Decoded »»Edward Cullen Bwwm

Chapter Fourteen

Violet’s Pov
His forehead rested against mine, eyes shut tight as if the moment he opened them, reality would shatter whatever fragile thing we’d just created. His hands loosened on my hips. The bond between us flickered confusion, guilt, longing bleeding through exposed nerves.

"I can’t," he whispered.

The word felt heavier than any rejection I’d ever known.

I slid from his hold slowly, my back touching the wall, my heart dead as it was aching in a way that felt painfully alive. He stepped away as though distance could undo what had already happened.

"You don’t have to explain,"  I said quietly, even though I desperately wanted him to. "I knew this wasn’t… real. Not really."

He turned his back to me, hands braced on the dresser, shoulders rigid.

"I shouldn’t have let it happen," he said. "I wasn’t thinking."

I almost laughed at that. "You were feeling," I corrected softly. "And that’s something you’ve been denying yourself for months."

He didn’t answer.I left his room not long after that, giving him the space he always demanded when he was unraveling. I told myself it was fine that this was just another moment where I chose him, and he chose his grief.

I just didn’t know how quickly everything was about to fall apart.

It didn’t happen all at once. That was the cruel part, after that night of passion it was a couple days but I knew deep down there was just regret and something to fill the time and void.

Edward didn’t scream, he didn’t shatter anything. He didn’t even move at first.

He just went still. I felt it through the bond before I heard his voice before I saw the way his eyes went empty, like someone had blown out every light inside him at once. The air in the apartment shifted, heavy and wrong, like the world itself had tilted off its axis.

"Edward?" I said quietly, stepping closer. I was cautious with my movements my eyes not leaving his.

He didn’t look at me. His gaze was fixed on nothing, hands clenched at his sides so tightly I could hear the faint crack of stone.

"She’s gone," he said.

My chest tightened. "What do you mean, gone?"

He turned then, slowly, and the look on his face terrified me more than rage ever could. There was no grief there was only certainty.

"Bella is dead."

The bond screamed. It wasn’t pain exactly it was absence. A hollowness so deep it made my knees weaken, because part of him was already leaving. Slipping somewhere I couldn’t follow.

"No," I said immediately, shaking my head. "Edward, no. Alice would have seen-'

"Alice can’t see her," he cut in. "She hasn’t been able to for months. And now… now there’s nothing. No future. No heartbeat, nothing."

He brushed past me, already moving toward the bedroom, toward the drawer where he kept his passport.

Panic flooded me, my dead heart was aching like it always had been since having Edward back in my life. "What are you doing?" I demanded, following him.

"I’m going to Volterra." The words hit like a slap.

My breath stuttered. "No, you’re not." He didn’t stop. Didn’t even slow. "There’s nothing left for me here."

I grabbed his arm, my fingers digging into cold marble skin. "What about me?"

That finally made him pause.
He looked down at my hand like he’d forgotten it existed. Like he’d forgotten I existed.

"What about you?" he asked softly, and gods that hurt more than if he’d shouted.

I stepped in front of him, forcing him to look at me. "I’ve always been here," I said, my voice shaking despite myself. "When she left. When you shut down. When you couldn’t even stand the sound of your own thoughts. I stayed."

His jaw tightened. "I didn’t ask you to." That hurt more than it should have.

"No," I snapped, tears burning my eyes now. "You didn’t. But I did it anyway. I chose you every single day, Edward. Through the silence. Through the nights you wouldn’t speak. Through loving you knowing your heart was somewhere else."

The bond throbbed, raw and exposed.

"You’re my maker," I continued, quieter now. "But you’re also the man I love. And I won’t let you throw yourself away without looking at me and telling me I meant nothing."

He closed his eyes, anguish flickering across his face for just a second proof he still felt something.

"I can’t live in a world without her," he whispered.

I swallowed hard. "Then choose," I said. His eyes snapped open.

"Choose me."  I said, my voice broke at last, "or chose Bella’s memory. But don’t drag me along while you decide to die."

Silence crashed between us.
I felt the bond strain, stretched thin like glass about to shatter. If he walked away now, something between us would break forever.

Edward stared at me like he was seeing me for the first time not as a responsibility, not as a distraction, but as a wound he’d never allowed himself to acknowledge.

"I never meant to hurt you," he said.

“I know,” I replied softly. “But you are.”

"I love you,” he said finally while my back was turned towards him. I didn't look at him at all.

I closed my eyes the emotions running through me. I wanted to run, scream. I wanted anything but to be here. "I know," I replied. "But it’s not enough."