A/N: So, here it is kids...a little early never hurt anyone, right? I do have to work all weekend so this might be my last chance to post so I figured, what the hell. Your reviews are so fantastic. It's so freaking awesome to see how emotionally invested some of you are in these characters. Ya'll are freaking awesome. :)

**I forgot to put this on the last chapter but there will be a fair amount of violence in this chapter. You've been warned.**

Softragoo, I couldn't do this without your bubbles and support.

Song Rec: "The Great Escape" by Moby

Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all things Twilight.

Chapter Twenty

All I knew when I woke up was that my head was throbbing. My eyes were covered in some sort of sticky substance and I couldn't move my body. I groaned but the sound was muffled. There was something in my mouth and I tried to spit it out but it was lodged. Then I remembered what happened and in spite of the pain, my eyes flew open.

Darkness. Was I blind? Had the hit to my head somehow damaged my vision? Then I blinked and my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I wasn't blind but I was trapped somewhere. The hum and vibration below me answered the unspoken question of my location. I was in the trunk of a car; not just any car. I'd know the sound of that rumbling muffler anywhere: I was in Edward's car.

Oh God, Edward… What had he done to him? I sobbed around the object that had been stuffed in my mouth and tears burned in my eyes. My hands were tied behind my back but my legs were left loose. Then I heard voices. James was talking in a low, threatening tone that I'd heard hundreds of times before:

"Don't even think about leaving this house, Bella…"

"If you don't tell your dad that you're fine, I swear that I'll kill her, Bella…"

"Get on your hands and knees, Bella…"

I was done for. Good as dead. I curled my body into a tight ball and cried as the hope seeped out of me.

Then I heard a different voice. My eyes flew open. Edward. He was here, with me. My heart soared and broke simultaneously. Edward was in as much danger as me, if not more. James would want to keep me alive but Edward was expendable. He'd probably forced Edward to help him get me tied up and placed in his trunk by using harm to me as a threat. For the first time, I regretted my relationship with Edward. He'd promised me on several occasions that he'd never let James hurt me again and he kept his promises, even if it meant his own life in exchange. If I'd never gotten close to Edward or the McCarty family, they'd be safe at home and oblivious.

A new feeling swept through me: Protectiveness. Edward was mine and I was going to do everything in my power to keep him safe. This was my fault and I wouldn't go down without a fight. If he killed Edward, then I'd give him no choice but to kill me. I'd punch. I'd claw at his eyes. I'd throw things. I'd never follow his orders again even if that meant that I'd be tortured. For a moment, I felt powerful. The bindings on my wrists didn't matter. The gag in my mouth wasn't important. I was going to fight.

I wiggled my way around the trunk, searching with my hands for some sort of weapon. The car turned and I rolled to one side of the trunk, bumping my already injured head on the wheel base. I groaned and blinked away the dizziness and the fog that threatened to take me under again. My hands searched frantically until I finally found something: A jut of cold metal that had somehow been pried from its place along the inside of the trunk as if it had been snagged on something at one point. It was sharp but I wasn't sure if it was sharp enough. It would have to be. I started rubbing the rope—that had been twisted around my wrists over and over—against the metal. It caught my skin. I could feel the gash on my wrist and the wet blood that oozed from it but I kept going. If I did anything in my life that meant something, it would be this.

Every couple of minutes, I'd turn my fingers up and feel my progress. It was slow but the rope was becoming frayed. I rejoiced in my head and got my second wind; I grunted as I moved the rope hysterically over the sharp edge.

The car slowed. No, no just a few more minutes…

Then it took a sharp turn and I rolled away from the metal. I panicked, rolling and fumbling until I found the metal again but it was too late. The car came to a stop and the engine was cut off. I kept rubbing as both car doors opened and slammed shut. Just as the trunk popped open, the rope tore apart and I groaned at the joyful feeling that rushed through me. But I didn't pull my hands apart nor did I desperately grab at the gag in my mouth like I wanted to. I had to stay calm and gain surprise when it most benefitted me. Edward had taught me that.

Edward's face was the one that appeared when the trunk creaked open and if I thought I'd seen a fire in his eyes before, I hadn't. This was fire. This was rage. This was passion and madness. He was just as determined as me.

"Get her out," James commanded.

Edward wrapped his arms around me gently and guided me out of the trunk.

"I swear, I'm going to get you through this, Bella," he murmured to me. I hugged him the best I could by nuzzling my face into the crook of his neck.

James whacked Edward on the back of the head with the butt of a gun and he shuffled unsteadily on his feet but he kept his hold on me. We were out in the middle of nowhere but I could see the dark sky lit up by the city lights of Chicago on the horizon.

"Shut the fuck up, lover boy!" James grabbed my elbow and yanked me toward him with reluctance on Edward's part. "Take the gag out of her mouth. I like to hear my Bella beg."

Edward pulled the tie down from around my head and took a sock out of my mouth. He let his finger linger on my cheek before he dropped his hand. I coughed and sputtered and gasped for fresh air.

"Just let him go, James." My voice was hoarse. "I told you that I'd go with you if you left him alone. I promised that—"

I was cut off by a jerk of my hair and jab to my stomach with the gun. Edward flinched but kept his position. I struggled to keep my hands behind my back instead of clutching onto my aching stomach.

"Turns out, you're going to have to earn my trust," he spat.

What I did next was either incredibly brave or downright stupid. I spat in his face. My saliva was tinged with blood and the pink fluid landed right in his eyes. This was Edward's chance and he took it. He grabbed at the gun and twisted James' arm so that the gun was pointed toward the stars. It went off and I screeched.

"Bella, fucking run!" Edward yelled.

I did. But I wasn't going far. I ran in search of something, anything to help take James down. I found a good size rock that would be meeting his skull soon if I had anything to say about it—hopefully, repetitively. As I rushed back, the gun went off again and I ducked behind the car for cover.

"Bella! If you don't get back here, I'm going to put a bullet in his skull!"

Edward grunted. "He's going to do it anyway, Bella! Get out of here!"

I peeked around the car and saw Edward facing the ground, on his hands and knees with James pressing the gun to the back of his head.

"I'm right here! Please, James, please…" I stepped out from behind the car, the rock tucked firmly in my hand. In case he hadn't seen my hands free, I kept them behind my back so that he'd think they were still tied.

"Bella, no…" Edward said, his head flopping down in defeat.

"Come here, Bella," James said smugly. "Come here and I won't kill him."

I shifted on my feet. "Let him go and I will go with you."

He barked out a laugh. "You never were that smart. I'm the one with the gun so I get to make the deals and the deal I just laid out is the best you're going to get."

Slowly, I walked toward him and when I got close enough, he grabbed me by the elbow. He dragged me away from Edward and bent me over the closed trunk of the car. The rock was between our bodies but he didn't seem to realize what it was. I concentrated on the rock that was clutched in my hand instead of the way he pressed his body against mine. The gun was cold against my temple and I watched Edward shakily get off the ground.

"I've had a lot of time to think about things these past five months, Bella. I've made lists, you know. I've gotten really creative about what I'm going to make you do and the things I'm going to do to you…" He chuckled darkly in my ear. "Oh, we're going to have so much fun." I tried to struggle against him in an effort to make him realize that I wasn't going down easy. "But, I can't do that shit knowing that he's still alive."

The cold metal left my temple and I screamed. James pointed the gun at Edward and time seemed to freeze. Edward looked into my eyes and I didn't see fear, I didn't see pain. What I saw was adoration and regret. He didn't care if he died but he wanted to see me live. Just as James pulled the trigger, I brought my leg back and managed to lay a hard kick on his shin. He grunted and cursed and rammed my forehead into the car but I managed to keep my focus on Edward as he fell to the ground.

"There, see? That wasn't so hard, was it?" James lifted off me slightly. "Now, we can move on with our lives."

Part of me wanted to collapse in on myself and sob for what I'd just lost. I wanted to throw myself on Edward and die with him, beg his soul to take mine to wherever it was he was going but I couldn't. There was still the matter of the asshole lying against my back.

"You know I've thought this through, baby, so don't worry," James said in my ear in a creepy soothing voice. "As soon as they notice that you're missing, those fucking neighbors of yours are going to tell the police about how you ran from me. So, we're going someplace exotic. You always used to ramble on and on in college about how you wanted to travel and…"—He flashed his teeth in a big, shaky smile—"I'm glad that I'm the one who gets to take you places. Money might be tight for a little while since I spent a good portion of my bank account trying to find my runaway bride but we'll find ways around that. Now that your pussy has had some exercise, I'm sure you won't mind using it to provide for us for a little while."

I whimpered and he pulled my head back toward him, using a fistful of my hair. Then he tilted his head and an expression that almost seemed sympathetic crossed over his face. "Don't worry, my sweet little whore, just because other men stick their cocks in you that doesn't mean that I'm not going to want you." His tone was sad and he pulled me to him, pressing his lips to mine for a brief moment. I struggled to pull away and I kept my mouth tightly closed. "I think I'm proving that now, considering what you've been doing with that dead fucker over there on the ground. Of course, you'll be punished but I still love you." He sighed and pressed his lips together as he looked at Edward's prone form. "I gotta say, though, that guy was pretty fucking loyal to you. He did everything I asked him to do, including tying you up and shoving that sock in your mouth just because I had a knife at your throat." He let out a wicked laugh. "Poor idiot, he probably thinks that you actually cared about him."

"How did you find me?" I asked.

He cringed and let out a sigh. "Can't we talk about this shit later? I'm anxious to get you home, baby. Nobody will have anything on our makeup sex."

As soon as he pulled me off the trunk and loosened his hold, I started fighting. He wasn't expecting it since all he'd remembered about me was his submissive little captive, afraid and useless. I kneed him, aiming for his crotch. I missed but I managed to get him good enough in the thigh that he staggered backward. That was my opportunity. I pulled my hands apart and nailed him in forehead with the rock. He fell backwards and almost went down but he didn't so before his world stopped spinning, I did it again. His arms reached for me, blindly trying to get my weapon away from me but he was weak from the blows to the head and I could feel the anger inside of me that had built up through the past year. I unleashed it as I thought about the scar on my back, the unnatural fear that took me over on a daily basis, and the poor blond girl whose life he'd taken in Oklahoma. My teeth came together hard as I pictured Rose and Sammy and Emily, remembering what he threatened to do to them. I just kept hitting until he was still.

Slowly, I got up and kept my eye on his still form as I ran over to Edward because there was no fucking way I was leaving him out here, alive or dead. I put my hand to his neck and found a pulse. His chest was rising and falling with slow shallow breaths. He was alive. The bullet got his shoulder and I prayed it wasn't fatal. There was so much blood. It was covering his t-shirt and starting to pool on the ground underneath him.

"Oh God…oh God…" I whispered over and over. "Edward, open your eyes!"

The sound of groaning caught my attention and I whipped my head up toward James. He was staggering to his feet, his eyes searching the ground for his gun.

"Why won't you just leave me the fuck alone?" I yelled out of fury.

I was so focused on Edward and James' search for his weapon that I didn't hear the nearby rumbling of a car engine. There were no headlights. All I saw was the smile on James' face when he finally located his pistol and then BAM! The car hit him with a grand force, his body bent at an awkward angle as he collided with the large hood of the vehicle. I covered Edward with my body even though we were far enough away that we wouldn't get hit. The car engine was cut off and the headlights came on, illuminating James' broken body. As the car door opened and closed, James rolled a little in an attempt to get away. The driver walked over to his crippled body and leaned over him, almost as if he were whispering to him. James kicked his feet in struggle and then he was quiet. Dead quiet.

"Bella, are you okay?"

"Jake?" I cried. "Edward was shot! We need to get him to a hospital!"

Jake leaned down to examine Edward's wounds and I peeked around him to look at James. He'd come back so many times and I kept imagining him popping up, gun in hand and ready to kill.

"He's not going to hurt you again, honey. I made sure of that."

If it weren't for Edward, I would have spent more time thanking Jake. Probably with a hug and a few tears but there wasn't time. The man I loved was possibly dying in front of me and I couldn't let that happen.

"Please, help me get him to a hospital," I begged.

"Of course, Bella," Jake mumbled as he pulled Edward's upper body off the ground. Edward groaned with the movement. "Looks like the bullet went straight through so that's good. Can you get his legs and I'll get his upper body?" I nodded. "Okay, I'm going to go open the door to the backseat."

"Okay, hurry!"

Jake scrambled up and ran to his car.

"Bella…"

I gasped. "Edward! Edward, you're going to be okay!"

"Don't…don't go, Bella…" His voice was weak and his lips were dry.

"I'm not going anywhere," I told him, squeezing his hand. "We're going to take you to a hospital where they're going to make you better."

"I promised that I wouldn't let him…hurt you. He hurt you, Bella."

I shook my head and tried to smile. "No, no, he didn't; I'm fine!"

"Okay, let's get moving," Jake said, bending over Edward. "Oh, he's awake?"

"Barely," I said. "Can you move, Edward?"

He grunted and then closed his eyes again.

"Well, there's the answer to that," Jake mumbled as he pushed his arms under Edward's lifeless shoulders.

The drive to the hospital was twenty minutes but it seemed to take forever. Edward drifted in and out of consciousness and he mumbled my name a few times. I tried to keep him awake but my pleas fell on deaf ears. He was on his own schedule, it seemed. As soon as we got there, they rushed him to the Trauma Unit where I wasn't permitted to go.

Only when the swinging doors closed and he was rolled out of sight, did I permit myself to fall to my knees and cry. And I cried hard.

XxXxXxX

The next few hours were a blur. I was put behind my own set of swinging doors when I was able to pull myself together long enough to stand. Jake stood beside me and I was grateful for it. They did an MRI and some X-rays and luckily, I didn't have any serious damage except a few stitches in my head which was where all the blood had come from. I hadn't realized how covered in it I was until Jake held a small mirror up in front of me so that I could see.

"Oh my God," I mumbled. "I…I don't even…"

He pulled the mirror away and put it on the table by my bed. "The doctor said that it looks worse than it is. You were lucky, Bella."

"Have they said anything about Edward?"

He shook his head. "I think he's still in surgery. They're asking about relatives they can call. Do you know anyone?"

"He hasn't spoken to his parents in years and he's never mentioned anyone else to me. Rose might know…have you talked to Rose?"

"She's coming," he said simply. "Is there anyone I can call for you?"

My chin trembled and my entire body shivered. "My dad—I need to call my dad but I don't…" An unexpected sob came out of my throat. "I don't know if I can talk to him without crying."

"I'll call him, honey." He put a pen and a notebook down on my lap. "Just write down his number for me."

I managed to write legibly which was a positive sign. Jake smiled at me and handed me a bowl of warm water and a clean, dry washcloth for my face.

"The nurse said she'd be in to clean you up but I thought maybe you'd want to get started. That can't be comfortable, especially now that you've seen yourself."

I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "I don't know how—"

He stopped me with a finger to my lips. "You don't have to thank me, Bella. I'm just sorry that I didn't do shit differently. I should have called the police as soon as I heard you scream but… All I had to go on was my hearing and I was afraid that with my ear occupied, I'd lose track of you. It wasn't long after I heard you that I saw them leaving, you in Edward's arms. My plan was to get in my car and start following, and then call when I was behind you but my stupid fucking cell phone couldn't pick up a signal when we got out of the city." He gritted his teeth together at the frustrated memory. "I had to keep following you and either wait for my phone to pick up a signal or take him out when the situation presented itself. If he wasn't armed with a gun, it would have been a hell of a lot quicker."

"Edward wasn't…he didn't…"

"Bella, I know that he only carried you out of there to protect you. I would have done the same damn thing." He cleared his throat and spoke softer. "You don't have to worry about that prick ever again, okay?"

"Did you…was he still alive after you hit him?"

He smirked. "He's not now and that's the important thing, right?"

I blew out a breath that I hadn't realized I was holding.

The nurse came in and helped me clean up. After constant pestering and some annoyed looks on her part, she finally left to get an update on Edward's surgery but not before giving me a heavy dose of pain medication. My mind was on constant alert for her return, in hopes of good news, but my eyelids were heavy with awaiting drug-induced sleep. I fought against it and was relieved to see her come back in with a pinched up face.

"He just got out but they said that everything went well," she told me.

I wanted to cry. I wanted to find him and crawl up in bed next to him so that I could run my fingers through his hair. I wanted to shout out a "Thank you!" and an "Amen!" all at once. But what I actually did was sleep.

XxXxXxXxX

When I woke up a few hours later, Rose was sitting in the corner of the room with her head tilted back. A loud obnoxious snore was coming from her open mouth and her legs were spread out in front of her. I smiled at my friend, who'd come down here in the middle of the night to watch me sleep. I'd never find another one like her. As much as I wanted to let her sleep, she would have killed me if I didn't wake her up.

"Rose," I mumbled.

She responded immediately. According to her, one of the throwbacks of motherhood was the inability to fall into a heavy sleep. An unladylike snort was released from her nostrils as she lifted her head from the back of the chair. She blinked at me a few times before reacting.

"Bella," she murmured sleepily. "You look like shit."

I smiled even though it hurt the parts of my face that had been bruised and split open by the assault. "At least I'm not sawing logs with my sinuses."

She let out a sound of disbelief. "I was not."

"You didn't have to stay here, Rose," I told her as she stood from the chair and stretched her legs. "I'm sure my dad is on his way here and you have the kids to take care of tomorrow."

She shrugged. "Emmett is going to take a sick day tomorrow so that I can come home and sleep a little. He's cool like that."

"How's Edward? Do you know? Have you seen him?"

"The surgery went well. They patched him up like new. I went in and sat with him a while when I first got here but he was completely out." She pointed to my IV pole. "That's good stuff. You were pretty out yourself when I got here."

"How long ago was that?"

"A couple of hours ago; I had to tell them that you're my sister in order to get in."

She sat down beside me on the bed and grabbed my hand. I loved this girl as much as a sister.

"I'm so sorry, Rose." Tears came easily and I sniffed. "I should have never gotten close to any of you. Everything was—"

"Hey, hey, Bella, what are you sorry for? You didn't hide anything from us? We knew your circumstances. There's nothing to be sorry for."

I swallowed. "I should have never…what if he'd gone after Emily? He knew about her…he knew about all of you. He must have found me a few days ago; long enough for him to learn that I care for you guys." I cringed and wiped my eyes with my palm. "Oh, God, he saw me through the window when…"

Rose wrapped her arms around me and held me while I cried. Even though my muscles ached from the pressure, the feel of her arms around me was better than any pain medication. It seemed like a really long time before she let me go and my tears had nearly dried up.

"We love you and there's nothing to be sorry for," Rose soothed. "I'm just thankful that you're okay and that monster is dead. He's gone for good and now you can get on with your life."

"I love you, too."

"Now you just have to think about—"

A commotion in the hallway cut Rose off.

"No, she's not my daughter but I need to see her! I'm a very close friend and…what do you mean, she can't see visitors?"

My eyes widened. "That's Esme!"

Rose made a face. "I called her but I didn't think she'd come down here."

"I understand that it's one in the morning but she doesn't have a…get your hands off me!"

"Oh fuck! I better go save her!"

I shooed Rose toward the hall. "Tell them that she's my Aunt or something!"

Rose must have been convincing because a few minutes later, Esme rushed into the room and wrapped me into her arms. The tears didn't seem to have an end. These hugs felt so good. I wanted to bathe in their hugs. I wanted to be squeezed until I felt nothing but pure joy. Rose and Esme had no idea how grateful I was for them being there but I made sure to tell them through bubbles of snot and wet, slurred words.

"I'm so glad you're okay, sweetheart," Esme cooed. "When Rose called me…it was like hearing about my daughter all over again. Carlisle tried to talk me out of it but I snuck out after he fell asleep."

I let a few wet giggles. "What if he wakes up and freaks out that you're not there?"

"I left him a note on top of the cherry cheesecake that I told him to stay away from. If he finds the note, he's guilty of a forbidden midnight snack. My bases are covered."

Rose looked impressed. "I'll have to write that one down."

I told them the basics of what happened because I felt like I owed it to them for being there for me. They both got emotional and each of them grabbed my hand at the most difficult parts. The worst being when Edward was shot.

"He's going to be fine, Bella," Rose said. "You'll probably get to visit him tomorrow. Actually, they'll probably only keep him here for a couple of days."

"Do you think he's mad at me?"

Rose screwed her face up. "What? Why would he be mad at you?"

"It's my fault, Rose."

"Bella, listen to me and listen good. None of this is your fault. The reason Edward got hurt is because of that piece of shit…the same piece of shit that hurt you. Edward will be elated to see you, especially in one piece."

"You think?"

Esme nodded frantically. Rose gave me a stare to illustrate that she thought my question was ridiculous.

A few minutes later, I got more hugs and they told me that they'd see me tomorrow after I got released. Esme was going home to check on Carlisle and Rose was going to sit with Edward in case he woke up. It didn't take me long for the excitement of my visitors to exhaust me. As I drifted off to sleep, I thought about Edward being under the same roof as me. I wondered if he was dreaming or if he woke up in spurts, speculating on what had happened to me. I pictured his smile, his eyes, the way he rubs his jaw with his knuckle when he's irritated and I imagined his arms around me in a strong embrace. And I was smiling.

XxXxXxX

Someone was shaking my leg. Then my arm. I groaned because this kind of deep dreamless sleep was priceless, even if it was the result of good pain meds.

"Ms. Swan? Can you open your eyes?" Briefly, I thought about it but they were oh, so heavy. Sleeping was nice… "Ms. Swan? I think she's coming to…" What? No, I'm not. I'm sleeping. Leave me alone. This time the shake was more aggressive and the voice was more annoyed. "Ms. Swan! Can you open your eyes?"

Fine. I blinked my eyes open to see two male faces staring back at me. My vision swirled and my head was too heavy to lift. A nurse stood off to the side, looking annoyed. Whether her expression was due to my visitors or my lack of consciousness, I wasn't sure.

One of them smiled. "There she is…Ms. Swan, my name is Detective Barry Gorecki and this is my partner, Detective Milton Ambrose. We're here to talk to you about what happened with…"—he flipped through a tiny little notebook he had been holding in his hand—"James Linton. Can you tell us what happened?"

I struggled to pull myself upright and I blinked to stay focused. The grogginess of sleep kept me from processing their words in a normal amount of time.

"Did you know Mr. Linton?" the other one asked.

"Uh…yeah, I was engaged to him at one point."

Detective Gorecki scribbled something in his notebook.

"Can you tell us what happened last night?"

I cleared my throat. "Well, he was—"

"Can't she do this later?" That voice. Oh my God…that voice.

Every person in the room turned to look at the stocky man in the doorway. The man who'd interrupted the questioning in an effort to rescue me from divulging my sad tale to a room full of strangers. He looked exhausted and his clothes were wrinkled. His eyes crinkled when he looked at me and his hands were strong fists at his sides.

"Daddy…"

He rushed over to me, nearly knocking down one of the detectives in the process. I couldn't remember hugging my father before, not like this. There were goodbye hugs that almost seemed mandatory and awkward loose hugs to say hello. This was a real hug. A hug that made me smile and weep and internally sing all at the same time. It was what I'd been dreaming about for over a year.

"Bella…" I didn't know that Charlie Swan could fall victim to tears but he did as he held me. For a moment, I almost felt like the strong one but then he pulled back and his eyes swept over the bruises on my face, the cuts on my lip.

"Can't we do this later?" His voice was directed at the Detectives but his eyes never left my face. "She's on pain medication and it's difficult for her to focus."

"Sir, with all due respect, victims lose details from incidents with each passing minute. If we could just ask a few questions, we'll be on our way. I'm sure she can—"

"No," my dad said.

Detective Ambrose scoffed. "Excuse me?"

My dad finally turned to them and gave him his long hard cop stare. I was on the receiving end of that stare a few times and it wasn't easy to keep from squirming. Barry did okay but Milton shifted a little on his feet. "The guy is dead, right?"

Barry cleared his throat. "Well, this is considered a homicide until—"

"Is my daughter a suspect?"

"Everyone is at this point, sir."

"She has rights and it is her right to keep her mouth shut until she's ready to talk. You can get a fucking warrant or we can voluntarily drive to the precinct later today when her head is clear and you can ask all the damn questions you'd like. But for right now, you both need to leave."

They stared at him for a moment before Barry flipped his notebook closed and sighed. "Do you know where District 18 is? It's downtown on North Larrabee."

"We'll find it," my dad replied. "What time?"

"Can you do three this afternoon?"

My dad looked down at me and I nodded.

"We'll be there," he told them.

The next few hours until I was released were odd. My dad avoided any kinds of questions about James or my ordeal, probably figuring he'd hear the whole story when I told the police later that afternoon. Instead, he went out of his way to make sure I was comfortable, almost to a point of being annoying. Suddenly, the fact that I was cold was the biggest deal in the world to him. It was nice but odd.

I'd wanted to see Edward before I left but there wasn't time. By the time the doctors told me I could go, it was almost three. My dad got directions from one of the nurses on how to get to the 18th district where we were meeting the detectives.

The building was intimidating—big and old and historical. Inside was even worse. Officers looked at my bruised face with a mixture of curiosity and sympathy, even though they didn't know who I was. Or maybe they did, I don't know. Detective Ambrose came out to greet us and he shook my dad's hand with stiffness like men do. They took me into a room that was much more comfortable than I imagined. I thought I'd be put into one of those interview rooms where they put criminals since I was considered a suspect in a homicide. I should have been more worried but I wasn't. There were no questions who the victims were in this situation and one of them wasn't James.

It was more of an office. Detective Ambrose stood while Barry sat behind the desk. My dad and I sat in padded chairs that looked much more comfortable than they were.

"So, Ms. Swan, we're going to ask you some questions and it's going to be recorded." He tapped a tiny little device on his desk. "They aren't going to be easy questions but you will need to answer them as honestly and in as much detail as you can."

I nodded and squeaked out an "Of course."

"Tell us how you know James Linton."

And I did. They didn't need to ask many more questions because the story spilled out of my mouth as if my tongue had been waiting for this moment for decades. I told them about the months I spent with him before he went to Iraq and his behavior when he came home. My dad stiffened as I told him about my first day in Oklahoma but he stayed silent. When I told him about the girls, it was the first time I broke down. The one he'd killed, the ones he dragged away and whose fates were unknown.

"Do you know where he picked these girls up?" Ambrose asked.

I shook my head. "He never talked about anything to me but I did hear him talking on the phone with some of his friends about a bar that they went to. I can't…I can't remember the name but it had to have been close to home. Was he still enlisted?"

Barry licked his lips. "He went AWOL a few months ago and the house that he owned went under. It was bought by the bank."

"So, it's been cleaned out," I remarked.

Barry nodded. "We contacted Oklahoma State Police as soon as we got an ID on Linton. Did you only see him kill one girl?"

I nodded. "But I don't know what he did with the others. He could have killed them too."

"How did you get away from him if he kept you locked up when he wasn't home?"

I told them about my escape and coming to Chicago. They watched me intently and I wondered if they were trying to pick out lies from my eyes. I kept Esme out of it because she'd broken the law when she hired me but everything else I spilled.

"Why didn't you contact your father?" Ambrose asked.

I looked at my dad and from his expression, I could tell that he was wondering the same thing.

"James was living there with him and he'd threatened to hurt my family, already. If I told my dad anything and James found out, I was afraid…" I made a pass over my eyes with my fingers and it made my bruises ache. "I didn't want anyone else hurt."

"Do you know how he found you?"

"He didn't tell me," I replied.

"I do," my dad piped in. "James left Forks a few weeks ago after telling me that he had a lead on where you were. When I asked him, he told me that he ran into a friend of yours that had seen you. He'd brush off my questions about who and where and…"—my dad's hands formed tight shaky fists on the arms of the chair he was sitting in—"I had planned to go with him but he left in the middle of the night. That's when I knew that something wasn't right about him; he didn't even tell me where he was going."

My dad cleared his throat and took a deep breath before continuing. "Yesterday, I ran into Jessica Newton at the diner where she works and she asked me if we'd heard anything. She said she'd run into you in Chicago and that she'd told James exactly where she saw you. I should have…I should have been on a fucking plane as soon as she…" He trailed off, shaking his head and breathing through his emotions.

"Well, once he knew the area you were living in, he probably showed your picture around or cruised the area until he spotted you. Did you go out a lot?"

I shrugged. "I went to a bookstore a lot and over the weekend, I went out to dinner and a club."

Barry raised his eyebrows. "A club?"

I swallowed audibly and felt the need to explain but I couldn't find the words.

"Okay, tell me about James being in Chicago," he said, moving past the whole club issue. "When did you first see him?"

"In my apartment last night…"

My brain felt disconnected from the words that were coming out of my mouth. I felt like a robot, rehashing each time he'd hit me and the gunshot that caused harm to the man who swore to protect me.

Ambrose flipped through his notebook after I'd finished. "Do you know Arthur Livingston?"

I swallowed hard. "He's my landlord."

He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, we spoke with him this morning and he reluctantly confessed to letting James Linton into your apartment yesterday afternoon. Apparently, he was paid a thousand dollars to drop a spare key into the bushes outside your building where it was picked up a few minutes later by the suspect."

They took a statement from my dad, too. He told them about the worry he saw in James' eyes and the "fucking fantastic acting job" that he put on while he stayed with him in Forks. His voice was laced with guilt that I didn't have the energy to try and ease. They also took several pictures of the scars on my back and the current bruises on my face and arms.

By the time I walked out of the police station, I was numb and exhausted. My dad stood close to me but he was oddly quiet as he walked me to the car.

"Do you have much stuff in your apartment?" he asked after turning the engine over.

"Not much that I need right now," I mumbled. "I need to go to the hospital and visit Edward."

He cleared his throat. "Maybe you should just wait and call him when you get back to Forks."

I cut my eyes to him. "Did you not hear what I told them in there? Edward saved my life. I can't just leave without talking to him."

"Bella, this is a part of your life that you don't need anymore," he explained, his tone of voice saying it as if it was common sense.

I sighed and ground my molars together. "I know I need to go back to Forks with you but that doesn't mean that I'm going to stay there."

His jaw ticked and his grip on the steering wheel tightened. "Forks is your home."

"Chicago is my home now, too," I told him. "The people I've met here…I love them, Dad. They opened their lives to me even when they knew it was dangerous. I can't just leave them and pretend that they don't exist."

"You owe them nothing, Bella," he told me.

"I owe them everything!" I surprised even myself with my scream.

Silently, he drove me back to the hospital in his rented purple Kia. In any other circumstance, the sight of my dad driving the small purple car would have been hilarious. Somehow, the humor failed me as I got out of the car and he reluctantly followed me. The doors slid open to allow us entrance and I walked to the visitor's desk where an older volunteer nearly jumped out of her skin when she looked up at me and saw the bruises on my face..

"Oh, dear! You need the Emergency Room! That's around the other side of the building. Can you walk—"

"Oh, no, I've already been checked out, Ma'am." She sighed out of relief. "I'm here to visit a friend. His name is Edward Masen."

She typed into her computer and came back with room number 418. As the elevator rose, so did my anxiety. What if he really did hate me? What if he realized that I wasn't worth all the pain and trouble I'd caused? Then my emotions flipped and I thought about what life would be like now that I didn't have to worry about James. We could have an actual relationship without my fear getting in the way. Sure, there were still issues but I was stronger with Edward. He was my constant.

I could work for Esme legally. I could use my credit card. I could get a freaking bank account. A strong sense of freedom washed over me and I smiled as we found Edward's room.

"Do you mind if I go in by myself?" I asked my dad.

He grunted but shook his head.

The room was small but private. His eyes were closed but he didn't look like he was sleeping. As soon as I sat down in the chair next to his bed, his eyes blinked open and he stared at me.

"Bella…" He tried to sit up straighter but cringed at the movement.

"Don't…don't move," I told him.

"Are you okay?" His eyes traveled all over my face, from one bruise to the next.

"I'm fine. Are you okay?"

He put his hand on the shoulder that was shot. "I'm going to have a kick-ass scar to add to my collection."

I switched seats from the chair to the edge of the bed and I grabbed his hand. "I'm so sorry, Edward. You have no idea how horrible I feel that—"

His hand squirmed out of my tight grasp and he put it gently on my cheek. I leaned into his touch. "Bella, don't…just don't apologize. I wish I could have kept him from hurting you. I never should have left you to get food. We knew that it was possible that he knew where you and…"

"You're not mad at me?"

He snorted. "Mad at you? How could I be mad at you?"

I stared into his eyes and there was something different. It worried me. The fire that was so typically layered into his irises was off.

"They told me that he's dead. Good riddance."

"Did you know that Jake saved us?"

He smirked. "Yeah, I guess I'm going to have to change my mind about the guy." He shook his head and smiled at himself. "Rose said that your dad is here."

"Yeah, he's in the hall."

He nodded. "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow, I think. I won't be in Forks for long, though. Just a few weeks so I can—"

"What?"

His reaction made me blanche. "I'm going back to take care of a few things but I'm coming back."

With a sigh, he ran his hand over his face. "You need to go back home and have a good life."

"I can have a life here," I retorted. "You don't…want me to come back?"

For a moment, he didn't answer and I could feel my chest starting to ache. "You deserve better, Bella. You deserve better than that shitty apartment, that simple job at the bookstore…you deserve better than me."

I shook my head frantically and put a hand on my chest where I swear my heart was literally breaking. "I like my apartment, I love my job with Esme, and I love…" His eyes met mine and the full fire was back, exploding around in the green. "I love you, Edward."

There were several good reactions that he could have given me to that statement but looking pained wasn't one of them. His face twisted and he shook his head. "You don't love me, Bella. You need to go home, to Washington, find a man that is worthy of you and have his babies. You deserve to be happy."

"So, all this time that we've been together, it's meant nothing to you? It's been a diversion to take my mind off of my problems?"

"I didn't say that," he murmured. "All I want is for you to have a shot at happiness. Now that he is gone, you have the opportunity to do that."

I shook my head in disbelief. "I thought I would get that opportunity…with you."

"I promised you that I'd protect you and I didn't do that. You deserve so much better and once you get back home, you'll see how right I am about that."

"Do you care about me at all?" I asked, a sole tear running down my cheek. "Is this at least hard for you or have you been wanting to send me away…"

He swallowed and brushed the tear away with a gentle stroke of his thumb. "You have no idea how much I care about you."

"I want you to say it," I hissed. "Look at me in the eyes and tell me that you don't want me here and I'll go."

Using his good arm, he trailed his fingertips along my cheek and around to the nape of my neck. He gently pulled me to him; his breath was like sunshine on my face. I thought I had him. I thought he was going to kiss me senseless and tell me what a fool he was being. But when his lips met mine in a gentle, soft kiss I knew…I knew it was goodbye. I broke the kiss, closed my eyes and let out a shaky sob.

"Look at me, Bella." I shook my head, as my forehead rested against his. "Please, try to understand what I want is only for you to be happy. It hurts now but in a few months, you'll thank me for it. If you stayed, you'd resent me."

"No, no, I wouldn't. I promise that I—"

"Please, look at me, Bella."

On a deep exhale, I opened my eyes; my flooded vision did no good to blur the passion in his eyes. They burned into me, sucking out my soul and all the goodness that he'd deposited into me the past four months. I couldn't survive if he…

"I don't want you here, Bella."

A/N: Gah! Silly Edward and his masochistic tendencies.

I don't know much about homicide investigations or hospitals so if there were any mistakes, I ask you kindly to cope with it. :)

So, who do you want to throttle more? Edward for the obvious? Jake for not calling the police? Or Charlie for being grouchy and overprotective? Where does Bella go from here? Lemme know what you think?

I have a long weekend of working plus I think I'm getting a cold...do you know what the doctor recommends for these kinds of situations? REVIEWS! ;)