33

"Are you ready?"

"No," Bella admitted, looking at Edward. "Have you told him we're back in the city?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because if I did, he would be waiting for you, and you're not ready to face him yet."

Bella nodded. "Maybe I should sic your mother on him."

"We don't want to hurt the man, Bella."

She smiled. "No, we don't. I just . . . He played me so I would come back. He knew I'd continue playing the game with Dwyer, and it nearly cost me my life. And he acts like I'm supposed to be okay just because I wasn't sexually assaulted . . . like Dwyer didn't brand me, cut my ankles, or beat me. Like . . . like he didn't touch me," she whimpered, but when Edward reached for her hand, she pulled away.

"Sorry."

"Don't be."

Bella bit her lip. "I need to see it again."

He didn't hesitate before he reached up and unbuttoned his shirt, pulling the two sides wide enough for her to glimpse the top of his chest. She exhaled a breath of relief, though inwardly chastising herself for weakness. Edward had done nothing but reassure her that Dwyer made those claims to manipulate her, to fuck with her mind, just like he had done to Angela Webber. Not only did he torture them physically and sexually, but he got into their minds and made then believe they deserved his wrath, and because of that, they begged him for the gift of death. Ashamedly, Bella could admit that Dwyer had broken her spirit and damaged her soul.

"Thanks," she whispered.

"You're welcome." Edward rebuttoned his shirt. "We're going to be late."

She nodded but didn't reach for the handle.

"Do you want me to call and reschedule?"

"No."

"Okay." Edward wrapped his fingers around the top of the stirring wheel. "I could take you back to The Rage Room. Take your anger out on some dishes."

"Tempting, but no."

He nodded. "Should I call Sam? Have him meet us here?"

Bella inhaled a deep breath. "Probably, but no."

"Tell me what you need."

"A time machine?"

Edward smiled. "Left that back in Texas."

Bella scoffed. "Just my luck."

"I know you don't want to go inside and tell them what happened, but you have to."

"Why? I'm sure they've seen the tapes. Why do I need to . . . to talk about it?"

"Because until you do, you'll never begin healing."

"Healing?" she muttered. "There are things one can't heal from, Masen."

"Maybe, maybe not, but . . ." He sighed. "Remember when you took me to meet Heidi?"

She nodded.

"I didn't understand why I needed to see her like that. I'd read her file and seen the pictures. It wasn't like I didn't know what Dwyer had done to her, but I didn't fully grasp how much he'd broken her. And when I saw her and listened to her talk . . . She was childlike, fragile; fractured in ways I didn't think a person could be. It was at that moment when I realized I'd been taught wrong, that it's more than just facts and statistics. Don't get me wrong, I know that we use stats and evidence to build our cases. We must if we want convictions. But too many times, we wrap up an investigation just to move on to the next case and then the next. We forget about Heidi Crenshaw and Mary Webber. We neglect to consider what they need after we've saved them. But you don't. You taught me to look at the victim as a person and not just a name in a file."

"You think they're going to see me as a person and not just another one of Dwyer's victims?"

"Not everyone," he admitted. "I don't."

"Why not?"

"Because you fought back."

"Not hard enough."

"You blinded him, Bella."

"I did?"

He nodded. "I had Cullen send me your file."

"Why Cullen?"

"Because aside from me, you trust him."

"I did."

"You still do."

"What did his file say?"

"Most you already know, of course. But I wanted . . . needed to know more about his condition."

"Besides the supposed memory loss."

Edward nodded. "When you burned his face, you blinded him in his left eye. The nerve damage is irreversible, as is the vision loss."

"If he's not faking it like he is with the amnesia."

"Yeah."

"Do you think he's lying, Edward?"

"About his memory, yes. The rest? I don't think so."

"If he gets away with everything . . ."

"He won't."

"You can't know that."

"I won't let him."

"So what? You'd hunt him down? Kill him in cold blood?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because he put his hands on you, Bella, and I don't want anyone else's hands on you other than mine."

Bella's eyes widened.

"Too intense?"

"A little," she admitted, causing him to frown. "It's not that I don't love you, because I do."

"I know you do."

"Yeah?"

Edward nodded. "But I also know you need time to . . . to trust me again."

Bella sighed.

"It's okay, sweetheart. I love you, and I will never stop. No matter how hard it gets, how long it takes, I will be right by your side."

She wanted to believe him. Maybe she would have if he'd killed Dwyer. Had Edward just panicked at the moment? Or was he putting on a show for his partner?

—

Unable to put their meeting off any longer, the two headed inside the office of the Attorney General. Bella had been there several times during her eight years with the FBI. Of course, she'd been the one petitioning them to press federal charges, to throw the book at whatever scumbag she'd stopped. Never in her wildest imagination had she thought she would be there as a victim. And despite what Edward said, Bella was a victim.

Half an hour later, they'd made it through the security check, where Bella suffered the humiliation of being scanned by a wand since she needed her cane to walk. Now, they were seated outside an office on the third floor, waiting to get called in for their meeting.

"Agent Swan, Agent Masen, he's ready for you."

Turning their attention to the tall, thin Latino woman standing in the doorway, they simply nodded and followed her inside. Seated behind the large, black desk was Caius Volturi. With shocking white hair and deep blue eyes, he was a tall man in his late fifties who thought himself to be smarter than most. Bella had been able to see past his cockiness and see the ambition to make the world a safer place.

Caius smiled as he stood. "Agent Swan, it's been a while."

Bella hummed.

"How have you been holding up?"

"Not great."

"Suppose that was a stupid question, wasn't it?"

She nodded before gesturing toward one of the chairs. "May I sit? My legs hurt. Long walk from the parking lot."

"Of course. Forgive me."

Caius returned to his seat. "Let's not beat around the bush, shall we? Phillip Dwyer is a menace to society."

"No shit," Bella scoffed.

"We're moving forward with federal charges, Agent Swan."

"I'm not Agent Swan anymore, Mr. Volturi. My name is Bee."

His lips curled into a smile. "Okay, Bee. As I said, we are moving forward with federal charges. We strongly feel that we can convict him of almost every murder."

"Almost?"

He frowned. "We've managed to identify fifteen of the seventeen women we didn't know about, though we haven't found their remains yet."

"Tell me about the two you haven't identified."

Caius leaned forward, opening a manilla folder before glancing from her to Edward. "The first, the oldest, had long, curly brown hair. We're guessing her to be between the ages of sixteen and twenty-two. Based on the video, Dwyer held her for almost a month before killing her."

"Let me see her picture."

"Swan, I don't think that's a good idea," Edward said, shifting toward her. "It's too much."

"I need to see her," Bella whispered, glancing at him.

Though she could tell he didn't agree, Edward nodded.

Bella looked at Caius. "Let me see."

Pressing his lips together, he slid the picture across the desk. Her fingers trembled as she lifted it, holding it gingerly. Like Caius had stated, the girl was younger than most of Dwyer's victims. Bella doubted that she was older than eighteen. She was tiny, frail, and delicate. Bella found herself looking at dark eyes filled with tears, fear, and horror. Her neck was covered in rope burns, her arms were bruised, her cheeks were swollen, and burn marks covered her chest. She was as naked as the day she was born, but like all his girls, Dwyer had broken not just her body but her soul as well.

There was a brutality in her wounds that struck Bella as odd. Dwyer was usually more calculated with his torture. One might even say careful. Yet this girl had been brutalized with anger.

Bella laid the photo on the desk. "He took her after he killed my husband, didn't he?"

Caius nodded.

"He took her because I stopped playing his game."

"Perhaps."

"All of the girls were taken between when he killed Garrett and when he kidnapped Gianna Romans, weren't they?"

"Yes."

Tears burned her eyes, but she managed to keep them from falling. "He's claiming to have amnesia. Is that going to hinder your case against him?"

"Well, his defense will argue that he can't be held liable for crimes he has no memory of, but I will not allow that to be the case. The videos, along with survivor testimony, should be more than enough to guarantee his conviction."

"You're expecting Heidi and Angela to testify against him, too?"

"Yes."

"You think they are strong enough to take the stand?"

"No."

Her eyes widened as she looked from him to Edward and back. "Then why are you asking them to?"

Caius shook his head, sighing softly. "Because they, like you, need this closure." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. "I won't lie to you, Bee. Dwyer's got a tough defense team behind him."

"Who's representing him?"

"Eleazar Denali."

Her eyes widened. "What the fuck?"

"Not like I have a choice, Bee."

"Who is Eleazar Denali?" Edward asked.

"He's the same man who represented Marcus Henderson," Bella said. "He's going to put us on trial, make it seem like we're the criminals, not Dwyer. He's an asshole."

"Isn't that a conflict of interest given what we know Henderson did to Dwyer?"

"It is, but seeing as neither Dwyer nor his family ever pressed charges, the statute of limitations expired, we can't bring the abuse he suffered as a child in."

"But Eleazar will," Bella quipped.

"Probably," he agreed. "But regardless of what he suffered as a child, Phillip Dwyer made the choice to kidnap, sexually assault, abuse, and murder almost two dozen women."

"And Garrett."

Caius frowned. "Yes, and your husband." He leaned back. "I need you to tell me what happened in that room, Bee."

"You've seen the video, haven't you?"

"I have, but I need to hear it from you."

Bella shook her head, looking away from him. "I knew the moment I saw him in that basement that it was going to be bad, but I wasn't . . . I wasn't expecting . . . to be humiliated, hung by my wrists, beaten, branded. I was supposed to be stronger and smarter than his other girls, but as I hung there for days, I knew I wasn't. Dwyer set a trap for me, and I fell for it because I thought I was smarter than him."

She wiped a tear off her cheek. "He enjoyed humiliating Jessica Stanley. She thought he loved her, thought she'd made him proud by tricking me, but he didn't need her anymore, so he wrapped his hand around her throat, lifted her against the wall, and watched as she died. One hand. Do you know how much strength it takes to strangle someone with one hand?"

"A lot," Caius responded, picking up a small leather notebook. "While searching her home, we found her journal, Bee. There's . . . Well, she wrote about you a lot."

"Me?"

He nodded. "I've made copies, if . . . if you'd like to read them."

"Why would I want to do that?" Bella asked, leaning against the back of her chair.

"It might help you heal," he said, shrugging. "She . . . There's no excusing her choices, but she . . . . Well, she didn't have an easy life."

"Have any of us?" Edward questioned, drawing their attention.

"No, I suppose not. Like I said, I made copies if you want them. I'll understand if you don't."

"Did she talk about him?"

"No," he admitted. "Mostly you, some about her mother, her childhood."

Bella brought her hand up to her chest, toying with the buttons on her blouse. "Why do you think she helped him?"

Caius frowned. "Miss Stanley was desperate for someone to love her, to need her. Yes, her mother fawned over her when she was a little girl and put her in beauty pageants But when she didn't win, she berated her, called her ugly and stupid. She was verbally abusive, blaming Jessica for her father leaving. She was . . . she was a little girl, who was consistently told she wasn't worth loving. Yet, she felt a sense of responsibility to her mother, especially after she went into liver failure. This is just my opinion, but I believe Dwyer fed off her insecurities, promised to give ger you in return for her loyalty, and in the end, it cost Jessica her life."

—

Bella was mentally and physically spent when they left Caius's office. Though she wasn't sure she wanted to read Jessica's journal, she found herself accepting the copy. Edward placed them in their luggage before the two headed to his apartment. She was overwhelmed and wanted to lock herself away from the world. But seeing as she wasn't speaking to her father despite his repeated phone calls and text messages, she couldn't seek refuge in the yellow house on Mulberry Lane.

"We could stay in a hotel," Edward suggested.

"Like Elizabeth would allow that to happen," Bella scoffed. "She's probably spent the afternoon cooking a feast. Doesn't seem the type to do well with idle hands."

Edward laughed. "No doubt about that. Probably should have let Essie know she was coming back with us, huh?"

"You didn't?"

"Nope," he snickered.

"Why not?"

He shrugged. "She would have yelled at me."

"Afraid of your little sister," she teased.

"She's scrappy."

"I'm sure she is, Masen."

The two climbed out of the car and headed inside, slowly taking the stairs, seeing as Bella had been on her feet more than usual. Edward placed their luggage next to the door before gripping the handle and sliding it open.

However, before they could enter the apartment, Bella felt her shoulders tense because sitting on the couch with Elizabeth Masen was none other than . . . her father.

Thank you for all the AMAZING reviews! Huge thank you to Sunflower Fran for being an awesome beta and getting me this chapter back so fast.