Your prayers and cries have been answered, I got up extra early this morning to start writing to not leave you waiting too long…that, and I had an idea that I had to write down, and it just went from there. And for clarification, I was watching Batman Begins, and then The Dark Knight, and decided that I wanted the Cullen family to be kind of like the Wayne family, with Wayne Corporation controlling everything, and whatnot. So if you see similarities, I somewhat borrowed the idea, and tweaked it. But don't worry, Edward Cullen will not turn into the caped crusader, I just borrowed the idea about the powerful family.

Note: This chapter is shorter than the rest, but necessary. I happen to like this chapter very much, so forgive its length.

Standard Disclaimer applies

Ch. 25: Wreck of the Day

Getting the mail to the apartment, I stumbled upon something on Edward's desk, when I put his mail there for him to see later.

An invoice to Cullen Enterprises, stock information, debts…it was all there. Edward had scribbled notes in the margins in his beautiful handwriting, everything added up.

Cullen Enterprises was going bankrupt.

Bankrupt…

Bankrupt.

Bank…rupt.

The world kept echoing in my head. Bankrupt. Bankruptcy. From what my mother told me, I knew it had to be getting bad…but this? This was a whole new level of "we're screwed".

What on earth had happened? How did it even happen? I didn't understand…I couldn't. The Cullens owned half the city. They headed a bank, a construction company, a hospital, a law firm…

Cullen Enterprises manufactured new technology that was sold to hospitals and firms and companies all around the world, a breakthrough that had been saving lives, making things easier for so many people. It was a huge commodity.

They built all the major structures in the city.

Many, many people used their bank.

And with the law firm…with a law firm, how could this even happen? Weren't the lawyers supposed to negotiate out of this?

I knew I shouldn't do it. It was wrong, I was already intruding on his personal business…but I couldn't help it. With something this big…I had to know.

I kept looking. I rifled through his papers, the gravity of the situation setting in. I saw the names of some of the companies the Cullens owned, and it hit me.

I never owed money to these companies. Edward didn't just pay them off.

I owed money to the Cullens. It was never Alice who told them about me. They knew how bad I was in debt, from the start. They had my bills in their records. And because they owned all of the companies, they told them to forget about it.

Then I saw something on the letterhead of the top of one of the invoices from four years ago. Edward Cullen, CEO.

"Bella? Esme said you didn't head out with them…" Edward's voice said as he entered the room, he seeing my coat and shoes by the door. Startled, I dropped the papers, as he stopped dead in his tracks. We both sported the ever-so-fashionable deer in the headlights look.

Who would yield to the silence first? Should I? I'd just been caught rifling through his personal business…

Four years ago, Edward was CEO of Cullen Enterprises. Four years ago, Edward would have been graduating college and applying to medical school. He said he was becoming a doctor.

You can't be a CEO and go to med school at the same time.

Oh…you asshole.

"Why did you lie to me?" I asked, as he still didn't move. "You never went to med school. You weren't supposed to be a doctor. You've been heading Cullen Enterprises for a couple years now. You…you started before you even got your business degree."

Bankrupt.

There that word was again, in my brain.

"And now your family is going…going…" I didn't want to say the word. I didn't want to do it. I wanted to forget that I'd seen it. Couldn't I just go back in time, and decide to sit there, and cater to Edward? Help him relax, let him and his family handle this?

Bankrupt.

No. I couldn't forget about it. Not this.

I opened my mouth to continue, as Edward still stood there, not saying a word. The word didn't want to come out. I was trembling a little. This scared me.

Bankrupt. Say it, Bella. Eight letters. B—

"Going bankrupt, and…and…what is going on, Edward?" my voice cracked on his name, and I couldn't stop the tears from coming. I hated crying. It was stupid, and weak. But I couldn't help it.

I felt betrayed.

He lied to me, about almost every facet of his life. How had this happened? Why?

We'd moved in together. Someday, I thought he would want to marry me. I know we've been together for a very short amount of time, but if we lived together…and he was still lying to me on a day to day basis, keeping things from me…how could this work?

He still hadn't spoken. I wish he would. Say something, Edward…anything…

"I have to go." He murmured, turning and walking swiftly from the room, toward the door. I sprinted after him, stopping him by taking his coat. It was March, but a cold front had moved in.

"No." I pleaded, backing up to the door, leaning on it to stop him from opening it. "Edward…please…"

Wow, Bella. Way to reach a new low, begging. I don't think I'd ever pleaded for anything in my life. And now…

"This is why I didn't want you involved." Edward said coldly, grabbing his coat from me and opening the door against my struggles, effortlessly. It slammed hard behind him, and I was left standing there, stunned.

No.

This wasn't happening. It couldn't be.

I slid down the door, and couldn't keep the hysterics in any longer. I didn't know the full reason why I was crying, but I just had to. I dug the phone out of my jeans pocket, and speed-dialed Angela. I'd already bothered my mother once today…

"Hey Bells, what's up?" she answered, seeing my number on the caller ID.

"Can…can you come over?" I sniffled, defeated. She heard that I was upset. I didn't try and hide it.

"Oh…oh honey…sure. I'll be right over. Sit tight, okay? I'll be right there." She paused, giving directions to the cab driver. I heard Ben talking in the background.

"What? Why aren't we going to my sister's?" he asked, confused.

"I promise we will, next time, honey. My friend…Ben, I have to go…"

"I…Ang, I'm sorry for interrupting. Um…I'll just go to my mother's. Have fun." I said quickly, and hung up, not wanting to disturb her. I didn't want her to change her plans, for me. I was only the upset friend…

I stood, still trembling, to get my coat, and left.

I didn't want things to be like this. Edward…

I felt fresh tears welling up in my eyes as I thought of him, of everything, of how he sounded. He was so…cold. And distant. That wasn't my Edward.

I pulled my coat tighter around me as I walked swiftly down the sidewalk. I couldn't handle talking to anyone long enough to give directions to my mother's place. So I walked. It was a long way, but I needed the time to calm down.

Walking, I let the cool air wash over me, the cold breeze tug at my hair. I studied the people I passed as I walked, thinking of people.

A woman passed me, talking on her cell phone, apologizing to probably her boyfriend for something.

A man walking with his lawyer was discussing the details of a divorce.

A middle-aged woman with two kids in tow, trying to ignore a man who walked next to her, he trying to apologize for late child-support.

All these people shared something.

They were all human.

Even the great have to fall, sometime. The woman talking to her boyfriend was beautiful. Looking at her, you'd stereotype that she had the perfect life.

The man discussing his divorce wore expensive clothing. He was successful, in business.

The woman and the man with the children…they'd been in love, once. From the pained and annoyed look on her face, I knew that she probably, to some extent, still was.

But look at them now. Their lives were unraveling.

Like the Cullens.

The Cullens weren't superhuman. They weren't gods. They were human. They made mistakes.

The sounds of the city swirled around me, people's conversations mixing together, showing me one thing. That we were all human. To err is human. To lie is human.

I couldn't blame Edward. He thought what he was doing was right. He thought, probably, that it was protecting me. He wasn't trying to push me away. He wasn't trying to fight with me. He was trying to make sure I didn't have to have stress. He didn't want things to be like they used to be.

I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, watching everything go by, for a moment. Life goes on. Bad things happen to good people, but life goes on…

You just have to know how to pick yourself back up.

"Thank you." I forced a smile for my mother, as she served me my second cup of tea, today, this time with a grilled cheese sandwich and her homemade tomato soup, the only thing she made better than me.

She knew I'd be back. She knows everything.

I smiled genuinely as I saw she'd cut off the crusts, like she did when I was a little girl. My heart swelled a little. My mother knew me so well, and knew when I needed the slightest gesture of kindness or comfort. She would do what she could, always, to make me happy. To her, I was still her little girl, and I always would be.

"I just…" I started, but she held up her hand to stop me.

"You can tell me after you've eaten. Drink your tea." She said, in accommodation mode.

My mother was crazy.

She had several "modes". Sometimes, she'd be ridiculously accommodating and understanding, and other times she'd be borderline mental institution crazy. She was a lot like that eccentric high-school art teacher. There was always one in every school. The crazy one, that names her paint brushes?

Yeah.

That's her.

And then sometimes she'd be overly realistic, and put a damper on everything in life. I could tell her I was getting married, and she'd go right to wedding costs, without a congratulations or anything, if she was in one of those moods.

But I liked this one. Madam Understanding. It's what I needed.

"Will you be staying for dinner, dear?" she asked, as she began washing dishes and taking stock of what was in her refrigerator. "Neil is coming over. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you came…"

"I'm not sure." I answered truthfully, after a delicious mouthful of bread, cheese, and tomato.

"Well, you're welcome to if you want." She said, rinsing a large pan. We heard the bell to the shop tinkle downstairs. "Do you mind getting that, dear?"

I obliged, down in a flash.

"How can I help—" I started, before I got out to the front, and trailed off upon seeing who it was.

"Do you have a minute?" Edward asked, producing a single white rose, not from our shop, from behind his back. I accepted it, sighing, not quite able to look up into his apologetic green eyes. His voice was timid. He brought me a flower. He didn't mean to be cross, earlier…

"Come on in…my mother just made tea."

Wordlessly, he followed me upstairs to my mother's kitchen, and upon seeing us she sported a surprised look, before taking the telephone and leaving the room, dialing a number so she would be out of our hair.

I poured him tea, and set it in front of him, before turning back to the sink with my used dishes.

"God…I had so much I wanted to say, but I can't think of any of it." He brooded quietly, as I sat across from him and refilled my own tea.

"Take your time. I don't have anywhere to be." I said, still unable to look at him. Instead, I looked into my cup, my eyes following the rising steam swirling up from the surface.

"Well…I should apologize, firstly."

"You're right. You should." I snapped a little more than I intended.

"Bella…" he sighed, reaching for my hand. I moved it away.

"Don't 'Bella' me, Edward. I'm very upset with you." I said coldly and efficiently, almost businesslike in my tone. I had wanted to not be angry with him. I thought my walk earlier had accomplished that. But then, seeing him, being reminded of it…

I was very angry.

"Will you let me explain? Please?" he asked, exasperated.

"Oh, so now you want to explain. When two hours ago you were shutting me out of your life and leaving me in the dark."

"I'm sorry, Bella. I really am. I hated doing it. But…I had to." He paused, then burst out, "For God's sake, will you at least look at me when I'm speaking? That's so…so…"

"Appropriate?"

"Irritating." He corrected, then sighed, taking a calming breath. I remained silent, and raised my eyes to his face. I immediately felt remorse. I was acting like a child, and he was trying to apologize, to explain.

He looked awful. Obviously, he was still attractive, but for him, it was awful. He was tired, and drawn, and pale, and before he had been able to disguise it, because at least I was with him, and he had something going right. And now…he was just broken. He didn't know how to handle the stress. And above all of what was going on, now that I was upset with him, he made me his first priority.

God, Bella! Stop being so stupid! Look at the man! Hear him out! You love him, remember?

That was it. That was what held me here. I did love him, and he was just going through a rough time. Why would he want to worry me?

"It's okay. I understand." I sighed, lightly placing my hand on his, where it was balled up in a fist. "Just…don't do it again. I want to know what's going on."

"I had to. Nobody outside of the family knew. Rosalie's father is one of the higher ups…Esme's family is involved…" he blurted out, seemingly not hearing what I'd just said. He wanted to tell me the truth. He wanted to let things out. "The public would have freaked if they knew that an undergrad had taken over the company, so it was kept secret from the start…and then afterwards…well it just never came out, and I wanted to tell you, but I'd been so caught up in it, and it's still wasn't public, and Alice doesn't really even know what's going on, and she's been with Jasper for years, and…"

"Edward, it's okay." I said softly, catching his gaze with mine. He seemed…tormented. I realized how huge a secret this was. If the public knew how long Edward had been heading the company, things would be worse than they already were. Unless… "That's what happened, isn't it? Someone found out, and leaked it to the stockholders."

"It was very hard keeping it from you. I had help. Angela collaborated with Mackenzie so you wouldn't get any stories dealing with that. I've been intercepting the newspaper you get delivered…remember when our cable mysteriously didn't work?" he confessed, and cracked a crooked smile. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep news from reaching a journalist?"

My eyes were wide. People had been helping him keep me in the dark? Some of my friends? My boss, even?

"Why didn't you just tell me?" I asked, confused still. "The news…you kept this from me. You've been damn near killing yourself trying to do all of this, and I had no idea…"

"I didn't want to worry you." He looked down at his tea. "And I had already directly lied to you, if you found out…"

"Right, right." I sighed, waving it off. "How about this. How about, we go back home, I teach you a new dish, and we start over. Tell me everything."

"Everything?"

"Everything."

Once more, sorry for the deplorable shortness in length, but some chapters need to be shorter. I had half a notion to leave it before the second part, but that would have been a ridiculously short chapter, and I rather like how the rest of the chapter played out. Anything else though, I believe, would have ruined this chapter. Hope you liked!