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Chapter Three: The Day They Saw Her Worth.
Bella was lulled into consciousness by the gentle humming of a car. It took her a while to truly wake up, but, when she did, her head whipped to the side, where her new husband sat next to her, casually reading through a file.
"Finally awake?" he smirked, not looking up from his work. "There is a bottle of juice and a container of fruit salad for you. You look like you need it."
"Where are we?" she asked, sitting up from her reclined position in the car.
"We are on our way to get Chase and Theo and also to inform your parents of our marriage," Edward responded.
"Was that even official? No witnesses?" Bella asked timidly.
"Bella," he scoffed, "if I, with all my money, can't get someone to bend the rules for me a little bit, then I need to be shot."
"So, it is official?" Bella sighed, looking out the window at the passing scenery.
"Very much so. Within a week, the official documents will be delivered, signed, sealed, and stamped," Edward said, finally lowering down the file.
"So what are we telling my parents?" Bella asked gently, turning slightly to look at her new husband.
"The truth. Every last bit of it," Edward shrugged.
"You do know that my father will kill you if you do choose to tell him the truth," Bella muttered as she opened the bottle of juice and took a small sip.
"I may be shot, but he won't kill me."
"So I will also meet your babies tonight?" Bella asked timidly.
"Yes and their nanny as well," Edward nodded.
"Nanny?" Bella muttered, looking over at Edward with wide eyes.
"Well, I do need someone to look after my children," Edward smirked.
"Then there is no need for me then," Bella whispered. "This marriage isn't for the children's sake."
"Oh...you caught me," Edward chuckled darkly. "I told you a tiny little fib. It was never my kids then; it was me."
"Why lie then?"
"Because you wouldn't have agreed unless I used some leverage over you. I softened you with the story about my children needing a mother and I cornered you when I told you that I would take your children away from you," Edward explained in a callous voice.
"I don't...I don't know what to say...what to think," Bella stuttered. "What have I done?"
"You did what you did to keep your children and my children will benefit from it," Edward spat. "Because I wasn't making empty threats when I said that I would have your children taken from you. I was going to do just that. I was going to pressure you until you agreed to be my wife."
"Why me though? You said it yourself; you have enough money that you could buy yourself a wife," Bella threw back.
"How do you think wife number two came about?" Edward hissed. "Been there, done that; it didn't work out so well."
"But, still...why me?" Bella insisted.
"The truth?" Edward sighed, rubbing his face. "The truth is you are fucking beautiful. You put your sisters to shame. There is also a warmth about you. Even from the pictures I got from the investigator, I knew that people flock to know you….speak to you and I hope the same thing will happen when you accompany me to my many business dinners, functions, galas, as well as when I invite investors over."
"So I am the pawn you plan to use to increase your wealth," Bella whispered.
"Now, don't say it so callously," Edward scoffed. "Your boys are now Cullens. They are my sons. They will get the best of the best. Nothing will be out of bounds for them. There will be no limits on the success your sons will be able to accomplish now. You, too, will never have to work a day in your life again. Plus, you never signed a pre-nuptial agreement, so, if you decide to divorce me, you'll get fifty percent of everything. But, you won't leave me, because, if you do, I will fight you for custody of your boys. "
"If you want me to take up the role of mother for your children, I will not tolerate a nanny. I will be doing everything. When I need to accompany you, then we will have someone taking care of them. I will parent all of the children my way, not your way," Bella stated, trying desperately to come to terms with the decision she had made.
"Fine," Edward nodded before pulling out his phone.
With quick precision, he dialed a number and within seconds, he'd fired his children's nanny and asked his mother to keep the children until he got back home.
After that, silence fell within the confines of the luxury car until they arrived at Bella's home.
"Ready?" Edward asked.
"No," Bella answered. "But there is no way to undo this. Look, they are already waiting."
"Then, it's showtime," Edward said, rolling his shoulders before stepping out of the car.
Renee, who had been standing on the porch since she spied the Mercedes driving along the road, could not help the gasp that left her lips when Edward stepped out of the car, nor could she help the cry that left her lips when she saw her daughter exit the car after him.
"Charlie!" Renee shouted, her eyes never leaving her daughter's hunched form. Within seconds, her husband was standing next to her, watching their daughter walking up to the house, she every step being shadowed by the man who was intent on destroying their daughter's happiness.
"Bella, what is going on?" Renee questioned when the pair was close enough to them.
"Um….Mum, I got married," Bella whispered, her gaze falling to the floor.
"What?" Renee gasped, stepping closer to her daughter.
"I married Edward. I had no choice. He told me that even though he had no legal ground to take the boys, he was going to make it very difficult for me to keep them unless I agreed to marry him and adopt his children," Bella rushed out.
"Bella, tell me that you are lying," Renee pleaded, cupping her daughter's tear-streaked face.
"What choice did I have?" Bella whispered. "I can't risk the boys."
"God damn it, Bella! How can you be so stupid? He himself told you that he had no legal ground to take the boys from you. We would have fought it," Charlie shouted in absolute frustration.
"But to what end, Dad? And with what money? He was going to keep coming after me. How many CPS calls does someone need to make before CPS takes my kids until an investigation is done? One! One complaint that I was seen hitting the boys and my children could be put in the system for months while we fight it," Bella spat back. "Tell me that, if you were in my position, your stance would be different. I would not have been going up against some assistant district attorney. I would have been going up against one of his cutthroat friends and I will not risk my children."
"But his wife? The mother of his children? Bells, it simply does not make sense," Charlie shock his head.
"I never said that it made sense, Dad," Bella sighed.
"And I don't like it," Charlie added on in an almost petulant manner.
"I know you don't. I don't like it either," Bella confessed before turning to look out the kitchen window.
"I wish I could save you from this, Bella," Renee whispered in a broken voice after a few minutes of silence.
"I wish I could save myself," Bella scoffed.
"But, alas; you are mine until the day I die," Edward drawled from where he leaned against the doorframe, watching the Swan family with a smirk.
"You little shit! Shut your mouth before I put a bullet in you," Charlie roared so loudly Theo came running out of the house.
"Mummy!" the little boy screamed, leaping easily into his mother's arms. "Gampie yelled."
"Oh baby! Did your granddaddy frighten you? It's okay," she whispered, gently pushing back Theo's hair across his forehead. "Gampie is a little angry."
"Why?" Theo asked, placing his head gently on his mother's neck.
"Because…"Bella began to say before Edward interrupted her.
"Because I came to meet you," Edward said.
"Who you?" Theo whispered, his brown eyes locking with Edward's.
"I am your daddy," Edward confessed, walking over to where Bella stood holding Theo tightly to her chest.
"Daddy? Like how Gampie is Mummy's daddy?" Theo raised his head to look at Edward more clearly.
"Just like that," Edward genuinely smiled at Theo's question and with that answer, Edward found himself cradling his new son against his chest after the toddler vaulted from his mother's arm into his new father's.
Fighting back tears at what had occurred, Bella quickly stepped away from everybody and raced into the house.
Unknown to her, her mother followed her.
"How, Bella? How on earth are you going to explain this to the boys?" Renee asked.
"I don't think I have any explaining to do. Did you not see how Theo went to him?" Bella whispered as she began to pack her belongings.
"Bella..." Renee started to say once again, but her words died suddenly in her throat, her blood ran cold as the bang of a shotgun reverberated through the tiny house.