Irish Note: this chapter contains references of sexual abuse, physical abuse and drug use. If this is a trigger for you, I'm warning you now, please don't read.

Chapter 30: Under the Microscope

Edward's POV:

Finally, I get the fucking car to stop blaring and flashing and Bella screams in laughter still holding the windshield wiper in her hand as she bends at the waist with gasping breaths. I look down at myself and then at her, both of us buck-ass naked and join in. It's so ridiculous even I can't make shit like that up.

The giggles and chuckles continue as we hand each other clothing strung out over the entire garage. The damn bursts open again as tears flow down Bella's face watching me climb up to reach her dress from the top of the SUV. One of my socks is MIA and I don't give a flying fuck. I'm enjoying the moment here. Busting a nut and laughter….doesn't get much better than that.

She's clinging to me trying to catch her breath as we stumble into the kitchen. To the unknowing observer, you'd swear we're drunk or high. Of course, we are attacked by the fur ball from Hell. I think Jake knows when we're fucking….it feeds his adrenaline or makes him miss his balls, I don't know but the pooch needs a Valium.

"Jesus, Jake…cool it!" I yell as Bella jumps into my arms to get away from the wicked tongue of death, which spurs the damn dog to jump up after her. I'm swinging her around like a rag doll and we're screaming with amused outrage…..until the front door slams shut.

The laughter dies in my throat as a very pissed off, and scary as fuck (if I'm being honest) Jasper stalking toward us down the hall. "Jas, man….what are you doing here? I told you no lessons toda—"

" . . ?" Jasper seethes as a distraught Alice runs behind him, her hands on his arm to try to slow him down or at least calm him the fuck down.

"What do you mean? We didn't do anything…well, Bella broke the car but a good orgasm will do that for ya." I chuckle, trying to lighten the mood. Jasper's face tells us he isn't amused…not by a long-shot.

"Well, I don't know Edward….you fucking tell me!" He says through gritted teeth as his jaw muscles flex in anger as he takes out his phone, presses a few buttons and turns it. On the screen, is a grainy photo of what I know is Bella and I in the stained glass exhibit. The lights showcasing the glass casting almost ethereal light on Bella's face back on my shoulder, her expression blissful and highlighting my arm and hand buried between her legs.

" .God." Bella gasps as a shaking hand covers her mouth. "How did you…did you follow us…why didn't you say-" Each phrase she utters rising in volume.

"I wish to God I had and that it was me who was there to witness your perpetual horniness in wide open fucking public! But, no….I assumed you both would be staying here and I don't know actually preparing for the fucking Armageddon we'll be facing on Friday. Well, my friends, today is your goddamn lucky day!" He's pacing now, well more like stalking around the kitchen in a circle. Alice sags against the counter and watches him with a delicate hand rubbing small circles into her temple.

"What are you talking about, Jasper?" I ask running a hand through my hair, dreading where our conversation is heading. The impending feeling of doom blossoms in my gut with each second he doesn't answer me.

"Jasper…." Bella asks her eyes wide and shining and I know it's not from the happy tears we just shared what seems like an eternity ago.

"I got this little gem from Aro. Seems he and Caius were viewing a friend's stained glass work and just happened upon a….and I quote 'exceptionally delicious scene'. So, he sent me the picture along with a text to have both of you at the club tonight to meet Caius and Marcus. You just landed yourselves in a big steaming pile of shit!" Jasper yells as he finds purchase on a glass vase on the island and flinging it against the wall shattering it into a million pieces startling Alice and Bella and even me.

"Jas….sweetheart." Alice turns heaving Jasper toward her, placing her small hands on his face and bringing her forehead against his whispering to him softly. I can't help but watch in awe as his face softens under her hands and he takes deep shuttering breaths until a smile breaks his face. I think all the parties present release a huff of relief.

I search Bella's face and see the despair and uneasiness radiating from her and unconsciously find myself drawing closer to her, placing my hands on her sagging shoulders and giving them what I hope is a comforting squeeze. I'm surprised to feel her body back into me and I slide my hands down her arms, feeling her small fingers gripping my own.

"We'll figure it out, sweetheart. I will protect you, no matter what." I whisper against her ear, softly but emphatically. I don't know how I'll accomplish it, but the words I'm whispering are true. In such a short time with Bella, given the irony of circumstances we were thrust into, I'll do everything in my power to protect her.

I don't know where this feeling of protective possessiveness is coming from. If we weren't facing down the Devil, truth is it would scare the mortal shit out of me, but I don't have the indulgence of time to dwell on it.

"What's the game plan, Jasper? What does this mean? What's expected?" I ask and Jasper and I share a look and without words have an entire conversation between us exchanging the grave nature of the situation we're in.

"I think it's time you learned mine and Alice's story….maybe then you'll understand." He mumbles as Alice strokes his face.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

A few minutes later finds us all in the living room, Jasper and Alice side by side on the couch, every line of their sides molded against each other. Her small fragile hand gripping his with white knuckled strength as her eyes light on anything around the room other than Bella and me.

I sit in the comfortable chair and without a second's hesitation, pull Bella down onto my lap. Something tells me the story we're about to hear is going to require comfort on both of our parts. Jasper's other hand traces the outline of the decorate centerpiece on the coffee table, tracing over the fluid lines of the sculpture readying himself for the tale he's about to tell.

Jasper's voice, quiet and calm, rings out through the silence of the room as he begins to talk. "When I first moved to Chicago, I was fresh out of college and just itching to escape my parent's hold in Texas. They weren't happy that I was going away from home, but I knew it was time. I knew my sexual appetite ran a bit toward the outer extreme, but when you're a frat boy in college, girls see you as the dangerous bad boy. It worked for a while. I got offered a job at an architectural firm here in Chicago, and leapt at the chance to leave the one-stoplight town life behind."

He huffs out a sigh and with Alice's hands combing through his hair he continues. "A friend of mine, who dabbled in S/M, told me of this club that catered to every perverse fantasy you could ever imagine. I have to admit, the idea thrilled me. God, I was so young and stupid."

I'm mesmerized by watching Bella's chest rise and descend as she breathes deeply. It's soothing, but at the back of my mind…I'm almost afraid to hear his words.

"After many weeks of scene parties and visiting other clubs and doing scenes with the available submissives, I garnered Aro's attention and was invited to attend one of their parties at Peccato. Thing is, I was so goddamn excited about it. I thought I was the shit and that a little hair-pulling and ass-smacking made me a God. Boy, was I a fool." Jasper chuckles darkly as he shakes his dirty blonde curls.

"I think they could've stamped my forehead as 'novice' as I went there that night. You can't even imagine the perversion they have there. Some of it was tame, in comparison, but other scenes were just abuse in the vilest form. Some of them literally turned my stomach, and I'm not the least bit faint at heart. But to see the way these women were being treated, beaten, bloodied….it's isn't BDSM. It's hell on earth." His voice lowers in anger and the darkness in his eyes changes his whole demeanor.

"As I stumbled through the wreckage, I came to a scene room that changed me forever." His small smile lighting the lines of his face as Alice returns it, pure adoration reflected in both. "I saw this little lady and my heart thundered in my chest, and then I realized what was being done to her." His voice gravels and his hands grip his knees as his jaw works reflexively.

"Shhhh….baby, it's okay. Tell them, they need to know what they are walking into." Alice says softly placing a soft kiss on his mouth. They share an intimate look and Jasper continues.

"Caius had her suspended in chains, spinning her around and around the tract work so everyone could see the drugged look on her face and the ribbons of bloody welts covering her from neck to ankle. It was obvious that she had no conscious thought as to what was happening to her. Her eyes were dilated and her head lolled. In a moment of fleeting lucidity, her eyes met mine and that's what changed me." Jasper runs a loving hand over her spiky black hair in reverence.

"I'm sorry, Jas….I can't….I'm….Jake, you need to go out?" Alice asks and as she utters the word 'out', Jake is a tail-wagging bundle of fur galloping through the house to the kitchen door. Jasper pauses until he hears the door click shut and the look of pain on his face is crippling.

"We've worked a long time through therapy, both solo and a couple, but it still is hard for her to recall it. I watched Caius wield everything from whips to knives to slice her; he got more and more thrilled with each moan of pain she gave. I thought I would be sick, but for her sake, I couldn't leave." Jasper stands, running his palms up and down the thighs of his jeans as he paces.

"Every moment I prayed that he'd finished with her, he brought on some new implement of torture. It had nothing to do with pleasure it was sadism in the most violent way. After she was bloody and nearly unconscious with pain, he took her for all of us to see…..anally, with no lube, no preparation whatsoever. She screamed out and God, I felt so helpless. When he was finished, he simply released her, letting her fall to the floor. No sympathy, no aftercare, no nothing!" Jasper's paces become quicker as his hands become alive, gesturing….gripping his hair, wiping his hands over his face.

Bella gasps in a breath of shock and I see the tears tumbling down her cheeks. "Oh, Jasper…no!" She whispers and leans into my embrace further. I run comforting hands down her arms, embracing her tightly.

"I found out afterward after asking around that Alice was 'bought', sold by her crackwhore mother for a couple grand. She was essentially an orphan sold to the highest bidder. I was determined to save her. I sold everything I had, cashed in my trust fund, liquidated everything and propositioned Aro for her freedom. Caius, being the cold hearted bastard he is, thrust her toward me sneering that he was 'tired of her' and she was a lousy submissive." Jasper flings himself back down onto the sofa, and a smile graces his face as he watches Alice through the ceiling to floor windows in the living room playfully rolling around with Jake.

"She's come so far from the shell she was. I, with help, nursed her back to health and got her psychological help to overcome what that bastard and his brothers had done to her. Little by little, she has blossomed into that." He points to the windows as Bella and I turn and watch her laugh loudly as Jake snaps at a butterfly. She looks so free and happy, you'd never look at her and know that she's been through hell and back many times.

"You two HAVE to stop them. Alice isn't the only one; these assholes have a virtual harem of women they use and abuse and thrust them off into the first sicko's hands that show interest. All their girls are there, doped out of their minds….they thankfully don't know half of what is done to them, but it isn't right goddamnit. It isn't what this lifestyle is about!" Jasper says vehemently.

"So, you've seen this human trafficking first-hand? And the drugs?" Bella asks, determined, and I see that agent look in her eye that I know so well.

"Yes, and I wish that was the extent of their reach, but I've heard rumors of gun deals also. You have to stop them. They can't continue to do this." Jasper says, and the helplessness in his eyes hits a strong nerve with me.

"Why do you stay here, Jasper, why subject Alice to seeing her tormentor at every turn?" I ask, vehemently.

"Because the last time we tried to leave Chicago, I found myself with a 9mm in my mouth and the promise that Alice's next scene with Caius, she wouldn't walk away." Jasper says sadly, watching the variant of emotions play on his face.

"Well, it seems we have an appearance to get ready for then. Are you ready for it, sweetheart?" I ask Bella and the sinister smirk on her face brings a smile to mine.

"Those motherfuckers are going down." She hisses, and damn it makes my dick twitch.