Rose's fingers fiddled with her black wedding ring with a half-empty stare, she had just put it back on her ring finger. Rose didn't care, really didn't care about the fact that the ring wouldn't come off. In the new room and the smell of the room that was still so new she sank. Not to wait for the man who had said goodbye a moment ago, or because Rose wanted to.
The first time she entered her new home. Rose was pestered with various troublesome things, which is why, she unpacked several red velvet boxes containing individual pieces of jewelry. Two necklaces. The first one she received that day. Before the big explosion—when she thought she had lost Theo. Then he'd come back with something surprising. Like a pendant of undulating curves, a form of life that truly gave Theo a chance at life. That's what Rose had hoped would happen to her. But instead, for how long Theo has not returned. Buried and identified by a gravestone. Rose exhaled rough air from her lips. The secOne counts first. The next two. Rose held her breath after obtaining the firearm. She froze in place as the instincts of a dominant man turned sharply to digest what had happened in the blink of an eye. Rose realized that piercing expression was not good for her. "Don't come any closer!" threatened Rose, bringing the muzzle of the gun to her temple. "Fuck! What are you doing!" Rose took a step back whenever Xelle tried to get closer. Rose's common sense really wasn't there. Not with her. "Stop your ridiculous behavior, Rose." Rose shook her head violently. She would rather end her life than wander aimlessly, shrouded in emptiness, shadowed by the guilt of having contributed to the loss of her husband's life. Rose couldn't hold on to anything. All was lost in the shuffle. "I'm warning you once again, Rose. Stop your ridiculous behavior!" No! Rose argued with a wet face. Trembling her arm steadily began to squeeze the trigger. A
"Axe, stop your car." The car that had been provided since they arrived in Canada. What Rose had never imagined was that the car she was riding in would drive off into the forest. While the man in the driver's seat really had his heart set on getting there. A cold, sharp, unaccepting gaze met the heterochromia's bead. "Stop your car, Axe!" Rose turned to confirm exactly where they were going to dock. It was too far, and she was again jolted by the sudden stop of the car. "Why here?" asked Rose softly. Her attention was fully focused on a single denizen of the jungle. Firm, large, clawed features mirrored the creature that walked beneath the elder tree. Rose's mind shuddered at the thought of the beast becoming aware of their presence. "Get out!" Instantly Rose glared at Xelle in disbelief. "What do you mean?" "That wild tiger will make you die quickly. Now you can catch up with your dear husband." "Get out!" Rose wanted to inter
Two months after the heart—pounding incident all of Rose's lives were exactly the same. She lived day by day as if in an open cage. Rose was both free and trapped. There were electromagnetic waves in the house she had just moved into during that time. Waves that did not record visually. However, sensory movements would send signals to the last man with Rose that day to know every detail of the strange activities Rose was doing. Like if Rose wanted to do something reckless—self-harm or something else. Two months earlier. When they were no longer in the middle of the forest. Rose's silence and fear eventually acted as anger that evaporated completely. There had indeed been a major argument. All Rose's intentions took place almost slicing a kitchen knife into her own wrist. The woman received a series of scathing sentences to really get slapped. Realization. And Xelle then chose to be hands-off in the sense that the man assured full surveillance via the electromagnetic waves in
"You're back again, sir?" Lion was overcome with astonishment at the sudden arrival. The man facing him simply handed over the bag that had once been forcibly taken. "Yes. I don't need this laptop anymore. My work is done. " "What work are you referring to that is related to Mr. T's laptop, sir?" Lion was completely clueless. Everything that had happened lately was enough to keep him silent. Apart from Lion having to take care of George during his detention and outside of Verasco's knowledge. Lion wanted to know what activities provoked curiosity, but it seemed that the owner of heterochromia eyes was reluctant to reveal what was being done secretly. Actually, the decision to investigate something that wasn't 'mandatory,' Xelle should not have made. He interpreted everything Rose told him as an imbalance. About the murder Theo had committed against Rose's parents. According to Theo's records that Xelle had traced, the bullet should have hit the victim'
From Aiden, the man's phrases today were the worst draining for Rose. She sighed unfocused, as soon as possible—like yesterday she wanted to close her small restaurant a little earlier than the operating hours. Indeed, some of the equipment had already been cleaned by Rose. Next, the corner of Rose's lips curled into a big smile after the last customer waltzed away and left some coin tips. Rose quickly approached the doorway to reposition the 'open' sign in the opposite direction. Quite relieved, she turned towards the table with the remaining dirty dishes. First stashing the tips received into her pants pocket, then carefully arranging the plates on the tray. What a pity what Rose didn't understand... she never expected the door of her restaurant to be suddenly kicked in, until from outside a man threw another man's slumped body right under Rose's feet. Her breath caught as Lion winced in pain, while the still towering perpetrator looked like a lake of thirst.
The reality was like a volcanic avalanche of vomit in Rose's head. The heat melted everything. Either happy or actually Rose couldn't let go of the so-called euphoria. She lost the ability to distinguish between reality and delusion. Her mind cavity was full, claustrophobic, especially Rose felt lied to in such a way. "How could you do this to me, Lion? Travis, Beatrace, all of you. How could I fall for the role you played?" asked Rose almost in a whisper. Her gaze was half-empty, thinking back to how Beatrace had behaved and the series of sentences the middle-aged woman had spoken. They were all lies. Rose couldn't understand why, they interpreted it as inappropriate to know the extent of Theo's condition. What was the worst part was that they thought Rose was involved in harming her own husband.... She did all that between a sense of urgency and an involuntary impulse. Even if Rose knew Theo would protect her. She wouldn't have let Theo pull the stunt. Rose's ey
"Now how is Theo?" she asked as she scrutinized Lion like he had just breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm not talking to an empty tomb," Rose quipped, thinking how foolish it would be to speak up in the face of something that couldn't possibly give her an answer. And so, Lion understood m—with some difficulty, he positioned himself to rise, though only half-slouching and showing a face twisted in pain. "Sir ...." "Sir is still in a coma, Miss." Lion's answer was a great success in exploding the contents of Rose's mind. So all this time, while Theo had never come to her, it wasn't that the man was unwilling. But there was a wall too high stretched between them. Unconsciousness. A state of sleep that was too deep. Making her husband never present in the nights Rose was always haunted by loss. She took a ragged breath... no longer knowing how to describe the truth that hit her sanity. "Theo is in a coma and why did you have to hide that from me?" "I'm so
There wasn't enough feeling during the trip to Italy. Rose's gaze was always unfocused, still speared by a jumble of bad thoughts regarding Theo's condition and how she would get her husband back. Theo was taken away and hidden by Verasco. No idea where. But the next stage of the location they would go to was Verasco's headquarters. Lion assumed it was there, a little approved by Travis who confirmed. A while ago, they had tracked the last point of Verasco's car through GPS coordinates. Unfortunately, the middle-aged man knew such things would happen, so he deliberately blocked access by not turning on the GPS function in the car. They could have hacked into the city's CCTV footage. Analyze the license plate or where cars similar to Verasco's stretched across Milan. However, the decision would have affected their chances. At worst, from the time Rose and the others arrived at Theo's mansion, two hours back was all Verasco required of them, especially Rose—
After a flurry of activity with several dresses and eye-catching accessories. Rose's decision was then made to meet Theo in the office after parting ways with the woman who introduced herself as Alma as well as the woman's two beautiful secretaries, Evalina and Lindsey. The accidental encounter with Lion, whose fever was much better, was the moment when the man told Rose the whereabouts of Theo—who he said he had accidentally seen when Lion walked around several corners of the mansion just to add to the heat. The man wanted to sweat, but Rose's real business was with Theo. She didn't need to worry about anything else, except that her husband might be busy again. That was also what Lion had said before saying goodbye, which eventually led to Rose standing in front of Theo's study door... wondering if she should knock before entering. She didn't. Rose wouldn't do that once the door had been opened. A dimly lit room showed her husband there. Focused on his laptop, while Esmeralda
Loud howls filled Rose's senses almost all the time. She had locked the room. Her face was buried under the pillow, but Theo deliberately let Esmeralda roam the mansion. Occasionally the baritone's voice even chuckled in her ear. They seemed to be very close and perhaps Rose should have given Theo a warning not to make a single disturbing sound. Rose let out a long sigh letting her footprints rest on the cold marble. Step by step she walked out reaching out and pressing down on the doorframe then pulling the frame inwards, that second at the same time Theo's body fell along with Esmeralda who bit the man's forearm. There was no pain, because what Rose found was that Theo was enjoying Esmeralda's treatment. It actually reminded Rose of the first time she was reunited with a Siberian husky and the first time Theo found out Rose was pregnant. She smiled wryly at the thought of those days. If their baby had been saved, her stomach would have swelled up. "You and your wif
"Sugar, wait!" The baritone voice in the background continued to call out with the occasional large fingers trying to hold on, but Rose continued to resist. There was a price to pay for Theo's dangerous actions, which even though they had been successfully dealt with still didn't put Rose at ease. Rose didn't like how Theo was indifferent to the man's own safety. Her heart was still pounding loudly at the thought that bad things could happen. Rose's steps quickened after entering the mansion building. Soon she would reach the main room. She pressed the door handle no matter Theo was still trying to persuade her. "Sugar." Theo was very close, so Rose was one step away from crossing the threshold. She deliberately hit the frame very hard and just as Theo was about to enter. "Oh!" The man winced like he was in a lot of pain. While Rose was silent for a while. Silent to understand the situation out there. Only once did Theo complain and the rest was wordle
The trigger contained the deadly wires that Theo had to finish with one hour and one minute left. It was all around him, but perhaps the most appropriate place for him to start was the basement. George was trapped and lost there. Then there was the chip in the corner of the wall that had the potential to blow up the mansion and all the things and creatures inside. After five wasted minutes Theo couldn't let his precious seconds go to waste. He returned to the basement in a real hurry. The conditions in the dimness were still the same as the last time he was there. The chip in the body of the wall and the digital analog continued to show that every moment lost was a very important thing to take into account. Theo scurried quickly through each side of the cellar. At a hidden corner he decided to dismantle some of the stacked objects, some of which were difficult to remove—which although successful did not allow Theo to find the whereabouts of the explosive chip triggers. He
Rose buried her face deep in Theo's firm chest. She climbed up her husband's frozen body quickly, inhaling the intoxicating scent to make herself a little calmer. Theo still didn't say anything. It hit Rose that she was so worried Theo would reject her plea. Rose didn't want that, immediately tightening the embrace of the arm that curled perfectly between the line of her husband's shoulders. When Theo would start talking Rose was still waiting while not daring to have high expectations. She was scared ... but suddenly felt a small movement, a light stroke on Rose's back including a slow crunching step leaving the basement. "Tell the others immediately, don't forget to prepare Esme and all her needs." Rose caught a glimpse of Travis nodding quickly, and by the end of the hallway they had split up—Rose with Theo, Travis on the other side of the building. "You changed your mind?" asked Rose, half distancing herself so she could cup that stern jaw. Theo was staring so intensely th
The clatter of feet scrambling to catch up to the basement was halted by the emptiness they found. George Keneddy should still be there, between the iron bars that were covered by other iron bars, but part of the padlock that had been encrypted with certain codes was destroyed as if it had been bombed and disabled—making whoever, the people behind the disappearance of George Keneddy worked easily unnoticed. They were more like trained experts. Meticulous problem-solvers, people who were certainly used to being in the field. "What is it, sir?" Theo's attention was drawn quickly to Travis with a rectangular box, which the man had just picked up while looking down. Theo accepted the gift of the box. It was a small object with a valve attached to it. The translucent part exactly revealed a disk record and immediately tempted Theo to roughly remove the valve. Theo's suspicion of the object was correct, which was a voice recording when a rough grunt was the beginni
Waking up next to a man straddling her body was routine. Rose smiled briefly then pushed her dark brown hair tousled in front of his face. She lifted Theo's arm briefly, tracing the scratch marks for a moment and moving on to the rough fingers with elongated fingernails. No wonder Theo was able to tear his own skin, which meant Rose had to immobilize that part. Rose quickly got up and grabbed the clothes from last night. Rose's body moved to the side of the bed and pulled out the drawer of the nightstand—the last time she put the nail clippers in there—and pulled it out again. One by one Theo's fingernails dulled as the tips of the scissors were pressed together and the other part served to bite. Rose had to act rather than Theo doing the same thing at unexpected times. Rose's work was almost done on the first hand, occasionally glancing at the man who seemed to be fast asleep—no longer so as the gray bead opened slowly, then closed properly. Sometimes things mad
Too sweet and intoxicating. Rose admits Zever is a good starter. The lips lapped deliciously, while the creeping tongue washed away the aridity with a moist intertwining. Slowly Rose's fingers traveled up Zever's face while deepening the increasingly wet and hot embrace. Rose almost ran out of air supply as the two of them still shared a wild, equally passionate passion when the lip link was broken. Zever looked at her for a long time which is why Rose made the choice to roll over to sit on the surface of her husband's muscular abs. The light exposure gave a tantalizing sensation to the scrutinizing face and wordless lips. Rose immediately lowered her head to play a role in the alcove of Zever's neck. Sucking deeply, the occasional meeting of her teeth scraped the surface of the skin which then turned red. Zever's stifled hiss added to the explosive arousal. Rose's touch moved on—lightly caressing the surface of the chest with the bandages still attached, as if Rose was wo
Tasted a little. A sip or two of the milk was gone. Every movement on Lion's face was a resigned reaction to the last drop of milk that had landed in Rose's mouth. Meanwhile, the woman only smiled after wiping the surface of her lips with the back of her hand. "You don't mind me finishing it, do you? Count it as punishment for pranking Zever." Rose left after putting the empty glass onto the nightstand. Leaving Lion and all the swearing stuck in the back of his throat. Lion reached for his cell phone in his pants pocket, then turned quickly toward the kitchen. "You're dead, Travis! Miss Rose drank your milk!" [And then?] Two words from the other end of the line sounded indifferent. "'And then' you say?" Lion put the phone away and stared at the cheekpiece intently. "Now what?" he asked, busily pouring milk from the bottle into the empty glass until it was filled. He sandwiched his phone between the line of his shoulders and a face tilted to the side. [M