Rose with a Thorn

CHAPTER NINE

I knew for a fact he wasn’t going to let me go, no matter what I did for him. But I loved Miranda and Amelia, and I would protect them the best way I knew how. Even if that meant I had to lie in bed with the Devil himself.

“Fine, I will try. But honestly, I think you’re crazy with this whole vision mystery thing. Don't be surprised if this doesn’t work.”

He didn’t say anything, but I could see him holding back a laugh. I walked over to Derrick and tried to shake him. I needed to make sure he was out or this could end really bad for me. I felt Keith shift behind me, to walk closer. I hoped he put the gun away so I could focus.

He didn’t move so I grabbed his hand and closed my eyes. I tried to concentrate on, well, anything. I had no idea what I should be thinking about. “Can you give me a hint... I have no idea what I’m supposed to look for.” I asked.

“I’m honestly not sure... maybe what he might be doing next week.”

I looked at him ridiculous. As simple as what he might be doing next week? He couldn’t give me any other clues? I rolled my eyes before I closed them, concentrating on next week, I guess.

The feeling didn’t creep up like usual, it hit me full force. I started shaking like crazy and I could hear whispers of someone’s voice. I couldn’t make out what the words were. But then I was gone, darkness consuming me.

I couldn’t feel anything. All I could see was darkness around me. It felt like I was floating in nothingness.

“Rose, Rose wake up. Come on, wake up.”

I jerked up to a sitting position, trying to catch my breath. I wasn’t in the dungy basement anymore, I was lying on a couch in a wide-open living room. Lisa was sitting on the ground next to me with a cold cloth in her hand. “Sorry I didn’t mean to startle you, Miss. Boss asked me to clean the sweat off your face before waking you up. He would like you to join him outside when you feel ready.”

“It’s Lisa, right?” I asked. She nodded. “Can you help me get out of here? I know I shouldn’t ask; you seem very committed to your Boss, but please, I’m begging you. Can you help me?”

“Sure, Miss, I can help.” Said Lisa.

My face lit up.

“Just go through that door right there and you’ll be out of the house.”

I sighed. That is not at all what I meant. I knew there was nothing else I could say to her, so I stood up and started walking towards the door. What I saw was not at all what I was expecting to see. I stopped in my tracks as I looked at Derrick tied to the side of the gazebo. My eyes circled around to look at everyone sitting and waiting. Keith made eye contact with me and waved me over.

“Did you wake up okay? I asked Lisa to stay with you until you were conscious again.”

“What the hell is going on, Keith? Why is Derrick tied up like that? What did I say?”

“Take a deep breath, Rose. I'll give you your answers in just a moment. We are waiting for one more visitor to join us.”

I was so confused. It must be bad if he was hanging up there like that. And all these people were just watching, talking amongst themselves. It was like we were holding a convention right now.

“Ahh... there she is!! Amelia, it’s so nice of you to join us!!”

My head whipped to the side. Amelia was here? What. The. Hell. This couldn’t be real. I stood up from the chair I just sat down in.

“Amelia!? You knew!?”

She looked at me, and her eyes widened in shock. “Rose! What the hell? Mom showed me your letter, we thought you would be long gone by now! What are you doing here? Dad... why didn’t you tell me!?”

The confusion and anger I felt must have been written all over my face. A few of Keith’s men stepped a little closer. I was aware of the fact that every single person was anticipating I would run, but I couldn’t get past the anger that was quickly building inside me. And I knew exactly who I wanted to direct it at.

“Are you f*****g kidding me? You’ve known he was alive this whole time? Did you know he’s been watching me? Were YOU watching me for him!?” I was beyond angry. No, angry wasn’t even the best word to use in this instance. My blood was absolutely boiling. She had to be working for him, she had to know he was alive. There was no other way. Was Miranda in on it too? Had my entire life been a lie?

I frantically looked around for her. My vision was completely blurred from the tears that wouldn’t fall. I swear crying is all I've done lately. I didn’t want to anymore; this entire situation was just too painful. My heart hurt, my head was pounding – this couldn’t be happening.

“Oh my god, Rose, calm down! Please!” Amelia said to me, panicked. “What the hell dad, why is she here? Where's mom?” Amelia walked over to me quickly, wrapping me in her arms. “It’s okay,” she whispered just for me to hear.

She wouldn’t act like this if she had been involved. I knew Amelia. She wasn’t that good of an actress, and I could feel her tears falling on my shoulder.

“While this is very touching, we have business to get to and then I will explain everything to the both of you. Grab a seat over there and we’ll get started.”

Holding each other’s hands, Amelia and I went and sat on the couch furthest away from Derrick. She must have just recognized Derrick tied up and unconsciously hanging there. I felt her body stiffen beside me before she started shaking, in anger or fear, I wasn’t sure.

I looked at her face. I could see she was holding back tears while staring at him. Before I knew it, she burst out of her spot and screamed at her father. “Why the hell is Derrick hanging there like that?” She ran to him. “Let him go! I love him! Let him go!”

She frantically started trying to undo the ties while I was sitting here unable to move, surprised at what she just said! She loved Derrick? I have never seen this man in my life until recently! Keith grabbed his daughter and pulled her away. He took hold of her face and whispered something to her that I couldn’t hear.

Immediately, Amelia started to relax, although she couldn’t stop her crying. Keith let her go and she walked over to me looking utterly defeated. She sat down and grabbed my hand again. I gave her a gentle squeeze before turning my attention back to Keith.

“I’m a whole lot of confused right now... Can you please tell me what is happening now? And why is Amelia really here?” I directly asked Keith.

“Where does one start... hm... Alright, so I positioned Derrick to keep an eye on Amelia early last year. Amelia felt like she was being followed so I told Derrick to integrate himself into her life, just not too close. We needed to be able to pull back if things in our world got too heavy. I didn’t want to put Amelia at risk. But the i***t over there decided that he was going to take into his own hands Amelia’s safety. They bumped into each other, and he charmed her into becoming his girlfriend.”

Keith gave Amelia such a disappointed look. She rolled her eyes and motioned that he continued. I didn’t think she had many words right now.

“While he has been reporting back to me, I started to notice that his time wasn’t just spent between our work and Amelia, but I could never figure out where else he was disappearing to. I had another man follow him one day and Derrick ended up walking into the police station. For sure, I thought, he was the rat, and I was going to make him pay. By the time I got to the station, Derrick was leaving with an elderly man, and I was stumped. After doing some digging, I found out this was Derrick’s grandfather, and he was ex-military. Derrick was occasionally visiting him and didn’t want anyone to know.”

“I knew about his grandfather,” said Amelia. “He’s a sweet old man. You better not have hurt him.”

“Rest assured, my sweet Melia bug, I did not hurt Derrick’s kin. In fact, Derrick offered his help to me. He said his grandfather knew a lot about the ins and outs of the police force and who could and couldn’t be trusted. But I didn’t get to the top of the food chain by blindly trusting anyone, no matter their relation to one of my most trusted men.”

Amelia looked relieved at that. I knew growing up that she had a soft spot for the elder population. It's something I had always admired about her.

“Anyways, I did some vetoing and interrogated his grandfather, when he told me that Derrick wasn’t as trustworthy as I might think him to be. He had secrets he was very good at hiding from his Boss... so good, that his own grandfather didn’t know for sure what he was hiding.”

“Everyone has secrets, things they don’t want anyone to know. That's part of what makes us human!”

“Yes, Rose, you’re right. But in my line of business, you don’t get to hide anything if you want to continue to be valuable. And I want to know what he thinks he can keep from me. I asked you to start with Derrick for this very reason. What I wasn’t expecting was what you said before you collapsed...”

“Wait, what are you talking about dad? What do you mean, what she saw?”

“Rose has visions of the future. We are going to work together to control them, aren’t we Rose?”

I didn’t say a word. Amelia looked pissed, like it was her right to know what was happening with me. I still wasn’t sure why she was here or what role she played in all of this.

“Her silence means yes, Amelia. And you are here because of what she said. Because you need to know what kind of a man you seem to be dating. I also missed you, my daughter. I know you’re still in shock from my phone call earlier and you haven’t had time to process everything, but I needed you here before I woke Derrick up.”

“What did I say then Keith? What could he have done worse than k********g your stepdaughter and man handling her?”

I had to look at Amelia after the words left my mouth. I needed to know for sure in any way if she had been working for her father this whole time. Her eyes went wide in disbelief as she turned to look at me.

“He did what now!?”

“Yeah, yeah... we’ll get to that later.” continued Keith. “Before you passed out Rose, you said ‘Mr. Claus. Traitor. Working for the other side.’”