The Next Chapter

Broken Back

Twilight is not mine. Never will be mine. Ever. *WAAAH!* David, Lizzie and Marie are mine in a literary sense. Ren, too.

I do apologize with the sporadic updates with this one. I struggle with this story and finding the momentum is tough. With that being said, please be patient with me on this one. I do intend to finish it. It'll probably take time. I'm hoping to be finished with this by Christmas-time. I've planned out the remainder of the story. It's looking to be around thirty chapters, plus an epilogue. I just need to write it. *Snorts*

Will they reunite? Will Bella forgive him? Will Mike acquiesce to Edward's demands on releasing his children? Only time will tell. So, yeah...up next will be Bella's point of view. I decided to switch things around a bit from my original plan. Just sayin...

Chapter Twenty-Six: Broken Back

BPOV

"Stop screaming, you little brats!" I heard. Then a distinct sound of a slap. The screams grew louder but my body would not cooperate, allowing me to open up my eyes. "Fucking snot-nosed little trolls." The next thing I knew, my face was being slapped. "Get up, bitch. Your bratty kids won't shut the fuck up."

I groaned, trying to open my eyes, but still not able to do so.

"I know what will wake her up," came another voice. A voice from my past that caused shivers to run down my spine. My ex-husband is dead. Why am I hearing his voice again? A cold hand wrapped around my wrist and he squeezed and twisted. I screamed myself, my eyes shooting open as the pain radiated down my entire arm. My arm was released and I cradled it against my chest, blinking my bleary eyes to focus on where we were at. The furnishings were bland and not cared for. The sign on the door indicated that we were in a motel room somewhere, but I didn't know where. "Take care of you little bitch kids," snapped the male voice. I turned to see my ex-father-in-law looming over me with a sneer on his face.

"Mommy!" Lizzie wailed, pulling away from my mother, running to me and crashing her little body against mine. Marie warily followed, scowling at my mom. My body groaned as their weight crushed me. "Can we go home, Mommy? Please? They're mean."

"I'll show you mean," Mike Sr. snarled.

"Come on, baby. Let's go into the other room," Renee snapped. She tugged on Mike's hand, dragging him into an adjacent room and leaving me with my girls.

"The doors are locked and you're confined to that bed, Bella," Mike growled, pointing to a handcuff attached to my uninjured wrist. "No funny business or your daughters will lose their mother." Renee managed to get him out of the room, but the door was left open.

"What happened?" I asked my daughters.

"We were in a car accident, Mommy," Lizzie answered, her eyes filling with tears. "You fell asleep and then, two men came and grabbed us. One was that mean man who hurt your arm."

"Who was the other man?" I asked, trying to sit up but my body was in complete agony.

"He had a bald head with blue eyes. He also had stuff on his face," Lizzie answered, wrinkling her nose. "He looked familiar, Mommy."

"Are you two okay? Are you hurt?" I asked.

"Marie's got a bump on her head and bruises on her tummy. I have scratches on my arms from the glass and bruises, too," Lizzie answered, showing me her arms. "We're fine, Mommy."

"Who slapped you?" I questioned. I was so angry at whoever raised a hand to my children. It was taking all of my control to try and remove my hand from the handcuffs to smack the hell out of the culprit. The girls looked scared and sidled up to me. "Babies, I need to know so I can stop them from doing it again. You're not in trouble."