Twilight 1. Prolouge

**Retribution**

**Bella POV**

It has been four years.

Four years since a naïve 17 year old girl fell in love with Edward Cullen.

Four years since I'd had the best summer of my life – filled with love, parties, dates and sex.

But it has also been four years since my boyfriend became hooked on drugs.

Four years since my brothers became involved in the family business.

Four years since Edward became involved in his.

It has been four years since I have sent them all to jail.


	2. Chapter 1

I probably shouldn't begin writing a new story when I still have about 6 others to finish, but I became inspired by the song Porcelain by Moby and I couldn't resist. So listen to this song whilst reading this story as you might enjoy it!

* * *

**Bella POV**

I remember the first time that I met Edward Cullen.

I was seventeen years old. It was April the 24th, during a thunder storm, in which my truck just so happened to break down in. As I was returning from the supermarket, my truck began to shudder underneath me, so I pulled over to check out what was wrong. As I stopped the truck, I heard and felt a bang from the engine and smoke began to emerge from within the bonnet. Swearing under my breath, I attempted to see what was wrong with my car by looking under the bonnet of my truck to see where all the smoke was coming from, but getting completely soaked in the process, when all of a sudden a car pulled up behind me.

"Need any help there?" A voice spoke from behind me. Turning around, I was faced with a boy who looked to be about a similar age to me, with wet bonze coloured hair, a chiselled face and a strong body build. He was gorgeous.

"Thanks, but I doubt you're going to be able to help me with this one. This is the third time this month that this piece of shit has broken down. I'm probably going to have to scrap it," I replied, shutting the hood of the car.

"You're right. You're truck is a piece of shit. You probably shouldn't even be driving it," he replied with a laugh, placing a hand on my truck.

That angered me, how dare someone else insult my truck! Someone I didn't even know! "Don't insult my truck. Not everyone gets everything handed to them on a plate," I retorted pointing towards his brand new Volvo.

"Hey, I didn't mean to cause any offence!" He replied stepping back and putting his hands up when he saw how pissed off I was. When I didn't reply, he continued. "Let me give you a lift home at least, then you can call a tow truck to pick up your truck. Besides, we're both soaked to the skin."

"Fine." I grabbed my purse and groceries from the truck, locked it and jumped into the passenger seat of his car.

As soon as I closed the door, the boy turned the heating onto full, blasting me with hot air. It felt good.

"Where do you live?"

"Lato Avenue, the white house."

"I'm new to town so you're going to have to show me where that is," he turned to me with a cheeky grin. "Perhaps you could show me around town as well?"

"You wish."

"Oh believe me I do." He was silent for a minute and then spoke again. "We haven't known each other, for what, 10 minutes and I've already managed to annoy the most beautiful girl in this town."

I sighed, even though I was repressing a smile at the fact that he had called me beautiful. "I'm not annoyed with you, I'm just annoyed about my truck. I don't have enough money to buy a new car."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's not your fault. Thank you for giving me a lift home, I really appreciate it. My house is just the white one at the end of the street," I said pointing to the white mansion at the end of the road.

My house was one of the biggest in this shitty little town called Forks. Some would call it a dream house; it was three stories tall, with ten bedrooms, all with ensuites, two large reception rooms, a huge kitchen, and many more rooms.

"Whoa, I thought you said that you couldn't afford a new car?!"

"I can't."

"Surely if you live in a house like this then you can?"

"Just because my father is rich, doesn't mean that I am," I snapped climbing out of the car and slamming the door.

I heard the other door slam and as I turned around I saw the boy walking towards me. "Aren't you going to tell me your name? I'm Edward."

"Bella," I said turning back to my house.

"Bella," he called, grabbing my elbow and pulling me towards him. His breath tickled over my face and I could feel myself blushing, realising our proximity to each other. "I'll see you at school," he grinned and let go of my arm and walked back to his car, before jumping in and speeding off.

Smiling, I entered my house, only to be assaulted with the smell of weed. Crinkling my nose, I turned towards one of our reception rooms where it would appear that my older brother, Jasper and Emmett were holding a little gathering. Or should I say, a big gathering, around 50 people were milling around downstairs, pissed and high.

"Bells, come and join the party," Emmett shouted jumping up, slinging one of his arms over my shoulder in an attempt to steer me further into the room and into the party.

"No thanks, you know I don't take drugs and I'm not a heavy drinker."

"Bells, it's only a bit of weed and besides, dealing in drugs is what us Swan's do best," he said with a wink.

"You're disgusting," I replied, shoving his arm off of me.

"Fine, have it your way, but there's no running from it Bells, it's our family legacy."

I exited the room, my smile gone and stalked up to my room, slamming the door, where unfortunately two people were making out.

"Get out," I snarled. The two people who I recognised as some seniors mumbled something about me being a stroppy bitch before leaving my room. Crashing onto my bed I thought about Edward, the cheeky, mysterious boy and I let myself smile again. I couldn't wait to see him at school on Monday.

* * *

_Present_

The ringing of my phone, brought me out of my musing about the past. Looking at the caller ID, I saw that it was Alice.

"Yes, I'm almost ready," I sighed, speaking into the phone before she could cut me off.

"Good, I'll be home in ten minutes, I've just brought a few bottles of wine to have before we leave. I'm so excited for tonight, this new club opening is going to be awesome! It's all everyone in Seattle is talking about…" I zoned out of her chatter and continued to apply my makeup.

"Alice, I'll see you in a few minutes, I'm just going to finish my makeup, bye!" And I hung up the phone.

Not long after, I heard a key turn in the front door of our apartment and seconds later Alice bounced in.

"Wow Bella, you look hot!" she exclaimed as I turned to face her. Currently, I was wearing a short, tight black dress with black heels with bright red lipstick. Alice was wearing pretty much the same but with an emerald coloured dress instead of black.

She help up two bottles of wine, "ready to get drunk before Sam comes and picks us up?"

An hour later, Alice and I had managed to drink both bottles and when Sam knocked on our door, he was greeted by two giggling women.

"Someone's started early!" he said with a laugh. He took each one of us by the arm and led us downstairs to his car outside. The journey to the nightclub was a blur and before I knew it Alice and I were on the dance floor, having just had some shots, dancing like there was no tomorrow.

I Feel Love by Donna Summer came on, and although it was an old song, it was a classic and so both Alice and I squealed and pushed ourselves further into the dance floor. It wasn't long before, I felt someone's hands on my hips and a body pressed behind me. Slowly, I moved my hips to the beat and the man's hands ran up and down my waist as he pressed further into me. I felt his breath on my ear and his lips slowly trailed down the side of the neck which I tilted further to give him more access. I closed my eyes, just enjoying the feel of this strangers hands rubbing all over my body. However, the song ended and I had no intentions whatsoever to go home with this man so I stepped away from this stranger. I was about to apologise to him when I locked eyes with someone I hadn't seen in four years.

These past few years had made Rosalie even more gorgeous than she used to be. Her blonde hair was wavy and fell past her chest, her curves were even more pronounced than they used to be and her boobs had certainly grown. A tight red cocktail dress hugged her body and did her curves justice, making her look even more beautiful than she already was. I used to be so envious of Rosalie's looks as she always got male attention and everyone always looked at her instead of me whenever we were together. She was so beautiful that looking at her hurt. Or perhaps it was the amount of guilt I held that made my chest burn when I looked at her.

Our eyes were locked on each other and I watched as she pulled her phone out of her bag and dialled someone without taking her eyes off of me. Her lips moved fast as she spoke down the phone and when she hung up, she smirked and started walking towards me.

"Alice, we have to go," I said, grabbing her arm and pulling her off of the dance floor.

"What the hell, Bella! We haven't even been here an hour and already you want to leave!"

"Alice, I really don't have time to explain, I will later I promise, but we really have to go." Still keeping a hold on Alice's arm, we exited the club only to find that there were no taxis outside.

"Shit!" I shouted, before dragging Alice down the street.

"Bella, what the fuck is going on, you're acting really weird."

"Alice, please, I just need to get away."

"Away from what?"

"I'll tell you when we get back."

I could hear someone in high heels behind us, catching up fast, so I quickened my pace. "Bella, please, you're walking too fast!"

"Alice, I'm sorry just -" I was cut off by someone grabbing my shoulder and spinning me around, only to become face to face with Rosalie.

"Well, well, isn't it Bella Swan," she sneered.

"Rose, I -"

"Don't call me that," she snapped, "only friends and family can call me that." She gave me a shove and I stumbled backwards a few steps.

"Have you any idea what you have done to everyone back in Forks? You have ruined everything!" she screeched, giving me another shove.

"I didn't mean to, I -" she cut me off again before I could utter another word.

"Off course you didn't mean to, perfect little Isabella Swan can never do anything wrong," she mocked with a laugh.

"What kind of person puts their own family and boyfriend in jail, huh? A cold hearted bitch, that's who! You never deserved your family, you always treated them as if you were above them, as if they were pieces of dirt."

Suddenly, I regained my confidence and I pushed her back. "Don't you dare speak to me like that! What my family were involved in was illegal, people died you stupid bitch. Do you think I was going to sit around and let more innocent teenagers become hooked on drugs or involved in some stupid drugs war between two families who hated each other for practically no reason?"

She took a step forward and laughed. "You've got to watch yourself Bella, everyone is going to be out next month, and I'm pretty sure, they will be looking for revenge against you. Especially Edward."

I faltered, "What do you mean they are being released next month? They were all imprisoned for 15 years, it's only been four."

"Ha, did nobody tell you? The judge has granted them early release, I suppose being rich and having connections back home still counts for something huh?" She smirked.

"I'm sure I'll see you soon Bella, you won't know what's hit you." She gave me one last shove and stalked down the street towards the nightclub.

"Who the hell was that?" Alice asked. Being completely wrapped up in Rosalie's presence I had forgotten that Alice was next to me.

"She used to be my best friend," I said, watching Rosalie walk away in the distance.


	3. Chapter 2

**Bella POV**

_Four Years earlier_

The next time I saw him was on Monday morning in the car park outside school. Jasper gave me a lift to school as it became apparent over the rest of the weekend that my truck was pretty much unfixable. So it looked liked I was going to have to be extra nice to my brothers for a while until I got my truck fixed. As soon as Jasper had parked his car, he jumped out and ran over to a pretty blonde senior that he was dating at the time.

Sighing, I climbed out of his car and walked towards the entrance of Forks High School, for another dreaded week of school. However, that was until someone began to shout my name from across the other side of the car park. Frowning, I turned around, I only really had one friend at high school and that was Angela, and I knew for a fact that was not her voice.

As I scanned the car park for who had been calling my name, my eyes landed on Edward who was walking towards me with a big smile on his face. As much as I tried to, I couldn't help but contain the grin that managed to form on my face at the sight of his presence. I couldn't lie, I had been looking forward to seeing him all weekend, and part of me was worried that he wouldn't show up, or he decided to go to a high school in a neighbouring town.

"Hey, how was your weekend?" I asked when he reached the top of the steps.

"It was pretty boring, there doesn't seem to be much around here does there?" he replied, opening the door for me.

"No there really isn't, unless you go to Port Angeles or Seattle. So where are you from anyway?"

"Port Angeles actually. My family runs a lot of successful business up there, but my father decided that it was time to expand it further, and so we moved to Forks. Exciting eh?" he said with a wink.

"Thrilling," I replied dryly. It was silent for a few minutes whilst we walked to my locker, but it didn't feel awkward, it felt comfortable. It was strange, I had never felt so at ease with someone I barely knew like this before, but with Edward it just felt natural.

We reached my locker and I opened it and took some books out of my bag and shoved them in.

"Bella," Edward said, sounding very nervous and serious.

"Yeah?" I replied slamming my locker door shut, looking into his eyes.

"I can't believe that I'm asking you this… But… uh… would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?" he asked, rushing the last few words as though he were scared to ask them.

"Excuse me?" I couldn't believe it, Edward wanted to go on a date with me!

"Um, I would like to take you out for dinner sometime if that's okay with you?" he repeated, looking sheepish and rubbing the back of his hair.

"You're asking out a girl you barely know?" I asked, a smile etching its way onto my face.

"Yeah I am, I want to get to know you more."

"Yeah okay, how about tomorrow night?"

"Tomorrow sounds good, I know this amazing restaurant in Port Angeles. You will love it!"

It turns out that Edward was in pretty much all of the same classes as me, apart from gym, which I was incredibly thankful for as I did not want to make a fool of myself in front of him. Our first class was English and so we sat next to each other.

Mr Banner walked in just moments later clutching a small piece of paper in his hands. "Good morning class," he said sitting at his desk, "I'd like to welcome a new member of the school to our class," he glanced at the piece of paper. "Edward Cullen, where are you?" Edward raised his hands and introduced himself to the class but all I could hear was Mr Banner's voice in my head.

Edward Cullen.

Cullen.

Cullen.

Shit.

I had to stay away from him, no matter how much I didn't want to. We could never be friends, we could never be together, and it just wasn't possible. It would inevitably end in disaster.

For as long as I can remember, I had grown up hearing the world Cullen used in a bad light. The thing is, the Cullen family were rivals to ours in the drug world. It had been that way since before I was born. The Cullen's would rule the drug trade in Seattle and Port Angeles, whilst the Swan's ruled the drug trade out in the country, where more people were hooked on them and less competition.

And now one of them was sat in the chair next to me.

"Bella Swan," I heard Mr Banner call my name out in the register.

"Yes sir," I mumbled, sinking in my seat as Edward turned to face me, his face etched with shock. But I turned away, there was no way I could betray my family like this.

Although…

I didn't approve of the family business anyway and I had no intentions whatsoever of going into it so why couldn't I do what I wanted?

But then what again if Edward was involved in his family business, then I don't want to become involved with him. The drug trade was awful, and if I was strong willed enough, I would happily destroy it in this region. But I couldn't betray my family, I would lose them forever.

The rest of English was spent for me, debating in my head about what to do with the situation with Edward, to distance myself or not? However, soon the bell rang, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Bella," a voice next to be murmured.

"Edward, we can't do this," I replied, purposely not looking it in his direction.

"Why not?"

"You know why." I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder before storming out of the classroom. I didn't get far down the corridor before he grabbed my elbow and spun me around to face him.

"I don't care."

"You don't care about what?"

"What your surname is, who your family are, what they do. All I care about is that I want to get to know _you_, not your family. I'm willing to take any risk just to spend time with you. I've never had so much curiosity to _want_ to get to know someone as much as you. Bella, I already think you're amazing and we barely know each other. Please don't walk away from me. Something wonderful could happen between us, and you want to walk away before we get to find out what it could be." He took a step closer to me. I became so aware of the closeness between us both that I forgot that people were walking and pushing past us. In my eyes, it was just the two of us in this corridor.

"Skip school with me," he whispered, letting his breath wash over his face.

"But it's your first day of school!"

"I don't care, I would rather spend it with you."

He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards his car with a huge smile on his face. "Edward!" I exclaimed, "We will get into trouble!"

"Who cares, they won't expel us!" Laughing he opened the passenger door for me and I climbed in. Once he was in the car we sped off, leaving all our worries behind.

It wasn't long until I became head over heels in love with Edward Cullen. It was just a shame that at that point in time, I never knew what his intentions with me were to become.

* * *

_Present day_

As soon as Alice and I returned to our apartment, I grabbed the phone and rang one of the only people I could trust back home – Jacob. Jake was the police officer who handled the whole case back in Forks and protected me by helping move away once the trials were over. He was five years older than me, but I had known him since we were children. However, I hadn't seen him since I was around ten years old until I turned up at the police station that one night, confessing my family's crimes.

However, not caring what time it was, I dialled his number and endured the annoying rings for almost a minute until he picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he said, his voice laced with sleep.

"Jake, what the fuck is going on?! I just bumped into Rosalie in a nightclub in Seattle, of all places and she told me that everyone is being released from prison. You better fucking explain what is going on!"

"Fuck," he swore, "Bells, I'm really sorry, I didn't want you to find out."

"Find out what exactly?"

He sighed down the phone, "A few weeks ago, the district judge overruled its previous decision and is now letting your family and the Cullen's out of jail. I'm not sure why he has changed his mind, or why he is freeing both the Swan's and the Cullen's, but I suspect that there is a lot of money involved."

"They can't do this! They were sentenced for fifteen years in jail! It's only been four!"

"Bells, I know. But it seems like they can and they are."

"They're going to kill me when they are released," I whispered, the realisation of how much trouble I was in sank in. "Edward is going to kill me."

"They won't kill you, no- one knows where you are." He sighed, "Look Bella, it's three in the morning, I'll call you in the morning when you are in a better state of mind, bye."

After hanging up the phone I started crying, I couldn't help it but the tears came. Somehow, I had managed to block the events of four years ago out of my mind pretty well, and it has always seemed so far in the distance my family's release. But now it was only in a month's time, and I had a feeling that they were going to be pretty pissed off with me for sending them to prison.

Rosalie was right, they are going to want revenge.

"Bella, it's going to be alright, please, just tell me what the matter is," Alice said, pulling me into her arms.

"Al, I messed up big time. I'm going to be in so much trouble, I'm scared," I admitted hugging her closer.

"Start from the beginning."

And so I did. I told her about how I met Edward Cullen, how we had fallen madly in love with each other much to my family's dismay. I told her about how both mine and Edward's families were rivals in the drug trade and how that slowly became between us. And then I told her why and when I turned them all in.

And now they were being released.


	4. Chapter 3

_Four Years Earlier_

I remember the first time I gave myself to Edward Cullen. It was the last day of our junior year, just before our summer started. That particular week had been relatively warm to Fork so of course, most of the population of the town were wearing shorts and t – shirts. However, despite the fact that Edward and I had been dating for almost a month and a half, we hadn't had a chance to have sex with each other. The only time we got to spend with each other were for a few precious hours a week where we had both been able to sneak out of our respective houses and meet in our meadow.

It was a clear night and the moon and stars were shining above us. Edward had managed to start a fire (with some help from me of course), and we had been toasting marshmallow and making s'mores. It was in that moment, when we were cuddling under a blanket, sitting around the fire, with his arm wrapped around me that I realised that I was madly in love with Edward Cullen. I was in love with his smile, I was in love with his laugh, I was in love with his messy hair, I was in love with his perfect face.

I was madly and uncontrollably in love with him.

Okay, I know it sounds totally cliché but the moment was perfect and that night was definitely the happiest I had ever felt. Even to this day I can remember how Edward caressed my skin and gave me gentle kisses as we made love under the stars.

It soon became evident that we couldn't get enough of each other – we would deliberately go to the same parties with separate groups of people just so we could sneak off and have sex. Frequently I would climb out of my bedroom window so as not to wake up any of my family and meet Edward and have sex.

Basically we had a lot of sex that summer.

However, that soon changed.

At the start of the summer, my best friend Rosalie moved back to town with her family from Seattle where she had lived for the past two years. Of course I was ecstatic to see her and everything was great when she first returned; we went shopping, had sleepovers and hung out like we used to.

But she had changed; in the past two years she had developed curves and her once short blonde hair was now long and flowing. So it didn't really take her long to capture my older brother, Emmett's attention. Within weeks they began dating and before long they were going out with each other, despite having a three year age difference between them.

I had always trusted Rosalie and I thought I always could do, so I told her about my secret relationship with Edward Cullen and how we were in love. At the time she had promised me that she would not breathe a word to anyone about us both and that I could trust her with anything.

Of course that turned out to be a big fat lie.

Soon after her and Emmett began dating, she let it slip that I had been seeing Edward Cullen.

And of course Emmett flipped.

I had been lying on my bed reading a book when he stormed into my bedroom with Jasper in tow.

"Bella, what the hell do you think you're doing with Edward Cullen?!" he shouted.

My blood ran cold as it became evident that Rosalie had told him my secret, however, I tried to play it cool. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't bullshit me Bella, I know that you've been seeing with him. How the fuck can you betray our family like that?!"

"Emmett, calm down," Jasper tried to reason with him but to no avail.

"Who I see is none of your fucking business," I retorted jumping off my bed and walking to Emmett. "I'm my own person and I want nothing to do with this family feud, it's ridiculous." I tried to walk past him but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"The Cullen's are evil Bella, they're trying to take our business away from us. You need to stay away from him."

"He's right Bella," Jasper added, "You need to stay away from him. It's for your own good."

I stepped away from the both of them. "You two know nothing about mine and Edward's relationship. We're in love with each other and once we've graduated from high school we're going to go to college together far far away from all of this and all of you! You are pathetic. Emmett, you're twenty years old, you should be at college or travelling but instead you're stuck in shitty Forks being the local drug dealer. Wow you should be so proud of yourself, you've really made something of yourself haven't you?" I seethed. "Rosalie could do so much better."

Emmett's face twisted into anger and I could tell that my words had hit him deep became suddenly he punched my bedroom door.

"Get out of this house you little slut. I'm going to tell Charlie everything when he comes home. He is not going to bed happy with you."

Quickly I grabbed a few essentials, shoved them into my bag and pushed passed Jasper and Emmett and left the house.

Of course I ended up returning home two weeks later having run out of money and I was forced to lie to my dad and tell him that I had ended things with Edward, but Emmett never spoke to me again after our confrontation. I was hurt at the time, Emmett and I used to be really close when we were younger but I suppose that time changes people.

Edward and I on the other hand began to drift away from each other around the same time. He became more distant with me, rarely answering my calls or my texts and would only sneak out to meet me around once a week and even then he seemed like something was on his mind. I would ask him all the time to open up to me and tell me what's wrong but he would just bite my head off. In the end I decided that it wasn't worth the arguments and just left it, but at the same time, each day, another piece of my heart was breaking.

Back then I should have seen the signs that something terrible was up with Edward but I was so blindly in love with him that I chose to ignore the signs that he was becoming more involved in the family business. It was not until an incident with my younger cousin Seth that I realised that Edward Cullen was in fact evil and that our whole relationship had been a lie.

It was at that time that I realised that I hated Edward and I was going to destroy him and my family.

* * *

_Present Day_

A month went past, and then a second and then a third. As each month crept by I lived in constant fear that one day someone would turn up on my doorstep and try and kill me, despite Jacob convincing me otherwise. However, by the time four months had gone past I was really starting to believe that I was free from my family and that they wouldn't come looking for me seeking revenge.

However I was wrong.

It's Seth's high school graduation today.

It still amazes me how fast this past four years had gone past, I keep forgetting that Seth was no longer the shy and innocent 14 year old boy he had been when we had fled to Seattle.

And now he was graduating high school – it was enough to make me feel old, even though I was only 21.

After that eventful summer four years ago, I managed to finish my last year of High School in the Indian reservation in La Push. Billy Black who used to be a friend of my father's let Seth and I live in his house with him for a year until I managed to get granted guardian status of Seth after I had finished high school. After that, I used the money I had stolen from my father to search for an apartment in Seattle and not long later, Seth and I fled there. After we had settled down in Seattle, I had Seth enrolled in a private boarding school so that I was able to go to college and earn my degree before starting my life completely anew. That was where I met Alice; we clicked pretty much straight away and a few months later she moved into my apartment with me.

As far as I knew, Seth enjoyed his new school, he seemed to have no trouble making friends and whenever I would visit him he would always have a huge smile on his face.

Alice also grew very attached to Seth when he would stay with us during the holidays, and she treated him as a little brother as she never had any siblings of her own.

So here we were, Alice and I, watching Seth stand on the stage and taking his certificate from his principle before giving a cheeky grin in Alice's and I's direction before standing next to a classmate on the stage. It was a hot summer's day, the graduation ceremony was taking place in the school's gardens under a blazing sun with not a single cloud in the sky.

"I can't believe he's eighteen now," Alice whispered in my ear. "Where have these past few years gone? He's no longer that sweet boy that I first met now is he?"

"Tell me about it," I whispered, "I'm starting to feel very old, I can remember his first day at this school, I was so scared of leaving him."

"Bella, you're starting to sound like a middle aged mother, you were only eighteen yourself when you moved here."

Before I could answer, a woman behind me shushed Alice and I, so we shut our mouths and concentrated on the stage where the principle was giving a speech. Soon enough, he gave one last congratulations and all the students on the stage threw their hats into the air.

Parents stood up and rushed over to congratulate their sons and daughters.

"Come on Bella, let's go get Seth!" Alice said and began to drag me towards Seth who was just exiting the stage. However, instead of heading towards us, he began to walk towards someone else.

"Perhaps he has a secret girlfriend that we don't know about?" Alice said, just as confused as I was.

"Perhaps," I echoed but for some reason I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach as we strolled towards whom Seth was talking to. As we walked over, I couldn't see the man because Seth's build was so big.

"Hey Seth, congratulations," I exclaimed jumping onto his back before quickly climbing down with a huge smile on my face.

However, that smile soon dropped off my face when I came face to face with the person that Seth was talking to.

A man that I never wanted to see ever again.

My Father.

"Bella," he said, taking a step towards me with uncertainty laced throughout his voice. He reached out a hand to touch my shoulder but I slapped it away and took a few steps back.

"Don't you dare touch me," I seethed. "Seth, what the hell is going on?!"

At least Seth had the decency to look guilty. "Bells, I'm really sorry but I wanted him here. He's my uncle and he practically raised me since my dad died. It's right that he should be here."

"We made a promise Seth that we would leave all of our family behind, how could you betray me like this?" I could feel tears prickling into my eyes, an unfortunate trait I carried when I became angry because it made me look weak.

"It wasn't his fault," Charlie said, "I was the one who came looking for him. He never made the effort to contact me. I hired someone to look for the both of you but I thought it would be easier to approach Seth first." Not once did Charlie's eyes leave my fact, but instead of the anger I expected he only looked sad. "Please Belle, I just want to talk to you."

"Don't call me that, you haven't called me that since I was twelve and I sure as hell don't want you to start calling me that again."

"He wants to make things right," Seth said, "Please just give him a chance."

"How long have you both been seeing each other?"

"Just over a month," Seth looked so guilty that he could not look me in the eye. "Bella, I'm really sorry I went behind your back but I –"

I cut him off before he could finish his sentence, "It doesn't matter, we're leaving now anyway. Come on Alice," I grabbed Seth's arm and attempted to pull him away.

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"I don't want to go with you Bella. I really appreciate everything you have done for me, believe me I have, but I think it's time for me to go home. Back to Forks. I miss Jasper and Emmett, they were like my older brothers and I miss the calm of the countryside."

"Seth, please don't do this." The tears began to fall down my face. "Please Seth, just come with me and we can forget about all of this."

"I'm sorry but I made my decision weeks ago."

"This is all your fucking fault," I flipped out on Charlie, "you have to ruin everything, Seth and I were perfectly happy in our new lives and you just have to turn up and mess it all up! Why are you out of jail anyway? Huh? Who did you bribe into getting you an early release? I thought I had you locked up for good, once and for all!"

"I haven't forced Seth into doing anything that he doesn't want to," Charlie replied calmly. "I just want to salvage any relationship with you both. I honestly mean no harm."

I scoffed, "I have a hard time believing that. Everything you, do you cause harm to someone. Seth almost died because of you!"

"No, he almost died because of the Cullen's. What happened to Seth was through no fault of mine." I could tell that Charlie was becoming angry because his voice was beginning to rise.

"I don't give a shit, this whole mess is your fault, I'm glad I sent you to prison, I had been wanting to do it for long enough." I turned to Seth. "This is your last chance, I'm leaving."

"I'm sorry Bella, I'll see you around I suppose."

"No you won't, I don't ever want to see you again." I could see in his eyes and his face that my words cut him deep. I turned to Charlie. "I most certainly don't EVER want to see you again. Don't come near me, don't contact me in anyway or I will file for a restraining order. I never want to salvage our relationship with each other. You lost a daughter the day that I found out you were involved in the drugs trade."

Turning away from Seth and Charlie, ignoring their calls of my name, I let the tears fall down my face and before Alice and I reached my car I was full out sobbing for the little brother that I had now lost.

But I knew deep down that that wasn't the last I was going to see of my father, and boy was I right.

* * *

**So does anyone have an song suggestions they could suggest to me? I like to listen to a particular song on repeat whilst writing and I have run out of songs so any help would be appreciated!****  
**

**Next chapter is going to be a big one so I will hopefully update within the next few days!**

**Happy reading!**

**Dustyrose**


	5. Chapter 4

_Four years earlier_

Seth was my younger cousin who was fourteen years old. His father – my uncle – Harry, died when Seth was only six years old and Seth's mother left just after he was born. Seth was a sweet kid, he always had been as we were growing up and despite being our cousin, Emmett, Jasper and I always saw him and treated him as though he was our little brother. Although he didn't live with us as he lived with his aunt (his mother's sister) in La Push, he regularly came over to our house as he enjoyed the company.

Seth adored Emmett; he looked up to him and whenever he was at our house, Seth would follow him around like a little puppy and looked at Emmett as though he was the best person in the world. At first Emmett thought it was cute but as we all grew older and Emmett began to become interested in girls, partying and drugs, he began to see Seth as an annoyance and quite often would ignore him or brush him off.

I knew that it affected Seth badly as he then began to do the exact same thing to Jasper who was a year older than me. Of course, that was until Jasper began to get annoyed as well and would brush him off exactly like Emmett would. Growing up in his early teens without a proper and stable father figure was hard for Seth, he never really had a man he could turn to with a problem. Of course, my father, Charlie, was there as much as he could have been for Seth, but quite often he would be away on business or he just would not have the time for Seth.

I tried my best to be there for Seth, I knew that it was difficult for him to have lost both parents, but as soon as Edward and I started dating, I became so wrapped up in Edward and n school that quite often I would forget if Seth and I had made any plans.

My whole family knew that Seth had always had a hard time fitting in at school. Although he had the sweetest personality and the kindest heart, he just could never fit in. As far as I knew, he was never bullied, he just preferred to keep his own company at school.

That must have been lonely for him.

However, knowing about all this would never have prepared myself for the phone call I received on Saturday night in early August.

I was sitting at home, reading a book, waiting for Edward to text me back (which he rarely did nowadays) when my phone rang. Sitting up, I answered the call, barely looking at caller ID as I assumed it would be Edward.

"Hey, I've been waiting all day for you to text me back!"

"Bells, it's me," my father's voice spoke through the phone.

"Oh," I said, unable to contain the disappointment in my voice. "What do you want?"

"Honey, I don't want you to panic, but you need to come to the hospital as soon as you can."

"Why, what's happened?" I became alert and ran around my room getting dressed into some proper clothes and put some shoes on. "Is everything okay? Are you okay?"

"It's not me," Charlie sighed, "It's Seth. I'll explain everything when you get here. Just please drive safe, everything is going to be fine."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." After hanging up the phone, I grabbed my bag and headed downstairs towards my car before driving off towards the hospital.

Although I love my father, Charlie and I had always had a strange relationship. When I was younger, I was such a daddy's girl. My dad would have done anything for me. He would always buy me presents, he would take me to my dance lessons and to my flute lessons and would pick me up afterwards and take me for a meal. But that all changed when I found out what business he was involved in. Of course, he never told me himself, I just had to listen to rumours when I was in middle school and it didn't take me long to put all the pieces together.

School had taught me how bad drugs were and the effects it could have on people, so my morals told me to stay away from the family business. As it turned out that most of my extended family and those I thought were family friends such as the Hale's, were involved. It didn't take long for my relationship with Charlie to break down. I could tell it was breaking his heart but I didn't want anything to do with him anymore, so I began to do little things such as ignore him and spend as much time out of the house as possible.

As my relationship with my dad broke down, so did my relationship with my brothers. At first I hoped that they were both smart enough to see that what our father was doing was horrific, but it turned out that they had known about his business for years and never told me. It soon became evident that they were both going to enter into the business once they finished high school and so I distanced myself from them also.

At first it was hard, my life used to revolve around those three men and to suddenly pretty much cut them out of my life, I felt empty, almost. But I knew that it was for the best as I was going to be the only member of my family to make something out of myself. For years I had planned to go to college, earn a degree and then get a well-paid job in a city, preferably Seattle, Chicago or New York. There is nothing more that I want to do than to get out of this shitty town.

When Edward and I began to date, he then became part of those plans. He felt the exact same way about his family and wanted nothing to do with them once he graduated high school and wanted to become a doctor. Although we hadn't decided which colleges we were going to apply for, we both knew that we wanted to get far away from this mess.

However, before I knew it, I had arrived at the hospital and after parking my car I headed into the emergency room and asked for my father. The receptionist pointed me down a hallway and told me that he was in the room at the end of that hallway.

As I opened the door, the sight of Seth lying comatose in a hospital bed, with wires and drips attached to his body shocked me to the core. His skin was grey and his lips were almost blue as though he were a corpse. If it wasn't for the beeping of the heart monitor I thought that he could have been.

"Oh my Christ," I breathed, "What happened?"

Charlie stood up from the chair next to Seth's bed and put an arm around me as tears began to fall down my face. "A drug overdose apparently." He paused. "He was found in the bathroom of a house party."

"Where's Jasper and Emmett? What about Seth's aunt, Emily, shouldn't she be here?"

"I've called all of them," Charlie replied quietly, "You were the first to arrive."

"Why was he doing drugs in the first place? I thought I'd taught him to steer clear of them."

"Bella, I really don't know what's happened. All I care about right now is Seth regaining consciousness," Charlie snapped back.

"Do you now see what your business does to people? You ruin people's lives!" I shouted at Charlie, unable to contain my anger.

"It wasn't my drugs that did this," he said quietly. As usual he managed to keep his demeanour calm and calculating, sometimes I could never tell what mood he was in.

"How do you know, you control all the fucking drug sales around here! Now look what's happened to Seth. I hope you won't be able to live with yourself because of this, you actually repulse me."

"Bella, I know you're just lashing out because of the situation, but you need to calm down. Seth is going to be alright."

"I am not lashing out just because of this! Think of all those families who have to go through with this because they've taken drugs, because of you!"

Charlie then snapped. "It wasn't my drugs that did this to Seth. Why don't you go and run and find your boyfriend and ask him where Seth got the drugs from?"

"What are you on about, I don't have a boyfriend," I lied.

"Oh don't act all innocent Isabella and lie to me. I know that you've been sneaking off to see him all summer. But just to let you know, he isn't as perfect as you may think, he was the one who dealt the drugs to this party. Go and see for yourself."

"You're wrong. You don't know him like I do, he would never do anything like this," I retorted before leaving the room, slamming the door in the process.

I stormed out towards my car and texted my friend Angela asking if she knew of any parties in the area. Only a few minutes later did I get a reply saying that she heard there was a huge one going on down in La Push at Paul Lahote's house.

Jumping in my car, I sped off towards La Push. I knew exactly where Paul's house was as I had been to a few parties their myself this summer so it did not take me long to find. I wanted to arrive there and find Edward just chatting with some of his friends over a few beers. I wanted to arrive there and have Edward immediately walk over to me and drag me somewhere private where we could be alone. I wanted Edward to tell me how much he loved me and how much of a liar my father was. I wanted Edward to reassure me that he was never going to become the person who dealt drugs. I wanted Edward to describe out future together.

But it turns out that I wanted too much.

As I entered the party, my nostrils were assaulted with the smell of weed, a typical smell at Paul's house when he was throwing a party. It never failed to amaze me how his parents never found out about these gatherings because the stench of weed would surely linger in the house.

Despite a 14 year old kid being carted off in an ambulance due to a drug overdose, the party was still in full swing, full of drunk and high teenagers having a good time.

However, it didn't take me long to find Edward, his bronze hair was very distinct and I could hear his loud voice from across the room. As I pushed passed the people to get a better look at him, the sight that appeared in front of my eyes broke my heart.

I will never forget the moment when my heart shattered into a thousand pieces.

Edward was sat on a sofa in the corner of a room with a blonde girl draped over his lap. He had a joint in his hand and once he took a drag, he opened his mouth and she breathed in the smoke released from his lungs before making out with him. His hands roamed all over her body, in particular her bum, before pulling her closer to his body.

Rage soared throughout my body as I realised he had been lying to me the whole summer – about his love for me, about keeping clear of drugs and about how we were going to have a future together.

I stormed over to the pair and pulled the girl off of Edward but grabbing a fistful of her hair and pulling her backwards onto the floor.

"Edward, the fuck do you think you're doing," I shouted, not caring who saw us, but my voice cracked at the end.

I could tell Edward was off his face as it took him a few moments to focus on me and realise who I was. "Shit, Bella, what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? I'm here because my younger cousin is lying in a hospital bed in a coma because of a drugs overdose. Care to explain what happened? You piece of shit!" I pushed him.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me outside. I began hitting his arm and screaming for him to let go of me, until I noticed the needle marks on his arm.

He had been taking heroin.

"You're the biggest piece of shit I have ever met. You lied to me, you've cheated on me and you almost killed Seth!"

He pressed me against my car, pinning me to it so I could barely move. His pupils were so diluted and his eyes were so bloodshot that I was surprised that he could even move.

"You shouldn't be here," he hissed. "Go home back to where you belong."

"I want answers. What do you think you're playing at? This isn't you!"

He laughed. "Oh Bella, this is the real me. I've been putting on a face for you this entire summer and you didn't suspect a thing. You're so stupid!"

"Why are you doing this? You're breaking my heart," I replied in a small voice, I could feel my throat choking up and I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to contain my tears for much longer.

"Now listen here," he hissed, his face so close to mine that I could smell the weed on his breath. "You are nothing to me. You're right, the past few months have all been a lie. I never loved you, I never wanted to date you. I only did so to please my father to gain information on your family and to get under your father's skin. So please do me a favour and piss of back to your perfect little life."

"I hate you, I hate you so much," I whispered my voice breaking and the tears began to roll down my face.

"I really couldn't care less. You are nothing to me. You always have been and you always will be."

"Why did you sell drugs to Seth? You knew he was only 14."

"He was lonely and bored I guess, I don't know. I don't really give a shit. It just means for money for me."

The rage boiled up within me against despite the tears rolling down my face and so I lifted my fist and punched him right across the face. The force of my punch forced him to take a few steps back as he clutched his face, hopefully in pain.

He face screwed up in anger, "You're going to pay for that Swan!"

I opened the door of my car and replied calmly, "No you're the one who's going to pay Cullen. I'm don't with all of this and I'm most certainly done with you."

I hate him, I hate him, I hate my family, I hate the Cullen's, I hate everyone.

This had to stop.

With all these drugs flying around, someone was bound to get seriously hurt and that person ended up being Seth.

As I drove back to my house, my only thought was that I was going to put an end to this, once and for all.

Once I parked the car in the drive, I entered the house and sprinted upstairs into my father's office. After turning on his compute, I entered his password, which coincidently was my birthday and opened up his online banking. Staring at the large sums of money in his numerous accounts, I was astounded. I had never realised how much money had made from being involved in the drug business, but the tens of millions he had stashed away proved otherwise. Quickly, I transferred five million of that money into my bank account, before turning off the computer and leaving his office as it was before I had entered it. I felt enormously guilty that I was going to be essentially living off drug money, but at the end of the day, I needed something to live off and I didn't earn enough money at my part time job.

I grabbed two suitcases out from under my bed and chucked all of my clothes into one of them and then all other necessary items such as toiletries, a few photos, my laptop, my teddy into the other. After I was satisfied that I had packed everything, I loaded my suitcases into the back of my car and drove off.

After I had parked at my destination, I took a deep breath.

You can do this Bella, it's the right thing to do. This can't go on forever. Only you can stop this.

I got out of my car and headed into the building.

I walked towards the on duty officer at the front desk of the police station and took a deep breath before saying.

"I have some information that may be of interest to you regarding Charlie Swan and Carlisle Cullen."


	6. Chapter 5

Bella's POV:

"Seth called again this morning whilst you were at work," Alice shouted to me from the living room.

"For goodness sake, doesn't he get the picture? I don't want to talk to him!" I shouted back, getting changed out of my work clothes.

"Don't you think you're just slightly overreacting?" Alice asked, walking into my room.

"No," I snapped.

"Bells, I know he's hurt you, but he's only eighteen years old. He's still a kid. A kid who has made a huge mistake. I bet you've made plenty of mistakes before."

"I was eighteen years old when I decided to imprison my boyfriend and my family before leaving Forks. He's old enough to make his own decisions."

"I really think you're overreacting. He's like a younger brother to you. Just because he has made the decision to get back in contact with your family, it doesn't mean that he doesn't love you. He sounded really upset on the phone later. I think you should talk to him."

"I don't want to," I replied, pushing past her and walking into the living room. "The whole situation is ridiculous."

"You're being ridiculous, it's been three weeks, give Seth a break."

"I'm not being ridiculous Alice! He's the one being ridiculous! I'm the one who dragged him out of that world and now he's willingly placed himself back into it! Who would want that for themselves?"

"Maybe your father has chang -"

I cut her off. "My father does not change Alice. You don't know him. He is evil, manipulative and cunning. He is definitely up to something."

"You don't know that."

"Oh yes I do, he doesn't do anything kind unless there is something in it for himself."

Alice sighed and sat down on the sofa next to me. "I still think you should call Seth."

"No."

"Honestly I give up with you sometimes. You're really stubborn, you know that don't you?"

I turned and grinned at her. "One of the reasons why you love me so much."

Alice laughed and chucked a cushion at me. "I fancy going out this weekend, you up for it?"

"Yeah sure, what do you have in mind?"

"I was thinking of going to that new club again. It seemed pretty cool."

"I don't know Alice," I said hesitantly, "you know what happened last time."

"She's not going to be there again, what are the odds of that?"

"I guess so…"

"Yay! I knew you would! Let me call Sam, Tyler and the others and see if we can make this a group thing." Alice grabbed her phone and bounced into the kitchen and moments later I could hear her chatting away on the phone.

The past few weeks had been strange for me. Between finishing my third year of college, finding a job at a small local publishing company and brooding over the situation with Seth, I hadn't had much chance to talk to my friends or go out with them. Thinking about it, I had barely spoken to anyone, not even Alice and she was my best friend.

Sighing, I lay down across the sofa and hugged a cushion to my chest. The whole prison release and the Seth and Charlie thing was really starting to get to me. I had only began to feel safe again, but I had been lulled into a sense of false security. Things never stay perfect for long, something always comes around to ruin things. Perhaps I had done wrong in my previous life or something, I mean, what could have I done in my previous life that was so bad that I had to have a shitty life now?

Some things would always be a mystery I guess.

The next day went really fast and before I knew it, I was out clubbing with Alice, Sam, Tyler and Jessica. The whole night soon became a blur – Alice, Jess and I kept going up to the bar and downing shots whilst Sam and Tyler would try and stop us; random men kept trying to hit on me and buy me drinks and I kept grinding upon strangers. It was the probably the best night I had had in months. For once I wasn't worried about my family, I wasn't upset with Seth, I wasn't thinking about Edward – for once I wasn't thinking about anything. The large volume of alcohol coursing through my bloodstream numbed my brain, it numbed my hands, my face, and my whole body.

I couldn't feel a thing and it was great.

"Bella," Alice shouted to me through the loud music, "I'm going to get another drink, do you want one?"

"No thanks!" I shouted back, "I need to sober up, I can't deal with a massive hangover tomorrow!"

Alice shrugged her shoulder and headed off towards the bar. I turned back around and resumed dancing with the attractive blonde with whom I'd been dancing with for quite some time now. As I began to dance closer to him, I noticed that his eyes were bright blue and that his teeth were dazzling white. His arms and shoulders were muscular and I could only imagine what his body looked like beneath his t – shirt.

I hadn't been so attracted to someone since I had been with Edward.

Before I knew it, his lips were on mine and even in my drunken haze, I could feel the attraction between us. His arms wrapped around my body, pressing me against his hard torso, deepening our kiss. His mouth was hot on mine and his arms roamed my body and through my hair. After minutes, we broke apart and I smiled into his mouth.

"Want to go and get a drink?" he shouted, beckoning towards the bar.

I smiled and followed him to the bar where he ordered me a vodka lemonade, whilst he ordered himself a whisky.

"I'm James by the way," he shouted to me over the music.

"I'm Bella," I shouted back.

"Sorry, I can't hear you very well, shall we go outside?" I nodded and took his outstretched hand and let him drag me towards the outside area which was full of cushioned seating.

"Your name is Bella, right? Sorry I the music inside is so loud I think I'm going to start having hearing problems!"

I laughed. "Yeah, my name is Bella. I completely agree, my ears are ringing now that we're outside."

We were silent for a few minutes before James spoke again. "I genuinely think that you might be one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen."

I raised my eyebrows. "This isn't going to turn into one of those cheesy pickup lines is it?"

"Would it work if it did?" he replied with a wink.

A smile spread across my face. "I don't know, maybe, if you're lucky," I said taking a sip of my drink whilst keeping my eyes upon him in what I hoped was a flirtatious way.

I ended up sat outside with James for what seemed to be a short time but ended up being for hours. The conversation turned from our occupations; mine being a student and his being a business manager, to our favourite films, our favourite bands and our favourite holiday destinations.

James was amazing. No wait, amazing wouldn't even come close to describing what he was. Perfect, gorgeous, intelligent and always the gentleman, he made sure that I never went without a drink and he even gave me his jacket when he noticed that I was shivering. I barely knew him but I became so infatuated with him in the past few hours. Every time his hand brushed against my body my skin turned prickly and tingled and every time he flashed a smile at me, I couldn't help but smile back. It seemed to me that he was one of those people who would light up every room that he walked into.

I became so immersed with James that I barely noticed when it became around 4 o clock and the club bouncers began to usher people out onto the sidewalk.

"Oh no, I didn't realise it got so late, my friends must be looking for me!" I exclaimed, looking around on the sidewalk outside to see if any of my friends were in sight.

"Why don't you give them a text and let them know that I'm taking you home," he suggested placing a hand on my lower back and steering me towards a taxi.

"Oh, so you're taking me home now?" I teased whilst rummaging through my clutch bag looking for my phone.

He backtracked slightly. "Oh no, I didn't mean, I meant that -" I cut him off.

"It's fine James, I was only teasing you. Besides I don't sleep with men the first time I meet them," I said with a wink. Finally, I managed to clasp my hands around my phone and pulled it out only to find that Alice had texted me ten times, along with a few from Jess a few hours ago telling me that her Sam and Tyler were leaving.

Frowning at my phone, I tried to decipher Alice's drunk texting. "I think my friend is trying to tell me that she's gone home with some guy and that she hopes I get home okay."

"So shall we get a taxi then? I'll get it to drop you off at yours first and then get him to take me back to my place. Does that sound good to you?"

"Sounds great," I said with a smile as he helped me into the closest taxi.

The ride back to my apartment went by in what seemed like minutes even though it was about a thirty minute journey. James and I became so engrossed in conversation again that before I knew it, the taxi had pulled up outside of my apartment block.

James and I turned to each other.

"Well… this is me," I said awkwardly.

"I'll walk you to your door," and he got out of the taxi and walked around the car opening my door for and giving me his hand to help me out.

When we reached the front doors of my apartment block, he turned to me and asked, "Will I get to see you again?"

"I don't know, will you?" I said playing with him like I had been all night.

"I _want_ to see you again," he said, taking a step closer to me.

"I want to see you again too," I replied taking another step towards him so that our faces were almost touching.

"Can I take you on a date this Friday?"

"I would love that."

"I'll pick you up at 8 then. Dress up, it's going to be the best date of your life."

"I'm already looking forward to it. So, I guess that I'll see you Friday then."

"Try not to look to upset," James winked at me.

"Ugh, try not to be so full of yourself," I said whilst rolling my eyes but laughing at the same time. I turned towards the front doors so that I could punch in the key code when James grabbed my elbow and spun me around so that I was facing him again.

His breath tickled my face as he asked, "Can I kiss you again?"

"I would love you too." But before I could properly finish my sentence, his lips were upon mine once again. At first, our kiss was soft and gentle and my lips tingled as they brushed against his. But soon, the kiss deepened and I opened my lips, giving him full access to my mouth.

However, against my wishes, James soon pulled away. He flashed me another smile and said, "Bye Bella," before getting back into the taxi and driving away.

Unable to stop smiling, I typed in the key code to my apartment block and entered the lift to take my up to my apartment on the third floor.

My thoughts were filled with James and although I knew I was still drunk, all I kept thinking about was him. But my thoughts soon sobered up once I entered Alice's and I's apartment to find it completely trashed.

The television had been tipped onto its side, the sofa cushions thrown across the floor, all of the lamps and ornaments had been smashed and pictures that were once on the walls were now on the floor. The whole living area looked like a tip and I dreaded looking into the other rooms to see what they looked like, or worse, what had been taken.

Fuck.

It looked like someone had managed to break in and thought it would be a good idea to trash my apartment.

I picked up the phone and was in the process of dialling 911 when I felt someone's presence behind me and only seconds later a large hand grabbed my wrist.

"Put the phone down now," a man's voice ordered.

I froze. I recognised that voice, I would always recognise that voice. It haunted my dreams most nights.

The man squeezed my wrist, causing me to gasp and drop the phone to the ground as he pulled me around so that I was facing him.

I was facing one of the people that I had always prayed I would never meet again.

Edward Cullen was in my apartment.

* * *

Hi guys,

Sorry for the late update, I went on a surprise holiday so I haven't been able to write anything. But I'm back now so expect regular updates again!

Hope you're all having a good summer!

Happy reading

Dustyrose


	7. Chapter 6

Bella's POV:

_Four Years Earlier_

I remember the last time that I saw Edward Cullen.

It was the end of Edward's trial and I was stood in the witness box in a court room, whilst he was stood across the room from me in the prisoner's dock.

The entire trial process had been long and emotional for me. It had lasted for over a month and during those weeks I endured numerous court appearances with detailed questioning from the judge and lawyers about all of the crimes my family had committed.

Of course, my father's lawyer was one of the best in the state, but all of my answers to his questions were true and it was incredibly hard to question them, so he had little to defend on.

I knew details about all of the hidden warehouses where my father would store drugs, I knew details about all of the dealers my father sold to, so of course they ended up being arrested also. I also knew details about the numerous bank accounts my father held to try and cover his tracks, I knew where he got the drugs from and how they got into Forks. Consequently, this had then led on to the arrests of my Father's business associates which in turn opened up new enquires.

So by turning my father into the police, I had opened up a nationwide investigation into the drug trade and drug rings.

I suppose that overhearing many of my father's and brother's conversations ended up being their downfall.

However, none of the trials were easy for me.

During Jaspers trial, I gave as much evidence as I could regarding my brothers job as a drug dealer. But because Jasper was still at high school he didn't have much responsibility within our fathers business; however, when he was arrested the police found him in possession of Class A drugs so they were able to charge him with that.

Jasper remained calm and collected throughout the durations of his trial. Not once did he give a hint of emotion away; his face remained seemingly still and not once did he look in my direction. The only time he even moved during the trial was when the judge sentenced him and he gave a nod as though he was accepting his fate.

Emmett on the other hand was a completely different story. Throughout his trial he kept swearing as the judge read out the charges against him and shouted bullshit a few times as I gave evidence in the witness box. When the judge handed Emmett his sentence, he began shouting and swearing so much that the two police officers in the prisoner's dock had to drag Emmett outside the court room.

It would have been almost comical to watch if it hadn't been my older brother whom I had just sent to jail.

Rosalie attacked me outside the courtroom once Emmett's trail was over. I had just exited the courthouse with Jacob when someone grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled me back.

"How could you? How could you do that to your own family?" Rosalie screeched as she dragged me backwards before letting me go and pushing me to the ground.

"Rose, please, I didn't mean to hurt you but it was the right thing to do!"

"The right thing to do?! You wouldn't know what the right thing to do is even if it hit you in the fucking face! You have sent down your own family. Who does that?"

It wasn't long before I snapped. "Did you even go and visit Seth in hospital? I did it for him! He could have died and think of all those other teenagers who have died because of drug overdoses! It had to stop!"

She laughed. "You know they'll _never_ forgive you for this and neither will I."

"I don't need your forgiveness. You were dead to me the day that you told Emmett about Edward and I's relationship," I replied coldly.

"You're going to regret this one day Bella. I hope you're happy," she said before walking away.

I stared after her for a few moments until Jacob tugged my arm towards his car, before driving me back to his father's house.

My father's trial was the hardest one out of all of my families. As the judge read out the charges against him, my insides turned cold. I hadn't realised how much illegal business my father had been involved it and I almost wanted to shout out to the judge to stop and that I retract my statements.

Almost.

The man standing across the room from me was the man who had raised me since my mother had died. This was the man who had taken me out on day trips to the park and to the zoo. This was the man who had made sure I had gotten everything I had ever wanted and made sure that all of my birthdays were special. This was the man who showered me with love and affection until I pushed him away when I was in my early teens.

This was my father and I was sending him to prison.

For the rest of the trial I avoided all eye contact with my father even though I was sure he had been staring at me for most of the time.

When the jury had finally reached its verdict, I shot a quick glance at my father and caught his eye for a split second. He gave me a small sad smile before I turned away and focused on the judge whilst he read out my fathers sentence.

For the first time during the trial I felt my eyes welling up with tears and I locked my jaw to stop the sobs building up in my throat in a feeble attempt to stop those tears rolling down my cheeks. As the policemen led my father out of the courtroom, I could hold it off any longer and I began to cry and my tears didn't stop until I was in bed later that day.

However, whilst I though my fathers trial was hard, it had nothing on Edward Cullen's trial.

With the little evidence that I had been able to give the police on the Cullen family, the police managed to succeed with the arrests of Carlisle Cullen, Edward Cullen and a few other member of their family whom I didn't know. Despite only being able to give evidence on Edward's drug dealing, it wasn't long before some other informers who were drug dealers for the Cullens gave evidence on the Cullens in return for reduced sentences. And before I knew, numerous arrests had been made and the police had managed to crack the Cullen drug ring.

The only trial I had to give evidence on was Edward's trial as I knew nothing about the rest of his family's business, which was a slight relief.

But as Edward stood in that prisoner's box across the room from me, my heart faltered as I dared to look at him.

From my quick glance, I could immediately tell that prison life was not suiting Edward well at all. Even from across the room I could see the dark circles underneath his eyes, his hair was even messier than usual and his face looked hallow and gaunt.

I had done this to him, I had broken him.

Tears rolled down my face as I stood in the witness box and gave my evidence, trying to avoid Edward's glare from across the room. But his glare was unavoidable and once the trial was over, I turned to leave the courtroom but I managed to catch Edward's eye in the process.

I could feel my heart thumping against my chest and my heart and body willed for me to run across the room and run into his arms. I wanted to tell him that I was sorry, and that everything will be okay.

But most of all I wanted to tell him that I loved him despite everything that had happened.

Of course, I still hated him, but it is hard to fall out of love with someone that you were so deeply in love with, in a matter of weeks and I knew that it was going to take a long time to get over him.

But as we stared at each other, I had never seen such a look of pure hatred coming from Edward. His eyes were glaring at me and his posture was tight and rigid, but slightly shaking and in that moment I knew he would never forgive me.

But I turned away from him and left the court house, vowing to never return to Forks.

I had done what was right, despite my feelings and now I was able to start fresh and have a brand new life.

But I would never forget the last time I saw Edward Cullen and that image would haunt my nightmares for the next few years.

* * *

_Present day:_

My first instinct was to punch him.

As the adrenaline pumped through my body, my fist bunched up and before I knew it, my arm was swinging towards his face. But before my fist could make impact with his face, his other arm grabbed my wrist and twisted my arm painfully, so that he now held both of my wrists.

"Get off of me, you bastard!" I said before bringing my knee up and kneeing him in the crotch.

He let go of my hands and fell to the floor grabbing his crotch and I used the opportunity to grab the phone off of the floor. But as I began to run down the hall into my bedroom to phone the police, a hand wrapped around my ankle, pulling me back and pulling me onto the floor, the phone falling out of my hand once again.

Before I could get up, Edward flipped me onto my back, grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head whilst he straddled me, ensuring that I couldn't move.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he growled.

"What the fuck is wrong with me? What the fuck is wrong with you? You've broken into my apartment!" I screeched. "Get off me you asshole!" I tried to squirm underneath him to free myself but I could barely move.

Edward tightened his grip on my wrists. "You owe me answers."

"I don't owe you shit! You dealt drugs so I made sure that you were arrested for it. End of story. Now get out of my fucking apartment or I'm going to call the police!"

"With what phone?" He smirked and removing one hand from my wrists, he grabbed the phone and smashed it against the wall.

Edward climbed off me and stood up, pulling me up with him and dragging me over to the sofa before pushing me down onto it.

"Why are you here?"

"I told you, you owe me answers."

"I just gave them to you."

Edward walked around the living room, picking up photos and placing them back down. "I'm disappointed that you don't have a photo of us in here. Did I mean so little to you?"

"Fuck you," I replied.

"I mean, as far as I can remember, you were in love with me. And yet, even though I was such an important person in your life, you don't even have the decency to frame a photo of me?" He picked up a photo of Seth and I. "I hear that Seth left you to go back to your father, that must have been a bit of a slap in the face, huh, Bell?"

"Where did you hear that?" I asked, my voice beginning to shake as his words started to get to me.

"I know everything," he placed the photo back down. "Now tell me, why did you do it?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No, not to me it isn't," he sighed. "What went wrong?"

I scoffed. "You honestly don't know? You must be more stupid that I thought."

His tone became deeper and serious. "I thought we were happy together and then one morning I woke up to find the police banging down the front door."

I laughed. "Do you honestly not remember what happened that one night?" He shook his head and I laughed again. "Maybe, just maybe it had something to do with the fact that you sold Seth drugs, or maybe due to the fact that you cheated on me or maybe it was due to the fact you told me I was nothing to do with you?"

"You ruined my fucking life because of that?! I had to say all of that stuff to you, I was even going to apologise the next day, but you decided to turn me into the police instead?!"

I stood up off of the sofa. "You brought it upon yourself! So don't try and blame me, you deserved it! If you weren't being such a dick that night perhaps I never would have done it!"

He stormed over to me and pushed me back down. "I don't think you realise how much you've ruined my life. You knew that I wanted to be a doctor, now I can't even apply to colleges because they won't even look at my application now that I've been in prison. Heck, I won't even be able to get a half decent job because no one will employ a criminal. You blew everything completely out of proportion, you've ruined people's lives."

"Don't you dare put the blame on me!" I shouted, standing up again. "You all deserved it! Drugs eh? What kind of sad pathetic people get involved in that world? I thought that we were on the same fucking page, but evidently I was wrong!"

"Don't you dare call me sad and pathetic. You don't know a fucking thing about me!" he roared back. "You are just a pathetic bitch Bella. All you ever think about is yourself! No one is ever going to love you! You're family hates you, I fucking hate you, you're ex best friend hates you and even Seth has left you because he hates you for putting his family in jail. No one wants you! So don't call me the sad and pathetic one because if it is anyone, it's you!"

Before I registered what I was doing, I brought my hand up and slapped Edward across the face. "Get the fuck out of my apartment!"

He laughed, "No."

With anger coursing through my body, I picked up an empty wine bottle on the small table next to the sofa and chucked it at Edward. He ducked at the last moment, so unfortunately the bottle hit the wall behind him, but it was close.

"You're actually a psycho, has anyone ever told you that?!"

"Leave!" I screeched, getting ready to chuck the nearest thing to me.

He smirked. "You know what, originally I only came here for answers and then I was going to leave you alone. But as it turns out that I actually have a temporary job here in Seattle for a while." He began to walk towards the door and I got my hopes up that he was finally going to leave me alone for good. But he turned around before leaving and said, "So I'm going to be around a lot more now Bella. So when you think your life is going well and you're happy, I'm going to be there every step of the way to make sure that your life is miserable. Now that you've ruined my life I'm going to ruin yours."

And with those parting words he left my apartment, leaving me staring at the door in shock.

I had just survived my first encounter with Edward Cullen and according to him there are going to be many more to come.


End file.

Twilight, Crime, Romance