DISCLAIMER: The story doesn't belong to me; the characters are property of S. Meyer, and the plot belongs to Annalau Thank you so much for letting me share your story in English!

Gracias Laura, por darme esta oportunidad!

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Chapter 32

Bella's POV

I have moved back to the apartment because I simply need to reflect on what I want from myself. I am in a stage of rediscovery about my self-love and, although I don't deny that I miss Edward, I asked him for time, and he accepted not very convinced. I know he is also obfuscated looking for his dad all over the place as work piles up at the consortium, then Kate who has no interest in contacting him to find out if one of the girls is his.

I have to be honest and say that I'm worried that this girl really isn't his daughter.

I smile when I see that the ring I made has the initial "E" I wrinkle my forehead when I realize that most of the new designs have only the letter "E", I start to play piece by piece and I pucker my lips when I hear the doorbell.

"Renée."

I can barely articulate as I see Mom at the door. She strides in, strutting like she's on a catwalk, inspects the room meticulously, and after a brief glance fixes her blue irises on me.

She looks exactly the same; neither fatter nor thinner. She is a gorgeous blonde with a tall stature and a beautiful complexion. She still dresses in that teenage way because she hates getting old. Her signature ripped jeans paired with a red strapless top.

"May I know why you don't answer my calls? Three fucking days calling you and you send me to voicemail; do you think that's fair?"

"I'm fine, Mom. Thanks for asking," I say sarcastically, crossing my arms and looking at her.

She raises a perfect eyebrow as she sweeps me from head to toe.

"I came for you. I'm not willing to keep you away from home. Go pack your bag, honey, you have nothing to do here."

"Do you need me to take care of your kids?" I ask without hiding my incredulous smile. It's unbelievable that after years of not having time for me, today she has the cynicism to come looking for me to take me with her. Does she think I'm twelve years old?

"Bella don't play funny with me. I'm not going to let you continue to screw around with a guy older than you."

My eyes widen at her words. Renee knows about Edward. How? Why?

"Don't give me that dumb face either," she continues, "I know very well that you are Edward Cullen's whore."

"I am no whore!" I raise my voice, maybe more than I should because I'm tired of being labeled as something I'm not.

Renee grabs my arm and tries to pull me with her.

"Let's go! We can't waste any more time."

"What the hell is wrong with you, Mom?" I yell when she hurts my arm, "I'm not a child! In case you don't remember, I'll be twenty this year, do you understand? Twenty!"

She looks at her watch insistently and again pulls my arm towards the door. I refuse to walk when she now pushes my back. It's as if she wants to force me out of the apartment.

"You better not resist, or it will be worse," she asserts.

In her gaze, I can sense that she is serious.

With fear forming in the pit of my stomach, I want to ask what she's talking about. However, the disappointment I might take with me prevents me from moving my lips leaving my words stuck in my throat.

Suddenly I flinch as the door bursts open. Renée only turns to look at me as Jess and Mike come running in and stop at the door. They are completely fatigued and reddened from their faces.

"Bella..." Jess comes over and takes my hands, looking me up and down and ignoring my mother the whole time, "Are you okay?" she hugs me tightly, "You have no idea everything I imagined when I found out that man is down there."

"We thought he hurt you," Mike adds, "We told Edward right away."

I tense up. My whole body stiffens as I understand why Renee is here and is so keen for me to go with her.

"You know Carlisle and brought him here." I'm not asking, it's an affirmation I'm spitting at her as I have her in front of me. Renee tilts her head to one side and this time she holds my hand gently.

"Honey," she uses her cuddly tone of voice, the same one she uses when she wants something from me, her fingers are rubbing my back, "I know what's good for you, sweetheart. Carlisle is willing to lay anything you want at your feet. He gave me a house, Bella. Do you understand the power you have over that man?"

My eyes fill with tears as I listen to her speak with such emotion. It's as if she sees a piece of property as more important than me in her entire existence.

"Bella, don't listen to her," Jess cradles my face as she wipes away my tears. "Please don't listen to her."

But it's impossible for words not to hurt and to go deep. When reality hits the soul and is able to squeeze the heart.

God, it hurts, it burns inside to realize who she really is.

Renee pushes Jess aside and now she's the one cradling my face.

"Carlisle is the man for you. All you have to do is go with him and our whole life will be solved, sweetheart. Think of us," she says excitedly, "your siblings. It's not as hard as you think it will be. That man will treat you well, I promise."

"Go," I articulate with a lump in my throat, "get out of here!"

Renee starts to fill my face with kisses in a hypocritical and mean way.

She has never loved me.

"Let's go, Bella," she continues as she holds my hand and leads me back to the door.

She stops and brushes my hair with her hands. I automatically close my eyelids letting my tears bathe my face.

"Look, Bella," Mom brushes my long hair, "he's a friend who wants to take you for a ride Don't you want to go, honey? He'll give us a van if you go with him.

"No. I don't want to go," I refuse, sitting back down in front of the TV.

Slowed images cross my mind and I'm startled to understand her words. I open my eyes.

"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you" I push her, I need her to go away, to disappear. "How could you?" I confront her without stopping pawing her chest. "I was just a child."

She looks at me scared. She knows I've remembered that day when I was only six years old.

"Bella, listen to me" she tries to hold my hands, but I don't let her- that day was wrong, we needed a car for us. I never let anyone near you, I'm not a monster, I'm not.

I shake my head. I don't want to listen to his lies.

"I've been an idiot," I whisper, "you've never loved me. You've just used me for your own convenience. Always putting your needs before mine," I tear up. "God, how could I not realize how mean you are? How rotten you are."

"You are wrong, because if I had been all that you say I would have abandoned you and I never did. From the beginning, I took you with me and took care of you."

"Go away!" With all the courage and disappointment in me, I open the door, it's time to cut ties. "I don't want to hear from you ever again. I ask you from this moment on to forget my existence as I will forget you from this moment on."

Renée stops under the threshold.

"You're twisting memories, honey. I never let anyone..."

I decide not to listen anymore and run to my room where I lay down behind the door, I roll into a little ball letting my tears wash away those bad memories.

I know she left because Mike and Jess are knocking on the door asking me to come in, they want to comfort me. I appreciate it, but I don't let them because this is my moment. I needed a reality check so badly and now that I have it, I have to face it alone.

However with Edward, it's not the same, he doesn't ask for permission, he just comes in and gathers me in his arms. Sitting on the bed he cradles me in his lap.

"I want to be alone," I murmur.

"I won't leave you and you know it," he removes some hair from my face. "If you're going to cry it will be on my chest, if you're going to curse it will be on my face, but if you're going to break down then there are my arms."

I snuggle into him.

"Renée offered me to your father," I tell him between sobs, "She did it in exchange for a house."

Edward's arms tighten around my body, he remains silent and holds me tighter until my eyes dry from crying and sleep drags me into unconsciousness.

.

.

.

After that day it was hard to keep Edward away, even though we had our relationship on hold. Now more than ever he was looking out for me. To tell the truth, Jess, Mike, and even James, were taking care of me very much in their own way, between them all agreeing not to leave me alone for a second.

With them around me, I can smile and feel good, but by the time night comes in the solitude of my small room I still cry as I remember what Renee was able to do to me. My scourged heart continues to slowly heal, perhaps licking the wound with each memory until one day it is so numb and no longer hurts.

"Hello, Bella, can we talk?"

Seeing Esme in a movie theater cafeteria is a little strange, maybe she too had joined the people who cared for me.

Internally I smile, it's a strange feeling like a part of your chest fills with excitement knowing you're being procured.

Jess comes over and whispers to me that she and Mike will be coming in to watch the movie and I can catch up with them any minute.

"Yeah, sure, how are you?"

Esme smiles but I can tell the joy isn't there in her eyes. Dressed in that elegant way that characterizes her she removes her sunglasses and wears them on her head.

She sits sideways on the uncomfortable cafeteria benches leaving her bag on the table.

"First of all, I'm here because I owe you an apology. I shouldn't have slapped you like I did; I am so sorry because..."

I cover her hand with mine and give it a light squeeze, smiling.

"It's forgotten."

She looks at my hand with hers and also smiles with a nod.

"-How do you manage to smile as if nothing happened? I'm very intrigued to see you looking so composed. It's not that I don't like it, I just wish I could do the same" she breathes in, looking down at our hands on the table. "But let's not talk about sad things," she wipes a tear slyly and smiles at me. "I'm here because I need to travel to New York, and I don't have anyone to go with me, so I thought of you. Would you like to go with me?"

"To New York? I don't know that city."

"Well, say no more and come with me. It will be a short trip, but if you want, we can arrange something better later."

"I don't know if I can," I pursed my lips, "I can't leave my classes and my new job in the afternoons."

"Don't worry, we'll go just for the weekend. I assure you we'll be back in town first thing Monday morning."

"Well, then, I accept."

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.

.

Getting to know New York was one of the most exciting experiences of my life. The city was widely noisy and crowded no matter what time it was. Visiting Central Park and walking around every interesting corner was certainly enriching. The museums left me with my mouth open, touring Times Square left you with an accelerated pulse when you saw on the giant screens every commercial and to know that it was your eyes who were seeing all that for the first time and not through a TV. Also living a musical on Broadway was amazing and something that not even in light years I imagined to live.

Walking down Fifth Avenue to Rockefeller Center was mythical, especially for walking into Tiffany's. But my favorite part was facing the imposing Statue of Liberty and feeling really free.

In these two days, I discovered that Esme was not as prissy as I thought she was. She is an exceptional woman who had fun and could laugh easily over any situation, and that her only mistake had been choosing a man over her son.

"When are you going to ask me why we're here?"

I blink as I realize we are outside the Fashion Institute of Technology University in the middle of Manhattan.

"This is for you," she holds out a sheet of paper in front of me, which I take with some trepidation.

It's a registration form for a goldsmithing course.

"I don't understand."

"You're studying art literature when you really love designing. Do you think there's any point?" she sighs when she sees that I don't answer. "I'm about to buy an apartment in the city, I don't want to live alone, and I thought that... Well, maybe you would like to live with me. You can keep studying what you like while I find a way to start over."

"But I thought you were happy living with Edward and Pat."

"I am happy; however I need my space. They don't need me, Bella, they're both so used to their life together that I'm left out there. I'm sure they'd rather have a younger girl with them," she gives me a wink, "not an old one."

My cheeks heat up.

"I must redeem myself and start a new beginning," she whispers, "I thought you might like to join me on this adventure."

"It's just that I... I don't know, I don't have enough money to live in such an expensive city. Besides, I don't want to leave Jess or Edward. Well…" I look at my hands, my manicure is horrible. "We're just giving each other some time; we're not really finished."

Esme laughs making me smile embarrassed.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to forbid my son to come to see you because I assure you Edward will come more often than you think. Although I will be very strict as a tutor" she puts her hands on her hips and feigns a pout. "I will want you to be the best student this University can have."

If my face could split with happiness this would certainly be a great moment.

I want a fresh start too and if this is my chance to make it happen. Then I'm ready to give it a try.

Hello! I know I've been MIA for a few months but I'm back and I already have a couple of chapters translated so... keep an eye out for the updates!

The story is heading to a third part or rather to a final stretch where Bella won't suffer anymore and where Esme becomes a good accomplice for her, so both hearts will help each other to heal. No, it's not over yet, we'll just enter a new stage of the story. Stay tuned, let me know what you thought of this chapter!

Thanks for reading!

PS: For those of you who left a review THANK YOU! And I truly hope your notifications work now too