The story deals with adult subject matter and occasional description of explicit sexual abuse. Not meant for underage readers. Read at your own peril. And oh, Twilight belongs to SM. This is just a fanfiction.

*******Read ONLY if you are having trouble following the timeline*******

I have been made aware that following the time leap is proving to be confusing for some. So, to clarify, I am summarizing the timeline here:

- The story opened in September 2009. It was mentioned in ch 2 that it was Bella's birthday (13 September, 2009). The story is moving forward from that point on, unless it's a flashback chapter. However, this progression may not parallel perfectly between Bella and Carlisle. Check the time prompt in the beginning on each chapter.

- Between ch 1 and 12, few weeks have passed by. So, it's sometime in October 2009 in ch 12.

- Ch 8 first showed Carlisle in the morning of the same day as ch 12. He was reminiscing about the past through ch 9, 10, and 11.

- Ch 13 is partly a flashback chapter that starts in 2009 then goes back to 2004 and back again.

- I tried to add year/age prompt to the beginning of each chapter but FF only let me go back as far as ch 4. So ch 1-3 are still a little confusing. I am so sorry!

- I am separating flashback from the regular text with italics if within the same chapter. From now on, I will use symbols (~CBE~) to separate them too.

Beautiful Sorrow

End of Chapter 12:

He didn't know it at the time but with that decision, he had effectively triggered the destruction sequence of his life. He had no reason to suspect that inadvertently, he had just opened the door through which Isabella would walk in, and in the end, she would destroy him so completely that his remains would be unrecognizable even to himself.

Chapter 13

Carlisle, October 2009

The buzzing sound of the intercom pulled him back to reality. Shaking his head to clear his mind of all thoughts, he picked up the phone.

"Yes?"

"Sir, Mr. Mckenzie from the airport called. Your flight has been cleared and the jet is ready. Your first meeting is scheduled for 10:00am tomorrow morning local time in Berlin. If you leave by five, you ought to be able to make it in with good time," Amanda prattled on rapidly.

Carlisle frowned in displeasure. Amanda was a relatively new recruit to his personal rank of staff. She had the credentials, no doubt, but her overly enthusiastic nature was not a welcome distraction today. "Amanda, if I need reminders on things I will ask you to make a note of it. Thank you for your proactive initiative, but I'd advise you to be more discerning about matters you feel are worthy of disturbing me with."

He hung up without giving the woman a chance to apologize. There really was no winning with him today.

Amanda had been transferred from the HR to fill in the coveted position of his Executive Assistant. She had some big shoes to fill. Her predecessor, Carmen Lake, was a formidable force to recon with. Her place in the office was cemented as solidly as that of Eleazar's. Eleazar looked out for the Cullen interests, protecting it against market shifts and economic downturns, where as Carmen vigilantly shielded her employer from all kinds of in-house dissension.

Despite the difference in hierarchy, Carmen was just as respected and feared as Eleazar among the employees. If he was the impenetrable, titanium armor that guarded the Cullen empire from the cut-throat, corporate world, then she was the immune system that fought off all unwanted infections from within.

Carmen Lake.

Yet another name on the very short list of people who'd cared for him beyond the call of duty; yet another person who was now gone forever. Someday, perhaps not too long from now, there would be no one left who cared for him one bit. In fact, apart from Eleazar, was there anyone who thought of him with anything other than fear and loathing? Probably not.

Carmen Lake cared for Carlisle. She'd worked for his father all of her life, and was there for him when he took up the helm of the business on his twenty-first birthday. He fondly remembered the matronly figure who used to let him play with colorful stationary every time he visited his dad in his office. She would ruffle his hair and keep him entertained when Kyle would be busy with meetings. She even extended her services to look after him on several occasions right after his mother's death, when Kyle was too distraught to even look at his son, and Eleazar was too busy grieving for his own loss and keeping the business afloat.

She refused to address him as 'Mr. Cullen' and never hesitated to call him out when she felt his head was getting too inflated for his own good. To Carmen he was always the shy, lonely boy playing with office supplies. She didn't think twice to admonish him for working too late at the office or for being too harsh on an employee. On the same note, she'd be the first to defend him, fiercely if necessary, if there was even a peep among the ranks about his style of leadership.

After nearly five decades of dedicated service, Carmen had reluctantly retired from her post a few months short of her seventieth birthday, way past the standard age of retirement. Kyle had made special provisions for her in his will, and Carlisle supplemented it even further by making sure she enjoyed her remaining golden years in utmost comfort and luxury. He had bought her an ocean-side house in California so she could be near her grandchildren with a generous pension to guarantee a carefree life. Sadly, she died in her sleep just two months after moving into her mansion by the Pacific. Carlisle mourned her loss and was present at her funeral.

She was the quintessential mother-hen whose loyalty he could always count on. She devoted nearly twenty years of her career to smooth the crinkles out of his life and to protect him to the best of her ability. Ironically, her very last act before stepping down was to orchestrate a fateful meeting that would lead to his downfall.

Carlisle made good use of the next few hours, efficiently going through the paperwork and tying up loose ends neatly before his impending trip. But his mind kept drifting back to Carmen and his last encounter with her.

~CBE~

Five years ago, Carlisle had rushed back from a trip to Japan because he wanted to say goodbye to Carmen personally on her last day at work. He flew out straight from his meeting in Tokyo and was dog tired when his car pulled in to the Cullen headquarters. It was already past five, but he knew Carmen would still be in, holding down the fortress.

As he stepped out of the elevator to head for his office, the evening receptionist informed him that he had a visitor waiting for him. He scrunched his brow. He was quite certain his calendar was clear for the evening and he wasn't expecting any callers.

"Who is it?" he asked with slight impatience. He was tired and didn't like the prospect of dealing with matters he wasn't prepared for.

"Isabella Swan, sir. She said it was extremely urgent that she spoke with you."

Swan. He recalled his meeting with David a week ago and calling Jenks to cut off all financial help to the offending family. Of course they would send the kid to plead their case.

Great!

He was decidedly irritated now.

"How the hell did she get past security?" he asked the receptionist with clear annoyance. If random people from the street could get inside his office without any invitation, appointment, or security clearance, then he definitely needed to go shopping for a better team.

"Uhh… they were about to, sir, but Miss Lake said it was ok; that you'd want to speak to her. She is in Miss Lake's office," the receptionist explained, hoping his employer wouldn't kill the messenger in his hasty anger.

In Carlisle's absence, Carmen ruled the roost. The security wouldn't dare to disobey her. Carlisle groaned in frustration. What was she up to now?

Almost as if she could hear her name being mentioned, Carmen came out of her office and waved at Carlisle to follow her. Taking in a resigned breath, he trailed her to the deserted conference room, hoping she'd enlighten him as to why she was ruining her last day at work by adding an unnecessary plight to his plate.

"Look at you; you look dehydrated. Did you have a proper meal on your flight?" She fussed over his appearance, brushing her old, gnarled fingers affectionately through his slightly out of place hair – a feat no one in his employ would dare to attempt. Carlisle was the embodiment of cold and distant to his employees; physically invading his personal space was utterly unthinkable.

"I'm fine, Carmen. I thought I'd take you out to dinner and celebrate your last day at work, but what do I now hear about you stowing away this girl? Why didn't you let security toss her?" he whined.

"Because I read the piece she wrote and I think she deserves a chance to have you hear her out," she stated sagely. "Carlisle, the child thinks you are a hero. And she is far too young to find out what a Scrooge you really are. So, just give her a chance and hear what she has to say. If she wants to apologize, let her."

He groaned audibly.

"That's what this is all about? You want me to keep helping the Swans? Why didn't you just tell me? If it means so much to you, I'll call Jenks and set it up again. I don't want to listen to any sob story now. Would you please just get rid of her?" he tried to reason with her.

"Aw, come on, kiddo. It won't kill you to give her five minutes of your time. The poor thing's been waiting since two. Be nice for a change, ok? I know that you have a decent heart in there; take it out for a breather every once in a while, eh?" She spoke with the tone that she used when he was a small boy. She was the only one in the world who'd still call him a 'kiddo', and could make him feel like one too.

"But, Carm, what about dinner? It's your last day here! I skipped the banquette in Tokyo to see you off," he complained but knew his protests were all for naught.

"Sorry, boss man. You gotta take a rain check for that; I already have a date with my grandson. I am only here still 'cause I know, deep down, what a sentimental fool you are, and to make sure you don't toss the girl out the moment you walked it. Now get your hiney in gear and get this over with."

She stood up and led him to her office which was adjacent to his own.

"You are such a softy, Carm." He shook his head affectionately as they came to stand outside her door.

"Yah well, I didn't want to mark the end of my career with the sound of a kid's heart breaking cause Santa Clause doesn't exist, ok? So, sue me. Or better yet, fire me, why don't you?" She smiled back with just as much warmth and reached up to brush away some imagined speck of dust off of his shoulder. "I'll miss you, kiddo." Her voice chocked slightly. "Take care of yourself, ok?"

He nodded and pulled her into a hug, not caring that someone might catch him being sappy.

"Call me before you leave town? Dinner's on me," he whispered to her before pulling away.

She opened her door to reveal a small form curled up and sleeping on the couch.

"She's been here all day; so I let her have my couch," Carmen explained. "Go to your office, I will send her in."

Shaking his head at the elderly lady, and muttering under his breath about how she had gone soft in her old age, Carlisle went to his office to wait for the Swan girl. That was the last time he would ever see Carmen alive. And the first time he'd truly see Isabella – not as the awkward, gangly child he'd once met fleetingly, but as a young woman of bewildering beauty, completely unaware of her strengths, which perhaps made her all the more alluring.

~CBE~

If he knew then what he knew now, he would have fortified himself against that allure and send her on her way after the five minutes that Carmen had asked of him. But he didn't know any better, and he allowed his tired, jetlagged mind to follow the beckon of the siren's call. And as fate would have it, the carefully constructed ship of his life would crash and sink against the deadly rocks of her shore.

AN1: I need to thank everyone who voted for me at the Shimmers. I won the Underdog category; it was an amazing thing to wake up to this Sunday. I am tremendously grateful! Come find me on twitter: ToTheDreaming.

AN2: Story rec-In the Shallows by Porcia
Summary: Everywhere I look, something reminds me of him. Smells, words, colours, songs. For two years I've cried over him. The best thing that's ever happened to me. The love of my life. He left because we were hurting. Because I was in the shallows.

This little known gem just completed in 12 chapters. If you only have time to review one story today, please pick In the Shallows. The author and the story deserve your love.

AN3: Thank you lulabelle98, for making all this readable. I couldn't do it without her. Please read her story The Long Walk Home.

Thank you Detochkina for pre-reading and pointing out holes the size of Chicago! She is awesome. Don't miss out on her story Sinnerman. It's amazingly unique.

Thank you WutheringBites for validating my story at Twilighted. I am most grateful.

Thanks to Dooba, Shattered1025, KrazyK85_, Twinerdforlife, jneag2071, LauraHilary, I2want2knowu, bmango77, musicflare87, jneag2071, anhanninen, opheliasmuse, and lulabelle98 for WCs. You ladies rock! They are all esteemed authors. Please check out their stories.

I am thankful to all those who've read, reviewed, alerted and fav-d my story. Kindly review and let me know what you think. It kinda helps... Ok, no shit, it REALLY helps!