LOGINRosemary couldn’t have expected what would happen the moment she walked into her father’s office that cold winter’s day. Standing beside her father was Justin Knight, a man known across the country for his cruelty and rage. And for Rose, a person her father promised she’d marry. Being used as her father’s pawn for greater power was a deal Rose couldn’t accept, so she did the only thing she could, she ran. Taking her chances and bolting from her guards her arranged husband ordered, Rose finds herself surrounded and trapped. Until one man appears. Taking the hand of a stranger, covered in tattoos with the brightest but most dangerous eyes she’d ever seen, Rose thought she was out of the woods, but she didn’t know what she’d just stepped into. Baxter was no hero; he was a predator, the most feared Mafia boss in the country. A man built on fear, blood and not an ounce of mercy, he had not one weakness, until Rose appeared. From that first moment, Baxter decides she was now his, and Baxter never releases the things he claims. Her father wants to sell her, her fiancé wants to own her, and the monster who saved her, wants to keep her forever. Can Rosemary escape the men who wish to control her… or has she already fallen into the hands of the one man who could fully destroy her? Read on to find out.
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Lena adjusted the pearl earring with tight fingers, determined not to let her hand tremble. The woman in the mirror was Claire's blonde loveliness, Claire's slender face, and Claire's silk designer shirt. But it was wrong. The image was strange Behind her back, Ethan's voice rumbled as he came into their bedroom, wrapping his arms around her waist. "You look gorgeous, sweetheart." Sweetheart. Not Lena. Not Claire. She swallowed. "Are you sure this is me?" Her voice was light and playful because it had to be. Ethan laughed, leaving a kiss on her temple. "Of course, love. You just need more sleep." But sleep wasn't the problem. Reality was. The house, the life, the husband-it was all too perfect. And perfection, she was starting to realize, was its kind of prison. --- The scent of freshly ground coffee and toasted bread filled the kitchen, blending with the crisp morning air. Ethan sat at the breakfast table, reading the newspaper as he always did, a portrait of effortless domesticity. A plate of eggs and fruit waited for Lena, prepared exactly as she liked. Or... as Claire liked. "Eat something," Ethan said without looking up. "You barely ate dinner last night." "Hey," Lena said, frowning at him. Lena sat, picking up the silver fork. "I wasn't hungry." "You haven't been hungry a lot lately." His voice was gentle, but there was something underneath it. A quiet insistence. A careful correction. She forced a smile. "Guess I'm just tired." Ethan reached for her hand, rubbing circles over her wrist. His touch was soothing. Familiar. Loving. And yet, she fought the urge to pull away. "You know I care about you, sweetheart," he whispered. "I just want to protect you." Lena nodded her head, looking down at her plate. It was easier than meeting his eye. Because if she did, she might not be able to hide what was really in her eyes. --- Lena was not allowed a phone safety, Ethan had said. But today she was in the study, raking through his desk drawers with slow, silent fingers. There was a voice in her saying stop. He would be angry if he discovered her. But another part of her continued searching. Her fingers wrapped around an abandoned cell phone at the far end of the drawer. She pushed the button, ppulse-poundingas the phone awakened. One missed call. "JULIA-3 DAYS AGO." The name disturbed her. Julia. Her best friend. Lena waited. Julia was calling her. Which meant Julia believed she still lived. Her thumb danced the call button. "Lena?" She nearly dropped the phone. Ethan stood in the doorway, his expression unreadable. --- His eyes flashed to the phone, then back to her face. "Why are you digging through my desk?" His voice was smooth. Too smooth. Lena swallowed hard. "I-I saw my friend's name. Julia. I just." Ethan's expression eased. He stepped toward her, releasing the phone from her fingers with gentle pressure. "Sweetheart." He cupped her face, his thumb tracing her cheek. "We've talked about this. Julia-she was in your life before. Before the accident." Lena's breath caught. "Accident?" Ethan nodded. "You don't remember, do you?" He released a breath, and last had hurt him. "You were in a terrible accident, love. You have amnesia. We chose to focus on the here and now. On healing." Her head spun. No. That hadn't been true. Had it? Ethan kissed her forehead. "I'll keep this for now, okay? It's better if we don't create confusion." He smiled, warm and patient. Lena nodded on autopilot. Because that was what she was supposed to do. But in the depths of her, something twisted. Because she didn't recall any accident. --- That night, she dreamt of water. Cold, black waves engulfed her, pulling her down. A voice voice-shrieking underwater. Struggling. Struggling. She woke up gasping, drenched in sweat. Ethan's arm tightened around her waist. "Shh, sweetheart," he murmured sleepily. "I'm right here." Lena stared at the ceiling. Was she drowning? Or had she already drowned?~The next week~ Stepping out of the black Mercedes, allowing the small heels of my shoes to dig into the gravel which made up the large and extravagant driveway, I lock my eyes on the large double doors of my father's mansion, his favourite one of all, and allow a chuckle to leave my lips, I hadn’t been here in almost ten months. With a smile, I begin my journey up the winding stone steps of my father's mansion, the only noise for miles around was the sound of my expensive heels tapping off the stone, heels I hadn’t worn in those ten months. But I knew what my father expected from me, so was sure to play the part one final time. As I reached the doors and walked into his large lobby, I look around the familiar room which hadn’t changed at all since the last time I was here. A lady stood cleaning one of my father’s most prized possessions watching me with utter shock, I don’t think anybody expected me to be here. “Where’s my father?” Was all I asked the woman in my same powerful vo
The moment the gunshot rippled through the cabin, I stood staring at Shirley in disbelief but soon realised, I wasn’t feeling any pain, quickly scanning Peter who blocked my body in case he had taken the shot, he also didn’t move a muscle. But the moment my eyes turned back to Shirley stood in the middle of the cabin as though she was some budget cut ringmaster, she slowly places her hand to her neck and pulls it away which was coated with thick blood in that second. Before long, she drops onto the floor sending the gun that had been pointed at me sliding across the floor. It’s as though my brain couldn’t compute what was happening as I looked to Smith to see if he fired his gun, but the look of shock on his face was evidence alone that he had nothing to do with the shooting… so who did?! My eyes which had been scanning the entire cabin desperately for any sign of what actually happened, soon rested upon the cabin's door where an outline of person stood with their own gun pointed i
I thought I was stunned to silence once Peter walked through the door, that did not account for the shock that rippled through me once I looked to Shirley, even though I knew she was coming. She was rather tall for a woman, her shoulders held back as though she was flowing with such power, which was the only feature she shared with her son. Her hair was blonde, which I didn’t expect and her eyes brown. If I didn’t know this was Baxter’s mother stood in front of me, I never would have guessed! I hadn’t seen any pictures of his parents before especially, his father but I had to assume he got his looks from him! Snapping out of my trance and gesturing for Smith to do his next task which was to pay the men who had brought Shirley here their money, I now fully pull Peter’s hands from my waist and stood up tall to show her I was not scared in a sense… even though I very much was. “Hello Shirley, thanks for joining us here, sorry it was so unexpected but with the nature of what’s happenin
The entire cabin seemed to freeze in that second, all of us were expecting to see Baxter’s mother walking into the cabin where even in this moment, I didn’t know what I was going to say to her but now to see Peter, stood in her place staring over at me, it was as though the entire plan had been thrown off course. “Rose.” He said still completely out of breath as he walked deeper into the cabin, but his steps alerting Smith, who took his own in front of me with hatred in his eyes. “You need to back the fuck up.” He stated towards Peter with such venom in his words, Smith always followed what Baxter said to the very last order, I didn’t know fully what Baxter had told him to do but I will assume it was to look after me, having my ex appear out of the blue threw a spanner in the works! “I’m not going anywhere until I speak with Rose!” Peter protested not seeming to care what Smith, who was clearly holding a gun in his hand was saying, as he continued closer to me. “You shouldn’t be h
As per request of Baxter, just so we knew if anybody from Hayward’s web of corrupt evil people couldn’t track us, Smith drives us out into a very secluded and off the grid location. It was so far away from civilisation that we lost service miles away, something I believe Baxter intended with how da
Pulling up the car into the driveway, Baxter watched the front door of the house Hayward was waiting in, a place he knew Hayward sent him to simply mess with his head further. This building was the place which started Baxter’s life of crime at the age of twelve, this is where he walked in with his
Once we were married, Baxter wasted not a moment rounding up the last points of his plan to deal with Hayward once and for all, he told me now he and I were married, he wanted us to move on with the life he had planned. But with Hayward on the prowl, he was preventing that life, which was something
The next hour was spent with Pamela and I discussing what we thought should be done with my hair, the makeup end was beyond simple, I only wear light makeup and never go too heavy. Not only due to my father drilling into my head that only girls who want male attention wear such makeup and with me b
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