See you again tomorrow.

Chapter 11

I pull my hair and frown at the radio. How in God's name did she get the statutory rape charges dropped? I sigh switching on my iPod. The song that comes on first is the one that was playing in my car, the first time I picked Bella up. I close my eyes listening to it for a few seconds, before switching off.

I finish making dinner in silence. All too soon my siblings come in. I look up frowning, as I see a tall guy standing behind Alice.

"Hi," I say, as I raise my eyebrow at her.

"Hi, this is Jasper – Jasper this is my family," Alice says quickly, as she pushes Jasper toward a seat. I watch as Rose and Emmett sit across from him, and they both give him the evil eye. I chuckle and turn off the warming oven and open it to get everything out. I move it all to the table, sit down and just stare at Jasper.

"Guys, knock it off," Alice says and slaps each of our arms.

We all keep staring, even when we hear the front door open. Soon, our parents walk in and just look at us.

"Who's your guest, Alice?" Mom asks holding back her chuckles.

"This is Jasper – he's a therapist where I've been placed for job study."

"Oh, so you're dating your boss hyphen teacher? So hot," Emmett says with a chuckle and Alice goes red.

"Mom, make them stop. Jasper's having a bad time already at work. One of his clients isn't doing too good."

Mom turns and gives us all the look and we all nod relaxing our demeanor. I smile and start plating up our dinner, handing our guest his plate first. As we eat dinner, we get to know Jasper and he seems to be a great guy. I'm a little worried about the attachment he seems to have toward this client of his. I'm more than sure she means more to him than a simple client should, and I'm not too sure what this means for Alice. I can see it in my baby sister's eyes—she's head over heels for him already.

At the end of the night, Alice sees Jasper to the door and we all sit watching from around the corner. When Jasper kisses her forehead, Mom and Rose cluck and coo. Emmett, Dad and I snigger, as Jasper turns to leave.

Alice closes the door, turns with her arms crossed at her chest, tapping her foot. "I hate all of you," she says, letting out a huff.

"Come on, Alice, come and have a chat with Mom and me about the birds and the bees," Rose states.

The three girls walk off and I'm hit by sadness that Bella's not with them. I know she could do with some girl chat, too.

"Edward?" my father says questioningly.

I turn, looking at my dad, who seems to have a sad look on his face. It's almost as if he knows where my thoughts were heading.

"We can't change the past, Son, only the future."

I nod and walk slowly with them into the living room. Emmett hands us each a beer before switching on the game.

*~FB~*

The weeks seem to drag by, and Jasper has become a member of the family. He's clearly as taken by Alice, as she's enamored by him. He even spoke to us about his client a little. He keeps it simple, saying how he's known her for over a year now. How she's had a hard life, which seems to just get worse. He also goes into great detail about how he's fearful for her safety, both mentally and physically.

It's Sunday and we just finished with our family dinner. We're all sitting around watching the game on TV. At halftime, the local news station breaks in with a short news break. We're all chatting, but soon our attention is directed to the screen again.

"In local news, the Denali Corporation is still under deep investigation as more and more families come forward. Eleazar Denali passed away almost ten months ago, when his daughter Isabella Denali-Swan took over."

I swallow as my head snaps to the TV andthere's a picture of Bella along with Eleazar on the screen.

"Many think the current hardships are because Isabella's only eighteen with no actual business experience. We have managed to speak with many of her school friends – one being her ex-boyfriend Michael Newton. Mr. Newton has told KOMO News Seattle, that Isabella has always been harsh and thought she was above her classmates. He claims that when the school would have the classes go out helping the community or homeless, Isabella would say they deserved everything they got."

"What the hell? Her dad's name was Charlie! What the hell are they talking about?"

"What?" Jasper says

"Her dad – his name is Charlie, not Eleazar Denali."

"How do you know that?"

I sigh, "Because I was teaching her about—"

Before I can finish my sentence, Jasper hits me over and over again.

"You fucking son-of-a-bitch," he yells as he continues to hit me. It literally takes Emmett and my dad to drag him off of me.

"What the hell man?" Emmett says.

"What are you looking at me for, he's the one who fucked her and dumped her. Not only that, but he told that bitch of a whore, Tanya, that he was only out to get her. He said he only slept with her, because she had money."

I swallow realizing that Jasper is Bella's therapist, and she's the client he's been worried about.

"I love her! The viper," I swallow, "Tanya – she threatened to take Bella's business away if I didn't dump her."

Jasper just chuckles at me as the family looks at us in shock. I am not sure it is because I just declared that I love Bella out loud or the fact they are learning that I slept with Bella for the first time.

"Bella owns the fucking company as well as Tanya's ass. Don't tell me that you didn't know; she said she told you."

I shake my head, as I drift back again to the first day with her. She fucking told me, but I was such an ass, I didn't hear anything she said.

"I didn't listen," I say weakly and Jasper just chuckles.

"She spent four nights in jail over this shit."

I swallow again and frown.

"But it was Tanya, not her," I say as I pull my hair. What the fuck have I done?

"Mom, call Jenks, tell him there's been a mistake—a huge mistake."

"Please, Jasper, tell me where she is – please?"

He shakes his head. "You may stand here and claim that you didn't know, but fuck that. Even after what you said, what you did, and what she saw, she still gave you every penny she said she would."

I frown, because I had honestly forgotten about the money and the account. All our accounts have been frozen with the closing of the business, so I never even looked. I move to the computer and pull up the online banking. I haven't looked at this account in months. Pretty much from when Bella and I started being friends. I entered my log-in info and password. When the account info loads, I'm shocked to see the balance is over three million dollars in available funds. Of course, no one knew of the account, so therefore, it hasn't been frozen. I feel the tears running down my face and I wipe them away.

"Tell her I'm so fucking sorry," I say without turning around.

Jasper just huffs and I hear him walking out of the house.

It doesn't take too long for Jenks to get an emergency hearing with the judge. Jenks calls us and tells us that the court date has been set for all parties involved. Jenks contacted all the families that have come forward, and they agree it wasn't Bella they were talking about. It even became more apparent why the statutory rape charges were dropped. At the time the boy was sixteen almost seventeen, Bella was only seventeen herself. They would have both been minors, even though it wasn't Bella in the first place. No one questioned the fact, because the parents were so outraged.

The court date was in the morning, and I'm both happy and worried about seeing Bella after three months. The whole night I'm unable to turn my brain off. The stress of this whole situation makes me ill. I don't eat much, and I'm not sleeping well either. I can't even get lost in the memories of my time with Bella anymore.

~*FB*~

Today is the day in court and I'm up and ready before the rest of the family. We leave extra early for the courthouse. I think my whole family has picked up on how nervous I'm feeling. Time goes by so slowly, while we wait. It feels like days instead of hours, before people start to arrive. I watch as some of the Denali board members along with the Viper—who looks smug—comes in and sits down. I can't help but continue to watch the door, waiting for her to get here.

The first person I see is Jasper, and then Aro. I frown as they walk slowly to the front. They're almost near me, when my eyes hone in on Bella. I gasp out her name and her eyes meet mine. My heart sinks a little more with sadness at the sight of her. What the fuck have I done to this girl? Her skin looks gray and her hair is dull. Her eyes look red and puffy, but drawn in. I can tell without her taking her coat off that she's has lost at least ten to fifteen pounds.

I get up to move toward her a little and she curls into Aro's side. He jerks his head in my direction, and I can see the hate for me so clear in his face.

"I am so sorry," I say, but it seems to get lost in the increasing volume of voices that are all talking about Bella.

"All rise for the honorable Judge Brandon," the bailiff says.

Everyone around me stands and my father pulls me back to his side.

"Be seated," Judge Brandon says after sitting.

I listen as he talks briefly about why we are here today. I watch Bella's back, not getting any type of reading from her at all.

"Mr. Edward Cullen," I'm surprised to hear my name and I swallow as I stand up and move to the stand. I'm sworn in and sit in the chair I'm directed to.

"You were the first person to log a complaint. Can you take me through it?"

I bob my head. "Yes, Sir, my family business was co-owned by Eleazar Denali. We had some issues with him removing large amounts of money from the business account without warning." I stop and look around, when I hear someone speaking.

"Miss Denali, you will get your chance," Judge Brandon says harshly, "please carry on, Mr. Cullen."

"Her name is Swan," I say as I turn looking at the judge and he frowns at me.

"Pardon?" Judge Brandon says to me.

"You called her Miss Denali, her name is Miss Swan."

The judge looks to Bella and I turn to see her nod at him.

"This is going to last all day," Judge Brandon says with a sigh. "Please, do carry on, Mr. Cullen."

I take him through everything that happened, including meeting Bella. The only thing I leave out is the fact I slept with her. I do say that the Viper, Tanya Denali, has photo shopped pictures of Bella with her ex-boyfriend, but leave out that she was naked in them. After being on the stand, I'm told to step down. I go back and sit beside my father as Bella is called to the stand.

"Miss Denali, err, Swan, please take me through this," Judge Brandon states.

"My dad was named, Charles Eleazar Denali Swan. He used his two middle names for any business he did. Only his true friends, like Edward Masen, knew his real name. I didn't know Edward Masen was Edward Cullen's grandfather. When he, Edward Masen, passed away, it became clear my father was sick. He had dementia and Alzheimer's among other health problems, which led to his death."

Bella tell us a little about her father illness and what all had happened those last months of his life. The whole courtroom seems to hmm and hah with this revelation. It's clear that this was not his fault and he was clearly a sick man.

"When he died they—the board—gave me until August of this year to be ready to take over. They said Tanya Denali was already in the job as CEO, so it would be best to leave her where she was."

Judge Brandon holds up his hand for Bella to stop talking.

"Is she, Tanya Denali, a member of your family?"

I tilt my head wondering about Tanya's last name myself. I know she's not family, as Bella's already told me she had no one.

"No, she's not – going by her work information, she changed her last name when she moved here from Russia, twenty years ago."

Judge Brandon nods and waves his hand. "Maybe I should've explained a bit better. Tanya was seen with my father a few times. Where the media knew that he had a daughter, they did not know anything about me. I believe at some point they thought it was Tanya, and my father never debunked that to keep me safe from the press. It was only a week after my father death when I was called in for the first meeting. I was told that Tanya was the CEO and James was the COO. They even gave me these contracts to sign." Bella holds up some papers. "It was not until the police came that I saw I was down as the CEO, and Tanya as the COO. They had tons of contracts that had my signature on them, but I never seen them before. It was just so confusing. But there is a little difference in that fact she signed some of them I. Swan, where I always sign Bella Swan. Ironically the I, which I contend I did not sign looks an awful lot like a T."

Bella takes a deep breath before moving on to the time explaining about the number of times she felt something was up, but didn't know enough to be sure. Thankfully, she also supported each of the companies here, and even more that have not come forward.

"You are clear that you have just told me in court that Ms. Denali . . . ah, Tanya Denali, along with at least four other staff members, have tricked these people and committed fraud to ... seventeen companies?"

Bella swallows and nods. "Yes, your honor, and I have set out two million for each of the companies affected, as a way to make up for my staff's behavior."

"That's a lot more than what they would get, if this were brought to a civil matter. Are you sure about this?" Judge Brandon asks clearly shocked about the amount.

"Yes, your honor. I have also spoken at great lengths with some of the companies, and have two workers set up that will continue to help the companies that were hurt to get back on their feet."

"Okay, well …" Judge Brandon stops and scratches his head, "would the people here agree that this is not the woman you were planning on taking to court?"

There are a resounding number of people saying yes around the room. Tanya sits there with her arms crossed over her chest.

"All the counsel involved will take twenty minutes to decide if your clients are willing to take the offer, or would like to take this suit further. Do this now, while I read over some of these papers again," Judge Brandon says, but doesn't leave the bench.

It takes less than five minutes for everyone to agree to the terms Bella offered. When the twenty minutes is up, the attorneys for each of the clients hand over signed agreements to the bailiff. The judge looks over the papers and clears his throat.

"Okay, well, this all appears to be in order. Now, Ms. Tanya Denali, please approach the stand."

Tanya stands up slowly and approaches the bench. After being sworn in, she takes a seat on the stand.

"Ms. Denali, is there a reason why you told these people that you were the daughter of the late Mr. Eleazar Denali?"

"They are mistaken your honor. I never told anyone I was his daughter. If anyone would have said that, I would've set them straight."

I smile and put up my hand. "Your honor, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I can prove she's lying."

"How is that, Mr. Cullen?"

"I have a recording where she did in fact say that she was his daughter." I hold it out and the bailiff takes it and hands it over to the judge. I watch as he hands it back and tells the bailiff to play it out loud. As the recording plays the Viper pales, as she listens to herself destroy what she thought was the only recording I had that day in her office. After the tape plays in its entirety, the judge turns back to the Viper.

"You, my dear, have found yourself in contempt of court. You are being charged with perjury. There's also the charge of statutory rape that I believe you will find you're being charged with as well. You're also going to be thoroughly investigated by the District Attorney's office, regarding the time frame in which you were the CEO-COO of Miss Swan's business. None of that covers any and all civil suits you'll certainly be facing from any of the victims, including Miss Swan herself. Bailiff, take Ms. Tanya Denali into custody, and contact the Sheriff to place her under arrest."

The entire courtroom cheers as the Viper is led away. Soon as the Viper has been pulled away, the judge makes quick work with the other things Bella had pointed out. Funny enough, it was nearly all that she brought with her today.

As soon as the judge walks out after dismissing the court, I make my way to Bella.

"Bella," I say softly.

"Good morning, Mr. Cullen," she says looking to the floor. "Mrs. Cullen, I need you to sign this," Bella says. I watch her hand papers to my mom, who must have followed me over. I frown as my mom signs them without even reading them.

"And this one please," Bella says again with her eyes down.

"Here's your set of papers, showing the Masen Company and your family home are fully in your hands. I—my company—no longer own any interest in either place. They are yours free and clear. You'll receive the cashier's check for two million dollars by the end of today."

My hand shoots out and I grab her arm.

"Bella, that's not we want. I want to tell you I'm sorry," I say, but again Bella's head stays down.

"This is for you," Bella says handing me a piece of paper and I look at it frowning even more.

"Bella, let me explain, please," I beg, looking back at her.

"That's a list of current jobs at my company. Just let me know which one you want. I'll have my attorney draw up the contract."

"Bella," I say with a sob.

"Please, if you can get back to me soon as you can, I need to fill these jobs immediately. Thank you for your time, but I have to go. I've got a lot of people to see today."

Bella almost runs away from me and I feel my mom touching my arm and she cries next to me.

A/N: So were any of you surprised or shocked by this twist in the story? Some of you suspected this, but a lot did not. There will be a chapter posting tomorrow and again on Saturday. After that the rest of the story will post on Mon. Wed. Fri. until fully posted with the final chapter posting on Monday August 25th as planned.