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61. Black Rose
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL 62. You Can Go In
[LIZZY]I can’t tell how long it takes for Theo to drive us to the mansion Chiara talked about back at the beach, but it couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes when a giant estate in the middle of nowhere arrives in our sight.For one minute, it kind of reminds me of all those haunted house movies where a lone mansion stands in the vast expanse of hills and plains. You know, the ones with the weird butler and the crazy woman living alone as if that’s the most normal thing to do?Yeah, that one.Though from what I can see, the way this entire place has been kept, it’s far from looking haunted. In fact, it’s kind of a modern structure, as if it hasn’t been around for more than a decade. I can’t help but wonder who lived here. If Theo and Chiara were the caretakers, as they introduced themselves, it’s not strange for me to question who the hell chose to call this place home. Literally on an island with no neighbors in sight.Who in the world would deliberately want to live such a solita
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL 63. Look At You
[LIZZY]Godmother?I am a godmother? Did she just?“You’re kidding, right?” I blurt out, unable to contain my disbelief. It feels like she just handed me the keys to a luxury car and I don’t even have a driver’s license. What have I ever done to deserve such an important role in this child’s life? A godmother? Dammit. I would kill to be Gia’s godmother, if it weren’t for all the screw-ups I have done all my life, all the bad decisions I have made, leading me to a life that I wish wasn’t so fucked up. What would I even teach this kid? To bolt at the slightest hint of trouble? To shun confrontation? To fear expressing her true feelings?“I mean, I appreciate it, but being a godmother is kind of a big deal,” I scratch my head, mostly because I don’t know what else to do with my hand. “I don’t even know if I’m godmother material.” Am I?I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m flattered and all, but being a godmother is a massive responsibility. It’s a lot bigger than being someone’s nanny or baby
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL 64. Shut Me Out
[LIZZY]“Get the hell out of here!” A loud voice booms in the room, dismissing me even before I got used to the lack of lights inside.It’s Vector’s voice, alright, and it does something to me that’s hard to put into words. It makes me want to cry hard and whimper even harder. It makes me want to run to him and choke him with my arms around his neck.But I don’t dare move from that one step I have taken inside the room. I can’t. It’s impossible to even breathe when his eyes are glaring at me like that—like he would burn the whole world down if I took another step towards him, like he wouldn’t shy away from dragging me out of this entire island if I didn’t listen to the threat in his voice and dismissed his warning.I drop my gaze to the floor and hug myself, trying to become smaller and smaller, maybe even turn invisible at some point. It isn’t lost on me that Vector has never talked to me in that tone, never raised his voice at me and made me feel as if I was nothing in front of him
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL 65. Mocking Me
[VECTOR]“You can’t do this, Vector. It’s not fair!”Lizzy screams at the top of her lungs. Anger, hurt, and disappointment all churning in her eyes, causing mayhem underneath my chest. But I can’t look at her—I refuse to—while one of the guards drags her outside the room, shutting the door on his way.I close my eyes and throw my head back against the wall, feeling a sharp pain pierce through me. I can’t even tell what hurts me the most—the wounds and burns scattered on my body like ugly scars, or the hurt in her voice as she continues to cry and scream until I can’t hear her anymore.I never wanted this to happen. I wanted her to be mine and mine only, forever. But things have changed, and I’m not the same man anymore. I can’t give her the life she deserves, not anymore. I can’t protect her. It feels like the stab of a thousand knives straight to my chest, but the truth is, she’s better off without me. I can’t bear to see the pity in her eyes. I don’t have the strength to watch her
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL 66. Any Consolation
[LIZZY]If it weren’t for Zarina’s interference, Vector’s guards would have probably thrown me out. Well, not exactly, but I could tell they had no intention of letting me stay. Not anywhere near Vector. If I had to assume, I would say they probably had plans to ship me back to Venice. And as much as the idea was tempting, I couldn’t leave Vector alone.I could tell that something had happened. The explosion had affected him in some way, making him hesitant towards me. It’s as if the incident had changed his whole perspective, as if it had altered him in ways I didn’t think were possible for someone as stubborn as him.If Vector wished to let me go, he would have done so the day I healed from Vladimir’s torture six years ago after he held me in his basement so I would spill Zarina’s whereabouts to him. I was naive back then. I feared him. But even then, I kept my mouth shut, even though I suspected Rose had something to do with it. At that time, I didn’t have proof, but you learn a fe
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL 67. A Touch Annoyed
[LIZZY]“You know, if he doesn’t want to see you, maybe you should do as he says…” Chiara trails off, as she whispers as low as possible, staring up at the stairs and tapping her foot restlessly against the floor. “He doesn’t strike me as someone who says something and doesn’t mean every word of it.”I turn to look at her, wondering what the hell took her so long to utter those words after one hell of her silently brooding moment. Her throat bobs as she swallows, her arms quickly wrapping around herself.“It’s because he does.” I say, as a matter of fact, shrugging. It’s hard to imagine Vector being crafty with his words. The man has always been way too serious to indulge in fucking with someone’s head. Always a straight shooter. Through and through.“What?” She whisper-snaps, as if no clue what I’m talking about, as if lost track of the conversation. Well, if that’s not weird enough.I roll my eyes. “He does mean what he says. He would rather kill himself than joke about something.”
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL 68. Never Told You
[LIZZY]My heartbeat picks up exponentially the moment I place my hand on the doorknob, trying to swallow down the dread that seemed to have clutched my ribs tight in its fist. I don’t know what this fear is, or why I’m suddenly so hesitant, all I know is that I want this light year of distance between us to snap and disappear.Zarina was right. Vector and I are so complicated, and not because anyone else is responsible for this, but because the two of us have done this to ourselves. We never really were completely honest with each other. We were loyal—I know for sure I was, and he was too, after he admitted himself—but we never talked about what we really wanted, we never talked about how we wanted our future to be. We were so busy screwing each other, nothing else ever mattered.I wish we hadn’t wasted so much time being ignorant.I wish I hadn’t been so reckless.Not that I didn’t pay enough for it. The brother for whom I left Vector didn’t even spare me a second glance, it was as
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL 69. Trapped
[LIZZY]We sit there in silence, in each other arms, for what feels like hours. The time that I don’t really mind. I love how we fit each other perfectly, like a well-planned puzzle, how his arms wrap around me and squeeze me with just the right kind of pressure for me to feel blessed. As if after travelling for centuries alone, I have finally found peace—my home.I love how he smells, crisp and clean, with a touch of leather, and a hint of something spicy. I love how his every heartbeat is synced with mine. I love how this man never fails to make me feel whole.He must be speaking the truth when he admitted to being undeniably in love with me. Because after screwing up so many times in the past, he still lets me in. He still gives me the power over him, the kind of power that could be used to destroy a man. But I don’t want to destroy him. All I want is to love him, to confess… the truth. The truth he’s still unaware of. But is now the right time? Is it? Just when we’re finally start
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ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL Epilogue
[VECTOR] I never thought this day would ever come. Not before I met Lizzy Jones. It’s all been a whirlwind, my life, that is. From the day I was born to the day I lost everything, I lived a greater part of my life in absolute fear. Fear of not being trusted, fear of not being enough, fear of not being there for my sister when she went through the same painful incidents before she even understood the word pain. Lizzy says that what happened in the past was hardly my fault. That the fact I couldn’t protect my family was not my burden to bear. After all, wasn’t I a child myself? How would I have known what Sofia had planned for that night? What possibly could I have done to stop her and her freak boyfriend? The answer: Nothing. I couldn’t have done anything. Literally. But then why do I feel responsible? Is it just survivor’s guilt? Or is this a way for my brain to tell me that I was equally accountable for not being prepared for what I knew might happen if Sofia wasn’t stopped?
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL 93. Promise For Sure
[LIZZY]“This is awkward,” Laura mumbles under her breath, but maybe not so quietly to herself because I end up hearing every single word of it.“You don’t say,” I shrug, and I watch as the corner of her mouth twitches.She looks away and sighs, as if what we’re doing seems to be physically affecting her. I can’t really blame her, can I? When Xavier and Hazel showed up this morning, wanting Joey and me to come with them so they could see off this woman who pretended to have our best interests for five long years, I didn’t have many noble thoughts about it. Definitely not kind enough to think she deserved a heartfelt goodbye.But that would be the mean and hurtful side of me talking. Because if it weren’t for her, Joey would still be wandering around, scratching his head and trying to figure out how Vector suddenly turned out to be his father—the man he couldn’t share me with at all, the man he wanted to punish for making me cry alone.“I didn’t mean any of the things I said to you, if
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL 92. Being Addictive
[LIZZY]“This is nice,” I say as Tony and I sit outside one of the street cafes near the stream after a very silent and awkward dinner.I have no idea what I was thinking when I agreed to come with him. Maybe I assumed he would want to talk about things that he should have a long time ago—all those days he remained absent in our lives—that he would like to give an explanation for it. That he would finally reveal the big reason for him to walk away from our lives the way he did. That I would truly know, for the first time, what drove him away and turned him so cold and crude towards me when I came to see him all the way from Venice to the US.Too bad, I have got nothing so far.During the entire dinner, all we talked about was food, Joey, and his weird obsession with fire. And now that the dinner is finished, and he has run out of all the random conversation starters, we find ourselves back to quietly sweeping our gazes around.I take another long and loud sip of my coffee, wondering w
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL 91. Job Done
[VECTOR]“What the fuck are you doing here?” Marcus looks stunned to see me, his brows furrowed deeply, flaring his nostrils as if he’s this close to grabbing a gun and aiming for my good knee.Well, maybe I do deserve that. Lizzy did warn me this was a bad idea.Not that I regret it one bit.Marcus and I have worked together for a very long time. We were even together that night, the night that boat exploded, and left us with the kind of scars that would take long to heal—his longer than mine. While I busted a knee and got several burns on the back, Marcus lost his right arm and got half of his face fucked up, including one eye.Let’s just say, I feel slightly responsible for what happened—felt obligated to pay him a visit despite everyone telling me to stay in the room and rest for long hours.It’s not like I’m trying to be difficult, or I don’t respect the care I’m getting even though I have done very little to deserve it. But after Lizzy asked me, with those doe eyes of hers, if w
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL 90. Smart Boy
[LIZZY]I wring my hands for the hundredth time, trying to shake off the nervous jitters.After a week of contemplation, Vector and I finally agreed on how to reveal the truth to Joey about his real parentage.Honestly, I can’t believe I allowed my life to become so complicated. What was I even thinking? What was I so damn afraid of? Looking back at everything that happened in the past few months, it’s obvious I have been worrying for literally nothing. Vector never did any of the things I imagined he would once he got a hold of me. He didn’t hurt me, make me suffer, or punish me in any way. In fact, if there’s anything he did, it was to love me more intensely and passionately. Never did he ever try to hurt me, at least not purposefully. He did express his anger in the beginning, but now that I think of it, more than anger, it was hurt that he tried to mask as temper.I was terrified to even think about what he would do if he learned I kept such a huge secret from him. That I had been
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL 89. Forget & Forgive
[One Week Later][LAURA/ERICA]“What are you doing here?” I ask, bored, although for this tough exterior that I’m putting on so fucking gracefully, I should get a damn Oscar for it.Then again, even if I did get nominated for an award, and had to choose between kicking some butts and wearing a sparkly, twinkly or some sort of shimmery thing ever over myself, I would rather just stick with what I do best, and we all know what that is.Except for my last encounter with the Perazzo brothers didn’t go as well as I planned.But, most of the time, they rarely do. That’s why this job is so darn tough and risky because, most of the time, the bad guys are one step ahead. They usually are. You can’t expect them to be playing poker when we storm their hideout. Nope, they’re always ready for the worst. And when the cops do catch them off guard, we don’t get a warm welcome with tea and cookies. No, they rain a hail of bullets on us.Perhaps that’s the reason there’s a saying about the best-laid pl
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL 88. Only Mine
[VECTOR]I was ten when my sister Emma was born. She was this small, delicate thing that I was too scared to even touch. Her big doe eyes were like pools of laughter and innocence that spilled from her mouth every time she giggled and thrashed her little arms around, wanting attention, wanting someone to hold her, carry her around, keep her squeezed against their touch.She used to love it when our mother used to talk to her, holding a long and silly conversation while little Emma babbled away, God knows what. But that hardly mattered when I was too busy wiping sweat off my palms, wondering if I would finally get to hold her.Mom wanted me to not shy away, always telling me that I was supposed to protect her. Dad, however, seemed a little unsure. He sincerely believed that I needed to grow up a little more if I wanted that kind of responsibility. And I always believed he was right. That I needed to grow not only physically but mentally. That I needed to make myself capable, just like
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL 87. Ridiculously Crazy
[LIZZY]When I wake up next time, my body aches like hell. It’s as if a terrible weight has been thrown over me, pinning me down, and I can’t summon the strength to get up.I snap my eyes open and practically groan when sunlight cuts through my eyelids like a laser, and irritates me and my skin like hell.Damn Vector. All this time, he has been cocooned in dark with doors fucking shut and curtains tightly drawn, and now that I’m the one who desperately needs darkness and a lot more sleep, he has flung the windows wide open. Ugh. I’m going to kill him, I swear.A voice in my head warns me against going back to sleep, but my body seems to have different plans entirely. In seconds, I grab the duvet and pull them back up over my head, rolling on the bed like a cinnamon roll to escape the heated rays. However, I barely settle into a comfortable spot when something suddenly clicks.My eyes snap back open.Joey.“Shit shit shit!” The happenings of the previous night smack me in the face and
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL 86. No Matter What
[LIZZY]“You’re leaving?” I blurt out, eyes wide as saucers, my heart sinking deep into my stomach.The dark night stretches overhead, filled with scattered stars that twinkle like precious diamonds. The wind blows stronger, making my hair flutter all over my face.Zarina walks toward me, gracefully brushing the dark brown strands out of her face, her peaceful eyes briefly trailing over a sleeping Joey, who’s still tightly clutched to my chest.I had just walked out of the plane, only to find Zarina stepping out of the car. Theo, one of the caretakers of the Island, carries her bags, and Chiara is holding the baby, flashing me a cheerful smile as they pass one by one, heading up the airstairs.My heart sinks even more with her confirmation. “Why?” I ask, my eyes starting to well up.“Because it’s time,” she says and gently runs her long fingers over Joey’s back. “Mir is taking over the business, and although he told me to stay here as long as I want, I know he hates being away from hi
