30

EPOV

I wasn't sure what the hell had just happened. Bella's parents were sitting on the other side of the van from the rest of us, alive and breathing. Bella was sitting in my lap with her arms and legs wrapped tightly around me. She had her face buried in the crook of my neck and I could feel her tears falling. How in the hell could they have done that to her?

The air was tense and filled with unanswered questions, accusations, and raw emotions. Bella had been dragged through hell over the last two years. Not that her brothers hadn't too but Bella had been the one who suffered the most. I was so fucking pissed off with them for putting her through two years of shit. Not only had they let her, let all of them think they were dead, but they stood there and let them cart Bella off to the crazy house. What kind of parent would sit back and let them send their daughter to a fucking mental hospital like that just to save their own asses?

It felt like we had been in the van for hours when it finally stopped again. Charlie climbed out of the back and met Peter and Sam around the back. They whispered something to each other but I couldn't make out what it was. After a moment, Charlie looked back at us.

"Ok, we need to move as quickly as we can here. Just follow us to the plane."

"Where are you taking us?" asked my father.

"I can't tell you," sighed Charlie, shaking his head. "Just trust me."

"Fat chance of that happening," muttered Carlisle.

Charlie didn't say anything else as Nolan and Corrine climbed out. Renee climbed out next, moving so that she was standing next to Charlie. Nobody else moved. I knew they didn't trust them anymore than I did. After a moment though, my father sighed and slid out, pulling my mother after him. Carlisle and Esme went next followed by Emmett, Rose, Jasper, and Alice. I tightened my arms around Bella as I slid across the floor of the van and climbed out of the van.

"Bella-"

"Leave her alone," snapped Carlisle, interrupting his mother. "Not a one of us gives a shit what you think, feel, or want."

Corrine frowned as Nolan pulled her behind Charlie as he led us over to the plane. I set Bella back on her feet so we could board. Her parents both reached out for her as she passed them but she pulled back from them. I wrapped my arm around her and shielded her the best I could as we headed to the back of the plane away from everyone.

Her parents settled in the front of the plane with Peter, James, Victoria, Charlie, Renee, Sam, Garrett, Kate, Ben, Angela, Jacob, and Ness. My parents, Carlisle, Esme, Jasper, Alice, Emmett, and Rose settled into a group of seats across from me and Bella, who climbed into my lap and nestled herself into my embrace. I would do everything I could to keep her safe from everyone, including her parents.

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Somewhere around twelve hours later, the plane started to descend. We still had no clue on where we were being taken. Every time someone asked, we were told that we didn't need to know. What a load of horseshit. As soon as the plane came to a complete stop, we were ushered off the plane. The first thing I noticed was that wherever in the hell we were, it was hotter than hell and incredibly humid. The next thing I noticed was that we seemed to be in the middle of some kind of tropical island or something.

A few minutes later the van we had been forced into, pulled up in front of a series of small building. We unloaded out of the van and looked around. It looked like it was some kind of run down resort that hadn't been visited for at least ten years, if not longer. It looked like a shit hole.

"Ok, girls, we will house you over here," said Peter, gesturing to the building on the left. "Guys-"

"Rose, Alice, Esme, and Bella, you will be together and Emmett, Jasper, Edward, and I will be together," said Carlisle, interrupting Peter. "Ed and Elizabeth, you can take the room next to ours and we don't really give a shit where the rest of you stay as long as it's fucking far away from us."

"I want to stay with Edward," said Bella, looking over at her oldest brother. He scrunched up his face. "Car, please, I need him."

"I don't think it is acceptable for you two to share a room," said Corrine.

"I didn't fucking ask you," growled Bella.

"Don't use that kind of language, Isabella," scolded Nolan.

"You don't get to tell her what to do," I muttered.

"And you don't get to have an opinion here, young man," snapped Nolan.

"You don't get to talk to my son like that," hissed Elizabeth, moving so that she was standing between me and Nolan. She glared at him for a moment before she turned to Carlisle. "It's fine with me and Ed for them to share a room if you and your brothers are ok with it. We trust them."

"It's fine with me," muttered Jasper, holding Alice to his chest. "I'm staying with Alice."

"Fine by me too," said Emmett. "I'll be with Rose, anyway."

"Yeah, it's fine," sighed Carlisle. Esme bit her lip as she leaned into his embrace.

"I'm staying with you, Carlisle," murmured Esme. Carlisle just nodded.

"It's not up to them," grumbled Corrine. "I'm her mother."

"You are not my mother," yelled Bella. "My mother fucking died two years ago!"

Bella pulled out of my arms and took off running down the beach. Her parents stepped like they were going to follow her but Elizabeth and Ed pushed them both backwards. They both stumbled back with shocked looks on their faces.

"Edward, go to her," ordered my mother. I nodded as I turned and followed Bella. "She is not your daughter anymore, you vile…"

My mother's voice trailed off I took off down the beach. I did hear her calling Corrine something along the lines of being an ugly bitch who needs to get their head out of her ass while my father said something about kicking anyone's ass who dared mess with his family and that that included Bella. God, I loved my parents.

I found Bella in a crumpled heap in the sand. I fell to my knees next to her and pulled her into my lap, once again holding her as she cried. Bella gripped my t-shirt in her hand and held onto me. I wasn't sure what to say or do. All I really could do right now was hold her and make sure she knew that I wasn't going to leave her.

"People back home are going to talk," said Bella, after several minutes. She moved so that she was sitting in the sand next to me. I kept my arm wrapped around her waist.

"I'm sure they will," I muttered, looking out over the water. "I was really wanting to kick Mike ass again. I knew it was only going be a matter of time before he did or said something to deserve it. I feel rather disappointed now."

"Me too," chuckled Bella, darkly. For a moment, she didn't say anything else. "How could they do that to me? To my brothers."

"I don't know," I said, softly.

"When I was in that tiny, little cubby hole…" Bella paused as she took a deep breath.

"It's ok, love," I whispered.

"It's not ok," she cried. "Every fucking night for two years, I relived that one night over and over and over. Carlisle, Emmett, and Jasper would have to come in and hold me down to stop me from hurting myself. Every morning I would wake up thinking that those men where coming back for me. I was afraid they would kill my brothers, Edward. They were all I had. I pushed them away and I called them so many names, Edward."

"They don't blame you," I said, tightening my hold on her.

"I know they don't," muttered Bella. "You're parents are really going to hate me now."

"No, they won't," I sighed, shaking my head.

Bella and I sat on the beach for a little while longer, just watching the waves beat up against the shore. After a while though, we had to head back to the others. They were bound to get worried if we didn't get back to them soon. I pulled Bella up to her feet and dragged her up the beach back to where our rooms were. My parents, Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Rose, Jasper, and Alice were sitting outside one of the houses. They all looked up as we came up to them.

"You ok, Bell?" asked Jasper.

"No, Jas, I'm not," muttered Bella. "You?"

"No," snorted Jasper. "I am far from being ok right now."

"Me too," muttered Emmett, darkly. "Stupid assholes."

Bella and I settled on one of the wood benches that faced the others. Rose had her hand on Emmett's back, rubbing small circles in it. He looked over at her and smiled before looking back at the ground. Alice was sitting in Jasper's lap, running her fingers through his unruly hair. Esme was leaning against Carlisle. She had one of her arms looped in with his and was rubbing his arm. He turned and pressed his lips to the top of her head.

"So…" trailed off Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth, Ed, I feel like we should apologize for getting you, Esme, and Edward mixed up in this," said Carlisle, shaking his head. "Needless to say, this was not how we envisioned spending our time."

"Carlisle, we don't blame any of you for this," said Ed as we all looked up at him.

"You don't?" asked Bella. "Even though Edward and Esme wouldn't be stuck here if they hadn't…"

"What?" he asked. "Fallen in love?"

"Love?" asked Emmett, snapping his head up at me and Bella, who blushed. "Bell, you love him?"

"That's not the point, Em," muttered Bella, pulling her knees up.

"No, Bella, I don't blame any of you," smiled my father as I slipped my arm around her. "Especially not you. You were a kid, a child. They should have thought about what they were doing to you when they made the decision to lie to you. They were wrong and I'm sorry they hurt you."

"I just don't understand what the hell they were thinking," grumbled Emmett. Bella leaned over and laid her head on my shoulder. From the corner of my eye, I saw my mother smile. "How could they let us think that they had been…Then to let Bell think that…I'm just so fucking pissed off."

"Me too, Em," whispered Bella. "I blamed myself for so long."

"What?" asked Jasper as he, Emmett, and Carlisle all looked over at her. "Bell, why would you blame yourself?"

"Because I sat there and listened to those men killing them," cried Bella. I pulled her into my lap. "I know that logically that I wouldn't have been able to help them and I would have ended up dead but…to hear her screaming for them not to hurt her…"

"Bella, honey, why didn't you tell us that was how you felt?" asked Rose.

"Because I was barely hanging on as it was and I was afraid that you would send me back to that place," whispered Bella. "I couldn't go back there. So I just…trained harder and tried to push it back so you wouldn't see."

"You should have told us that's how you were feeling," said Emmett.

"I didn't want to lose you guys, too," cried Bella. "Ren had left and you three were all I had left."

"Bella, you are never going to lose us," said Carlisle, moving over and pulled her out of my lap and into his own. "We aren't going to let anyone hurt you again. Ever."

"Yeah, Bell," whispered Jasper, moving to them and pushing the hair out of her face. "You're my baby sister and I would never leave you."

"God, you are so fucking stubborn, Bella," grumbled Emmett, pulling her into his arms. "Get this through that thick head of yours. We aren't leaving you, ever. Unlike some people, we would never hurt you."

"I know," murmured Bella. "If you ever repeat this, I will have to kick your asses but…well, I fucking love you."

"We know," laughed Carlisle. "And we love you, too."

"Yeah, Bell," laughed Alice, hugging her. "You're like my fouled mouth little sister."

"Ugh, this is getting gross," laughed Bella, moving away from all of them.

"Oh, come on, Bella," snickered Rose. "Don't you want to have a group hug?"

"NO!" yelled Bella, laughing hard.

Everyone laughed as they sat back down in their seats. For several minutes, nobody spoke. We all seemed to be lost in the our own thoughts or maybe we just didn't know what else to say right now. It wasn't until Emmett started chuckling that the silence was broken.

"Em, what's so funny?" asked Jasper.

"I was just thinking that Bella never denied loving the boy," smirked Emmett. Jasper, Rose, Alice, Carlisle, and Esme all looked over at us and simultaneously cocked an eyebrow at us.

"Well?" asked Alice, smiling. "Do you love him, Bella?"

"It's getting late," muttered Bella, standing up. "We should get to bed."

"Yeah," I mumbled, standing up next to her. "Night all."

"Answer her, Bella," yelled Jasper as Bella pulled me down toward our room. She stopped in the doorway and looked back at them.

"YES!" she yelled. She threw open the door and pulled me in to the room. As she shut the door, I heard her brothers all laughing and yelling for her to come back. "That was awkward."

"Yes, it was," I smiled, pulling her into my arms. "I love you, too."

"But I love you more," she said, leaning up and kissing me.

"Not possible," I mumbled against her lips.

"Trust me when I say that I love you more, Edward," whispered Bella. "I couldn't… I wouldn't be able to handle this if I didn't have you."

"You will always have me, Baby," I whispered, kissing her again. "Always."

As Bella pulled away, I thought I heard her whispered that she hoped so. Bella pulled her jeans off and climbed into the bed wearing just her t-shirt. I tugged my jeans off and climbed in next to her. She leaned over and laid her head on my chest. I ran my fingers through her hair until she drifted off to sleep. As I drifted off, I heard her murmur my name and beg me not to leave her. I would have to make sure she knew I was here for good.