29

Bella and Edward spent the next hour packing their belongings and making their plan. They knew as soon as they stepped outside the bunker, they were putting everything at risk. They couldn't fly across the country; all airports would be alerted to be on the watchout for her. Even the private airports. So, that meant they would have to drive, which would be dangerous. But they didn't have many options.

"You ready?" Edward asked, picking up both of their bags and giving her a look that clearly said not for her to argue with him. The wound in her shoulder was still tender.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Bella took a deep breath before she slipped her hand around the bottom of his arm. "Let's go."

Edward shuffled the bags into one hand, and slipped his free hand in with hers, bringing it up and pressing his lips against her knuckles. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

The door to their room creaked open and they stepped into the hallway. Bella almost expected to find Jasper or Emmett, maybe even Garrett waiting for them. Somehow knowing what they were about to do, but the hallway was empty. Silently, they made their way down to the communication center, where they found everyone, but Aro and Alice gathered around the table, eating breakfast.

"Morning," Jasper mumbled, looking at them, then back at his food, before snapping his eyes back to them, landing on the luggage in Edward's hand. "What the fuck is going on here?"

"You're leaving?" Garrett asked, scrambling out of his chair, startling Kate, who was seated next to him. He looked down at her and smiled. "Sorry."

"S'okay," she mumbled, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.

He frowned before looking back at Edward and Bella, who had half-hidden herself behind him. "What the hell is going on here?"

"We're leaving," Edward said.

"What?" Elizabeth cried, standing up. "Why, Eddie?"

"We have to, Lizzie," he said, dropping the bags on the floor and holding his hand up. "I have to save her."

"You and Bella are together?" she asked, the corner of her lips shifting into a smile.

"She's my wife, Lizzie."

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "Oh."

"It's a long story, one that we can't really get into right now." Edward paused. "I'm taking her to Denali."

"What?" Jasper snapped, hurrying around the table. "Why?"

"Because Marcus is the only one who can . . . who can get her out of this shit."

Jasper opened his mouth, but promptly closed it. Bella saw the defeat fill his eyes. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"How is he right?" Emmett asked, drawing their attention to him and Rose. "We can handle it."

"No, you can't," Bella said, and when everyone looked at her, she fought the urge to scream. Instead, she took a deep breath and did her best to keep control. "I've gone through everything a dozen times. The only way out is . . . is for me to go on the offensive, which means I have turn myself in."

For several minutes nobody spoke. Bella could tell they were trying to think of a counterplan, some way of saving her from herself, but just like she knew, there wasn't an easy way out of this one.

"So, when are we leaving?" Rose asked, ending the silence. "We all are going, right?"

Though she asked the question, Bella knew she already knew the answer, but she said it anyway. "No."

"What?" Emmett argued, standing up. "Why not? We can help!"

"You can help by staying here," Edward said, and when Emmett opened his mouth again, he put his hand back up. "No, listen to me."

"Fine," Emmett gritted out, crossing his arms in front of him.

Edward took a deep breath. "We need you here so that when we get a plan in place, we have people who can help. I need . . . I need you to keep Lizzie safe, and Alice and Kate . . . I need . . ."

"You need to be the one to save her," Rose said, standing up and placing her hand on her husband's arm. "You need to save Bella."

Edward nodded. "I know you don't understand."

"No, I do," Emmett groused, leaning back and sitting down. "Fine. We'll let you go, but, damn, man, you got to end this. For good."

"That's the plan."

"But Eddie," Elizabeth cried, wrapping her arms around herself. "I just found you again."

Edward released his hold on Bella's hand and walked over to his sister, pulling her into his arms. "I'm sorry, Lizzie. I've got to go, but I know that Jasper, Emmett, Garrett, and Rose will keep you safe."

"Promise you'll come back," she whimpered.

Edward leaned away and placed his hands on either side of her face. "I promise."

Elizabeth nodded and looked over at Bella, who was leaning against the doorway to the room. "You too, Bella. Promise you'll come back."

"I'll try," she said, feeling everyone look at her. "That's all I can promise. I can try."

Edward walked back to Bella, picking up their bags and taking hold of her hand once more, but as they turned and walked out of the command center, she saw Aro and Alice standing a few feet behind her. The grief in their eyes was enough to bring her to her knees. They had become a family, and here she was leaving them again.

"I'm sorry," she said, thickly. "I'm so sorry."

"You're never coming back," Alice whispered. "You're giving up."

"No, Alice, I'm . . ." Bella shook her head. "I'm doing the right thing."

"You already did the right thing," she insisted. "You saved me. You save Elizabeth and Kate and so many more. Why is that not enough for you?"

"It is," she insisted. "But I want normal again, and I can't have that until I own up to what I've done."

"Normal," she said, nodding. "Like the ranch."

"Yeah, like the ranch." Bella walked over to Alice and placed her hands on either side of her face. "You're the strongest person I've ever met, Alice. You give me reason to fight."

"Then fight to come back," she said, covering Bella's hands.

Bella nodded and looked at Aro, who simply shook his head before walking past her and into the kitchen. He would never understand why she couldn't put the blood on her hands behind her. Sighing, Bella walked back to Edward, slipped her hand in with his, and let him lead her out of the bunker, into the black SUV, and away from everyone she had given her soul to save.

—BR—

The drive from Savageton, Wyoming to Denali, Alaska took Bella and Edward the better part of three days. They took turns driving, staying on back roads, keeping to small towns as much as possible. They slept in the car, ate their meals in the car. As they drew closer the mountains deepened, the snow thickened, and the temperatures dropped. Bella found herself becoming more and more nervous the further they went.

Just after seven at night, Edward pulled up to a large compound surrounded by an iron gate. He cursed as cold air flooded the car when he rolled the window down to press the button on the intercom.

"Go away," a gruff voice squawked.

Rolling her eyes at Bella, Edward cleared his throat and said, "Butterfly."

While Bella waited for a response, there wasn't any. The gates in front of them began to creek open. Edward rolled up the window and shifted back into drive. Once the gates were completely open, he drove through and headed around the circle drive to the front door. Bella looked behind them as the gates closed with a loud thud.

"He's paranoid," Edward said, drawing her attention to him.

"Does he have a reason to be?"

"Yeah," he replied. "He made enemies, too."

"Oh."

Edward pulled the SUV into a large garage in the back that housed half a dozen other vehicles, snow mobiles, and four wheelers. Bella blew out a heavy breath as they climbed out of the SUV. She waited at the front while Edward grabbed their bags. Then, slipping her hand in with his, she allowed him to lead her down a wide hallway to a wooden door. He released the hold on her hand and knocked on the door four times, then three times, then five times.

They barely had to wait when the door flew open, and they found themselves face to face with a shotgun.

"Put it away, Marcus," Edward groused, pulling Bella behind him.

"What are you doing here, Mason?" the voice of Marcus asked. He stayed in the darkness. His voice was rough.

"She needs your help."

For several seconds there was complete silence, then the shotgun was pulled back and Marcus stepped into the doorway. He was a tall man with a head full of thick black hair, dark eyes, and a long scar running along the left side of his face. He looked at Edward and then Bella, his eyes roaming down the length of her body before he nodded and moved out of the way.

"Thanks," Edward said, pulling Bella into the compound behind him. Marcus shut the door and set the shotgun against the wall. "Guess I should have called."

"That would have been a first for you," Marcus scoffed and turned and headed down the hallway. "Well, come on. I was about to eat when you interrupted."

Edward tightened his hold on Bella's hand as they followed. She tried to keep calm, but she was putting her trust in someone she didn't know. Something she hadn't done long before she put herself in Carlisle Cullen's grasp. Marcus led them into large, cavern-style kitchen. Edward dropped their bags next to the door but didn't make a move inside.

"So, you need help, huh, Swan?" Marcus asked, shifting his attention to Bella as he pulled off the lid to a large pot. "Looks like you need a hot meal. Sit."

While Edward took a step toward the table, Bella pulled her hand away from him and said, "I'm not a dog."

"Excuse me?" Marcus asked, a crooked smirk spreading on his face.

"You told me to sit," she said. "Like I'm a dog. I'm not a dog."

Marcus put his hands up. "I didn't mean to offend. Please have a seat at the table."

"Sorry," she murmured, wrapping her arms around herself and walking past Edward and taking a seat at the large oak table.

"Don't be sorry," Marcus told her, reaching behind him and pulling out three bowls. "I don't interact with people too much."

"Why not?" she asked. "Isn't this where you help people who have been subjected to great trauma?"

"No." Marcus filled all three bowls with a hearty amount of stew. "This is my home, Swan."

"It's Bella," she said as he placed a bowl in front of her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Bella." Turning, he walked over and grabbed the last two bowls, placing one on the table across from her, and the other in front of Edward, who had settled next to her. "I'm Marcus, but I'm assuming you knew that already."

"I did."

He didn't say anything as he turned and walked over to the fridge. "Beer, soda, water?"

"Water," she and Edward said together.

Marcus grabbed himself a beer and them each a bottle of water before settling at the table across from her. "I do help those who have been subjected to severe trauma, Bella. But not here."

"Is it close?"

He nodded, digging his spoon into his bowl. "Other side of the mountain."

"Why do you do it?" she asked.

"Someone has to," he said, taking a bit. "Are you going to eat?"

"Can I trust you?"

"No," he replied, smiling wider. "You can't trust anyone. Except your man there."

Bella just stared at him.

"Is that why you're here? You need help with your trauma?" Marcus asked, picking up his beer and taking a hearty swig.

"No," she replied.

"You've heard the chatter," Edward added, placing his hand on Bella's, which drew attention to how tightly she was clutching her spoon.

"I have," he admitted. "You've made a mess of things for yourself, Bella."

"Yep."

"So now you need my help?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"We do," Edward admitted. "She and I have dug through everything and . . . well, we don't think there is anyway out of this but for her to take everyone down with her."

"She does what exactly? She turns herself in and takes down the richest, most powerful men in the country while sacrificing her own freedom?"

"Something like that," Edward said.

Marcus leaned back in his chair and stared at her. Like he could read her thoughts, like he could see straight to her soul. It both made her uncomfortable yet gave her a sense of freedom that she hadn't felt in a long time.

"That's one route," Marcus finally said, leaning forward and picking up his spoon again. "Or we can try something different."

"What?" Bella asked, dropping her spoon on the table.

"I'll tell you after you eat," he said, tilting his head toward her still uneaten bowl of stew.

"I'm not hungry."

"Didn't ask," he challenged. "Eat. And then we will talk about how we are going to save you."

While she didn't like the way he ordered her around, Bella swallowed against the lump in her throat, picked up her spoon, and began to eat. Her heart raced and her head ached, but the more she ate, the better she felt. Marcus and Edward finished long before she did. The moment she ate her last spoonful, Marcus was on his feet and pulling the bowls from in front of them. He dropped them into the sink, poured the last of the stew into a plastic bowl, putting the lid on it, and stuck it inside the refrigerator. It was then that he turned and looked at Bella again, the look in his eyes softer, full of compassion that had been void before they ate.

"Feel better?"

"A little," she admitted.

"We have to feed our bodies, before we can feed our souls, Bella." Marcus walked back over to the table and sat down across from her. "Now, let's talk about getting you out of this mess."

"The only way out of this is for me to turn myself in," she said, thickly.

"No, it's not," he disagreed. "Has Mason here told you much about me?"

Bella hesitated before speaking again. "Just that you have . . . knowledge about what I went through . . . from the other side."

"I spent twenty-six months undercover," he explained. "I did things that I . . . I never wanted to do, Bella. Things I deeply regret."

"Then why did you do it?"

"Why did you let Carlisle Cullen tear apart your body and soul?"

"So I could save my best friend," she snapped. "He took her from me, and . . . I needed to save her."

"I needed to save a hundred Leah Clearwater's, and Alice Brandon's, and Elizabeth Mason's," he argued back. "You think Carlisle Cullen was the only monster who prayed on girls like you?"

"No," she said, quietly.

"We had gotten word about a man named Alistair Sinclair. He had been linked to the disappearance of dozens of young girls under the age of eighteen, but we didn't have anything concrete. Most of the girls he kidnapped had been raped, tortured, beaten —"

"You don't have to go into details," Bella interrupted. "I know exactly what those girls had gone through."

"They were killed."

"Oh," she murmured.

"After almost a year of trying to find any other way to get Alistair, we realized the only way was for someone to get in on the inside."

"And you drew the short straw?"

Marcus frowned. "No, I was idiot, Bella. Like you, I volunteered."

"Do you regret it?" she asked.

"Every fucking day," he said, thickly. "Knowing that I . . . hurt those girls, knowing I'm responsible for . . . their suffering . . ." Marcus shook his head and looked away. "That's my burden to carry."

"So, you arrested him?"

Marcus frowned again. "No, Bella, I didn't arrest him." Then looking at her again, he said, "I killed him."

"Oh," she whispered.

"I could sit here and lie to you, tell you that I didn't have a choice, that it was justified. It might have been, considering what he had done to all those girls, but that would be a load of bullshit."

"It would?"

Marcus nodded. "I made him suffer, Bella. Not nearly enough, but he did suffer."

"They never suffer enough," Bella muttered, leaning back in her chair and pulling her knees up.

"No, we don't," he agreed. "After that, I wasn't invited to come back to the FBI. Even though I was cleared of any wrongdoing, I was too unstable to continue my job."

"Were they wrong?" she asked, tensing as Edward placed his arm on the back of her chair. For a moment, she had forgotten that he was seated next to her.

"No."

"What happened after that? You thought you could find salvation by helping the girls you destroyed?"

"Bella," Edward said, but clamped his lips shut when Marcus said, "There's no salvation for monsters like me, Bella."

"Then why?"

"Because nobody should be thrown out like they are trash," he said, sincerely. "Because girls like Elizabeth, like Alice, like your friend Leah, was it?"

Bella nodded.

"Because they mattered," Marcus went on. "Because you matter."

"No, I don't," she disagreed, shaking her head. "I knew what he was going to do to me. He . . . he gave me an out, and I didn't take it."

Marcus tilted his head to the side. "You really think he would have let you walk out his front door?"

"But he said —"

"He lied, Bella," Marcus interrupted her. "Carlisle Cullen had no intention of ever letting you walk out of his door as a free woman. The debt your father supposedly owed; you would never have been able to work it off. Never. The man craved only one thing: to destroy you. He would have continued until he broke not only your body, but your soul, too."

Bella was stunned, of course. Marcus sighed and stood up, walked over to the refrigerator, and pulled out another beer. He popped the top off and took a hearty swig before sitting back down at the table.

"You feel guilty," Marcus said. "You killed six people, Bella." And when her eyes widened, he chuckled. "Yeah, I know about Leah Clearwater and the Sandman, too."

"I see," she clipped. "Didn't realize you were keeping track of me."

"I wasn't," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Whitlock filled me in after you two left the bunker three days ago."

"He did?" Edward asked, frowning.

"He didn't think you were thinking clearly, Mason. He wasn't wrong."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you letting Bella cloud your judgement."

"No, I'm not," he argued.

"You left her off a hunch that was clearly fake, Mason," Marcus quipped. "You let Peter Davis infiltrate the bunker, you put her in the position of feeling unsafe in her own home. You are responsible for Leah Clearwater's death!"

Bella gasped as she scrambled out of her chair. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"He's right," Edward said, before Marcus could defend himself. Bella looked at him with her mouth hanging open. "I knew Leah was unstable, Bella. I insisted that she come to the ranch. You begged me not to let her, but I didn't listen, because I guess, I needed to save someone and Leah . . ." Edward trailed off and shook his head. "I couldn't save you."

"But you did," she said, sliding back into the chair. "Knowing you were waiting for me, loving me, you gave me the strength to fight," she grabbed the front of his shirt, "when my father made it clear he wanted to . . ." Bella blew out a heavy breath. "You're the only reason I survived the last year."

"I love you, Bella." Edward cupped her face in his hands. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too."

"Now that you've gotten that out of your system, let's talk about what we are going to do now."

Bella shifted her attention back to Marcus, hoping like hell he would be able to help her. She was tired of fighting.