Roses & Thorns

by Bry Ann

  I turn back to boss and the girl. He tugs her forward and runs a finger down her cheek. She’s fighting so hard to keep her face from showing anything as one of the most dangerous men in the world threatens her with just his touch.

  “This is Lacey. Lacey, this is Sven.”

  Her eyes flicker up to me. She can fight the feelings on her face, but Lacey can’t fight how her body shakes when she sees me.

  “Yeah, I relate Lacey!” Rose snaps.

  I laugh and shake my head, Boss raises his eyebrows and turns away from her, giving Rose one free pass. I'm proud, angry and turned on as fuck. Fear turns to angry frequently with Rose.

  “I’d watch it if I were you little Rose,” I call out.

  She huffs and turns her face away. I smirk and turn back to boss. He has a subtle smirk too. I'm glad she amuses him. Literally. If she didn’t I couldn’t keep her, because she’d be dead and I couldn't stop it. Not yet.

  “Anyway, I'm sure you have lots of questions, which I will answer.”

  Boss traces his hand one last time down Lacey’s cheek, almost gentle. She stiffens and then he shoves her away.

  “Stand in front of us.”

  She does. She stands below the steps right in front of the two of us. Scared, but obedient. Both Boss and I hear Rose subtly scoff. Damn it, woman. I turn and glare at her.

  “Unless you want every man in the room to know about our closet experience you’ll shut up.”

  Her eyes go wide and she clamps her mouth shut. Yeah, figured that would shut her up. Boss looks at me, cocks an eyebrow and grins before turning away.

  “I found Lacey by accident.”

  “You found her? Yourself?”

  “Oh yes. Didn’t I Lacey?”

  A tear falls from her cheek. Boss smiles and makes eye contact with Lacey.

  “Lacey, I want you to tell the story.”

  Her head snaps up. Oh, she wants to say no so bad. I see why boss enjoys her. She’s fun.

  “Sir?”

  Her voice is barely audible. I glance at Rose who looks two seconds from saying something stupid. I glare at her, reminding her to keep her mouth shut. She does not look happy, and boy will that be fun to play with later.

  “I want you to tell it,” Boss repeats.

  She looks around frantically.

  “There’s nothing to lean against. You can sit on the step.”

  I know I throw him a ‘what the fuck’ look, but he doesn’t see it. How the hell did he know what she wanted? She does take a seat on the step.

  “I…”

  “You’re gonna have to speak up Lacey.”

  She tries to clear her throat. Rose looks so sad for her. I can tell she wants to jump in and save her now. I'm sure she is reminded of one of her girls back at the treatment center. Too bad Rose is the one who needs saving. The reality is, Rose was always the one who needed saving, but I digress. She had shitty people around her who didn’t give enough of a damn to notice or just didn’t care enough to intervene.

  “I was a prisoner for the other one…” she whispers.

  I look at boss confused. He nods his head indicating I can talk to her.

  “Speak up! Who were you prisoner for?”

  “The other one of you guys.”

  She doesn’t look at me, but what she says hits me. Our enemies. Our rivals. The crime family Boss and his father before him have been trying to take down for decades. My eyes go wide. This story just got a lot more interesting. I sit back and smirk. Boss nods when he notices my change of demeanor. I was a little weirded out by their dynamic at first, but I get it now. This is a plan to get back at them. She’s a pawn.

  “Continue.”

  “Um… I don’t know how long I was there. It was a long time. They were awful,” her voice cracks. “I couldn’t take it. Even for… um, I…”

  “Wait!” Boss shouts. “For who? Finish that sentence. You weren’t kidnapped?”

  There’s venom in his voice.

  “Please…”

  “You know begging is useless to me.”

  She starts to shake and scoots back. Tears fall down her face. These ones are out of fear. Damn, she’s gonna deny him. Fuck.

  “Sir, I can’t. I was taken. I…”

  He’s out of his chair before I can even blink. He grabs her arms and shakes her. She looks away, tears falling. These two give me a fucking hard on. I look at Rose. Damn, I need out of here.

  “Don’t lie to me,” he hisses. He throws her to the ground. “You’re done.”

  He picks up his phone. “Come get her.” Pause. “Yes, fucking Lacey. Who else? Know any other female prisoners we are holding.”

  I glare at Rose warning her not to speak. I could feel her ready to make a sarcastic comment referencing herself. Boss is pissed and she does not want to fuck with him right now. Besides. She’s not a prisoner. She’s mine.

  He slams his phone shut and turns to Lacey. “Giovanni’s on his way to retrieve you.”

  Her eyes go so wide. Something passes between the two of them. I can almost feel her disappear. She retreats so far into herself I wonder if anyone will ever be able to find her again. Boss doesn't seem to care so that’s that. Doesn’t matter.

  Boss turns to me. He looks suddenly tired.

  “That’s all for today. Take your girl and get out of here. I’ll call for you in a bit. We will discuss the hard drive and other important matters. Go.”

  He flicks his hand. He’s done. I stand to go to Rose. I move to help her up, but she snatches her hand away.

  “Don’t touch me,” she hisses. “You’re a demon.”

  I crouch in front of her.

  “Not the devil?” I laugh. “I'm surprised.”

  “No. He’s the devil. You’re a demon. The main demon.”

  The wording is funny, but I find myself offended. Like he’s better than me.

  “Stand then,” I growl.

  She’s struggling so bad. I roll my eyes and pull her to her feet, not giving a hit about her protests.

  “She anorexic?” Boss calls out.

  Rose rolls her eyes.

  “No. Just hates food when she’s stressed out.”

  “Isn't that anorexia?” he laughs.

  “No. They care about weight, right? She’ll eat if I force her. She doesn’t freak.”

  “You two can just ask me! No, I'm not anorexic! I just don’t like to eat when I'm stressed out. Bad habit. I’ll eat if I have to or need it or whatever.”

  “She’s feisty.”

  “I know.” I grin at boss.

  “Get out of here. You’re in Marcelo’s old room. It’s been set up for you.”

  He’s lightened up a bit. I help drag Rose out. When she’s out the door she turns to me frantic. I can feel the adrenaline running through her veins.

  “Where’s that girl?”

  “Who knows?”

  “Are they… gonna hurt her?” She looks at me, pleading. “Please don’t. She’s hurting enough.”

  “Not my call, but probably. She really disrespected boss in there. Don’t give us a reason to hurt you and we won’t.”

  “You’re monsters.”

  “Did you not hear what I just said?”

  “What about my job?”

  “They know you put your notice in. You needed to go ‘find yourself’.”

  “They’ll never believe that!”

  “Even if that were true, do you think it matters? They have nothing to go on, but conspiracy theories.”

  “You can’t do this,” she chokes.

  “Oh, I can.”

  I open the door and push her in. I already feel this room is my own. In my mind, it has been for a while. I have full control of the maids here now. I pick up the phone.

  “Bring us chicken, broccoli and sweet potato. Two plates.”

  Then I hang up.

  “What if I don’t like that?”

  “You’re going to take care of your body while you're here Rose.”

 
“No.”

  “Oh yes, or I will make your life a living hell.”

  “You haven’t already?!” She smacks my chest. “My dad you asshole! My dad! How could you do that? How could you?” She keeps hitting me, pathetically, until her arms and legs give out and she crashes to the floor with her face in her hand and cries. “He was an awful, awful person who loved me.”

  She really is cursed.

  “How could you know? How could make me relive that? I’ve really tried to make up for all the bad he’s done, but it will never be enough. More than…” she chokes and tries to gather air into her lungs, “More than forty people. FORTY! I was his precious flower. His warrior princess.”

  She cries again. I pick her up and place her on the bed. The maid walks in then. She looks at Rose, hesitant. I gesture for her to set the tray in front of the bed. The maid sets it there and scatters as quick as possible. The maids know what we do, but we leave them in the dark and leave most things to their imagination. We pay them well enough to keep them quiet.

  “Eat Rose.”

  “No.”

  She turns away from me. I stare at the ceiling before turning to her. I grab her arm and drag her to the edge of the bed. She kicks and screams and struggles. I grab her jaw forcefully.

  “You will eat your meal. Do you hear me? What your stay is like here is entirely dependent on you.”

  “It’s not a stay! You took me!”

  I shake my head. “I don’t remember you being this argumentative back at the center.”

  “I guess you bring out the best in me you asshole.”

  I grab the tray and stick it in of her. I point. “Eat.”

  She glares at me, grabs the fork and stabs a piece of broccoli, shoving it in her mouth, not once turning away from me. She glares at me the whole time. Hating me. Damn, if it doesn’t make me want to shove her back on the bed and fuck the attitude right out of her.

  “And you will finish. When you do, you can shower and change.”

  “I hate you.”

  “Oh, I know.”

  Chapter 13:

  Boss:

  I should be thinking about Sven’s new role and how I’ll ensure his loyalty or the girl he brought to our place.

  But no.

  My mind is solely on Lacey. What the fuck did she mean when she said she couldn’t stay captive ‘even for’... Even for who? I assumed she was kidnapped. Taken. Then she denied me. In front of Sven. In front of everyone.

  I sent her away with Giovanni out of anger. As Boss, it was the right thing to do. I had to show her her place. Show Sven she meant nothing to me. As a human being, a part of myself I thought I had squandered, it killed me. She looked hurt. No one else would be able to read that, but I know her like I know myself, unfortunately. It’s like her feelings are my own. I feel them that powerfully. She expected different from me. I just don’t know why she’d think I was anything less than a monster.

  After the shock and pain wore off she disappeared inside herself. I turned away to keep Sven from noticing. I have to be on guard around him.

  But I did fucking notice.

  Lacey fell into herself. So far. And it fucking bothered me.

  I know she’s with Giovanni now. As Boss, I need to leave it be, but I can’t. I can’t. I need to at least know if he’s hurting her. I need to know if I lost her forever because of what I did. If I finally cracked her. Broke her.

  “Gioele!” I snap. “Keep an eye on things. I have business to take care of.”

  I storm down the hallway. On a mission. I have to get to her. I skip stairs, as I walk down to where Lacey is held. My face is set in a grimace. I'm furious at myself, my actions and my feelings.

  My fear.

  I don’t hear any noise and for some reason that sets my teeth on edge. I round the corner. Lacey is in her cell, on the floor instead of the bed. Hiding in the corner. I don’t see Giovanni which surprises me. I expected to find him beating her. Then I would have more of a reason to kill him. Yet, what I see haunts me more.

  Lacey has her dress lifted up to the hem of her panties. She has a small shard of glass in her hand and is slicing through her skin with it, absentmindedly. Like she’s in a trance. I want to move, say something, but I'm haunted by her. The dead look in her. The way she cuts herself without feeling the pain. She looks like a ghost except for her blood.

  I don’t like seeing her blood.

  Right as I'm about to stop her Giovanni rounds the corner, belt undone. I see red. Not just red. Fire. Fury. Hell. Rath.

  “You little fucking slut…”

  Lacey jumps and smooths out her dress, drops the glass and looks at him with the same dead look in her eye.

  “When I'm done with you you’ll…”

  “She’ll nothing!”

  I round the corner and cock my gun. I want to slice him into a million little pieces. Rage swells within me. I glance at Lacey. For a moment the dead in her eyes is gone. Replaced by pure shock. She’s only looking at me.

  “You are fucking lucky I don’t want to kill in front of her anymore. Because you’d be dead ten ways from tomorrow if that wasn’t the case.”

  I glance down at his loose belt. I have to breathe through my nose to gain control. I don’t know if he was going to beat her with the belt or worse. I’ll find out though. Whatever it is I'm sure he’s done it to her before.

  I glance at her. I can’t kill in front of her again. I have to stay in control.

  “I knew you had a weakness for this girl. I fucking knew she meant something to you.”

  I walk over and smack him upside the head with the gun.

  “You’d do best to shut up.”

  “Boss, think. She’s just a…”

  “Turn away Lacey.”

  I don’t turn to check to see if she listened. I know she’s listening.

  I grab Giovanni by the throat. “You’re lucky I don’t have time to kill you the way you deserve,” I hiss.

  I shove his disgusting body away from me and shoot him in the head with perfect aim. I stare at him one more time, shaking with rage. I want to slice him into tiny pieces. That was too quick! Way too fucking quick and painless. The rage that made me successful is suffocating me right now. That is until I glanced at Lacey. She’s huddled in a ball, leaning against the wall with her head tucked into the nook between her legs and the wall. Her eyes are squeezed tight and her hands are over her ears. She looks like a young child... but she’s not. She’s the strongest woman I know. A weakness I can’t allow myself, but I can’t turn away from her in this moment.

  I walk over to her, hands shaking. I drop the gun without even looking at Giovanni’s dead body. I gently move one hand from her ear.

  “Don’t open your eyes.”

  She nods, barely moving at all. Trusting me, even after I willingly handed her over to him. I place my hands under her knees and neck, and lift her off the ground, holding her tight to my body.

  She keeps her hands curled in her lap, wanting or knowing not to touch me, but she tucks her head into my chest. I squeeze her tighter.

  “Don’t look,” I repeat in a whisper when we pass Giovanni.

  She curls inward. I blink hard. So alone. I'm so fucking alone, but so is she. She has so much love to give, but I give nothing but hate and pain. She’s so much better than me.

  I rush down the hall. No one can see me with her like this, especially not Sven. But everyone would be a risk.

  When I finally reach my room I throw the door open and close it quickly. My sanctuary. I set her on the edge of the bed. Forcing her to uncurl from her ball, so her legs hang over the end. She still leans forward, hiding her face with her hair and her hunched over posture.

  I take a deep breath. What the hell do I do? Why did I bring her here? What have I done? FUCK. I'm too fucking old for this, and too fucking young to end up alone.

  “Can I really talk in here?” she whispers.

  My head snaps up. “Yes.”

  She looks at me
, her eyes teary. She opens her mouth and then closes it again, shaking her head. Giving me a rare glimpse into the fact she’s a real woman with feelings.

  “You made me very angry,” I say.

  “You hurt me.”

  I take another deep breath. “You disrespected me.”

  “You disrespect me all the time!”

  My eyebrows shoot up and her eyes widen.

  “No. Sir. I'm sorry. I…” She looks down, “please don’t hurt me. That was an accident.”

  I glare at her under raised eyebrows. We both know she crossed a line. The sanctuary of this room is an illusion.

  “I’ll let that go, but watch it. You have freedom in here but…”

  “I know.”

  “Alright.”

  I'm being a fucking idiot. This shit is all going to backfire. I twist the gold ring on my finger and sigh. I go into my bathroom to find the first aid kit. I walk back out and set it on the bed next to her. She furrows her eyebrows.

  “He didn’t…”

  “No, he didn’t.”

  I grab the hem of her dress. Her hand jumps out and grabs mine, trying to stop it. Something happens when she touches me. We both freeze. She stares at me and I stare at her, in shock. She quickly pulls away and looks down at her lap.

  “Please don’t.”

  “It could get infected.”

  I lift her dress and tuck it into her underwear. I take a deep breath and sigh when I see the deep red gashes on her thigh.

  “Geez Lacey.”

  She ducks her head further.

  “Where did you get the glass?”

  “Giovanni broke a wine glass. I took it.”

  I smile. “You’re a little thief, aren’t you?”

  She shrugs. I dab disinfectant on her cuts. She doesn’t wince even though I know it hurts.

  “Lacey…”

  “I know what you are going to ask. Sir, I can’t tell you.”

  Anger swells, but I try and swallow it.

  “Why?”

  “I’ll tell you things that affect me, but, sir,” her eyes water, “you’re dangerous. The most dangerous. I can’t let other people hurt because I don’t know how to stay quiet.”

  “Okay. Things that affect you. Fine. I wanna know about your cuts.”

  She jolts. I hold her in place so I can put on the gauze and then bandages on her cuts, before smoothing her dress back down.