A/N: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight. I'm simply playing in her world with my own plot. I hope you enjoy!
Prologue:
Bella stared in disbelief over what was playing in front of her. Her mind pieced together each headline flashing by in bold white letters, but they didn't make sense in her mind…at least that's what she tried to convince herself.
Murderer of Renee Swan living in Seattle…
Six months since latest prison release…
More details to come…
As the screen changed to a satellite image of the outside of Monroe County Correctional Facility, Bella sat back on her heels in disbelief as her hands began to shake.
The screen then turned to a blonde-haired reporter and the feeling of dread that had begun to creep up Bella's spine increased tenfold as she listened to the report in silence.
"This is Charlotte Peters reporting with Channel Twelve news, with shocking new information regarding the murder of Renee Swan. As I'm sure many of you remember, the primary suspect from the heart wrenching, high profile case, that left a sixteen year old girl without a mother, was never charged. The suspect's name was never released to the public, but, today, we have sources linking Washington native Edward Masen to the anonymous suspect. Both, our sources and public records show that Cullen is the inherited surname of Masen who it seems changed his last name five years ago. No answer was received from Masen when our Channel Twelve correspondent arrived at his Seattle residence."
The screen then turned to an outdoor shot of a brown haired man holding a microphone with a large twelve on it. Bella watched, but could only hear a faint roar in her ears as she watched the man walk up to the dark red door that had become so familiar in the past months.
It was at that moment that the tears Bella had been holding back broke free and the pain that had begun to rapidly spread from her chest outwards caused her to double over.
Gasping breathes escaped her as she tried to piece it all together in her mind.
All the promises and cryptic whispers suddenly made sense.
"Promise me that you'll never hate me," he pleaded in a whisper as he trailed his fingers down her spine.
"Isabella, I honestly don't know how to live without you anymore." His eyes holding some deeper meaning she hadn't understood…
The click of her door being unlocked, a sound that had brought her so much joy lately, now caused her to tremble. When the hairs on her arms and neck rose, she knew who it was without turning back.
"Sweetheart, the storm is going to be awful, so I want to have a night in. I went to the grocery store, I am going to get dinner right without your help even if it kills-" Edward froze as he entered the living room. His eyes automatically darted between the television screen showing a camera trained on his apartment door, and the woman that his life had come to revolve around staring blankly at the image as she trembled.
"Bella," he began, "it is not what you think…"