CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 1

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

ROSE

I stood in front of the apartment in my room and took a very good look at myself.

The one special thing about my body was my tiny waist and curvy hips. My best friend, Cassandra, always told me to wear tight jeans so I could make heads turn. But I didn't always like the attention that it brought me. After all, it wasn't like I was even single. There were just some things that I couldn't do even though I felt they were fun.

I was wearing a milk colored tank top, and it showed a little bit of my lower belly flesh. I wore jeans that hugged every bit of my lower half, but it wasn't high waist. I didn't like those anyway.

I knew I looked good, anytime and any day so I didn't know why I should be worried, but I was.

I walked out of the house to my car, and just as I was about to get in, my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was my mother. Every other person would want to pick up on the first ring, but that wasn't me.

I didn't like talking to my mother, one bit. She had this air of panache, and she used it to prove me wrong at all times. I wasn't ready to talk to her because I didn't want myself feeling guilty just because of my mother. Not like I had done anything wrong anyway.

I got into my car and her call came again. Fuck.

I had to pick up or else, she could go one and on calling my phone.

I answered the call and held the phone to my ear without saying a word.

"I can hear your breathing so I know that you are there, Rose," her cutting edge voice broke through the phone.

"What is it, mom?"

She scoffed and I heard the clinking of a glass in the background. "You know why I am calling and that's why you don't want to pick up your phone, isn't it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about mom," I said and jammed my key in the ignition.

"You have to get back to Italy," she said, as a matter of fact.

"I already told you, mom. I'm not going back there."

She laughed in a mocking way. "Why? Because you think you can't find love here?"

Well, my mom always had this habit of second guessing me, then going ahead to say that what I actually thought was nonsense. Talk about my mother!

"Look, you can't find love anywhere, Rose! Not even in New York. And that is because love does not exist."

"Thank you for the advice, mom. But I'm not taking it. I'm happy where I am. And I am staying. Tell that to your husband, too." I said, and ended the call.

I had a very good friend in Cass and a boyfriend in Lowell, so yeah, love did exist in New York City.

My mother could take her cold nuggets and shove it...

I stopped myself from thinking that way and pulled into the street, heading for Lowell's place.

DRYSDAN

I stood at the steps as my men dragged the man into the warehouse.

One thing I hated was when people felt that they could misbehave because no one was watching them. And just because you gave them some leverage, they would want to use that opportunity to make a name for themselves.

I hated people who were incompetent and deceitful. And the worst part was that they actually got to show their incompetence and deceit.

They dropped him at my feet. I lit my brown cigar and puffed on it.

"Please, sir," he begged. "Please, don't hurt me."

I squatted, until l was close to his face. "Oh, you are so scared of me now, aren't you?"

He stuttered at first, then got control of his words. "Every one fears you, sir. You are Drysdan Ward. Your name makes people cower, sir."

"Yes, yes. It does. But you still had to guts to do what you did, Rob. Why did you do what you did?"

He began to cry, seeing as I already knew what he was guilty for. "I.. I.. there was an emergency, sir. I'm so sorry."

I looked at my cigar for some moments, then looked at him. "You know, I could kill you myself. But I don't kill people whose lives are worthless to me. Maybe if you were the heir to some important family or the president, I would."

I stood up and walked over him. "Put him in the nest," I told the guy closest to me.

"The nest?" he asked, and screamed as he knew what was about happening to him.

I didn't care to watch, but I did listen to his screams. All through the years, in my line of work, the screams of men had gone from torment to melody for me. They gladdened my ears.

I walked out of the warehouse, closing the door behind me. My men knew what to do afterwards.

I walked some distance to where my car was parked and that's when I saw her. It was already starting to rain and I got in quickly. But she was standing in front of her car, a Fiat, and instead and getting in, she was looking at the car.

The sight of what she was wearing, her tight jeans and the curve of her hips brought a kick to my stomach.

I wanted her. I imagined how it would feel going over there, pulling down her jeans and fucking her from behind.

Soon, she was wet. And I noticed that she wasn't wearing any bra. Those nipples and the curve of her breasts melted to her shirt and my cock could not keep still anymore.

Who the hell was this beauty and where had she come from? There was only one way to find out. And maybe, just maybe, I could give her some of my cock.

Afterall, no woman rejected Drysdan Ward.