WRONG DECISIONS

Disclaimer: The Cullen's, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she brought them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.

The awesome and talented dowlingnana searched out my errors and corrected them.

The stranger was also able to reassure Bella that the children were being treated well as he explained that he had someone close keeping an eye on things.

CHAPTER 17: THE BEGINNING OF NEGOTIATIONS

"Dad, have you made a decision about the message from Bella?" Edward asked, looking at his father. He was wondering what the meaning behind Bella's message was just like he was wondering who in the hell was the stranger that Bella was trusting more than her family to get the children back safely.

"To be honest with all of you before you ask or make any comments about either of Bella's messages to us, I will say that all the way from the airstrip to the hotel I've been giving both some thought."

"I must say that I've been giving some thought to the first message as well." Esme had to comment as she was upset by what memories that message brought back from when they were all together in Chicago a few hours ago.

"What do you mean, Esme?" Alice asked quietly.

"We were all upset because Bella hadn't told us about the birth of the twins, and we reacted to that. We were all shocked to learn that Edward was a father, that Carlisle and I were grandparents and that Bella had chosen not to tell us immediately about the new additions to our family.

"However, we are forgetting that Bella has been out of touch for the last few years and has no knowledge of the fact that Edward has been working hard to move all of our business interests into more legal channels. And not once did we stop to think about all of the stress and upset that Bella was dealing with due to the children being kidnapped. Then on top of that she was having to put her principles to one side, as far as she knew, to approach us to explain the situation and to ask for help." Esme explained to all that were listening. Then she looked over at her husband to say, "And you, Carl, didn't show her much compassion either in your questions and treatment of her from the very beginning. We all treated her as the enemy instead of being a member of the family which she is and will always be no matter what.

"I think we all really owe the poor child an apology for how overbearing we were and our lack of sympathy. We were all assholes and when I say all I'm including myself as well." She concluded and then observed everyone looking at her funny. They were all in shock at Esme's admonishment of all of their behavior.

"But Es she was in the wrong. She should have informed us that she was pregnant. She and those children needed our protection. As you know we are still maintaining certain business interests that aren't quite on the legal side of things.

"True, Edward is transferring a lot of our businesses into the more legal lane of things, but we do still have certain assets that are remaining on the dark side of things.

"After all, we are still a mafia family." Carlisle was quick to answer back to his wife's accusations.

"From her standpoint of view, she wasn't in the wrong because she was doing what I would do when it comes to my child; she was protecting her babies to the best of her ability from harm or bad influence. You all have to remember that when Bella left, she only knew that the family business was run on two different levels: legal and illegal. She had no way of knowing about what changes that were taking place." Esme had no problem reminding all of them of those facts.

Her remarks caused each of them to rethink their treatment of Bella and the reasons why they had reacted the way they did. And that brought each of them to the conclusion that they had overreacted to some of the things that Bella had said and to her reaction to their manner of reception to her news about the twins.

"She was still in the wrong not to tell us about the children." Rosalie stated. She didn't feel like they had been totally wrong in what had been said to Bella.

"Rose, the only person that was really wronged in this situation was Edward. We are secondary compared to that. So, I would say that Edward and his feelings are more justified to be considered than ours." Esme was quick to correct her.

"Okay, so that brings us back to why we left Chicago and came to Seattle. What are you going to do about the requested meeting with this stranger, Dad?" Edward asked as he looked at Carlisle without making any comments about what his mother had said to all of the others. Even though he had remained silent he did agree with his mother that he was the one that was the most concerned in this matter along with Bella.

"I think we need to hear what this person has to say. However, we will need to be cautious since we don't know this person or what his interest in this matter might be." Carlisle answered before adding, "I'm going to want to try to keep the dominant side of things."

So, with that said Carlisle followed through by replying back to the text from Bella.

"Okay that's done. Now all we can do is wait for some response back."

XXXXXX

Marcus, after making sure that Aro had left, checked the time as he returned to his office expecting to see his bodyguard, Mario. The man was right on time and fortunately had managed to avoid running into Aro.

Without hesitation, Mario launched into giving his report to Marcus, "James is indeed working with a group of men unknown to Miss Victoria. She seems to think that it is just the two of them that are doing all of this bargaining with using the Cullen children for leverage.

"James when asked what he was going to do about his girlfriend when the time came, responded that he would handle her permanently at that point but that right now she was useful taking care of the brats."

After hearing all that Mario told him, Marcus just sat staring at the man. He was so angry that he couldn't speak at that moment. A promise had been made to Tori which kind of tied his hands, but he was still going to try to keep that promise as far as he could.

"This guy that you have planted in James's group is reliable?" Marcus asked as if he was seeking reassurance that all of this information was reliable.

"Yes, it's my brother and he is totally loyal to me. Also, he's a father and isn't happy about how these children are being used. However, he does reassure me that the twins are being treated well." Mario answered Marcus without hesitation.

"How can you be sure of that fact?"

"Because at the times that Miss Victoria has to leave for food or other things, James takes the opportunity to meet with the group and it's during that time that my brother has had a chance to see the children. And, as I said, he has assured me that they are being treated well and are well taken care of." Mario answered immediately.

"Boss, if I'm not being too out of line, how are you planning to handle getting those children? And, once you do retrieve them, what are you going to do with them?" Mario was a bit hesitant to be asking these questions of his boss, but he had to be sure that the kids were going to be safe. He was against hurting little ones.

"I'm already working on something to get to the kids safely and to return them to their mother. I'm also including getting even with James in a manner that will keep my daughter off of my ass. I'm just waiting for an answer to an offer I made to some what I hope to be future associates." Marcus told him without appearing to be annoyed with Mario's questions.

At this point Marcus reached for the ringing burner phone that he had been using to speak with Isabella Cullen.

XXXXXX

Bella heard the chirping of her phone indicating that a text was available. She was hoping that it was a response to the text that she had sent to Carlisle at the request of her mystery stranger friend. Opening the app, she saw that Carlisle agreed to the meeting.

Although the fact that Carlisle was agreeing to the meeting surprised her, she quickly placed the call to her stranger friend as she had started calling him in her mind.

"Hello?"

"Carlisle has agreed to the meeting. What do you want me to do now?' Bella was quick to tell him and then to ask for further instructions.

"My dear, what you do now is to either give me Mr. Cullen's phone number or to ask him if it would be all right for me to be able to contact him directly." He told Bella in a softly spoken voice.

"Are you sure that what you're planning is going to work and get my babies back safely?" Bella asked once again like she asked nearly every time she talked with him, in which her quiet tone reflected both her fear and stress.

"Have no fear, with the plan that we come up with your children will be returned to you unharmed and the people that has them will be taken care of in a very definitive and expedited manner." The male voice was quick to try to reassure Bella while speaking to her in a soft, calm voice.

"Now, please do as I ask about how Mr. Cullen would like me to be able to contact him. I await your call." And, with that the call was disconnected.

Bella didn't feel comfortable calling Carlisle after the reception she had received from him and the family in Chicago, so she sent a text once again with the request of sharing his phone number with her stranger friend.

The reply was almost immediate with permission for his number to be given. So, with that being said, she sent Carlisle's number to the stranger's number.

Within a few seconds her phone began to ring, and Bella answered after checking to see who was calling. She heard, "Well done, my dear, I'll keep you in the loop of what's discussed at all times." Then the call hung up.

After that Bella knew that it was now a waiting game.

XXXXXX

Marcus was extremely satisfied with the response that he had received from Bella. So, he wasted no time in contacting Carlisle for the two of them to arrange for an appropriate meeting place and time so that each party could feel comfortable and safe with each other.

Not wasting any more time, Marcus dialed the number Bella had sent to him and the call was answered by a cold male voice saying only one word, "Cullen."

"Mr. Cullen, I would like to discuss with you the arrangements for both of us to meet face to face only. No guards and no other individuals like any seconds being present."

"I'm not comfortable with that idea, at the moment but I'm willing to listen to what you have to suggest. However, I do have a question to ask you; are you the person that enticed my daughter-in-law away from Chicago earlier?"

"Yes, I am. I felt that I could offer more to get the children back safely to their mother and to possibly keep others from being killed as well. Let me amend that statement, to keep everyone but the kidnapper from being killed. And I know that you are probably wondering about what interest I might have in this situation and as to how I came to know about it. So, let's just say that the situation comes close to home to a member of my family also.

"Now, that is all I'm comfortable saying over the phone. Any further explanation I will be more than happy to give to you once we meet. At that time I will definitely answer all of your questions."

"I'm willing to listen to you what you have to say but at this point I won't make any promises. Are you reachable at this number for me to call you back?" Carlisle stated and then asked. He wanted so badly to ask for more detailed information as to who the caller was and why he had involved himself but at the same time knew that receiving the truth was most unlikely.

After getting off the phone, Carlisle turned to his family and informed them of the full content of the call. When he finished speaking everyone had something to say to discourage the meeting without backup.

Carlisle held up his hand and told everyone that he was going to suggest to this stranger to see if he would agree or disagree with how the meeting was going to be conducted.

"In the meantime, Jasper, I want you to see if you can trace Bella's phone as I sent a text message to her. Maybe we can locate where she is staying and get more information from her."

XXXXXX

While Carlisle was discussing things with his family Marcus gave Bella a call back to let her know how the conversation went and to give her further instructions of what to do to keep herself and her location safe.

"Mrs. Cullen, if you look into the drawer of the nightstand, you will find a burner phone. I want you to turn your phone off and to use this burner phone only. The one person that will be calling you from this point onward will be me." He told her.

"Why do I need to turn off my phone and only use the burner phone? No one but you know where I'm located." Bella questioned.

"Because the Cullen's are going to try to locate you either through by calling to get you to answer or through getting a response from you through texting." He explained.

"Okay, I'm turning it off now." She said and did turn her phone off just as it appeared that a text message was coming in. She didn't open the text app to see who the message was from.

"Good. I will continue to keep you updated as things progress." And, with that said he hung up.

AN: Will Carlisle and Marcus come to an agreement for the meeting to take place? How is Carlisle going to react when he finds out the person that is helping Bella?

Thanks for reading and looking forward to your comments.