Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Edited by Sjdavis84 and StillDreaming85.

Ragusa, Sicilia, Italia.

EDWARD CULLEN.

There are moments in life that you will never be prepared for. For three years I have looked everywhere for her. I have had my best people trying to track her down, but not even the best were good enough. My father, he had made her disappear. It was as if she had vanished off the face of the earth. There was no trace of an Isabella or a Marie anywhere. Garrett was of no help, I could not have him beaten enough to get him to talk. He always said the same thing time and time again, he didn't know where she was, my father hadn't told him. After a few months, I believed him. No man allied or enemy would take that sort of punishment and not talk.

I hated what I had become, but my father, he loved it, he took great joy in knowing that I had become a...a monster. The beast in me surfaced the day she had left. I was hurt that she had chosen to leave me. I had tried with everything in me. I had tried to make things better for her, to make her better, but it was difficult when she wouldn't allow me to help. She may not have realized it at the time, but she had made a deal with a devil she didn't know. My father wasn't a man to do anything or help anyone for free. He always had a price and that price was always very high. When the time came, when he wanted to collect, he would make Isabella pay for his help.

After three years of looking, I will admit, I was very close to giving up hope. It was by sheer luck that I had found her now.

A package that arrived for my father at the office ahead of schedule. Normally I would have sent someone else to deliver it to him, or I would have told him to come and collect it himself. I don't know what made me do it, but I stopped by the house unannounced with his package. When I arrived that night, it was late. Everyone was no doubt asleep or in bed so I let myself in.

The first thing that caught my attention were the suitcases by the door. They were leaving again. I don't know if there was a corner of the globe that they had left untouched these past few years. I don't know what was left for them to see.

I had tried to have them followed many times to see if perhaps, somehow they might lead me to my wife, but my father, he was a smart man. One could not fool Carlisle Cullen that easily.

His office door was slightly ajar. I could hear him and my mother talking. If he was paying attention to the security monitors, he would know that I had entered the house and that I was standing outside his office door right now. But by the sound of it, they were having a heated argument and his attention was elsewhere.

"We need to tell him. Look at what he has become, Carlisle. Is this what you wanted from your son?" My mother said.

"I did this for you, because this is what you wanted, and now you want me to bring her back?" My father said.

"I didn't think things would turn out the way they have. I didn't think it would affect him this much. This was best for her, but not for our son."

"Our son has other responsibilities to keep his mind preoccupied."

"It is not just him, Carlisle. Carmen and Eleazar say she always asks them about him. Don't pretend like you do not care about her. Maybe she wants to come back."

"No," my father said.

I slowly backed away from the door. I dropped his package on the table by the front door and left. Getting in my car, I drove straight to the airport and got onto the first flight out to Sicily.

Too many things were running through my head at that time. I was angry, angry that I had not figured it out sooner, angry that my father had managed to outsmart me, angry that all of this time she was so close within reach of me and yet so far away.

My body hummed in anticipation of seeing her again. I waited for what felt like hours, days, outside the dance studio she was in. I froze when I saw come out with a small child in her arms, a little girl. I studied them, both of them from my spot, I was close enough and yet still far away.

I watched her as she held the small child on her hip. The little girl said something to make her laugh. It was beautiful yet terrible to watch. Is this why she left? Did she think keeping my child from me would be a good idea? I was angry at the thought, my hands balled up into fists by my side at the thought that all this time she had kept this from me, that my father had kept this from me. But, it was an anger I could not hold on to. As I did the quick mental math I realized that child, it could not be mine or hers. The little girl looked older, four, maybe five. If Isabella had been pregnant, our child would be no older than two right now.

I breathed a sigh of relief with that realization, and yet it made me sad that we didn't have that.

I took in every part of her from head to toe. She was exactly the same as I remembered her, yet there was something different about her, something I couldn't put my finger on. She was shocked to see me, that was evident, but I didn't expect her to run from me. She climbed into the car with the two men that my father had watching over her. She left me standing in the middle of the street, no matter what, I never expected her to run away from me, more so for my father to keep me away from her now.

~MINY~

"Edward you need to leave her alone," my zia Carmen said.

"And you need to mind your own business," I snapped at her.

There was something about my father's bastard sister that I never liked. From very early on as a small child there had always been something warning me about her. The woman has never done a thing wrong in her life, she has been loyal to my father, both her and her husband have been loyal to the family, still there was something there something about her that was...Off, bitter even.

"She is happy here," zia Carmen said.

"How the hell did you find out where she was?" My father asked.

"You told me yourself," I said. "Enough is enough. We have played this game for too long now. She is my wife and I will not let you keep her from me any longer."

"Edward, please, you know why we had to do what we did," my mother said.

"No, no I don't. She was fine with me, I had kept her safe."

"You kept her a prisoner," my mother yelled, standing up in my face. "You and Anth...Your brother, God rest his soul, had no right to take her, to do the things you did to her."

"I didn't do anything to her," I yelled right back at her, defending myself.

"You let it happen, Edward. You knew and you did nothing. She was a child that you let be used in a twisted game of revenge. If you loved her half as much as you claim to, you would have let her go a long time ago, you sure as hell would not have forced her into a marriage."

"I made the only decision that was best at the time. If I could have let her go, I would have, but you know damn well that wasn't an option," I said. I had done so many things where Isabella was involved. If I could turn back time and take it all back I would, but the only thing I can do is try to make things better now and hope that somehow it will all work out, that we will work out.

"There was always an option, Edward. You just chose the one that suited you more," my mother said.

"You two lied to me for three years," I said, pointing between the two of them. "Don't try and turn this around on me now. Dad should have never gotten involved. The two of you are nothing but pathetic thinking all of this was for the best," I said, storming out of the room.

"Where are you going?" My father called after me.

"Don't you dare follow me."

I was surprised to find her bedroom door unlocked, but grateful nonetheless.

She was tucked up in bed with the covers pulled up over her face.

I took my jacket off and let it fall on the floor. I took my belt, shoes and socks off before pulling the covers back and climbing in beside her trying to make as little movement as possible as not to wake her up.

The lamps outside provided a soft glow through the room. Her tear stained face broke my heart, knowing that somehow I was the cause of it. I wanted to make things better and I hoped she would let me. But that would be something to worry about later. Right now, I scooted my body as close to hers as I could get. Right now with her here in this very moment, I felt something I haven't felt in a long time, peace, calmness...Love.

I didn't want to fall asleep, not yet. What if this was all a dream, a cruel joke, I would blink and she would be gone.

But my eyes were heavy, my mind and my body tiered. Three years of searching for her, three years of restlessness, three years of hell right now became my peace because after all that time, she was finally where she belonged, with me.