A/N: So many people hating on Maggie! Stop it. ;) (But, I guess I did ask for your thoughts...)

This is a short chapter, so maybe I'll post another today.


"You did what?" Aro shrieked. He was pacing in front of the sofa on the far end of my office. "Edward, do you remember me telling you that if she leaves you, I will leave you with nothing!" I did remember, but I never thought he was serious. I still didn't. He was overreacting like always.

"She didn't leave me, I kicked her out. She chose that baby over me! This should not a surprise for her. I've always told her that I don't want children. She never had a problem with it. Then she went and got pregnant anyway! I'm not even sure it's mine!" I knew the last part was a stretch, and I still didn't have any evidence. But why would she get pregnant now after all these years? After all I'd done to secure our future, and plan, and prepare, she wants to throw another person in the mix?

"Don't be ridiculous! Of course it's yours! Don't be an imbecile. That woman is more patient and constant as any I have ever met." He stopped and turned to face me head on. "And you threw her away! She may have been okay with the idea of never trying to get pregnant, but a woman changes when that little being begins to grow inside her. They are connected to it. You can't ask her to choose! It's a part of her. You'd be asking her to kill a part of herself!" he explained, his hand gestures wild and his Italian accent thick indicating his displeasure.

How could a woman love something she couldn't even feel yet? How could she love it more than me? I took a few steps closer to him, keeping the coffee table between us.

"Jasper just told me that she's been lying to me our whole marriage. She told me that the boy who broke her heart was some kid named Mike. Now I find out that it was Jacob Black! She dated him all through high school. I was up there for over a week and she didn't reveal that to me!" I accused, my arms flailing with my own emotion.

"I wonder why, Edward," he said and rubbed his brow in frustration, like this was my fault. Where was his indignation for my situation?

"And he's not just some community college graduate," I continued in order to press my point. "Jasper says he graduated from Harvard Law School. Can you imagine that oaf at Harvard?" I asked, my voice uncharacteristically cracking. "Though I question Jasper's research there. He's still looking for what Jake does for a living."

"Bella has not lied to you," Aro said. He sighed heavily and sat down. He seemed more exacerbated at me than at Bella. I couldn't believe it. "I've never met the man, so I cannot pass judgement on his intelligence. But, I knew it was Jacob Black that broke her heart. She told me one day at your apartment while I was waiting for you to come home. You made an assumption and she never corrected you. That's an omission, not a lie. It was probably too painful for her to talk about and she probably knew you'd react like this. Did Jasper find any evidence of an affair in her correspondence? If you had him digging into Jacob's background, I assume you peeked into all her messages," he said knowingly.

"What do you mean while you were waiting for me to come home? When was this?" I demanded. I turned and glared down at him. My glare did nothing to soften him, if anything his voice was lower and more menacing.

"It was about a year ago. You had said you were going home and you left the office. I left a few hours later and went to your apartment to talk to you about the L.A. project and you weren't there yet. I assume, now, it was a tryst with your secretary. Bella was puzzled that I didn't know where you were and I distracted her by asking her about her past. I'll ask you again, Edward, since you seem hell bent on changing the subject. Was there any evidence of an affair?

"No, there's no evidence. But I can't listen to her past phone calls, can I? What if she has a burner phone?" I asked, taking up Aro's previous pacing. I was so angry that he was even questioning me on this.

"Edward, be reasonable. That woman has never been anything but honest with you. You have been controlling, demanding, and at times demeaning. I've witnessed it. You even took your whore back to your home, Edward. You took her to your home!"

"How do you know that?" I asked, a little shocked. I stopped pacing. That was just the other night, he couldn't possibly know that.

"She was talking on her phone about it to a friend right there at her desk where anyone could her!" he pointed at the door as if it were open and I could see it. "She even bragged that you let her take some of Bella's clothes home with her!" he said disbelievingly. "What has gotten in to you? Not only did you not heed my advice and quit her, but you paraded her about town like a trophy. You have no control and no discretion!" he yelled. "I have no choice but to take action. We have put some very profitable properties in her name and I shudder to think what she could do to us if she gets angry. And you have done some pretty despicable things that would try the patience of Mother Teresa!"

"I've got it handled. Don't worry. Nothing will happen with the properties," I said, trying to get the conversation back on track. I was beginning to believe that he would make good on his promise to demote me and cut me off.

"You've got nothing handled. On a whim I checked with the land office in Port Angeles. They said that Bella had the contract changed so that any developments there must have the permission of the majority of the Elders of the tribe. She did that the day before she came to tell you her happy news and you kicked her to the curb. She did that before she went to the doctor to find out she was pregnant. That means that she was not under duress and we cannot contest it. What if that bright woman remembers what the other properties are and makes similar changes? Have you thought off that?"

I was surprised by that news. That means Fred did not call me and let me know. Of course, I told him to call me if anyone from the original property deal came in, and Bella didn't fall under that category. It didn't matter, I'd make good on my threat to him and have his job.

"Aro, you're making too big of a deal out of this. I've got this under control," I tried to reassure him. But I was beginning to feel as if I didn't. Everything seemed to be spinning out of control, and I didn't know how to stop it.

"I doubt that," he started, but there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," I called, happy for the interruption.

"We are not finished with this discussion, Edward," Aro said as Jasper walked in. I hoped he had good news.

"I found out some stuff and it's not good," he announced. Aro leaned forward on the sofa indicating he wanted to hear this right from the horse's mouth. Jasper fiddled around on the tablet he carried, tapping for the information to appear.

"Jacob Black not only graduated from Harvard Law School, he's the 'B' in A, B, & C Incorporated. They own a string of casinos throughout the Midwest and they are a power to be reckoned with. They got their start up capital from an oil man in Texas, the father of one of Black's classmates at Rice University. It's been paid back in full and the lender is completely content with is two percent annual payout which will expire in five more years-so no leverage there. Additionally they are very well liked in all the cities where they own properties. They took over run down and failing casinos and turned them into respectable resorts, improving the property values and tax revenues of each city-again, no leverage. Their employees love them, though they cleaned house in every property they obtained. His childhood friends are the 'A' and 'C' and they are as squeaky clean as Black is. No brushes with the law, no underhanded business deals, and no enemies to mention so again: no leverage. However, if they get wind of some of the things you've done, they can clean you out." He pointed at me and not Aro.

"What were you saying about being in control just before?" Aro asked. The room began to spin and not just metaphorically.

"Your information has got to be wrong," I replied, shaking my head and taking a step back as if to distance myself from his report. There was no way that Jacob Black, that unmotivated man who wore his faded high school t-shirt around town, was the head of a profitable casino chain.

"Are you questioning my abilities?" Jasper asked. He face was an unreadable mask, but his tone was deadly serious.

"Not at all," Aro interjected, standing up to mediate if needed. He gave me a warning look.

"No, just maybe someone is duping you," I reiterated, brushing Aro off.

"That suggestion is the same as questioning my abilities. You doubted me once before when you suspected Bella was having an affair and I told you that nothing in her spending or calling habits would suggest that. And I can compare that with your spending and calling habits if you like. This is the second time you are doubting me and the information I've provided you. Now, I only allow three strikes and then I'm out. There are plenty of other companies that would value my talents without question. So I'd think carefully about the sentence that comes out of your mouth," he stated matter-of-factly.

Aro crossed to Jasper and put his arm around his shoulder. "Now Edward didn't mean anything by it. He is distraught by Bella's departure even though he is the one who demanded it. You go back to your office before he says something else to upset you. I don't doubt you or your information and I'm the one that matters." He shuffled Jasper out the door and shut it.

He turned back around and his blue eyes were like ice. All pretense of jocularity and patience were gone and his face hardened with determination.

"As of now you are stripped of your duties and responsibilities as Executive Vice-President. I warned you that this would happen, but you refused to listen. You are welcome to stay in the apartment, but I would seek other accommodations because you will not be able to afford the rent for long once your paychecks stop. The only way you can fix this is to go and convince your wife to come home, quit flaunting your dalliances all over town—in fact break it off and fire her—and do anything else I ask you to do exactly to the letter. The only reason I gave you this option is because you are my nephew. I would have fired and ruined anyone else."

"I'm not groveling in front of the woman who betrayed me," I said resolutely and stood my ground. Shock flashed across his face for in infinitesimal moment, and then it was curious.

"If you do not see your affair with Tanya as a betrayal to Bella, then how do you see it?" he asked, looking truly interested.

"I do the things with Tanya that I wouldn't dream doing to a woman like Bella. She is the outlet for my vice," I said. It was the first time I had verbalized that. But for the first time I was afraid that I might lose everything. I never dreamed that Bella would walk out when I made that ultimatum. I thought for sure that she needed me, wanted me. I had to sit down. I wasn't feeling well.

"Edward that is a manifestation of your OCD. I have avoided addressing this issue since you came to me, but now I must insist. You must seek help for your disorder. And rethinking this whole matter, you will not win Bella back if you don't do that first," he decided. "You seek help. You are out of control and I know that is what you seek most."

"I don't need any help," I said, but it didn't sound convincing.

"What are you frightened of?" he asked.

"NOTHING!" I was angry then. All he'd done since he walked in twenty minutes ago is berate me like an insolent child.

"Edward, you have fucked up royally," Aro declared. "The only way to fix this is to admit it and change. If you don't you will be left with nothing. I care for you as much as I do for my own sons, sometimes even more. You're going do something irreparable if you are not careful. And I love you enough to tell you. Your father loved you enough and you left him. I am all you have left. Please, listen to me."

"No!" I yelled in one last, vain attempt to regain any semblance of control. "Everything was perfect until Bella's father had a heart attack!" I said, frustrated. "Everything was just as it should be! And now everything is wrong. All I have to do is figure out how to…" I didn't know how to fix this. But something could be done, surely.

"Edward, you are delusional. You need to accept reality," he tried one last time.

"NO! You need to have a little faith in me!" I raged. Why was he doubting me? I had to get out of there. I grabbed my keys and headed out of the office. I passed Tanya without a word, ignoring her call out to me. I don't remember making it to my car, but I got in it and just drove north.


Thoughts?