A/N:

Oh my god! I finally finished this chapter! I can't believe it took me so long. The last couple of months were rough on me, but I'm finally getting there very slowly.

I had amazing help with this chapter! :) I really want to thank to 'Lovesurfer' to endure me and help me with the storylines.
Besides that I want to thank my beta's: addicted-to-romione-bedward, TeamAllTwilight and Jess2002... Thank for still helping me with this one, even after a long silence from my side!

I've said enough, so here is chapter 20

Chapter twenty: Cause and consequence

Previously

I walk up to the front door and knock. The person who opens takes me by surprise.

"Hi hubby!"

Edward's age: 24 years old – Savannah's age: 6 years old
Bella's age: 24 years – Nathan's age: 4 years old

Gary's POV

This is hopeless. We don't have any clue as to where Paul Collins and Lauren Mallory are hiding.

There has to be a clue in their files, but I can't find it.

"Sir," Amy calls. "Mr. Volturi."

"Do you think they will call about Mr. Cullen or Miss Swan?" I ask her.

"It's standard procedure that we check the parents of the kids, and you visited Mr. Volturi yesterday."

I pick up the phone. "Mr. Volturi, how can I help you?"

"Detective Taylor, you asked me to call you when something out of the ordinary happened?"

"Indeed, I did."

"Mr. Cullen just demanded to give him five million dollars."

"Does he have that kind of money?" I ask him.

"Yes," Mr. Volturi answers.

"Okay, when did he leave your bank?"

"About thirty minutes ago," he answers. "I'm sorry that it took so long, but we didn't want to take any risk by calling you immediately."

"Why?"

"If he came back, I didn't want to risk it."

"I understand, but if you called sooner, we could have tracked him."

"I'm sorry, Detective Taylor."

"It's okay," I tell him. "Thanks for the call."

We say goodbye and hang up the phone.

"So?" Amy asks.

"Mr. Cullen withdrew five million dollars from his account."

"Wow." Amy looks shocked. "I saw in his files that he was rich, but to withdraw that much money."

"Apparently, he can."

"What are we going to do now?"

I shrug. "The thing is that we know who the kidnapper is, but we don't know where they are."

"Miss Swan's cell phone?"

"We need a warrant signed by a judge, otherwise we will have problems during the trial."

Amy shakes her head. "Even with Miss Swan's approval?"

"I've thought about that, but every defense lawyer is going to say that she was emotional when she gave us permission."

"Well, how long do we have to wait for that warrant?"

"Hopefully not too long," I answer. "Mr. Cullen already left the bank half an hour ago."

"Damn," Amy says. "Why didn't he call sooner?"

"Afraid he would come back in." I roll my eyes while repeating Mr. Volturi's words.

Edward's POV

"Hello Hubby," my ex-wife greets me with a big smile. "Long time, no see."

"L-Lauren."

"Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Lauren, baby," a male voice calls out. "Who is it?"

"Your delivery guy," Lauren answers smugly. "I think he has what you wanted."

A man, an older version of Bella's high school sweetheart, comes standing behind Lauren.

"Loverboy," he greets me. He looks at his watch. "Five minutes to spare."

"Where are the kids?" I ask them.

Paul holds up a finger. "We are going to handle things on my terms and not yours."

He opens the door wide open and takes a step aside, indicating to me that I have to go inside.

I take a small step and walk into the house.

"Don't mind the mess," Paul says when he sees me looking around the house. There are beer bottles on the ground and there isn't much furniture present, except for a very old and worn out couch.

"I'm only staying here temporarily."

I nod and follow him to the stairs that lead downstairs.

"The briefcase!" he orders and I give it to him. "Now go downstairs."

I look at him questioningly.

"Now!"

I walk slowly down and I hope that my angels are down here. The door closes and before I can react I hear the lock turn.

Bella was right, I'm never getting out of this place alive. I look around the basement, but I can't see any indication that my kids are here. I let myself slide down the wall on the ground, putting my head in my hands.

For the first time since discovering the kidnapping I cry. I cry for my angel at home, but also for my kids.

RL

I think I fell asleep, because the sound of opening the door wakes me.

"Hi, baby."

I shudder at Lauren's voice and not in a good way.

"Didn't you miss me?" she asks. I don't answer and ignore her presence. "We can be together now, without the devil's spawn and without that whore."

I still don't react. I hope that if I ignore her long enough she leaves me alone.

SMACK!

My hand goes to my cheek and I look shocked at her.

"Don't ignore me, your bastard."

"Now you know how it feels," I answer.

SMACK!

"Shut up!" she screams. "I'm in control now, don't forget that."

"Lauren!" Paul's voice sounds angry and I can see in Lauren's eyes that she's scared. "Come upstairs!"

"I will be back," she hisses, but the angry voice from earlier is replaced by fear.

Paul's POV

I can hear Lauren talking to loverboy and I told her merely seconds ago that she had to stay away from him. I'm becoming mad, very mad.

"Lauren!" I open the door further. "Come upstairs!"

"I will be back," she says before coming to the stairs. I hear her heels clicking on the steps and when she stands in front of me I hit her.

"What did I tell you?"

She doesn't answer. I take her hand and pull her in the front room.

"Ow!" she screams. "Paul, you're hurting me."

I don't care that she's hurt. This will be the last time she is going to ruin my plans. I start hitting her and she tries to protect her body from my hits.

Eventually, she is unconscious and I feel her pulse. It's weak, but she's still alive. I take the gun and shoot right between her eyes.

Good riddance.

Now, I have to change a small part of my plan. I have to dump the body and then I have to do something about loverboy.

I have to think how I'm going to get rid of him, but he will not be on this world for long.

Edward's POV

I sit down in the basement waiting for the next step in Paul's plan, when suddenly a shot rings through the house.

The door opens again and Paul walks down.

"Up!"

I look at him, but stay at my place. Paul takes his gun and points it at me.

"Didn't you hear me?" he yells. "I said 'Get up!'"

I get up and keep my hands up.

"What are you…"

"Shut up! Get upstairs."

I do what I'm told and walk slowly up stairs.

Paul leads me to the living room and I stop in my tracks when I see the blood. In the puddle of blood lays Lauren's body. It's a gruesome sight and I shudder knowing that it could be me or even the kids.

"Go on," Paul urges. "She's not going to bite… anymore."

Paul's laugh echoes through the whole house.

"Open the door."

Paul points to the door on my left and I slowly open it.

"Don't be scared," Paul smiles. "It is something you desperately want."

I look at him.

"Oh don't tell me that you don't know what I mean?" he questions me.

I open the door further and see two small frames sitting on the other side of the room. Stepping closer, I recognize Bella's boy, Nathan and my daughter, Savannah.

"Daddy!"

"Edward!" They both scream. They run into my arms, but before they can reach me a shot rang into the room.

"Nooo."

Bella's POV

I'm sitting in my chair, waiting on news from Gary Taylor.

I still can't believe that Paul used Edward's name to visit Lauren. What else did he use the name for?

The door bell rings and one of the officers that is present opens the door for me.

"Boss," the officer greets the person. I immediately stand up and walk to the front door.

"Detective Taylor," I greet him. "Any news?"

"Just news that you already knew, Miss Swan," he answers while walking into the living room. "We discovered the amount of ransom Paul asked for."

I sigh. "I already told you that."

"Yes," he answers. "But didn't you know that Edward has that kind of money?"

I gasp, shaking my head.

"Apparently he does," Gary explains. "He went to the bank to get it."

"Did you find where he went afterward?"

Gary shakes his head. "I'm sorry, but it's hard to track his phone."

I can only nod. I sit down on one of the loveseats in the room and put my head in my hands.

"We have other news and I'm not sure how you are going to take it."

I look back up. "What?!"

"Lauren Mallory has escaped."

"What!" I scream. "This can't be true."

"Sadly, it is."

"How?"

"I'm going to spare you the gruesome details," Gary says. "But we think that Paul helped her."

"No, that's impossible." I stand up and start pacing. "It can't be true."

"I'm really sorry, Miss Swan."

"I don't want your sorry." I cry. "I want my kids and boyfriend back."

"Is it possible that Paul knew Lauren before her escape?"

"What do you mean?"

"Miss Swan, we are trying to understand why Paul visited her in prison."

"How should I know?" I scream. "Ask them!"

I turn around and leave the room. Every second without Edward and the kids is a second too much.

"Miss Swan," a voice calls out. I turn around and see Amy Moore standing in the door opening.

"What?" I ask her. Even I can hear that my tone is unfriendly. She walks up to me. "I'm sorry for pushing you," she says. I look at her with raised eyebrows. "Can we talk somewhere private?"

I nod and walk to the back entrance of the house. I still don't say a word, while stepping outside on the terrace.

Amy follows me and looks into the garden. "It's beautiful out here."

"I know," I whisper. She gives me a small smile.

"Miss Swan," she starts.

"Bella," I tell her.

"Bella." She takes my hand and forces me to look at her. "I know this is hard, but we have to find out as much information about Lauren and Paul as we can."

"I understand that, but…" I hesitate.

"But what?" Amy asks.

I shake my head.

"Edward, Lauren, and I went to school together."

"Okay, and what about Paul?"

"He was in the army when I met him. He is older than us." I sit down on one of the chairs that are standing outside. "Edward and Lauren were together in high school and they got married right after."

"Because Lauren was pregnant." Amy guessed.

"Apparently she told Edward that Savannah was his, but almost three years later she revealed the truth."

"Did Edward know that Lauren cheated on him?"

"I think he does know now." I look at her. "But that wasn't the question. No, at the time he was blind about Lauren's indiscretions. Lauren was the type of girl that got off in the toilets of the school."

"How was your relationship with her at the time?"

"She hated me," I answer honestly. "She threatened me that if I came close to Edward she would make my life hell."

"What did you do?"

"I didn't do a thing. I closed my eyes. I ignored Edward and became friends with his sister."

The doorbell rings and I stand up to go open it when Amy stops me. "Let my colleagues open the door. I want to talk to you a little longer."

I sit back down and put my head in my hands. "What more do you want to know?"

"It will be very helpful if you tell us more about Edward's relationship with Lauren," she says.

I look back up. "What more can I tell you about? Do you really think that I was following their every move?"

She shakes her head.

"Good, because I wasn't," I say. "I met Paul and I started to focus on him and my friends."

"Is it possible that Paul knew Lauren in that period?"

I shrug.

"Bella, we really want to know the truth behind the relationship between Paul and Lauren."

"God," I scream. "Don't you get it?! I don't know the truth about their relationship. I don't know anything."

"Bella…" Amy is interrupted by someone else.

"Bella!" Alice runs inside and hugs me. She sees Amy and takes a step back.

"Hi, I'm detective Amy Moore," Amy greets Alice.

"Alice Whitlock." Alice turns back to me and looks me in the eyes. "Why didn't you call us?"

It occurs to me, just now, that I forgot about the family. I start to cry and Alice starts hugging me again.

"Miss Whitlock, I…"

"Mrs. Whitlock," Alice corrected her. "I'm married."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Amy apologized. "I have a question."

Alice looks up, but never stops hugging me.

"What do you want to know?"

"Do you know Lauren Mallory?"

"Of course I know that bitch," she answers. "She ruined my brother's life."

"Brother?"

"Edward is Alice's brother," I tell Amy.

"Did you know if Lauren knew Paul in high school?" Amy asks Alice.

Alice looks at me and I just shrug. I didn't understand where they were going with finding out if the cheaters knew each other or not. They both had my babies and my man.

Amy goes to say something, when her cell rings.

"Moore," she answers.

I can't hear what they are saying on the other side, but apparently it doesn't sound good. Amy's face becomes angry.

"Are you sure?"

She looks up at me and I become nervous when I see her worried face.

"Okay, I will be there in ten."

She hangs up.

"Miss Swan, I…"

"What happened?" I interrupted her.

"We found a body."

"No!" I scream and everything becomes black before me.

A/N:
Okay, I know I'm a bad person.
First, I let you all wait for this chapter and second, I give you a enormous cliffie!

Let me know what you think! :)

Greets FeelingBella

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