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Black rose

Penulis: Bea Baum
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-09-09 13:42:17

VEX POV

She throws my card at me. The number to my direct line. Not many people are given such a privilege of receiving it.

The card falls to the pavement between her and the car. My eyes narrow, a muscle ticking in my jaw.

She’s infuriating, i think to myself.

The tinted window remains down, framing me like a portrait of controlled fury. For a heartbeat, i say nothing, just watching her with an intensity that burns.

“You think walking away keeps you clean?”

My Voice is soft, almost gentle—the calm before something devastating.

“That's not how this works. Not in my city.”

I nod once to Kade, who pulls away from the curb. The Aston Martin glides into traffic.

Kade watches me in the mirror.

I break the silence.

“She Rejected me… twice. That’s not something that happens. Not even once.”

Frustrating to say the least.

Kade laughs silently under his breath. “She doesn’t seem like most women, they’re all usually throwing themselves at you.”

I glare at Kade and the amusement he finds in all this.

“Circle the block a few times, I have a feeling those men aren’t done with her yet”

BRYNN POV

I walk three blocks to my apartment. I walk in. I live alone. I shut the door locking it behind me.

My apartment feels unsafe. Something about Vex makes me feel uneasy. Sending shivers down my spine thinking about his intense stare. I need to get his cologne off me. I head to the shower.

Across the street a black Aston Martin sits in the shadows. Vex watching from the back seat.

I exit the bathroom in a towel. Searching my dresser for an over sized shirt. I slip it over myself letting the towel drop to the floor.

I check all my windows to make sure they’re locked, then the doors. I don’t notice the car in the shadows. I turn the light off… crawling into bed and drifting to sleep.

VEX POV

The Aston Martin idles across the street, Vex's silhouette barely visible through tinted windows. His phone buzzes.

Sal’s voice comes through the speaker.

“Boss, we got something on the stepsister. Jessie Mason moving product for the Mantis crew. Using daddy's properties as drop points.”

Vex’s eyes remain fixed on your darkened window.

“And our new friend?”

Sal hesitates. “Clean record. Works at Meridian Publishing. Lives alone. No connections to our world, besides her step dad, but it seems she not in on his business”

“Not part of our world…Yet.” I say

Vex ends the call, his reflection in the window revealing a rare smile—predatory, patient.

As dawn breaks, Brynn wakes up to find a single black rose on her pillow, its petals still wet with dew, and the business card tucked beneath it.

BRYNN POV

I wake up and see a flower and a black business card

“Asshole.” I think.

But a wave of anxiety washed over me. Scared to even think how he got in to my locked apartment.

I get up and throw them in the trash.

I head to my closet, dressing in a pencil skirt and a white blouse. Putting on heels on my freshly pedicured feet. Red nail polish always looks so good on me.

I throw my dark brown hair up in a high slicked back ponytail. My long hair cascading down my back.

I grab my bag and head for work.

As I enter work my assistant hands me an itinerary for the day. Meetings all morning and a presentation later in the day.

I make it to my office. My assistant walks in

Your nine o’clock is here Ms. Mason.

“Yes let them in.”

I smell the expensive cologne coming from behind the door…

Vex…

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  • Cage to Cage   Buried

    “I remember,” I whisper.The words sit between us, heavy and real.Every memory is there—settled, sharp, intact. Vex’s voice in my ear. Kade’s hand steady on my back. The weight of silk and blood at the wedding. Salt air and sun on bare skin during the honeymoon. Love, violence, loyalty, power.All of it.I lift my head fully now, testing the ache in my neck, the pull of the ropes at my wrists.“I remember everything,” I say again, firmer this time. “So why is it that I don’t remember you?”The man across from me doesn’t answer right away.He watches me.Not like someone waiting for a confession.Like someone checking a system status.A flicker crosses his face—not surprise, not anger.Satisfaction.“That part,” he says calmly, leaning back in his chair, “is still locked.”Cold slides down my spine.My pulse kicks harder, but my body doesn’t panic. It should. I’m tied to a chair in a concrete room with a man I can’t place, can’t read, can’t remember.Instead, my muscles stay ready. Co

  • Cage to Cage   Won’t Lose Her Again

    VEX POV Jessie Mason is still smiling. That’s how I know we’re running out of time. Not nervous. Not defiant. Not cracking under the pressure the way most people do when they realize they’re sitting in a concrete box with two men who don’t miss. She’s comfortable. Legs crossed. Shoulders loose. Mouth curved like she’s enjoying the show. That smile tells me everything I need to know. “She’s not here anymore,” Kade says, voice sharp as broken glass. He slams both hands onto the steel table, the sound echoing through the room. “Where did he take her? Where the hell is Ivan operating out of?” Jessie lifts one shoulder in a lazy shrug. “Told you. I don’t know specifics.” I don’t interrupt. I just watch her. “I wasn’t inner circle,” she continues. “I passed messages. Drop points. Locations after the fact. That’s it.” Kade’s jaw flexes. He’s barely holding himself back from flipping the table and dragging answers out of her the hard way. I don’t blame him. But rage is loud. An

  • Cage to Cage    First Truth

    BRYNN POVI come back to pain.Sharp. Splitting. Violent enough that for a second I think my skull is actually cracking open—that whatever is inside my head is trying to claw its way out.I gasp.The sound is short, strangled.Because I can’t move.My wrists are bound behind the chair, rope rough and unforgiving against my skin. Not sloppy. Purposeful. Tight enough that every small shift sends a sting up my arms. My ankles are tied too, chair legs biting into my calves. My pulse pounds so hard it feels like it’s echoing off the concrete walls.Concrete.That’s the first thing I register.Cold air. Damp. The faint metallic tang of rust and oil. Somewhere nearby, water drips in a slow, maddening rhythm. A single bulb hangs from the ceiling, swinging just enough to make the shadows stretch and shrink like something breathing.Basement. Warehouse. Somewhere forgotten.Somewhere people disappear.A figure sits across from me.Comfortable.Too comfortable.He’s leaned forward slightly, elbo

  • Cage to Cage   Gone

    BRYNN POVTwo weeks later, I almost forget what fear feels like.That should’ve been my first warning.The city is busy in that late-morning way—cars humming, people weaving past each other with coffee cups and headphones and places to be. I have bags looped over my wrist, new clothes folded neatly inside. Things I chose. Colors I like. Proof that I exist outside guarded halls and marble floors.Normal.I’m halfway down the sidewalk, mentally checking off errands, when something shifts behind me.Not a sound.A pressure.Instinct sparks—but too late.A hard, brutal force slams into the back of my head.White explodes behind my eyes.My knees buckle as the world tilts violently sideways. I barely register the shape of a hand grabbing my arm, yanking me off balance, my bags hitting the ground with a useless scatter of fabric and paper.“Don’t scream,” a voice murmurs close to my ear. Calm. Familiar in a way that makes my stomach drop. “You always were bad at that part anyway.”I try to

  • Cage to Cage   Almost normal

    BRYNN POVTwo days pass without another memory.No flashes. No jolts. No cold rush of recognition stealing the breath from my lungs.Just… quiet.Which feels almost suspicious.By the third morning, I’m sitting at the long breakfast table with a mug warming my hands, watching sunlight creep across polished marble like it belongs there. Vex is on his phone, jaw set in that focused way that means business. Kade leans against the counter nearby, arms crossed, pretending not to hover.Normal.As normal as this life gets.I take a bite of toast and try not to flinch when the butter melts against my fingers.“That’s progress,” Kade says lightly, nodding toward my plate. “You’ve eaten more today than yesterday.”I shrug. “Guess my body decided it likes routine.”Vex’s gaze flicks to me—quick, assessing—then away again. He doesn’t comment. He never pushes. It’s one of the reasons I feel steady enough to be sitting here at all.I lift my coffee.That’s when it happens.Not a crash.A slide.Th

  • Cage to Cage   Memories after memories

    BRYNN POVI don’t wake screaming.That’s the first thing I notice.No panic. No disorientation. Just a sudden, sharp awareness—like a light clicking on inside my chest.Vex is there immediately. His arm tightens around me, breath warm against my hair.“Hey,” he murmurs. “I’ve got you.”I swallow, my throat tight—not from fear, but from the weight of what’s still echoing through me.“I remembered,” I whisper.I don’t have to explain which part. The way his body goes still tells me everything.“The hallway,” I continue softly. “The villa. The door.”His hand moves slowly up and down my back, grounding, patient.“You don’t have to keep going,” he says.“I want to.”I tell him—quietly, carefully—about the anger, the ocean, the way I didn’t want to feel owned. About how I’d stood there convincing myself I didn’t need him… until I heard his voice.When I finish, the room feels heavier. Fuller.Like the memory settled where it belonged.I lay back down against him, letting my cheek rest over

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