5

When she felt the jolt of the elevator stop, she pulled herself from his arms, reached over, and slammed her hand on the emergency stop button, needing a second to get past her moment of weakness.

Since that fateful night, she hadn't allowed herself to cry in front of another person — even through Garrett's funeral, she hadn't shed a tear. But when she was alone, when the darkness crept over her, and she heard the sound of Dwyer's taunts or the echoing of the gunshot, it was too much, and she often found herself overwhelmed with emotions.

She never wanted anyone to see her broken.

"Are you okay?"

"No, Masen, I'm not okay." She looked over her shoulder, finding him intensely watching her. She hadn't seen that look on a man's face since Garrett. "Why did you follow me?"

He pressed his lips together, his arms folding in front of him.

Bella tilted her head to the side. "That son-of-a-bitch told you not to let me out of your sight, didn't he?"

"He said I hadn't completed my assignment yet."

Bella inhaled a deep breath through her nose as she released the emergency stop button. When the doors opened, the crowd parted, allowing them to exit. She stopped outside of the elevator and turned to him. He seemed earnest enough, a bit on the naive side, but he had a genuine drive to be a good agent. But she needed to know he could handle the true horrors he was asking her to face.

"Fine, Masen, I hope you're ready for what you're about to see."

And without giving him a chance to stop her, she turned and led him through the lobby, out the front door to her truck. Forty-seven minutes later, Bella parked in front of a large, red house in Ashburn, Virginia, a small community outside of D.C. Edward reached for her arm, but she pushed his hand away and exited the vehicle. Upon reaching the porch, she paused momentarily, her eyes meeting his as she raised her hand and knocked twice.

Bella stepped backward, her arms wrapping around her torso as they heard movement from inside. A moment later, the curtain on the door was pulled back, and the face of an older man appeared. His eyes shifted from Edward to Bella before the front door opened, and the tall, thin man with a headful of dark hair sighed before smiling.

"I heard you were coming back."

"I'm not. Just . . . visiting. Can I see her?"

He frowned, but nodded. "She'd like that."

The man pushed the screen door open and asked, "Who's he?"

"Oh, sorry. Liam Crenshaw, this is Edward Masen. Agent Edward Masen. He's a member of my father's team. Masen, this is Liam. His daughter —"

"I've read her file," Edward interrupted.

Bella glared at him. "And? You think her file says anything about her? It doesn't, Masen, or did they not teach you that at the academy?"

"I didn't mean it like that. I was just pointing out that I am up to date with . . . with her case."

Bella lolled her head to the side before she turned back to Liam. "I'm sorry about him. He's a noob and clearly doesn't think before he puts his giant-ass foot into his mouth."

"So I see," Liam quipped.

"He won't hurt her. He just . . . he needs to see why . . . why her case isn't like most cases. May we see her? I promise I won't leave her alone with him."

Liam gripped the back of his neck before he nodded and stepped out of the way, allowing Bella and Edward inside. It was dark; the curtains were tightly closed as Liam led the way through the living room, down a hallway, and past the stairs to the back of the house. He looked back at her before slowly rapping his knuckles against the hard white surface of the door.

"Honey, you have a visitor."

"Go away," a delicate voice trickled from inside.

Liam opened his mouth to speak again, but when Bella put her hand on his arm, he tensed and moved aside. Bella laid her hand directly on the door and said, "Honey, it's . . . it's me. It's Bee."

A soft, airy gasp could be heard just moments before the door was cracked open, and a pair of dark brown eyes peeked through the narrow space. "You're here."

"Yeah, I'm here, sweetie."

Heidi Crenshaw looked from her to Edward, who was staring at her with his mouth flopped open. Bella elbowed him in the gut, causing him to look at her and close it. There had been a reason why Heidi hid away from prying eyes. Standing at just over five foot, three inches, she had weighed one hundred and ten pounds when Phillip Dwyer targeted her. If Bella had to guess, she was now about thirty pounds thinner. Her skin was pale and pasty, her eyes red, and her lips cracked. However, none of those things had caused Edward to stare. No, what caught his attention were the visible scars. The Iron Maiden had pierced her skin over fifty times, her face and arms included.

Phillip Dwyer had also cut off two fingers on her right hand, used a pair of pliers to pull three of her molars, and whipped her so much her back and stomach were covered in thick, red scars that doctors said would never fade. But the worst of it, the hardest for her, was that Phillip Dwyer had carved the word 'whore' into her forehead after the first time he raped her.

"Heidi," Bella said, drawing attention back to her. "This is Edward. He works with my dad."

"Is he here?" Heidi asked, peeking down the hallway.

"No, no, he's working right now, but I'm sure he'll be calling soon. You know he worries about you."

Heidi nodded.

"Can we come in?"

Heidi's eyes flickered to Edward.

"We'll leave the door open, and your dad will be right here the whole time. Okay?"

Heidi's eyes shifted to Liam, who was quick to nod and say, "I won't leave you alone, sweetheart."

She backed into the room. "Okay."

Bella gave Edward a look before she followed, knowing he would be right behind. The room was even darker than the rest of the house. Other than a bed and a dresser, her bedroom was barren, devoid of any type of life. Heidi leaned against the wall next to the closet, slid down to the floor, and wrapped her arms around her knees as she watched Bella and Edward sit on the side of her bed.

"He said you left," Heidi whispered.

"I did."

"Where did you go?"

"Um, I went to North Dakota. Have you ever been there?"

Heidi's eyes flickered to her father before she shook her head. "Is it nice there?"

"It is."

"Did you leave because of me?"

"No, honey, not because of you. Never because of you."

"Because he died. Is that why you left?"

Bella felt Edward look at her as she nodded. "He was my husband."

"Garrett. His name was Garrett. That's what your dad told me. His name was Garrett David Mitchell. He was born on April twenty-third; he was a Taurus. Stubborn and pigheaded, but a fighter, he said."

Bella nodded, feeling her eyes fill up with tears. "Yeah, he was a fighter. Like you."

"He told me to be strong, that you were on your way to save us. You were going to save us."

"I wanted to, honey. I really, really wanted to."

Heidi shifted her eyes to Edward. "You're an FBI agent, too?"

"I am," he said softly. "And I'm really sorry for what happened to you, Heidi."

"You are?"

Edward nodded.

"Why?"

"Because nobody deserves to be . . . hurt like you were."

Heidi lobbed her head to the side. "I was a bad girl, Edward. He wanted me to scream and cry and beg him to stop, but I didn't. I didn't cry or scream or beg him for anything. And that made him mad, and he punished me even more than he already had been."

"Oh, honey." Bella slipped off the bed and crawled over to Heidi, who pulled her knees tighter against her chest. She stopped and held her hand out to her. Heidi's eyes flickered to Liam before she laid her hand on top of Bella's, her missing middle and index fingers prominent. "Hey, what do we tell ourselves when we think that way?"

Heidi rolled her eyes, which again almost caused Bella to smile. "It wasn't my fault, and I didn't do anything wrong."

"That's right."

"If I didn't do anything wrong, then why did you stop calling me?"

Bella shook her head and shifted so she was facing the young girl. After she left everything and everyone behind, the only person she had stayed in contact with was Heidi. Garrett wouldn't have wanted her to turn her back on her, but after the first few months, talking to her was too much of a reminder of that night, so she stopped.

She just stopped calling.

"I'm sorry, honey. I shouldn't have done that, but I thought I was making it harder for you to . . . heal. Are you still seeing Dr. Gerandy?"

Heidi grimaced. "Yes, but I don't like him."

"Why not?"

She shrugged her shoulders, her hand slipping out of Bella's. "He thinks I should leave my room. He thinks I should go outside. But I don't want them to see me, so I stay in here where I know it's safe."

"Have you asked him why he wants you to leave your room? Why he wants you to go outside?"

Heidi nodded. "He says I can't hide from the world and that I need to face my fears if I ever want a real life again."

"He's right."

"Is that why you came back? So you can face your fears?"

"I came back for you." Slowly, she brought her hand up and laid it on the side of Heidi's face. "Listen, we've got to run, but I'll come see you again before I leave town, okay? And I'll bring my old man, too."

"Promise?" she asked, her eyes widening.

Bella laughed. "I promise. You have my number if you need anything, and maybe you could try the living room for a while. It's okay if you can't go outside yet, but you got a pretty cool father, Heidi, and he's not going to let anyone hurt you again."

Heidi shifted her eyes to Liam and nodded. "I'll try."

"Good girl." Bella stood and motioned for Edward to follow her from Heidi's room. They closed the door behind them and walked to the living room. Making sure Heidi wasn't within earshot, Bella spoke softly to Liam. "He thinks Dwyer is active again."

"He told me last week. Dr. Gerandy doesn't think she's strong enough to know yet; said if she can't even leave her bedroom, how is she going to handle that son-of-a-bitch on the loose? I don't disagree. Your dad has patrol cars coming by often, but . . . is it enough?"

"Dwyer won't come after her again, Liam. He . . . She's ruined for him now, so . . ."

Liam inhaled a sharp breath but nodded. "Are you staying, Bee?"

"For now."

"That's good enough, I guess." He grabbed the back of his neck, as he had done before. "I don't blame you for leaving, though. If I could have gotten her out of that bedroom, I would have taken her as far away from here as I could and never looked back."

"Too bad some people don't understand why leaving is sometimes the only way to deal."

Bella glared at Edward before she walked to the front door, out on the porch, and down to her truck. She got in and waited until Edward had done the same before she cranked the engine and drove away.

He tried to speak to her, but she turned up the radio, preventing him from telling her once again why they needed her. She wasn't ready to explain to Edward Masen that the only reason her husband died was because he tried to protect that sweet, fragile girl.

—^—

Half an hour later, Bella pulled up in front of a yellow house in Chevy Chase, a small suburb outside of D.C. The family-friendly neighborhood was known as the small town within the city and had been her childhood home for as long as she could remember. She climbed out and walked around to the passenger side, but instead of leading Edward up to the front porch, she leaned against the front bumper.

"She was the youngest of Dwyer's victims. Bree and Jane were both in their early twenties, but Heidi had just turned seventeen the month before he kidnapped her outside a gym. She was a junior in high school, a competitive gymnast, and a cheerleader. She had already received scholarship offers from five different colleges across the country. Her mother died in a car accident in Dupont Circle when Heidi was very young. Her father devoted his life to that girl. Worked two jobs to pay for her training, never missed one of her meets, and was always there when she needed him. He was a good father, Masen. When she went missing, it tore him apart. He begged me to find her, begged me to save his little girl. I tried, I really tried, but by the time we got to her . . ."

Bella leaned away from her truck and looked over at him. "At some point, between when Jane was killed and Heidi was kidnapped, Phillip Dwyer set his sights on me. He would call and send us on wild goose chases, telling us he was going to let her go if I found him. It was a game to him, a fucking game, Masen, and I played it because I was smarter than him. That's what I told myself. My husband . . ."

She brought her hand up to her chest. "Even before Dwyer set his sight on me, Garrett had been pushing me to quit, to focus on our marriage, maybe think about starting a family. He worried about something happening to me when we were in the field. Just before we got wind of Dwyer, he told me I had to choose between him or the job. Him or the job, Masen. He didn't care that the job had been a part of my life long before I was even born. Because like you, law enforcement is kind of the family business. But he was my world, my everything, so I told him stopping Dwyer would be my last case. I would bust that son-of-a-bitch, and then I would walk away."

Bella gripped the back of her neck. "Six days after she was kidnapped, we got wind that Dwyer had been spotted in Anacostia."

"I've read her file. I know what happened," Edward said.

"You have got to stop saying that! Just because you read her file doesn't mean you know what happened, Masen. That file doesn't come close to telling what really occurred inside that house. It doesn't tell you who that little girl is, or what hell he put her through. How he took her innocence, her purity away in one night."

"Then tell me, Swan. Tell me how you could just walk away from that girl, from the job, after he killed your husband."

"He didn't just kill my husband, Masen!" Bella exclaimed, and when he reached for her, she took a step back. "We walked into that house with one goal and one goal only. To stop Phillip Dwyer . . . We found her in the basement, locked in an Iron Maiden. Have you ever seen one of those? Because I hadn't, not in person, not until that day. All I could see were her eyes, staring at me, pleading with me to free her. We had to cut the lock off first, but when I pried it open, she fell, Masen, fucking fell into my arms. She was . . . she was covered in blood and bruises — so many fucking bruises. She clung to me, and she opened her mouth several times before she . . . before she said a name. Did her file say what name she said, Masen?"

"Swan," he whispered.

Bella brought her fingers to her lips. "Garrett. She said Garrett. I didn't understand why she had his name; why his name, Masen. She was trembling and crying, barely coherent, as she said 'He made him choose, and he chose me. He said to tell you he chose me'."

"And that's when he called."

"Yeah, that's when he called," Bella whimpered, taking another step backward when Edward reached for her. "Please don't touch me. I can't . . ."

She took a moment to calm herself before she said, "Turns out, while we were off chasing another false lead, Dwyer decided to up the stakes and ambush Garrett while he was on the way to the hospital for his shift. The hospital had been slammed and hadn't realized he hadn't shown up. It took them almost four hours, but when they called, I let it go to voicemail because I thought Garrett hadn't charged his phone and he was the one calling. He never charged his phone, and I just . . . I didn't want to fight, so I ignored the call. But even though I knew as soon as I saw Garrett's number on my caller ID what was going to happen, I still answered it. Dwyer taunted me — told me he had won the game. The game," she cried, bringing her fingers back to her lips. "It was still a game to him. He . . . Garrett said, 'I love you, Bella. I'll always love you.' And while I held that little girl in my arms, I heard Phillip Dwyer shoot my husband in the head. So tell me again how I need to be here."

Edward didn't reply, not that she expected him to.

Bella held the keys to her truck out to him. "Take them."

"Why are you giving me your keys?"

"Because if I don't, the second you leave here, I'll go back to North Dakota. Instead, I'm going to go inside and spend the rest of the night with my mother. Pick me up tomorrow morning, seven sharp."

"So you're staying? You're really staying?"

"Looks that way. Just hope it's not a mistake."

Bella tossed her keys to him, which he caught, before she turned and walked into the yellow house on Mulberry Lane.

Thank you for all the AMAZING reviews! Big shout out to Sunflower Fran for all the love and support with these chapters.