Page 73 of The Freedom in Captivity

Damn.

When the woman falters and Rafael is right there to catch her, I remove Rozelyn from the room entirely and start walking her toward the staircase and the bedroom assigned to her.

Rozelyn’s speech signalled not only the ending of De Falco’s life and the possible beginning of war, but the end of her and me. It was pure chance eleven years ago I fell for the woman who’d one day affect my future family’s lives.

With my right hand, I make a fist, hiding that scar away. That promise had been kept. We made our way back to one another, but exactly like we’d both been saying since that day, neither of us are the kids we once were and this is where chapter two of our story ends.

It’s now up to Nico and his parents to decide what to do with her. If they’ll hold her to her father’s crimes alongside him or release her into the wild, where she’ll likely track down her sister and they’ll live the remainder of their lives free from De Falco’s treachery.

I’m silent as I stalk through the hallways, heading to the smaller guest wing. Rozelyn’s also quiet with only the jangle of the chains filling the space. Her shoulders are bent inwards, her head lower than I’ve ever seen. I’d kill to know what’s in her head, after revealing all that she had.

I’ve pieced together why she wants her father dead. For the abuse, there is no love between them any longer. Rozelyn’s turned her back on him the same way he did to her many years prior.

We reach her new bedroom and I push open the door, stopping at the doorway to lift the chain from her shoulders and over her head, tossing it to the floor. Without her collar, she’s free.

Ocean-like eyes flash to mine, the skin between her brows furrowing until I tip my head, indicating for her to enter the room. She does, her mouth pressing into a flatter line, and I trail her, scanning the space Nico had prepared.

The room has been emptied of everything except a single lamp on the bedside table, the deep purple bedspread covering the king-size bed, the dark curtains draping the window—much smaller than all the others on this floor, a fact I’m certain Nico considered—a fresh set of clothing on the bed, and the bathroom across from it. Everything else, all the extra furniture, has been removed.

“So telling the truth gets me a private room.”

“Could have had this the moment you arrived if only you spoke sooner.”

She spins, and the arc of her unbound hair, the momentary pass of glee in her expression yank me right into my head, into a memory of her doing the exact same thing.

When her spin ends, her curtain of hair falls around her but she tips her head back, her tongue peeking out to grab onto a falling snowflake.

I despise snow with my every fibre but seeing Rozelyn in it makes that hate go away. Such a simple thing to see her smile like that earns my respect.

It’s the first snowfall of the season and she was insistent to drag me outside to the field. I can never deny her anything, not if it makes her so happy. It’s not a lot, only an inch of snow has fallen between arrival and lunch, creating a blanket over the field that the grass still pokes through in some places. But she was determined to be the first to walk through it and break the peace nature was constructing.

I stride over to her and take what I’ve come to care for more than anything else in the world between my hands and kiss her. Kiss the small dabs of cold against the warmth of her soft lips. Watch as the falling flakes decorate her hair like a crown for a second before her body’s heat melts them and creates small wet spots.

It’s Rozelyn’s responding frown that returns me to the present because she didn’t frown that day.

“Yeah. Well, you know why I didn’t talk sooner.”

“Yeah.”Because you were insuring your own safety.

Everything I planned on asking her all falls away. Everything I wanted to say—gone. Nothing matters at this point because this is where our story ends. For good, this time. Our lives intersected once by chance, and this time, by battle, but there won’t be a third. Once the Corsettis make their plan, her father will be hunted. Rozelyn will have no further use to them after he’s gone, which means if they let her go, she’ll run fast and far away from here. And me.

I turn for the door after retrieving the chains.

“Wait.”

Her command stops me short, but I don’t face her. Not sure I can.

Once, she walked away from me, but this time, it’s I who’ll make the first step.

“You’re leaving?”

“As opposed to staying?”

Silence. But a heavy silence telling me she has more to say—unspoken answers to my questions.

A full ten seconds pass before she asks, “What’s going to happen to me?” Her tone isn’t soft or scared; that’s not Rozelyn’s style. Rather, confident. Assured. Curious.

“You’ll stay here until Nico decides your fate.”

---