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.

Marie Cullen. (Isabella)

Edward and I never talked about that night and what had happened, or almost happened. We didn't talk about his breakdown. I didn't talk about it and he never brought it up.

When I woke up the morning after, he had already gone.

From that day on it was as if he had become a different person, colder, brutal, even his father was having trouble keeping up with him.

But maybe this was the real him, the him that I never really got a chance to know. Maybe this was the monster Anthony was saying he was, maybe.

I hadn't seen much of Michael recently. That was only because I knew it would get back to Edward and the last thing I wanted to do was have Michael murdered because of me. I knew all too well that Edward was capable of just that. Michael did however call and text me almost every day.

If Edward was aware of this, he never let it be known, which only lead me to believe that he really had no clue because it wasn't like him to keep it to himself, especially with the way he has been acting lately.

I wanted to rub it in his face and call him a hypocrite, because that's what he was plain and simple.

Why could I not be friends with Michael, when he had Janina chasing after him?

I was still to meet Janina, personally that is, but I don't think I wanted to either.

Sure we had bumped into each other around the house, but every time either Carlisle or Eleazer would appear out of nowhere and come up with some distraction to drag one of us away. It was as if they were all purposely trying to keep us apart, which only aroused my suspicions more as to why she was actually here and why she was chasing after Edward for that matter.

My curiosity was getting the better of me and I was going to ask the only person I knew I could convince to give me an answer, Esme.

"Why is Carlisle going out of his way to keep Janina and I apart?" I asked.

"I don't know what you are talking about, Marie. Why would he do that?" The trouble with Esme, she was a convincing liar. But in this case, I already knew the truth so her efforts were pointless.

"Can we not do this, please Esme," I said. I had been lied to by these people so many times, but it never bothered me before. I always thought that maybe it was better that I didn't know the truth. But I wanted to know now. I needed to know now.

Esme sighed, knowing she had been defeated or maybe she, just like me, realised that I too deserved to know what was truly going on.

She looked around the room, making sure there was no one within earshot of us. She scooted her chair as close as she could to mine and leaned in close.

"Janina and her father, Leo, do not believe that Edward is really married," she whispered.

"Why would they think that?" I frowned.

"Leo always considered himself more important in our family than he actually was, yet he never once paid Carlisle a visit when he was locked away. Leo never called or came by to see if I was okay or if my children were okay."

Esme was bitter in the way she spoke of Leo and she made no attempt to hide it either.

"Anyway's. When you and Edward were married, no one opened their mouths to speak of it. No one gave out any details, not even a single picture. They would not have dared."

I believed that. I of all people knew that first hand.

"Edward did not invite Leo, and because he was not there and because no one dared open their mouths, no one talked in length about that day, Leo thinks it was all a set up, a lie, in order to keep Edward in the position that he is in so that Carlisle didn't have to take over from Edward."

"And Edward had to be married to keep his position in the family because?" I asked, because that made no sense to me. Granted, I didn't know much about how the mafia worked and operated, only what I had seen for myself and no one was willing to explain anything to me either.

"It is the way things have been done since...since the beginning I guess. It's about tradition and respect," she said.

"Is that why Edward married me, because he needed to keep his title?"

"I...I do not know, Marie. But I do not think that is why he married you, although I do think he could have gone about it better. But maybe this is a question you should ask him."

"You still haven't answered my question, Esme," I said, as I chewed nervously on my bottom lip.

"Isab...Marie, there are some things you are not meant to know."

"I want to know. I have a right to know. I am sick and tired of all of you lying to me and treating me like this," I said, raising my voice and jumping out of my chair.

"Marie, stop it. Sit down before Carlisle hears you," she said.

"No. I didn't ask for any of this you know. I didn't ask to be in this family. I didn't ask to be your son's wife. I didn't want to know any of you. But I had no choice. I'm stuck here in this life with you, with all of you, and even after all this time you still treat me like I am a prisoner."

At this point I was beyond frustrated and tired. Have I not done enough these past years to earn their trust? What more did I need to do?

"Esme, is everything okay?" Carlisle asked, appearing all too conveniently behind me. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes or turn around and bang on his chest and demand that he be the one to tell me the truth. After all, I'm only here because of him. But I knew none of that would help me right now. No matter how much I wanted to yell and scream, no matter how much I wanted to turn on my heal and run out of here as fast as I could and as far as I could manage. I knew none of that would help me, they would find me anyways no matter where I went.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down. I turned around to face Carlisle. "Everything is fine," I said, and walked past him out of the room.

I stormed down the long marble hallway, thankful that I was barefoot and my footsteps wouldn't echo through the hallway.

I was beginning to think that someone was following after me. I could hear faint voices behind me, but when I turned around there was no one there.

I must be losing my mind, I thought to myself. There was no one else here beside Esme, Carlisle and myself. Everyone else had seemed to have disappeared today. The house was empty.

But then I could hear it again, the faint voice, or almost a moan.

One of the doors was slightly ajar. There must be someone in there, but who?

As carefully as I could, I walked up to the slightly opened door. I knew I shouldn't be doing this. I knew I should go away and mind my own business especially in this house and in this family, but it was as if something was pushing me to go there.

I could not believe what I saw before my own eyes. I blinked rapidly thinking that I must be seeing things, but the noises they were making made it very real.

Edward was on the sofa in Eleazar's office with Janina straddling his lap. Her bare chest was right in his face. Her dress was bunched up around her waist and her panties and been disposed of. Edward's hands were firmly on her hips. I couldn't see his face and I couldn't make out what he had just said to her.

"You mean your imaginary wife," Janina laughed. "Look at me and look at her."

"Shut your fucking mouth," Edward said, in his deadly tone, but Janina didn't seem to care. She laughed at him.

"Stop fighting this, amore. You know we are meant to be," she said as she leaned her head down to his chest.

I quickly moved away from the door before Edward could see me.

I was angry. I was so angry that I could feel my hands, my whole body shaking. And suddenly I felt as if the walls were closing in around me.

I needed to get out of here and fast. I needed to get away from him, from them, from everything.

I ran out of the house and into the garage and grabbed the first set of keys off the hook. They were from the Bentley Edward had been driving but I didn't care enough to grab another set. I needed to get out of here. I took my phone out of the back pocket of my jeans and threw it on the passenger seat as I pressed the button to start the engine. I turned down the vizor and found the remote for the gate and opened it. Two of the guards at the gate looked at me suspiciously as I approached to exit, but they made no move to stand in my way and stop me.

The further I drove away from the house, the more I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off of me. I felt as if I could breath again. I knew what had happened, but I wasn't willing to admit it to myself yet.

After driving aimlessly for about twenty minutes, I pulled over to the side of the road and looked at my phone. I picked it up and unlocked the screen. No one had called me yet. There were no messages. I guess Edward was still very much preoccupied to notice his wife had stolen his car.

I couldn't think about that. I couldn't think about him with her right now or I would no doubt feel sick again. So I did the only thing that felt right. I called the one person that made sense to me right now. He picked up on the first ring.

"Michael."

~MINY~

Michael had insisted that I go to his place. That was about an hour away from where I had pulled over. But I told him I couldn't do that knowing that Edward probably had a tracker in the car and possibly in my phone. Michael came up with the idea that I drive into town and leave the car outside the dance studio and he would pick me up.

I had just pulled up outside the studio when I noticed Michael was already there waiting for me. I parked Edward's car and left my phone inside as well. If he or anyone else were planning on tracking me, well good luck to them.

"Hey, are you okay?" Michael asked.

"I'm fine. Can we please get out of here fast," I said, getting into the passenger seat. I didn't want to spend another second next to Edward's car knowing that he could know where I was.

"Alright."

The drive to Michael's place was longer than I thought it would be. Right now I had no idea where we were and I could not help but begin to panic slightly. How stupid could I be to not have taken my phone with me or to have even left a note on the car.

Haven't I learned anything. How could I trust Michale so easily when I knew nothing about him?

"Hey, calm down," he said. I noticed the car had come to a stop outside a beautiful villa overlooking a lake. "You're starting to hyperventilate. I can take you back if you are worried but I can promise you I'm not a bad guy."

"I'm sorry," I said, trying to compose myself. "I'm just...Things with Edward are...I needed…" I didn't even know how to finish my own words. I didn't know what to say to him because there was nothing I could say.

"Don't worry Marie, you don't have to tell me anything," he said, taking a hold of my hand. It surprised me how nice it felt. "How about we sit outside by the lake and make the most of this nice day."

"I'd like that."