Hey Guys Welcome Back! I am so excited to be posting another chapter for you guys and I am so grateful for all the love and positive reviews I have received my first chapters. it means so much to me that you guys are truly enjoying my story.

Last we left them, Bella was pleading with Edward to keep her husband from their son.

*Warning: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SENSITIVE MATERIAL (PHYSICAL,SEXUAL, AND VERBAL ABUSE)


Chapter 4

I was at a complete loss for words. I didn't know how to process what all that was going on around me. Here I am, sitting in a hospital room, while I should be focusing on my job, with a two year old little boy sleeping in my arms. While we sat next to his mother, who has just told me to keep him away from his father.

How did my day end up like this?

"Wh-What?" I asked Isabella, trying to make sure I heard her correctly. "Ma'am, what do you mean? It's his father, I'm sure Isaac will be safe with him"

"NO!" She screamed, nearly waking Isaac in the process. Her grip on my arm tightening, I could feel the blood flow becoming more restricted. "That bastard cannot come anywhere near him. If he gets him, I'll never see him again."

"Isabella" using her name for the first time, "I think you're over exaggerating. You were just in an accident, your brain is working overtime, trying to make sense of everything. It can play tricks on you. I don't think your husband would take your son from you."

"He would." She said, matter-of-factly. "I know because he's threatened to do it before. That's why I left him."

Her eyes never left mine. There was no hesitation, no doubt or compromise in her stare and she spoke with such seriousness in her voice, I had no reason to doubt her.

This whole day was becoming more interesting by the hour.

"I don't understand," I told her.

Her grip on me then loosened and she released my arm; Laying back against the bed and taking in a long breath, she stayed quiet for a while. I could sense there was some reluctance in her, I knew that whatever she was about to tell me would be hard for her to say. She finally looked up in my direction, her eyes filled with both courage and fear.

"The first time James hit me was right after my twenty-fifth birthday party," She said, starting with a bombshell of an opener. "He had set up a surprise birthday for me, invited all my co-workers and friends and even got my parents to fly in from Washington for the day, it was really nice. As the night went on, we were both drinking a lot, sometime later, I noticed James trying to flirt with one of my coworkers, Jane. In my tequila-buzzed state, I marched over and started screaming at him, making a scene in front of everyone. James didn't get upset though, in fact, he calmed me down, telling me I was tipsy and was just being paranoid. I believed him and thought it was just my drunk-self being jealous, I apologized and was extremely embarrassed. He told me it was no big deal and played it off in front of everyone and it seemed like the situation had been squashed. But, after the night had ended and I had sobered up some, I started cleaning up after everyone left, when James confronted me. He started screaming at me for humiliating me in front of all our guests and told me I had no right to question who he was talking to. At first I thought he was joking and was just trying to be dramatic to make me laugh, so I answered him with a sarcastic remark. Then he slapped me so hard I fell to the ground and almost hit my head against the coffee table. He told me to never talk back to him again and walked out of the room."

I felt frozen in my seat. I couldn't wrap my head around what was being said to me. Of course I knew abusive relationships happened, but to actually hear about one from someone who has actually been through it, is something else entirely.

When I didn't respond, Isabella continued. "The next morning, I woke up to a big breakfast in front of me. James had gotten up early to make a big spread for me and even went northside to the coffee shop I liked to get my favorite hazelnut coffee, exactly how I like it. He apologized to me so many times, saying he was stupid, angry, and still a little drunk and that he just lost control. He promised me it would never happen again. Seeing the sadness in his eyes and the tears running down his cheeks, I could tell he was really sorry. The redness in my face had gone down and there was no mark left behind, so I believed him. But, it was just the beginning."

This time I was the one who needed to take a deep breath. Something told me this story was going to get a lot worse before it got better.

"The first few times it had happened, he still blamed it on the alcohol. He had been between jobs for a few months and was struggling to find any kind of work in his field; He was a software engineer, but the job pool was scarce to say the least. Whenever I mention to him possibly find a job in another department he'd accuse me of not believing in him or trying to hold him back from reaching his full potential. Usually, when these arguments would occur, he would already be three beers in or sometimes half a bottle of whiskey. It was always just a push or a hard shove. It would land me on my ass, but he had never slapped me again after that first night and he would always apologize after the fact, so I just told myself it was just stress and once he found a job it would get better. But, even after he secured a well paying job at an IT company , things still didn't improve."

"One night he had left his phone in the kitchen and text had shown up. I looked over at it and saw it was from a woman who I didn't know and the text message happened to be a picture of her very impressive bust line," She continued showing a little hint of a smile

Oh no. I thought.

"When I confronted him about it, he told me not to worry about it and it was none of my business. That set me off and I started screaming at him and tried to throw the cake I had made earlier that day, at him. It was our anniversary."

What the fuck?

"Before I could even get it over my shoulder, he grabbed it from me, threw it across the room and then back-hand me. While I was on the floor, once again, he told me that I was never to question him again, and then made it seem like it was my fault he was sneaking around. Like, if I was more of a true woman and did what he liked, he wouldn't need to find other women. He told me to clean up the kitchen and then walked out. The next morning, my face still hurt and there was a slight mark around my eye, but this time, he didn't even apologize. I know I should have left right then, but I still had hope for our relationship. But, I know now it was false hope."

I sat there for another fifteen minutes while Isabella continued to tell the story of her abusive, asshole of a husband. Apparently, as time went on, the abuse became more and more frequent and more aggressive. It started with smacking and slapping during fits of rage and drunken episodes, and eventually became full blown attacks for no apparent reason.

"He said he needed to put me in my place and remind me of who I was and who he was," She told me.

At first, there were some small things here and there. The house is not being clean to his standards, her spending too much of their money at the grocery store, dinner being late and things like that. With each attack, the injuries got worse and the marks lasted longer. He had dislocated her shoulder one night when she was trying to run away from his wrath. Lucky for her, she knew how to pop it back into place. But, even if she tried to stick up for herself and fight him back, it only ended with harsher bruises and bloody noses. James was smart though, he made sure that most of the injuries he inflicted on her could be hidden where no one could see and never let her leave the house without any make-up, in the off chance of any possible bruising on her face.

"At some point it became almost a daily thing and I started to believe I actually deserved it," She solemnly said, not even looking me in the eye.

'No angel,' I wanted to tell her. 'You never deserved this. No one does.'

After about four years of being married, James decided it was time for them to have a baby. Which Bella was more than happy to give him.

"I thought this was my light at the end of the tunnel," she explained. "I thought if we had a child, if we were a real family, that would fix everything and he would be happy."

However, each month that they weren't able to conceive, James became more infuriated and resentful and would take it out on Isabella. He would blame her and say it was her fault that she couldn't get pregnant and would make his point with a slap in the face or a punch in the gut. Eventually though, after a year of trying, Isabella became pregnant with their first child. When James found out he was "over the moon" as Isabella put it and it looked like things were finally going to get better.

"And they were," She told me. "James was so caring and attentive. He would constantly follow me around and make sure I was alright. He came to every doctor's appointment, every Lamaze class. He painted the nursery and set up the crib all on his own; He wouldn't let me help because he was afraid I would get sick from the paint fumes or exhausted myself. And every night, he would rub my ever-growing stomach, whispering lullabies to our child. It truly felt like the old James I had fallen in love with was back and that all the bad times were behind us."

On October 18th, 2017, Isaac Charles Hunter was born. According to Isabella, he was so beautiful and big, with a thick mat of dark hair. She had never seen anything more perfect in her life. It was the greatest day of her life and apparently James' too. The way he dotted on Isaac was something out of cheesy Hallmark movies, he was such a proud dad and it truly seemed to Isabella that life was finally good again.

And it was...for a while…

Until one night when it wasn't.

When Isaac was about three months old, James came stumbling home one night, drunk off his ass. He got into Isabella's face and started accusing her of being a liar and a whore. He went as far as claiming that Isaac wasn't even his and she must have gotten knocked up by one of the dozen guys she was screwing. Later on, Isabella had learned that James had been spending time with one of his regulars, Victoria, that evening and had been whispering conspiracies in his ear, making him doubt his own wife, just to keep James all to herself. Rightly so, Isabella became enraged by James accusation and slapped him across the face. Drunk and angrier than ever, James ran at Isabella like a wild animal; Grabbing the back of her head, James slammed her face against the counter, smashing some wine glasses that had been lying there. But James wasn't done yet.

With shards of glass crushed into her face, James then proceeded to throw Isabella to the kitchen floor and repeatedly kick her in the stomach several times. She was badly beaten and bleeding, but even that wasn't enough to satisfy James' sadistic behavior. He then forced his limp wife into the living room, bending her over the back of the couch and took her from behind.

The tears that were rolling down Isabella's face as she described what happened that horrific night was enough to break even the strongest of people. All I wanted to do was take this woman into my arms and comfort her. How this woman was strong enough to survive this nightmare, I don't know. But, one thing was certain, she was strong.

James then called her a series of disgusting names and left her in her own personal hell. The next day, Isabella drove herself to the hospital; She had made up some convoluted story about how she had been mugged in some alley and tried to fight the guy off so staff members wouldn't ask questions. She needed to have about seven stitches to her face and there was massive trauma to her abdomen and lower stomach.

After that night, everything went back to as it was before. Nothing got better, in fact it just got worse. Isabella suffered more and more at the hands of her husband, he still continued to beat her, but even became more controlling. He started dictating where she could go and who to talk to. He told her what she could wear, what she could watch and even what she could eat. He wouldn't even let her drive herself to work; James would have to pick her up and drop her off every day at the nursing home she worked at. And if she had to make him wait even one minute for her, there would be consequences.

James still made sure never to hit Isabella anywhere where people could see, so she was able to conceal her pain from their son as well. Isaac never had to see his mommy in pain or how daddy was hurting her; He was never exposed to that.

"I wanted to leave so many times," she whimpered. "I must have packed my bags a hundred times, but I….I just never could go through with it. I don't know why, I just never could".

"What made you finally decide to leave?" I asked her, desperate to know. She looked at me, but I could tell she was recalling something very upsetting; As the look of pure anger and hatred took over her eyes.

"After so many years of James hitting me and taking his abuse, I started getting used to it. I was able to take more and more of what he gave me and it started not to bother me as much as it used to, and James could see it. He could tell that his punches, smacks and hurtful words were not as effective as they once were. Hell, even him raping me almost every other night started not to phase me anymore."

I don't know if I should have been scared or impressed by how easily Isabella was able to admit to herself and me about her sexual assault.

"This angered him more than anything," She continued. "So, he started finding other ways to hurt me."

She then grew quiet, looking down at her hands folded in front of her. Not saying anything at all and just letting those words hang there, as I sat confused.

"How?" I asked her.

She then drew her attention back at me before turning her gaze to the baby that was still resting peacefully in my arms.

The connection clicked in my head immediately.

No! Screamed in my head and shook it at Isabella. She then nodded and told me the rest of her story.

"James told me that if he wanted to, he would take Isaac away in the middle of the night, leave me and I would never see him again. He told me he would tell Isaac I was a junky whore and never wanted him. He threatened me with this almost every single day before he dropped me off at work or before he left for the bar or to meet one of his many girlfriends. It was his way to keep me around. He had lost interest in Isaac a long time ago; He had only changed his diaper a few times since he was born, he would never play with him and didn't even acknowledge him when he was around. It didn't matter, he would use him as a way to get to me and that all he cared about."

That's all James wanted. Finding new ways to hurt Isabella.

"You can do what you want with me, but you don't threaten my child," she told me. Speaking like a true, honest mother.

"How were you able to get away without him noticing?"

"James never let me have a cellphone and the only computer in the house was his laptop, which only he had the password to. So, the only way I could get online was through the computers at work," She explained. "I was able to find a group chat for mothers in abusive relationships. I befriended one of the women in the group and after months of trying, she finally convinced me to leave James. She told me she would help me and my son get set up in a new city with new names, new information, a new home and a whole new life."

"The day I left James, he had been running late for work. He had an important meeting he had to get to, but for some reason his phone didn't charge and died half-way through the night. So, his alarm never woke him." She said with a Chesire-cat smile.

Nice.

"I convinced James to take his car so he could make his meeting on time and let me drive the Honda to get Isaac to daycare and myself to work. He was in such a rush, I don't think he even noticed the two suitcases that were packed away in our closet," She told me.

"With the money that was left for me by my grandmother, I was able to take out a large sum, without James even knowing about it and hid it in the glove compartment of the car the night before," She explained.

After James had left, it was all too easy for Isabella to collect her and Isaac's things and drive them both to Chicago. The woman who Isabella was supposed to meet up with was able to send her a burner phone to her workplace address a couple weeks prior. When the phone came to her, there was already a text message sent to the phone from the woman's number with an address on it. All Isabella had to do was pull up the address on her phone's map and it would lead her to the woman who would then give Isabella all the papers and information she needed for her and Isaac to start their new lives.

"What caused the accident?" I asked. Remembering Sam telling me how the car was speeding at a high velocity before it crashed through the guardrail. Isabella suddenly had a look of guilt upon her.

"We were driving down the highway, when I looked in my rear-view mirrors and saw a car right behind me that looked similar to James'. I overreacted and thought he had followed us, I started panicking and just floored on the gas pedal. Next thing I know, I am laying in the back of an ambulance with you holding my son in your lap."

Once Isabella had finished telling me the horror-story that was her life and all the pieces of the picture came together, I felt myself become exhausted by all that I had heard. By the way she had just collapsed back into the bed, I could tell it was just as exhausting for Isabella to tell.

"Now you know why James can't find my son" She told me. "If he gets his hands on Isaac, I will never see him again. I need your help...please. Can you help me?" She all but begged me, fresh tears beginning to form along the brim of her eyes.

I know it sounded completely deranged, given the fact that I just met this woman no less than six hours ago, but I just knew I had to protect her. I don't know if it was her story alone or if it was because my natural desire to care for people, but something inside me just told me I had to help this mother and her son. I had no other choice.

"Don't worry Isabella, I will protect your son and you," I promised her. "No matter what."

Sealing my promise to Isabella, I began to feel the bundle in my arms start to move. I looked down and noticed little Isaac begin to awake from his slumber. His little hand coming up to rub the sleep from his eyes as he turned his head up towards me.

"Hey buddy," I greeted. With a pleasant, warm smile he then burrowed his face back into my chest, finding comfort in my embrace I guess. As heart-warming and pleasing as this moment was, I knew I had no time to waste. James was going to be here for Isaac soon and if I had any hope of keeping my promise to Isabella, I had no time to waste.

I picked Isaac up from my lap and stood up from the chair, I placed the now wakeful toddler back down into the arms of his waiting mother, who was more than happy to be reunited with him.

"You just stay here with Isaac," I told Isabella. "I'll deal with James. Don't worry, everything will be alright." With that, I made my exit from the room, taking one last look as a mother coddled her young son in her arms, as his tiny, sweet face against her.

The sweet picture in front of me only validated what I already knew to be true. That, no matter what happens, I had to look out for this family.

Now how I was actually going to do that still remained to be seen.


A Lot To Take In, Right?

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and hopefully it answers some questions you guys had. It was a very heavy chapter for me to write and I hope I did well.

Don't forget to leave your comments and let me know what you guys thought of this chapter.

I should have a new chapter up by the end of this weekend. Hope you guys liked it and enjoy the rest of your week.