AN: You guys never cease to amaze me! Whether it´s raking my a$$ over the coals, or just giving me love...you guys RAWK!
And some of you have been spot on with your guesses; it´s almost as if you´ve been lurking around inside my head. I even considered changing things up just for fun, but nah...I´m gonna stick to the plan.
DreamTeam approved! Thanks ladies for whipping this puppy into shape!
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NUTHIN!
*WARNING...TISSUE ALERT*
That's What Little Girls Are Made Of...
Chapter Eighty-One
EPOV
Four hours...
Four hours and ten minutes to be exact...
That's how long I'd been sitting here stewing.
Contemplating.
Plotting.
Planning.
Calculating my next move.
Like a master chess player, I had to find a way for my knight to take down Eleazar's king.
King.
Hah, I mentally scoffed
How fucking appropriate.
Soon, I would see to it that the old man was dethroned.
As much as I hated to admit it, my mind had already accepted what my heart never would; Esme and Carlisle were gone. And, for that reason alone, I'd contacted my family's attorney Jason Jenks two days ago to make sure my parents' wills were iron-clad and that no one, not even the great and powerful Eleazar Cullen, would be able to contest them.
Financially, Bella would be okay, even if I ended up in prison after today.
~TWLGAMO~
No sooner had the cabin doors opened I was snatching my duffle bag from the overhead bin, and stalking off the plane.
I was on a mission.
After a not-so-quick trip to the Enterprise rental counter, I was on my way with Emmett and Jasper at my flanks. Dressed in a crisp gray, tailor-made Armani suit, with two hulking men in black on either side of me, I resembled one of those badass crime bosses on TV.
If the situation hadn't been so fucked up, I might have even gotten a good laugh out of this shit.
The air, in the car, was stagnating as Emmett punched Eleazar´s address into the car´s navigational system and pulled out into traffic. Words weren´t necessary right now, they knew.
My brothers knew exactly what I needed, and they were behind me one hundred percent.
Emmett and Peter Whitlock, Jasper's dad, had given me everything I needed to know about Eleazar Cullen and his entire family. On the surface, they were perfect pillars of the community, but at a closer look, things weren´t quite what they seemed.
Eleazar bankrolled several small businesses in Sitka, but he also had his hand in quite a few larger corporations in Anchorage and Seattle.
Recently, he'd relinquished his seat on the board of directors at Cullen Corporation, but, still remained the majority vote stockholder. His father was a self-made man. Coming from nothing, he made a name for himself in the seafood industry. Eleazar, being the only boy, inherited the company when his father passed away. A genius in his own right, Eleazar took the family business and made it an even bigger success.
Like I said, on the outside, Eleazar looked like the all-American business man.
What most people didn't know was that Eleazar had been investigated several times for insider trading, tax fraud, and embezzlement. And that was only scratching the surface.
Eleazar had a number of skeletons in his proverbial closet, but had yet to pay for any of them.
Somehow, the fucker always seemed to find away to make the charges disappear. You know money talks and all that bullshit.
The most shocking thing that I discovered was that Eleazar was questioned as a suspect in his wife's death.
After an autopsy, the coroner ruled Annabelle Cullen's death a murder.
The rumor was that Annabelle found out that Eleazar's mistress of fifteen years, Irina Charles was pregnant with his love child, and threatened to leave and take half of his fortune and their children with her.
The night she confronted him, Eleazar was furious, and pushed her down a flight of stairs, breaking her neck in the process. Eleazar's swears that he found her that way, and that she fell on her own.
The coroner at the time was a man named Michael Shaw, and he would not back down from his findings. He continued to press the detectives to file formal charges, and even threatened to go over their heads. Sadly though, Michael was the victim of a fatal hit-and-run, and the case was ruled an accident and closed.
Eleazar was a ruthless fucking bastard.
No wonder Carlisle wanted out.
"E, man, you know we´ve got your back, right?" Emmett said, bringing me back to the present and breaking the tense silence that screamed louder than words at the moment. "Just let me know how you want to proceed."
"Em´s right, Bro," Jasper added. "We don´t want to go in all guns-a-blazing, and not have our shit together."
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I turned my head and just watched the scenery for a minute. "What I want to do," I said in a cold, detached, and condescending tone, "is walk in and blow that motherfucker´s brains out; no questions asked. But, realistically, I can´t do that, not to Bella." That beautiful girl, waiting for me at home was the most important person in my world right now.
Unbeknownst to Bella, I was going to unwillingly bring her world crashing down around her.
I was going to be the one to break that beautiful girl´s heart.
Isabella was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and my words were going to cause her so much pain.
How could I live with myself knowing that?
The very thought made me want to hit something.
Right now, Isabella was the only reason I was keeping a level head.
Once again, silence fell thick like a blanket over the car. There was nothing more that needed to be said. So, I sat there stoically, gazing out of the window. Thoughts of my beautiful, sweet, and innocent angel were flooding my mind.
~TWLGAMO~
There was a war raging inside me.
My blood boiled over with contempt and hatred for a man I didn't even know, but, despised all the same.
It wasn't until the car began to slow that I noticed we were turning off the main highway and onto private road. As the house came into view, I could see why Eleazar thought he was untouchable.
The place resembled a fucking fortress!
When the car pulled to a stop at the gate, some douche bag in a black suit, wearing dark shades, stepped out of the security booth and up to the car, "May I help you?" the douche said in a bored tone.
"You sure the fu..." I started; only to be cut off by Emmett's raised hand, and Jazz's firm squeeze to my shoulder.
"Yes, sir, my name is Emmett McCarty, and I´m from McCarty and Associates, I have an appointment to see Mr. Eleazar Cullen," Emmett said in a calm, business-like tone. "These here are my associates, Ed and Jasper," Emmett volunteered, waving a hand in the direction of Jasper and me, after dickwad gave us both a questioning look.
Stepping into the small security booth, Mr. Dick made a phone call. "Yeah, boss," he said gruffly into the receiver. "I've got a Mr. Emmett McCarty here, and he says he´s got a meeting with the old man?" Unsure if we were on the up and up, he sounded like he was asking a question. "Uh huh...yeah," bending at the knee peering into the car, "yes, Sir, just three. Okay."
Suddenly, the scenery became very interesting, and I casually turned my head to look out the window, feigning interest in the sprawling mansion. I didn´t know what angle Em was playing, and feared I may be recognized before we even got a chance to confront the bastard that had ruined mine and Bella´s lives.
"Go ahead to the main house, and pull around the side. Alec will meet you there and show you where you need to go."
With a flick of a button, Em´s window raised and he began to speak. "Not a lot of time, but I managed to get us a meeting with the old fucker under the guise of a new security software I´m working on." Seeing another hulking figure waiting somewhat impatiently near a small covered parking area, made Emmett´s jaw clenched. "Give me a minute or two to butter him up, Ed, then, it´s no holds barred. Es and Carlisle were like second parents to us, Jazz and I will be with you every fucking step of the way."
After a few questions, and few dos and don´ts, we were escorted in, and left to our own devices.
Big fucking mistake!
By this time, I was wound so tight, my skin felt like at any minute it would tear away from bone and muscle. Vaguely, I could hear Emmett talking, but the words were lost on me. Blood pumped loudly in my ears, and each word sounded like it was spoken under water.
My eyes stared, not wanting to believe what they were seeing.
There he was, the great and powerful Eleazar Cullen, sitting before me in a wingback chair like it was his throne. He looked a bit worse for the wear, but otherwise, in fairly decent health.
For a minute, I was transfixed; unable to take my eyes off of the man that had a part in giving my father life. Had my father lived, had he gotten the chance to grow old, he would have been an exact replica of the cold-hearted bastard in front of me.
Blond hair, fair skin, Carlisle was Eleazar´s clone, with the exception of one thing.
His eyes.
Where Carlisle blue eyes shone with kindness and compassion, Eleazar´s were dark, cold, and calculating.
The man didn`t have a fucking soul!
It was the eyes that caused me to lose it.
I shifted, causing Eleazar to shift his gaze in my direction. For what felt like hours, but was no more than a few brief seconds we just stared at one another, we were locked in a stand-off.
I could tell the moment recognition hit.
That´s right motherfucker, game on!
Lucky for me, his goons had left us alone with him.
I guess we appeared to be harmless.
Big fucking mistake!
Swallowing back the bile in my throat, I spoke aloud the words that nearly fucking gutted me. "Why the fuck didn´t you tell me they were dead? All this time...all this time, we´ve been going out of our goddamn minds, and you knew! You fucking knew! They. Were. Our. Parents! You son-of-a-bitch!" I spat just before lunging across the room and ripping him from the chair.
Slamming him against the nearest wall, I continued to scream. "You don´t get to play with our lives! Who the fuck died and made you God? Where the fuck do you get off, doing such a sick and twisted thing?" Each word was punctuated by Eleazar´s body being slammed against the wall.
I had to do this.
For me...
For her...
For them…
"Do you have any fucking idea what this is going to do to her? Answer me, goddamn it! Do you?" I shouted in a rhetorical fashion. "No, well let me tell you, she´s going to be fucking devastated! Crushed, you bastard!"
Thinking of Bella´s pain brought a giant lump to my throat. Swallowing back the urge to cry, I continued to physically and verbally assault the old man. "We fucking loved them! Carlisle and Esme were all we had! Esme was the only mother Bella´s ever known! And your bullshit took that away from her! How could you do that to her? Why didn´t you call? Why did you ruin our lives? Why did they have to fucking care about your worthless ass so much? I´m going to fucking end you!" I growled with pure hatred lacing my tone.
My fingers of their own accord wrapped around Eleazar´s neck, and I began to squeeze. His eyes bulged, and he began to gasp for breath. The sickly, sputtering sounds that were pouring from his lips felt like a soothing balm to my soul.
Finally, vindication!
I would see to that my parents and Bella got justice!
"E, man, no!" Emmett´s voice broke through my fury.
In a flash, I was across the room with Emmett´s body pressed up against mine.
Thrashing wild, I hissed, "Let me go! I´m going to fucking kill that bastard!" I was shocked to see Jasper helping Eleazar up off the floor.
How could he betray me that way?
They were supposed to be on my side!
"Bella." Em said, snapping out of the rage-induced haze I was in.
Her name was all it took to tame the beast that had reared his ugly head.
Isabella...
I have to go home to Isabella...
Be there for Isabella...
Having a purpose, having her, my sole reason for existing, made it easy for me not to kill him.
Eleazar glared daggers at me as he wheezed and coughed on the other side of the room. "You...you ingrate!" he shouted. "You and that whore of a sister of yours are the reason my boy never came back to me! He was my son! I groomed Carlisle to be the perfect predecessor. The perfect husband, the perfect father, the perfect doctor, and had he never encountered you and that temptress, he would have come back to me!" I growled, snarled, and fought to get away for Emmett.
Each derogatory word he spoke against Esme cut me like a knife, leaving behind gaping, bleeding holes in their wake.
How could anyone speak so ill of the dead?
My sister was a fucking saint!
Esme had a heart of gold, and Carlisle loved her, he loved us, more than anything in the world.
"Look-a-here, old man," Em said menacingly. "I suggest you can it with the fucking insults, before I let this here pitbull off his chain."
I growled for good measure.
With a shaky hand, Eleazar pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket and began wiping his brow. "Why are you here, Masen?" He spat my given name with such disdain. "My son is gone, let me grieve in peace. You´ve got my money, what more do you want from me?"
"Money?" I hissed indignantly. "Is that what you think this is about?" In control of my emotions now, I stepped out from behind Emmett´s towering frame. "Bella and I don´t need your fucking money! And for the record, neither did Esme. You clueless fuck; my father was a person, not some fucking pawn in your little sick and twisted game." Hearing a commotion outside the door, I knew my time was up. But I couldn´t help but leave behind a few parting words. "FYI...Grandfather, Carlisle started a new and improved breed of Cullen men, and I intend to see that it continues to grow. My name is Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, and I hope to God you rot in hell, you cruel and heartless bastard." With that, I turned on my heel, and stormed out of the house.
I could feel my defenses crumbling, and was on the verge of breaking down. By the time I reached the car, I could feel the makings of a major panic attack coming on. Curling my hands in to fists at my side, I struggled to breathe.
This was a colossal waste of my time.
I felt no closure.
No peace.
No comfort in my parents´ death.
Pulling back, I punched the passenger´s side window sending shards of glass flying in every direction. "Arggghhhh..." I let out a guttural cry that shook the trees in the nearby forest.
My knees buckled, but I never hit the ground. Strong arms held me up, and ushered me toward the backseat. The ride back to the airport was solemn.
I was in a daze, barely functioning.
Vaguely, I recall Emmett arguing with the rental car attendant about the glass and the broken window, but I couldn´t begin to tell you if it was resolved or not. Unable to get a flight out so last minute, we changed our tickets for first thing in the morning, then checked into an overpriced motel that was damn near located on the tarmac.
My body felt heavy and lethargic, my movements were robotic and forced. Once in the room, I reached in my pocket, bringing out my phone. Pulling up Isabella´s number, I just sat there staring at it. I couldn't bring myself to call.
"Mr. Cullen," an unknown voice called out to me. "Mr. Cullen, My name is Dr. Coleman, I´m here to take a look at your hand."
Looking down, I was shocked to see my hand wrapped in a towel that was soaked with my blood.
Humph…when did that happen?
I was pretty much catatonic as the man who looked like he was fresh out of med school put an undetermined amount of stitches in the gash in my hand. When he was done words were exchanged between him, Jasper, and Emmett while I crawled into the nearest bed.
All night, I lay awake replaying my encounter with Eleazar over and over in my head, none of it made sense.
Why would he lie about being sick?
What did he have to gain by luring my parents to Alaska?
Did he have something to do with my parents´ death?
And last but not least, who was the woman I saw staring at me from the upstairs bedroom window?
All that weighed heavy on my mind as I boarded the plane back to Chicago the next day.
Unfortunately, I couldn't dwell on any of that right now.
I had to get back to Bella.
I had to be strong for her.
Pulling out my phone, I checked the time.
I had exactly ten minutes before takeoff, so I pulled up Bella´s number and hit call.
"Hi, this is Bella, sorry I can´t get to the phone right now, but leave me a message after the beep and I´ll get back to you when I can. Bye!" Bella´s melodic voice sang in my ear.
The sound of her voice, brought everything to the forefront of my mind, and a lump the size of a golf ball lodged itself in my throat, making the words get stuck.
Nothing.
Nada.
Not one single word left my mouth.
No matter how hard I tried to force them, the words just wouldn´t come.
Isabella knew me better than I knew myself, and if I spoke, she would know. Unable to hold anything back from her, she´d know something was wrong as soon as she heard my voice. My girl was nothing if not observant.
Jasper and Emmett had been in touch with the girls and they assured me that Bella was okay.
Switching to text, I punched out a message just as the stewardess announced out departure.
B – Hey little girl, just want to say, "I love you!" See you soon. – Edward
Shutting my phone, I leaned back in my seat and prayed that somehow these four hours and ten minutes would magically fly by.
Well, how´d I do? I hope that I did the chapter justice. Of course, I have no doubt that you all will tell me how you feel! Lol! Leave me some love!
Krazi
xoxo