A/N: Sorry, needed time for a brain break. And added more words. From here on out it is all present happenings, to the end. Yes, it was Major, the poser. Edward took a lot from him, and that's why he was in a house acting as an insane man (this was a true fact; a mob boss posing as such to avert guilt and the law in the 80s(?). Nuts. Dedication.). More on Emmett as we move on.

Hi, btw. You still out there? Thank you. xoxo

..::.. Chapter 41 - Where Riley Sits ..::..

Present ...

I gasp awake. I'm fighting for air. I open my mouth and take it in eagerly. The high ceilings above me are fully blurred. Tears pour out as I feel every burn from the bullets.

Mom's vacant eyes stare back at me. Her hair in waves. Rose petals frame her face.

A dream. Was it? I don't know. All I feel is a caress. I look, and Edward is here beside me. He's looking down at me with worry. He hushes my cry.

"Baby," he whispers. His fingertips wipe at the streaks down to my hair. "Shh."

But I cry.

His lips press to my cheek, my eyes, my lips. He is soft, and it's a contrast to the other day; the knife in his hand coated with Riley's blood.

"Tell me." He offers. He pulls the covers more securely around my shoulders as he tucks me close to his side. I lay a cheek on his shoulder and close my eyes.

"More? What was it this time?" He asks about memories. He encourages. He knows they're coming slowly. His hand skims my back as he waits.

He was right. His bed is bigger. We did move in it. Fell into it. Like I could fight it. Last night or ever.

But last night was a plan.

Now, my heart pounds, wanting to crawl out and bleed this truth—or dream? And I don't know so much anymore about plans.

…

Two days before - the gore and blood bunker …

He stands by me. I'm shadowed. The silence is gripping.

I wipe my cheek. The tears are of anger, not sadness or shame; just pure, unadulterated anger.

Maybe I should go back inside and finish Riley off myself. Why have others do what is my right?

Edward. He stands by waiting. He walked out after watching me beat Riley with my heel in front of everyone, my mind gone, all senses.

Edward's hand is stuffed in one pocket, the other fidgeting around his collar like his blood pressure levels skyrocketed. He sauntered over calmly, but it's the kind of calm that will spark and ignite any second.

"Take me home," I interject.

"That's not what I'm waiting for," he says. I roll my eyes.

He points a thumb over his shoulder. "An abusive motherfucker, you said? Well, I want to know every damned detail, don't you dare leave anything out," he says, the bubbling rage just under a thin layer.

I tell him. He wants to know, so I tell him every detail.

My confessions pour out, and it reels him. Well, it should. I tell him all of it; the verbal stabs that made me powerless, the forced sex on nights I'd kindly reject him for a full night's sleep, and then the physical bruises. After that one black eye, I was done.

"You know what it feels like to be pinned down in your own bed, against your will? Exhausted, coming from a long day of work, fighting for your damn life in a corporate world, men taking your work and ideas as their own, and then having another take something you never thought you had to fight for in a home you shared?"

Edward's eyes go grim.

"I thought that part of me belonged to him, to be respected and worshiped. He took that part from me like I stole it from him. His hands hard on me. Hands, I'm betting, did to other women what he did to me. That couldn't possibly be his first time, right? It tore at me knowing all the other nights I was free from his demand were most likely a demand for another woman in another bedroom.

Or in public, at a restaurant table, where he gives them up to mobsters to do what they like," I finish saying.

Edward goes a little pale with that one. He knows what I refer to. I was there that night with Dad and Sue when I first witnessed the sane version of him in the city, not locked away in his house. I saw what Carlisle did to Riley's date. I punched Riley square in the face right after.

Edward opens his mouth. To explain? To justify? He knows he can't. He swallows his words.

He takes his eyes away and charges back through those metal doors where Riley sits, and everyone waits. His head hangs low, but he fumes.

I hear the agonizing shouts from outside. It feels like hours. Then the silence comes.

My nightmare has passed on to the next life.

I don't think I've ever seen Edward this angry. It says something, because he walks out, and I see a blade still in his fist. Never has he done what he reserves for his men to do. But this, he did himself. He tosses the blade to a guard who catches it midair, wipes his hand on the guard's coat, and opens the car door for me.

"You won't have to worry about him anymore," is what he says. "Ready to go?" he asks, an offer to move on with my life.

So, I do, and I get in the car.

…..