All Chapters of Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance: Chapter 101 - Chapter 110

ELEANOR SINCLAIR The sound was a low metal howl that felt like a roar cutting through the cloud of gunpowder and blood that had enveloped the whole fishery. All eyes turned to it, even Vincent's, his face a mask of rage and something else that I thought was unreadable. The turn cloaks, their own guns still trained on Vincent's subdued men, tensed, their eyes flicking to the door. Marcus's arm around mine closed even stronger and he pulled me away, his breath harsh as we moved silently and took cover behind a dented crate, waiting to see what hell was going to come out of that door.Alas, it was Damian Blackwood who strode in, the gun he held glinting in the sporadic fluorescent light. He walked with slight, curt steps and then stopped, his eyes running around and taking everything in. Indeed, his entrance was like a shockwave, paralyzing chaos in its wake. Once again, I could not help noticing how he was older than I remembered, his sharply cut features now relaxed now with age and

VINCENT MOREAU Everything had been going so well for me.I thought of Helen-Nora and how she gave her sister away to me when she realised that her child, our child, was missing. He was with me, and in my custody, but she knew he was not safe. I cared less about the boy. I even hated him, and she knew it well. To keep him safe, she had to give her sister up, a deal I was happy to be a part of. My gaze darted to the precise spot where Helen-Nora, in tears, had told me that the camera would be placed discreetly out of sight. I pictured Eleanor, my Eleanor, watching and waiting after so long, listening, her blood no doubt beginning to freeze.How stupid they were. To think they could play me when I had mine and Helen-Nora's son. How could a mother not be afraid for her child?I lingered, allowing the suspense to build, savoring the silence before I strode in. This was my spotlight, and I was the star.Then, from Helen-Nora's earpiece - of course, I was certain she had one in as she said

VINCENT MOREAU I stood in the centre of the fishery.The concrete floor was so cold that I could sense it through my shoes, and the lights cast jagged shadows on the walls. My gaze swept over the view before me, lingering for an instant on Marcus before drifting on to Eleanor.Just the way I wanted to see her.Her eyes flared with defiance, but I could see the cracks in them that broke her character—the fear, the rage, and most of all, the confusion."Tell me about your sister, then?" I breathed, making sure my voice was low enough that it felt like I was sharing a secret with her, and still yet loud enough to be heard in the farthest reaches of this enormous room. I gestured to Helen-Nora with a hand, a mindless thing I liked, like skipping a stone across water. "You seem to know everything, Eleanor." You are so clever. You don't know, however, that there are loyalties that cut deeper than loyalty or your high ideals about money."Helen-Nora's crying had briefly ceased before this,

VINCENT MOREAU In the face of all the chaos, who it was did not matter as much, anymore. There was too much of everything to be bothered about a door being drawn open-from the air I breathed in being so thick with the saltish, metallic smell of blood that I could almost taste it on my tongue to and the foul smell of fish-it had always been there, but now it stunk even more. My boots remained fixed on the wet concrete floor that was now covered with what was left of the fight that had just marked my loss. There were bodies strewn all over the ground, both of them faithful men of mine and traitors, but so many of my men that it did not even feel as though the enemy had suffered any losses. Their eyes stared at nothing at all, carrying that look that proves that the life in the body has long gone. And there I stood in the center of it all, chest heaving, untouched by a single bullet. Eleanor and Marcus were nowhere in sight, dead or alive, and it riled me to think that they had esc

VICTOR MOREAU This was my chance, however. The fleeting loss of his focus, the distraction-it was a vanishing moment of opportunity, but an opportunity nonetheless. Even while they were restraining me, it did not drain me as much as did the weight of what had happened, building a desperation that was going to consume me. My body ached, my head throbbed, and the knowledge that I'd been outsmarted by people I'd assumed were powerless were bitter pills to swallow. But seeing Helen-Nora, Eleanor, and Marcus drive off into the night had kindled a spark of triumph at Damian's defeat. It was a dirty, spontaneous victory, one that was going to buy me some much needed time, time that showed however brief. They dragged me deeper into the labyrinth of the fishery, along slicker, more vacated corridors. The stench of fish guts and cold, stagnant water was overwhelming. The gun shoved into my back to prevent me from running felt like hot scald, burning into my skin. My mind, though dazed an