Toxic Rose
Chapter 32: The Truth Hurts
Everything hurts, is Bella's realization as she comes to. Her vision is a bit fuzzy and her head throbs but as she slowly shakes herself awake she is made aware of several disturbing truths. Firstly, she's chained up, hands above her head, linked to a radiator pipe she's attached to. Secondly, she doesn't know where she is. It looks to be a motel room, with a bed to her right and a small table to her left. And thirdly, Rosalie is still unconscious next to her.
"Rosalie. Rosalie," she whispers, wary for if the man is still here. She's trying to get the blonde to awaken. She reaches out with her toe and prods her and the blonde finally stirs. The long hair that had been covering her face shifts back and reveals a black eye and a split lip. "Oh god," Bella softly moans in horror, her heart thumping in her chest. It's all her fault they're stuck here. All her damned fault!
"Rosalie, what's going on? I'm so scared."
"You think you're the one scared shitless?" and Rosalie's voice is soft, meek and unlike her usual self. "He's the fucking guy who tormented me all those years ago. The one who made me fight in that god awful children's ring."
Bella feels like absolute shit for that. For doing that to Rosalie. She doesn't even know how to start to apologize for this. "I'm so, so, sorry. I never meant for this to happen. I swear I will make it up to you for as long as it takes."
But Rosalie doesn't say anything more, just looks on straight ahead, working her jaw.
"Please Rosalie, I had no idea..." Bella trails off tearfully and lets out a groan as Rosalie continues to ignore her. Bella's in danger of losing Rosalie and she can't afford that. The blonde is all she has left. And now Bella might lose her for good because of something stupid she's done.
Something with good intentions but still, bad results.
There is the rattle of keys sliding into the lock and Rosalie stiffens, draws her knees closer to her chest. The door opens and Aro walks in, humming merrily to himself and carrying a bag of take out.
"Ah, I see my lovelies are up," he smiled gleefully, setting the food on the table and kneeling down to grasp Rosalie's jaw in his hand. "A bit of bruising but entirely your fault. If you hadn't tried to fight me, it wouldn't have happened."
"Go to hell," she grit out behind clenched teeth. He tsked playfully. "Now, is that anyway to speak to your father?"
"You're not her father, but a monster. Get your hands off of her!" Bella cried out, trying to protect Rosalie anyway she could. Aro got up at this, tilting his head in uncanny interest at her.
"What a lovely little pet you found Rosalie. Almost as lovely as you." He reached out a hand to stroke Bella's cheek only for Bella to snap her teeth at him. He jerked his back just in time.
"And feisty."
"What do you want with us? What do you want from her?" Bella was scared to talk to him but she needed answers. Needed to brainstorm a way out of this. She had no idea where they were. They could be in the next state over for all she knew.
"I only wished to meet my daughter. To see her again. I missed her in all my years of captivity. But no prison could keep me away from her. From my most prized possession. Though I do see they have taken quite a bit of the fight out of you. No problem, I shall bring it back to you and together we'll start another underground empire."
"You are stupid if you think I shall ever imprison children, if I shall help you on whatever insane plans you have," Rosalie spat out, eyes filled with rage and fear. She was shaking so much that she was rattling her chains but she couldn't seem to stop.
"You will help me. Unless you want your little friend here dead." The threat was delivered lightly but it was plain to see this man was crazy and he meant it.
"Don't dare to touch her," Rosalie grit out even as her voice wavered.
"No? Not even after she sold you out? After she agreed to meet with me?"
"I didn't know who you were- I would never-"
His hand lashed out and he smacked her hard. She jerked back with a gasp, tasting blood. Had he just hit her? He had! She could feel blood trickling down from her split lip.
"Do not interrupt mine and Rosalie's conversation."
Bella's heart raced in fear once more. There was no telling what this man could do to them.
"I was done talking to you, old man," Rosalie said. "Now let us go." She looked defeated, dragging even more into her shell upon hearing him slapping Bella.
"Not until I get what I want," he said, rubbing where his palm had slapped Bella.
"I'm not running the ring with you. We're not bringing that horror show back."
Before Aro said anything more, there was a knock on the door. "Ah!" he paused theatrically. "Here comes one of the reasons why you should work with me." And then he turned on his heel to open the door. Bella craned her head, tried to see who it was but it wasn't until Aro came back into the bedroom that she wished she didn't know who the guest was.
"Carlisle?" she mouthed out, wondering what the hell was going on. Was he here to help them? But no, she got bad vibes from this. Very bad. He was standing about quietly, looking on at them with apologetic glances.
"What is going on here? What is all this?" Rosalie's voice shook and she looked on from Aro to Carlisle with questions in her eyes.
"You didn't know? You didn't know all these years?" Aro said gleefully, clapping his hands together. "Carlisle, my friend, you truly kept your hands clean. I even hear you're a respected doctor now."
"Stop that," the doctor said wearily, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Are you working with him?" Bella hissed out, unease overwhelming her. But why would Carlisle be working with Aro- why would he-?
"I'm not-"
"But he used to," Aro hummed, rifling through the take out containers and settling one down for Carlisle and one for himself. "Sit. Eat. We have much to discuss on how you got away scot free while I was left to rot in jail along with Marcus and Caius."
Bella's mouth dropped open. Carlisle knew this terrible man somehow, that much was certain. But how?
"I'm not here to eat, but to ask you to release my daughter and her friend," Carlisle said, placing his hand on the table, leaning in to look at Aro who was happily dunking an egg roll into some sauce.
"Playing the good guy, huh? You really are self serving. Adopted all those orphans to make up for what you did in the ring, but really, the guilt never goes away does it? It only burrows in deeper, darker, until it's all that your life becomes."
Guilt flashes across Carlisle's face. Pain does too. "Aro-"
"Carlisle helped run the ring with us, Rosalie. He was as much a part of it as us main three. Except Carlisle did the book work. Never got his hands directly involved because the little dipshit was protecting his hide and his investment. He was the one who told us which kids to find, which to use, and how to groom you into formidable murder machines. He was the one through whom the money and blood and bodies came through. He was our leader, we his little servants, left to take the fall."
Bella and Rosalie were both frozen in revelation. There was just no way...no way that such a kind and understanding man like Carlisle could...that he could.
"That's a lie. I know him and he would never do anything to harm another and he has done nothing but be helpful and loving and patient to Rosalie! And to his other children. And to me!" Bella shouted out, straining against her cuffs.
Vaguely, Esme's warning about her husband and how he could not be trusted ran in Bella's head and it did nothing to help the confusion inside her mind, the turmoil going through her body. She wanted Aro to be bluffing, to be wrong, but Carlisle was quiet. He looked pained, pale. And that was the wrong reaction for someone who wasn't guilty.
"I never meant for it to end up like that. I just needed money to pay for med school, to get rid of my father's gambling debt. Aro approached me with the idea and I did what I had to do," his voice is soft and apologetic. He couldn't look Bella or Rosalie in the eye.
"You did all this...to me? All for yourself? How selfish could you be?" Rosalie's voice is broken, because her heart, her trust, have all been destroyed by the people she loved most today. By Bella and Carlisle.
"I know. But I was desperate. And I told myself it was fine when it really wasn't. And I've spent all the rest of my life trying to make it up for the mistakes I've made."
"That doesn't erase all the lives you've ruined! All the lives you've taken! And you're only helping others to assuage your own consciousness. You're no better than Aro."
Carlisle's face crumbled on that while Aro laughed gleefully. "Oh, this is good. Top quality drama! Almost makes up for those ten years I sat in prison."
"Shut up, Aro. I knew I should have never followed the path you sent me on. I knew I should have dealt with you more permanently." Carlisle's voice was dark and a furrow grew in between his brows.
"You don't want to run the ring again? You know how lucrative the business is. Certainly more so than being a doctor. And Rosalie'll help us out."
"She will do no such thing. And I will do no such thing. But most importantly, you'll do no such thing." And then Carlisle reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out the gun.
He pointed it straight at Aro.
"What are you going to do with that? Tickle me?" Aro laughed.
"No. I think it's clear what guns do."
"You don't have the guts to carry through." Aro only laughed harder while Carlisle got so calm that it was terrifying. And then he pulled the trigger.
The laughter stopped and Aro's body was frozen for a moment before it slumped down into it's chow mein face first. Behind his head was a bloody spot and something that clearly was pink brain. "I should have done this years ago. You'll never tempt anyone else into doing your sick deeds like you did with me, with the children."
Bella felt sick. "Oh god," she muttered, turning away, tears in her eyes as her stomach rioted.
Carlisle put the gun away, then pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the blood on his face off. He then put that away too and reached over to dig around Aro's pockets and pull out the keys there. He tossed them to Bella. He couldn't look at them still.
"Unlock yourselves and head home. You can use my car. I'm taking a cab." And with that he took a deep breath and left. Like nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.
Bella couldn't handle this. What the fuck had her life become? What the fuck was she going to do? There was a dead body in the room. And Rosalie was silent. Was she traumatized by this as much as Bella was?
There was no telling. She looked to the blonde but Rosalie hadn't moved an inch. It looked like it would be up to Bella to take matters into her own hands. She bent down to pick them up from her lap with her mouth and slowly slid them into her lock, struggling for a good five minutes on how to do this before finally the cuffs popped free.
She hurried over to do the same with Rosalie's locks, the girl unresponsive the whole time this was happening. Even when Bella freed her, she didn't move.
"Rosalie, talk to me. Are you okay?" Bella's skin was crawling with the urge to leave but she couldn't until Rosalie came with her. The blonde didn't say a thing, just stared at Aro's slumped over body, blood pooling under the table.
"Rosalie," Bella urged, grabbing her cheeks and directing her gaze onto her. "Rosalie." She shook her to get her attention. "Talk to me."
But Rosalie only looked on at her blankly and Bella was worried she was losing her. That Rosalie was slipping back into the darkness that was her old friend.
Figuring that Rosalie wouldn't be speaking any time soon, Bella got to her feet, dragging Rosalie up with her. "Come on, we need to go."
Rosalie didn't argue with that, just numbly followed Bella as the blonde continued to stare at Aro's prone body until finally they were out of the motel. It took a while to find the car Carlisle left for them in the parking lot but when they did it already had the keys in the ignition. Rosalie was going to be useless in terms of driving so Bella sat behind the wheel and turned on the gps system so she could find out where the fuck they were.
It turned out they were a bit of an hour over the state border and Bella input her home address so they could finally head back.
The road was long and quiet, neither girl able to say anything about what had just happened. To Bella it all felt very surreal and her chest was weighed down with guilt at dragging Rosalie into an altercation with her past. She knew she would do anything to make it up to the blonde but for now she was too scared to continue breaching the topic. Rosalie looked lost in her thoughts, staring out the window, still as a statue. Bella worried over her, and it was that worry that kept her mind from dwelling too much on her own disturbed mental status.
She was sure everything was going to kick in later and she'd be overwhelmed with tears but right now she was surviving off of adrenaline and her concern for Rosalie.
During the ride Bella brainstormed on what to do next. Who could she talk to about this incident? Should she even bring it up? Should she go on like nothing had happened?
A knot formed in her stomach. She desperately wanted to pretend nothing had occurred but a man had been killed in front of her, and no matter how evil he was, there was another evil man on the loose. Carlisle. The man masquerading as a kind doctor who had masterminded the whole ring that caused Rosalie and so many others suffering.
A kernel of an idea grew in Bella's head. She would see to it that Rosalie got her justice, that Carlisle was locked up for what he did. No matter how he had tried to hide the stains of his past with good deeds, nothing could scrub murder and ruining of innocent children lives. Nothing.
Grimly determined, Bella would fight to see this out.
They finally pulled up to Forks, Washington, in what felt more like years rather than days. Rosalie practically jumped out of the car and slammed it shut behind her, shoving her hands in her pockets and walking away quickly.
"Rosalie. Rosalie!" Bella called out after her, hopping out of the car. But the blonde only walked away faster and Bella stood frozen where she was, swallowing down a thick lump of uncertainty. Did Rosalie hate her? Did she never want to see or talk to her again?
Bella shook free those thoughts. She'd give Rosalie her space. Space was good right now. Then, Bella looked up at her father's house and let out a breath she had been holding into the cold frigid February air. She hadn't been back here since she'd been kicked out for being gay. But she needed to talk to her father because he was the only one who could do anything to right this wrong.
She steeled herself.
And then she walked up the stairs.
After that whole ordeal, it turned out Rosalie had ran away. Without even saying a word to Bella, or to anyone else. All she took were the clothes on her back and the change in her pocket. Not even her phone.
Bella found out about her disappearance through an alert Carlisle sent through the police station, asking for any news on his daughter. He didn't dare to ask Bella anything about it. In fact, he walked on egg shells around her, avoided her, and didn't so much as look as her. Which was fine with Bella. The very sight of that man, a man she had once trusted, filled her with sick dread.
Dread on top of the dread of a missing Rosalie.
Maybe Carlisle had even killed her because she knew too much?
But Bella shook her head free of that thought. She didn't want to think the worst.
Still, Bella worried for her. What if harm came to Rosalie? What if some crazy person found her and hurt her? What if she couldn't feed herself? What if she got sick?
But then Bella got angry at her. How dare Rosalie do this to her. How dare she leave her alone to deal with this shit storm of a mess, because it was a shit storm of a mess. The biggest one Bella had ever been in.
With Rosalie gone and Carlisle now a villain in Bella's eyes, she had no choice but to come back to her father. To her father who still hated her.
But his look of distaste passed when he saw her in tears and shaking like a leaf in a storm. "What happened? Did she hurt you?"
"No, it's not her. It's Carlisle." And the whole truth falls out of her mouth- everything. How Bella and Rosalie meet, how they got close, how Carlisle helped them out, how he made Jake go crazy, how Carlisle was the one who ran the rings and made Rosalie fucked up. The whole story from the start up to Carlisle killing Aro. And Charlie is surprisingly calm about this. He tucks Bella into a hug. "I'm going to fix this. I'm going to get that son of a bitch." And he is in his cop mode, ready to solve this case.
But cases take a long time to solve, even when there is overwhelming evidence. Charlie has to go back to the motel, find the body, get confessions, and try to build a case. But Carlisle has strong lawyers- he's well prepared for such things.
And in the meantime Bella goes to therapy for the nightmares of Aro's death playing back in her head at night. She goes to school and desperately avoids the Cullens. She shrinks back at shadows that threaten to leap at her, spiting out the doctor she had once trusted. And she hopes that Rosalie might show up one day and be the rock she needs to get through all of this.
Two months pass this way, and there isn't a single day that Bella doesn't miss Rosalie. Charlie never once bothers to ask her about her relationship with Rosalie or to speak of those weeks where they lived in separate homes. But it's better this way. Already there are too many issues that swallow up their free time and their mentality. Charlie is busy working on the case and he's not going to back down this time. He won't let Carlisle win. "I'm tired of that man always manipulating everyone. Of getting away with whatever he wants in this town. Not this time! He's going behind bars."
And Bella hopes her father wins, because she can't believe the kind doctor had once done such terrifying things to so many poor innocent kids.
Eventually, Bella can't avoid the Cullens entirely at school and she is cornered by all of them one evening when she gets a bit sloppy in hiding from them. The hallways are clearing out so there is no one to interrupt them or save Bella from harm should the kids retaliate against her.
She huddles behind her books, clutching them protectively to her chest as if they can serve as a barrier to blocking fists and kicks. But they're not aiming to hurt with fists but words.
"Bella, we want to hear it from your mouth on what happened," Emmett says and he looks so miserable that Bella indulges him.
"On what? On me and Rosalie-"
"No, on the case between our father and the police," Jasper adds.
Bella swallows, nods her head. The story is never easy to tell but she wants them to know the sort of monster that sleeps under their roof. So she tells them everything, every last detail of that day.
Their faces are matching masks of horror, all except surprisingly Edward's.
"I don't believe this. I don't," he says vehemently, shaking his head, disbanding from them.
"But the evidence is there," Alice points out. "Bella wouldn't be lying." And Bella is shocked to see that Alice is protecting her like this when they couldn't stand the sight of each other not so long ago.
"And how do we know that?" Edward counters.
"Can you hear yourself man?" Jasper says in that soft southern dialect of his. "Why would Bella be making this up?"
"Rosalie could be putting her up to it."
"She's not," Bella defends.
They all turn on Edward, eyes hard and he narrows his gaze at them. "Are you all really going to turn on Carlisle after all he's done for you? After all his troubles? No one wanted us, yet he took us. We all came from fucked up backgrounds or do you not remember?"
"I'd rather not be adopted by yet another fucked up individual," Alice cuts in.
"And did you forget he was the one who fucked up Rosalie's background in the first place?" Emmett adds.
"Which are all claims made by Aro, a sick man whose mental status cannot be checked!" Edward raises his voice as if that will convince them more.
"Carlisle didn't deny any of it. Which is basically the same as admitting his guilt," Bella says softly and watches as Edward's face twists up in fury.
"You are all traitors to him, traitors after all he did for you!" and Edward storms off.
Emmett shoots Bella a reassuring smile and clasps her shoulder protectively.
"Don't worry, we're on your side." And then all the Cullens walk off.
The case is going to trail- finally- and there is a swarm of media coverage on it. Nothing this exciting has happened in Forks in centuries and so every reporter is on it like a vulture on carrion. Bella is unexpectedly thrust into the limelight because she's one of the witnesses serving on this case. There would be another one if only Rosalie were here.
And then one day, exactly two days before the trials are about to begin, Rosalie is here.
Bella gapes at her from the open doorway of her house. It is the blonde in flesh and bone, wearing a lighter jacket to accommodate the warmer weather but otherwise in one whole piece.
"You're here," Bella breathes out because she doesn't know what else to say or do.
"I am. And I'm sorry. But I had to leave. I had to...clear my head, get away from it all. But I'm back, and I'm ready to kick some ass." Rosalie smiles and holds out her arms and Bella sinks into them, holds her tight and inhales her scent and never ever wants to let her go again.
"How did you survive on the streets? Where did you go? I was so worried-"
Rosalie cuts off Bella's questions with a soft kiss and god, how Bella has missed this.
Her taste, her smell, her everything.
"I'll explain everything later. I want to send Carlisle to jail first." Her words turn dark and Bella nods her head and beckons her into the house where Charlie is.
Charlie blinks in shock at Rosalie but surprisingly there is no disgust on his features. Bella chooses to blindly believe this whole case has wiped away Charlie's disdain for Rosalie but only time will tell.
"I'm here to testify against Carlisle," Rosalie says briskly and businesslike all the while squeezing Bella's hand in hers. Rosalie doesn't shake or cover like she had because of Aro, like she had on that day two months ago. Bella is proud of her, proud of how strong she is once more.
Charlie looks at their conjoined hands and a small smile grows on his face as he looks up to Rosalie's grim and determined expression. "Sit down. We have a lot of debriefing to do."
The trial seems like a never ending mess.
It drags on for months- four months to be exact. And Bella is tired and drained by it all and it is only thanks to Rosalie that she can keep her wits about her. Rosalie and the other Cullens minus Edward and Esme. Esme, it turned out, knew about her husbands past, but still choose to support him, and surprisingly Edward did too. Bella would have thought Alice would be by Esme's side given how she and Esme both plotted against Rosalie's happiness with Bella. But Alice couldn't side with Esme on this one issue.
"I won't stand for abusive parents. No matter what," she said, old hurt glimmering in her eyes. "No matter how kind they may have been to us, the fact is they hurt other kids and I won't forgive them."
It almost feels like old times, with them all hanging out together with each other, with laughing and pretending like the trial doesn't weigh down on all of them.
Carlisle is held in prison without bail and the kids barely stay at home anyways, feeling it is too cold and not like their home at all anymore.
Charlie tries to get Jake to testify too, but because of Carlisle's misdiagnosis, the boy is considered too unstable to speak on the issues. He and Bella make amends however, because the one thing this trial has done is erase all the issues between them, erase all the bad, and bring them closer together. Hardship tends to do that to people. That doesn't mean Jake and Rosalie can be in the same room together, but any progress is good.
Leah makes it out of the hospital and she also provides great support for Bella, cheering her up when the stress gets to be too much sometimes. Bella is grateful for all her friends and for how supportive they are. Making her witness testimony is hard and she cannot look at Carlisle's face as she does so. Esme is there too, slinging slurs and insults at Bella for this when she thinks no one else can hear them. They wound Bella but she tries to not let them do that. Not everyone will like what she is doing, but it needs to be done. So she straightens out her chin and continues with her work.
It's Rosalie's confession that finally drives the last nail in. People openly weep when they find out about her past and she plays the emotions of the jurors like a violin. Even Carlisle is saddened by her words and when he thinks no one is listening he pulls Rosalie aside. But Bella is drifting nearby, cups of coffee for her and her girlfriend. She hangs back in case Rosalie needs help but the blonde catches her eye over Carlisle's orange clad shoulder and shakes her head just slightly to show she is fine.
"I did horrible things. I let Aro influence me when I was at my weakest, and I let him. Even though I knew what I was doing was wrong I couldn't help it. And when I finally got free of that place, I tried to make amends. I adopted orphans from terrible home backgrounds in hopes that helping them, curing them, would be my penance. And you, I owed you the most because I was the one who had hurt you the most. I know you may hate me right now, but I do hope you can some day forgive me, like I was able to forgive you for all those lives you took." His voice is soft, pleading. "Don't do this to your father."
Bella can't help from inserting herself into the conversation at this. She won't let Carlisle emotionally manipulate Rosalie. "Lives she took because of you. Lives she won't ever have to take again." She steps closer, protective of Rosalie. "And she won't call someone like you her father, not when you've done so much bad to her and only did the good to assuage your own guilt."
Carlisle frowns at Bella, face going blank and ice cold. He doesn't say anything to her, doesn't even acknowledge her, just shuffles away with his arms and legs chained awkwardly. And that is the last time Bella ever talks to Carlisle ever again.
That day when they leave court, it is without a doubt that Carlisle will be sentenced to prison. And just like they suspected, a week later when the jurors reconvene, he is indeed sentenced to life in prison.
Bella and Rosalie embrace each other joyfully and Charlie smiles, at long last able to finally succeed over Carlisle and his scheming ways. Esme curses loudly, kicks and screams and is dragged out of the court by the guards as two police officers handcuff Carlisle and lead him away.
"I thought the worst was over when I left the ring. But only now can I say the nightmare is finally over," Rosalie said, eyes watching as Carlisle is taken away in chains to the police car. He's going to prison for a very, very, long time. And while there is sadness on her face, it is largely hidden by joy and relief.
Bella slides her hand into Rosalie's palm, squeezes tight and it drags Rosalie's conflicted eyes to Bella's shining face. "Now you can finally have the life you deserve."
And Rosalie smiles in answer. "Yes. I can. With you."
And amid the flash of photographers and the reporters milling around on the stairs as they follow the once esteemed doctor's trip to the car, the two girls walk away, eager to leave all this behind and start their future together.
A/N: This ending might seem a little out of right field but to me this series was always going to end this way, with such a trusted figure as Carlisle actually turning out to be just as bad as Aro. His involvement in the ring is partially due to him once being on the Volturi coven in Twilight canon and partially because I wanted to end this story with one last twist.
With Carlisle now locked up, Bella and Rosalie can now finally start their future together without the weight of their past on them.
A thank you to all of you who followed and reviewed this story. I will be writing more Rosella in the future, naturally. I'm so excited to be moving onto a new story, albeit a much happier one.