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I never knew it would be so quick, though. That afternoon, she told me she was mine, and I said nothing. The next day, Bianco forced Jake to do unspeakable things. Jake fought back Bianco’s violence. Nate didn’t take his brother’s side. He got in the way, like Rose always said. And she shot him. A bullet she thought went right through his heart. A shot he should have never survived. To this day, we still don’t know if she missed because she never wanted her older brother to die, or because it was an accident.
“…on her.”
“What?” It’s like having an out-of-body experience. I don’t know how long I was gone. Lik is still watching TV with his head on my lap.
He huffs loudly. “You’re allowed not to talk, but you’re not allowed not to listen, Sam.”
“I’m sorry.” I massage his scalp with a soft hand, bringing him to a relaxed state. “What were you saying, love?”
I feel the shiver that runs through his body at my words.
“I was saying, should we check on her? She’s been in the bathroom for a while. But you know,” he turns around so he’s on his back on the sofa, rather than his side, and looking up at me, “we could go home, and you could fuck my ass. I’ve been dying for alone time.”
“You want time away from Rose?” I ask, surprised. He’s been babbling nonstop about her since the minute he met her. For so long, he heard about her, like some sort of myth. He couldn’t believe her beauty was real when he finally saw her.
“I need a bit of time with my calm boyfriend. Not the moody beast that comes out when she’s around.”
“We can have alone time. But I still need her.”
“Do you?” Rose’s loud, mocking scoff forces Lik to sit up as I shift to watch her walk into the living room. “Do you need me, or are you finding any excuse to have me around?”
“How are you feeling?” Lik asks, genuine concern sweetening his already beautiful voice.
“Free,” she simply replies. She’s got a backpack hooked on one shoulder.
“What are you doing?” my boyfriend asks while I retreat into my silence, thinking of the best way to approach the situation.
“Leaving.”
“No, you’re not.” I almost wince, regretting not being able to control my possessive instinct.
“Your plan to find the brothers failed. I’m not helping anymore.”
I slowly stand up, taking my time to round the sofa and get on her side. “I will find another way. I want Viktor and I might need his favorite toy to lure him in.”
She chuckles, cruelty leaving her lungs. “You genuinely believe it, don’t you? That I was his toy.” I feel Lik move on the sofa at her devilish smirk. “And now you think I’m yours.”
“I don’t believe, Iknow, Rose. That he brainwashed you so hard it was practically a lobotomy,” I sneer. “Stockholm syndrome hits real hard, doesn’t it?”
“Why do you want to know? Is that what you’re attempting by keeping me in your penthouse? Only a fewfuckingyards from where I was taken, by the way.”
I keep quiet. I hadn’t thought of that. The effect it could have on her to be kept in a place with a perfect view of where the Wolves grabbed her.
I taste acid at the back of my throat, remembering her screams through my open window. The run down the stairs…watching their car drive away knowing it could be the last time I ever saw her. I should have known they would get revenge for what she did. I remember all too well the night she shot their father to save her family. To save all of us.
Bianco used to give Rose shooting lessons. They were intense, terrifying, and turned her into the most precise shooter I’ve ever met. She was so young when he started with her that she could barely keep her arms straight with the weight of the gun in her hands.
She did not miss a single aim by the time she was twelve. Watching how comfortable she felt with a deadly weapon was chilling.
Two years ago, Vladimir Volkov tried to end Nate. Vladimir was the head of their organization back then, previous to his sons taking over. He got to Nate before I could protect my best friend and took him to a warehouse to finish him off. The war between the Cosa Nostra and the Bratva was at an all-time high then. They were fighting over any minor territories. Surprisingly, Nate’s siblings came to his rescue with me, despite their tumultuous past. When Vladimir was holding Nate at gunpoint, Rose shot him in the throat. The bullet went right past Nate and destroyed Volkov’s flesh in a bloody massacre.
Rose was too young to do this or to be involved in the first place. Her escaping Bianco should have never led to that. And yet it did.
And then the Volkov brothers took her to avenge their dad.
I should have never gotten back in contact with her that year. She was living a peaceful life, and Nate and I destroyed that. And I should have been the one to shoot Vladimir. I failed her.
Yet, the feeling I get knowing she found a great life being with Viktor Volkov. Knowing she naïvely let him take over her thoughts, her feelings, her love… Hate is such a small word.
