15

Bella stood in front of the house she'd left weeks ago, the house she'd grown up in. It meant nothing to her now, of course. It was just another reminder of the man who'd once been her father. Before her mother died, before his love of alcohol became more important than her. Before he found himself fantasizing about fucking her. Charlie Swan was nothing to her now.

Slowly, Bella crept up the front porch. She reached up and pulled down the extra key she kept hidden. As she let herself into the house, her stomach rolled and she had to cover her mouth with her hand. The place was a mess. Dirty dishes, piles of trash, clothes strung out everywhere. A noise drew Bella's attention upstairs and she placed her bag on the floor next to the door, kneeling and pulling out her knife once more. Quietly, she walked upstairs, unsurprised to find the door to her bedroom open and the sound of her father's moans trickling out.

Bile filled her mouth and she struggled to swallow it back. She was doing this for Leah. Just for her. Or so she told herself. Placing her hand on the door, she slowly pushed it the rest of the way open and peeked inside. Charlie had Leah on her hands and knees, one hand wrapped tightly in her hair while the other was wrapped around her throat as he fucked her.

"Yeah, you like that, don't you, Bella," Charlie grunted, yanking on her hair. "Don't you, you little bitch!"

"Yes, Daddy," Leah cried.

"Actually, I don't." At the sound of Bella's voice, Charlie snapped his head in her direction. He scrambled off the bed, trying to cover himself. Leah was pressed against the wall, her body curled up in a ball. She had bruises covering much of her body, much like Bella had. He'd used her as his personal fucktoy.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Is that anyway to greet your daughter?" Bella tisked him and shook her head. "Can't say I'm surprised, of course. I'm not on my knees in front of you, like you want, am I? That's what you want, isn't it? For me to be the one sucking your cock, letting you fuck my ass?"

"No, I don't," he lied, his eyes shifting down to the knife Bella was tapping against the side of her leg. "Honey, I . . . I just told him that so he'd—"

"So he'd what? Give me back to you? Let me go back to me pedophile father?" Bella scoffed, pointing the knife at him. "Even you're not that stupid, Charlie."

"I . . . I . . ." He stammered, but didn't say anything else.

"I, I, I," she mocked. "God, you're pathetic." She took a step toward him, causing him to whimper as pressed himself against her closet door. Bella pressed the tip of the knife against his chest. "You were supposed to protect me, but you didn't. You gave me away like I was nothing but a piece of old furniture you didn't want anymore. And then you bought her and made her pretend to be me. How could you, Charlie! She was my friend and you turned her into your whore!"

Charlie pressed his lips together, refusing to answer, which just pissed Bella off. She swung her arm downward, slicing the knife through his skin, just under his nipple.

"Goddamn it!" he swore, covering the cut with his hand. "I didn't mean to!"

"You didn't mean to?" Grabbing him by the hair, Bella threw him onto the floor, kicking him several times in the side. He curled himself up much like Leah was on the bed, trying to protect himself. "You didn't trip and fall with your dick in her, Charlie! You fucking raped her! You hit her, made her call you daddy! You called her by my name, you offered to let those men fuck me just so you could keep her! But you didn't mean to?"

"Stop!" Charlie screamed, his arms covering his head. "Please, stop!"

"Did you stop when she begged you to?" Bella snarled, gesturing to Leah. "Did you, Charlie?"

"Yes," he lied. They both knew it. "She . . . She said it was okay. She wanted me, honey."

"Bullshit," Bella spat, kicking him again before using her foot to roll him on his back. She pressed her foot in the middle of his chest. "You want to fuck me, Charlie. You fucking want to have sex with me. How could you be that sick?"

"I know," he cried. "I'm sorry, Bella. I'm so fucking sorry."

"You're always so fucking sorry," she screamed, kneeling next to him and thrusting the knife into his side. "Sorry about not paying the bills, not buying food, not working, not saving my mother! Always so fucking sorry!"

Over and over, she stabbed him, letting her emotions get the best of her. Charlie was screaming, pleading with her to stop. Falling back against her bed, she watched the blood ooze out of her father's wounds, watched as his chest heaved up and down, his eyes glazing over as a light sheen of sweat covered his skin.

Charlie lobbed his head in her direction. "I'm . . . I'm . . ."

"You're going to hell," she murmured, and then, shifting back onto her knees, she held the knife above her and plunged it one last time into his heart.

Charlie gasped, his body lurching off the floor for a moment before he fell back, his eyes closing, and the last breath of air leaving his lungs. He was dead, and she had killed him.

—CG—

It wasn't until Bella felt Leah's hand on her shoulder that she remember the girl was in the room with them. Bella turned and found her kneeling on the floor, her eyes full of tears.

"He's dead," Leah whispered.

Bella simply nodded.

"I'm sorry," Leah murmured, shifting her eyes to the man who laid in the middle of the floor.

"Me, too," Bella said, standing up. She held her hand out to Leah, who just stared at it like she wasn't sure what she should do. "We don't have much time."

"You're taking me with you?" Leah asked, allowing Bella to help her stand.

Bella nodded and crossed her bedroom, opening her closet and grabbing a pair of pants and a shirt for Leah to put on. She tossed them onto the bed. "We really need to hurry."

While Leah quickly dressed, Bella shifted all the clothes hanging in her closest and pried open the false floorboard in the back of her closest and reached in for the small bag that she'd shoved inside the night she left for her stent in Hell. It didn't contain much, a few thousand dollars she'd managed to keep out of her father's hands, some pictures of her mother, a new passport, driver's license, and a disposable cell phone. The phone needed to be charged so she hoisted the bag under her arm and walked back into her bedroom, finding Leah standing over Charlie's body, just staring at him.

"Do we need to stop by your place for anything?" Bella asked, digging the phone's charger out of her dresser and plugging it in.

"He watched me all the time. Knew everything I did," Leah murmured, and Bella understood that she was referring to Carlisle. "But you knew that, didn't you?"

Bella didn't reply as she plugged the charger into the phone and pulled up the one and only number listed. She sent off a text, telling them where to meet them. Barely a minute passed before she got a reply that said they were on their way. Bella tossed the phone and charger in the bag before turning to face Leah, only to find her standing just a few inches from her.

"He's dead, too, isn't he?"

Bella nodded.

Leah shifted her eyes back to Charlie. "Did he suffer?"

"Not as much as I wanted him to," Bella admitted. "We really need to go."

Leah nodded, so Bella led her downstairs. She stopped in the kitchen and climbed onto the counter, pulling the bottles of booze Charlie thought he had hidden from her, and jumped off. Walking to the front door, she tossed the smaller bag into the bigger one and draped it across her body again. Then, opening the door, she motioned for Leah to step outside first, which she did. Bella threw the bottles of booze on the floor, watching as they broke and spilled everywhere. Then, digging a lighter out of her bag, she clicked it, causing a flame to shoot out. Bella tossed the lighter into the middle of the booze and closed the door behind her, knowing it wouldn't take long for the fire to spread.

—CG—

Half an hour later, Bella and Leah were standing at the county line between Forks and La Push. They were leaning against the side of Bella's truck when a car pulled up in front of them.

As the headlights turned off, Jacob scrambled from the backseat, rushing up to Leah, who had thrown herself into his arms. Their cries could be heard over the rumbling of the car's engine and Bella struggled to keep her tears at bay. Jacob and Leah had a love that would last a lifetime, if they could find a way to heal their broken hearts.

The driver turned the car off and climbed out. Seth brought his hand up to cover his mouth as he walked up to his sister and her fiancé. Leah released Jacob and turned to Seth, wrapping her arms around his waist. He sobbed as he held her, one hand in the middle of his back and the other on the back of her head. Bella couldn't hear what he was whispering, but knew how much he loved his sister.

"B," Jacob murmured, leaning against the side of the truck.

"She's been through a lot," Bella whispered. "Don't expect too much from her. She's gonna need you to have patience with her."

"I know," he said, angling his body toward her. "Are you going to be okay?"

Bella inhaled a deep breath. "I don't know."

"You don't have to leave, you know."

"Leave?" Leah asked, frowning as they looked at her. "You're leaving, Bella?"

"Have to," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "People are going to be looking for me. For you, too." A darkness filled Leah's eyes so Bella reached over and took her hands in her own. "But you're going to be okay. Jacob and Seth are going to take good care of you. They're going to take you somewhere safe, and Sam and Emily will be there. I promise, you'll be okay."

Leah shook her head. "But what about you? You'll be alone."

"Nah," Bella said. "I have people waiting for me."

"We'll never see you again, will we?" Seth asked, drawing her attention to him.

"No," she murmured.

"B," Seth exclaimed.

"You can't. It's too dangerous."

"But," Leah stammered.

Bella released Leah's hands and walked to the back of the truck, grabbing her bag and hoisting it over her shoulder. Digging the smaller of the two bags out, she pulled out a few hundred bucks and piece of paper, wrapped around a debit card.

"It's not much," she said, shoving the cash into Jacob's hand. "Enough to pay for a couple tanks of gas. Pre-paid credit card should get you a little further. Sorry I can't give you more. It's not safe yet."

"You need this," Jacob argued, trying to give her the money back

Bella shook her head and stepped away from him. "I've gotta go, so . . . Be safe, or whatever. Promise?"

"We promise," Jacob said, wrapping his arm around Leah. "And thank you, you know, for bringing her back to us."

"You're welcome," she said, before tossing him the keys to the truck. "Make sure nobody finds this."

And without another word, Bella turned and began hiking through the woods. Bella walked for almost an hour before she came upon the truck Jacob and Seth had stashed in the woods for her. Everyone in Forks knew she'd bought the junked out Chevy from the rez, and with it being gone, they'd assume she'd left town. It wouldn't take them long to find the trail of bodies she'd left behind, but she'd be long gone before they could pin any of it on her. There would be no record if Isabella Swan left. No prints on file, no DNA, nothing but a memory of a girl who once was. Bella wasn't an idiot, after all.

Heading in the opposite direction of La Push and Forks, Bella headed onto the highway, rolling the window down and enjoying the fresh air.

—CG—

Nineteen hours later, Bella pulled up to a gas station outside of Casper Wyoming and headed inside, keeping her ball cap over her eyes as she walked through the store to the bathroom. She'd stopped hours again and shaved her head, changed clothes, and put on a pair of fake glasses her new license said she needed for her poor eyesight.

Once she'd taken care of business, she washed her hands and headed out to grab a cup of coffee and pay for a tank of gas. However, she'd just grabbed the biggest cup they had when the clerk reached over and turned the volume on the television up.

"Reports are just now rolling in from the town of Forks Washington, where the bodies of multi-millionaire Carlisle Cullen and Esme Platt have been found. FBI had raided the house of Mr. Cullen just before six this evening after dozens of files were sent anonymously linking Mr. Cullen to, what is being dubbed, the largest human trafficking ring on the east coast. They found Mr. Cullen inside his residence, but haven't released any information about how he died. Ms. Platt was found dead inside, what the FBI has referred to as a brothel, along with an unidentified male. Dozens of men and women were found alive inside, and from what we're being told, they are connect to Mr. Cullen.

"Further warrants were served to the home of Eleazar Santiago, principal of the local high school, and to Demetri Romanoff, a local tattoo artist. The FBI hasn't released any information, but a source close to the investigation had confirmed that they have been closely linked to Mr. Cullen's operation."

The reporter paused and brought her hand up to her ear before she turned and looked behind her. "Special Agent Masen, can you give us any new developments?"

The camera shifted to a tall man with thick, auburn hair and a pair of green eyes that almost seemed to sparkle. Special Agent Edward Masen looked directly at the camera and said, "Not at this time, but we will not rest until every person involved is brought to justice."

"What about reports that a fourth body has been recovered in Forks?" the reporter asked. "Are the two cases linked?"

Edward pressed his lips together for a moment before saying, "At this stage in the investigation, we can't confirm, nor deny, any link that Charlie Swan had to Carlisle Cullen or Esme Platt. Our first priority is ensuring the safety of those who had been unwillingly held at the hands of these monsters. Personally, I'm just thankful that someone finally stood up for them, saved them from more abuse and degradation."

Bella felt her lips twitch and she almost smiled. He was thankful for her.

"Can you believe this?" the clerk scoffed turning his attention to Bella. "Here in America of all places."

Bella nodded. "Unreal, right?"

The clerk sighed. "Just the coffee?"

"No, I need fifty on pump two, also." Bella slapped enough to cover her gas and coffee on the counter and then walked out. Once she'd pumped her gas, she climbed back behind the wheel and headed back to the highway, headed to a new life. A new start. Her chance for redemption.

That is it for this one. There is a sequel titled Bella's Redemption and will begin posting soon.