A/N: The chapter you've all been waiting for has arrived! I feel actually bad for giving into you so early in the story. I wasn't planning on doing this chapter for a good while.

I've split this into two shorter chapters because one long one would be too much to do at the moment.

Now because I am going to spend a ridiculous amount of time writing and rewriting and editing this chapter tonight to make it as perfect as I can, I want you all to at least review it, please? I want to hit at least 45 before I post the second part, and yes that is possible considering there are over 30 of you receiving an email for this update.

A couple of things that I want to point out before I start:

No, I do not have a problem

Yes there is still more to come

No Edward and Bella will not get together straight away. Sorry but she has to gain his trust and return to a relatively normal life.

Sept 3rd

Bella Swan

Edward stared at me before sitting down beside me. He took my hand and waited for me to begin. Taking deep breaths, I finally calmed down enough to start.

'You remember that after Charlie and Renée got the divorce, I was forced to leave Forks with her?' He nodded without emotion and I continued.

'Well everything seemed to be alright for about a year, I missed Forks and all of you but we slowly settled in. Renée got a job teaching at a Kindergarten school and soon after that she met,' I choked before saying the name, '…she met Phil.'

Edward tensed when he observed my fear.

'He was nice enough for a few months while they dated. I had never really known other men apart from Charlie and your dad, so I had very little to base him on. After six months she decided to marry him.'

I sat quietly in my room waiting for Mom to come back so the babysitter could leave. I was eight, I didn't need a babysitter any more. The front door opened and the sounds of Rachel leaving drafted up the stairs.

I ran down and jumped into Mom's arms. She hugged me and pulled back, a large grin on her face.

'Bella, sweetie, you know Phil?'

The man I preferred to call 'him' walked in from behind Mom. He waved at me but it was more of a gesture to clear the air of a bad smell. Mom took his hand.

'Well how would you like him to become your new Daddy?'

I made a face. I already had a dad, why would I need him?

'But my dad lives in Forks, he can't be my dad if I already have one,' I muttered. Unfortunately 'he' caught it.

His face turned to anger and he dropped down to my height.

'Listen here, darling,' he hissed, 'I love your mom, your dad didn't and that's why he's not with her.'

My eyes welled up.

'And if you do anything to mess this up for me- I mean us, then you will have to be punished for being bold.'

I briefly described the time that Renée announced her engagement to 'him'.

'For a few months after the wedding, it was like that a lot, then, before my ninth birthday, things took a turn for the worst.'

I swallowed and glanced at Edward. He was having a hard time controlling his frustration. Figuring it was now or never, I stood up and pulled my t-shirt up slightly, exposing the side of my stomach, and the four inch white scar. Edward's sharp intake of breath was the only sound for a few moments. I sat down quickly and became worried when he started shaking. He shook his head and motioned for me to continue.

'The week before my birthday, Renée was organising a party. I never got on with any of the people at school so there was no-one to invite. Ph-P… 'he' seemed to be aggravated by how much time Renée spent on me, when I didn't deserve it.'

… 'It always has to be about you doesn't it?'

He continued to approach me in the small sitting room and once I backed into the wall, he smiled.

'Maybe for once in your pathetic life you will finally understand that nobody cares.'

'The day before my birthday, 'he' was called to a meeting. He had been accepted into a minor league baseball team. Renée was delighted and proposed that we had a party the next day in celebration of my birthday and his promotion. That night, a huge fight broke out between the two of them.'

I sat on the stairs, listening to them shouting.

'But it's her birthday, she deserves at least some form of a party!'

'She can have the party another day, she gets enough attention as it is. I'm getting sick of having to deal with your baggage. She's just a burden in this house!'

The smashing that came after that made me jump and shriek. 'He' ripped open the door and pulled me down into the hall.

'What do you think you're doing? Eavesdropping? I'll teach you to eavesdrop in my house.'

'He pulled me down from the stairs and punched me on my left side, sending me flying into the fireplace. My right side caught on the table and the corner created a huge gash near my stomach,' I smiled bitterly, 'I can still remember Renée trying to call an ambulance but 'he' just told her to pick me up and drive me to the hospital herself.'

I recalled seeing the state of the room after the fight, blood stained the curtain where Renée had sat after 'he' punched her, the table was smashed from where I fell.

'The violence stopped and started every now and then. Sometimes he would come home and give her a kiss before watching the television, other times he would come in and just slap her before going straight back out again. As his work progressed, his team were offered the chance to tour for a year. Renée couldn't go with him because of her steady job here and me. He then realised that I was the one causing all of the problems.'

… 'If it wasn't for you then your mom could come with me, you're just a useless piece of baggage.'

… 'Well maybe if you finally admitted your incompetence then everything would be ok.'

… 'You're extremely lucky that I have put up with you for so long. I could easily just stick you in Social Services.'

'Every so often he would occasionally hit me for doing something wrong. One time he gave out to me for cooking something wrong and I ended up knocking over a pot of sauce, giving myself this,' I pulled down my sleeve and showed him the pinkish-white mark on my shoulder from where the sauce scalded me.

'From then on he claimed that if I went to the police or told anyone he would claim I was harming myself.'

I didn't include all of the other threats given to me over the years by him, Edward didn't need to know them.

'When I turned eleven, he started coming home later, always acting strange. I asked Renée once why he was being odd and she just started sobbing.'

'But Mom, what's going on with him?'

Her shoulders heaved as she smiled weakly.

'It's ok honey. He's just not being himself. His not in control of his life anymore. He's acting strangely because he has a problem with alcohol.'

I smirked, as if alcohol had anything to do with his 'problem', if anything it just increased the intensity of it.

'She told me he was an alcoholic and that the alcohol was making him act weird, I never believed her.'

I paused to compose myself and delved into some of the more harder parts.

'Whenever Renée was changing, I noticed more and more marks on her skin from where he had hit her. I was afraid of him already but seeing the damage on another person made me terrified. We were always cautious when we were in the house. No-one could make any noise, no-one could do anything that he didn't allow.'

'When I was twelve, he moved into the spare room, saying that no-one could go in there. One day I decided that I had to see what was behind the door.'

I shuffled in my seat and focused my gaze on the floor.

'There was nothing in the room except for the bed and dresser. I opened the dresser's drawers only to find a small plastic bag. Back then I had no idea what it was, but after a few years I finally figured it out. He also took drugs,' I laughed at myself, 'Imagine it, him leaving a bag of cocaine in a house where a twelve year old could have taken it, thinking it was candy'

Edward gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. 'Was that all that was in the room?'

I shook my head, keeping hysterical laughter at bay.

'Another day, I went in again. This time a chair had been added to the furniture. I checked the dresser and it was empty. I lifted up the mattress and…there was a shotgun.'

Edward froze, accidentally squeezing my hand tightly before dropping it and standing up. He paced the room a few times, his hands balled into fists. Seeing him this way brought back memories of 'him' doing exactly the same thing before exploding with anger.

Edward stopped walking when he noticed the tears streaking my face. He dropped down before me and wrapped his arms around my shaking form. I sobbed for a few minutes before he broke the silence.

'Is… that why you freaked out yesterday, because Mike's touch reminded you of…,' he trailed off, too angry to mention the name, 'and then today, they said something to bring back a memory?'

I nodded, pulling back. I wiped my face and calmed my breathing, waiting for my throat to open up again.

Edward sat on the floor, his own breathing becoming shallow.

'But then… what happened to Renée?'

I dropped my head, a new wave of tears washing over me. Knowing I couldn't admit out loud what had happened, I motioned for him to come upstairs. He half-carried me, half-helped me up the stairs and into my room. I switched on my computer and opened the search engine. Typing with shaky fingers, I searched the one thing I had hoped to never learn about again.

Renée Dwyer Phoenix

The results loaded and I avoided looking at them for a few seconds.

'Bella…,' Edward's voice was low as he grasped the back of my chair tightly. I looked up and was faced with the dreaded results.

Mother of one shot dead in own home

Renée Dwyer, much loved teacher, mother and wife, was…

Husband visibly upset by the shooting at the funeral…

I opened my mouth and tried to spit out what was bitterly held in since the incident but was interrupted by the door opening below.

'Bella? You in here?'

I looked at the clock and noticed three o'clock had been and gone, it was closer to four. Charlie had come home early again.

Edward went to go downstairs but I stopped him. Clearing my throat I called down to Charlie.

'I'm up here. We'll be down in a moment.'

Charlie stopped moving about downstairs and appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

'Good to hear you again, kid.'

He waved at Edward as we walked down to him.

'Thanks again Edward for getting her home safe again.'

'It's no problem at all, sir,' Edward smiled.

I had a feeling that Charlie wanted to know why I was speaking again and I made up an excuse to get a drink so as he and Edward had a chance to talk. I didn't feel like repeated anything to anyone.

As I filled the glass up with water, I felt as if a large burden had been lifted by telling Edward but, another burden took it's place. Now there was a strong chance I had to face the police again to make a statement. Making a statement would lead to a court appearance, and that would mean going up against 'him'. If I lost then he would know I told someone, he would be angry and then he would come to get me. I couldn't put anyone here in danger.

'Bella?'

Edward walked slowly up to me and stood beside me in the kitchen, the light of the setting sun filtered through the window and hit his face, making his features more exaggerated. His eyes had an enormous amount of anger and frustration but his face was masked in a calm state. When he met my gaze, he expression looked pained.

'Charlie wants to know. Do you want to tell him?'

I bit my lip and shook my head.

'Could you tell him?' I asked feebly.

He squeezed my hand and gave me a small smile, nodding.

'Do you want to go upstairs or sit with us?'

I shook my head. 'I'll go upstairs, his reaction won't be as silent as yours.'

Edward smiled and led me up to my room, making sure I was ok before going back down.

I fell back on my bed and let my emotions take over. My eyes welled up again and angry sobs shook my entire body. Waiting for the shaking to die down, I listened intently for any noise downstairs. I knew Edward had closed both my door and the sitting room door in an attempt to not let me hear anything.

The door was pulled open downstairs and it hit the wall with a bang. I sat up and wiped my eyes. Charlie was shouting.

'That… I'm going down to the station, stay here with her, I don't want her left alone for one second.'

I heard him pull his jacket off the wall and run to the front door. He slammed it shut and the sound of the cruiser screaming out of the driveway was muffled by my closed window. I walked out of my room and spotted Edward standing at the bottom of the stairs running his hands through his hair.

He smiled when he heard me come to the top of he stairs and jogged up them. I let the sobs control me once more as he pulled me towards him and picked me up. Soon I was lying on my bed, I clung to his arm when he went to stand up and he sat down on my bed with me.

He tried to soothe me but nothing made an effect. I finally spat out what had been kept in earlier and for seven weeks.

'The worst part is he was never caught.'

Edward's face hardened again, thinking of the prospect of 'him' running free.

Exhausted, I desperately tried to stay awake, knowing that after having such vivid memories today my nightmares would be twice as bad. A melodic humming noise lulled me to near unconsciousness. Before I slipped under I realised it was Edward.

A/N: I know it's short but this means I can write the next one and have it up soon. Also having about 5 pages would be too much because of what I put into this one.

Review!! And thanks to all of you who reviewed in the last chapter. In my haste to get this up soon, I forgot to mention all of you at the beginning, I'll make sure to mention all of you in the next chapter.