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“I’ve heard from Van Acker,” he said kindly. “Amber is adjusting well.”
It was information I thought he wouldn’t give me, and it made my eyes well up with tears. I attempted to look away, but he wouldn’t let me, twisting my head so I was looking at him.
“Carina is staying in her old room,” he told me. “We’re beginning her training today.”
The tears fell.
“We must talk,” he went on. “Come with me.”
He extended an arm for me to take, and I reached for him needily, intertwining my fingers to his and keeping close to him as he led me through the house, through rooms and stairways I knew so well and thought I’d never see again. My heart was pounding as we stepped outside, the sun bright above us but the temperature pleasant, not too hot at all. I realized where he was leading me, and dug my heels into the ground.
“N-no,” I stuttered. “I don’t want to go there. Please…”
“Come on,” he said gently. “We have to talk there. The rose garden is the reason you’re here.”
Reluctantly, I let him lead me away, my body shaking as reached the edges of the bushes on the cliff. The garden was just as I remembered it, and while I thought it would feel eerie to be back there, it was oddly calming. Perhaps that was why he chose that place to lay all those women to rest.
We stopped in the middle of the garden, luscious roses extending their vines around us. It was like something out of a fairytale, but I already knew there would be no happy ending for me because I was in love with a monster. I looked up into Thorn’s eyes, my hand lingering with his as he pulled me closer, the motion almost violent.
“Why did you run?” he demanded, and I closed my eyes against the onslaught of his questions. “Why did you leave me, Rose? Why did you go?”
“I had to,” I whispered. “You were going to hurt Amber.”
“Never,” he snarled. “I would never hurt her. She was an accident from the start she should never have been here.”
“But you wouldn’t let her go,” I cried out, opening my eyes and staring into the dark abyss in his gaze. “You could have sent her back… Make sure she was okay.”
“I couldn’t have,” he told me. “She was a liability, Rose. We both know it.”
“But why punish her?” I asked him tearfully. “Why sell her to that… awful, awful man?”
“She wanted it,” he went on. “She begged me to be sold. You weren’t there to hear it, my Rose. She craved this life.”
“Not with someone like him!” I insisted, my hands ripping out of his. “Not with a monster!”
“You fell in love with a monster,” Thorn said softly. “Maybe she can, too.”
I fought the overwhelming feelings of hate I had for him. They were mixed with need and love that I couldn’t comprehend, my mind unable to wrap itself around how much I craved this man despite all of the horrible things he’d done to me and my loved ones. I wanted to walk away, but I knew he would never let me. And what’s more, I knew I’d come crawling back before I even made it down the driveway of the Mansion.
“What happens when you get sick of me?” I asked. “What happens when you decide you don’t want me anymore?”
“I…” he frowned at me. “I will always want you. You’ve always been the one. Since that moment I first saw you.”
“When?” I whispered, needing him to comfort me.
“You were a little girl,” he admitted brokenly. “And I was a grown fucking man. I’d just found out some news that… that would decide the direction of my life. I was buying flowers, in London… you were standing outside the florist, staring in.”
I squeezed his hand, prompting him to go on.
“I dropped a rose on purpose,” he went on softly. “Watched you pick it up. You were fascinated by it. I knew then. I’ve had tabs on you since then.”
I wanted to tell him he was a sick man. Wanted to hit him, hurt him. But my body wouldn’t let me. My traitorous fucking body wanted to bend to his will and give him everything he’d ever wanted.
“I don’t know anything about you,” I whispered brokenly. “I don’t know why you… why you’re so fucking broken.”
He looked away. The pained expression on his face told me it was a story he wasn’t ready to tell me yet, but he squeezed my hand nonetheless.
“Soon,” he promised.
“What about the others?” I asked, unable to stop myself. “The other girls. The ones before me.”
“They don’t matter,” he said plainly. “I hadn’t been with anyone for a year before you.”
“But before?” I asked weakly, and he stared deep into my eyes. “You killed them, didn’t you? You got rid of every Rose before me…”
