I don't own twilight. What I own is my character's behavior, personality, background, and plot of the story.
Thanks to my Beta MadMooey18 for making this readable.
Author's Note at the end.
Bella sits in the interrogation room. She remembers when she used to peer into it from the other side of the glass as a kid. It's smaller than she remembers or maybe her mind as a child thought it was larger than life because she thought her dad was larger than life. She looks around her as she waits for her lawyer and the officers to come in. She called Jay. It was the only call she made or could make.
She massages her wrists under the table. It's a thing she has been doing since her teens to calm her nerves. She tells herself that they have prepared for this; she has prepared for this. She didn't expect their attack to be swift but she saw it coming. She will be damned if she, the daughter of Renee, is taken by surprise or is taken advantage of.
The door knob twists open and Jenks walks in alone. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?" he asks. She shakes her head and gives him what she thinks is a smile but is a grimace. He goes over the Black's claims with her and he has a grim look on his face. He explains exactly what the ramifications of these claims are. "With the Black's relationship with your dad and them requesting custody, the system will hand Adam and Peter to them unless you can counter their claim."
"If I said it was in self defense?" Bella asks looking down.
"Shooting in your children's presence?"
"No, the Black's," she clarifies.
"Was it?" he asks. She nods her head and he takes a minute to think.
"It could work or not. We will see. Do you have any evidence about that?"
"Yes, yesterday's meeting is not the only thing I recorded," she replies looking anywhere but at him. She doesn't feel guilt or shame. She needed to do those to survive. She will be damned if she lets anyone fuck her over but this is how someone in her position will act. Especially, if that person just lost a parent.
The door is shoved open and the two officers that escorted her to the station walk in followed by a third one. " I am not done with my client," Jenks states.
"Tough shit," replies the shorter officer.
Rolling his eyes at his partner, the taller one states, "I am Officer Tyler Stanley, this is Officer Paul Lohato and from CPS Officer Mario Rodriguez," pointing at the other two.
"I want time with my lawyer," Bella states.
"Not up to you," the shorter one rebuttals.
"Tough shit. If you don't, I won't speak a single word and I will sue the police department," she replies, challenging him and refusing to back down.
Wanting to de-escalate the situation, Officer Tyler interjects and leads the other two officers out but not before the shorter one glares at her.
"What were you thinking?" Jenks demands, furious at her. What she just did won't win her any brownie points with the officers.
"With the police, you don't see eye to eye with them. You lower your gaze and yourself. There is a conflict of interest," Bella cuts in. She knows the shit Jenks is telling her. She lived with it and has zero interest listening to it more than he has in saying it.
"What conflict of interest?" he asks.
"Lohato is not only from the reservation but he is also friends with Jacob. His brother owns the Mechanic's shop Jacob works at. His sister is Billy's nurse and his father is friends with Billy. He can't make a fair judgment," she states counting on her fingers.
"I will see what I can do," Jenks tells her then gets up and leaves the room. She lowers her head on the table and waits. She would rather them not have access to her facial expressions while no one is in here for her to talk to.
After what felt like an hour that she spent imagining she was on a beach somewhere but the dream was probably only ten minutes, Jenks returns to the room. "Lohato didn't want to leave. I had to involve the Chief of police who told Lohato to fuck off. Now we wait while they figure out which Officer is free to continue the investigation in his place," he finishes.
"You make it sound like they have an uptake in crime and a shortage in officers," she mutters before she returns her head to the table.
"Are you okay?" Jenks asks her after a couple of seconds as he moves her hair aside.
His touch causes her to jerk up and away from him, "No. My head is killing me and I am hungry. I swear once I leave this department, I will kick Jacob's ass. I will make sure he never reproduces in his life and if I wasn't against abuse of the elderly I would do the same to Billy."
"You will do no such thing. The moment this is over go back to NYC and stay away," Jenks tells her. She nods her head and returns it to the table.
A couple of minutes later she hears the squeaking of the door and raises her head to a new officer trudging behind the other two Officers into the room.
"This is Officer Waylon. He will take Officer Lohato's place. You are here in regards to a child endangerment report that has been filed against you," Officer Tyler tells her.
"My client has never endangered her children," Jenks states.
"The report is not filed against Miss Swan and alleges that she pulled a gun on the reporters in the presence of the children when they visited to pay their condolences and offer their help," Officer Waylon states.
"That is untrue. It's an embellished recounting of the events. Not only does my client reject those claims, she also has evidence to the contrary," Jenks states confidently as he takes out a voice recording machine and places it on the table.
"What is this?" asks Officer Rodriguez speaking up for the first time.
"This is a recording of parts of the event that happened two weeks ago and a recording of yesterday's event that proves that this report is nothing but a malicious attempt to take money from my client."
Bella watches as the officers discuss together with Jenks the details of the recording and methods of ensuring its accuracy with no regard to her presence. If this was any other time, she would be extremely pissed about her lack of presence but as she recognizes the severity of the event she is in, she keeps her mouth shut. Her true personality of irritation and anger now would do her a disservice.
They finally agree to play it and Jenks presses a button. The sound of shuffling feet is the first thing heard followed by a dull thud echoing periodically. Then the sound of a door opening and closing is heard followed by the return of the shuffling of feet and the thuds getting louder until the shuffling stops and the sound of a baseball game is heard.
The sound of the game stops followed by a yell by Billy, "Hey!"
"Don't hey me. Who is going to stop me from turning off the TV? Not you and not your son who is not a man since he is trying to break into my son's room instead of facing me. I'm going." Bella's voice is heard. It is initially low but it gets louder. It becomes obvious to everyone in the interrogation room that Bella did that to get Jacob away from her son.
The sound of boots running down the stairs emerges then gets louder before they stop near. "Who do you think isn't a man?" his voice demands.
"Show her who a real man is, son," Billy's voice is heard in the background egging him on.
"You and your father aren't men," Bella states.
"Your dad didn't show you who a real man is but I will," Jacob's words are cut off by a yelp from Billy and the sound of a gunshot.
"If you don't leave me and my children alone and leave my house, I will empty my gun in your ass. This is a warning shot. Next time I won't Miss."
"Are you crazy?" Billy is heard demanding.
"What did you expect me to do when your son threatens to beat me up and kidnap my children from me, that I will clap for you and thank you?" Bella asks. From there on Billy and Jacob mutter a couple of irrelevant things while threatening Bella then leave.
Bella raises her head to stare at every officer in the room as she has been keeping her head down throughout the playing of the recording. She has to give it to them. They all have very good poker faces as she can't read on them aside from surprise. There are traces of disgust showing in their faces but it is gone as soon as each one notices her looking at them.
Finally, after moments of silence with no officer knowing what to say, Officer Rodriguez wonders out loud, "Miss Swan, can you tell us what led up to what we just heard?"
Bella nods her head and takes a breath before she answers, "The boys were sick. Adam had a cold and Peter had an ear infection. While Adam is a four year old, he wasn't screaming his head off. Peter was. The Black's showed up demanding to watch the game on our TV. Naturally, I was pissed and frustrated and refused but they didn't listen. They behaved as if they owned the place and dismissed anything I told them."
Bella pauses for a second and takes a sip from the glass of water in front of her as she thinks of her next words. " Billy and Jacob were demanding beer which I didn't have. I haven't drank since I was breastfeeding. They weren't happy with that. The Black's were also extremely loud and every time I turned off the TV they would get angrier and louder which was scaring Peter even more. I know how they operate. This isn't the first time they have watched a game at the house. They did that all the time when," she pauses for a second then takes a deep breath and says, "when dad was alive. They tend to be loud. Any other time I wouldn't have cared, but the boys were sick and the Black's were being extremely rude, so I fought them on it."
Bella stares at the table for a second or two. She is in no way that nervous or bothered but she needs to appear so.
"What happened next?" asks one of the officers gently.
"The voices were too loud. Adam woke up and came down holding his stuffed animal. Jacob wasn't happy with that. He started speaking about how he will beat him up if he sees him holding a stuffed animal again and he started muttering about how as his new father he has every right to do so. It made zero sense. Jacob is engaged to be married to Lauren Mallory, why would he talk about us getting married?" Bella asks, shrugging her shoulders.
She notices in her peripheral view an angry look on Officer Stanley's face that he doesn't bother hiding as he asks, " Correct me if I am wrong. Then Adam ran back to his room and hid in it while you ran with Peter to another room that had both the gun and the recording machine."
Bella nods her head then states, "It was my dad's office. I left Peter on one of the towels from the en suite bathroom on the ground and made sure if he was safe, then went to face them with a gun."
"It goes without saying that if it weren't for my client's use of a gun, Jacob would have assaulted her and her children," Jenks explained.
"What happened between then and now?" Officer Stanley asks.
"A lot. They showed up to the reading of my dad's will. The Black's had been under the assumption that they would inherit everything and I would inherit nothing. When that didn't happen, they left angrily to talk about contesting the will."
"My client had the foresight to record the entire meeting," Jenks tells them and then once he is given permission. He plays out loud the entire thing.
Judging by the look on Jenks face, the voice recorder isn't as impactful as she thought it would be.
You need to do something. What exactly? I already orchestrated everything going on right now. All you do is egg me on.
I don't know. Make them feel sorry for you. That is bound to shift things a bit.
She looks down and rubs her temples as she blinks her eyes a couple of times while everyone else listens to the recording.
"Miss, are you okay?" the voice of Officer Rodriguez cuts into her thoughts.
It's now or never.
"Huh?" she mutters looking up at him before she quickly looks in the other direction and grimaces.
"I was asking if you are okay?" the officer asks her kindly.
"I am.. I just.. I.. sorry it's just… my dad just passed away. Billy is his friend. Never in my life did I imagine that he would do such a thing," she says in tears while pausing too many times.
She sniffs and pats under her eye before she says, "Thank God my dad isn't seeing any of this. I just know that all of this would have killed him," she says while sounding like someone trying not to break down.
She looks at Jenks waiting for him to speak and it seems that he can read her mind as he states, "What is even more evident that the Blacks have zero interest in the children's welfare is the fact that Peter and Adam's guardian gets limited access to their trust fund. The Black's must have known that which is why they are probably trying to get custody too." By the look on Officer Rodriguez he thinks the same thing.
"Well, Ma'am, obviously with what we have been informed about so far is we have no reason to not dismiss the case," Officer Rodriguez states after a minute of silence from the officers.
Trying to control her excitement, Bella clears her throat before asking, "Does this mean that I am free to go?"
Looking at both officers on each side of him, Officer Stanley states, "I am afraid it's not that simple either. The fact that you never had custody of Peter and had custody of Adam for only five months complicates things a bit. You also tried to commit suicide is potentially dangerous for the kids."
Bella looks down at her hands in her lap as she tries to fight away the memories that haunt her of that cursed day. The day she truly lost everything but to no avail. It's not something she has ever been able to escape.
She stood in the corner of her room begging her dad with her eyes to not make her do it. There was no escape. The rocking chair was to her right and her bed was to her left. The only way to pass was either through her dad or to jump over her bed. The latter was very difficult and the former was impossible.
"Bella, I don't have the entire day, do it," he told her with his hands crossed against his chest.
"Dad, please don't make me do this, please, I am begging you," she pleaded with him, tears streaming down her face as she tried to control her sniffles and failed miserably. She wasn't above begging. Heck, she wasn't above getting on her knees and kissing his feet if that was what it took him to let her be.
"Do you want me to bring Adam, or will you do it?" Charlie threatens her. His eyes scare her. She has never seen him with such dead eyes and to think that all of this happened because she complained that Phil is crazy.
"Okay... I... I will do it," she said, her voice shaking as she sniffed and took a deep breath. She looked down at the knife in her hand. She sniffed more and when she heard Charlie's muttering, she knew that she didn't have much more time left before he went after Adam.
Her left hand shook as she lifted it and brought it to her other wrist. She looked up for the last time hoping that her dad had changed his mind. The look in his eyes said that he hadn't. She said a quick prayer, closed her eyes and then pushed the knife down hard till the darkness in her ears matched the darkness in her eyes.
A hand sweeping in front of her face takes her out of her mind. She looks up and finds Jenks worriedly looking at her.
She summons up all of the courage she has ever had and turns to the three officers and states, "I started the process of transferring the guardianship to me before dad passed away. I have a recommendation from my dad and a psychologist I have been working with. I gave the evidence to my lawyer starting the process of filing for custody. I have a stable job. It doesn't matter what happened. What matters is that I am providing the boys with a safe environment to live and thrive and they shouldn't be robbed of that. I am my son's best living option," she ends, then hands the police officers the folder holding all of the papers she just mentioned.
From that point on, it was easier. Time passed quickly and before she knew it, she was being walked by Jenks to her car to go home.
"In case I don't see you before you leave for New York, take care of yourself," Jenks tells her as he hugs her before she can get in her car.
"I always do. I always do."
Hope you enjoyed this. If you find things somewhat confusing, don't worry things will start to make more sense gradually.
She will not read the letter for a long time. Honestly, I am pretty sure once she reads it, you guys will need a minute to remember where it came from.
I was dealing with some writer's block which is why it took me so long. That said, I promise the next chapter won't take as much time.
Until then,
Stay Safe