"How is my baby?"
The first time she opened her eyes the reality was what Rose thought. She noticed the extent to which the man standing beside the blanket was reluctant to stare. "Axe...," Rose called out. Knowing full well the blood was pouring out before she was swallowed whole unable to maintain consciousness. The agony literally snatched Rose away helplessly. And when she woke up she felt quite different. Still Rose noticed that face .... "I'm sorry—" Rose turned away already guessing the answer. Only the hospital ceiling she continued to watch wordlessly. Rose was accustomed to not demanding all kinds of wishes for whatever choices were given to her. Losing both her husband and her future child. It was two favors Rose could not bargain with any other suffering. She did not expect a happy ending. All had been lost since the rhymes that had once lived, had died with her feelings. "Are you okay, Rose?" The hesitant question forRose forced herself not to show a glum look. "That's not it. I want to take my giant." She forgot, however, that Xelle did not understand what 'her giant' meant. "The big doll that Theo gave me for my birthday," Rose said, clearing up the confusion on the other's face. For a moment Xelle seemed to want to interject. However, a moment later the man simply started the car engine with a silence. Rose didn't say much during the trip either. The voice in her head was already too full. She had to be able to control herself, just like the man who calmly controlled the four-wheeled vehicle without words. "Are you sure you can go inside, Rose?" asked Xelle after the long journey was over. "Sure." So without thinking, Rose proved to Xelle the doubts that were highlighted for her. So carefully Rose stepped through the entrance. Several pairs of eyes looked at her with respect and wonder. "You guys, how are you?" Including having the courage, although
Halfway back to the safe house, Rose's heart was still sinking. She tried to stay strong. It was difficult. But it was better than when she was in Beatrace's presence. Rose was just trying not to get carried away. This time she didn't understand what Xelle was going to do by stopping the car in front of the large mansion. Who it belonged to, Rose didn't want to know, and just waited inside the royce rolls until the man returned with a sling bag that Rose recognized very well, she guessed it was densely filled with a laptop of approximately the same size. "I think I've seen it before," Rose muttered as Xelle placed her bag on the back seat. "Theo's. There's no way you haven't seen it." Rose was too sensitive. It was enough to hear the name that she was bombarded with a feeling of sadness, with which her heart broke a thousand times. Rose blinked rapidly, perhaps unable to pick up the debris that had been scattered far away. She turned her body halfway around to sta
"My photos? What do you mean?" This was something new that had not occurred to Rose. She had rarely if ever witnessed Theo taking pictures of anything, let alone her. And now Xelle seemed to be revealing her husband's secret. "How did you know my photos were there?" asked Rose still sprinkled with curiosity. "He said it himself when he threatened me. I thought it was important to move your photos before the laptop was taken over." "So you're saying Theo collects my photos?" "I don't know much. You can see for yourself if you want." Rose's gaze then shifted to the front. She no longer wanted to discuss anything. The afternoon skies was already on her mind. Italy and Milan held a myriad of memories with Theo. Rose was claustrophobic the further away she got. "After I pack my things, we can fly straight to Canada, right?" Once again Rose wanted to make sure. She managed to turn Xelle's facial expression slightly sharp. "Maybe tomorrow, Rose. Tonight Bridge
"Rose, what are you doing? Dinner is waiting for you. It'll get cold." Only for a moment did Rose glare at Bridgette's presence. The rest of the time she returned to hugging her big doll without interest. "No, Bridgette, I'm still full." Rose spoke just as importantly. She wiped the water from the corner of her eyes, which had been seeping steadily ever since. "You have to eat. You'll get sick." The squeak of the door signaled the kind of action Bridgette was taking. She approached and sat on the edge of the bed. "Eat, Rose. Just a little bit. Or would you like me to bribe you?" Silence. Rose said nothing in reply. She pressed her face deeply between big jailen's fur. "Just a moment. I'll get dinner for you." Rose knew Bridgette was gradually breaking away. Bridgette's footsteps began to move away, surprisingly the faint, deep, hoarse voice at the door was heard very quietly. Rose turned her head briefly, and sure enough Xelle was there - f
Rose couldn't take it if circumstances kept pouring everything she couldn't bear into her ego. She blamed Theo for the abyss he had offered her. Two near misses in close proximity. Rose would hold Theo accountable for what and who had happened to him. She turned around. Approaching some of Bridgette's paraphernalia left on the nightstand, she roughly grabbed the car keys. Rose waltzed into the doorway. Right at the meeting line she came face to face with the woman with the tray in hand. "Where are you going, Rose?" Bridgette asked with a look of astonishment on her face. Rose didn't care how she got past the woman who was more or less her size. She sprinted before Bridgette's shouts tried to stop her in her tracks. With a rush of breath Rose reached the house. The car lights came on and she hurriedly got into the driving seat. Rose stepped on the gas pedal so hard that Bridgette was left behind with despair. Maneuvering as madly as she could to get what she
"You want me to die or you to wake up, Theo?" The last option began to jolt Rose. Death was a shadow that offered her happiness. Whether that was true or not. If the second part won out over her stupidity. At least Rose wouldn't regret trying to find a way out of life's predicament. "Answer me, Theo. I'm not playing around, and I'm not threatening. Everything I had is gone, there's no reason for me to survive anymore." "Wake up. Get up!" Rose pounded on the slightly damp ground. She put all her energy into waiting for Theo to respond. However, she was only doing a useless job of buying up unhealthy ideas to replace the truth in her mind. At least right now Rose needed the reassurance that Theo would return, then she would undo the self-harm."Wake up, Theo." "Get up or I'll destroy your tomb!" Rose half turned on her knees slamming her arms together repeatedly. Rose was getting out of control as she tried to remove a pile of hardened soil
When she woke up, Rose was not confronted with a dark background with car headlights on. She was lying in a very cold place. The white and sterile decorations on the walls were a welcome change of pace. Rose gasped. Forcing herself awake, she found a pair of heterochromia beads staring at her. Much to her surprise, Xelle was there standing against the wall, releasing the folds of his arms from the clasp of his chest as one step made the decision to approach. "All your clothes have been prepared by Bridgette. It's been transferred to the jet. We're going to Canada today." Today .... This meant Rose had missed a night of leaving Theo at the funeral. She should still be there. Keeping Theo company, making a deal with him—either Theo comes back, or she goes along. But it hadn't all worked out. Rose hasn't gotten her answer yet. And her choice still hangs between a great dilemma. If she has to reach out to death, she should choose the right place. Toronto, Cana
"Where is Mommy going? Why won't we see each other again?" Knowing that such a question was not what Rose was expecting. "Home." She spoke almost choked up. One of the Oracle's eyebrows rose high at that. "But daddy says we can still see each other often." "Yeah, he's right," Rose corrected. Stupidly she had let it slip a little at first. "But then Oracle must always obey Daddy and Mommy Bridgette. We'll meet at another time. I don't know when." Rose finished the rest of the slump by towering over Xelle who was staring at her in understanding. A moment .... Not brave enough Rose glanced at the little girl beside the man who also offered Rose the distance to step out. She paused that decision, then affected to touch the top of Acampeliaz's head. "Can I have a little of your smile?" asked Rose. The twinkle in Acampeliaz's beady eyes rumbled with doubt. Rose noticed that Acampeliaz's little fingers were tightening. "Just a little. I'm not a
"An intruder has entered!" The warning from outside broke the silence in the clawed skies of the building. The troops hidden in the scatter hallway rushed out. Some of them were already dedicated to acting when informed. It was a strategy that Verasco had made accommodations for in case even under the best of circumstances they still had to be vigilant. Thus, the enemies in front of them would be easily conquered. Right at the entrance of Verasco's large mansion. A group of troops led by two people at once were already attacking each other, as if they were ready to fight over the order of power that belonged to Verasco, an organizer who did not even look where he was. It shouldn't be that way .... It was just that when Travis and Rose had left, on the other side coinciding with Edward's arrival—followed by Anthony next, that second Xelle began to think about pulling the bait. He single—handedly went to the guard at the very front simply to distract the attention
"I warned you not to participate. Now your presence is like a second barrier. We can't act freely." Rose turned away when Xelle chided rudely. "You mean I'm a burden here? I can take care of myself if that's what you think." No less sharply she lashed out at the man who was staring straight ahead. "I wonder how far you can take them. You'd better sit quietly in the car." Still with the focused, indifferent gaze Rose was getting from the man in front of her. She turned away solidifying the sentence buried in the back of her throat. "You underestimate women too much. I'll show you that I can handle anything that comes my way." "And if you continue to pick a fight with me here. I can assure you we'll never get started," Rose continued half-commemoratively. Xelle reminded her exactly of Theo who almost never relented when it came to arguing. Rose looked away not wanting to be influenced further. Momentarily noticing Travis pulling himself forward a step. "Wh
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—
"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
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
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.
"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'
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
"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