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.

Bella opens her mouth but nothing comes out.

She swallows and opens her mouth and a faint sound comes out. "What?"

"It's what you heard," Edward tells her still angry.

Bella looks to her dad expectantly and he rubs his face under her steely gaze as he stutters over his next words. "It's not like that. You see it's for the greater good. We want to make sure you are safe"

"By me pretending that the lady that shot me didn't," Bella quips sarcastically.

"Now Bella don't say that to your dad. He doesn't mean it that way," Marco tells her in a soothing voice that comes off as patronizing.

"Oh shut up. No one invited you into this discussion," Bella claps at him giving him a glare then returning her gaze to her dad.

Charlie sighs before he squares his shoulder and uses his agent voice on her, "Whether you like it or not, we aren't stupid. Marco and I are only doing this I protect you. Victoria isn't acting alone."

"No shit Sherlock Holmes. She is working for Eleazar Denali," Bella cuts in.

"How did you know that?" Her dad asks in surprise.

"From Victoria," Bella replies in a bored voice.

"Anyway, Victoria was groomed as a child by James. He got her pregnant then manipulated her into running with him to Europe to ensure he keeps her with him and gets away with what he did."

"He wanted to eat his came and keep it too," Bella concludes.

Charlie nods his head. "But I don't understand why that would excuse what she did to me?" Bella asks her father still confused. She understands that Victoria was dealt terrible cards and was singled out by a disgusting pedophile but that doesn't excuse harming her. Bella has been dealt so many heartbreaks in life, but she never hurt people.

"Victoria wanted to get rid of James. That's why she did what she did," her dad replies.

"What?" Bella asks frowning sounding more confused than before.

"James became part of a crew that ran drugs and killed for Denali in Europe. He came back to the US on his order to get rid of you. Denali still has friends in high places, and when they discovered that Victoria was trying to find a way to run from James with Maria, he gave her an ultimatum,", "She kills me, or he tells James what she is up to," Bella finishes.

Charlie nods his head. "You can't tell me that she is stupid enough to believe that the devil won't betray her," Edward states speaking for the first time since his earlier outburst.

"That wasn't the only thing Denali offered her," Marco states.

"He always pairs the honey with vinegar," Bella mutters quietly to herself.

"What's that Bella?" Edward asks.

"He always pairs honey with vinegar. When he made me break up with you, he did threaten me with handing over the tape of the accident to the police, but he also promised me a fantastic job when I return. The vinegar is to get you kneeling before him, and the honey to make you enjoy kneeling." she tells him.

Bella turns to Marco and tells him, "If I had to wager a guess, I would say he offered to have his friends make sure she gets full custody of Maria."

"Bingo. Now that Victoria is caught, she is angry and ready to sing like a canary," Marco replies with a clap.

"Then why do I need to lie?" Bella asks.

Charlie sits on the bed facing her then takes her hand in his and tells her, "Sweetie, Victoria's words wouldn't do much and you would still be in danger, but if we get to the list of people in his pocket with Victoria's help, we will make sure then that he will never have anyone outside the jail doing his dirty work for him."

Bella stays silent for a minute thinking this over. Her father and Marco do have a point. Denali's lackeys need to get caught. That is the only way forward that protects them. If it was just her, she wouldn't care and wouldn't lie to keep Victoria out of jail. She would personally visit Denali in jail and tell him that his best shot is terrible. She would protect herself and put up a fight.

But she isn't alone. Cece's life is on the line too and she isn't risking it for anything. Even Edward's life is at risk and as much as she hates to admit it, she has grown to care for him and wouldn't want him to be harmed for her ego.

"No, no, no. You aren't agreeing to this," Edward interrupts her thoughts as if he is anticipating where they are going.

Bella just turns to him and gives him a sad look. "Do you want Cece to spend the rest of her life looking behind her back?"

Edward twists his hands across his chest and then tells her, "The answer is still no. You can't do this."

Bella gives him a pleading look begging him to understand with her eyes, but he just shakes his head at her.

She turns to Marco and her father then tells him, "Can you leave us alone."

Hello lovely people,

Thanks to everyone's caring words on my last chapter. The decision on me taking the exam hasn't come out yet, that said I am editing this chapter while awaiting to take a syntax exam, my last scheduled exam as a bachelor student, very exciting time. Hopefully, I am allowed to take the Spanish exam I missed and have it be the last one instead of this one.

On to good news, I will try my best to update the next chapter within 24 hours of this one. As a gift from me to you to celebrate me finishing my bachelor.

The other good news is that I will be updating my other story within a couple of hours. If you read my other story then you know that my Beta has been dealing with some family crisis and so I had to put the story on hiatus. My Beta is feeling better, and sent me back my chapter edited, so once I get back home, I will give it a final read and post it.

As usual, tell me your thoughts in the comment section.

And until then,

Stay Safe