It's Time
Chapter 13

The author does not own any publicly recognizable entities herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

BPOV

Mike drove us straight to the Cullen's house. We were met at the door by Carmen who wrapped me in a warm embrace.

"It'll be okay. Trust me," she whispered into my ear.

She led us into the living room where Eleazar sat on the sofa, his head buried in his hands. When he heard our approach, he stood.

"Bella. Mike. Have a seat. We have much to discuss."

His voice was curt, and I knew immediately that he was upset with and I chose the loveseat, and after we sat, Mike took my hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. Even though he too wasn't pleased with my recent actions, he continued to offer me comfort and support.

Eleazar looked over at me and sighed. "I suppose Mike has told you that Edward is coming." "Yes," I mumbled unable to meet his eyes.

"I've tried to talk him out of it, but he is quite resolved. He said it's time for you to come home with him."

A shudder of fear passed through my body. Mike must have felt it as he let go of my hand and put his arm around my shoulder, cradling me against him.

"Bella, what in the world possessed you to go out on a date?" Eleazar asked as he paced the room. After stopping, he looked directly at me, and said, "You know Edward is your soulmate. Why would you do something to jeopardize your relationship with him?"

I couldn't believe what he was saying. Was he actually blaming me? Suddenly, my fear was overtaken by an intense anger.
"Are you being serious?" I seethed. Everyone in the room looked aghast, shocked by my outburst. "You're blaming me for Edward's irrational behavior? And why in the hell would I worry about jeopardizing a relationship that means absolutely nothing to me?"

"Bella," Eleazar scolded. "You can't mean that."

"I most certainly can! I met the man once, and I don't even remember it very well. Since that time, he has made no effort to get to know me. He has, however, tried to control every damn aspect of my life; from my clothes to my college and even my family!" I knew the last part was harsh, and I felt horrible for saying it, but it was the truth.

I heard a soft sob come from Carmen, but I continued. The pent-up resentment of everything I had endured was determined to be released. "I just wanted to be normal for once. Have a normal experience like people my own age," I explained. "And it's not as if Edward hasn't been living his life. I've heard you and Carmen talk. I know he's been screwing around on me. Doesn't seem as if he's super dedicated to his soulmate either, does it?"

Eleazar rubbed the back of his neck and sheepishly responded, "It's different for guys, Bella. And anything that happened between Edward and other girls didn't mean anything. I guarantee it—"

"Eli!" Carmen interrupted. "Don't you dare make excuses for that boy! One day Edward can explain himself to Bella when and if they ever meet. And," she stressed the and, "it most certainly does mean something. Cheating is never okay."

"Honestly, I don't even care about the other girls," I said. I hated to see Carmen and Eleazar arguing. "I don't consider it as cheating, because, quite frankly, we're not in a relationship. But what I do care about is the double standard … he can do whatever he wants, but I can't do anything. Don't you see how wrong that is?"

"It is wrong," Carmen agreed, "and I have stood by and watched the way Edward has treated you over the years. I just pray you can forgive me for my role in it all."

I looked over to the woman who I considered my mother. Her face was wet with tears. "Carmen, the only good thing Edward ever did for me was to place me in your family. I know you and Eleazar have had little say in the decisions regarding my life. I don't blame either of you."

'Well, right or wrong, Edward is coming," Eleazar stated quietly affected by my words.

"Do we know if he's left yet," Mike asked breaking his silence.

"No, he hasn't. He had some legal issues to take care of first, and since Emmett has the company jet, he has to fly commercial. The first flight he could get was tomorrow."

So we still have time I thought.

"Eleazar," I said as I walked over to where he stood. "Can't we just leave? At least until he calms down? Maybe he'll change his mind?"

"I'm afraid that won't happen, sweetheart," he said softly. All the frustration he had felt towards me had dissipated and was now replaced with the realization that he was about to lose his daughter. "He is determined."

I began crying. Eleazar gathered me in his arms and stroked my hair as I sobbed. In less than twenty-four hours, I was going to be ripped away from my family and home. School would more than likely be out of the picture as well.

"Ed-Edward won't l-let me fin-finish college. Will he?"

"I'm not sure," he responded. "My guess is he'll want to get married soon." "Eli, can't you talk to him? Ask him to let her finish school first?" Carmen pled. "I would if I thought it would do any good, but as I said, Edward's mind is—"

Eleazar was interrupted by the sound of someone coming in through the front door. "I got here as quickly as I could, Mama."

It was Alice. And she was holding two large duffle bags.

"I packed everything you said, and I didn't say a word to anyone."

A look of bewilderment crossed Eleazar's face before he turned to his wife and said, "What's going on?"

"Our nephew has treated our daughter in an abhorrent manner for the past six years. I'm not sending her off with him tomorrow or anytime in the foreseeable future until he proves he can treat her with the love and respect she deserves," she began explaining. "Now, I know you're convinced they are meant to be together, and maybe they are, but after all she has been through, Bella deserves the opportunity to earn her degree. You and I owe her at least that."

"Carmen, I would love nothing more than to give Bella the chance to finish school. You know these two girls mean the world to me," he said gesturing to both Alice and me, but how can we do so? "It's not like we can hide from Edward and Carlisle."

"That's the thing. We can," Carmen said surprising us all. "Nonno and I have everything in place. In fact, he has a plane waiting for us this very minute at the airport."

"What?" Eleazar exclaimed.

"Everything is set in place. Can we please hash out the details once we are on the plane? We need to start packing," she simply responded.

"I'm not sure about this," Eleazar said, "it's not right to keep soulmates apart from one another."

Determined to get on that plane as fast as humanly possible, I turned toward Eleazar. "Please, I promise I'll give him a chance and be open to marriage after college. I just want to graduate," I begged.

After gazing into my eyes for a few moments, he said, "I'll agree to this, but there's another condition."

"Anything," I quickly responded. "No more dating."

"I promise. No more dates," I said. At that point, I would have promised anything. "Okay," he sighed before turning to his wife, "let's start packing."

As Carmen and Eleazar packed, I noticed Mike had gone outside to smoke a cigarette. When I joined him on the terrace, he was looking at his phone.

"Edward has called and texted ten times already. I'm not sure what to do."

"That's easy," I replied, "just keep ignoring him and go with us."

"I don't think that's the best solution, kid." "But why? You have to go with me!"

"I need to do some digging around first. Find out more about Jacob Black." "Can't you do that from wherever we go?"

"It would be better to start looking here. I can deal with Edward tomorrow and then I'll start. Once I find out what I need to know, I'll join you wherever you are."

"Do you promise?" I asked as tears welled in my eyes at the thought of not having Mike with me.

"No one could keep me away," he smiled.

After talking with Mike, I went upstairs to my bedroom. Most of my possessions were in my dormitory room on campus, but there was one thing I needed to get before we left.

Once I entered, I went straight to the bookshelf that held my collection of favorite novels. I quickly grabbed Nonna's copy of Pride and Prejudice and gave the rest of the books a quick perusal.

A wave of disgust crashed over me when I noticed the stack of autographed Douglas Riley novels. Carmen must have unpacked them because I had boxed them up once I had learned they were from Edward. I stood for a moment glaring at them; they served as a reminder of the reason we had to leave in the first place.

Fucking Edward Cullen.

Part of me wanted to stay and face him - to finally let him know what I thought of him and his controlling ass ways, but I knew it would be pointless in the end. The almighty Edward Cullen would get his way just as he always did.

Clenching my jaw, I turned toward the door to leave. That's when I spotted the stationery lying on the antique desk by my bed. Carmen had gifted both Alice and me a set of monogrammed, linen writing paper at Christmas last year. Alice had balked at the present stating no one wrote letters anymore, and I had silently agreed, wondering when I would ever find an opportunity to use the elegant gift.

But I think I just found the perfect opportunity.

After sitting at the desk, I took a sheet of the paper and began writing down every single thing I had ever wanted to say to Edward. The words flowed, and I spared nothing. From the terror, I had felt as a young girl when I had discovered I had been sent to live with his mobster family to the numerous times he had crushed my dreams. And to be petty, I mentioned my date with Jake and made him appear to be more appealing than he was. There was no way in hell I was going to let Edward know my only date had been a bust. Let him wonder if I had a good time. Let him wonder if I had feelings for someone else.

After reading over my words, I carefully folded the letter and put it into an envelope. After sticking it in my pocket, I returned downstairs.

An hour later, we were ready to leave. Mike spoke with Eleazar for a few minutes before coming over to tell me goodbye.

"Here's an emergency contact number for me. No one knows about it, but you," he said as he slipped me a piece of paper. "Call me day or night."

After taking the number from him, I pulled an envelope from my pocket. "Can I ask you a favor?" I said before I lost my nerve. "Can you see that Edward gets this?" Mike took it from me and gave me a questioning glance.

"What is it?"

"A letter. Just make sure you are long gone before he gets it," I added, "it will probably piss him off."

"Jesus, Bella," Mike laughed, "What did you do? Take a picture of yourself flipping him off or something?

"Yeah, something like that," I shrugged before giving him a hard hug and telling him I loved him.

"I love you, too," he said gruffly. His voice choked up with emotion. "Be safe."

Mike POV

After leaving Bella, I drove to Jacob Black's apartment. When I discovered the fucker wasn't home, I decided to let myself in to do some snooping.

His door had a standard deadbolt, which is one of the easiest to pick. It only took seconds to get inside.

The putrid stench of either rotten cheese or dirty socks hit me as soon as I entered the room. The little shit was one filthy bastard. Empty pizza boxes, beer cans, and various other pieces of trash littered the living room floor. Not finding anything, I stepped over what appeared to be a used condom and headed toward the kitchen.

The kitchen was just as bad as the living room. Dirty dishes were everywhere, and half-eaten food lay on the counter.

After checking all the cabinets and coming up empty, I went to the bedroom.

With only a small twin bed and a nightstand, the bedroom was by far the cleanest of the rooms, but it was still disgusting. I checked all the drawers in the stand, which were empty and then, after pulling out a handkerchief to protect myself from the germs and whatever else might be lurking on the sheets, I lifted the mattress.

Bingo.

A manila envelope lay on the box spring. After picking it up and shoving it in my jacket, I dropped the mattress. Not wanting to push my luck, I hightailed it back to my car.

Once I got back to my place, I sat on my sofa and retrieved the envelope. Inside, I discovered three photos.

I spread the pictures on a table. The first was of Eleazar. It appeared to have been taken sometime last year while he was at his office in Farmington. He was standing in the lobby talking with a receptionist. The next photo was of Carlisle. He was getting into a car on the street outside his company in Chicago. It, too, was a recent shot; probably taken no more than six months ago.

The last photo was older and had faded with time. It had been taken with one of those old Polaroid cameras. Its subjects were a man, woman, and young boy — a family. I didn't recognize the woman, but the boy was none other than Jacob Black.

The man in the picture was someone I was quite familiar with, and as I looked at him and Jacob side by side, I couldn't believe I hadn't recognized the similarities in their appearance before now. Beside different hair color, one blonde and the other dark brown, the two were pretty much identical.

I knew he couldn't be his legitimate son because Carlisle had wiped out every known member of the Volturi family ten years prior, but after seeing this photograph, I had no doubt Jacob Black had to be Caius Volturi's bastard.

Realizing the true danger Isabella had been in, I rushed to the bathroom and expelled the contents of my dinner.

I sat on the floor for what seemed like hours as guilt ate away at me. How could I have been so blind?

After vowing to myself to never again underestimate my instincts, I returned to the living room and put the photographs back into the envelope. I stashed it away in my suitcase knowing good and well if Edward saw this in the state he was currently in, it would be my death sentence.

He was far too irrational to reason with at the moment.

Deciding to share what I had discovered with Alec once I had dealt with Edward, I finished packing and got a few hours of sleep.

Bella's Letter to Edward

Dear Mr. Cullen,

By now you have discovered that we are no longer in Boston. How does it feel to be out of control for once?

You see, I've always known who you were. When we left Orso's Restaurant on that Easter afternoon so many years ago, my father took me straight home and gave me an informal education on all things Cullen. He wanted me to know how dangerous your family was, so I would be prepared if I ever came in contact with any of you again.

Dad was very detailed, showing me mugshots and surveillance photographs of every known associate and relative of the notorious Cullen Mob. Imagine my terror when I discovered that Alice Cullen was my new roommate at boarding school and noticed that mobster Mike Newton just happened to be everywhere I went. For months, I waited to be kidnapped or worse. My mind conjured every horrible scenario a young, thirteen-year-old girl could imagine. Then to top it all off, my father essentially abandoned me and left me all alone.

Eventually, I was forced to spend all my time with those my father had told me to avoid at all costs. I'm not sure if it was some form of Stockholm Syndrome or what, but I came to love and trust Alice, Eleazar, and Carmen. When I was sixteen-years-old, I finally had the courage to ask Carmen and Eleazar why the Cullen Family was keeping me and why my father never contacted me anymore. They explained it all to me. Everything from my father's gambling addiction and his ill-fated bargain with Carlisle Cullen to your supposed 'claim' on me. Don't get me wrong, they genuinely believe we are meant to be and have spent years trying to convince me of some fated connection we had at that restaurant so many years ago, but I don't buy it.

Not only are you a criminal, but over the years I've seen how you treat someone you confess to holding so dear. You have given me so many examples of what little regard you genuinely have for me. You probably don't remember the time when I was a sophomore in high school, and I won a statewide literary contest. As part of the prize, I was asked to attend a weeklong writer's conference in Orlando, Florida. My favorite author at the time was the headline speaker, and I was beyond thrilled. I couldn't attend though, because 'gasp,' there would be boys at the conference. I was devastated. I also knew who made the decision that I couldn't go. You. It was always you. No hanging out at the mall with Alice and my friends, no leggings, no dances, and let's not even bring up Dartmouth. You smug bastard!

Two positives came out of the Dartmouth incident. Mike Newton officially became 'Team Bella, ' and your aunt and uncle became laxer when it came to your directives. Mike Newton approached me for the first time at a coffeehouse the day I had received my bogus rejection letter from Dartmouth. I was quietly sobbing into my tea when he came over and asked me what was wrong. I was so pissed that he had the nerve to speak to me and I went off! I informed him that I knew exactly who he was and who he worked for. I released four years of pent-up frustration on his old ass. We ended up talking for hours. That was the beginning of our now pseudo-grandfather and granddaughter relationship.

Eleazar and Carmen also developed a soft spot in their hearts for me over the years. They were both so disappointed in your decision regarding Dartmouth that they tried to make up for it by allowing me more freedom. I could finally do simple things like picking out my own clothing, wearing makeup, and going on a weekend ski trip with my girlfriends.

I've also heard Eleazar and Carmen frequently argue over your lack of respect for me. Carmen has mentioned her disgust in your 'man-whoring' ways more than once. Even your relatives realize what a dick you are.

And that brings us to this week. I will admit that I probably used Jake just as a way to rebel against you and your fucking rules, but what do you expect? I am nineteen years old, and I have never been on a date before! Jake is a sweet guy, and I wanted to go to the poetry reading. Why couldn't we go together?

But once again, you ruined everything. I begged Eleazar and Mike not to tell you, but they said they couldn't keep something this big from you. I think Mike was willing to stay quiet, but Eleazar still has his delusions you and I are destined to be together one day. He said it was wrong for another guy to taint what we have. What about all the sluts you are banging? What a fucking double standard.

Carmen knew you would come straight for me once you learned about my date, so she helped me persuade Eleazar to leave late last night before you arrived. I begged him for the opportunity to finish college before being settled into marriage. I promised I would willingly come to you after graduation and that I would never go out on a date again. All it took was a few tears before Eleazar bought that load of shit and relented. I told Mike about our plans, and he readily agreed to help. I think what he specifically said was 'anything for my Dolce.'

No one knows I left this letter for you, but I wanted a chance to make a few things clear. I will finish my college career and more than likely it will be at a co-ed school full of young, hot guys. I will then graduate, and I will not be marrying your sorry ass. I will have a career in education like the one I've always wanted. I will date whoever I want. I will screw whoever I wish to. I will eventually marry whoever I want.

It's time.

Time for you to realize that starting today, I control my life and my future. So fuck you, Edward Cullen.

So Not Yours,

Bella Swan

AN:

Thank you again to my wonderful Beta, Fran and pre-readers, Gabby1017 and AllTheWayIntoTwilight.

Get ready for some Edward. He'll be back in chapters 14 and 15.

Several readers have questioned why I have decided to turn Jacob into an unsavory character in this story. In order to expand the one-shot, I had to further develop many characters and aspects of the original fic. I have honestly tried to remain as accurate as possible to the one-shot. I will also be honest in saying it has been challenging to do so at times. My "We Love Mobward" contest entry was my first attempt at writing. I didn't have a clue what I was doing, and when I entered, I never fathomed I would eventually be turning it into a longer story.

I promise to remain faithful to the one-shot through Edward's discovery of the letter. Who Jacob is or is not will have no bearing on Edward's actions. I think we can all agree Edward is a complete ass at this point in the story, and I'm not attempting to magically turn him into some type of hero.

For those who are wondering, the story will continue. The letter is not the end. Yes, Bella will have her say, and yes, Edward will more than likely continue to make his fair share of stupid mistakes.

There is so much more to tell, and I hope you stick with me.

On another topic, I recently posted my Age of Edward entries to my account. I am still in shock that Battle of the Sexes received first place in the Judges' Voting Category! It was such a fun story to write, and I appreciate everyone who read and reviewed. I was so thrilled whenever an It's Time reader left a review during the contest. I wanted so badly to reply.

:)

I love you all and thank you for welcoming me into this fandom and embracing my stories.

Until next time,
HE