Novels by Barbara Rose

Liviana locked herself away for what felt like an eternity, hiding for hours on end before, finally, she’s forced to confront the tension she’d been trying her best to avoid, but to no avail. Eventually, she realized it was pointless. She would have to face her husband and his rather daunting silence sooner or later, and with him she would be forced to face that anger he tried so hard to hide from her, as if she hadn’t already bared witness to it more times than even she cared to admit. And honestly, she had no idea what was worse anymore. The way he used to scream and shout and let all his emotions out, no matter how mean or ugly, always letting every thought fly freely from his mouth without so much as a second thought or a single regard for how it could hurt her, how it would make her feel, or the unwavering silence he so often wore like armor now, almost using it like a weapon to avoid making all the same mistakes again, fending off his own reckless words before they could cause a

“Tell me again- what did they say exactly?”Liviana huffs, watching as the man paces in front of her, a look on his face that screams with utter exhaustion. He was so sick of this - of her. And the kicker? They’d hardly even started.“Just that they wanted me to speak to you and your parents about this- this thing,” she explains with a shrug, at a loss. She was just as frustrated and confused as he was, but she tried to be kinder about it - to have patience for the man she’d become entirely too dependent on.Though it seemed as though he didn’t have the same sentiment. “What else?” he snaps, impatient and so obviously irritated that Livi can’t help but falter.“They want me to try to sell their idea. Something about a- a-“ she stutters, trying to recall what the two women had told her exactly, but she couldn’t. She was hardly even given a chance.“About a... What?” He rushes, snapping his fingers like he could magically conjure up the answer on his own. “What was their idea? What do t

Liviana stared at the two like they’d each grown an extra head, eyes blown wide like she couldn’t believe what she’d just been told, like she couldn’t even begin to comprehend what was being asked of her this time around.Slowly, she blinks out of her daze, eyes darting between the two, waiting for someone to crack first. When neither do, she’s forced to find the words and speak. “I’m sorry... you want me to do what?” She asks, voice straining in her disbelief, desperately trying to find the mind to deal with this - with them, and yet another one of their crazy ideas.Drusilla shrugs, repeating herself like it was no big deal. Like she wasn’t asking the world of her daughter. “Well, we just thought that since you’re a Castelli now, and you have a seat at their table-““That, what?” She asks, almost daring her mother to finish the question. Maybe then she would hear how ridiculous she sounded. “That I could get you a seat at the table, too? That I’m actually some sort of golden ticket?

The car ride continued in a suffocating silence that neither of those two stubborn souls would break, no matter how badly they might’ve wanted to. Eventually, it gets to both of them, and after a while, they’re left with nothing but a dreadful pit of regret digging itself deep into their stomachs, making them feel sick.It seems to hurt Blaze the most as, the moment the car stops, he’s hopping out so fast you’d think it was on fire if you’d seen him - seen the way he runs from it, from her and the stressful silence that felt more like silent hatred than anything else. And he just couldn’t stand another second of it.Livi watches him as he goes, sighing as, slowly, she unbuckles her seatbelt and goes to follow him inside, prepared to try to make things right. She couldn’t help the way she flinched when the front door slammed shut behind him instead.Obviously, he wasn’t in the mood to wait for her today. In fact, it seems as though he was done with her.The raven huffs at the thought,

Blaze and Liviana left without so much as another word, fleeing the penthouse hand in hand and in a silence that spoke volumes. They were both utterly exhausted, and although they were relieved to find themselves safely tucked into the solitude of his car after such a long, demeaning day, there was something left unsaid, something that was rotting away in between them that tainted any sense of comfort they could've found from the space. Instead, as soon as they're inside, settling into the tension-packed car, the silence begins to eat them alive. Livi's mind raced faster than the car they were in, practically running in circles with all those same thoughts, all the same dreadful scenarios that haunted her perspective on life. All those little doubts and her greatest fears, and the 'what if's' that kept her up at night and made her sick with worry. Worried that she'd done something wrong, something so awful that this - whatever this was, whether it was some kind of sick joke or karmic

Liviana wasn't sure why she was so nervous to see her husband again - it had only been two hours since she'd left him at the family manor, after all. It hadn't been long at all, but for some reason, it felt like an eternity. It felt like she could be walking into the arms of a totally new person, and she worried if she would even know it or if she'd still be as clueless as she was when they first got married, missing every sign he'd sent her until it seemed to be almost too late. Almost. Still, despite her unwavering nerves and that vindictive voice in the back of her head that spoke ruthless nonsense, lie after lie about how he didn't want her - he hated her now, and he meant what he said before, about being sick of her - and endless words of ridiculous cruelty she forces herself to ignore, she marches forward. She takes a deep breath, denying each and every negative thought her sick and twisted mind tries to force on her as she waits at the elevator doors, every passing second feel