Roses & Thorns

by Bry Ann

  To add to that. He would not kill you in front of me. He wouldn’t dare. Boss is smart. A genius even. He knows what moves to play and what ones not to. So, all in all, no you are not going to die slowly at dinner tonight. What you are going to do is put on a nice dress, clean your face and be by my side. Boss just wants to get to know you. He thought you were just a plaything, but he’s coming to realize that is not the case, so he wants to meet you. Properly. You’ll be around a lot. Especially if I can eventually trust you to leave this damn room.”

  “I can’t have dinner with him. He’s the devil.”

  I laugh. “No, he’s not.”

  “Are you kidding me? What about Lacey!”

  I can’t help but smirk. God if she only knew how he felt about her. Yes, what he’s having to do to her is awful, but it’s destroying him in the process. He’s paying for it.

  “You are going Rose. Not a choice.”

  She huffs but starts storming around the closet, grabbing shit.

  “An hour you said?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll end him if he brings Lacey and hurts her.”

  I laugh. “Yeah, I'm sure you will.”

  But I God I hope he doesn’t bring Lacey. Rose will lose it, and he will try and kill her, and I will be forced to intervene.

  I wasn’t lying. After Boss found Rose talking with Lacey he called me pissed, even though I was on an important call. He told me to make sure she didn’t fuck up like that again. Then he threatened her, and I may or may not have threatened him if he laid a hand on her.

  Stupid.

  But I did. So I own that.

  Then he realized I liked her. In a permanent way. I didn’t just wanna fuck her. He straight up asked me if she was going to be around. I didn’t hesitate when I told him yes. So he told me he wanted to start over with her. He told me to invite her to dinner, to make sure she’s behaved. He wanted to get to know her.

  So that’s what led to this point.

  I throw my shirt back on, run gel through my hair and sit on the bed. Rose is running around like a chicken with her head cut off. Ranting the whole time.

  “Seriously. I don’t know what is my life. Like. You are all monsters. Now I'm being dragged to a dinner with a Mafia boss and you are an underboss and you gave me an orgasm and now I'm putting on a stupid dress and I'm supposed to act like I'm not mad. When I am. The sad thing is no one misses me. I have no life to get back to. You ruined that you fucking asshole. I really hate you, you know? Fuck. You know I’ve never said fuck so many times in my life. Since I’ve met you I've been meaner, I cuss more, I'm just… not as good. I'm bad. So bad…”

  Laughing, I stand up. I don’t even know what the hell she’s talking about anymore. I'm still laughing, she’s still ranting when I lean against the bathroom door. It’s like Deja vu. She’s bouncing on one heel trying to get her other heel on. I walk over and put my hand on her shoulder, steadying her. She looks into my eyes and I know she’s having the same memory I am.

  The first time I kissed her.

  “You still kidnapped me, Sven,” she whispers when our eyes meet.

  Then she pulls away and continues getting ready. I go and sit back on the bed. I grab a ball off the dresser and lie back on the bed, throwing it up and down. Finally, she comes out. I didn’t look at her before, but I do now. My dick immediately springs to life. She’s wearing a light blue dress that scoops down to her upper abdomen, the bottom goes to her mid-thigh and to go with that she’s wearing black stilettos. Her hair is perfectly styled and her makeup is done to perfection, subtle like I like it.

  “Damn Rose,” I groan.

  I sit up. She’s killing me. I slowly look her over, taking in her entire frame. When I look at her face I notice she’s bright red.

  “You’re fucking sexy as hell. I'm not trying to embarrass you.”

  “Oh. Um. Alright.”

  Why is she so shy with this stuff around me? I know for a fact she’s not typically that way with men. I sigh. I really don’t know what the fuck I'm doing with her. I’ll always be a murderer/her kidnapper above everything else.

  I extend my hand. “Let’s go. I like to be early.”

  She takes it. Her palm is sweaty, but I leave her be. I'm dragging her to a dinner with Boss after he threatened her life. Nerves are to be expected.

  When we walk in the dining hall Boss is giving orders to Gioele and Frances. Well, yelling orders at them. There’s rum on the table, but he hasn’t poured any. I’ve never seen him drink. Like me, he’s all about control.

  He senses our presence the second we walk in.

  “Hello, Sven. Rose. Please sit.” He extends his arms in a welcoming gesture, but there is a darkness about him today. We both have to be careful. Rose has to be fucking careful. I’ve always wanted to overthrow him to get his power, but now I have new reasons. I don’t want to feel uncomfortable in anyone’s presence anymore. With Rose around, I do feel that way with him. I squeeze her hand to reassure her and then let go.

  “You look much healthier Rose,” Boss says, giving her a look I can’t interrupt. I don’t like it. The game I started is on now.

  “Thank you. I wish everyone could be as healthy as I am now.”

  She glares at him. Damn it, Rose. Let the Lacey thing go. I kick her under the table. Hard. She quickly looks at me. I’ve never physically hurt her but damn it, she’s gonna get herself killed before I can set my plan in motion.

  Boss narrows his eyes.

  “Yes. Unfortunately, life’s not fair. You should count your blessings that life is being fair to you right now Rose Marketta.”

  Thankfully, Rose catches the threat and clamps her mouth shut. I turn to Boss and we have a casual conversation, but there is an air of tension. He’s planning something. Something big. I’ve been a little distracted with Rose, but I have to focus now. The game is fully on. The Castelo’s, and now the Boss is fully himself. Ready to defend his title. Starting early. Planning. Plotting. Ready to squash me when I make my move.

  I won’t let him.

  The second we leave Rose jumps to my side and stays there tight until we get to our room where she pulls away and looks at me with narrow eyes.

  “Tell me I'm not the only one who felt that.”

  The threat. The power of the Boss.

  “No. You’re not,” I say, undoing my tie.

  She sighs. “Sven, I hope you know what the hell you’re doing.”

  Oh, I do. Calm down little Rose.

  I smirk.

  GAME. ON.

  Round two.

  Chapter 20:

  Boss:

  A Week Later:

  I'm not sure I’ve ever hated my job more than I do now. But I’ve also never been more focused. I feel like a machine ready to take down anyone in my way.

  First, the Castellos.

  Then Lacey.

  Then, Sven, when he inevitably tries to overthrow me.

  I have to say he is definitely the best underboss I’ve ever had, but he also has a weakness in Rose. She is exactly how I plan on maintaining my title. He’d pick her life over his desire for power. I know this for a fact. I learned it the day I threatened Rose and affirmed it when I invited Rose and Sven to dinner.

  I’m fucking exhausted now. It’s three days until our plan with the Castello’s goes down. Turning off my feelings and organizing this whole thing zaps every last bit of energy I have every single day.

  I get my door unlocked, never an easy task with all the locks. With that I head inside, shutting it behind me. The second I'm inside I know I'm not alone. My blood runs cold with rage. How dare anyone break into my room?

  My fucking sanctuary!

  They will die 1,000 deaths.

  I whip out my gun and slowly stride across the room, ready for any sort of attack. I round the corner of my bed, ready to shoot when I freeze. Literally turn to stone.

  What the fuck?

  What. The. Fuck.

  In between my dresser and
bedpost, not a big space I will add, is Lacey, tucked in a ball. She throws her arms up over her face.

  “Please don’t shoot. Please.”

  “What the hell are you doing in here Lacey? How the fuck did you even get in here?”

  And how are you so small? So vulnerable? Why are you affecting me like this?

  “Please don’t shoot me,” she whimpers, hands still up. “Please. My body won’t recover, not in the condition, it’s in. I don’t want to die.”

  I realize I still have my gun raised. I slowly lower it to my side, lifting the other hand to show her I'm not gonna shoot. She relaxes when the gun is back in its holster.

  “Lacey, what are you doing in here? How did you even get in?”

  Not even my men can get in here. And many have tried. Not one of them is living.

  “I needed to be me. I… couldn’t take it.”

  I stare at her, blinking a few times. Trying to process her words.

  “Why did you come in here?” My room.

  “You said… You let me be me… in here. No one has hurt me here.”

  A tear slips down her cheek. She wipes it quickly with a dirty hand. I realize she’s filthy. We haven’t let her shower. Part of the process of preparing her. Breaking her before they do. It’s a small mercy. Their process would be much more brutal.

  “Please don’t ruin it. Please. Please. It’s the one place.”

  Her tears turn to sobs. She hiccups and starts choking she’s crying so hard. Why is she here? Why me? I don’t care how many thorns I’ve wrapped around my heart. How many chains, doors, walls and deadbolts. With her tears and pleading, broken eyes she just broke through every damn one of them.

  “Stop crying.” Please.

  “I'm sorry,” she chokes and sucks in a huge breath, “I just… don’t take this place away from me. I'm so sorry for coming in here.” Her face falls to her knees. “Please. Please. Please.”

  I’ve never seen her this broken. Not outwardly at least. I crouch in front of her, placing my elbows on my knees as I watch her.

  “Lacey? Shh. Breath, okay?”

  She inhales a breath, along with a whole lot of snot. Nothing about the depths of her crying is beautiful.

  “Why did you come here?”

  She looks at me finally, her face red, blotchy, full or water and snot and more than anything else, vulnerable.

  “You don’t hurt me in here.”

  “You’re really at a level of pain you were willing to break into my room? The Bosses room, knowing you’d get caught.”

  I mean, yeah, she is on a physical level, but I know Lacey can handle it. And is smart to what risks are worth it and what aren’t.

  Strictly speaking, this was never a risk she should have taken. She’d be dead if it wouldn’t kill me to kill her.

  I'm a coward. I won’t do it myself. I can’t.

  Lacey shakes her head rapidly back and forth, answering my question like a child whose parent said the stupidest thing ever.

  “No. I can handle the pain. It’s that… you want to hurt me out there. In here… you don’t.”

  I turn and hide my face from her, squeezing the bridge of my nose. I'm being punished. I have to be.

  “And… I miss feeling human. I get to be a little human in here.”

  She sniffles. I turn back to her.

  “No matter what happens you are still human Lacey.”

  “No. You’re wrong sir. You can’t be human to survive this.”

  I shoot to my feet. “Do you not get this is my job?” I yell. “Do you not get that? This is my life! My decisions aren’t always my own! Some are just inevitable. Things I have to do. As Boss.”

  “I know. That’s why…”

  “Why what?” I snap.

  I soften when I see her hands shake as she wipes her hair back. She shakes her head, telling me no. I crouch in front of her again and place my hand on her cheek, against my better judgment. I shouldn't touch her. It’s like willingly touching the most addictive drug in the world. One even I’m not strong enough to fight.

  “Finish your sentence. Why what?”

  “That’s why I came in here. You don’t want to hurt me in here, and,” she looks at me, terrified of what she’s about to say, “and in here you don’t have to. It’s safe.”

  My heart clenches impossibly tight.

  “How did you get in here Lacey? I take every precaution. No one’s been able to get in here. Ever.”

  “I… um,” she bites her lip nervously.

  “I mean how the hell did you even get out of your cell? I have that thing locked and guarded?”

  I stare at her in shock. How the fuck?

  “Oh, um, that.” YEAH THAT. “Well, um, they keep a spare key in their shoes. Right?”

  I swallow and nod.

  “So, um, one of them was…” she looks at me and there is obvious resentment there, “doing to me what you told them to. Hurting me. While he was occupied with pure violence and rage I slipped my fingers into his shoe. I squeezed that same ankle with my other hand so he thought I was gripping it to cope with the pain. So then I had it and stashed it in my, uh, underwear. Kind of gross but I know you’d never let anyone go there. Then the guards go on break for lunch? It varies in time, but they always go. It’s information I stored. I started planning all this when the beatings and stuff started getting bad. It reminded me of the… other place.”

  My blood runs like ice.

  “I needed to get here. I had to!” A few tears slip out. “So I started skipping meals since then.”

  I look her over. I knew she’d lost a ton of weight. She looks frail, but I figured it was part of everything we were doing to her. Someone should have told me she was skipping meals.

  “When he left I grabbed the key and slipped my hand through the bars and unlocked it.”

  My men are probably freaking the fuck out right now. Good. They got outsmarted by Lacey. They’ll pay for that.

  “How did you get in my room? This room has the highest of security.”

  “Yes. It does. Um, when I was a little girl I used to sneak into all sorts of places I wasn’t supposed to. I liked to hide.” She tucks her chin into the gap between her knees and looks at me. “So I guess I got good at sneaking in places. So for your room, it took a little… um, finagling.”

  “Finagling!” I yell, not at her though. In shock. “Lacey. I'm the boss. My door has the highest security, best lock system possible! This is my fucking safe haven. No one gets in here!”

  She shrugs. “I did.”

  My jaw drops. I mean I knew Lacey was special, but I guess it never registered to me she could be so smart, talented and resourceful. I mean, almost on my level. This is an atrocity. This girl should be living the life of a queen, not a prisoner. Yet the Castellos still have to pay, and she is still the ticket. I finally get my jaw to close.

  She’s still cramped between my bed and the nightstand. I so desperately wish she was in my room so I could kiss her, touch her. She could be mine and I could protect her. I so desperately want to. When I heard her laugh with Rose. Her soft giggle. I’d never been so mad. I wanted to keep hearing it, and all I'm gonna do is destroy it. I'm so jealous of Sven. I could kill him. That jealousy is what is going to put me ten steps ahead of him. Jealousy and anger is the best motivation to crush a man.

  Sven has Rose and I’ll never have Lacey.

  I stand up and extend my hand. She looks at me, hesitant. Scared. I nod my head, letting her know it’s okay. She extends a shaking hand. When our hands touch we both freeze and look at each other. I have to shake my head to give my body the message she’s not mine. She’s doomed. A curse. I pull her to her feet. She wobbles for a second. I immediately reach out to steady her, on instinct.

  “Thank you,” she mumbles.

  Then there’s a silence. What now? I should send her off, have her count her lucky stars she’s still breathing for breaking in my room.

  “You’re filthy. And shaking.” />
  “I…”

  I raise a hand. I go into my closet where I have a decent sized mini fridge. I keep it in here for times I don’t want to leave. When I need to be alone. I need to think. Right as I'm reaching in the fridge my phone starts ringing. I sigh and walk over, flipping it open to answer.

  “Yes.”

  “Boss.”

  “What?” I snap. It’s Frances. I can tell he’s nervous.

  “Boss, I have no idea how this even fucking happened, but we can’t find the prisoner anywhere.” I glance over at Lacey, who is standing in the bathroom doorway, fidgeting. I smirk. This little thing outsmarted all of them. It’s very funny actually. “Sven’s just been made aware, and, of course, he’s on it.”

  “Good. I want to speak with the guard who was supposed to be watching her. Put him in Lacey’s cell. Seems fitting I think. Everyone else. Find her,” I snap. Then I hang up.

  She looks at me wide-eyed and confused.

  But I'm here, her eyes seem to say.

  “Why not have a little fun” I shrug, in response to her questioning eyes. Her eyes light up. I smile at her and wink. What are we doing? I shake my head and go back to the fridge. I grab a freshly squeezed carrot juice and a carton of walnuts. I hand them to her.

  “Eat.”

  She stares at them wide-eyed. We’ve been feeding her nasty ass food. I'm sure this is such a treat for her. I can’t even imagine what the Castello’s fed her before she ended up here.

  Yeah. This must really be a treat.

  She turns from the doorway and goes to the carpeted area below my bed. She takes a seat criss-cross on the floor. I stare at her. She places the carrot juice in front of her on the floor and opens the walnuts. Her hands are shaking a lot, but her eyes are fully focused on the food. She’s excited and trying to hide it, scared I’ll take it away. I lean against the doorframe of the bathroom with my arms crossed over my chest and watch her.

  She takes a sip of the carrot juice after a stuffing a couple walnuts in her mouth. She moans in pleasure the second one touches her lips. Immediately my dick springs to life. I quickly turn away from her. She’s too happy and I can’t stand that. I glance over my shoulder once, too weak to resist. She’s wearing a white cotton t-shirt and white cotton shorts and panties. They are both dirty and ripped. She’s braless, but the whole thing is just so appealing. So innocent. So Beautiful.