Okay, one more update tomorrow, before we go to the Monday, Wednesday, Friday posting schedule. Enjoy.

Chapter 12

"Edward, take some deep breaths." I can vaguely make out Rose's voice.

"I've called Peter; he's on his way. I think he's having a panic attack or something," Alice says, but I'm not sure who she's talking to or about.

There seems to be a ringing in my ears and my chest feels tight. It's as if an elephant or something is sitting down on me. I jump a little, when I feel someone else touch me. I look up and frown at the man that is kneeling in front of me.

"Edward, my name is Peter. Can you take some deep breaths for me?"

I look at him puzzled.

"Just in and out," he says. He shows me what he wants me to do. He takes in a deep breath, exaggerating his movements and then lets it out. I keep the frown on my face, but copy his movements.

"That's it, Edward, well done," Peter says, before starting to talk about yesterday's ballgame. He makes a few jokes that make me chuckle and I'm surprised that the weight on my chest eases off. I realize I'm home, but I have no idea how the hell I got here.

"What happened?" I ask, as I glance at my family who all look worried.

"You had a panic attack at the courthouse, and your family was worried when you didn't respond to them. Alice called me to come and see you."

As the word courthouse come out of his mouth, I see Bella in my mind.

"Bella, where is she?" I ask, jumping up and my chest starts to feel tight again.

"Edward, you need to calm yourself." I chuckle at him and start to pull my hair.

"Calm, have you not seen her? Did you see what I've done to her?" I yell.

"Yes, I've seen Bella. She's one of Jasper and my clients, but you're not responsible for her."

I stop and just look at him. "Where is she?" I almost beg.

"I can't give you that information."

I look at him pleadingly. "I need to see her. I need to tell her I'm sorry for what I said and did. I need her to know I love her, and I think that she's amazing."

Peter gives me a faint smile, but says nothing.

"I know that she will never be with me, and I'll be lucky if I can ever have her call me an acquaintance of hers. I need her to know that she did nothing wrong. All of this, everything is on me."

"I can pass a message onto her, but I cannot tell you where she is."

I nod at him and walk away getting a pen and paper.

Bella~

I am so, so sorry for what I said to you that day in my family home. This would have been avoided, if I'd just listened to you that first day. But I was, and still am pretty much an asshole. I know that you heard me in court and you know most of my side of things. The one thing you don't know is how great I think you are. I LOVED spending time with you. You are a SMART, FUNNY and KIND girl. You're too good for the likes of me. The time I spent with you was the best of my life. Even the learning side was really something more, so much more than I expected. I miss you so much, but I fucked up. I know this. I wish you the best and I would like to work for you. Not because you offered me my dream job, but because I owe it to you. I will help you and the business as best I can. I will let you lead what we are, even if it can only be just employee and employer. But you should know now that I'm going to do my best to win your friendship back. I want to prove to you that I can be your family.

XOXO – Edward~

I put the letter in an envelope and hand it to Peter, who puts it inside his coat pocket. I look through the list and see she's given me a choice of all the company's top jobs. I see that CEO is not listed, but COO is. I can only assume this means Bella will be the CEO.

"The Chief Operations Officer is the job I will take. According to this, I will basically be running the company and only the CEO and board of directors is above me. That is the job I'll take, if she's okay with me taking that job?"

Peter again nods his head. I know that job will be a lot of work, but I will be working mainly with her. Peter walks out of the house after he's happy that I have calmed down enough. He advises me to come and see him at some point next week.

I sit back down on the sofa and the whole family just stares at me.

"What?" I ask and each seems to give me a weak smile, before walking away leaving me alone with my thoughts. By the end of the day, we have two million put in to the family business account. A courier dropped off all of the paperwork regarding the transactions.

~*FB*~

The week flies by fast and I have been trying to get myself ready to start my new job. My contract arrived the day after Peter left. The only add-on to the job was that I had to agree to see Peter once a week. I'm still unsure why that was put in, but I do have a feeling that it was Bella's doing. Of course, I agreed immediately, anything to help me and Bella both.

The news is still in full swing with everything that has happened. Sadly, the media seems to have latched on to Bella, and most have been putting her in a bad light. This seems to be working well, especially thanks to Michael Newton. I really need to pay him a visit.

The paparazzi have been camped outside of her main office trying to get pictures of when she comes and goes. So far, like me, they have no idea where she's living.

I take a few deep breaths before walking into the building. Right away I'm met with harsh stares from the security that threw me out of here on the Viper's demand.

"Hi, are you Mr. Edward Cullen?" I turn looking at the woman that spoke and nod at her as I offer her my hand.

"I'm Renee and I'll be your secretary. Follow me and I will get your badge, parking space, and key card entries taken care of before taking you up to your office."

I nod and follow her. The security pales a little, when they hear I'm the COO of the company. As soon as I have my badge and other cards, Renee leads me to the top floor.

My office is very nice and well set up. I smile as I walk around. Once I have put my things where I want them, I walk out to Renee.

"Has Bella arrived yet?" Renee tilts her head a little like she's unsure of whom I'm speaking about.

"The CEO, you know the person in charge?" I say and she nods chuckling.

"Yes, down there, next door," Renee says pointing down from her desk. I walk away grinning a little that Bella's office is right next door to mine.

I knock on the door and go in the front office. I pull at my hair, when I find no one at the desk outside. There's a clear male voice that yells for me to come in the CEO's office.

"Hi, I'm Edward, and I'm looking for Bella, is she here yet?"

The man glares at me from when I said my name and I tilt my head wondering what that is about.

"Hello, Edward, Bella's not due to arrive today. She only comes in for important meetings. I'm Caius, and I will be running this company, with you, it seems."

"What? She didn't say anything and she's worked her ass off to hold this job. Is this something the board has decided?" I ask a little harshly and Caius just looks at me.

"No. Aro said after everything that went down these past few weeks, that it was best she had a break. She asked me if I would come out of retirement and help her."

I swallow closing my eyes. "How do you know her?" I ask weakly.

"Aro's my brother."

I nod, understanding that glare more now.

"Do you have anything you want me to work on right away?" I ask trying not to sound so depressed.

"Yes, I have a few accounts you need to make yourself aware of. I'll have Sasha bring them to Renee as soon I have them all."

I give him a curt nod walking back out. Fuck, I really thought I was going to get to work with her.

The day goes by fairly fast and I stay busy. As soon as I had work in front of me, I got on with it. Even with the absence of Bella, I found that I was enjoying it. It's good to put my skills back to work.

~*FB*~

I have been working for one month now. Each week I have written Bella a letter, and gave it to Peter to pass on for me. He swears he's passing them on, but so far I haven't had any reply. The only thing I do know is Sue has met with her, and for that I'm glad. I'm happier knowing she has contact with someone.

Even with things quiet on her side, the media's still printing shit about her. Due to the fact she's not been seen, they've taken to just making shit up. Sadly, this is all people have to go on, so they of course, believe every word printed.

On the upside, my family business has been doing a lot better. Emmett and Rose have moved into their own house, just across the street. They needed a house of their own; mainly due to the fact Rose is pregnant.

I have also moved out, and I have been finding the more time passes, the less I spend with my family. It's not that I don't want to, but because my mom still misses Bella so much— almost as much as I do—but also Alice. Alice still lives there and she's now dating Jasper. Not that he's said anything, but I get the feeling he finds it hard to be around me.

My work life has been going well, but besides Bella, I feel that there's something missing. I need more than what I'm getting from my job. I managed to do a good job so far and get to know my fellow workers. I have quickly gained acceptance, even Caius no longer glares at me. If anything, he looks at me with some pity. He's kind enough to say something about Bella every once in a while, and this is the only reason I know Sue was with her. Sue has returned home now, but at least she was there for Bella for a while.

I sigh rubbing my face as Renee brings me the newspaper along with some strong coffee. "You set for the meeting?" she asks sitting down at the other side of my desk.

I nod taking a sip of coffee. "Good, because your girl's going to be there."

I look up at her as my heart starts beating faster. "Bella?" I ask and she nods as she chuckles at me.

"She just arrived and she's with Caius right now."

I swallow closing my eyes.

"She's looking better—well she no longer looks sick—she even smiled and waved at me."

I open my eyes and give her a nod. Renee is a very nice woman, not that many will see that from just looking at her. She has the blond model look, the one that makes most people think she's a back-stabbing bitch. However, for me she has been my saving grace.

She's helped me with Bella, by giving me a look into a woman's mind. She knows just about everything that went down between Bella and me. After smacking me in the head and yelling at me about how stupid I was, she was the one who encouraged me to continue writing letters.

"You have five minutes to calm yourself and get your composure together before the meeting." Renee raises her brow at me and I nod.

I feel my heart racing and I'm unsure if I'm ready to see her again. There's a large part of me that does, but there's also the side that's afraid she will reject me again. I'm just not sure I can cope with having her so close, but yet so far away. To have her right there, but unable to touch, grin, or call her my little chef.

All too soon Renee tells me that it's time. I walk into the large boardroom with Renee on my heels. I sit at my designated seat and try hard not to stare at the door. My eyes seem to be looking that way, even with my head facing the seat across from me.

Everyone else comes in taking their seats. Last to walk in is Caius, with Bella right behind him. I'm pleased to see she has her head held up and is not letting the pressure of this pending meeting get to her. Renee is right, she looks better, the gray tint to her skin is gone and her eyes are no longer puffy and red. She still looks too thin, not to mention sad. Her eyes go to mine and she gives me a nod and a small forced smile.

I feel so fucking proud of Bella as she holds her own in the meeting. A number of times the older members of the board try to just make decisions and just dismiss what Bella has to say. Like when they wanted to lay off two hundred staff to cover the loss that Bella paid out to the companies in the lawsuit. Both Caius and I jumped in to support Bella, when she said that they would not be laying off any workers, or downsizing.

It turns out she didn't need us to defend her anyway. She calmly informed them all, that she and only she, holds sixty-five percent of the casting vote and she's against sacking anyone. She then carried on and called them out on their bullshit. It turns out Bella paid the companies from her personal account and not the company account. Therefore, Denali Corporation suffered no loss at all. Lastly, she said that they, the board members, would see a pay cut before she fired anyone. When they huffed about this, she smirked saying that they were receiving two hundred thousand more annually than the average company.

I couldn't hide or stop the smile on my face at the end of the meeting. It was quite funny to watch all those board members tuck tail and shuffle out of the room, having been put in their place. Once almost everyone is out of the room, I stand when Bella does.

"Hi," I say softly to Bella. Caius gives me a nod walking away.

"Hi, Mr. Cullen, are you settled in okay?" Bella asks, keeping her head down. She's making it look like she's looking over the papers.

"Yes, I have, please, call me Edward." I tilt my head down trying to see Bella's face.

Bella doesn't say anything, so I begin to speak again. "I've missed you. Did you get my letters?"

"Yes, I have."

I sigh, pulling at my hair. "If you want me to stop sending them, I will." Bella frowns and I chuckle a little. "I like writing to you, it makes me feel still connected in some way. Maybe I could just give them to Peter and you can decide if you want them."

"No, it's fine, you can still write to me if you want to."

I nod, but still feel worried that she's still not looking at me. "Please, just look at me," I beg.

I watch as Bella closes her eyes and swallows, before looking up. "I'm sorry, Edward, that was rude of me. I'm glad that you have settled well into your job. You seem to be perfect for the position and Caius has given you rave reviews. I need to go now, so later."

I'm unable to speak again, the hurt in Bella eyes is so clear, and I know I'm the one that put it there. By the time I come out of my shock, Bella has left.

I spend the rest of the day and night by myself. The next morning, Renee brings me my coffee and the newspaper. She gives me a sad smile and a little sigh. I know she's not happy that I keep closing myself off, but I just can't handle being around couples in love right now.

I flick through the paper just scanning most of it. I read the business section thoroughly. I turn the pages of the community section, but stop suddenly and go back.

I read the small story with a page number attached to it. Quickly, I turn to the other page and my head feels like it will blow up. Fuck, does she ever get a break? This may be the thing that breaks her. Why didn't she tell me? I rub my face? FUCK IT, she's getting my support if she wants it or not.

"Renee, I need to leave for the day," I say as I walk out my office.

I arrive at the church as the service is just about to begin. I see Bella, who is alone at front of the church. I quickly, but quietly, make my way up to the pew she's in. I sit down next to her and she barely looks my way. I take a deep breath, before sliding my hand to hers. I only let go of my breath, when she interlocks our fingers.

I know this doesn't mean she's my friend or even forgiven me, but I'm happy that she's letting me be here for her. The service slowly drags on and I say my own goodbyes to Marcus and Debbie. I know that they were not only Bella's friends, in her eyes, they were her family.

A/N: Okay so for those who forgot, Marcus and Debbie ran the restaurant that was big but much overlooked because of the location and older building it is in. Bella and her father use to go there a lot, and Bella took Edward there. So what are your thoughts?