Roses & Thorns Read online

  “Sir?”

  “Call me…”

  I shake my head. No, I can’t. Never. She can’t know my name. Me. Too dangerous.

  “It won’t leave this room.”

  “But... “

  “You have my word,” I say firmly.

  She searches me before nodding.

  “I don’t go back on my word.”

  “I… know.”

  “Talk to me little dove.”

  “The first time I… cut myself was the first day of my captivity. Not here. Um, with them. I’d never done it before, but I… I needed an escape.”

  “Why?”

  My eyes bore into hers. I know I'm giving her the most intense eye contact, but I can’t stop myself. My role as Boss is ingrained. And I desperately want this information.

  “They did something.”

  “They hurt you.”

  “Kind of.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “He touched me!” she shrieks. “With his fingers. I felt so disgusting. I needed it out. I needed that feeling out of me!”

  I freeze like stone. “They raped you?”

  Her face goes haywire trying to process my bluntness. “No, sir. Just his… fingers.”

  I nod, understanding. I walk up to her and move her hair back. Tears slip.

  “I know I'm weak. I mean I’d done it before but…”’

  I grab her face.

  “You are not weak! Don’t tell yourself that. Do you hear me?”

  She nods and wipes her tears. I have the strong urge to kiss her hands. Hold her, but I step away instead. Protecting both of us. Who am I fucking kidding? I'm protecting myself.

  “My men have never… Right?”

  God if they have. They will pray for death.

  “No. No sir. Thank you. Thank you, so much.”

  She looks down. I can do nothing but nod. At least I’ve never allowed that.

  “Okay. Good. Continue.”

  She looks up at me. I nod, encouraging her. It’s like she absorbs that and uses it to keep going. Did she just ask for my encouragement? Holy hell. I'm going to destroy both of us playing this game.

  “After that, it became a habit. Anytime something bad happened I would make a cut to drown it out and get rid of the pain. But then, every day became bad. It was all bad. So every day I made a cut to commemorate my time. Keep track of it. Remind myself to never hold onto to too much hope, but that I do have some power. Power to make myself feel numb.”

  I don’t know what to say, but she needs me to say something so I just nod.

  “What was your life like… before?”

  “Beautiful. Simple.”

  Her voice is sad. I start to pace the floor as she speaks.

  “Explain.”

  “My dad was a farmer. My mom helped him. She was a seamstress part-time. We were really, really poor,” there’s a small smile on her face, “Then my baby brother was born. He was our world. The cutest little thing. We’d sit by the fire and play board games and sing. We worked hard, but we played hard too. It was… well, perfect, but nothing good lasts forever.”

  “You like simple things?”

  “I did.”

  “And now?”

  “Whatever doesn’t hurt me. I like.”

  “So this room…”

  “I really, really like.”

  The corners of my lips turn up. “Me too.”

  “What… about you?” She looks down and whispers.

  I lift her chin. “You can ask.”

  “What was your life like… before this.”

  “I thought it was simple, but it turned out it never was. I was born to do this.”

  “Will I ever be free?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “But…”

  “That’s not a simple question Lacey!”

  “Can I go back to my cell now?”

  “Done pretending?”

  She shakes her head. “Yes. Pretending for too long hurts.”

  I understand that. More than she knows. “Yes, let’s get you back.”

  She lowers her head. I know she’s hiding the pain there. Trying to fall into herself again. I let her. I won’t take that from her. When we get back down to her cell I take one long look at her.

  “I wish I’d never run into you.” She nods as tears fall. “You fell into my lap. You left me no choice.”

  When she doesn’t respond I open her cell door. “Get in. I’ll have someone new to watch you in a little bit.”

  I watch her retreating form and remember the day I met her. Captured her.

  “Marcelo!”

  He runs to catch up with me on the sidewalk.

  “We still don’t have any Goddamn information on the Castelo Family?”

  “No boss.”

  I growl. “Fine. Make sure that shipment gets out by…”

  I glance over when I hear subtle banging behind me. What I see makes me smile and shake my head. Some girl with dark dirty blonde hair is frantically trying to open my car door. Stupid girl. Luck is not in her favor.

  “Looking for something?” I call over.

  Her head snaps up. Her eyes are wide and filled with horror. Her face is swollen and red from healing bruises. There’s a cut on her cheek. I can’t see her body, because it’s hidden by the car. She goes running, but I snap my fingers and nearly instantly two of men have each one of her arms. She tries to kick and wriggle out, but once she realizes she’s not going anywhere she goes totally limp.

  I walk around the car casually, whistling. I can see her body start to shake. She’s looking at the ground, hiding behind her hair. Once I'm in front of her I look her up and down. The girls been beaten to all hell. I really don’t want to do anything to her, but she tried to break into my Goddamn car. I have to set a precedent. I can’t let her get away with it. Not in front of my men. Not in front of people who may or may not spying.

  Her grey cotton shorts are ripped at the side, she’s shoeless so I know her feet are burned and cut, her white cotton shirt are ripped on the right side. I see gashes there, and since I'm me I know they are from a whip.

  Where the fucking hell was this girl?

  “What’s your name?”

  Silence. Just shaking and depressed acceptance.

  “This is how this is going to go little girl. You picked the wrong man’s car to break into. I ask a question and you will answer. Understand?”

  There’s a nod. Subtle, but I see it.

  “Alright. What’s your name?”

  “Lacey.”

  Her voice is so quiet I can barely hear her, and she still isn’t looking at me. I like that name. Lacey. Hmm, it fits her.

  “What the fuck do you think you were doing trying to break into my car?”

  Because now you’re forcing me to do something! Something you probably don’t deserve. For the first time, her grey eyes meet mine. There is nothing but complete and utter terror there.

  “Please.”

  “Answer me.”

  “I… they’re going to find me.”

  She starts to shake so hard I see the shock on one of my men’s faces. They both tighten their grip. I walk forward and place my hand under her chin. She jolts and tries to pull away, but I don’t let her.

  “Who? What does that have to do with you breaking into my car?”

  She ducks her head again.

  “Hide.”

  My head rears back.

  “You were trying to hide in my car.”

  She nods. I groan. “That was so stupid.”

  “I… didn’t… know….”

  “You didn’t know it was me? So it would have been okay if it was someone else.”

  “I didn’t want to do anything! They’ll find me. They are going to find me.”

  Again, with the seizure-like shaking. Now I'm intrigued.

  “That’s the second time you’ve mentioned that. Who are you running from?”

  “No!” She tries to get free. I gr
ab her chin and squeeze.

  “Stop. Who. Are. You. Running. From.”

  “You,” she whispers.

  “Me?” The fuck?

  “No. Not you. The other. The other ones.”

  Fucking hell.

  “You’re running from the Castelos?!”

  She shakes profusely and nods. Oh, the world is against this girl. I glance at Marcelo. His eyebrows shoot up. I swallow to contain my excitement. I look her up and down. They’ll miss this one. This is what I’ve been looking for my whole life. And this little gift fell right into my fucking lap.

  I smirk and lean right into her.

  “Looks like you’re going to get your wish little dove.”

  I turn to my men and my voice goes cold.

  “Throw her in the car.”

  Last thing I see before she’s thrown in the car is her eyes rolling back and her passing out.

  I snap back to the present. I need to talk to Sven.

  Now!

  Chapter 14:

  Rose:

  “I'm done.”

  I shove the plate away. He shoves it back.

  “I said you’re finishing.”

  “I just have half a chicken breast and two pieces of broccoli left.”

  His face is dark. “I said you’re finishing.”

  I glare at him and move it slightly closer. I'm just about to stubbornly stab a piece of broccoli in my mouth when someone bangs on the door. I jump and scramble back. Sven looks at me annoyed and amused. He casually walks to the door. He swings it open. Standing there is his boss in a three-piece suit looking furious. It’s emanating off him. I cower and hide behind a pillow. Neither of them are even looking at me or care about me, but I'm terrified that will change. The Boss looks so mad, so dark and so evil. I'm terrified. He scares me in a way I wish Sven did.

  “Boss?” Even Sven sounds surprised he’s there.

  “We need to talk. Now.”

  Then, much to my relief, the boss stalks off. Sven turns and points at me, looking much like the Mafia underboss he is. I know enough about the Mafia to understand that’s his position.

  “Finish.”

  Then he slams the door. I hear the lock click. Once the door is shut I scramble out of the bed. I'm alone. I'm finally alone. The first thing I do is run for the window. In the back of my mind I know it’s locked, but being in a life or death situation does weird things to you. I frantically try and pull the window open. Of course, it’s locked. I mean he wouldn’t leave it open. I look around the room for anything sharp. I see a small lamp. I grab it and try and slam it into the glass. The glass is barely affected, but the lamp breaks.

  What kind of glass is this?!

  Fuck. He’s gonna be so mad. Will he hurt me? Other than kidnapping me, he hasn’t actually hurt me. Does the orgasm count as hurting me? He confuses me. I'm not even as terrified as I should be.

  I hate him.

  I look around the room for anything. I need to get back to my girls. That’s my life. My home. I can’t be with people who know about my dad. People are like my dad. I see the plate with my half a chicken breast and two pieces of broccoli as I make my way around the room. I gotta get rid of that. Honestly, I feel good. I can’t remember the last time I had a healthy meal. I want to finish it, but it’s the principle of the thing. I have to get rid of it without eating it. He can’t win this one. I won’t let him boss me around. I obviously don’t want to leave it there though. I don’t want to find out what Sven will do when I disobey him. The reality is I don’t know what he’s going to do to me now that I’m in his terrain. That scares me, but I'm trying not to think about it. Trying, being the operative word. My nerves feel like they are on fire.

  I glance at the plate again. I pick it up and walk around the room looking for any place I can get rid of this. When I get to the restroom I do a double take when I see the toilet. I can flush it. I quickly shuffle over there, not knowing when Sven will be back, but knowing it will be a while if the Bosses anger is anything to go by.

  I dump the contents of my food into the toilet, feeling proud. I won this one! I pull the handle down and move to walk away. I'm two steps from the toilet when I hear a sound I don’t like, and it is not a flushing sound. The water is rising. I run over and try and shut the water off, but I can’t get the knob to move. I frantically try and turn it using my whole body. The water still won’t stop.

  “Shit. Fuck. Please stop. This stupid toilet is going to kill me.”

  I picture Sven and his bosses dark eyes.

  “Please stop,” I cry. “No. No. No.”

  The water spills over. I start crying. I can’t stop it. Somehow, with this one dumb incident, it all hits me. It takes some small instigating event for my emotions to boil over. I sob as the water spills onto the floor. Why didn’t it flush? Why? I slam my hands on the wet tile and then curl into a ball and rock back and forth as the water spills over the toilet seat and wets the ground beneath me.

  As the feelings and terror build inside me, I crawl backward and sob harder. I tuck myself into the nook between the toilet and the wall. I don’t know how long I cry. Long enough for the water to stop flooding and fill the bathroom. I'm so scared. He’s gonna flip when he sees this. What if his boss comes in? That brings up a whole new wave of wailing and crying.

  I tuck my head in and cry again. I don’t hear anything and then…

  “What the fuck?”

  I can’t even look. I stay in my spot by the toilet, tucked up. I start crying harder now that he’s here. I'm gonna be hurt. Or worse. I don’t even know what to do with the total and complete fear inside of me. My butt is wet, my legs are covered in toilet water, but I don’t care. I just want him to disappear and the toilet water to go away.

  “What the fuck…” Sven says again.

  He sighs and walks off. He comes back a few minutes later. When he leans forward towards me I squeal and cry harder. He growls. I feel his hands slip underneath me. I'm lifted off the ground. I immediately reach to peel his hands away. I try and keep as much space between us as possible. I nearly fall out of his arms. I can feel his muscles straining to hold me because I'm so far from his body and not in a prime holding position.

  “You’re wet and gross.”

  I whimper. He sets me down. I scream and jump back.

  “Shut up Rose. You’re still breathing.”

  I don’t know where I am, but I don’t look. I close my eyes and keep crying. What is he going to do to me? When warm water washes over me I squeal and open my eyes.

  I'm in a bathtub? The water starts to rise. I look at Sven. He has his eyebrow cocked and is looking at me like, I don’t even know. He’s standing over me, eyebrow cocked, totally calm.

  I whimper. I know my eyes are red and swollen. I'm still shaking from crying so hard. The water feels so good against my nasty, clammy skin.

  “So I'm assuming it’s the food you tried to flush down the toilet.”

  Sven goes to the counter and tosses me something. He throws it at me. I catch it. It’s a wipe.

  “For your makeup.”

  I must look like pure shit. I nod shakily and wipe the makeup and everything else off my face. I hold the dirty wipe not knowing what to do with it. Sven sighs and extends his hand. I hand it to him. I’m waiting for him to snap at any moment. I know he will.

  There’s a soft knock on the door. I scream and scramble to the back of the tub. Rationally I know it’s not his boss. That knock was too soft, but I am not even close to rational. I am paralyzed by fear. Sven looks at me like I'm stupid, then turns back to the doorway.

  Two maids walk in. Oh.

  Sven gestures to the room. “Clean it up.”

  He’s an asshole, but the two maids get to work. One fixes the toilet and the other drags in a tray of cleaning supplies and begins cleaning the floor.

  “I'm so sorry.”

  I move to get up and help them, but Sven pushes me back down and rolls his eyes. I want to ask if they are prisoners to
o, but I don’t think they are and that would only make him mad. Fifteen minutes later the toilet is fixed and the bathroom is sparkling. Wow, they are good. The bathroom is quiet again when they leave and close the door behind them. Sven walks to the tub.

  “Arms up.”

  I scoot back. “Sven…”

  I visibly see him fighting for patience, but why? Why even bother.

  “I'm being really fucking patient right now Rose.”

  With a small nod, I slowly lift my hands. He somehow finds the bottom of my shirt and lifts it over my head.

  “Take off your pants.”

  I let out a choked sob and slowly take them off. He grabs them from my hand and sticks the wet clothes in the shower. He pulls a chair up to the side of the tub and takes a seat, leaning forward to set his elbows on his knees. I tuck myself into a ball to hide everything I can. The water does feel so good against my skin. I was so dirty. I’d been wearing the same clothes for a couple days, and a hell of a lot had happened in that couple days.

  “You are very beautiful without makeup. I like your eyes.”

  Stupidly I blush and quickly look away.

  “Care to try and humor me with your excuses.”

  “I didn’t want the food.”

  “Ehhh. Bullshit. Try again.”

  “I didn’t!”

  “You did. How about I tell you why you did it. You did it for control. You did it because I told you to finish. So like a child, you flushed it down the toilet. Sound about right?”

  “Why ask if you know the answer!”

  “Ah, nice to have you back.”

  “I'm never like this! You make me mean.”

  “You weren’t so mean crying on the floor over there.”

  I look down sadly. “I'm so scared. What are you going to do to me? Why am I here? What do you want with me?”

  “I already told you.”

  “What? You want to break me? It’s working.”

  “No. That’s what you think I'm doing.”

  “Then what are you doing?”

  “I told you. I'm remaking you.”

  “I…” don't’ know what to say to that. I'm naked in a tub after having an emotional breakdown because I threw chicken in the toilet and it overflowed in a Mafia house. I'm beyond words.