's fine," I said, stopping in front of them, "I was hoping we could talk for a bit?"

"Of course," Sue said, "Come on in."

I could tell Sue and Harry were slightly uncomfortable as they led me into the house. It was very small; it could probably fit into my garage. But I didn't mind.

"Harry, this is Edward. Bella's fiancé." Sue introduced us, "This is Harry my husband."

"I don't mean to be rude," Harry said, "But what are you doing here? It's a long way from New York."

"Yes, I know," I nodded, "But I wanted to speak to you two and this conversation needs to be done in person."

"Oh okay," Sue nodded, "Can I get you anything?"

"Water would be wonderful," I smiled.

"So, what's up?" Harry asked as he sat down across from me.

"Well, as you two both know, I'm marrying Bella in just two weeks," I started, "And she doesn't have any family, except for you two. She thinks very highly of you two."

Sue smiled as she set a glass of water in front of me, "We think the world of her. We didn't have kids, so Bella was like our adopted daughter. She was our goddaughter."

"She loves you two," I smiled at her, "And I know we've done things sort of backwards. And quick. Had I known the direction our relationship would take, I would've done this sooner."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the check I had written. I slid it across the table to Harry. His eyes widened.

"W-what is this?"

"It's a wedding gift," I said, "But in my family, it's like a dowry payment. It's tradition for my family to give a gift of some sort. And since Bella doesn't have a set dowry, I decided to just give you a rounded amount. I hope it's enough."

Sue snatched the check, her eyes wide, "E-Edward—, this is… this is too much. You don't have to give us this."

"I do though," I said, "It's tradition in my family and I uphold my family's traditions."

"That's very generous," Harry said, "I mean, we could use the money—,"

"But it's just too much," Sue said, "We don't require a dowry, we just want Bella to be happy."

"And this is my way of ensuring to you two that I can take care of her and keep her happy."

"I don't know if we can accept it." Sue said.

"Please, Sue," I said, "I take my family's traditions very seriously. If you don't accept the check now, I'll keep sending them until you do."

After a moment, Harry and Sue smiled at each other. She then turned to me and her smiled widened.

"Thank you, Edward, this is amazing. Very over the top, but it's greatly appreciated."

I grinned, "I'm glad you like it."

"Thank you for coming here," Harry said, "We didn't really know what to say when Bella told us she was getting married so suddenly."

"Hopefully I prove to be a good husband to her."

"Would you like something to eat?" Sue asked. "You came out this whole way, please let me fix you something."

"I'm okay," I said, "But there was something else I wanted to talk to you two about."

"Of course." Sue said.

"What do you two know of Stefan Rossi?"

Their eyes widened, letting me know they knew exactly who that was.

"Why do you ask?" Sue said.

"Well, he's made his way back into Bella's life," I said, "He's claiming to be her father and he wants to be in her life. He seems nice enough, but I just want to make sure it's a good idea for him and Bella to have a relationship."

"Yeah, we know of Stefan Rossi," Harry said.

"What can you tell me about him?"

"Well, Charlie was adamant about Bella not knowing anything about Stefan Rossi until she was twenty-one, and even then, he waivered on how old he wanted her to be. If he ever wanted to tell her at all."

"Why is that?"

"Both he and Renee were scared of the backlash Bella might face as Rossi's illegitimate child. He never went into detail but… he talked about the danger Bella could be in."

"Danger?"

"Yes," Sue said, "Rossi's wife was a dangerous, jealous woman. Renee told me that she would have Bella killed. Because there was a risk of Bella inheriting money that belong to Rossi's other daughter. Renee was scared of what could happen to Bella. And what would happen to her and Charlie."

"Her and Charlie?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded, "They were both scared of something happening to them too. That's why they chose this small town. They wanted some place that was basically unknown."

"Hmm." I said, "Do you think that Charlie and Renee's deaths weren't an accident?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably, "Will any of this get back to Bella?"

"Not if it doesn't have too," I said, "You think there's something shady happened?"

"I know something shady happened," He said, "After the accident, we had planned to take the company to court. We were going to sue them, but Rossi's wife visited us in the middle of the night and persuaded us to drop our case."

"How did she persuade you?"

"At first, she tried to pay us off, but then she threatened to kill Bella and then us. We had to back off."

"But the man who hit them was charged—,"

"He was, but we think he was set up." Harry said, "Something about his story didn't make sense. He wasn't supposed to even be working, his truck was parked at the lot and the security cameras conveniently weren't working when he took it? I don't know, but the whole story doesn't make sense."

I tapped my chin, absorbing the information I was given. So, Bella's parents were set up. I knew something wasn't right about this whole situation. I'd have to do more digging.

"Is there anything else you know about this?"

"Bella was never given that much money from the trucking company," Harry said, "That ninety thousand or whatever, wasn't even half of what they gave her. They gave her fifteen thousand, but the rest of it came from somewhere else."

"Do you know where it could've come from?"

"No." Sue said, "We never knew. When she got the big check, we were confused because, well, it wasn't what the insurance company said she was going to get. We never told her."

I nodded, "I'll be looking more into it."

"No please," Sue said, both of them becoming suddenly pale. "Please, you'll be putting Bella's life in danger. Please do not do that. Just leave it be."

"Gianna is dead," I said, "Is there someone else who would hurt Bella?"

"We're not sure but we just want her to be safe," Sue said. "We're trusting you. Just leave well enough alone."

I nodded, "I won't put Bella in danger."

"Thank you."

After hearing all of this information, I had to leave. I was so angry and confused. There were so many unanswered questions. I immediately called Jasper.

"I need you to do some work for me. Stefan Rossi."

"Dude," Jasper sighed, "I've done all the research I can. The guy has kept off the grid."

I growled, "Then do some research on the insurance company that paid Bella after her parents died. And do research on that night, please."

"Is everything okay?"

"Just do what I asked you," I snapped, "I want a full report by the time I'm back in New York."

I didn't wait for him to respond; I just ended the call. I needed to investigate more, because if Stefan was going to be apart of Bella's life, then I need to make sure she's safe.

I will be updating again next Sunday!