A Zoe Mack Novel by Lisa Bilbrey

7

"No . . . No . . . Stop . . . You're hurting me!"

An arm flew out and smacked Edward in the face, pulling him out of the almost-peaceful slumber he'd drifted off to. Groaning, he rolled onto his side, his eyes widening in fright when as he watched Bella, his beautiful, sweet, Bella, writhing in horror. Her face was twisted in pain, her hands clenched into tight fits, and her body stiff and ridged.

Bella's upper body arched off the bed as she screamed, tears somehow seeping from her closed eyes. Edward knew she'd been through hell. She might not have sent him the files that Carlisle Cullen made of her, but the ones she did send, the ones that contained the other girls he'd destroyed, told him enough.

Bella had been in Hell.

"Baby, wake up," Edward said, softly trying to grip her wrists to keep her from hurting herself. But the minute his fingers wrapped around her, though, she screamed again, fighting him. Her legs came up off the bed, hitting him in the back of the head. He fell forward and hit his head on the headboard of their bed.

Bella unclenched her hands, her nails digging into his forearm.

"Fuck," Edward snarled, yanking his arms away.

Bella leapt from the bed, falling into the floor. She crawled into the corner of the room, her knees pulled flush to her chest, her arms tucked between them and her body. He saw her trembling and heard soft whimpers.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Edward climbed off the bed and dropped to his knees, slowly moving so that he was in front of her.

"Bella, baby, it's me. It's Edward."

Her head lifted from on top of her knees. Her eyes, which were once filled with love and innocence, were now full of fear and anger.

"You're okay."

Bella shook her head, her eyes darting around the room like she was searching for someone. Her body was so tight, so stiff, that he worried about her being hurt.

"Bella, look at me," Edward said, causing her to shift her attention back to him. "You're okay."

"He's . . . He's not here?"

"No, honey, he's not here. Just me and you."

Bella nodded, but her body didn't relax. Edward reached for her hand, but she pulled away. It hurt that she was scared of him, but he tried not to show it. It was selfish of him to expect her to allow his touch, even as innocently as holding her hand.

"I . . . I need you to move," Bella murmured. "Please."

"Okay." Edward scooted away from her, giving her plenty of space.

Bella used her upper body to push herself up the wall, her eyes still flittering around the room. "I'm, um, I'm just going to . . ."

But she didn't finish her statement before she bolted from the room, leaving him crouched down on the floor. He should have never allowed her to go undercover, even if Alice's life, Leah's life, and the hope of finding his sister depended on it. Edward had failed her as a husband.

—BR—

Edward found her in the living room. She was standing in front of the bay window, one hand wrapped around a coffee mug, while the other was wrapped around her torso. On the outside, she came off as in control, as together, but she was falling apart on the inside.

"Hey, need a refill?" he asked, drawing her attention from the window to him.

She smiled, though it was forced and fake. "No, I'm still good."

He nodded and walked into the kitchen. He poured himself a cup and joined her in the living room. Though he opened his laptop, he wasn't paying any attention to it. He was watching Bella from the corner of his eyes, waiting to see what she did next.

The last year and a half had been unbearable. Bella had been his life and forcing himself to stay away from her nearly did him in. That's why as soon as the FBI closed the case on her, he packed up his shit and left. He needed her.

"It's going to be cold today, I think." Bella said, placing her hand on the window.

"Yeah, weather forecast was saying it would barely get out of the fifties."

Bella nodded and looked over at him. "Find anything yet?"

"Um, no," he lied. Well, not really lying, just not admitting that he hadn't been searching for any sign of his sister or the man Alice called Sandman yet.

"Want me to help?" she asked, coyly. "You know I'm pretty good with that hacking stuff."

"I might have heard something about that," Edward teased and placed his laptop on the coffee table. He reached for her. "Come here."

Bella bit her lip and looked back out the window before joining him on the couch. She sat with her body angled toward him, but her shoulders were tense.

"You want to tell me about what happened?"

Bella sighed. "Not really."

"I can help."

"No, you can't."

Edward tried not to let the hurt show, but the fact that she didn't want, or need, his help crushed him.

"I just . . . I don't want you to know everything he did," she whispered.

"Okay." Edward wasn't going to push for more, knowing it would just push her away even more. "I love you, though. Don't forget that."

"I won't." And though she smiled once again, it didn't come off as real. Bella stood and moved back to the window, so Edward turned his attention back to his laptop, to finding his sister, to stopping this Sandman, and maybe trying to salvage some sort of normal. Whatever that was.

—BR—

Three hours later, Bella was in the kitchen making breakfast for him, Alice, and Aro. He'd offered, but she refused, saying that she enjoyed pampering him. Edward suspected that Bella tried to keep busy. Made it easier for her not to think about everything she'd been through.

Like he normally was, Edward was seated at the kitchen table with his laptop. Aro was across from him, looking older and more tired than ever. Edward worried about the old man, about his ability to help Alice. She, like Bella, was barely hanging on.

Alice was in the chair next to her grandfather, her knees perched in front of her. It was an improvement, Edward thought. She normally hung around the stairs rather than at the table if he was in the room. The fact that she was at the table with him spoke volumes about her trust in him.

"We're almost out of bacon," Bella said, shifting her eyes to mine. "I should run into town."

"What me to come with you?" Edward offered.

Biting her lip, she shook her head and once again, he tried to hide his irritation. "I won't be long."

"Okay," he said.

Ten minutes later, she was gone, Aro and Alice had eaten and ventured out to the barn to check on the horses, and Edward found himself sitting on the front porch. He worried about Bella. She was pulling away from him.

Maybe he should have told her about Emmett, Rose, and Jasper, but he honestly believed she needed someone to watch over her. Aro was an old man, he couldn't handle both of them. Emmett had kept him abreast of the situation, of how Alice refused to eat, to sleep. How paranoid Bella had become of everyone. The Bella Edward fell in love with wasn't afraid of anyone, even a sadist son-of-a-bitch like Carlisle Cullen, but then again, his Bella hadn't been in the hands of the Devil yet.

Edward's attention was pulled toward the road leading to the house. Rose parked her black Yukon next to his mustang and slid out of the driver's seat.

"Hey," Edward called. "Emmett's in the barn with Alice and Aro."

"I was looking for you, actually." Rose walked up the porch and sat in the chair next to him, placing a dark folder on her lap. "I've been doing some research into this 'Sandman' person. Might have gotten a hit."

"You found him?" Edward asked, sliding to the edge of his seat.

"No, not quite." Rose opened the file, picking up a picture of a dead woman. It was clear based on the picture that she'd been beaten severely before she died. "Her name was Maegan. She disappeared when she was thirteen. Parents filed a missing persons, but the police say she was always taking off. Her body was found in a field in South Illinois two years later."

Rose placed that one face down on the table between them and pictured up another. "This is Ashley. She was fifteen when she disappeared on her way to a friend's house. Her remains were found in a field in Idaho a year after she disappeared. The police suspected her friend's father had raped her and killed her and hidden her body, but he had an alibi."

Once more, she picked up another photo. "Gabby Steele. She had just turned eleven when her mother dropped her off at the movies. When she came to pick her up, her daughter was nowhere to be found. Surveillance tapes show her leaving just minutes after her mother dropped her off with a male, but they couldn't get a good look at his face. She wasn't found for three years."

"All of these girls are connected to Sandman?" Edward asked, the words tasting like acid.

Rose nodded. "I've linked him to at least two dozen more and I'm still searching. From what I've been able to piece together, and there's not a lot, whoever this Sandman person is has quite the reach. There are girls from Washington to Florida that fit his M.O."

Rose pulled a photo from the bottom of the pile and held it out to him. Unlike the others, the girl in this picture wasn't dead. She had a beautiful smile, bright eyes, and caring features.

"Her name is Kate. She's seventeen. Two weeks ago, her mother reported her missing, said that she'd gone camping with friends, but they later admitted that had been a lie. She'd met a man online and wanted to meet him in person, but knew her mother would never allow it, so she lied. When she didn't show up at their appointed meeting time, they got scared and called her mom. The police found files on her computer from a man who called himself Cyrus Becker. They also found nude pictures of herself that she had sent to Cyrus."

"So, you think this Cyrus Becker is Sandman?"

Rose nodded. "I don't think Cyrus is his real name, obviously, but whoever is on the other side of this account is the man we're looking for."

Edward blew out a heavy breath as he looked down at the picture of Kate. Had she become another victim of opportunity?

"So, what's your plan?" Edward asked.

"You tell me, boss."

Sighing, Edward shifted his attention from the picture to Rose. "I really need you here. With Leah coming and everything, we need all the help we can get."

"Then send Ang, Ben, and Tyler out. They can meet up with Garrett. I can stay here until we know more." Rose paused. "Look, I know you've got your hands full with Bella, and she absolutely has to be your number one priority, but just because she took out a huge wing of the network, doesn't mean our job is done. There are too many girls out there that need our help."

"Yeah, you're right."

But before he could say anything else, Edward felt his chest tighten as Jasper sped up the driveway with Bella right behind him in her truck. They leapt out and while Bella ran straight into the house, Jasper stopped at the bottom of the steps.

"Ben texted and said, they were ten minutes from town." he said, bringing his hand up to the back of his neck. "I saw Bella across the street the drug store, and thought it'd be better if she got home first. She's freaking out, man."

"Get Emmett. He's in the barn. Tell Aro to bring Alice into the house," Edward ordered, before pushing past Rose and heading into the house.

He found Bella inside their bedroom, pacing back and forth in front of the dresser. The sound of the door closing behind him startled her and she spun and stared at him.

"It's going to be okay."

"No, no, no, no, it is not!" she screeched. "Don't let them come. Please, tell them to turn around. I'll give them every cent I have, but they can't be here."

"Shh, honey." Edward wrapped his arms around her, nestling her as close to him as he could. "I give you my word that everything will be okay. I will not let anyone hurt you again."

"I . . ."

But Bella's words died out in her throat as the sound of a car pulling up drew their attention to the window. They watched as Ben and Angela climbed out first, followed by Jacob and Seth, whose arm was heavily bandaged, and finally Leah.

God help Edward if this was a mistake.

10