Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight. If I did, I wouldn't be having an existential crisis about what I'm doing with my life…..sadness.
A/N: So how much do I love all of you? VERY FREAKIN MUCH!! So I know some of you were less than happy with how the last chapter ended with a cliffie. One of my favorite comments was from Sadie1787. She told me that the ending couldn't even be considered a cliffie, it was more like a canyon. LOL! I loved it. And all of your reviews made me smile. EVERY SINGLE ONE!!! You are all my inspiration to keep going on this story. And my other inspiration, my super amazing beta, oceanwaters2006. Sorry I haven't been getting back to your emails. Just know I love ya and I don't know where I would be without you. And I can't wait to work on my next story with you ! ^_^
Chapter 21-
Walking a fine line between wrong and right
And I know...
There is a part of me that I try to hide
But I can't win
And I can't fight
I keep holding on too tight
Running away from the world outside
Now I am calling
Hoping you'll hear me
We all need somebody
To believe in something
And I won't fear this
When I am falling
We all need somebody
That can mend... These broken bones
Caught in the confines of the simple life
And I am...
Holding my head high in the rising tide
And I can't win
And I can't fight
I keep holding on too tight
Running away from the world outside
Now I am calling
Hoping you'll hear me
We all need somebody
To believe in something
And I won't fear this
When I am falling
We all need somebody
That can mend... These broken bones
But Oh
Yeah
I'm not coming home now
I know...
I'm so far away
So far from home
I'm not coming home now
I know...
I'm so far away
I'm so far away
And I can't win
And I can't fight
I keep holding on too tight
Now I am calling
Hoping you'll hear me
We all need somebody
To believe in something
And I won't fear this
When I am falling
We all need somebody
That can mend... These broken bones
And I can't win
And I can't fight
I keep holding on too tight
Running away from the world outside
And I can't win
And I can't fight
I keep holding on too tight
Running away from the world outside
Broken Bones by Rev Theory
My head bounced off of the concrete as the blast from the gun reverberated through out the room. Phil's weight pushed me into the floor and put a painful amount of pressure on my injured and damaged body. I felt the knife imbedded in my side. I lifted my head and looked down at Phil. The bullet had hit him in the chest and he was bleeding profusely. Charlie walked over to me and pulled the straps from my arms and picked me up off of the floor. I tried to favor my injured ankle as I focused on holding the knife in so I wouldn't bleed out.. I looked up into his chocolate brown eyes, my eyes. It was suddenly so clear to me. I was about to say something to Charlie when I felt Phil's hand grab my ankle. I looked down at him and couldn't help the pain building inside of me. I crouched down beside him and looked him in the eyes.
"Why did you do this?"
"Why anyone does anything, for the money and power."
"But why did you go after Alice? And Edward?"
"Because I wanted to get revenge on Renee. Everything I did was to pull you in more. I know how you function, Bella. Always eye for an eye. I knew that if I went after your loved ones, you would come in with guns blazing. And when you did, I was going to torture you and kill you. Renee needed to pay for how she betrayed me, Charlie too. What better way to get revenge than to go after their only child?"
"But you were supposed to be my dad. How could you do all of this to me? Did you ever give a shit about me?"
"When you were younger, but then you turned out just like your real father. That's when I realized that everything that should have been mine would never truly be mine."
"So you were going to kill thousands of people because my mother cheated on you?"
"If you want to make an omelet, you need to break a few eggs."
"You're sick. I hope you rot in hell."
"Go fuck yourself, Princess."
I felt Charlie's hand clamp on my uninjured arm and pull me away from Phil.
"Phil, if I didn't need to get Bella to a hospital, I would take my dear sweet time torturing you. But since I'm pressed for time, I'll have to improvise."
I watched as Charlie stood and pointed his gun at Phil's throat. I jumped when I heard the gun go off. Blood began to spurt out of Phil's throat. His gasping was the only sound in the room. Charlie turned to me and picked me up and began to carry me out of the room, stopping only to turn back and glare at Phil.
"You're going to be in a lot of pain for the next ten minutes. Your lungs will start to collapse and you will eventually drown in your own blood. You fucked with the wrong man."
Charlie turned back to the hallway and carried me away from my personal hell. I looked down at my abdomen and fought to stay conscious.
"You're going to be just fine, kiddo."
"If I don't make it, tell Edward that I love him. And tell Renee that I'm sorry."
"Don't talk like that, Bella. You're going to be fine. We're almost to the car."
The metal door flew open as Charlie carried me down the alley. The rising sun painted the sky a pale pink and blue. A ray of light hit my face. I smiled up at Charlie and then I felt nothing.
~*~
EPOV
I was pacing in my room, ignoring the pain in my abdomen. My concern for Bella outweighed the pain. I looked up at the clock and cringed. It had been hours since I told Charlie where Bella was going and that she was planning on getting revenge for what happened to Alice and I. The nurse wouldn't allow me to have my phone so I couldn't call him right after she left. After threatening the nurse with obstructing justice, she finally called Charlie to come in. When I told him what was going on, he was out of my hospital room before I could blink. Now I was left to wait and worry that Bella was already dead. My blood ran cold when I thought of it. I hated myself for saying what I did to Bella. She left me, thinking I hated her. The thought of Bella thinking that killed me. And if she didn't make it out of that warehouse, I would never be able to beg for her forgiveness.
How am I going to live with myself?
I was pulled from my thoughts when I heard a voice coming from down the hall, accompanied by quick footsteps.
"Edward! Edward!"
I went to my door and saw Rosalie running down the hallway. A disgruntled nurse stood up from her station.
"Ma'am, keep your voice down! People are trying to sleep. And visiting hours are over."
"Go fuck yourself! This is more important than some fucking rules!"
Rosalie ran into my room and closed the door behind her. She looked up at me and tried to catch her breath.
"Edward…it's Bella. They just brought her in."
"Oh my God. Is she alive? How is she? What happened?"
The door flew open and Emmett came barreling into my room.
"Come on! Rosalie and I will fill you in on the way down. But you might want to grab a robe first."
I looked at the back of my hospital gown and saw that my ass was totally exposed. I pulled the thin robe from the hook on the wall and followed Emmett and Rosalie towards the elevator. The nurse stood up from her station again.
"Mr. Cullen, you need to get back to your room!"
"Later, I have more important shit to deal with right now."
The three of us quickly piled into the elevator. I turned to Rosalie and Emmett and waited for one of them to tell me what was going on.
"Will one of you tell me what the hell is going on?"
Rosalie and looked up at Emmett and then back to me.
"She's in really bad shape, Edward."
I felt my heart drop.
"How bad is it?"
Emmett grabbed Rosalie's before he took his turn to speak.
"She was literally beaten to shit. She has multiple stab wounds, a broken nose, broken ankle, and some sick fucker carved into her arm. And that's not even all of it. If it weren't for Charlie, I wouldn't have even known that was her. She looks really bad."
"But is she going to make it?"
Rosalie had tears in her eyes when she looked at me.
"They don't know, Edward. She lost a lot of blood. It's a miracle she was still alive when they brought her in."
The elevator doors opened and I saw Charlie sitting in one of the waiting room chairs. His face looked weathered and distraught. He looked up at me and stood from the chair. I made my way over to him and inwardly grimaced when I saw the tears in his eyes. This couldn't be good.
"How is she?"
"We don't know yet. She's in surgery. If I hadn't gotten to her when I did…I can't even think about it. My little girl might not make it."
"Wait. Your little girl? What are you talking about?"
"I'm Bella's father."
"But I thought she said you were her uncle."
"Because that's what she thought. Her mother and I had a brief fling when she and Phil were taking a break. Renee got pregnant and she wasn't sure who the father was. When we found out I was her father, I had already taken the job with the FBI. Renee wanted Bella to have a normal stable life. Not always worried that her father wasn't going to come home from work. We all thought it would be best if Phil posed as her father and I would be uncle Charlie. I spent all of these years watching someone else raise my daughter, but I thought it would be for the best. I didn't think that Phil would use her for revenge."
"Revenge?"
I looked back at Rosalie and Emmett, who both looked as confused as I felt.
"Phil was the one behind the Ghede virus. He did all of it to draw Bella in so he could kill her and get revenge on Renee and I. And then he was going to use the money and power from selling the virus to live a life of luxury. He almost killed my little girl. And nothing I can do now will make it better. I can't protect her right now."
I put my hand on Charlie's shoulder to try and comfort him. He was right, there was nothing any of us could do now. All we could do, was wait.
~*~
It had been five excruciating hours. I sat in my hospital bed and flipped through the channels on the television. After the third time watching an infomercial for the magic bullet, I threw the remote down on the bed. My head fell back on the pillow and I let out an exasperated sigh. This was pure hell. My last words to Bella kept echoing through my head.
If you don't come back, I'll never forgive you.
I was starting to hate myself. I had waited my whole life to find a woman like Bella, and I was going to let my last words to her be shitty. I wish I would have told her how much I love her. Or how her smile made my heart skip a beat and I wanted to spend the rest of my life making her happy. There were so many things that I should have said, but it didn't matter now. I couldn't take it back.
I looked up and saw my door begin to crack open. I lifted my head from the pillow and smiled when I saw Alice walking into my room.
"Hey, Alice. How are you?"
"Hi, Edward. I'm fine. How are you feeling?"
"I could be better. I keep thinking about Bella. I don't know what I'll do if she doesn't make it."
"That's actually why I came up here."
My heart stopped. I suddenly noticed how pale Alice looked.
"How is she?"
"She's out of surgery. Charlie just saw her."
"Is she okay?"
"Yes, she'll be fine. She looks like hell, but she'll recover."
I kicked my covers off and jumped out of bed. I was almost to the door when Alice put her hand on my chest to stop me.
"Edward, wait."
"What is it?"
"She doesn't want to see you."
A/N: And yet another cliffie, sorry. And I'm sorry that it's shorter than usual. RL is kind of being a bitch at the moment. But it gives me an excuse to have more chapters. I just like to milk it. I'm trying to squeeze as much out of this story that I can. So, you know how this goes, leave me some lovin'! I love all of ya!
Chapter Playlist: Slowburn by Revelation Theory, Through The Iris by 10 Years, This Life by Hourcast, Watch Over You by Alter Bridge, Zombie by Miser, Heartless by Hinder