Roses Are Red (Edith's Fatal Love Trilogy Book 1)

by Alexis Murrell

  Crying out, I grab my nose, which has begun to throb painfully. Blood slips through my fingers, falling down my arm.

  “I see you have a smart mouth today.”

  He throws me on the ground and punches me again, square in the face. He hits my nose again, and I scream out in pain. He keeps his grip on my hair, yanking on it.

  Snapping my head back, he whispers devilishly in my ear, “I’m going to tell you this one time, and one time only.” His grip on my hair tightens. “I say—” he pauses to make sure that I’m paying attention, because this time around, he means business—“when we are over, and sweetheart, we are far from it.” He turns my head so I can look into his eyes. They are black as night, and his veins pop out on the side of his head, running down to his neck. My body starts to tremble with fear. “But since it seems like you’re not getting my point, let me help you out.”

  As I open my mouth to start screaming for help, he hits me again, then drags me up towards our bed.

  “You were never supposed to find out anything. I treated you like the queen you were. I even tried changing for you, controlling my anger. You know, to be better than my father.” He puts my hands above my head, holding them there, and puts a hand around my throat. “Let me explain something to you. You know now that my father used to beat my mother. He used to tell me that it’s the only way to control a woman when you show them their place.” I try to turn my face from him, because at this point, I can’t look at him anymore. He’s turned out to be a monster. This is my worst nightmare. He turns my face back to him. “After I hit you that first time, I felt bad, and knew that I didn’t need to do that with you. I’ve manipulated you enough that you’ll do anything for me, and you’ll never leave me.”

  “You promised,” I forced out.

  “I did, and I kept my promise to you until you started coming home late, dressing too sexy at work, and hanging out with other men besides me.” He gets closer to my face, looking me in the eye. “You see, you and Grace were never supposed to get close. None of this was supposed to be revealed to you. All you needed to know was that I loved you and needed you, and you loved me and needed me too. But I need you to remember something for me; you broke your promise to me first.” He kisses my lips softly, then my eyes, cheeks, and forehead. “If you had kept your promise to me, we wouldn’t be in this position.”

  “What promise was that?” I asked.

  “You promised that you would never leave me.” The monster he says he tried so hard to hold at bay is getting unleashed tonight. There’s no sign of the old Aiden; it’s like he’s disappeared, never to return. He lets go of my hands, keeping his other hand around my throat as he pulls back to look down at me.

  “After tonight, let me see you pull this again, and I will do more than just hit you,” he says angrily. He tightens his hold on my throat, cutting off my air circulation, and finishes what he started.

  Water drips from the faucet into the sink as I look at myself in the mirror. I can’t even recognize this woman standing before me; what was once a pretty face is now unrecognizable. My head feels like it weighs a ton, and I can barely hold it up with it pounding the way it is. My left eye is swollen shut, turning black and blue; I dap a cloth to my lip, wiping the blood off my face. I clean up as much of the blood that I can, but the pain is too great for me to keep it up. It’s going to take a while for these bruises to go away. This is the worst that it’s ever been whenever he’s hit me.

  My throat burns every time I swallow. I have to put my hand on my throat for comfort, holding it, and slowly allow my saliva to go down without it hurting me too much. I look for a bottle of pain pills I can take to ease my pain temporarily. I won’t be able to get any sleep if this pain continues.

  I find some pills and pop one in my mouth. Using my hand, I fill it with water and take a sip to help the pill go down. Standing up too fast, I grab the side of my head as the room spins. A wave of nausea comes, and I put my hand over my mouth to keep myself from throwing up. It’s no use, though. I move to the toilet and throw up everything. I hold onto the toilet, laying my head down.

  I hear him walk into the room, and I try to move to get up, but another wave of nausea hits me, and I stay put. He comes into the bathroom and sees me at the toilet. He picks me up and carries me to the bed.

  “I came back in here to check up on you. I realized that this time, I took it too far.” He places me down on the bed and walks over, grabbing a rose. He sits on the edge of the bed, holding it out for me to take.

  I sit there, examining it up close. He told me that giving me roses was his way of expressing his feelings for me. Whatever he couldn’t say to me with words, the rose would say it for him—telling me that I am beautiful, or that he loves me. Now when I look at the rose, I get a different message. I reach for the rose, and as I’m reaching for it, I feel a pinch on my finger. I drop the rose and look at my finger, seeing blood form. I put my finger in my mouth and look up at Aiden. He’s watching me with curiosity in his eyes and a dark hunger. I’m almost scared to pick up the rose again, because he usually cuts the thorns off.

  But I try again. I reach for the rose and make sure to watch out for the thorns this time around. I take a minute to examine the rose, twirling it in my fingers. It’s funny how something so beautiful can be so deadly. When you look at it from afar, it looks harmless, like a normal flower. Until you get up close and really take the time to look at it, then you’ll see that even though it may be a beautiful flower, it has thorns that are camouflaged for you not to notice, as you prick yourself on its thorns.

  I look over at Aiden, and now I finally understand. All this time, the signs were right in front of me.

  He’s the rose.

  On the outside, he’s every woman’s dream. He shows you what he wants you to see—a gentleman, a caring and loving man. But on the inside, he has thorns that are camouflaged for you not to see until he wants them to be seen. And when he lets his thorns out, they can do more than prick you and draw blood. They can outright kill you.

  That voice I shut down long ago comes back roaring loudly, telling me to run for my life. Aiden’s removed the camouflage of his thorns now. He’s showing me who he truly is, and he is out for blood.

  “Are you okay?” He reaches out and touches my hand. I snatch my hand away, looking up at him with fear. I have to find a way to get away from him.

  He smiles, putting his hands in the air, trying to appear innocent like he wasn’t going to hurt me. “Hey, I was just asking if you’re okay, that’s it. I wasn’t going to hurt you again.”

  I don’t hold back my tears this time. I let them roll down my face. I’m so scared out of my mind; he’s so unpredictable. I feel like if I stay with him, I won’t make it out alive.

  “You were throwing up in there, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, just felt nauseous.”

  “Hm, okay. I came up here to talk to you, because I have some bad news.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out my cell phone. “I want you to know that some things are going to change now, starting with your phone. Your mother’s been calling you nonstop, and your best friend has messaged you.” Hearing him tell me that my mother and best friend have both tried to reach me causes me to reach for my phone. Aiden moves my phone out of my reach, putting it back in his pocket. “Here’s the thing; I don’t trust you to talk to them right now. Maybe in time, you can call them with me there, of course. For now, I told them that you are sick, so it will be a while before you can talk to them.”

  I break down, crying into my hands. The two people I know could come and save me right now, I can’t even talk to because he has my phone.

  I feel him get up from the bed.

  “Also, because you look like this,” he waves his hand in my direction with a disgusted look. “You won’t be able to see anyone. From now on, you will be locked in this house, and if you act up again, you will be locked up in this room.”

  I wipe my eyes so I can see him clearly
standing at the foot of the bed. “Don’t do this, please.”

  “I have to. I don’t trust that you won’t tell anyone what happened here tonight and what you’ve learned. You’ll be putting me in a position to have to do something I really don’t want to do.” He walks over to a box, punching in a code.

  “What would you have to do?”

  “Kill them.” He pulls out a gun and shows it to me. I move quickly over to the other side of the bed. I stare at him like he’s crazy. He said that like it was obvious what he would have to do if anyone saw me like this, or if I told them what I’d learned so far.

  “But it’s not going to get that far, right?” he demands. “Because if it does, I just want you to know that their blood will be on your hands.”

  One of the guards knocks on the door, and Aiden tells him to enter. “What?” Aiden asks.

  The guard looks over at me, then Aiden, not knowing if he can talk freely.

  “You can say whatever you need to say in front of her. Now, what is it?”

  “Oh, I was told to come let you know that your brother is on his way here.”

  Aiden checks his watch. “That’s some great news. It’s time for a family reunion.” He turns to me. “I have to go, but I’ll be back later tonight. Also, Edith?” I look back up at him. “I know that you’re not happy with me at the moment but know that I love you. I’m just looking out for you.”

  YOU WOULD THINK THAT AFTER a couple of days, I would start feeling better after Aiden beat me, but I only feel worse. A headache sometimes appears out of nowhere, and I’ll have to take something to stop the pain. My face isn’t swollen anymore, but my left side still hurts, so I have to sleep on my other side. Every now and again, I will have these irritating cramps. I know that means my period is coming, but these cramps couldn’t have appeared at a worse time. I can’t keep anything down. I always end up running to the bathroom, throwing everything up.

  I can’t figure out what’s precisely wrong with me; my body feels off-balanced. Aiden’s been watching me closely since I keep throwing up and still in pain. He’s asked me a few times if I wanted to see a doctor, but I tell him no; it will all pass.

  Unfortunately, it’s day five, and I’m still feeling bad. Only every now and again do I get a break during the day and feel better, and then later, I go right back to not feeling so good.

  I cave in eventually and tell Aiden that I want to go to the doctor, since it doesn’t look like I’m getting any better. He tells me that he has a family doctor who does house calls. He’ll come to the house to see me. I’m not surprised he’s having someone come here instead of having me go out. He wants everything to be under wraps. Plus, he said that he still doesn’t trust me, and until I can prove to him that I will keep my mouth shut, he has to do things differently with me.

  “She’s in here.”

  The door to our bedroom opens, and Aiden walks in with another man. You wouldn’t think that this man was a doctor from the way he looks if you had not seen his medical bag and the stethoscope around his neck.

  They come around to my side of the bed, and Aiden introduces me to the doctor.

  “Edith, this is Mark. He’s worked with my family since he was a kid. We were the ones who paid his way through college so he can be one of the best doctors and come work for us.” Aiden proudly smiles and wraps his arms around Mark. “So, I’m placing you safely in his hands. I know he’ll take good care of you. He already knows everything from what I told him, that you got into an accident explaining why you have all the bruises on your face. But feel free to tell him anything else you want him to know.” He looks over at me, dropping his smile.

  I know that this is a test to see if I’ll speak up and tell Mark what really happened. He’s giving me a chance to earn his trust again, and if I say anything or do anything, then it will just prove him right that he can’t trust me, and my lockdown will be extended to possibly never being able to go out again.

  Mark holds out his hand for me to shake, and Aiden leaves so we can be alone.

  “How are you today?” Mark sets his bag on my nightstand, opening it up and pulling out some items.

  “I’m okay, better than yesterday.” I move to sit up, making sure to take things very slow. I don’t want to move too fast, or I’ll get a headache again. “A little nauseous, but all around, I’m doing a little better.”

  “Hm.” He removes his stethoscope and moves closer to me. “May I?”

  I place my hands on my side while he moves down my shirt to listen to me breathe. He tells me to breathe in and out, listening to my lungs, then puts away his stethoscope. He looks at my face and neck, checking over the bruising; he says that they are healing nicely, and that he will give me some stronger meds to help with the headaches.

  I tell him about me not being able to hold anything down lately, and I keep feeling nauseous.

  “When was the last time you had your period?” he asks, propping up on the bed’s side.

  I think back to the last time I had one. I can’t remember fully, since my periods are so irregular. “I don’t know, maybe last month or the month before that.”

  “Have you been feeling anything else, other than nausea and constantly having to throw up after you eat?”

  “I’ve been feeling some cramping, like right now. But I looked at that as a sign that my period is coming,” I recall.

  “It can mean one of two things. It could be a sign that your period is coming, or you could be pregnant. Some women have cramping in their first trimester of pregnancy, and from what you’ve told me about you being nauseous and throwing up . . . if I were you, I would take a test just to rule out you being pregnant.” He sits there looking at me with concern.

  Something that’s supposed to sound like the best news I’ve always wanted to hear became the worst news ever, my nightmare.

  “I don’t want to be pregnant,” I whisper softly to myself.

  Grace told me what would happen if I got pregnant by a Delfino man, and if it’s true that I’m pregnant, then there’s no way I’m getting out of this. I’m officially going to be trapped with Aiden for the rest of my life. And if it’s a boy—I rub my head, because I don’t even want to think about the gender of my baby. If there is a baby. I have to deal with one problem at a time, first finding out if I’m even pregnant.

  “I wouldn’t worry until after you’ve taken a test and seen the results. Don’t want to worry yourself for nothing. You might not be pregnant,” he comments.

  I reach for his hand, holding it in a death grip. “How can I find out I’m pregnant without Aiden knowing?”

  “He’s going to know you’re taking a test.” He removes his hand from my grip. “Because I have to give him my report on you.”

  “Isn’t there a law about patient confidentiality? By law, you can’t tell him anything I don’t want him to hear. I could sue you.”

  He collects all of his things, putting it back in his bag, and pulls out a bottle of stronger pain pills for me, setting them on my nightstand. “Let me explain something to you. You are dating Mr. Delfino, a man that everyone fears. When it comes to him, there is no law on patient confidentiality. There’s no law he can’t get around, and if he wants to know something, he’s going to know it. If there’s something he wants to do, then he is going to do it. You can sue me if you want; I’ll take that risk, because I’m more scared of him than you.” He shrugs his shoulders. “Sorry.”

  He walks to the door and knocks, and Aiden steps into the room. They share a couple of words, and Aiden looks over at me. He follows the doctor out of the room so that they can talk about what he found wrong with me.

  I sit here thinking over everything he’s said. I don’t want to be pregnant; I hope I’m not pregnant. This child will have a horrible life with Aiden being his or her father. I need to figure out a way to take this test without Aiden being there.

  “I have someone coming up to bring you a pregnancy test,” Aiden tells me, sitting at the edge
of his desk.

  “I don’t want to take a pregnancy test,” I mumble, expecting him not to hear me.

  Grace walks into his office hesitantly before coming all the way in. I’m surprised to see her.

  “You will take one,” he orders me.

  Grace walks up to Aiden, handing him a bag with the pregnancy test inside. She glances over at me with sad eyes. This was the very thing she told me that she didn’t want to happen to me; I can read it all in her eyes. If I’m truly pregnant, the chances of me being able to run away will be zero.

  “You can go,” Aiden tells her.

  He hands me the box. “Do you need help taking the test, or can you do this on your own?”

  “I can do it.” I walk into the bathroom in his office.

  I turn on the water, splashing it on my face. I grab the box, reading the instructions on how to use the test. One line means ‘not pregnant’, and two lines means ‘pregnant’. Opening the test, I look at it for a second before coming up with an idea. I could just put the test underwater and pretend I took the test, but if I know Aiden, he’ll probably get another one, and next time come in with me to watch me pee on the test. Just to make sure I really did it. But part of me wants to know so I can have some peace of mind; the other part of me doesn’t want to know. Sucking it up, I take the test and set it on the counter.

  It should only take a couple of minutes for me to get my results.

  “Are you done in there?” Aiden knocks on the door.

  “Just waiting for the results.”

  He walks in and comes to stand by me, looking down at the test.

  I don’t normally pray, yet this test makes me believe that I need to start because my whole life changes if it comes back pregnant.

  Sending up a prayer that this will move in my favor, I open my eyes and look at the test. I see a line or lines appearing, but they are still a little to faint. After three more minutes go by, the test results come back clear as day.