I don't own Twilight. What I own is my character's behavior, personality, background, and the plot of the story.

Author's note at the end of the chapter.

Edward frowns looking up at Marco. He is pretty sure he just told him something, but Edward was zoned out.

"I told Rosalie that she and Emmett shouldn't come to the hospital and I will keep them posted. I figured that the last thing Cece and you need is more people hounding you," Marco tells him.

"Thanks," Edward whispers looking at the ground.

He hears Marco tell him, "Don't mention it. I am pretty sure you would do the same thing if it was Amanda."

Actually he wouldn't. Edward wouldn't do for Marco what Marco is doing for him. Edward doesn't give two shits about Amanda. He doesn't give two shits about Marco. Sure Marco is a cool man, but he is still the person Bella dated after him and married. He is the person who took his place. No matter how friendly he gets with him, in Edward's mind, Marco will always be the person who took Bella from him.

Now he understands what Bella truly meant when she told him that Marco is a better person than Edward could ever be. This is the best version of himself that Edward has ever been, but this version doesn't even scratch the surface in comparison to who Marco is.

It can't be easy for Marco, yet here he is being kind, and supportive to Edward. Edward could never do that. Edward opens his mouth to speak; maybe to tell him that he isn't as good as him, or maybe to let him know to not expect what he has done for him, or maybe to tell him that he hates him because it seems that Marco has committed himself to show Edward for who he is; a phony.

Nothing comes out. "It's okay man. Don't sweat it," Marco tells Edward patting him on the shoulder, unaware of how much anger is inside Edward.

"Can you keep an eye on Cece? I need the bathroom," Edward finally mutters stiffly.

"Of course."

Edward bolts to the bathroom where he splashes water on his face and slaps it a couple of times to wake himself up then returns to find everyone crowding a doctor.

He runs quickly and once he reaches them, he nudges Marco then points at the doctor and asks, "What did he say?"

"I haven't said anything yet. Your family was waiting for you to arrive," the doctor answers instead.

Edward nods his head and the doctor continues, "Miss Swan had obviously lost a lot of blood by the time she came, so due to that it was touch and go for a while but giving her blood aided in her stabilizing. There was some internal bleeding, but we solved that problem. The bullet missed any vital organs. She had slight bruising on the back of her head from falling to the ground. Thankfully, she didn't have a concussion or any head injury. For now, she is in a lot of pain, so we have decided to place her in a medically induced-coma for the next 35 hours. Then we will start whining her off the medication."

Edward lets out a sigh of relief he didn't know he was holding then goes to sit where he was earlier and runs his fingers through Cece's hair. He doesn't thank god or thank his lucky stars. Instead, he closes his eyes and lets himself remember better times. He focuses on the sound of her laughing like bells chiming in the wind, and for now, it's enough. For him, it's enough.

It's a couple of hours after the family is allowed into Bella's room when Charlie's phone rings. "It's the investigators," Charlie tells them after taking his phone out of his pocket.

Both Edward and Marco turn shapely to look at Charlie. "Put it on speaker," Marco demands reading Edward's mind.

Edward nods his head and Charlie sighs before he does so. "Agent Swan speaking," Charlie answers.

"Agent Swan, this is Detective Crowley speaking. We did the DNA testing and the lab results are back. The officers are on the road to arrest the suspect."

Edward looks at Marco in trepidation. While Edward is hopeful that this would lead to something, Marco was skeptical. The crime was obviously organized and preplanned. Who did it wouldn't be stupid enough to leave such incriminating evidence behind.

Marco nudges Charlie with his foot and whispers yell, "Ask him for a name."

Charlie turns to Marco and glares at him, but Marco isn't fazed and nudges him another time.

Charlie walks away so he isn't within kicking distance for Marco, and then asks while still glaring at Marco, "Who is it?"

"Victoria Hunter."

"What the fuck," Edward whispers lowly as he tries to make sense of what he just heard.

"Thank you detective for keeping me in the loop. Bye-bye," Charlie mutters then hangs up.

He sits slowly on the couch as he mutters to himself, "I meet the woman a couple of times. I should have gotten something from her. Why did she not even cross my mind?"

Edward is quiet for a moment, but then he shakes his head to rid himself of the doubts in his mind. It has to be Victoria. The lady is crazy. It's that simple. The lady is crazy who decided to randomly off Bella. It's not anything more. Denali is in jail. Everything will be okay. Bella is no longer in danger. She is safe.

Edward pats Charlie on the back and consoles him by saying, "It's okay. I didn't see it either. I thoughts the most scandalous thing about her is the fact that she got baby trapped as a teen by a slimy man in his thirties."

Marco who has been silent until then turns to Edward and exclaims, "Come again!"

"I said it's okay. I didn't,", "Not this part the last part. What is this thing about being baby trapped?" Marco demands cutting Edward off.

Edward rubs the back of his neck nervously as he tells him, "I don't know much, but from what I understood from Bella; James used to be a family friend when she was a kid. He got Victoria pregnant with his kid by 19. They ran to Europe because her family was pissed off at James and only recently moved back to the US."

"James Hunter," Marco mutters to himself as if testing the words on his lips.

"That's him. That's her husband," Edward tells him in affirmation.

Marco silently stares into space for a moment before he picks up his jacket and tells him, "Keep me posted on any changes. I need to go and see something."

Hello lovely people,

I wasn't sure exactly how I will precede with Victoria. The second part of the chapter is the result of two days of brainstorming, so hopefully the upcoming events will be worth your wait.

I am patiently waiting for your theories.

Please leave a comment in the review section. It could be your favorite part, thoughts, feeling, or even criticism. Any and every comment you leave is read and taken into consideration. Your comments motivate me to update faster and help me grow as a writer.

Until my next update,

Stay Safe