Rose’s POVI got home that evening, and immediately hurried off to my bedroom, not even sparing Dally a glance as she walked into me on her way to the kitchen. I felt her concerned eyes on me as I climbed up the stairs that led to my room but thankfully, she didn’t utter a word or tried to stop me. The moment I was in my safe space, I dropped to the bed and the tears I’d been holding streamed down my face in endless torrents, a sob breaking out of my lips.I buried my head in the sheets to keep the sounds muffled as I couldn’t hold them in. Inside me, it felt as though something was broken, and was gradually slipping away from me. I felt helpless and caged all at once. At one point, it felt as though I couldn’t breathe properly, both from pain and from my clogged nostrils but I didn’t care. I kept reliving the moment with Jian when he’d made it clear that he couldn’t be there for me anymore.I finally did it. The one person that was my safe space, I finally chased him away with the we

Rose’s POVWe drove for a while with the gun pointed to my head until he directed me into a dirt-covered forest road. The road was lonely with no houses or signs of human life. My heart was palpitating wildly, the longer we drove and my shaky fingers clutched onto the steering wheel, as though it could magically save me from the doom that was awaiting me. I didn’t need to think twice to know he was working for the Don. They must have been aware of my release from Jian’s home and must have been following me. Today was their lucky day. My eyes watered at the thoughts of my stupidity. Once again, I’ve made another silly decision that would finally lead me to my untimely death.My teary eyes met with the man’s in the rearview mirror, but his dark unblinking gaze had me gulping. He pressed the gun harder to my head until I began to feel an ache at the spot, and I wordlessly heed his command, focussing my tears-blurred eyes on the road but even then, my thoughts were not on the road. They

Jian’s POVI stood by my office window, a glass of bourbon in hand as I stared past the tall buildings I could see, but my mind wasn’t on them, nor on their magnificence. It was all on the woman in my bedroom, who I’d somehow tied myself to, believing that I was somehow her savior yet every chance she got, she threw all of it away without a second thought and accused me of different crimes without even batting an eye.Every darn time, her accusations tear at my heart but then I find myself making excuses for her as soon as she lands herself into another hot pit of trouble. Is this a curse? I asked myself this question as I stared past the buildings but I couldn’t find an answer. I could easily contact her parents and ask them to come take their brat but I fear there was more to whatever she was hiding than meets the eyes, and it couldn’t be a coincidence for her to have been targeted by sex traffickers two different times. Or maybe, just maybe, it could be attributed to her carelessn

Rose’s POV“Let’s go,” I said in a dry emotionless voice as soon as I got to Jian’s car. The anger and disappointment accompanied with heartbreak that I was feeling was so great that it had my lips wobbling and my eyes twitching but I struggled to keep still just so he wouldn’t notice that something was off but with the way his gaze rested on me after hearing my words, I knew he has read my mood and was aware that something was amiss. “Rosie…” he spoke after a long silence, carefully looking at me. He tried to reach for me but I moved away from his hold and rounded the car to get in the passenger seat. From my seat, I heard him heave a sigh before getting in. “It didn’t go well, did it?”I knew he’d keep pushing and I didn’t want him to become too curious about what had happened in there as I wasn’t ready to talk about it or even think too much into my mother’s confession. It still felt like a dream and I was going to let it remain that way.“Not really,” I finally responded, in a d

Jian’s POVI stared at her as she slept peacefully in my bed. She looked so angelic and calm that I tried staying silent so as not to wake her. Her gloomy mood from the hospital had faded off after I agreed to let her stay with me for the duration of her school holiday and to take her to see her best friend at school, and I was glad that she’d confessed the truth to her mom. We’d made dinner together, and she returned to bed again. With my help, she was able to fall asleep and I was meant to be sleeping next to her, but I couldn’t.The detective I hired to look into her past got back to me this afternoon while she’d been napping. He sent an entire file containing every information about her and as ecstatic as I was to see it, my curiosity had waned when I downloaded the file into my computer. As eager as I was to expose all of her demons and whatever she was running from, I was also skeptical of what I’ll find, especially when it comes to her connection with this Don who is supposed