MasukROSE The day all women wait for, from the moment they begin to understand the meaning of love, had finally arrived in my life. I was seven months pregnant, huge, hormonal, and practically a walking grenade, ready to detonate at any moment. And to make matters worse… or better, depending on how you looked at it, I craved sex all the damn time. And today, I had just gotten married. For the second time. The first had been when we realized our love for each other, when we had promised ourselves, our hearts, and everything we were. But today… today was different. Today, we stood in front of the world and declared that we belonged to each other. We made vows, spoke promises, and bound our lives together in front of witnesses who saw our love, who heard us swear to stay until death tore us apart. Our wedding hadn’t been traditional, far from it. My maid of honor had been our daughter, Ana. My bridesmaids were Monica, Natasha, and Winter. Pops and Michael had walked me down
ROSE I was lying in bed with Ana in her room when I felt his presence behind me. I turned around and there he was. His face was solemn, his grey eyes serious, carrying a quiet hint of melancholy that made something inside my chest ache. Pressing a soft kiss to Ana’s forehead, I gently slipped out of her tight hold. My daughter was terrified to be alone, but just like her father, she didn’t ask me to stay. She didn’t need to. Because her grey eyes spoke everything she couldn’t say, just like her father’s did right now. As I stood up, I saw it clearly in his gaze. The need to hold me. To just… be with me. To find comfort in my arms after everything that had happened, after everything he had done to keep us safe. He stepped closer to the bed and bent down, pressing a soft kiss to our daughter’s forehead. “Goodnight, Precious,” he whispered. Then he turned to face me. I looked into his eyes, letting mine speak for me, that I was okay, that everything would
ROSETrying to erase the sight of an old man, at least in his mid-sixties, getting a blowjob near the elevator from my mind, I made my way toward room 205.My steps slowed when I noticed the door was already open.The moment I caught my first glimpse inside, my heart stopped. My entire body stilled, frozen in place.“I’m telling you, I’ll finish you if anything happens to my daughter,” Ryan said.I watched as his arms flexed around Ana, holding her tightly against him. She was whimpering, trembling in his hold, her face buried in his neck.“Just sign the papers. We don’t have time for your bullshit,” Josh Stewart, the bastard who had made my husband’s life hell, snapped, pressing the gun harder against him. “Your father never gave me what I wanted, but I’ll take it now even if I have to kill you for it.”“His father never knew what was good for him,” the woman, his mother, added coolly. “He even tried to send me back to India.”“I swear, if you don’t walk out right now, the police wil
ROSE Ryan left me in the care of two hard-looking men I had seen around the house but never spoken to. The guard assigned to watch me shot me a mean look, clearly furious that I had slipped out without him knowing. I almost wanted to stick my tongue out at him. But I held myself back. Instead, I went upstairs to our bedroom and stood by the window, watching as Ryan left, with a man I didn’t recognize. If it had been Gavin or Arjun, I would have felt a little better. But this— For me, it felt like Ryan was going alone. If he was crazy about my safety, then I was just as crazy about his. And that too, he was going to his mother… she had tried to kill him once. She had almost killed me too. I grimaced at the thought. As I kept looking down, my eyes landed on a small truck parked in the driveway. And an idea began to form. God, I just hoped I could pull it off. I turned away from the window, ready to work on my olan and nearly screamed. Then scowle
ROSE I crept down the stairs. It was quiet, only low murmurs drifted from the library, of my father and Arjun. I stopped in the middle of the drawing room, a sudden thought hitting me. Just today, I had met my father… and now I didn’t even know if I’d ever get that chance again. The message I had received was another photograph of Ana with a text, that said: SEE YOU SOON. This time, she was huddled in a corner. Her grey eyes were defiant, but scared. Tears streaked down both cheeks. My daughter… so much like her father. Even when she was terrified, she refused to show it. Along with the photograph were coordinates. And a number I assumed was a room in a hotel. I wiped my tears and slipped the phone into my pocket as I made my way to the kitchen. I had no doubt the guards Ryan had stationed would run straight to him if they saw me leaving. And then they’d drag me back to my husband, who would probably lock me in chains if he knew what I was about to do. So the back door
ROSE The bedroom door opened, and Arjun returned with my father and another man behind him. My father came straight to my side of the bed. His warm hand settled on my head, steady and grounding. Instantly, my eyes filled again. “I’m staying the night, if you don’t mind,” he said, directing the last part toward Ryan. “I want to be here for my daughter.” I didn’t even try to hold it together this time. I turned and wrapped my arms around him, sobbing openly. “Hush, sweetheart. Everything is going to be fine.” He wiped my tears and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Where’s Nick?” I asked when I could breathe again. “He went home. Meghan needed rest, and Ivan was getting anxious.” I nodded and turned back toward Ryan just as he said, “If it were me, I’d have told you not to bother. But it’s my wife, and she needs you right now.” God. My husband earned more points in that second than I could ever count. He made me fall in love with him all over again, just like
ROSE Ryan led us back to his bedroom with me cradled in his arms. Once inside, he closed the door and made his way to the bathroom. I squeezed his nape where my hand was holding on to him for his attention and asked, “Why are you taking me to the bathroom?” Because all I wanted was to have his
ROSE I woke up feeling like someone had pushed me off a cliff and then put me back together with mismatched bones. Every inch of my body throbbed. A pained gasp slipped out when I tried to sit up but couldn’t. And it took me a moment to register the small, soft weight pressed against my side bene
RYAN As I went downstairs to the kitchen, I dialled West, wanting to know if he had found out about the car and who owned it. “Ryan,” He said as he answered the call. “West.” I greeted back. “Did you find anything?” “Yeah. We checked the number plate, the car was reported missing since l
RYAN “What will he do?” my eight year old, innocent daughter asked. Making sure my wife,currently high on painkillers, didn’t answer that question in vivid, traumatizing details, I pinned her down carefully, my knees on either side of her as I reached to slap my palm back over her mouth. “I tol







