A/N:

I have to say that I've been missing writing, but my school takes so much of my time that I can't write as much as I like. I can't believe that I finally has finished a few chapters.
I can already tell you that the story is almost done!

I hope you will like this chapter!

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 21

Chapter twenty-one: Support

Previously

"What happened?" I interrupted her.

"We found a body."

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

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

Tanya's POV

Busy.

That's how I have to describe Edward's house right now. All the cops are running around asking questions.

Ever since Edward disappeared Bella's emotions have been all over the place. I knew I had to make everything right. After all, it was partly my fault the kids were kidnapped.

I noticed that neither Bella nor Edward called the family and I knew they would need them. So I did the first thing I could think of. I searched for a phone number I could call. After I found Edward's phone, because it was the only one around, I started looking for a number of someone of his family. The first name that came up was Alice and I remembered she was Edward's sister.

At first I was afraid it was a bad idea, but now that I'm seeing Alice comforting Bella. I know it was really the right thing to do. I still remember the call clearly.

- Flashback –

"Hi, Edward," Alice answers her phone cheerfully.

"Uhm," I stutter. "It isn't Edward?" I say sounding like a question.

"And I'm taking a guess, you're not Bella either."

"Uh, that's right, I'm her friend Tanya," I reply.

"What happened?" she asks warily.

"I don't know how to tell you," I mumble.

"Just tell me," she urges.

"Savannah and Nathan have been kidnapped."

"What!" she screams."What happened? How…When…?"

"I was in the park with them and someone took them when I was looking for my wallet," I explain. Even I can hear the guilt in my voice.

"God!" she mumbles. "Tanya, I don't know you well, but it's not your fault. Do they know who kidnapped them?"

"I wasn't with Bella when she talked with the cops, but I heard Bella's ex-husband's name and also the name Lauren."

"Are you kidding me!" she yells. "I'm coming over."

Before I can react, she already hung up. I didn't have time to tell her that Edward is missing too, guess she'd learn that when she arrives.

- Flashback –

And that's how we are now. Alice came to the house and talked to the cops. She helped Bella with all the news she got.

"Tanya." I look up to see Alice walking down the stairs. "Are you okay?"

I shrug. "I don't know."

"Let's sit down." She leads me to living room and sits down. "Tell me what happened."

I don't know how to start, but I think the beginning is the best option.

"Edward asked for my help with Bella. He wanted to talk to her, but she refused to talk with him. He asked me to take Nathan and Savannah to the park, so he could go to Bella's house."

Alice smiles at that part of the story, but it wouldn't stay that happy.

"Eventually, the kids wanted an ice cream, so I was looking for my wallet. It was just a second, but it was enough for them to be taken."

"I can see and hear that you feel guilty, but it was Paul."

"Paul? The abusive bastard ex of…" I didn't finish my sentence.

Alice just nods.

"Why?"

"I don't know the whole story, but Edward was bringing him money and hasn't returned yet."

"I have a feeling this is about more than just money," I say and I start to wonder what he wants.

Edward's POV

Sitting in the small room, I look at the small boy sitting in front of me. I ripped a piece of my shirt off and wrapped it around Nathan's leg.

"It hurts," he mumbles.

"I know, son," I say. "But everything will be fine."

"Doesn't Daddy love me?" I look at his face and I can see tears forming in his eyes.

"Nathan…" I stop talking, because I don't know what I can tell him. Paul Collins was a cruel psychopath who doesn't care who he hurts.

After he shot his son, he ordered me to help him with Lauren's body.

- Flashback –

"Nooo, Nathan!" I shout. I stand up and look at Paul. "Are you really that heartless?"

Paul just starts to laugh. "He's just a problem in my way."

"He's your son."

"Daddy." Savannah is pulling at my hand and I turn around to see her crying. "Nathan's bleeding."

I realize that he could die if I don't do something. I crouch down and look at Nathan's leg.

"Stop!" Paul yells.

"If I don't do anything, it will get worse."

"Do you think I care?"

Looking him in the eyes, I can see that he means what he said. He doesn't care that his own son could die.

"You bastard." I jump up, but before I can reach him, he points his gun, not at me, but at my daughter.

"Whatever you want to do, I'm going to kill your daughter faster," he says. "So I would stop if I were you."

I stop in my tracks and ball my hands into fists.

"Good boy," he taunts. "Now come with me. I have a job for you."

I walk out of the room.

"Daddy," Savannah cries.

"He will be back, don't worry." He turns around and points to the living room. "Go to that room."

Following his instructions, I walk into the room and close my eyes when I see Lauren's body.

"What do you want?" I ask him. "You have your money."

"Do you really think it's only about the money?" he asks me. I turn around and he was smiling smugly. "The money I need to start over, but the one thing I want the most is…"

"Bella…" I whisper, completing his sentence.

"Oh bravo, loverboy is smart."

"Leave her alone," I scream.

"Or what?" he answers. "If I'm correct, and I'm correct, I'm the one with the gun." To prove his statement he points it at my face. I look him directly in the eyes, trying to show him that I'm not scared.

"You and I are going to take a small trip," he says after a long silence. Putting his gun away, he points at Lauren. "That thing has to leave the house and you are going to help me."

He takes Lauren's legs and I finally understand what I have to do.

"What are you going to do with her?" I ask him, while lifting Lauren's upper body off the ground.

"Sometimes I wonder what Isabella sees in you. You really ask stupid questions."

"Oh, I'm sorry that I don't have a criminal mind such as yours and I don't know what we have to do with a dead body."

"We, and with that I mean YOU, are going to dump this body."

We walk outside and I'm wondering if somebody will see us. When we arrive to my car, he puts down Lauren's feet.

"Keys?" he asks.

"In the pocket of my pants."

"Give them to me."

I put Lauren down and look in my pocket for the keys. Paul reaches out his hand and I put them there. He opens my car and then the trunk.

"Put her in there and get in the car," he says, stepping to the driver's side.

I look at Lauren's body and pick her up, laying her carefully in the trunk. It's bizarre that I'm doing this like I care for her, but even after everything she has done to me and Savannah, she didn't deserve to die like this.

"Can you be faster?" Paul yells. "I don't have time."

I close the trunk and climb in the car.

- Flashback –

He drove for forty minutes, before ordering that I had to dump Lauren into the bushes. When I looked around, before doing just that, I saw he drove us to the park. I could even hear children playing in the distance. Wouldn't it be too easy to find a body here? But I was starting to understand that it was his plan all along.

Afterward, he brought me back to the kids and that brings us here. Nathan's leg wasn't that bad, but I think he would need stitches.

I try to sleep, but it isn't easy on this hard floor.

"Daddy," Savannah whispers. I look at her. "Why does he hate us?"

"I don't know, Sweetie," I lie. "Try to sleep."

She nods and puts her head on my lap. A few seconds later, I can hear a steady breath that indicates that she is sleeping.

Not much later, I fall asleep myself.

Bella's POV

My head hurts. That's the only thing I can remember.

"Bella." I hear someone whispering. "Please, wake up."

I blink my eyes, adjusting to the light.

"Oh God." I groan and look at my side to see the worried face of Alice's .

"You're awake."

"What happened?"

"You blacked out," another voice explains. Amy Moore steps closer and gives me a weak smile. "After I told you about a body we found."

"Edward." I jump up. "Is he okay?"

"That I cannot answer," Amy says. "But the body wasn't his."

"Who?"

"Apparently even Paul got tired of the wicked witch of the west," Alice answers. I look at her surprised.

"Lauren?" I question and look back at Amy. "Lauren is dead?"

Amy nodded. "Shot in the head, but not until after he used her as a punching bag."

I gasp.

"But we are still looking for Mr. Cullen." Amy goes on. "We aren't sure, but we think Paul used him to dump Lauren."

"No, Edward wouldn't do such a thing," I say shaking my head, still trying to grasp my head around all of this.

"If he is trying to protect the kids, he will do anything," Amy explains.

"Detective Moore is right, Bella." I look at Alice. "Edward loves Nathan and Savannah and he would risk his life for them."

"He has to come back," I mumble.

"He will," Alice says determined.

"Look." Amy calls our attention. "People saw him and we found fingerprints on Lauren's bracelet, so for now he's still alive."

"Can you guarantee that?" I ask her.

"We cannot guarantee anything," she answers honestly. "But we are doing everything we can to find him and your kids."

I can only nod.

"Maybe you should rest," Alice suggests. She helps me up, and to the stairs. When she finally helps me in bed, it doesn't take much to fall asleep.

RL

I don't know how long I slept, but when I look outside I can see it's dark. There is a small knock on my door.

"Come in," I call without looking away from the window. I hear the door slowly open, but I don't turn around.

"Can I come in?" a female voice asks.

"Yes, of course." I turn around, recognizing Esme's voice. "When did you arrive?"

"Alice called me this morning, because she was worried about you."

I can only nod. I still wonder how Alice knew to come.

"Why didn't you call us?" she asks the inevitable question that I can't answer. "We would have been here right away."

"I really don't know, Esme," I honestly answer her. "It totally slipped our minds."

"Oh, Sweetie." She hugs me. "I'm not angry, just worried."

I pull back and look into her eyes.

"You and Edward are handling everything on your own. You're not thinking clearly."

"That's not true, because…"

Esme interrupted me. "If you were thinking clearly, you would have told the cops about the message and not try handling all of this on your own, sweetheart."

I start to cry and begin to realize what she is saying is true. We should have talked to the cops about Paul's message.

I sigh. "You're right."

"I'm a mother, sweetheart," she says. "I understand what you're feeling."

I look at her.

"I would have done the same thing as you. Nobody would think clearly in such a situation."

"But because we weren't thinking clearly I can lose my kids and Edward."

Esme takes me in another hug. "Detective Moore and her colleagues are doing everything they can to find them."

"We have some more news!" Alice says storming into the room.

A/N:

Hihi... I know what will happen... I know what will happen!

Okay, I'm not so evil! I hope you liked the chapter, but certainly let me know! :)

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