Page 97 of Their Dark Rose

They disappear momentarily in the bathroom and then return with their sweats on.

I’m embraced by them after that, so high that I’m not sure which limbs belong to whom. Someone kisses my forehead, someone slides a hand up and down my thigh. Dirty words are being whispered in hoarse voices, promises of love and forever chanted like a prayer.

They’re being gentle, providing a safe landing for me to collapse on.

“How was work?” I mumble, feeling the need to say something too. Anything at all.

“Good, baby. We’ll bring you up to speed over breakfast tomorrow.” Finn presses his lips to my forehead. “Even though we weren’t there the entire time. We were around, but you felt us, didn’t you?”

“I knew it,” I laugh, smacking his naked chest, and he catches my wrists.

“Of course you did.” Mason’s palm flattens on my belly. “Our souls are bound. You’ll always sense us. And we’ll always feel you wherever you go.”

“What about her?” I ask the question I ask them every day.

“Nothing yet.” Falk’s voice comes from next to my ear. I twist to see the regret in his eyes for not catching her. “Walking into your kingdom will have to wait a little while longer.”

I’m a little sad and a lot grateful for being kept from my company. I realize staying home is a safety measure. I know one day in the near future I’ll be there, running it alongside these three men.

“Thank you for protecting me. All of you.” I bite my bottom lip. “I just wish I could’ve been there, too. I wish no one wants to harm me.”

A menacing growl comes from my other side, Finn’s chest rumbling. “We’ll fucking get her. Her and her fucking stepson. We won’t rest until we eliminate the threat.”

“Any day now.” Falk shares me with his brother, shifting me so my head rests on Mason’s chest.

“We’ll find them, eliminate the threat. Then it’ll be the safe for you to sit on your throne, flower.” Mason tilts my chin up. “We’ll fix this shit, and you’ll have the life you want. For you, us, and our future children.”

My chuckle can’t be contained. These men are desperate to breed me. It’s like they’ve been holding off on having kids their whole lives just so they could have them with me in the millions.

Who knows, maybe they have.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“The fuck they vanished,” Falk roars over the phone.

“They have, Falk,” Brent, our head detective, insists. “We’re not giving up, but as of now, they’ve vanished.”

I imagine most people’s Christmas mornings are laid back. In our household, things are a bit different. While the four of us aren’t working, and no one’s homeschooling me, we’re nothing but chill.

A week later, there’s no sign of Mallie and Thorn.

Which is why we’re huddled around the dining room table with Brent on speakerphone. None of us sit. We just stand around there, agitated as fuck.

The men are out for blood. Their need bleeds from their gazes. Their clenched fists and snarls mean war. I want my mom’s side of the family eviscerated, just as much as they do.

Once they’re gone, I’ll be able to start my life. I’ll be free to go out, not be locked inside these four walls. I’m eighteen, for fuck’s sake. I need to start being my own person. My eyes crave to see new people. My brain to be an active part of our Nightingale Construction.

For that to happen, Mallie and Thorn have to go. That’s the only solution to fix our problem. As long as she’s out there, as long as she’s after me, I’m not safe. And when it comes to choosing between her and me…well, the decision is an easy one.

She has to go.

“What does vanished mean exactly?“ Even levelheaded, Mason’s jaw tics from hearing this word one too many times already.

“Vanished as in we can’t find her.” Brent sounds frustrated at his own failure. As he should. “Neither she nor her stepson withdrew money, used their credit cards, or texted or emailed anyone.”

“Are you still surveilling her house?” Mason ignores the detective’s efforts, trying to find reasons why Mallie has been slipping through our fingers. “Are you and your men surveilling ours?”

“I hired more people. The best at what they do. We’re fucking everywhere, and they are nowhere.”

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