The Argument

Ember

I keep thinking back to that day. One year ago, today, the events with Ryder that changed my life happened. Ryder kept all of his promises. Charli came by faithfully every day to monitor my mother. They had gotten really close over the last year and I was glad my mother had someone she could bond with. Her relationship with Rosalee was strained already. As commanded, I trained his staff and now I was leading them. I got to know more about Ryder as time went on. His family controlled every part of northern Florida, and their main location was in Tallahassee. He told me that he was raised to lead his family in this lifestyle, and that he had no choice. I almost felt sorry for him. Ryder lived in a huge mansion. It was a beautiful, all-white, three-story mansion trimmed with blue. There were apartments nearby, where he said some of his extended family lived. At least the ones who didn't want to live in the mansion. When I had first arrived, everyone looked at me as if they had seen a ghost, and then all eyes turned to Ryder at once, who was glancing silently at all of them. It was almost some sort of a warning, but after that, things went to normal. Ryder explained that Florida was split between two families. His, and a rival family. He said that their grandfather had a treaty that they still go by to this day. Ryder and his family control the northern region of Florida. The rival family controls the southern half. As long as neither of them step foot in the other region, there is no cause for war amongst families, but Ryder believes they have spies in his territory. He just has yet to prove it. 

My coworkers are super nice to me, minus this one woman named Rhea, but I was told it was because Rhea was in love with Ryder, who did not return her affection. She was jealous, because I was the only one there who Ryder showed even more than a minute of attention to and had even tried to sabotage my first day by putting children's glue in my flour, and baking soda in the sugar. Luckily, thanks to my training at the Tallahassee school of arts, I was trained to recognize different smells, and my sense of smell was amazing. Best in my class. If I was to teach these chef's what I was learning in school as well, I needed no one to question my authority, so I spoke with Ryder asking advice on how to deal with Rhea. He said he would handle it. I took it that he would speak to her but I'm not sure what happened. Rhea went to work the next day, less bitter and more determined to learn. She almost looked scared. Knowing Ryder, who knows what he did to her to make her that way, I made sure to treat her with more kindness. She asked many questions along with the rest of my coworkers and I answered them. After a few months, their training was complete and now I lead them each morning with meal prep. I only stay for the breakfast portion, since school starts at 1pm every day, so I make sure the rest of the meals for the remainder of the day are properly prepped to be cooked later. 

Ryder has one of his men, Lamonte, follow me to school each day. Lamonte sort of sits in the back and monitors me. Ryder says it is for my protection, since there are spies looking to threaten his organization daily. Even though I don't know anything, they would still torture me just for working for him. Given that he was the head crime boss, I believe him. I'e seen movies. Knew what happened. Hell, I have even seen Ryder kill a man just because he yelled at me. Who knew what he and other people like him were capable of? 

Somehow, in this last year, against better judgment, I had somehow fallen for Ryder. You're probably thinking, What Ember? He is a fucking monster!! How could you? You're absolutely correct. He is horrible. Almost villain like, but there was the small part of me that was attracted to this darkness, and no matter how much I tried to fight it, I could not deny it. So, we started fucking, and he turned it into an actual relationship. He told me he hadn't dated anyone since his last girlfriend, Victoria, killed herself from depression. It was all he would say about it and looked sad when he spoke about her, so I never brought her up again. I had spent the night at his mansion one night, and we ended up in an argument over my last year of school. He suggested that he hire my professor to teach me here, and that I officially move in, since a few of his men were starting to go missing. He was already focused and the last thing he wanted was to be worried about me. 

" I'm a grown woman, Ryder. I can handle myself. " I said to him, which made him angry. 

" I don't give a fuck if you can handle yourself or not. You are staying here live and to be schooled," he said back angrily. 

" So what Ryder, your just going to keep me fucking locked up here all the time? What about my mother?" I shouted at him.

" Obviously, I would get her here too. How fucking dumb can you be?" he said, which annoyed me. 

" Dumb enough, I suppose, to see how paranoid and ridiculous this is. Are you even sure your men were trustworthy? What if they just left because they hated you, I said, attempting to make him see reason. 

" Then that's even more reason to keep you here. What better way to reach me, than to hurt you?" he said to me. 

" I carry a fucking gun everywhere I go, Ryder. Lamonte watches my every fucking step to and from school. " I said to him, almost yelling. He didn't take being yelled at too kindly and he did something he promised he would never do again. His eyes seemed to turn black again and he struck me across my face. It had only happened once, in the past, when he was angry with me, and after I turned away from him, he apologized and kissed my face as tears fell. This time, it caught me off guard, but I was prepared for it. I took my gun from its holster and aimed it at his head. 

" Hit me again, I dare you", I said to him, gun on his head. Ryder had taught me how to shoot and I ended up being a pretty excellent shooter. He was not expecting me to pull a gun out on him. He was quick though. Quicker than I realized as he pulled the gun from out my hand. A shot went off, hitting the room door as I was being pushed to the opposite side of the room. He stripped the gun and tossed the pieces aside, before walking over to me and hovering over me. My head was bleeding from the impact I took, and I was feeling weak. 

" Don't you ever pull a gun out at me, bitch", he said in the calmest yet dangerous tone, before standing up and leaving the room. Nurse Charli came in not long after and bandaged me up. She gave me some medicine and helped me to Ryder's bed. I don't know if it was the drugs she gave me, but I was hallucinating. I heard a howling sound before I drifted off to sleep. 

" You rest now