A/N: Another chapter here at last! There's been a bit of a time jump between this chapter and the last one. I'm really sorry about that. It's been a busy summer.

BPOV

Emmett and I have been dating a couple of weeks now and we've talked about everything under the sun, but we haven't talked about my past relationship. I'm not even sure I want to tell him about Jason and the year I spent under his thumb. He would think I was weak for tolerating it. Renee is the only one who knows—not even Charlie does—and I'm not sure I want anyone else to know. Emmett deserves to know why taking our relationship any further than the making out we do now is going to be so hard for me. I love Emmett, so maybe it will be different…but for the longest time, I thought I loved Jason too. I realize now that he had warped my mind and never cared for me at all. I hate him, but part of me still wonders what would have happened if his parents hadn't come home hours early from their banquet. Would Jason have raped me? Would I have continued to tolerate it like I did everything else he did to me? He always apologized later, saying he loved me and regretted having to hurt me—if only I would be a better person, he wouldn't have to hurt me. Now I'm with Emmett, and it's so different that I wonder if it's too good to be true. I know I need to talk to him about this or it's just going to eat away inside of me. I just don't know if I can bear for him to know that another man has treated me like trash. I'm not good enough for Emmett, and I really don't want him to realize it too.

"Bells!" Charlie broke me out of my reverie, "Emmett and Alice are here!"

"I'll be down in a minute," I called back. I opened my closet to look for jeans and a t-shirt to wear—I was still in my towel from my shower—and pulled on the first set I could find before going downstairs to greet my guests. They were picking me up to go to their house to hang out for a couple of hours. I have no idea what we'll do, but as long as I'm spending time with Emmett, it doesn't matter what we do.

"Hey!" I greeted them, wrapping my arms around Emmett's waist. He grinned down at me and kissed me on top of the head. "You two are early."

"Emmett was impatient," Alice smirked. He stuck his tongue out at her and she just shook her head—it was useless to retaliate.

"Are you ready to go, Bella?" Emmett asked.

"Yeah. Dad, I'll be back later on tonight!" I called to Charlie.

"What time?" he called back.

"Eleven-thirty?"

"All right. Have fun." Emmett wrapped an arm around my waist and we followed Alice out to her car. I scooted in the back since Emmett is mostly too large to fit in the tiny backseat.

"So what are we going to do today?" I asked.

"Mom and Dad are at a medical convention until Saturday, so they won't be home," Emmett said.

"Jasper and I are going to Port Angeles tonight—we're going to do some shopping and catch a movie. I think Edward and Rose are going to study at Rose's for a couple of hours. You two will have the entire house to yourself for several hours tonight," Alice chimed in.

"I see," was all I could say. I was excited at some alone time with Emmett, but our relationship was progressing really quickly. It was making me a little nervous. When he finally got bold enough to ask for what I knew he wanted, it would come down to whether he would push or back off. Logically, I know he would never push me, but there is always that fear deep down inside of me. I don't want to be wrong about him. I can't go through another Jason. I won't do that to myself again.

The ride was over quickly—Alice drives like a maniac—and Emmett and I went up to his room. Edward had already gone to Rose's and Alice would pick Jasper up before they left for their date. Finally, Emmett and I were alone together. I stretched out on his bed and he laid down behind me, cuddling close. We hadn't gotten past kissing yet, but I could tell he was restraining himself from going further. There was soft music playing in the background, but I wasn't paying enough attention to it to recognize it. Emmett's right arm was cushioning my head like a pillow, and his left hand was resting on my waist where the hem of my t-shirt met the top of my jeans. His fingers were lightly caressing the small amount of exposed skin.

"You're so beautiful and so soft," he murmured to me, kissing the top of my head. In response, I cuddled a little closer to him. The hand that had been lightly stroking my skin came up to cradle my face and he eased his head down to kiss me on the lips. After a moment, the kiss got more heated and Emmett ended up mostly on top of me. I had forgotten all about Jason and was wrapped up in the moment until he wrapped his hands around my wrists and pinned them to the bed, kissing my neck. Logically, I knew that he wasn't trying to restrain me, but just doing it on impulse. Physically, however, my body seized up and I cried out, arching up and trying to throw him off. He let go of me immediately, looking confused and a little frightened.

"Bella, sweetheart, did I hurt you?" he panicked. I curled into a ball and shook, adrenaline coursing through my veins. He was going to demand answers after this little episode. "Bella!" he said again when I didn't answer him.

"No, you didn't hurt me," I said quickly. "You just…startled me." He wasn't falling for it.

"Bella, I know you've been hiding something from me. You really need to tell me what's going on. I can't fix anything I'm doing wrong if I don't know what it is." He looked and sounded frustrated and upset.

"It's not you, Emmett. I promise you that. It just feels like our relationship is moving so fast. I'm not ready for it to go any further than it has. I just panicked earlier, that's all." I had chickened out. This would have been the right time to tell him about Jason, but I couldn't do it. I just couldn't tell him.

"Bells, I don't blame you for that. I'm not sure I'm ready either, and I would never pressure you into doing something that you weren't 100 percent ready to do. I'm sorry I upset you."

"You didn't upset me. Like I said, I just overreacted. I love you."

"I love you too," he said, pulling me into his arms again.

EPOV

She is still hiding something from me. She was trying pretty desperately to get me off of her before…more than just wanting to wait before we had sex. She seemed terrified. I never wanted to hurt her and I didn't know exactly what it was that I did. If I don't know what I'm doing wrong, how can I make sure never to do it again? I really wish she would talk to me about this. Our relationship hadn't gone very far physically and that was largely due to the fact that whenever things got a little heated, Bella pushed me away—not always physically, but emotionally.

"Bella?" I said hesitantly.

"Yes?" she replied after a moment.

"Will you please tell me what has you so upset? I know it's more than you're saying. I can feel that much." She was quiet for a long minute.

"It's not you, Emmett."

"Okay…so what is it? Why are you so frightened when we get too close?"

"…I don't want to tell you."

"Why not?" I was hurt by her statement, but tried to keep it out of my voice.

She pushed her way out of my arms. "Emmett, could you leave it alone? It's really none of your business!" She sounded angry and defensive.

"Bella, please don't shut me out. If you don't want to talk about it, we won't talk about it. I'm sorry. Baby, please." I held my arms out to her and after a moment, she climbed back into them.

"I'm sorry I snapped, Emmy. I just don't feel like talking about it right now. Maybe some other time."

"All right." It wasn't all right, but she didn't have to know that. I figured from her demeanor that someone had broken her heart in the past. She has low self-esteem, so maybe she thinks she isn't good enough. I wish she would listen to me when I tell her she is perfect in every way.

BPOV

The rest of the night passed uneventfully. I felt bad for yelling at Emmett, but I just couldn't tell him. He is the good part of my life, and I don't want to fuck that up.

Alice returned from Port Angeles several hours after the argument and took me home. The whole way there, Emmett was holding my hand and just letting me know he wasn't angry with me and still loved me.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I murmured to him and kissed him lightly. Charlie's cruiser was gone, so I assumed he had run to the station for a bit, or was out at Billy Black's.

"I love you, Bells," he said.

"I love you too, Emmy." I turned and walked into the house, noticing and dismissing that the door was unlocked. Charlie must have left it open. There was a note on the kitchen table saying he'd run to Billy's and would be back soon. I went upstairs and opened the door to my room.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, and my world went black.

When I woke, my head was throbbing and I couldn't move my arms or legs. I groggily opened my eyes and noticed I was on my bed in my room. I turned my head to look around me, and screamed when I saw who sat at my bedside.

"Jason!" I yelled. I jerked on my arms, only to find them tied to the bed.

"Hello, Bella, my dear. Long time no see. How have you been?" he asked conversationally.

"Let me go, you son of a bitch."

"Tut-tut, Bella. Watch your mouth. It's so un-lady-like."

"Go to hell." I screamed again and he slapped me hard across the face.

"You little slut. You've been running around on me behind my back."

"We're not together, you freak. My father's the police chief!"

"So what? He won't be back for hours."

"You won't get away with this!"

"Of course I will. We're going to run away together, Bella. They'll never find you where I'm going to take you. We'll be together for eternity."

"You're insane," I whispered.

"Only marginally. The rest of me is just pissed off." He leaned over me and grabbed my breasts in his hands, squeezing them so hard it hurt. He slammed his lips against mine brutally, burrowing his tongue into my mouth. I bit down on it and he screamed. He balled up a fist and slammed it into my stomach, making me retch, but I didn't empty the contents of my stomach.

"You little whore. How dare you?" he hissed, grabbing my face with his hand. "Never mind. We need to get going before Daddy comes back." He raised his fist again and punched me on the side of the head, knocking me out once more.

The next time I woke, I didn't know where I was at first. I could tell we were moving, and I was inside of some sort of van. Jason was driving and there was no one else with us. I was bound and gagged, so I didn't bother crying or screaming. I needed to figure out how to escape before we got where we were going.

The ropes were too tight to loosen and I could barely move. We drove for hours before we finally stopped. A few minutes after the van stopped, Jason came to the rear door of the vehicle and opened it, pulling me out. I cried out in pain from the movement of stiff muscles. He carried me inside a small house in the middle of nowhere from the looks of it, but it was dark, so I couldn't tell.

I started to cry silently, tears sliding down my face. Jason put me in a bedroom and tied me to the bed, then left. Sobbing now, I could only hope and pray that my father would find me, and that Emmett would look for me.

EPOV

I could feel something wasn't right after we dropped Bella off, so I convinced Alice to take me back out to her house. When we pulled up and she gasped, I knew my hunch was right.

"Tell me," I ordered her.

"The door is hanging open. I saw Bella close it when she went inside."

"Call Charlie," I said. I heard her flip her phone open and dial the police chief's cell phone number. She put it on speakerphone.

"Alice?" Charlie answered on the second ring. "Is everything all right?"

"Charlie, you need to get home right away. I think your house has been broken into. Emmett and I dropped Bella off about twenty minutes ago and Emmett felt something was wrong, so we came back. The door is open and I watched her shut it. We haven't gone inside," Alice said.

"I'll be right there. Do NOT go in that house. If someone has been there, they could still be there. Do you know if Bella's okay?"

"I don't know if she is." Alice started to cry.

"Stay calm, Alice. Don't go in there. I'll be there in two minutes." True to his word, Charlie showed up in under two minutes. He rushed into the house.

"He has his gun drawn," Alice told me. After a couple of minutes, he came back out. Alice cried out and got out of the car.

"Charlie?"

"She's not in the house," he answered. It sounded like he was crying. There was a struggle in her room, but both she and her attacker are gone. I've called for backup, but you need to call your parents to come get you two. I don't want you out on the roads by yourself."

"I'm not going anywhere until we find Bella," I argued.

"Emmett, I know you mean well, but this is now a police investigation. I need you to go home and keep your phone by you in case she tries to contact you."

"Don't patronize me now, Charlie. I love her and I'm going to do whatever is necessary to find her." Charlie sighed, knowing it was useless to argue with me over this.

"All right, but stay out of the way. Don't touch anything."

"Okay."

"I'm staying too," Alice said. "She's my best friend."

"Fine," Charlie said, resigned.

"You should call Renee. Maybe she knows someone that could want to hurt Bella," Alice said.

Charlie made the phone call. "Renee, it's Charlie. Bella's been kidnapped. Twenty minutes ago approximately. Renee, calm down, I promise we'll find her. Do you know of anyone who could have done this? Who? Jason Stropes? All right, Renee. I promise we'll find her. You can fly up if you want to. Okay. Bye."

"Do either of you remember Bella mentioning a Jason?"

"No, she never mentioned him," I said, and Alice agreed. "Who is he?"

"He is apparently someone Bella used to date. Renee is flying up in a couple of hours into Port Angeles. She's going to give me all of the information on him then. We'll find her."

Alice wrapped her arms around my waist for comfort. I hugged her and waited for the next development from the police detectives.