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.
"What took you so long?" Marco demands the moment Edward is close enough to hear him.
"I left as soon as Cece fell asleep," Edward answers panting, coming to a stop in front of Marco. "How is she?"
Marco glances worriedly at the door of the hospital room of Victoria, then returns his gaze to Edward and replies, "Not good man. Not good at all. We failed her. She broke her leg in two places, cracked a couple of ribs, and on top of that, James took her daughter. I failed her."
"You didn't fail her. You did the best you could with what you had," Edward consoles him.
Marco shakes his head and tells him, "No I didn't, but that isn't what is important. What is important now is that we need to keep her safe and keep you guys safe."
"Did the police take her testimony?" Edward asks hoping that she said something to clue them in on how Denali found out about her involvement.
Marco nods his head and tells him, "I was in the room. She was barely cohesive. They finally had mercy on her and decided to come back tomorrow."
Edward shakes his head and tells him, "Man, I wish I could wring that piece of shit with my bare hands. On top of the physical pain, having her daughter kidnapped by that psychopath, I can't imagine how she is feeling. I would be losing my mind if it was Cece who was kidnapped. I do not envy her at all."
"About that," Marco tells him pausing for a second to find the right words, "Things are going to change to protect you, Bella, and her."
"What do you mean?" Edward asks in confusion. Wasn't the entire point of him moving in with Bella and Cece and learning how to use a gun all to keep them safe?
"You don't seem to understand. Denali is onto us," Marco tells him in a hard tone.
Edward runs his fingers through his and mutters to him, "I thought the whole point of me moving in and learning to shoot was to keep us safe."
Marco lets out a humorless chuckle then tells him, "That was before we stopped knowing who Denali was sending after you. Now it's a guessing game. we already sent a police officer to guard the house moment I found out about Victoria, and someone from the Boston PD is guarding Bella until she boards her flight and another officer will be waiting for her in the airport."
"So you decided that both of them would need protection, but I won't? Does that mean I won't be part of whatever plan you have?" Edward asks sounding hopeful. he doesn't want to go into hiding. It doesn't hold any appeal to him. He has built a good system for himself, and he doesn't want to disrupt it.
Marco smirks then tells him, "Not really. A police officer was tagging you on the ride to the hospital. I just assumed you would be smart enough to figure that out on your own," and then not wanting to waste time, goes over the full plan of protection that he and Charlie concocted months ago in case of an emergency.
"Speaking of Charlie, where is he?" Edward asks falling into one of the uncomfortable metal seats in the hospital corridor.
"He is preparing for us to go into hiding," Marco tells him joining him in the seats.
They sit in silence for a couple of seconds with each one of them deep in their thoughts. Marco keeps going over everything they have done, looking for mistakes, or any warning signs he ignored, but comes up empty. He did everything by the books. It simply makes no sense. what's worse is; what would stop what happened from happening again?
Nothing can stop what happened from happening again, not unless he finds out how it happened.
How did Denali find that Victoria is working for them?
he rubs at his temple as his head continues to throb. He feels like he is losing his mind. Nothing makes sense.
Marco fiddles with his phone hoping to find any update, but finds nothing. Groaning to himself, he places his head in his hands and massages his temples. "Take."
He looks up to find a hand holding a cup of water and what looks like a painkiller. he looks up the hand and finds Edward looking down at him in concern. His thanks are barely audible as he takes the pill and water from them and swallows them quickly.
"Feeling better?" Edward asks with a hopeful smile.
Marco shakes his head and opens his mouth but comes up empty. "My fault," he finally whispers then returns his head to his hands.
There is silence for a couple of seconds that gets interrupted by Edward telling him, "It probably is."
Marco looks up in shock and finds Edward staring ahead. "Would it being your fault change the outcome?"
Marco shakes his head. "Then stop blaming yourself. You can't change what happened," Edward tells him right as the door of Victoria's hospital room opens and the doctor walks out.
"You can go in first," Marco tells him then returns his head to his hands.
Edward nods his head and gets up then walks into the room before it can close. he hates touching doorknobs of hospitals. He only remembers how much he hates hospitals when he gets the wind knocked out of him. His eyes slowly trail over her feet, then her blanketed legs and torso till he reaches her neck and finally her face. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight that greats him. There isn't an inch of visible skin that isn't bruised. Finally, he meets her eyes and flinches at the glare that greets him. She doesn't blink as her gaze slices through him leaving Edward wondering if his arrival a couple of hours late warrants this much anger.
When did she start believing that she was important to him?
He is sad about what she went through and what she is going through, but he is still angry at her for what she did to Bella, and seeing her like this doesn't erase his feelings.
Nonetheless, he decides to start by apologizing to her given what she is feeling right now, "I am sorry for what happened. I know that nothing I can say will make things better, but if there is anything you need, anything, let me know."
Awkwardness oozes from him as he waits for her reply, and he doesn't have to wait long. "Get out," she states in an eerie calm voice.
Edward wasn't exactly expecting what she muttered, but years of being a lawyer meant that he is always prepared to hear anything and everything. "Victoria I understand that you are angry, but you shouldn't push us away. You can't do it on your own."
"What part of getting the fuck out did you not understand?" Victoria demands her voice shaking with the amount of anger he feels her trying to conceal.
Edward sighs then tells her in his lawyer tone, "The part that knows that this is your anger speaking and you don't really mean it."
"Get the fuck out," She screams then picks the closest thing to her and throws it at Edward. Edward ducks just in time and seconds later hears the shattering of glass as it hits the door.
Seconds after the glass hits the door, the door gets yanked open and Marco comes barreling in, "What's going on? This is a God damn hospital. You need to keep it down."
Victoria who till that point was glaring at Edward, turns her gaze to Marco and tells him, "If you want me to calm down, you will get this shithead out of my room and never let me see him again."
Marco puts his hands up in a peace gesture as he tells her, "I will, but can you first tell me why you are so angry at him?"
"This," Victoria pauses to gesture at her body, "All of this is his fault!" Victoria exclaims letting how angry she is shown in her voice.
"Now wait a damn minute! I had nothing to do with what happened to you!" Edward bursts before he can stop himself.
"That's not what Eleazar had to say," Victoria shot back.
Marco who was silently watching the conversation asks her, "What do you mean?"
"You talked to Tanya and she went to her dad. That is how he found out that I am working for you."
Marco turns to look at Edward who was suddenly looking too pale. "Is that true Edward?"
Edward suddenly feels the gaze of everyone in the room on him. He backs away slowly as he shakes his head furiously. It can't be. He didn't say anything incriminating. He didn't even approach her. She is the one who came to him.
"It couldn't have been from something I said. I was careful," He tells them his teeth chattering and his voice shaking. Suddenly, he feels like a bucket of ice water was dumped on him.
"Nevertheless, it's your fault. It's all your fault," Victoria tells him in an icy tone.
Hello lovely people,
I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. This chapter took me longer than usual because my two cousins decided to visit me three days in a row while I was writing it. One of them is four years old and the other is nine, and they most definitely expected me to entertain them. They are the cutest little things, but I am not a children person, so in the end, I got pretty close to pulling my hair, or theirs. I was no longer picky.
On to greater news, I received a couple of nominations in the Golden Onion Awards. Bella in Left Behind was nominated for Best A-Lister. Marco in Left Behind was nominated for Best B-Lister. Left Behind was nominated for Best Nail-Biting Fic, and Favorite Fic of the Year. Risk It All was nominated for WIP of the Year, and I was nominated for Uncredited Writer of the Year.
Please go and vote for me. You don't need to sign in or anything. You just need to find my work in the fill-in form.
Until my next update,
Stay Safe.