34

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me," Bella snarled, pushing past Renee and beating her hands on the iron door. "Let me out of here! Fucking let me out of here right the fuck now!"

"It's not going to work," Renee said, placing her hand on Bella's shoulder, who turned and pushed the woman away from her. "Bella!"

"Put your hands on me again and I'll fucking kill you, bitch!"

Renee took a couple steps backward, putting her hands up in surrender. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'd never hurt you, Bella. I'm your mother."

"You were my mother," she quipped, folding her arms in front of her. "You stopped being my mother when you sent me away to be raped."

Renee pressed her lips into a thin line.

"That's what I thought," she snarled. Bella turned back toward the door, placing her hands on the metal door. "I fucking hate you."

"I know."

When she looked over her shoulder, she found her mother sitting on the bottom bunk, her elbows resting on her knees, and her face buried in her hands. She could her hear crying, watched at her shoulders shook. She should have cared, but she just didn't anymore. The phrase 'her give a damn was done' came to mind when she looked at the woman who used to be her mother.

"Save the tears for someone else," Bella said, and when Renee looked over at her, she saw the moisture on her cheeks. "You have no idea what I've been through because of you."

"I do know," she groused. "I never meant for him to go to such extremes." And when Bella rolled her eyes, she said, "I didn't, Bella, but you didn't give me a lot of options, did you? You weren't going to . . . you weren't going to give her up."

"Options?" Bella scoffed, almost laughing in the bitches face. "You could have just accepted me for who I am, but no, instead you sent me to live with a man I barely knew, who never, ever loved me because he could straighten me out, right? You told me at the airport: if I wasn't going to listen to you, maybe I'd learn from him."

Renee frowned.

"You told him to use whatever measures needed," she added, and Renee snapped her eyes to her, she said, "Phil paid me a little visit. Gave me the pictures you took of me and Angie. Copies of the text you sent him, telling him it was worse than you thought, to use whatever measures necessary. Your reputations were on the line, after all."

"You have no idea what kind of pressure we've been under because of you."

"I don't care," she argued. "You were my mother and you threw me away, gave me to a man you knew would . . . would rape the gay out of me."

Renee frowned.

"Like he did you," Bella added, causing Renee to look up at her. "He told me I'd learn to love dick, like you did."

Renee clamped her lips together.

"Oh, my God, it's true," Bella whispered, falling against the door.

"He didn't . . . he didn't rape me to make me straight. I was never . . . like you."

"A lesbian? Say the word, Renee, it won't kill you."

"I wasn't a lesbian, okay? Happy?" she snapped, standing up.

"No, I am not happy," she said, shaking her head. "I am so far from being happy you wouldn't even believe it."

"Me too."

Bella slid to the floor, pulling her knees in front of her. "He raped you."

Renee tensed, but nodded. "He wanted me to be his, said he always got what he wanted, and refusing him wasn't an option. And it wasn't, not for a long time, Bella. But I got away," she said, almost like she was talking to herself. Renee sat back on the edge of the bed, her eyes shifting to Bella. "I left when I found out I was pregnant with you. He found me just before you were born, insisted on being a part of your life."

"He wasn't though," she said. "I barely saw him."

"Because I did everything I could to keep him away from you, Bella. I never wanted you to get hurt, like I had, but you just . . . I saw you with her, and I couldn't let you throw away everything we had worked for because you had stupid little feelings for her. Especially when she didn't feel the same way as you. She's with the Ben Cheney, isn't she?"

"This had nothing to do with whether or not Angie shared my feelings. You couldn't deal with the fact that I'm gay."

Renee flinched.

"Why does it matter that I'm a lesbian? Why is it such a big fucking deal?"

"Because it's not natural."

Bella shook her head. "It is for me."

They sat in silence for several minutes. She wasn't sure what to say to Renee at this point. She wanted to scream obscenities at her, but what good would it do? In her mind, being gay was the worst thing a person could be, and that made it okay for her to send her to a man who knowingly raped her. A real mother would never do something like that to their daughter. No, Renee was not her mother. Not anymore, and never again.

"Bella," Renee started, but they both scrambled to their feet when the heard someone outside of their cell, the sound of the lock turning, and a moment later, the door opened and Maggie stood there, her eyes shifting between the two.

"Come on," Maggie said, reaching for Bella, who didn't give her mother another look before she fled the cell and hurried into the hallway. She gripped her arm tight and started dragging her further down the hallway, and into a large, interrogation room. "Sit."

Bella bit back a retort about being treated like a dog, but did as she was told and sat in the uncomfortable, metal chair. She leaned back and pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. Luckily, she didn't have to wait long. Minutes later, the door opened, and Emmett hurried in, his eyes meeting hers, and his face crumbling as he crossed the room, swooping her into his arms.

"Come on, sweetheart," he murmured, kissing the top of her head.

"Where are we going?"

Emmett smiled and looked down at her. "I'm taking you home."

"I don't understand. What about the murder charges?"

"We'll explain when we get you home. Just don't say another word, all right?"

Bella nodded, biting the inside of her lip as he ushered her out of the small interrogation room, down a narrow hallway, stopping in front of a set of double doors. The doors buzzed and he pushed them open, through the front desk area, out into the waiting room, and through the double doors that led outside. Standing next to the curb were Alice and Carlisle. Bella pulled herself out of Emmett's arms and hurried over, throwing herself in Alice's embrace, their lips pressing against each other's, and Bella knew she would do whatever she had to stay safely in the arms of the love of her life.

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