“Let’s take a fondant to Flora as well,” Rose let out, offering a smile to Roma, who stood next to her, while she admired the pastries that looked absolutely divine. “Sure,” he responded readily. The woman behind the counter appeared to be ready to faint. Rose felt for her. After all, the woman didn’t know who she was dealing with but could feel the danger – or maybe she did, hence her unease. Her hands shook ever so slightly, even as she packed the pastries for them. When Roman finally pressed his credit card into Rose’s palm, so she could pay, she raised an eyebrow at him in a questioning manner. “I don’t want the vendor to die of fright,” he shrugged in his usual devil-may-care attitude. Rose merely smiled while the woman – whose name was Clara – blushed to the roots of her hair. “I… I didn’t… I didn’t mean to offend you, Mr Bianchi,” the woman stammered on her words, and Rose had to bite back a giggle. Why did she find the situation even ridiculous to begin with? “Do I lo
Roman was in the basement. He had left Rose sleeping, as he just couldn’t wait to deal with Scarlett. He looked at the woman, disgust evident in his eyes. To think she had once been a dear friend, he couldn’t believe he had never seen this side of her. Her eyes were closed, and she breathed loudly, as if she were trying hard not to sob. Every few seconds, she twitched involuntarily. Her once fair skin was marred black and blue. His men knew better than to touch a woman he considered his enemy. So, while they had not raped her, they had tortured her enough to make her lose her composure, but not enough to render her insane – much less kill her. They truly understood the assignment.“Open your eyes,” he drawled dispassionately. She did so eagerly. Her wide eyes, which were once innocent, made him want to break something. How dare she try to kill Rose, in his own base no less? “Roman, please,” she began, panting, her eyes zeroing on his gloves hands, and she twitched again. “I didn’
Rose watched with abject admiration – despite everything going wrong with her at that moment – how Roman kept kicking the kitchen door with fervor… She wanted to hug him for following her himself. There was so much she wanted to tell him, but sadly couldn’t. Her throat spasmed painfully. The air grew scarcer. And she began to feel faint.She wanted to claw at her clothes, in desperate need of oxygen as she was, but refused to alarm Roman some more. He was already doing the best he could. Stefan arrived just as the door to the kitchen fell apart. “Took your damned sweet time getting here,” Roman glowered at his right-hand man, his sneer wicked and promising worlds of pain. Rose’s eyes softened, seeing the worry etched on Roman’s face, obvious for all to see.“Scarlett refused to give me the keys,” Stefan told him sheepishly, a little bit of a blush creeping under his skin. “She did what?” Roman all but growled, now looking like he might just kill someone.“She put them in her bra,
Although Rose was as elated as any woman would be in a similar situation, she didn’t fully understand why Roman was openly kissing her for the first time. Indeed, even though he was a mafia boss – and as such, one would expect him to have less reserve when it came to PDA – this was the first time he made out with her despite having an audience. When his lips finally left hers, and he gave her room to breathe, he kissed the top of her head, and grumbled, “Be my woman, Rosalina Marcels.” “Huh?” Rose looked up into his eyes, which were peering down at her with fervor. Icy blue met brown, and she wondered for a moment there if she had heard correctly. It couldn’t be, could it? And yet, for the first time ever, Roman appeared to be almost reluctant to speak, and for a moment there she found him adorably shy even. “Be my woman,” he repeated in a hushed tone of voice, making the moment intimate beyond words, and making the whole world around them disappear. Her heart drummed in her ears
“Remember when we used to go window-shopping with only 10$ to our name, acting as if we owned the world, and returning home to have noodles?” Maria’s nostalgia would have tugged at Rose’s heartstrings had the circumstances been different. As it was, she couldn’t help but be wary of the one who used to be her friend. She let out a noncommittal sound in the back of her throat, which was meant to be encouraging, and Maria went on, “We were tight, and not even the devil himself would have been able to break us apart,” she shot a not so discreet look to Roman, and Rose had to refrain from voicing out her thoughts. “There were no secrets between us, and everyone envied us… The bond we had was special alright.” Roman yawned rather audibly, and Rose couldn’t help the faint smirk that played on her lips. Indeed, Maria was trying to be manipulative by bringing up the past, but Rose wasn’t about to fall for that. “Maria,” she began, stopping the woman before she could speak further, “What a
It was only once Flora was wheeled into surgery that Rose managed to breathe out and cry openly. Looking at the blood smearing her hands, she felt uncomfortable. The irony wasn’t lost on her. She was a nurse for heaven’s sake, and yet she felt squeamish at the sight of blood? That was a first for her, after her training – during which she had almost fainted. And she wondered whether it was because it was Flora’s, that she felt so out of sorts. She barely spared a look at Roman, who had come to sign the hospital paperwork, before rushing to the restroom. She washed her hands many times. And though she had gotten most of the blood off, it felt like it just wasn’t enough. The door of the restroom soon opened, but she didn’t stop scrubbing. Roman stepped in, his height towering over Rose, who was hunched over the sink, crying. Though the man wasn’t exactly a fan of PDA, and many other things for that matter, he didn’t waste a second to hug her from behind. Having recognized his frag