I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave much such wonderfully supportive comments! You guys are amazing! I won't know until November 1st if I passed so fingers crossed. I'm trying to keep a positive mindset, but I'm not feeling too confident. Sorry it's taken me so long to update today, after my test I sort of had a little 'episode' and I guess I just needed time to get to a mentally better place. Sorry about that. Oh, and for those who were wondering, what happened to chapter thirty-nine, this is the real chapter the last one was an AN. That's it for now! Please enjoy!

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Sulpicia's idea was one that would take a couple hours to get here, so we moved onto picking the bridesmaid dresses. That was a lot easier than picking out my own dress. I was thankful for the break.

"I like that one," I smiled when Rosalie came out of the dressing room. She was dressed in a dark plum colored dress. The shoulders were low, and the sleeves were long. The dress was a bit tight, but it did look really good on Rose.

"It's very pretty," Esme said as she looked it over. "And it's the perfect match for your color scheme."

"I like it a lot," Mary said. "But the other girls should try it on, just to see if they like it too."

"I like the one Leah has on," Alice said; she had been forced to sit this one out because Esme was making her rest.

"I like them both. But I really like that one a lot." I said. "I like the stuff on the sleeves. It looks pretty."

"I agree that one is really pretty." Leah said. "I need to try it on though, I don't have as much as her though, so it might not look as good on me."

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Give me a few months, I might not have this body anymore. Babies do horrible things to a woman's figure."

Esme looked slightly offended. "I think I still hold up pretty well in that department, thank you very much."

Rosalie blushed and turned back to the mirror to look at herself. Leah walked out of the changing room in the dress. I didn't know what she was worried about because she looked stunning. I could understand the self-consciousness though, because Rosalie made me feel self-conscious when I stood beside her.

"Yeah, I think this is the one." Leah said as she walked out of the dressing room.

I smiled. "It looks so pretty."

"Alrighty, so we've picked the bridesmaid dresses," Esme said as she checked it off the list on her phone. "Now we just need to find you a dress, my dear."

"Perfect timing," Sulpicia said as she looked at her apple watch. "Aro's here! Okay, Bella go wait in the dressing room. Gianna would you kindly blindfold Bella? I want her first look at the dress to be on her."

I followed Gianna into the dressing room. She had a blindfold ready which she gently placed around my eyes. I heard Aro come in.

"Hello ladies!" He said in a very cheery voice. "So nice to see all of you. I'm glad I got an invitation. To be honest with you, I was a bit jealous I couldn't come and see all of the lovely dresses."

"Oh well you're here now," Esme chuckled. "And hopefully this is the dress for Bella. She's been having some trouble finding one she likes."

"I certainly hope it's the dress for her. I had it made specially for her. I won't give away too many details until I hear what she says." He said.

"Alright let us see, Aro. I've been dying to see it!" Sulpicia said.

A moment later, all of the ladies 'ooed' and 'awed' at the dress Aro had showed them. I felt my stomach clench; okay, I had to like this dress. Everyone had such a positive reaction to it that I would disappoint them. I had to force myself to like this dress. I could do this.

"Let me help you into the dress." Gianna said. "It's very beautiful."

I took a deep breath and allowed her to guide me into the dress. From what I could feel, it was made from smooth material. The sleeves were long, and the neckline was high against my collarbone. The top half of the dress was tight, but there was a lot of room in the bottom of the dress.

When I walked out, there were audible gasps before the compliments started rolling in.

"Oh my god, Bella," Sue exclaimed. "I think I might cry! You look so beautiful!"

"It's so perfect for you, Bella." Alice said.

"So beautiful," Rosalie added.

Their compliments only made the nervous ball in my stomach grow and become tighter. I jumped slightly when someone put their hands on my face to take the blindfold off.

"Bella," Aro said as he untied the blindfold. "I sincerely hope you like this dress."

"I hope so too," I muttered quietly so he wouldn't hear me.

Finally, the blindfold came off and my eyes took just a moment to adjust to the light. I looked into the mirror at myself, and I felt as though I had frozen.

The dress was very plain, but then not plain at all. There were embroidered flowers started from the sides of my collarbone that spanned over my shoulders and created a very delicate trail to the open V cut on my back. The dress was extremely long, Gianna had pulled it out and spread the train so I could see it behind me. The dress was somehow perfect.

A very wide smile slowly spread across my face.

"I think she likes it," Alice grinned.

"Do you like it Bella?" Esme asked.

I bit my lip and nodded. Words were jammed into my throat. I wanted to tell everyone how beautiful this dress was, but I was completely speechless. Strange tears formed into the corner of my eyes, but they weren't sad tears. I wasn't really sure why I was tearing up.

"I had it made with you in mind," Aro said as he placed a hand on my lower back.

"What do you think of it, Bella?" Esme asked.

I took a deep breath. "I really love it."

There was a loud squeal as everyone clapped. Esme jumped to her feet and grabbed me in a tight hug before kissing my cheek. Sue was next to give me a tight hug.

"I am so relieved you couldn't find a dress here." Aro said. "Once I discovered you were following through on the arrangement, I called my best designer and had her create a beautiful dress for you. I sent a photo of your mother's wedding dress as inspiration. The flowers here were inspired from her dress, but I had them add real pearls to the inside of them whereas your mother had diamonds. Pearls just fit your personality better."

"It's very lovely, Aro," Esme said as she felt the fabric. "And I really think Edward will love it. We're definitely adding this to the collection after the wedding."

I ran my hands down the front of the dress. It was so beautiful. I can't believe I was still awestruck by this dress. I was excited to wear it down the aisle, and I was excited for everyone to see me in the dress.

"Now let's get this beautiful dress wrapped up and put somewhere safe." Esme said, I had to admit, I was a little disappointed that I had to take the dress off.

After I changed, I was surprised to see Edward walking in through the door. I smiled widely and practically ran over to him.

"Hi!" I grinned; I wanted him to kiss me again.

He chuckled and placed his hands on my hips. "You look very happy. Did you have a good day?"

I nodded. "It was great. I found the perfect dress."

"Good. I can't wait to see it." He said as his head slowly leaned down. His lips just barely brushed against mine, but it was enough to make my heart skip a beat.

"Aw!" I heard Esme coo. "You two are just so adorably sweet!"

I blushed and pushed away from Edward, but not too far; my hand still remained in his.

"Nice to see you again, Edward." Aro smiled as he walked to us. "Now that we're all here, are we ready for lunch?"

Edward nodded. "Of course."

"Come along, Sulpicia." Aro called.

"Oh, here I come, master," Sulpicia said jokingly as she dramatically bounded to his side.

Aro rolled his eyes. "The ever-supporting wife."

Sulpicia bowed to him. "Of course, master, I will put on the supporting wife hat."

Everyone laughed at Sulpicia's display; even I laughed a little. Aro rolled his eyes again but was smiling as he grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. I thought he was going to kiss her on the lips, but instead he took a moment to fix the high ponytail and then wiped the little mascara smear off her cheek.

"Alright, let's go." Aro smiled.

Nerai Restaurant

"So, Bella, do you like Greek food?" Aro asked once we were settled in at our table.

"Um, I'm not sure." I said as I stared at the menu; there were too many words that I had never even see before, so I couldn't be sure if I liked anything.

"It's all very delicious." Aro said before he stopped a waiter. "Would you bring us the grilled octopus? And the everything sampler, but you can leave out spinach pies." He looked my way. "Just a little too fattening right now."

Sulpicia rolled her eyes and swatted Aro's arm. "Don't be like that. You're holding together pretty well for an old man."

Aro gasped. "Old man? How dare you."

Sulpicia laughed. "You're a very attractive old man. Don't get in your feelings. And you don't want to scare the kids into not enjoying food."

"Oh, I don't think either one will ever have to worry about their weight. They're both so physically fit."

Edward snorted. "I only workout so I can eat a lot. Ask Bella. I eat all the time."

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, Edward eats so much that we have to get groceries delivered every other day. We mostly keep the fridge stocked for him."

Aro put his menu down, nodding slowly. "This was actually one of the things I wanted to talk to you two about. It's a little uncomfortable, but it's definitely not the worst thing we need to discuss today."

"Okay." Edward said as he set his menu down.

"Aro are you sure you want to start off lunch this way?" Sulpicia asked as she looked at the menu.

"Yes, let's get it out of the way. And we can discuss the worst of the worst over dessert. The sweetness will help with the unpleasantness." He said before turning to Edward and me. "So, I've gotten reports that the two of you have been spending a lot of time together."

"Well, yeah," Edward shrugged. "We're getting to know one another. Part of that is spending a lot of time together."

"I understand that. This issue is, I'm getting reports that you've been spotted leaving Isabella's apartment very late in the night and early in the morning. You can see where I'm going with this, I hope."

"Oh Aro, you don't have to worry about that." Edward said. "I know Bella isn't ready for anything like that. We're just spending time together, that's all. You can ask Alice and you can check the security cameras. Everything we do is completely appropriate."

"I'm sure it is, but—," Aro left off in a soft, short groan. "Well, the wedding is sort of rushed."

"Well, if you recall Aro, we kind of had to rush the wedding."

I felt Edward tense and when I looked over, his nostrils were flaring.

"Yes I know. I understand that, but the two of you had three entire months until you had to get married. It's been barely a month, and your wedding is on Saturday."

"I'm sorry, Aro, but you're going to have to clarify some things for me. Bella and I were put on a very tight time limit. The rules of our rushed engagement were laid out very clearly. Are we doing something wrong? We're doing everything that everyone else wants us to do, but somehow we're doing it wrong."

"Well it's not—,"

"Oh my goodness," Sulpicia sighed as she shook her head. "Aro just come out and ask the kids. All of this dancing around is confusing them."

"D-do you think I'm p-pregnant?" I asked with a slight shudder. I was pretty sure that was what Aro was alluding to, but I wasn't completely sure.

Aro looked down, chuckling awkwardly. "I just wanted… Hm, I guess I just would like to know, that way there weren't any surprises nine months down the road."

"I can assure you that Bella is most certainly not pregnant." Edward said firmly.

"Good." Aro nodded. "I just want to make sure. You know our family is very strict about premarital sex."

My heart skipped a few beats as everyone grabbed their menus. It seemed like the conversation had moved on, but I remembered something Carlisle had said a week ago.

"A-are you going t-to be in the room w-when E-Edward and I-I—,"

"Absolutely not," Sulpicia said, eyes wide. "No. Absolutely not."

"I can answer for myself," Aro griped. "Sulpicia is right though. I won't do that. It's too invasive. And disgusting."

"W-what about the s-sheets?"

Aro shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Well, I don't want the sheets. I trust that you are a virgin. Your other uncle, however, is requiring the sheets. And that's after I talked him down from upholding our family's archaic tradition."

I shuddered and leaned into Edward's side. He placed his arm around me and kissed the top of my head. Aro's face pinched slightly with sympathy.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I know my brother is acting ridiculous, but he's simply concerned. When your mother and father were murdered, it nearly destroyed him. He was very close with Renee. Losing her was the hardest thing he had ever went through. In his own perverse way, he's just trying to protect you. He doesn't want the same people who murdered your parents to get ahold of you."

I shuddered against and snuggled closer to Edward. I noticed Aro smiled as he watched us. A few moments later, the waiter brought us the several platters of appetizer food.

I had tried a bite of nearly everything, except the octopus; the look of the octopus was unsettling. After most of the appetizers had been eaten, I allowed Edward to order my food. He always ordered something I liked because he knew what I didn't like. I didn't like seafood, I didn't like anything spicy, and I most certainly did not like anything that looked like the octopus had.

We had made it to dessert when Aro started his next line of question.

"I had a question, Bella." Aro said after he had had a few bites of his dessert. "Why did you leave so suddenly last night?"

I nearly dropped my fork in surprise. I quickly looked over at Edward for an answer because I was unsure of the answer I needed to give. Edward opened his mouth to answer, but Aro cut him off with a look. Edward leaned back in the seat beside me, his jaw clenched. His eyes met mine and he nodded very slightly.

"I-I was sick." I said. "A-Alice got sick, and I guess it s-spread to me."

"Ah." He nodded. "It just seems very odd that you would suddenly get sick the moment I receive an email from a trusted partner about a very troubling issue. The timing is rather odd."

I felt the color drain from my face and my heart skip a few beats. I wasn't sure what Aro was going to tell us, but whatever it was, it wasn't good. Edward's hand tightened on my leg.

"What does that mean? What are you trying to imply?" Edward gruffly asked. He leaned up and pushed his plate to the side. I knew it was serious when he moved his plate.

It was almost as if the entire atmosphere shifted. Aro now leaned forward, pushing his own plate aside. His grey eyes locked with Edward's green ones. I even noticed Sulpicia was slightly leaning back in her seat. Something definitely shifted, but I wasn't sure.

"I was alerted that secret things have been happening behind my back. Things that concern Isabella and my family."

"Please enlighten me," Edward said. "By all means if it involves my fiancé, I have a right to know. According to our laws."

"The night that Charlie and Renee were murdered someone opened an offshore bank account under the name Maria Voss."

"And what does that have to do with Bella?"

"Maria Voss is one of the aliases that Renee frequently used. At first, I thought my sister opened the account to hide money from Charlie, but then I noticed that someone has been using the offshore account to transfer thousands of dollars from Isabella's trust fund into a dark fund account. And then withdrawn from a number of ATMs."

"Someone's been stealing from Bella?" Edward snarled. "Why the hell didn't you say anything before!"

"If you recall, I didn't have access to any of Isabella's accounts. The only reason I know about these transactions is because it was brought to my attention last night. I have years upon years of documentation to prove that someone has been slowly draining Isabella's trust fund."

"Let me guess, the person who brought it to you attention is the same person who just happened to have a letter from Renee stating that Bella was to either marry me three months before her eighteenth birthday or marry your nephew." Edward snorted.

Aro put his hand up. "Careful. This situation has nothing to do with Caius. He's not the one who brought it to my attention."

"Oh I'm sure. You're always protecting your brother! When he had that incident in Russia, who bailed him out? You. You turn a blind eye to everything he does. I'm sure he's the one who brought it up and these documents are about as legit as the documents he claimed Renee wrote." Edward huffed.

"Now look boy," Aro snapped; his tone made me jump. "Your hands are not red enough for you to talk to me in such a way. I'm not accusing anyone of anything, I'm just looking for some clarity and to see what you possibly know. So when you speak to me, you do so with respect. Understand? You're marrying my niece and by our law, I represent her deceased father as her oldest living relative. And you will speak to me with respect, or I will bring the entire engagement to a halt."

Edward's jaw clenched and unclenched before he finally leaned back against the seat. His fists were shaking, and his face was an angry red. I looked down at my hands, feeling the tears well up in my eyes.

"I apologize for my disrespect." Edward said in a tone that I knew wasn't sincere. "You have to understand, however, it seems like your brother is trumping up false issues to stop the wedding. You know he wants Bella to marry Felix and Bella doesn't want to marry Felix."

"I'm aware of what Caius wants. But it'll never happen. Even if you and Bella don't marry, I would never allow Bella to marry her cousin. It's disgusting. I won't tolerate incest, even if Isabella doesn't have any biological connections to the Volturi name."

"Y-you wouldn't m-make me marry F-Felix?" I asked softly.

Aro's face softened. "Of course not."

I let out a sigh of relief. Aro wasn't going to make me marry Felix. Not that it mattered. I was set on marrying Edward.

"How often was money taken out of Bella's trust fund?"

"Every third Sunday of the month since the night Renee and Charlie's deaths. It's been the same amount every time. Five thousand dollars. It hasn't made much of an impact on Bella's fund, but I want to know who's taking money out."

"Can't you track it?"

"The farthest I was able to track the money to several ATMs in Italy. The money is transferred on the third Sunday and then taken out the following Monday."

"Who could possibly be doing this? Were you able to hack into the camera system?"

"Yes, but it's a different man every time. The only thing these men share in common is the card to the ATM."

"Do you think it's possibly a rival of yours? I mean, Italy is your homeland."

"It is, but I don't think this has anything to do with my family. Do you remember who else had ties and enemies in Italy?"

Edward thought about it for a moment. "Shit. Charlie."

Aro nodded. "I'm thinking the people who killed Charlie and Renee were the ones who opened the account that night and linked it to Bella's trust fund. Perhaps it was Charlie's final act of protecting Bella. I mean, her survival that night is sort of a… well, it's strange."

"Yeah I know." Edward nodded. "Why don't you take all of this and present it to my father? He'd be better help to you. And quite frankly I don't feel comfortable handling this sort of business without him. I'm not even close to being the boss yet. He could take this as me overstepping my place."

"Don't worry, I have dinner plans with your father to discuss this." Aro nodded before reaching into his pocket. "Let me get the bill."

"One quick question though, Aro." Edward said. "Five thousand dollars a month over the last several is a lot of money to go unnoticed. How come the overseers didn't catch this? I'll admit, my father hasn't been carefully watching over the trust fund, but that was because we thought Bella was dead for the longest time. But 900,000 is just a lot of money. Someone would've notified him during his annual review of Charlie's affairs."

"I'm thinking someone's been doing some cover up." Aro said. "I'm investigating it. I have my best men tracking investigating it. Hopefully we'll have answers."

After Aro paid the bill things left off sort of awkwardly. Edward escorted me back to the car and quickly sped off.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"I'm going to drop you off at your apartment so you can finish wedding planning. I need to talk to my father. He needs to know what's going on before he meets with Aro."

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Not really." He said. "I'm, ugh I hate to admit this, but I'm a little scared."

"You're scared?" I asked. "W-what are y-you afraid of?"

"A lot of things." He bit his lip. "But I don't want to worry you about that. Just go finished planning the wedding. This isn't for you to worry about."

I nodded and waited while he got out of the car and opened the door for me. He escorted me up to my apartment. Before I opened the door, he wrapped his arms around me.

"It's going to be okay," He said as he kissed the top of my head. "I'm going to get this all figured out."

I nodded and wrapped my arms around him tightly. "I wish I could help."

"You can help by planning the wedding and enjoying the rest of the evening. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Bye." I waved as he headed down the hall. He looked over his shoulder and tossed me a wink.

Before Edward got into the elevator, he watched me open the door and walk into the apartment. I waved at him one last time before closing the door.

Hopefully I caught all of the mistakes. I'm just so exhausted and I need to go to bed. I hope all of you have a wonderful evening! Enjoy your week!