29

Bella could taste the bile in her mouth as she stood just inside the house. Alice, Rose, Kate, and Carlisle were next her while Edward, Jasper, Emmett, Jacob, and Garrett were on the front porch with the local police department and more than three dozen reporters who had flooded the small town of Forks after the story of three people dying in a car explosion made the national news. Of course, they didn't know that the people inside the car were the parents and only child of the missing, and presumed dead, Isabella Swan. But they would. Soon, and Bella wasn't sure it was the right move to make.

Clinching her fingers into a fist, she dug her nails into the palm of her hands, trying to keep from screaming, hitting someone, or running out the backdoor. Anything to keep from putting herself out there, for letting the whole world know what a coward she had been. Turned out, hiding was easier than facing your mistakes.

The front door opened and Edward stepped inside, reaching his hand toward her. "It's time, B."

"I . . . I don't . . ." Bella stammered, shaking her head. "Are you sure? I mean, are you really sure?"

"I am," he whispered, taking hold of her hands. "I'll be right there, right next to you."

Knowing she didn't really have a choice, she let him pull her through the front door, immediately hearing the gasps, murmurs, flashes of light as people snapped her picture. Behind her, she heard Carlisle, Alice, Rose, and Kate follow, though she couldn't look at them. If she did, she would lose her nerve, not that she had a lot of nerve left.

The sheriff looked back at Edward, who nodded, before he stepped up to the small podium, putting his hand up. "Miss Swan will make a brief statement. She will not answer any questions. Please, give her some space."

The man, Bella forgot his name, Sam something, took a step backward, leaving the podium open for Bella. She shifted her eyes up to Edward, who tightened his arm around her, and took the three steps to the podium. Her eyes flittered around each and every face, searching for Marcus, searching for one of the dozen faces she had memorized in association with him. His network had been vast, back in the day.

Carlisle moved so that he was standing on the other side of Bella, his hand wrapped tightly around hers, with Jasper, Garrett, Emmett, and Jacob in front of her, protecting, flanking her even. It was there small way of guarding her, yet she knew it was pointless. Nobody would be able to stop Marcus.

Bella wet her bottom lip before saying, "My . . . my . . . my name is Isabella Swan. Eight years ago, my best friend and I were kidnapped by a man named Marcus Volturi, and his brothers. For three years, they tortured and raped us repeatedly, until we managed to escape. While Alice made it home to her family, I was forced to fake my death, but about a month ago, he found me and . . . and our daughter. Three days ago, Marcus Volturi killed my mother and father and . . . and our daughter," she sobbed, bringing her hand up to her mouth, "in a car bombing. He killed them to get to me, to hurt me. Marcus Volturi is a psychopathic rapist, who hunts down little girls and takes away their innocence, their lives, and tosses them aside."

Carlisle slipped his hand out of Bella's, his arm wrapping around her, holding her up as her knees buckled.

"And right now, I'm speaking directly to you, Marcus. One day, and one day soon, you'll pay for everything you did to me, and for taking her from me. It's personal now, you son of a bitch."

Bella pulled away from Edward and Carlisle, her eyes searching the crowd once more before she turned and walked back into the house with Alice, Rose, and Kate following.