Broken Promises (Horsemen of Ruin #2)

Chapter 1

COLE

She was a wild animal.

I didn’t remember her being this way when we were together, but now, she didn’t hesitate to throw everything she could get her hands on at me.

I ducked as a dictionary flew at me.

“Rosebud, stop—” I ducked a flying romance novel. It hit the wall behind me. It had been three days since I showed myself to her, and she was still throwing shit at me. Giving me the silent treatment. Scowling. Silently hating me.

Well, except when she called me colorful names.

“Fucking asshole!” she shrieked, throwing another book at me.

“I came here to talk—”

“Fuck you!” she screamed, going to the fridge. I frowned as she pulled out half a gallon of milk.

“Rosalie, don’t—” The milk jug hit me in the shoulder, sending an ache through my back.

Fuck, she had a hell of an arm on her.

Honestly, I was surprised at how well-trained she seemed to be. Apparently, Ass Hat made it one of his priorities.

Dick.

This would have been so much easier if she were the girl I remembered. But she seemed to have grown into quite a force to be reckoned with.

I couldn’t lie.

That turned me on a hell of a lot.

It had been a long time since I’d had a kink unlocked.

Cha-Ching!

“I’ll let you punch me in the face as hard as you can if you just let me talk,” I said, holding my hands up. “I’m serious. I’ll stand here and let you do it. Free hit. If you knock me out, you can leave.”

She paused, a jar of pickles in her hand.

“Deal?” I asked cautiously.

She grunted.

“OK. OK. Come. Sit on the couch.” I gestured to the couch in the room. I’d spent weeks turning this place into the perfect sanctuary for her. I’d taken E’s old sugar room and had it converted into a small apartment for her. I even painted the room her favorite shade of lavender.

She came and sat on the couch, and I breathed out. I tried to sit next to her, but she shook her head at me and pointed to the chair.

Sighing, I took the seat and stared into her pretty face. I loved the blonde in her hair now. She wasn’t wearing makeup, but she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

She was a natural beauty.

The sweatpants and tops I’d left for her were too big because she was smaller than she used to be, so they hung off her a bit. I made a mental note to get smaller sizes for her. I wanted her to have dresses, but I figured this was better. For now.

I wasn’t sure how to say what I wanted to talk to her about, so I just stared at her, entranced by the fact that she was sitting in front of me.

“Speak, Scott,” she snapped at me.

I let out a huff of laughter at that. She’d never called me by my last name before.

“I missed you,” I said.

She blinked at me. “You missed me? You fucking missed me, so you decided to stalk me? Do you even fucking hear yourself right now—”

“Hey, wait,” I said, frowning. “Why do you think I’m your stalker?”

She gestured around. “Well, you did break into my hotel room, knock out Ryder, bust down the doors, fight me, drug me, and bring me to your fucking holding cell!”

I scoffed. “Rosebud, please. This place is immaculate. Did you see it has an automatic bubble bath dispenser at the tub—”

She grabbed a throw pillow and caught me hard in the face with it.

“Asshole! Fucking asshole! Let me go!”

“I’m not your stalker!” I shouted over her angry curses. “Rosalie. I’m not. I took you to prove how easy it was to get to you. I wanted everyone to see you weren’t safe!”

Her chest heaved as she glared at me. “So your little science experiment worked. Great. Why the hell am I still here then?”

“I-I’m trying to protect you.”

She widened her eyes at me. “By-by Cole-napping me?” She let out an incredulous snort. “You’re insane. You know that? They told me you got crazier. They were right.”

“Who the hell told you that? They’re lying—”

“Cole, look around you! You fucking kidnapped me! You’re literally holding me hostage! You don’t think that’s crazy? Not even a little bit?”

“I may have overreacted,” I said delicately, “But I had good intentions. A-And I even tried to fix your cuts.” I winced. I’d bandaged and stitched the ones that needed it. I was confident she wouldn’t scar because I was a bit of a pro at it.

OK. So maybe I did sound crazy. I hadn’t anticipated her fighting me and busting through a glass door, though.

She shook her head. “Let me go home.”

“No,” I said softly. “I want to talk to you.”

“I’m not a fucking stray cat, Cole. I’m a real person. I have a career. A family—”

“You have fucking Anson,” I snapped at her, my heart aching. “You married that prick.”

“Oh, that reminds me. Give me back my rings!” She plowed on, ignoring my words.

“No.” I shook my head. “Not happening.”

“Cole—”

“No,” I repeated. “I’m not giving them back. In fact, you’re getting a divorce.”

She laughed wildly at me. I watched as she held her stomach, her laugh so loud and genuine that one would think I’d told a joke of the year.

“I am not divorcing my husband. Get real.”

“You are.” I pulled the divorce papers from my hoodie pocket. “Here. Sign these.”

“I would sooner shit in my hands and clap than sign those,” she snarled at me.

“Jesus, Rosalie. What the fuck?”

“Try me, Scott,” she challenged. “I am. Not. Signing. Them.”

“Sign them, and I’ll let you go,” I said.

She raised her brows at me. “You’re nuts.”

I shrugged. “If you want to leave here, you sign them. We file them. You divorce him. You’re free.”

“And how will you prevent me from returning to him and remarrying him?”

I sat forward. “Because you’ll marry me instead. I’ll put my baby inside you.”

She shook her head and got to her feet.

“What?” I called out.

Sure, the idea was shit, but I was desperate. I was really hoping she remembered how good my dick was and would come running back at the opportunity to have it again.

She paused and breathed in deeply. “Let me say this plainly to you, OK?”

I nodded.

“I would marry you, then I would find Anson, fuck him, and send you the video to watch. That’s how much I want him over you.”

I swallowed hard.

“Harsh,” I mumbled, looking at my hands as I rested my elbows on my knees. “That’s fucked up.”

She said nothing.

I looked back at her.

“I understand I’m an asshole,” I said softly.

“I know this is crazy. I’m aware I fucked up.

” I paused and swallowed. “I was worried about you, Rosalie. I was. Every single news article or story lately has been about you being scared. I didn’t like that.

I have this overwhelming urge to protect you.

The years didn’t make it stop. If anything, they made it worse. ”

She said nothing as she stared at me.

I breathed out and continued. “I’m not your stalker. I don’t know who that person is. I’m just the guy who is still head over heels in love with you. I’m just an idiot who doesn’t think before he acts. I’m sorry.”

“Can you let me go?” she asked softly.

I shook my head slowly. “No,” I whispered.

“Why?”

I said nothing and looked back at my hands. She came and kneeled in front of me.

I closed my eyes as she cradled my cheek. Her touch opened the floodgates I’d been fighting to keep closed for so long. The tears rolled down my cheeks as she continued to hold me.

“You can’t keep me here forever,” she whispered.

“I know,” I said thickly. “I just… can you give me two weeks? Please? Just two weeks with you. If you still hate me after that, I promise to let you go. I just… I need the two weeks.” I looked up at her, still crying silently.

She thumbed my tears away, a look on her pretty face I’d seen her use on E before when he was going through his shit.

It was fucking pity.

She pitied me.

“Don’t pity me, Rosebud,” I whispered. “I know I’m a fucking mess, but don’t pity me.”

“It’s hard not to when you’re screwing everything up so monumentally fabulously.”

I scoffed at that. She wasn’t wrong.

“Cole. I have a family. I need to go home.”

I took her hands in mine and held them tightly.

“I-I know. You-You have a husband a-and a life. I know that. I just really need this time, Rosalie. I need-I need to prove to you that I’m worth it.

That you should come home. That I’m who you’re meant to be with. Please. Give me the time to prove it.”

“Cole, I’m married,” she said gently. “I love my husband—”

“You love me,” I said fiercely, reaching out and cradling her face. “You fucking love me, Rosalie. I know you do, baby. I know you’re angry. I know you think… fuck. I-I need the two weeks. Please. I really will let you go at the end of it.”

She closed her eyes for a moment. “My husband will kill you if he finds out you have me.”

“I can handle Anson.”

She laughed softly at that. “It’s your funeral.”

“I’d gladly die for you. You’re worth it,” I murmured.

Her expression softened at my words. “I don’t want my family worried, Cole. Please. If you care about me at all, you’ll let me go.”

“You won’t talk to me,” I mumbled. “If I let you go. You won’t. You’ll keep hating me. I need the two weeks to convince you.”

She laughed softly at that. “It would take you a lifetime to make me love you again after what you’ve done. For then. For now.”

Her words were like a shot through my heart.

I let my hands fall away from her face, my heart and soul breaking apart. There was no way she fucking loved Ass Hat more than she ever loved me. The thought made me want to vomit.

I wanted to tell her I never cheated on her. That I was never with another woman. That it has always fucking been her. That I’d gone to save E.

FUCK.

I breathed out.

“If you want to be free from me, you’ll have to kill me. I suggest you start thinking of creative ways, Rosebud. You have two weeks.” I got up and walked around her before going to her door. “And stop screaming. I soundproofed this place. The cameras are gone. No one can hear you down here.”

I left, the door locking behind me.

I had two weeks to prove to her I was worth it. I’d probably dug a deeper hole than I knew how to climb out of by kidnapping her, but hell, maybe digging deeper would get me to the other side.

Seemed like the best option I had right now, so I was going to roll with it.