Chapter 5 - Rose

"Are you sure it's safe this time?" Rose asked with a sigh, as she accompanied Jullian through the halls, to where he had promised her there would be a library where she could spend her time without disturbing the all-too-sensitive Vamcap.

“This time I made sure it did. There will be no more slips of that nature again, I assure you.” the butler assured, in a tone as troubled as hers, "Young master Alec shouldn't be in the garden this morning..."

“I wasn't mistreating him.” she felt the need to say it, though she knew anyone with eyes could have seen it, watching the two of them playing together.

“I know not. In fact, I haven't seen Alec this excited about something in a long time." Jullian smiled, speaking of the boy as fondly as if he were her own grandson, “He would certainly love to see you again, but… Mrs. Vamcap is the matriarch of the family and her word is law, as much as Mr. Vamcap. So there is no possibility of disobeying it.” he said, categorically, in a clear warning tone, not seeming to have forgotten her audacity in giving a less than respectful response to Adele's accusations “But, of course, I understand that the responsibility for that uneasiness was entirely mine and I apologize for that. I guarantee that I will make sure that this never happens again.”

"So does that mean that not only am I banned from the house, I'm also banned from interacting with anyone other than you?" she asked, with a sigh, having to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from adding that, according to Adele, he should also be careful not to treat her with the respect she didn't deserve.

"That’s... A way for the Vamcap family to protect themselves." The butler remarked, sounding sheepish, though still clearly avoiding her gaze, "I understand it's an uncomfortable situation to deal with at the moment, but... Who knows, maybe things could change in the future, in case they realize you're not the threat they thought you were. Or, who knows... You could just call your parents saying that your experience living with the Vamcap didn't work out and that you'd like to go back home.” he finally glanced at her over his shoulder, clearly expecting her to agree and say she was going to get out of there as soon as possible.

“I wish I could do that, Julian.” Rose smiled sadly, knowing that it would probably do no good if she tried to explain her situation, as he and the Vamcaps would always believe that she was exactly like Springs "Believe me, there's nothing I would like more."

"What you mean?" this time he actually turned towards her, so confused it was almost laughable "Just tell your parents you don't like it here and they'll come get you, won't they?"

“You clearly don't know Springs the way you think you do, do you?” at the same moment that she asked that rhetorical question, with a bitter smile on her face, they both stopped in front of a huge double door made of old-fashioned wood, and, guessing that this was probably her final destination, Rose just took the lead and pulled a of the handles, feeling relieved to see the long rows of shelves full of books appear before her.

"But... They said you..." Jullian started to speak, still confused, but, already exhausted from all that conversation that was clearly going nowhere, Rose just started to walk into the library.

"Perhaps you should ask your boss's next wife directly, after he gets rid of me, what made them leave their homes and leave their lives behind to marry a man who hates them." she commented, just wanting that matter to be closed once and for all; after all, there was no reason for her to expect Jullian to trust or feel any sympathy for her, when her loyalty was completely with the Vamcap “Anyway, thanks for introducing me to this place. I'm going to stay here as long as I can, but if you ever need me to leave, just let me know.”

With that sentence, Rose just closed the door behind her and, with a heavy sigh, it took her a moment to regain her composure. With luck, at some point, she would get used to that depressing feeling of being alone and lost, but for now, the whole situation still threatens to shatter her willpower, sometimes. However, after a moment of deep breathing, with the comforting scent of the pages of the hundreds of books surrounding her, Rose was finally able to remind herself why she was there in the first place. She was going through all this so that it wouldn't have to be Grace who suffered at the hand of that family of crooks, and if she could just take it long enough, in a few months she would be free again to be with the only family she'd ever had on life: your little sister. However, that wasn't enough. Before getting rid of the Vamcap, she needed to make sure she could rid herself and her sister of Michael and Elisabeth's misdemeanors.

Which, in other words, meant she needed money.

Walking over to one of the nearby tables, Rose set down her notebook, pen, and some of the college notes she'd brought with her before starting to wander along the shelves, wondering if there were any books lying around that could help her start developing her plans. The truth is, she was very good at math and numbers, which is why she managed to graduate from economics school earlier than most of her classmates. The only problem was that, while she was good at counting money and managing it so that it multiplied, she didn't have much on hand, other than the minuscule savings she had managed to save from what was left of her payments for her services as a nanny and intern at accounting offices, when she was still in college. That amount wasn't even enough for her to find a place for herself, if she decided to forget once and for all that she had ever had the last name Springs, much less for herself and Grace.

Therefore, she needed to use every ounce of knowledge that all those years locked in a room studying had given her, so that at the end of that year that money would be enough for her to rent, at least, the smallest of apartments in the city. That way, she would never have the displeasure of hearing the name of Michael, Elisabeth or Aaron Vamcap again.

Fortunately, there were more useful books there than she realized, since that place wasn't actually called a library for nothing. It was much larger than it looked, and among the huge collection of titles there were not only books on diverse subjects, but also a plethora of old novels, some in their first editions, which even made Rose a little more excited about the place, imagining that he could at least run away to read all that, while avoiding the Vamcaps... Or, at least, in the moments when Jullian allowed him to, so that his hideous presence wouldn't scare anyone.

She was in the middle of that thought, placing the books she had taken on the table, and about to sit down, when the door opened and, with a frustrated huff, thinking it would surely be Jullian to tell her that her time there was over, Rose turned to try to convince him to at least let her take those books to her cell, also known as her room...

But instead of the butler, who was there was none other than Aaron Vamcap himself.

“What do you think you are doing here?” his expression, which had been dismayed in the seconds before he realized that she was the one there, almost instantly turned into a grimace of pure hatred “Who gave you permission to set foot in my library?”

“Jullian gave me permission. But since you clearly don't even want me to have anything to do while I'm here, I think I'll be on my way.” rolling her eyes, Rose gathered only what she had already brought with her before, knowing she would need to take another opportunity to read those books.

However, the second she walked past him, to leave the library and not waste even another second in that man's annoying presence, Rose had her arm grabbed in a tighter grip than necessary, as Aaron turned her towards him. again, leaving her face to face with his hateful and sullen countenance.

“Do you think I don’t know why you came here?” he snarled, bringing his face even closer to hers, clearly wanting to intimidate her, but Rose refused to let him frighten her; after all, if he tried to do anything to her, then Michael and Elisabeth would have to scream their complaints at her through the bars of a jail “Your parents told you to keep snooping around my house until you found something they could use against me, again?”

"The only thing my parents forced me to do was marry a totally despicable man who doesn't have a single drop of education." she growled back, moving her arm in all directions until he finally released her, even if he didn't want to.

"Do not make me laugh. I know very well that you are exactly like them.” Aaron accused her, through clenched teeth, with that grim expression that made it look like he had never cracked a single smile in his entire life, “You three wasted no time in blackmailing me into this sham marriage. After all, just money wasn't enough, was it? They spent a fortune in just a few years and they knew they would spend it again, no matter how much I offered them in exchange for those documents, so they needed to find a way to attach themselves to my family like a parasite and exploit us to the fullest..."

“Is that why I was switched?” Rose and grumbled, though she wasn't the least bit surprised by the kind of transaction her parents had used her as a bargaining chip in "For just a few pieces of paper...?"

"Don't play innocent!" Aaron snarled, this time more furious than ever "You could have been hanging around my house, being short enough to try to gain even a poor child's trust to convince us that you're not like those two freeloaders, but I know very well what kind of person you are, Rose Springs, And no matter what happens, I will never let you or your parents get what they want.”

“Damn what you think you know about me or what you wanted my parents to give you in exchange for all this marriage theater!” Rose snapped, feeling that if that man hated her then she was one step away from hating him back “If you really don't want this to go on then just send me back to them! It would be a favor you would do me!”

“Do you think I'm stupid enough not to realize that this is just one of your strategies to try to get me to let my guard down around you?” he narrowed those dark eyes more and more, until they became two slits. “Then tell your parents that extorting even more money from me won't be that easy. Did you really think the reason I allowed you to come live here, disturb my family and take away our peace, was because I surrendered?” Aaron took a step closer to her, but Rose continued to refuse to back down or show any sign of being intimidated “I will keep you here for every second of the time stipulated by the contract, sending nothing but bad news to your parents, until they realize they didn't get anything they wanted from me, other than to isolate their own darling daughter from the rest of the world."

“If you really think they're going to regret staying away from me, then I hope you're ready to be disappointed.” Rose snorted, getting even a little pleased to see the outrage on his face, as she clearly hadn't reacted with the panic he'd expected. "Want some advice? Just arrange to get their creditors to call in sooner. This will be effective for your little revenge plan.” as she sneered at him, she started to walk away again towards the door “And I'm sorry to disappoint you, but for me, even if you cut off all contact with the outside world and threw those you call my parents into a I can, there would be no greater torture than having to be trapped at the same table as you are now.”

“Did your parents really believe that a woman like you could seduce me?” he half laughed and half growled, sounding disgusted "What a joke..."

“A big joke, certainly. I don't know how anyone could believe that any woman in the world would have the stomach to be with a man like you.” Rose returned his insult, not even taking one last look back before she stormed out the library door, leaving him with her mumbling and snarling behind.