Beautiful Rose (Elixir Billionaires #1)

53. Rose

53

ROSE

This morning can’t be real. I close my eyes, hoping that when I open them next, things will be different, but no luck.

Everything is the same.

I’m still sitting on the same couch. Sophia’s intermittent sobs continue to turn the air in my living room icy cold.

“Rose.” Kristy stretches her trembling hand toward me. “I’m so sorry.”

I shake my head. What is she apologizing for? Sophia’s lies have hurt her the same.

Whenever I secretly imagined this day, a day when someone would come searching for me, I always thought it’d be a bittersweet moment. My parents would have looked for me all these years, and now they wouldn’t be able to wait to bring me home. They’d show me my room, a place they would have set up in hopes that they’d find me someday. They would have birthday presents stacked for all my lost years.

But the truth turned out totally opposite. My mother went above and beyond to hide my existence. My dad thought I was dead .

Kristy squeezes my hand from across the couch. “I always wanted you to be my sister.”

Her words drag me to a childhood memory.

We were swinging in the courtyard of Kindred Hearts and Kristy said, “Why can’t you come home with us? I don’t like leaving you here. I wish you were my sister. Then we could always be together.”

The next day, I learned the word adoption. I begged Sophia to take me home with her. I explained to her that I’d be the best girl. At some point, I even hugged her legs, begging her to show me what home really looked like.

My eyes swim with tears, remembering the small girl and how this event was another of those that had made her believe she was cursed to be unloved for life.

Fishing photographic memory!

Masking the humiliation brought by the bitter memory, I squeeze Kristy’s hand in return.

“I’m so sorry, Rose.” I glance at Sophia, hearing her guilt-laden words, but I quickly look away from her puffy, splotchy face.

I don’t want to understand today.

All through my life, I thought it was somehow my fault that no one wants to be with me, but it wasn’t.

“No, Mom.” Kristy jumps from the couch and stands in front of her, our mother. “You don’t get to say sorry. You just don’t! You knew Rose wasn’t happy there. You knew she missed us whenever we went for vacations. You knew everything and yet you didn’t accept her.”

“Krist-ty, I’m sure S-Sophia had her reasons,” Zane interrupts, trying to pacify her.

“It doesn’t matter, Zane, because we’re all broken anyway.”

“Calm down, Kris.” Oscar pulls her in his arms.

“Can you believe it, Oscar? Can you believe what she did? You didn’t introduce me to Charlie until you were sure about us. You are always protecting him, protecting me. But my mom…my own mom—” Kristy sobs into his arms before pulling back. “God, what kind of mother will I be?” Her hands rest on her flat stomach. “Oh God, Oscar, how can we be sure that I won’t do something like this to our child?”

My heart achingly squeezes watching all this.

Sophia’s sobs grow louder, and Kristy’s crying heavier with every passing minute. All the noise and agitation become unbearable. I’m about to scream or have a meltdown when Zane perches beside me.

Putting his arms tentatively around my shoulders, he whispers, “Why d-don’t you get some r-rest. Once Zander and Beas-st are back, there will be more dis-scussions, I’m sure.”

I return to my bedroom and close the door, hoping the bolted door will keep the dreadful revelations outside. Under the covers, I’m alone with my thoughts, without the noise, the screaming, the sobbing.

For the first time since Sophia’s admission, I contemplate. What does all this mean?

How will this affect my life?

I’m pulled away from some airy space. But I don’t want to leave. I want to stay between the clouds for just a bit longer. I’m light-headed when I groggily open my eyes.

What was I dreaming about?

“Couch girl?” Zander coos in his gentle voice, his face inches away from mine.

“I—I don’t want to get up.” I twist and bury my face in the pillow. I just want to forget today.

“I know, baby, but you have to.” He caresses my hair. “Everyone’s waiting for you.” Zander observes me carefully, as he always does whenever he thinks I’m about to fall apart .

I hold his gaze and notice how much of a toll everything has taken on him. My breakdown over Kristy’s pregnancy, knowing Sophia’s truth, and God knows what happened with Roxanne. My fingers lightly stroke his weary face, and he closes his eyes and falls into my touch.

When his probing eyes are no longer fixed on me, I get some courage to give voice to my emotions. “I don’t know what to make of all this. For so long, I wanted to be part of a family, but today, I don’t want this. I want to run away to a place where everything is back to how it was two days ago.”

His eyes flutter open. “I know, babe. But now you do have a family. You cannot run away. You have to accept it.” Before I can protest, he places a swift kiss on my lips. “Everyone is as confused as you, couch girl. But we can’t just hide.”

I shake my head, about to tell him that I’m a pro at hiding. That’s what I’ve done all my life. But he places another kiss on my lips, this time taking it deeper.

“I told you last night, I’m here for you. Whatever happens outside, you’re mine, Rose.” He pulls me up and holds me close to his chest. “And you can choose who you want in our life. No one will force anything on you.”

“You’ll be next to me?” My eyelashes are sticky as fresh tears run down my cheeks.

“Always, couch girl.”

Hand in hand, Zander and I walk into the living room, where everyone is sitting with a coffee mug in their hands, except Kristy. The gloomy feeling again settles in my chest. The air in this room has never felt so melancholy.

How is this a reunion? This isn’t how we’re supposed to feel after a good news.

I’m about to sit down on the couch when Ash walks up to me. “Rose, I’m so sorry, my baby girl.”

His bloodshot eyes and grief-filled voice hit me with an onslaught of emotions, but it’s his words that kill me. For so long, I’ve waited for someone to say sorry .

As before, he opens his arms for me and I step forward, trying to soak up the warmth of his love. But this time, he doesn’t let go. Ash holds me close to him, and I can feel a shudder coursing through his huge frame. He radiates mixed emotions of happiness, grief, and surprise, which resonate with mine.

My father.

I never imagined or thought about a father.

But even if I did, Beast would never make an appearance in my wildest imagination. He’s an honorable man. He’d never let his family slip away. He’d move heaven and earth before something bad could touch his family.

“I’m so sorry, my baby.” His glossy eyes make the lump in my throat larger, and it’s hard to swallow.

I hate to see him take the blame for something he didn’t do. “I’m not angry at you. It wasn’t your fault,” I whisper as he slowly releases me from his tight hold.

Before I can walk away, Ash grabs my hands, pressing on them and forcing me to glance up at his face.

“I didn’t even know you existed, honey. It’s my fault through and through. I should have checked that day at the hospital. I shouldn’t have taken the doctor’s word for it.” His head jerks from side to side as his grip on my hands tightens.

“I don’t blame you.” I try to take away some of the guilt he’s harboring.

Sophia walks over to us. “Rose is right, Ash. It’s not your fault.”

I try to take a step back at her arrival, and Beast’s gaze falls to me. But he doesn’t let me go far, tightening his grip on my hands.

“I’m to blame for everything,” Sophia says in a throaty and brittle voice. “I was weak and scared. I didn’t care about anything except myself. Even when I found out Rose was ours, I got terrified of what would happen to her, to me, if they found us again. ”

As much as I hate it, my heart squeezes at Sophia’s words. There’s no one in this room who’d understand her fears better than me.

“Later, I was petrified of the day when Kristy and Rose would eventually find out what I’d done. I was terrified of today.” Her chin trembles, and she wipes her cheeks, but more tears run down.

Beast places an arm around Sophia and pulls her close. I suddenly realize I’ve never seen Sophia with any man.

My heart mumbles, She was alone too .

Kristy stands beside me, and I glance at her tearstained, sad face before replying to her bittersweet smile with my own, until realization sets in.

This is my family.

Everybody’s gaze is locked on me. I can feel the hope floating around, and I have to look away.

“I can’t forget.” I somehow get the words out through the heavy block around my throat.

Immediately, Zander is behind me, and I lean into his familiar touch.

When Ash lets go of my hand, I turn around into Zander’s arms.

“I don’t know if I can forgive,” I mumble “At least not so soon.”

After everyone leaves, Zander and I return to his hotel suite, and we promptly decided on a bath.

“How are you feeling?” He gently strokes my calf underwater. I rest my head on his shoulder and notice the intricate details on the ceiling above the bathtub.

“I remember the times when I wished Sophia was my mother. I’d imagine the day she would take me home with her.” When he places a featherlight kiss on my forehead, my eyes shut involuntarily. I’m so thankful for his love today. It’s the only constant thing in my life, keeping me sane while everything else has been turned upside down. “But I never imagined feeling this lost . I don’t know what to…think.” I lean forward and puncture some of the bubbles in the bathwater. “What do you think will happen next?”

Zander’s fingers start massaging my shoulders, and I try to relax the tight muscles under his gentle touch. “Most likely, Beast will bring Sophia home. They’ve lost a lot.”

I nod. They did. They lost each other and their life together.

“Is h-he really gone? Are they both gone?” I whisper, still not completely believing that my worst nightmare is over.

Zander’s body goes taut behind me. I feel his curt nod as he places his chin on my shoulder.

I close my eyes, trying to fill my lungs, my heart, with fresh relief.

I can live now.

My brain struggles to think freely, but it’s so hard. I don’t know what I can and cannot do. Living in fear is the only way I know.

I close my eyes, trying hard as Zander caresses my back.

He knows what I’m feeling.

He knows me.

My eyes open, and a small smile pulls on my lips as a stray tear runs down my chin.

I know what I want.

I turn around, sloshing some water on the floor before throwing my arms around his neck. “Will you marry me?” I blurt.

He freezes and his wide eyes simply stare at me for some moments before he speaks. “You—” His voice comes out as a squeak. Clearing his throat, he starts again. “You want to marry me?”

“I always wanted to marry you.” Did he change his mind? A fearful fluttering develops in my stomach. “Why are you so surprised?”

He doesn’t answer my question, but instead asks me, “When do you want to get married?”

I can feel the giddiness in his eyes and happiness radiating from his body.

“Soon,” I whisper and pull his face closer to mine.

“Tomorrow?” He breathes the word over my lips.

I shake my head. “I want to get married in our new house. I want to start our life there, with the happiest day of my life.”

“Thank fucking God,” Zander whispers before capturing my lips.