23. Rose
ROSE
Tucked away in the garden, I thumb through the book on my lap in search of finding where I left off when I was last reading, but just as my bookmark splits the pages, a shadow falls across my lap.
Calvin.
"We have to talk."
I squint up at him as my heart lurches. "I thought you were busy with Ethan?"
"Ethan's being cared for," Calvin replies. "So I came back because we need to finish our talk."
"I don't have anything to say."
Calvin moves around and sits next to me on the bench, facing me with a grim look. "Yes, you do. I haven't told Kon about the kiss yet."
"Why?" I close the book and clutch it to my abdomen. "What are you waiting for?" If Calvin wants leverage, then I'll cave. Whatever he wants, I'll have no choice.
But to my surprise, he doesn't speak as if he wants to hold this against me. Instead, his expression softens.
"Because I'm worried about you, Rose. You said you were running out of time, and that a pregnancy could help save your family. Save them from what? Surely you know that if they're in trouble, then you can tell Kon and he will help you? You have to see how deeply he cares for you."
Tears warm behind my eyes and a stinging sensation rises in my throat. Calvin's right, which makes all of this worse.
Especially after my heart-to-heart with Kon last night in the bath.
He cares about me a lot.
He was betrayed once before and I'm set to do it all over again.
"You don't understand," I whisper. "What you're telling me to do is impossible."
"Then tell me why. If Kon can't help you, then maybe I can."
I scoff, unable to stop myself because yesterday I'd tried to get his help and he had rightfully rejected me.
My mind stumbles over several lies to explain everything away, but none of them feel like they'll satisfy Calvin's curiosity.
What choice do I have?
"You can't tell Kon."
"I can't make that promise, Rose."
"I…"
Fuck.
"My father…" I choke out and tears flood my eyes.
"He's in debt. A lot of debt. The kind that's impossible to pay back in any lifetime.
He likes to gamble, you see. He always has, but in the past few years, it has gotten much worse.
Everything he earned, he gambled away. You know how this world works, Calvin.
Can you even imagine how pissed any of Kon's suppliers would be if he didn't pay them their share of their profits? "
Calvin nods slowly as I sniffle.
"That's my dad. I love him, I do, but he's so single-minded in everything he does.
No loss is enough to make him stop. In my childhood, we had three homes.
We've lost them all. His competitors swallowed up his businesses as compensation and still, he kept gambling.
He borrowed money from horrible people and he couldn't pay it back. "
The damn's broken. Once I start talking, I can't stop. A chill sweeps down my arms and legs despite the hot sun gazing down from overhead.
"When he couldn't pay…" I blink, and a tear leaks down my cheek, so I hastily swipe it away. "They kidnapped us. My mom, my sister Beatie, and I. They wanted to take what they were owed in flesh." My voice wobbles violently and the next words that escape me are waspish and hoarse.
"The worst part is, I don't even think he noticed we were gone at first. He didn't come looking for us, he didn't answer any of the calls, and they were getting so angry. I did everything I could to protect my sister while my mom pretended none of it was happening."
"What about your brother?" Calvin's hand suddenly covers mine. "Did he do anything to help your father?"
Our eyes meet and more tears leak down my cheeks.
The words don't come but I watch the realization dawn across Calvin's face, and his eyes dart back and forth as the pieces slip into place for him.
"Mathew isn't your brother, is he?"
I slowly shake my head. "No. He isn't."
"Then who…" Calvin lifts his head. "He kidnapped you?"
I nod. "Him and his brothers. My father owed them so much money, more than I've ever seen in my life."
"Brothers? Rose…" Calvin urgently shifts closer. "Who are they? How did you escape—no. You didn't escape, did you? That's why he's still around. Why he visits so much. This is why your mother and sister weren't at the wedding, isn't it?"
I'm thankful he's working it out because I can't find the words. All I can do is sit there and hastily wipe away my tears.
"But why?" Calvin's gaze locks onto mine once more. "What is he making you do? Who is he really?"
"His name really is Mathew but he's not my brother," I choke out softly. "He's a Vasiliev."
"Vasiliev?" Calvin suddenly straightens up and a shadow passes across his face. "Oh shit. Oh fuck. That cunt who tried to kill Kon and Ethan on the road, he was a Vasiliev."
"The y-youngest."
"We thought it was the Italians, that they had hired some poor schmuck to take Kon out but it wasn't them at all, was it?" Calvin's grip tightens on my hand. "Rose, what does he have on you? What is he making you do?"
"I can't," I whisper. "If I fail, my family dies. I'm the only chance they have!"
"No!" He moves closer to me. "I can help you. Kon will help you. But you have to tell me the truth, Rose. You have to tell me everything—otherwise, no one can help you. Just tell me, please. We can fix this, we can—"
"Get your fucking hands off of her!" Kon's voice roars through the garden, and a second later, Calvin is ripped away from me by two guards who throw him to the ground.
"Calvin!"
He can't speak. Kon descends out of seemingly nowhere and tackles Calvin when he tries to get up. Then he's on top of him and slamming powerful, solid punches directly onto Calvin's face.
Horror grips me for a split second.
What the fuck is going on?!
I stand abruptly, sending the book cascading to the ground and I rush toward Kon. "Kon, stop! Stop!"
"Putting hands on my wife?!" he yells, punching Calvin again. "I trusted you!" Another punch. "You betrayed me!" Another punch that ends in a crack. "I will fucking kill you!"
"Kon!" I manage to grab his flailing arm and derail the next punch, but to my horror there's no warmth or love in Kon's eyes when he twists himself around to look at me.
"You," he snarls and he very slowly climbs to his feet.
Behind him, Calvin remains on the ground in a complete daze.
Blood coats his face, his nose angles in the wrong direction, and blood has sprayed the green grass around him like some kind of halo.
As Kon walks toward me, the two guards move past us and scoop Calvin up from the ground.
He doesn't make a sound.
His head remains hanging low and his arms are limp as he's dragged away across the lawn, leaving two faint gouges in the grass from his shoes.
"Kon! What the hell did you do that for?!" I yell, but the fury in Kon's eyes makes my breath catch in my chest and I stumble back toward the bench. "Kon?"
"I poured my heart out to you," he snarls at me and agony licks at the anger in his words. "Were you laughing at me? Did you find it amusing that I had my heart broken by a woman who could not remain faithful while you were doing the exact same thing?!"
"Wh—what?!"
"Do not play me for a fool any longer, Rose. I will not allow it."
"Kon, please. I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Yes you do. When it reaches me that you are having an affair, I think that it cannot be possible because how could I love someone who would hurt me this much? I tell myself that it is a lie and then I see the proof with my own eyes!"
"What…" My eyes dart back and forth while I frantically replay the last few minutes in my head, and I remember Calvin's hand on my arm. "Because he touched me?! You can't be serious! He was comforting me, Kon, because of—"
"Enough!" he roars.
I flinch backward and my racing heart plunges into my gut as he thrusts his hand into his pocket and drags out his phone.
"How long did it take? Hm? I tell you I am infertile and you just jump into bed with another man at the first chance you get?!"
I'm too stunned to speak so when Kon throws his phone at me, it simply smacks into my chest and plummets to the ground.
Tears cloud my vision, but I kneel and pick up his phone, only to freeze as a picture on the screen gives me all the answers I could need.
It's a photo from yesterday at the river when I tried to kiss Calvin.
It doesn't show him pushing me away immediately, or the tears after. It's taken at precisely the right moment to make it look like we're engaged in a kiss.
"Kon," I gasp and tears leak down my cheeks. "This isn't what it looks like, I know it looks bad but—" I glance up at him but to my horror, there's nothing but cold disdain across his face.
"I trusted you," Kon states coldly and hurt cracks through his voice. "I do not want to see you ever again. I am sending you back to your father.” Kon turns his back and begins stalking back to the manor, shaking pain from his fist. “Count yourself lucky that I am allowing you to leave alive."