Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight. No copyright infringement is intended. ©2023

Thank you to my co-writer, Devonna, for sharing ideas with me and encouraging me!

This story is un-beta'd. All mistakes are mine.

Looking forward to your thoughts… see you at the bottom.

Chapter 3

Althea

"Whew." I sighed in relief as I kicked out of my Jimmy Choo suede pumps as soon as I closed my office door behind me.

My toes melted in the plush, velvety, hunter-green carpet as I slowly walked across the room to my desk, unzipping the long silk, black robe that I'd put on over eight hours ago.

"Aha." I inhaled the light rosewood scent from my executive desk and the matching bookshelves, full of books, that surrounded my walls.

I plopped down in my chocolate brown Murphie High Back chair and rolled back just enough to put my feet on top of my desk.

I rolled my ankles looking for some comfort from the usual prolonged sitting today. I normally sat on the bench for six hours, but this particular criminal trial had proven to be long and tedious.

I closed my eyes and rotated my neck from the stiffness.

Quiet.

I welcomed the peace.

Don't get me wrong, I loved my career. I worked my ass off to get where I was but today had been one of those days.

I yearned for my jacuzzi, a bottle of Red-1968 Bertani Amarone, along with the sexiest man who has ever walked this planet, my husband, Peter.

The hours and hours of testimony had gotten to me today. If I hadn't cut off when the last witness stepped down, we'd probably still be going.

I removed my feet from my desk spun my chair around to my stainless-steel mini-refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of spring water with a bowl of red grapes. It had been five hours since lunch and I was hungry. Peter had texted me and said he'd pick up dinner since I had a late night, but this would hold me until I got home.

Just as I'd finished sipping on my water, there was a light knock on my door. I looked down at my watch and saw it was seven fifteen, wondering who that could have been at this hour.

"Who is it?" I asked as I popped a grape in my mouth.

"It's Emmett, Thea." He replied.

What was he still doing here? The trail he presided over let out hours ago. I knew this because we ate lunch together.

"Come in."

Emmett McCarthy, my esteemed colleague, and one of my closest friends, walked in with a tailored navy blue Brioni suit on and a white and petrol blue shirt, with the top button opened.

His stature has intimated many throughout the years we've known each other. We met in undergrad at a fraternity party one Friday night and have been friends since. The attraction to take things further was never there, it seemed unnatural, he was more like that protective big brother instead of a boyfriend.

We talked for hours that night, turning down people who asked us to dance. It felt like I had reconnected with an old friend. We eventually found out that we were both in the pre-law programs and our conversation shifted to our goals, even after graduating from college.

Emmett had become such a regular in my life, we knew each other's families and when we were on breaks from school, we'd still hang out.

He was also my study partner. He was a jovial easy-going guy, but when it came to cracking down in the books, he turned into a Pitbull. To this day, eight years later, sometimes I still call him, Bull.

And judging by his fast-paced stride and his set jaw, that's the exact mood he was in.

"I thought you—"

"You have to see this—" We spoke over each other, as he sat down in one of the chairs across from me, holding up a Manella folder.

I jerked my head back. "O-kay."

He set the file down on my desk and slid it toward me.

I blinked down at the folder and then looked back up at him. "What is this?"

"You trust me, right?" He tilted his head and paused.

"Why would you even ask such a ludicrous question like that?" I challenged.

"Okay, then—' he jerked his chin. "—open it."

A knot began to form in my stomach.

I knew this had to be something important for him to have pushed the matter like this.

I furrowed my eyebrows and then released them. "All right." I nodded slowly, swallowing.

I hesitated with trembling hands. For some reason, I felt like whatever this was would change my life in one way or another.

I exhaled and finally opened the folder.

The first name I saw at the top of the page was, Aaron M. Smith.

I squinted my eyes and gave Emmett an expected look.

He shook his head. "Keep reading, you haven't gotten to the good part yet."

I wondered if this could have been the reason why Bella abruptly left her own wedding.

I knew the no-good bastard was hiding something. He was acting more off than usual—even for him.

I wordlessly dropped my eyes back down to the pages and read each line. I flipped to the second page and by the time I got to the middle of the page, my lips curled, and my eyes turned cold.

I turned to the next page and it was a picture.

I was immediately repulsed.

I stroked my throat and grimaced, looking up at Emmett's awaiting gaze.

He wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, I know, it's some sick shit, but the first picture isn't the worst one."

Heat flushed through my body. I stood up and removed my robe.

"Are you kidding me Em, it's worse than this?" I held up the picture and snorted with disgust.

I knew—I told the asshole many times he wasn't good enough for my cousin but this—this was appalling.

He folded his arms across his chest and simply nodded.

I picked the pile of pictures up and scanned through every one of them. By the time I got to the last one I had an uneasy feeling in my chest and the back of my throat burned. I felt like everything I had eaten was going to be hurled into my wastebasket.

I closed my eyes and took deep breaths a few times before I looked at Emmett again.

"How did you get this?"

He scooted to the edge of the chair. "Do you remember Lewis Lavelle from grad school?"

We had some classes with him, and he even studied with us a few times. He was a nice-looking guy even back then, but he was in a committed relationship with a nursing major named Charlotte, whom he later married.

He and Emmett grew even closer when they both worked at the same law firm right after we graduated.

"Yes, I remember him." I shook my head.

"Well, he's a partner at Meyers and Silverman's now. So anyway, one night he was in the library working on a difficult case that he had to present the next morning. Unbeknownst to Lewis, someone else was still in the office after nine o'clock at night, with a client."

"Of course, it was Aaron." I rolled my eyes.

"That's correct." He nodded. "Initially he didn't give it much attention, so he continued with what he was doing. A little while later he heard yelling, and something slammed against the wall. He got up and ran down to the other end of the hall toward the noise."

I sat back down and shook my head immersed in the story.

"By the time Lewis finally got in the office, Aaron had his attorney, Michael Newton, pent-up against the wall." He chuckled. "When Lewis asked what the hell was going on neither one of them answered him."

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain how you got this." I pointed down to the pile of papers on my desk.

"Let me finish, Thea." He held up one of his palms.

"Okay, okay." I gestured for him to continue.

"Lewis being the nosey fucker he's always been questioned him about it the following day. You see with Lewis being a partner and Michael having to report to Lewis, as an associate, it was in Michael's best interest to explain what happened." He cleared his throat before he continued. "Lewis said Aaron looked familiar to him for some reason and it bothered him that he couldn't remember why."

I pushed the bowl of grapes toward Emmett, he liked them as much as I did.

He threw a handful in his mouth and swallowed before he continued. "He searched through some of his old files to see if he'd previously worked a case with him or for him but came up empty-handed. But then he noticed the Chicago Tribune society page folded on the edge of his desk." He clapped his hands together once. "That's when it hit him. We opened the paper up and right there was a picture of Bella and the asshole." He raked his hand through his hair as he got up bent down to my refrigerator and grabbed himself a soft drink.

"Lewis remembered some of the group pictures I had in my office when we all went to Mexico… and that's how—" his voice faded.

I stared at nothing, but it was piercing, with an edgy laugh.

I remember that day so well. Aaron kept pushing Bella to take pictures for the society column after she accepted his proposal. They went on for almost two weeks until she finally caved.

I bet the egotistical motherfucker hadn't bet on the very picture same he damn near harassed my cousin to take ousted his overbearing ass.

Angered thrummed through my veins.

I wanted to tear him apart, from limb to limb, with my bare hands.

No, that's too good—too easy. It should be slow and tortious.

Uncle Charlie knows people who know people who would do it.

Hell, Bella wouldn't mi—

I paused that thought.

Bella.

Oh my God!

Was this what she saw on her wedding day?

Could this have been the reason she rushed out without saying anything to me?

I couldn't even begin to imagine Peter doing anything remotely close to this.

I covered my mouth, sickened at the thought of how Bella must've felt.

Heaviness.

Eye pulsed.

Numb.

Clenched jaw.

Exhaustion.

My emotions were all over the place, I couldn't find an emotion and stick to it. My mind reeled from her to him.

"Hey, hey, Althea?" Emmett snapped his fingers in my face, bringing me out of my thoughts.

I blinked several times willing the unshed tears not to fall.

A lump formed in my throat knowing my cousin hid away trying to cope with this alone.

"Emmett." My voice cracked.

"I know." He winced and leaned down pulling me into a hug.

"I don't know what to do—how to fix this for her." My shoulders slumped.

"You can't fix it, but you can be there for her like I know you will. Have you heard from her yet?"

"No." I shook my head. "I was giving her space. I knew when she was ready, she'd reach out. But if I knew it was this bad, I would have found her and gone to her."

"You did the right thing."

"Why doesn't it feel like the right thing?" I exhaled.

"Look." Emmett pulled away and stood up to his full weight. "I know you—you want to go all Rambo on Aaron but go rushing in to be that loving mother bear for Bella." I nodded because he was absolutely correct. "You have a big heart, Althea, unless someone pisses you off," he chuckled. "As much as you may not want to, you have to wait."

I sagged back in my chair, speechless.

He was right.

With emotional as I was, I knew I'd do something irrational.

I needed to process all of this.

I had to get back into the right head space.

I couldn't pressure her into telling me until she was ready, no matter how much I wanted to be there, I couldn't—not yet.

Emmett squeezed my shoulder. "Don't worry, you know she has Charlie and Renee. She's not alone."

"I know." I nodded.

I still felt powerless—useless.

"You know she's going to call or stop by your house and tell you everything."

We've been joined at the hip since we came out of our mother's wombs. I'm older than Bella by two weeks but she's been my best friend as long as I can remember. There isn't much we don't know about each other.

"Thank you, Em." I grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"Hey," he smirked. "you don't have to thank me. You know I'd do anything for Squirt."

"You know she goes crazy every time you call her that, right?" I laughed for what felt like the first time since he came into my office.

His dimpled smile was so large you could barely see his eyes. "That's exactly why I do it."

"You're a nut, you know that, right?" I continued to laugh.

He shrugged his shoulders grinning.

I felt some of the tension leave my body.

"Seriously." I paused and looked him in the eyes. "I appreciate you for sharing this with me because you really didn't have to. Thanks for looking out."

"I love you all." He placed his hand over his heart. "You're like my second family and I don't let anyone fuck over my family." He arched one eyebrow.

"I'm glad we have someone like you on our team," I smirked.

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