His Rose in the Dark

Chapter Two – Touch Me and Die

DOMINIC'S PENTHOUSE – NEXT MORNING

I smelled her before i could see her.

Cigarettes. Vanilla perfume. Luxury poison.

I walked into the sunlit living room and there she was legs crossed, stilettos sharper than knives and sipping espresso like it was a lifeblood. Mara Langston. Dominic's infamous ex.

She turned her way. Smiled.

"Ah. The auction girl."

I watched my mouth rise into a smile, polite and deadly "You're the past he never mentions"

Dominic stepped into the room behind me. His eyes flicked between us. Calculating and quiet.

“Mara” he said coolly “You weren’t invited.”

“You never invite me” she purred standing. “You just never stop needing me”

She walked up to him and laid her hand on his chest. His jaw tensed.

I stood still.

Watching.

Waiting.

He didn’t push her away.

“Say the word,” she whispered, “and I’ll make this… little game disappear.”

Her eyes landed on me like claws.

"She won't last a week, Dom. You'll get tired of her. You always do."

He didn't say anything.

That silence stung more than a slap.

LATER – HALLWAY

Dominic kept pace with me as i walked down the guest wing.

"Don't walk away from me."

I spun around on him. "Why? You didn't seem to mind when she touched you."

"She's not important."

"You didn't move. That told me everything."

He took a step forward. "Jealousy does not suit you."

"Neither does betrayal," I spit.

He grabbed my wrist. Not hard. Just enough.

"You don't question me, you're mine"

I laughed, cold and cruel "You bought a body. Not obedience"

He leaned in, voice ice. "Then start behaving like what i bought."

I didn't blink "Touch me again and i swear, i'll remind you that i'm not one of your whores"

He let go of my wrist.

We stood there, flames burning between us. He looked… almost amused.

"Careful" he whispered "Flirt with me like that and you'll have me forgetting i'm going out of my way to be civilized"

ROSE'S ROOM – HOURS LATER

I sat on the floor against the wall, burner phone in my hand.

R: Mara's here. He's distracted. Tonight is my best shot. Send the breach code.

???: Are you sure? If he finds out—

R: I'll be gone before he is. I just need five minutes in his office.".

???: Code sent. Be cautious. And Rose?

R: Yeah?

???: He's not the sole monster in that house.

I stared at the message.

Then closed the phone.

I already knew.

DOMINIC'S OFFICE – MIDNIGHT

The corridor was empty. Quiet.

I padded across the marble barefoot. My heart racing in my throat. One slip, one calculation wrong, and it was finished.

I entered the code.

Door clicked.

I crept in.

The room was dark. I turned on the desk lamp, pulse racing.

Papers. Files. Laptops.

I went straight to the safe behind the painting.

Five minutes, I told myself.

I punched in the code Matteo instructed me to punch in. The lock clicked open.

Inside—hard drives. A ledger. A black folder marked "Valhalla."

I hesitated.

That was not where it was meant to be.

I grabbed the folder. Opened it.

My photo.

My birth name.

Rose Varela.

Below that, in Dominic's own handwriting:

“Daughter of Marco Varela. Presumed dead. Status: Unknown. Objective: Monitor. Evaluate. Do not engage until confirmed.”

My blood went cold.

He knew.

He’d always known.

I turned to run and slammed right into his chest.

Dominic stood in the doorway, shirtless, tattoos coiled around his ribs like snakes. His eyes weren’t cold.

They were furious.

“Touch that again” he said in a low voice, “and i’ll show you what it means to truly belong to me”

He came in, shutting the door behind him.

He locked it.

"You lied" he breathed and his voice barely human.

"And played God" I retorted.

He reached for the file.

I clung to it tighter.

"You want to know who i am, really?" I said, shivering. "Then ask me or kill me but don't think you ever owned the truth"

He took one step closer.

I didn't back away.

But my hand?

It was trembling.

DOMINIC'S OFFICE – MOMENTS LATER

The room was chillier than it should have been or maybe it was me. Maybe it was the way he looked at me now as if i were a gun he'd accidentally loaded and left on his pillow.

Dominic's hand rested on the doorknob, but he wasn't making any effort to leave.

He was trapping me in.

"You think i haven't dealt with spies before?" His voice was silky wrapping a knife.

"I'm not a spy"

He pointed toward the folder in my hand "Then what the hell is this?"

"Insurance," I said, lifting my chin.

His jaw tightened.

"You came here to exact revenge...didn't you?"

Silence.

He advanced one step. One. Two and his gaze never dropping from mine.

"You used the auction, used me. Got close enough to act, to play the poor and broken girl. Tell me was that little shiver when i touched you an act too?"

"I didn't fake everything."

Don't lie to me now Rose"

"I'm not lying," I growled and my voice cracking around the edges "You think you're the only one who gets to have secrets? You knew who i was. You just didn't say anything"

He ceased his movement.

His silence was telling.

"You knew," I whispered. "You've known all along."

"I suspected" he said finally. "But i wanted to be certain"

"And what would you have done if i was who you feared?

His voice dropped. "Kill you"

The air between us froze. Pulsed.

"So why didn't you?" I breathed.

His eyes burned into me. "Because i don't know how to kill something i crave"

LATER – ROSE'S ROOM

I sat on my bed, the folder still clutched in my chest like a lifeline I hated.

Everything was careening. My plan. My lie. My walls.

Dominic wasn't supposed to know this yet. He wasn't supposed to look at me that way like i was the betrayal he hadn't expected.

And i seethed with how it hurt.

The door creaked.

I looked up.

Not Dominic.

Mara.

In black leather and stilettos. Her lipstick blood red, smile tainted with venom.

"Nice little performance you put on," she said. "Beguiling the Devil for a few weeks. You were so close."

"Get out," I said to her.

She smiled. "Or what? You'll cry?"

I stood.

She did not blink.

"I've buried girls stronger than you, Rose."

"I'm not afraid of you"

"You should be" she said taking a step closer "Dominic may have kept you alive this long but he destroys things when they betray him and he destroys them slow"

"I'm not afraid of what he'll do to me"

"No" she said and her smile vanishes. "You're afraid of what you've already done to him"

She moved in close "He's not like other men. He doesn't fall easy. So when he discovers how deep your little revenge goes, he won't kill you immediately. He'll make you wish he had"

Then she turned and left, her perfume filling the air behind her.

DOMINIC'S BEDROOM – MIDNIGHT

He stood at the window, whiskey undisturbed.

I didn't knock.

He didn't turn when i came in.

"I came here to kill you" I said to him.

He did not budge.

"I wanted to kill the man who ordered my father's assassination. The man who burned my home. I thought it was you"

He slowly turned.

"And now?"

I swallowed. "Now i don't know anymore."

He took another step forward. His voice was a gentle hum "Your father started a war Rose. He killed families. Children and he cut deals with the Valhalla cartel behind our backs"

"He was trying to protect us"

"He was making a move to be me"

I had to shake my head "That's not true"

"Yes it is" he said "And i have proof"

He walked over to the desk. Opened a drawer. Pulled out a drive.

"I've been holding onto this," he said. "Waiting until I knew who you were. Waiting to see if I could trust you."

He pushed it across the room.

My fingers trembled as I reached for it.

"What's on it?"

“The truth.”

Before i could speak again, the door burst open.

Gunshots.

Shouting.

Dominic lunged, grabbing me and shoving me behind the couch.

“Stay down!” he shouted, drawing his weapon.

More shots.

Screams.

Then i heard it over the chaos. A voice i hadn’t heard in years.

A voice i thought was dead.

“Rose!”

I froze.

No.

It couldn’t be.

I turned just in time to see him.

My brother. Alive. Armed. And pointing his gun at Dominic.