Selcouth • J. Hale ✓

xxii.

chapter twenty-two.

Three months, Karina has been away from Forks for three months.

Bella and Charlie reluctantly left so that Bella could attend school and return to being enamored by Edward. Though Karina made her swear not to mention about what happened to anyone, though it was pointless since once news spread about the death of Andrew Baxter, Karina's phone was blowing up with messages from her friends and Jasper. She just couldn't bring herself to talk to any of them.

Karina had stopped using her mother's last name after prom and it suddenly made sense to everyone why Karina looked as if she came from money. Though the comment offended and confused her, Karina didn't let it get to her.

"Are you ready?" Karina asked William as they got into her car.

"Yes, I'm super excited." He told her and was practically bouncing in his seat after he put on his seat belt.

Today was the day that they were going to Forks. Karina was just as excited as William was since she missed Jasper dearly, and a sudden pain had appeared in both of their chests from their soulmate bond.

For the three months that she was in New York, Karina and her mother sold a lot of the properties that her father pointlessly owned. They kept the vacation house in Siargao, two properties located in Alaska, and Karina's childhood home in New York as well as a few other places. Karina kept her dads more priceless cars that she knew would have him turning in his grave over selling, but sold a good handful of them.

With William, Aurora had officially adopted him, and he was legally her son now, but Aurora made sure that William understood that she wasn't trying to replace his mother. William shockingly wasn't so upset with his mother leaving him, it came as a shock to everyone really when Cindy suddenly disappeared and left a note behind explaining how she signed away her rights to William and wanted Aurora to take him.

It didn't make sense and it confused everyone, but William was surprisingly okay with it. Aurora deemed it as he had bonded with Karina so much that he was okay as long as she was there. Karina didn't know what to think of it, but it didn't bother her when William suddenly followed her everywhere after their father's funeral.

When it came to the topic of her father's business, Karina was to be the acting CEO once she turned 21 but until then, her father's assistant manager would be running it for her until then. However, Karina was in the process of speaking to her grandfather, her dad's dad, and working on getting in contact with her cousin, Damien who she met once when she was 15 and he had told her how he was working on taking over the company if her dad didn't have a son.

Karina wondered what her Uncle was like, but her dad didn't speak to his brother simply because he was chosen to take over.

"Rina." William called out to the girl pulling her from her thoughts. "I asked if Aurora had enrolled me into school?"

Karina smiled apologetically and nodded her head. "Yeah, she got everything prepared. We even got a new house since hers was too small for us."

Karina recalled her mother's heartbreak with having to leave behind the house but ultimately decided that she would use her grandfather's house that he had left for her when he passed. Despite living a bit farther from Bella now, Karina was just happy to have more than one bathroom even if her and William had to share it.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He apologized making Karina frown.

"Why are you sorry?" She asked him, glancing at him briefly before looking back at the wheel.

"Because you had to move for me." He told her and Karina could hear that her genuinely felt bad.

Karina shook her head at the boy, ruffling his hair softly with the hand that wasn't on the steering wheel. "I'm sure we'd have to move again if her and Charlie ever got married. Since Bella is his daughter and all."

William felt slightly better with that given fact but made a mental note to apologize to Aurora when they got to Forks.

Aurora went to Forks first a week early since Karina had sent over William's car that her father had given him, and one of her favorite cars from his collection. Aurora went to make sure that by the time they arrived today, they were both tucked into the garage.

"Are you excited to see your new room?" Karina asked William as they reached their father's private strip.

William hummed and stepped out of the rental beside Karina, the two grabbed their grabs before holding hands and heading inside. Karina made sure that there was no paps around before leading him towards the private jet that was waiting for them.

In order to keep people from finding out where Karina and William were, Karina asked her Uncle Nathaniel when preparing the private jet and to make sure that every worker could be trusted and sworn to secrecy. He gave her his word that he would handle it and Karina was relieved to see that he had.

Stepping onto the jet, William made himself comfortable while Karina put their bags away. With a single glance at William, Karina smiled softly and wondered how everyone would react to her bringing her brother with her.

Still, Karina couldn't help but be excited to see Jasper again.

∞

Landing in Port Angeles and then spending another hour to get to Forks felt like an eternity to Karina.

Her heart was pounding as she sat in the passenger seat of her mother's car with William in the backseat. Karina's body was humming as she squirmed in her seat, she hated how long she had been from Jasper but now that she was back and so close to him? Now that was torture in itself.

However, the last thing that Karina expected when they passed Charlie's place was for there to be a large crowd. Frowning, Aurora pulled over and Karina held William's hand once they got out of the car.

"Charlie." Aurora called out to him, and the man looked relieved to see her. "What's going on?"

Charlie looked over at Karina and William before deflating when he realized that they were the only ones with her. "Bella's missing."

Karina's heart sunk and she held onto William a little tighter. "What do you mean missing?"

"Charlie!" Jacob suddenly shouted and everyone looked in that direction.

Coming out of the woods was a shirtless man in jean shorts with Bella in his arms. "Bella!" Karina shouted, breaking into a sprint towards the two. William stayed beside Aurora, not liking how people were staring at him.

"Rina?" Bella whispered and her eyes fluttered open to see Karina and Charlie.

Charlie wrapped his arms around Bella, taking her from Sam's arms. "Thank you, Sam." Sam nods and Charlie proceeded to carry Bella to the house, cradling her.

"Sam Uley?" Karina questioned, something flicking inside of her. "Sounds familiar." She whispered to herself before taking William's hand once more and following both her mother and Charlie inside.

"Is Bella going to be okay?" William asked as Karina shut the door behind them.

Karina smiled at him and nodded. "Yeah, I think she's going to be okay. And you know what?" William tilted his head slightly, "I think she'll be super happy to see you in the morning."

William smiled at that and the two waited for Aurora to return so that they could go home but Karina couldn't shake the feeling of dread that had begun to build up in her stomach.