A/N: Thanks to Paige, Sherry, Cristina & Tiffany xx

Chapter 31

It had been several days since I had last seen Edward. I hadn't heard from him in all the time that he had been gone, and if he had called, Marcus hadn't told me. Part of me believed that he was still angry with me for forcing his hand, the other part of me was worried that he was hurt… or worse. I was slowly going out of my mind as I paced the floors in Marcus's house with nothing to do other than clean and watch TV. I had never cleaned so much in all my life. It was like my own kind of torture. I wasn't even allowed to take Princess outside for a breath of fresh air. I was becoming claustrophobic.

To top it all off, my period shown up, and I didn't have any of the essentials with me. I suppose with everything that had been going on I hadn't been keeping track of the dates. God, that had been an interesting conversation with Marcus. He had been reluctant to leave me and go to the corner store for my tampons, but like I had told him repeatedly, it was only a ten minute round trip. He eventually went after I insisted that I couldn't wait until someone else got here, and if he didn't go I was going myself. There was no way I was ruining a good pair of Armani panties because of him. I think by the time I had started talking about my panties, he'd had enough because he left after that.

He'd only been gone a few minutes when there was a knock at the door. I knew I wasn't supposed to go near the door or the windows, so I ignored it, but whoever was at the door didn't go away. They kept on knocking and knocking. Part of me wondered or rather hoped that it might be Edward. I think that was just wishful thinking on my part. God, I didn't think I would miss him so much, but I did. I would take his anger any day over being stuck another moment in this house.

I tiptoed to my bedroom window, peeking out of the curtains, but I couldn't see the door from this angle. I glanced at Princess, she was still sound asleep on my bed, so I left her there and quietly made my way down the stairs. I tried to stay out of view of the front door as I tried to see who was on the other side. There was a small rectangular window at the top of the door, where I could see the tip of light brown hair. It was too light to be Edward's, so I knew immediately that it wasn't him. I turned to head back upstairs when a voice rang out from the other side. "I know you are in there Isabella. Open the door. I just want to talk."

Warning bells rang off in my head. Whoever it was, he was bad news. Did I have enough time to run back upstairs before he forced his way in here and what the hell would I do once I was back up there anyway? Where had I put my gun? It was in my purse the last time I had seen it, but I hadn't even paid any attention to where I had put that. It had been days since I had needed it and I hadn't given it another thought. I cursed myself for being so lackadaisical. A knife. It was the only thing I could think of that I could use to defend myself. I turned towards the kitchen as I heard what sounded like him trying to kick in the front door behind me.

It must have only taken him a few kicks to knock it down because he reached me just as I entered the kitchen. He grabbed my ponytail and yanked my head back, causing me to scream out in pain. "There you are," he said, turning me around to face him. There, in front of me stood the man from the bar at our wedding. The one Edward hadn't been pleased to see. "Where were you going to in such a hurry?"

"Get your hands off me!" I screamed, trying to push him away, but he just laughed, tugging at my hair harder.

"Your sister and brother-in-law have been looking for you. Seems there is a little reward out on your head. Five hundred grand to the person who finds you and brings you to them, but they never stated what kind of condition you should be in. So I figured I would have a little fun with you first," he said, reaching for my breast and squeezing it hard as his other hand grabbed my arm. "Tell me, has Cullen sampled the goods yet, or is he not man enough for the printsessa?" he said, in a forced Russian accent.

"He's more man than you'll ever be," I spat, looking around me for a weapon. I saw a large knife lying amongst the dishes drying on the draining board. I glanced at him to make sure he hadn't seen me looking at it, but he was too caught up in himself to notice.

"I doubt that," he laughed. "Let me show you how big a man I am."

He reached for my zipper and I reached for the knife, grabbing it, and stabbing it into his hand as hard as I could. He let go of me as he screamed in pain, clutching at his hand. I ran for the front door, getting halfway out on the lawn when I realized Princess was still upstairs, sleeping. I couldn't leave her. I couldn't forgive myself if anything were to ever happen to her. She was just a small, defenceless puppy. I cursed myself and turned back, going into the house, and running up the stairs as fast as I could. I knew it was unlikely that I would get out of the house again so easily, but I had to at least try.

Princess was still asleep on the bed. How she could sleep through all that noise was beyond me. I picked her up into my arms and turned to head back out of the room. My attacker was standing in the doorway waiting for me. He was clutching his injured hand against his chest. He had wrapped a dishcloth around it, but blood was still trickling down his arm. He had the knife I had used in his other hand. The expression on his face was murderous. "You are going to pay for that," he warned me.

My first instinct was to protect Princess. If I held her in my arms, he would likely hurt her, but if I put her down there was also a chance that he may hurt her. I looked down to see she was still asleep in my arms, which was strange, especially since I'd picked her up. She should have woken up.

"Your dog won't be waking up any time soon. I had to drug her. I couldn't have her alerting your guard to my presence. I wrapped a piece of meat around some tranquilizers. Of course, I had to place them all over the yard. There was no telling where she would go. I hid them in the long grass so that idiot of a guard wouldn't see them. There is no telling how many she ate. She may not ever wake up."

"You sick bastard," I growled, looking down at Princess. What was wrong with him? She was only a puppy, a baby. How could he do that to a defenseless animal?

The sicko shrugged. "So some say… You know, I used to kill animals when I was a kid," he said, pointing the knife towards me. "There is nothing more satisfying than watching the life draining out of something, knowing that you are the cause, that you had the power to kill them. Of course, as I got older I moved on to people. The thrill is better, people beg for their miserable lives."

I wanted to scream at him, ask him what the fuck was wrong with him. Why the hell was he telling me this shit? I didn't need to know how he got off. I'd rather not know. I looked around for a place to put Princess. There was a chair in the corner of the room. I opted for that. I knew sooner or later he was going to stop talking and move towards me, and I needed both arms to defend myself when he did.

"I couldn't believe my luck when he went out and left you alone. Say, what kind of guard does that?" he laughed, moving closer to me. "When should we expect him back? Do I have time to fuck you now or should I just put you in the trunk of my car?"

I glanced to the foot of the bed and saw my purse lying on the floor. My gun was inside it. He was close and moving closer. Did I have enough time to make it to my purse and pull my gun out? I'd shoot him straight in the fucking head if I did. I dove to the floor, taking my chances. I grabbed my purse, but he jumped on top of me before I had the chance to get back up or even move. His body weight was pinning me to the floor, the only thing I was free to move was my arms. So I hit him with the purse as hard as I could, knocking the knife out of his hand. It skidded across the floor, thankfully out of his reach.

"Fucking bitch!" he roared, getting to his feet and grabbing my hair. He effortlessly yanked my purse out of my hand and tossed it to the other side of the room before throwing me on the bed. He had positioned himself between my legs before I even had the chance to right myself. I tried to crawl away, but that only caused him to grab my leg and pull me back. He twisted my leg to an awkward angle, causing me extreme pain, and used his weight to hold me in place. "I've had enough of this shit," he muttered, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a syringe.

I knew I was in trouble as soon as I saw the syringe. "No, no, no!" I screamed at the top of lungs, struggling against him as hard as I could. I knew I needed to get away from him. If I allowed him to stick me with that it would be game over, but it was of no use. My strength was no challenge for his.

I started crying, I really thought all hope was lost. The last thing I expected was to see Marcus appear behind his shoulder. He knocked the syringe out of my attacker's hand and grabbed him in a choke hold before he even knew what was happening. I scrambled to the other side of the bed as I watched the life drain from my attacker's eyes. I felt none of the excitement that he had previously talked about, only relief, relief that Marcus had gotten here in time.

"Did you kill him?" I asked, as I watched his limp body fall to the floor.

"No. I just knocked him out. I'm sure Edward will want to speak to him," he said moving towards me. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

I shook my head. "I'm fine, you got here in time, but… Princess, he drugged Princess," I said, getting off the bed and rushing to her side. I picked her up into my arms and my heart broke. Would she be okay? Would she ever wake up again? I prayed that she would be alright. I wasn't sure I could cope if she wasn't.

"Our position has been compromised," Marcus said into his cell. "James was here when I returned… Yes, Isabella is okay, but the dog may not be… I'll secure him for collection and take her to the house as ordered."

I didn't even bother asking him who he was talking to when he finished his call. My only thoughts were of Princess and whether she would survive.