3

"The Sandman?" Edward asked, grabbing the railing of the stairs, like he was about to charge up the staircase. "Who's the Sandman?"

But Alice didn't answer, and based on the sound of footsteps retreating, she'd ran into her bedroom and slammed the door shut. Bella brought her hand up to her throat as Edward turned and looked back at her.

"Who the fuck is the Sandman?" he asked.

"I don't know," she murmured. "There was no mention of him in Cullen's files."

Edward closed his eyes for a moment before walking back to the table and sitting in the chair he'd just abandoned. "But she was there. In Forks. Elizabeth was there, Bella."

"I know." Bella slid her hand across the table, wrapping her fingers around his forearm, right over a tattoo of a lilac with the initials E.A.M beneath it, in honor of his sister. "At least we have a new breadcrumb to follow. We'll find her, honey."

"Yeah," Edward whispered, covering her hand with his as he looked over at Aro. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be," the old man groused. "So, you and Bella are married."

Bella felt a small smile tug on her lips. "We are. For almost a year and a half now."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Aro asked, frowning.

Sighing, Bella shook her head. "Because I couldn't tell anyone, not without exposing myself and Edward. When Edward and I met, I didn't trust him. I'd learned a long time ago not to trust anyone, and he wasn't any different. Other than the kids from the Rez, I didn't have anyone, and I wanted to keep it that way, but after Leah, I knew I would need help, so I contacted Edward, told him I was in. My job was pretty simple. I monitored the internet, searched for any trace of Cullen's network and passed along any information I found to Edward, who would dispatch his team where needed. A few months after I signed on, I found a lead on a girl in San Francisco. I thought it was his sister, but it turned out to be a runaway from Ohio, but it was still a win because that girl . . . Well, she'd been through hell. Anyway, a few days later I got a message from Edward to meet him at the school again. When I showed up, I could tell he was upset."

Edward cleared his throat, pulling Aro's attention to him. "Felt like Elizabeth had slipped through my fingers again, and . . ." Pausing, he seemed to take a minute to compose himself. "Felt like I was chasing a ghost, you know? Still feels that way, actually. But I felt this overwhelming urge to see Bella. She always seemed to make things better, make things more tolerable. The moment I saw her walking up to me, I just . . ." Edward learned forward, placing his elbow on the table. "I'd fallen for her. Hard. She and I talked all night, about my sister, my parents and how they hadn't given a fuck about Elizabeth. About her dad and her mom's death, about how alone she felt. I just . . . I needed her. As the sun was rising, I kissed her."

"And I slapped him," Bella giggled.

"And then kissed me again," Edward scoffed, shifting his eyes to hers. "And again and again."

"Yeah, yeah, so I kissed you a lot," she quipped, turning her attention to Aro. "Edward was — is — the only person who really saw me, the real me. I fell so hard for him. And then I met you, and I found out about Alice, and really saw what Leah was going through, I just . . . I knew I had to do something."

"Not let that asshole touch you," Edward groused.

Bella sighed.

"I begged you not to go in," Edward said. "I fucking begged, Bella!"

"Someone had to save them," she argued.

"Why you?" he asked.

"Because there was nobody else," Bella whimpered, leaning her forehead on his shoulder. "I hated every minute with him. He . . . and I . . . I just . . ." Bile crept up her throat and she shuddered, trying to push back the memories that had haunted her for a year. Leaning away from him, she wiped the tears off her face. "When I approached Edward with the idea of me going undercover to take Cullen down, he . . . Well, he wasn't happy."

"Damn right I wasn't. Still not," he groused.

"But in the end, he knew it was my decision, and mine alone. We needed him in place with the FBI to come in as soon as I had freed Alice and Leah, and the incriminating information about Cullen and everyone involved in his organization. Though, I'll admit that I wasn't expecting half of what I found," she admitted, darkly once more thinking about her father and how he'd lusted after her. She hadn't been prepared for him to turn on her. She'd always known her father was a loser, but to be so sick and twisted . . .

"I may have agreed, but I didn't want her going in there, letting him touch her without knowing that there was someone out there who loved her, who cherished her," Edward said, sliding his arm around her waist and nestling her in his embrace. "I confessed that I'd fallen in love with her and asked her to marry me."

"And I said no," she murmured. "And then he asked me again and again and again."

"And finally, after a dozen tries, she agreed," Edward laughed, kissing the top of her head.

"I wanted to say yes the first time you asked," she whispered. "I wanted to run away with you and never look back."

"Me, too, baby," Edward murmured, bringing his other hand up to her face. "I've missed you so much."

Tears flooded Bella's eyes as she leaned into his touch.

"You were sixteen," Aro whispered, drawing their attention to him. "Right? You were sixteen when you married him?"

Bella slowly nodded.

Aro looked at Edward. "How old were you?"

"Nineteen," he replied, and when Aro cocked an eyebrow, he added, "I'm smart."

"Hmm," Aro hummed and looked back at Bella. "How'd you get parental consent?"

"I, um, I was able to trick my . . ." She paused, trying to keep from puking as she, once more, thought of her father. "After getting parental approval, Edward and I were married in a small ceremony in Port Angeles. Just the two of us and the Justice of the Peace. As Annabella and Edward Masen, of course. It wasn't hard to create my new identity. Not for me, anyway. Legally, Isabella is dead."

"You could have told me," Aro whimpered, trying to be discreet as he wiped a tear off his face. "I would have walked you down the aisle, given you away."

"No, you wouldn't have," Bella disagreed. "You see me as a child, Aro. Like you do Alice. You would have fought me on getting married, just like you fought me about taking Cullen down. But I had to marry Edward. I had to. I needed him, I needed . . ." She shook her head. "I needed to know there were good and honorable men out there before I put myself in the hands of the devil."

Aro nodded. "Probably right."

"Look, I know it's kind of late, but I'd like you to know that I love Bella. She's . . . Well, she's everything to me," Edward said, smiling.

"Yet, you allowed your wife to be raped by sick, twisted monster," Aro quipped. "How could you allow that to happen?"

Edward flinched as Bella slammed her hand on the table, drawing the old man's attention to her. "He doesn't allow me to do anything. He does not own me. I'm my own person, I make my own decisions. And if I hadn't let that monster rape me, I wouldn't have found Alice and she would still be in the hands of that bitch!"

Aro pressed his lips together before standing up and walking upstairs without another word. Bella sighed and leaned back in her chair, shifting her attention to Edward. "Sorry about him. He's . . . Well, he's the grandfather I never had."

"He's the father you never had," Edward murmured, turning in his chair so that he was facing her. "Now, tell me how you're really doing."

"I'm . . ." Bella wanted to tell him she was fine, that she had everything under control, but she couldn't lie to him. Not to Edward. "I don't know how I am. I knew it would be bad. I . . . I knew he would hurt me, but . . . The things he did, the way he regarded me, Edward. I was nothing more than a toy to him. I kept thinking there had to be a reason he was like that, a catalyst that drove him to being so sadistic, but there wasn't one. He was just a sadist, wasn't he?"

Edward tensed and nodded.

"I liked killing him," Bella whispered. "I loved it, actually. Hurting him, making him feel every ounce of pain that he inflicted on me, I . . . I enjoyed it, Edward. Doesn't that make me a sadist, too?"

"No," he immediately said cupping her face between his hands. "No, baby, no."

"He screamed," she cried. "I wanted to keep hurting him, but I didn't have time, so I killed him quicker than I wanted. And, um, then I went for Alice. She . . . Esme was easier. Killing her was like ending a bad dream. Once I had Alice safe, I went for Leah."

Bella closed her eyes, leaning into his touch. "I . . . My father wanted to have sex with me, Edward. He made Leah call him Daddy, he called her by my name. What . . . How could he look at me like that? I'm his daughter, for fuck sake!"

"Can't say I saw that coming, either," Edward admitted.

Bella leaned back in her seat, pulling her face out of his hands. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to find Elizabeth in his files. I thought for sure he'd have a record of her somewhere."

"Yeah, me, too," he murmured, but before he could say anything else two things happened: his phone started ringing and someone knocked on the front door.

Bella pushed away from the table and scrambled to her feet while Edward answered his phone. When she pulled the door open, she was expecting to find Emmett standing there, but was shocked when she found both him, Rose, and Jasper.

"Um, hey," Bella murmured, but before she could say anything more, Edward slammed his hand against the wall and yelled, "WHAT!?"

She spun around and looked at him, finding herself staring at him with wide, fearful eyes. He shook his head and said, "That is unacceptable . . . No . . . No . . . No! Get it done already."

Edward slammed his phone closed and brought his hand up, dragging it over his face and through his hair before he lifted his eyes to hers, only to look past her at Emmett, Rose, and Jasper. "It's about fucking time you got here."

"Huh?" Bella asked, but it was Jasper's voice that pulled her attention to the people standing behind her.

"I'm sorry. Had to store full of people."

"What the Hell is going on here?" Bella snarled, looking from Jasper, Emmett, and Rose to Edward. "You know them?"

Nodding, Edward shoved his phone into his back pocket. "Meet the other members of Eclipse."