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A YEAR LATER
Huling Na-update:
2025-03-23 02:24:15
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Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance THREE YEARS LATER
ELEANOR So much can change and become different in so little time. It was the same for me. Eleanor Sinclair.The first one, for example, was that I was returning to Kieran Lancaster's home after three years of being away from him. I had first come here at night, forced into the interior of his car. Now, I was coming in a car like before, but one with a chauffeur who had a crisp uniform on and held on tight to the steering wheel and stared ahead with maximum concentration.It was the same too, when I got out and started to go inside the house that belonged to the Lancaster. The last time I was here, I had rags for clothes, with each hole a testament to the beating and hitting that I endured as a slave in this very here house. Now, I had better clothes that would make those who saw me rank me among the affluent of society. These had no holes and did not show my skin to people who did not deserve to see it. Quiet swept through the faces of all who saw me too. They must have seen the c
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-23Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance IRON AND STEEL
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD I have spent my whole life climbing the ladder of power. It was all I was raised to do from the moment of my consciousness by my father, and from the very moment I understood enough about my environment to know that there was a hierarchy, and men ruled over men in that hierarchy. That those at the bottom suffered while those at the top enjoyed it, and that it took being made of steel to reach the top of that hierarchy and even stronger stuff to remain there. Weak people never remained there for long, but were thrown off for the stronger ones to remain. I have heard from a loudmouth once that I believe this because I had no mother to pamper me, with mine dying while she strove to give me life, leaving me with no one to look up to but my father. Whatever it was, I made sure the lips that uttered those words were struck, that they bled, and I promised they would never speak any words again if such were ever said. For who would dare to speak against my father, who rai
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-24Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance FIFTEEN
DAMIAN BLACKWOODI like to think of my turning fifteen as a peak for me.Before that, my father wanted me to be fearless, to be strong and to be wise. But on my fifteenth birthday, there was something new for me to see. It was an arc that would change my life forever.That night, he called me—not into his room as he usually would, but into the basement of our house, the Blackwood house. I walked into the darkness without fear and did not shudder when he suddenly spoke in the dark. I had seen the glow of his cigarette and knew who it was.“Damian Blackwood. You must know what your name means…” he spoke up, his voice echoing around the room.I stood, my legs at ease, feeling my muscles drawn taut over my chest as my arms spread from my body. It was how I was raised to stand, to show any staring at me that I felt no fear at whatever would happen.“Yes, Father.” I answered. “You named me Damian because the name means to master, and overcome. Just as your name is Victor, and you have never
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-24Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance DARING
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD In the three years that passed, I showed more and more of my Blackwood character.The basement became a second home to me, and I navigated the place so often that I could make my way through with my eyes shut. The other room it ended in was only one of the many Blackwood storerooms to hide our weapons—I was told that it was the oldest of them, connected to the Blackwood family home when it was built a hundred years before, yet it was my favourite. It filled me with a kind of spirit that made me feel as though I was fulfilling history and about to make some of mine. It always had a damp smell, that and something else, which I suspected was the drugs. Still, my father had given me a strict warning never to use drugs. “Anything that causes you to become a slave to it is dangerous,” he would say. “Be it drugs, love, or a woman. A Blackwood is never a slave, but is born to rule.”From the moment of my first kill, I knew I wanted to own it all. My father was not dead yet,
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-25Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance DEAL
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD Again, the man who whispered to him as I entered the room began another series of silent discussions with him, and I waited for them to finish. A minute later, they were done.“And what is this business proposal of yours, young Blackwood?”I rose and cleared my throat. I wanted to convince him.“I love my father, Victor Blackwood,” I began, and saw the old man before me raise his eyebrows. Still, I was not done. “He is dear to me and has taught me everything I now know. He has raised me to be a man, and I want to do him a favour back. He is growing old and fails to see how many opportunities that our locale, Vieuti, carries. I can see them, however, and I want to use all of them.”“What do you mean?”“Vieuti is a place that has been home to the Blackwoods for years. We rose from among them to serve them, and have carried out their murders and brought them the drugs they want for their euphoria. The only thing is, my family has sold the same kind of drugs for the pas
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-25Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance A Father's Tale
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD That night, on my return, I had a very long talk with my father. We sat on either side of a table in his room, father to son, and there remained quiet for so long that I wondered if we were going to say anything at all. “You didn't tell me a deal with the Blacks was what was on your mind. I hate that family.” He began looking me over.“I did what was best for us to do. You'll see it in a few months, and you will know that I made the right choice.”“I trust you, boy. I know I raised you well, and I feel pride over what you did. But I still hate the Blacks,” he said, bringing out a video recording of me speaking to Michael Black and playing it. There was a look of pride upon his face, but I could only think of how someone had recorded me without knowing. I felt an inner surge of rage over this, that one of the men I went with would do this without telling me. How dare he—whoever he was- undermine my power. To consider me a boy who needed to be watched by his father…
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-26Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance THE BLACKS
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD I watched his face assume a sour expression that had disgust written all over it. “While I waited, Oliver came a number of weeks later to me,” he continued, his voice hardening. “He told me Vanilla had already been promised to someone else by their father to secure an alliance. When I asked if she had agreed to it, he swore that she did. I did not want to believe him, as I was sure that his sister was in love with me, but I trusted him as my friend and let go by stopping my visits and even asking about her. I buried it all and told myself I’d been a fool to fall for her, to think that she could love me as a Blackwood.”I watched him closely and found myself annoyed by the emotion that showed on his face. Only weak men let emotions get to them as far as I was concerned, as far as he taught me, and I could swear he was becoming weak.“A year later, I found out the truth,” he continued, now closing the fist that had held the cigarette. “I started raising the Blackwood
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-26Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance CLOSE SHAVE
DAMIAN BLACKWOODMy business with the Blacks took off quite well.Vieuti responded just as I said they would. Our supplies were hurried so quickly, and I made sure to sell them at a price that would put the others out of business. By the end of the first month, I returned to Michael Black with a mouth full of success.I sat before him in that chair with a smile on my face, confident of how successful I had been, and sent one of my men with the records of my sales for him to see. He went through each page carefully until the very last one, and shut the book in the end so hard that it made a sound that echoed through the whole room. No one said a word, waiting to hear what he had to say, and then he started to clap. One clap… two claps… three claps… until the whole room was going off in a round of applause. It lasted, and I sat still, taking everything with a smile on my face.“A eighteen-year-old-boy just pulled off sales that I haven't seen from many older men.” He announced. “Look a
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-27
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Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance GOING CRAZY
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD The more I thought about it, the angrier I got with myself.And the more I thought about it, the more I started to despise Eleanor. She was a villain seeking control over me, and I was determined to stop her. The day then came when I found her holding up one of my shirts and inspecting it, her hands trembling. The brown stain on it caught my eye, and we both knew it was dried blood, and it was from a human. “Damian,” she began, the tears already gathering in her eyes so that they sparkled.“What?” I asked, fixing an eye on her. “We talked about this,” she said, in a manner that made it look like I was a child who needed correcting, and not a man who had been escaping death for so long. “We’re going to have children who need to be kept safe—”“Or who will learn how to keep the Blackwood name high, Debbie,” I shot back, stepping closer. “Like me. I killed my first man at fifteen and have lived on the edge ever since. I built everything you see around you with blood.
Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance LOSING MY BALLS
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD At first, the world was mine. Then, and all of a sudden, it wasn't.It started with rumours of a plot against me, and from the ones I expected in the least, from the eldest of the three Black grandchildren Victor Black had left in my care when he died. I had allowed them to have the rights to their property piece by piece and as they advanced in age, and cared for them as I would have with my own siblings. Yet, the eldest of them, Wesley, had somehow nursed hatred and resentment for me all that time, even to the point of wanting to take me captive.Someone must have advised him against it, seeing that I would not be easily taken because I soon set a number of spies on him and the influx of information soon changed. He was no longer setting his eyes on me, deeming me too big for him to catch. Next, he set his sights on the one person he thought he could take to get at me. My wife, Eleanor.I prepared well for him, setting a few men to watch over Eleanor, and asking t
Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance THE TASTE OF BLOOD
ELEANOR SINCLAIR We moved—myself and the dogs—to the Blackwood home, where I was forced to swallow a bitter truth. I would never get my husband back. He became more distant and started to change after that. It was heartbreaking to watch him go even farther from me, to receive even less attention from him. His kisses became quick and hurried, and our lovemaking became so infrequent that I found myself driven towards the edge of madness.But the climax of everything would come the one evening I found a blood-stained shirt hidden in the laundry basket. It was hidden away, but I found it anyway, and my hands could not remain steady as I held it up, looking at the broken stain in horror. It broke my heart to realise that I was too late. Too late to see him for who he was. To see that he would not change. To see that it was what being a Blackwood meant, to him.At the very moment, he walked in and past me in the most casual way.“Damian,” I called out to him, holding up the shirt so he w
Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance EVERYTHING IS WRONG
ELEANOR SINCLAIR That moment was a disappointing one for me. I called the man he wanted me to call, and he soon appeared within minutes. I watched my husband give orders to the men who came with the one I called, and watched as they rushed to do them with a dutifulness that made them almost robotic. From inside the house, the dogs were barking, and the whole place had almost become a bedlam of noise.“John, Davis, both of you take him to the warehouse. I'll soon be there with you.”“Romeo, Julius. Both of you stay and watch my wife. Not a scratch must come to her.”“Tim… go get everything ready.”“Ellie,” he huffed, turning towards me as I stood still, watching everything before my eyes. His shoulders slumped a little bit as he looked at me, and he came towards me and to where I stood. “Romeo and Julius will be watching over you. They are my good men, and will not harm you. You will not even know that they are there, and you will be safe with them.”His voice was low in his throat,
Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance SEEING SHADOWS
ELEANOR SINCLAIR Six months later, Damian and I were married.The six months after that? Blissful heaven.Within a year I had gone from Eleanor Sinclair to Eleanor Blackwood, from Miss to Mrs, from unmarried to happily married, from poor to rich. I could swear that I now had all I could have ever dreamed of, but as everything turned positive for me, it went the other way around for Damian.I continued to live in Grandfather's house and as the housemaid, taking care of the place. At times, Damian would come to me there and the other times, I would go to him. Whatever it was, we spent all our nights together. It was our one rule—never going to bed without one of us seeing the other. I kept to this rule of ours faithfully, and so did he. Until the night my husband came to me and felt eerily like the old Damian Blackwood.The grumpy, unfeeling Damian. His face was turned up in a scowl that only lessened when he saw me, and I thought I could wipe it off completely. So I attended to my ma
Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance MY PRINCE CHARMING
ELEANOR SINCLAIR I think love is a creeping feeling.It comes upon you like a thief in the night, and remains with you like your shadow—unnoticed, but realer than fiction. It holds sway over you like a powerful spell, and causes you to make decisions under its full influence. And all the time, it goes unnoticed.Another thing I think is that Grandfather knew that I was in love with Damian. When I did, I did not know. Maybe it had to have seized me on the day that I ruined his shirt in the most egregious of ways, so that I was sure of two things. That I had permanently ruined that shirt and that I was going to lose my job. I do not know about the first, but he graciously saved me from the second and even put the manager down. Maybe it was because I spent days and even months after that waiting for him to come again. ‘So I could serve him better than the first time,’ I told myself, but I knew deep inside that it was more than that. That it was just because I wanted to be seen by him.
Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance I'VE ALWAYS LOVED YOU
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD I wasn't thinking about a lot then, but I thought she was perfect.Picture perfect, heavenly perfect. The most perfect that any form of perfect could aspire to be. She was warm and soft and oozing with life from beneath me, with her legs tightening around my waist and pulling me even closer to her.“Damian… oh Damian…” she moaned, and her voice was comparable to the sweetest of sounds. It was breathless and desperate, the harmony of the most sonorous choirs and the songs of the sweetest birds. It was the sole reason why I didn’t need to be told twice, and drew back until I was almost all the way out of her before pushing back into her with a force that slammed both our bodies and made her cry out in pleasure, her body bouncing about in the bed. The sound of her pleasure drove me to near madness, and I continued to a rhythm that was a dance for the both of us—slowing down until it was gentle for the first steps before becoming more deliberate. Her hips rose to meet m
Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance THE POWER OF LOVE
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD Sex was nothing new to me.I had done it a thousand times and with hundreds of women. Some wanted favours. Others lied about loving me. Others simply wanted me for being Damian Blackwood. I served them all and put them behind me, refusing to pay them any more attention than I would have a mannequin standing in the street after. Only a few had even got a second chance with me. But Eleanor…She was different. Lying there before me, open and willing out of pure desire, I thought she was different from all those women. Something far purer and divine. Sometimes, you find yourself so taken by the beauty of something that you lose yourself staring at it, and that was Eleanor's nakedness to me. I leaned back and watched, taking all I saw in with a sort of euphoria. The view of her expectant body lying across the bed had an effect on me, a once in a lifetime experience. Her white skin and the pink that showed elsewhere was almost ethereal in the moonlight coming through the
Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance DESIRE
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD I moved even closer to her, and her breath paused.There was a flicker of surprise in her eyes, before that disappeared and something warmer followed it, a thing that filled my chest with a sensation I thought strange. She didn’t move away now, but stood so close to me that the whole house suddenly felt smaller, and the space between us seemed to pull us even closer together, drawing us nearer to each other.I looked at her and caught a loose strand of hair across her eye. It was like a crack on some beautiful wall, or a random scribble across a painting by some unskilled artist who impeded the original work. She also turned to say something to me, and caught me staring at her.“Damian…” she began…Her voice faded off so that her lips hung open, and I found myself insanely wanting to kiss her. Something in my gut held me back, and I only lifted a curled finger and brushed that strand of hair from her face. Her skin was warm against the skin of my own fingers, and I l
