Chapter 25 Rosalie
ROSALIE
Iyawned, so exhausted that I wasn’t sure how I was still awake. We’d made up for the canceled show because of the tour bus, but it meant no break, as we would be going from Phoenix to Santa Fe for a back-to-back show. We’d originally had a two-day break, but that was now gone.
And everything was hell.
Everywhere we went, we were followed by paparazzi. Anson got us another bus, but my heart wasn’t in it, especially now that I knew they could burn quickly. Luckily, we hadn’t been in it when it caught fire. We’d gone into a diner and had dinner, only to come out to find everything up in flames.
That meant that whoever was following me was close.
Too close.
Or a copycat, as the police said, but why would anyone want to be leaving severed body parts behind and setting fires?
I asked Dante that, and he shrugged, said people do crazy things, then told me he was on his way.
Now he sat beside me with his tablet, grumbling about the bumpy ride every few minutes while Anson, Ryder, and Trent went over more security stuff.
“You should be home with your family,” I said as he cursed again.
“I am with my family,” he mumbled, scrolling through news articles. If I had to guess, he was looking up anything that might give us information on who could be following me.
“Dante.” I placed my hand over his, and he looked at me, his green eyes flashing. “What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing. I’m protecting my sister.” He made to look away from me again, but I placed my hand on his cheek and brought his attention back to me.
“Tell me.”
He sighed and looked around. “It’s nothing.”
“Liar. Tell me, or I’ll scream the word moist on repeat.”
He wrinkled his nose. “Why the fuck would you do that?”
“Because I know you hate the word. Moist. Moist. Mmmmoist.” My voice got louder with each word.
“Rosalie, stop.”
“Moist. Moist. Moist—”
“Rosalie…”
“Moist. Mmmmmoist. So mmmooooissstttt—”
“I-I can’t get Sirena pregnant,” he said, his voice cracking.
“What?” I crinkled my brows at him.
“I-I can’t. We’ve been trying for almost a year.
The guys are pissed because I make them wear condoms with her.
It feels like everything is going to hell.
There’s a lot of tension. Fucking Shadow used one of his overrules on me to end my go at a baby.
If she’s not pregnant in a few weeks, we’ll draw a name from a hat on whose turn it is.
All the guys want kids, so I guess…” his voice trailed off.
“I’ve never failed at anything in my life, Rosalie, but I’m failing at the one fucking thing that should be so easy.
” He shook his head, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
“You should be home,” I murmured. “I’m fine here. You only have a few weeks left to try, right?”
He nodded and looked down at his hands.
“Go home, Dante. I promise Ani and the guys are ensuring I’m safe. If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s survive.”
He said nothing for a moment before he looked at me.
“I’m not leaving you, Rosalie. I’m not. You matter to me.
I will just have to let this go. We still get to have a baby.
It’ll still be mine.” He visibly swallowed.
“I’ll be OK. I love you endlessly, and you are my responsibility, so I will always take care of you.
Protect you. Keep the monsters away. I vowed that to you.
I don’t break promises. You’re stuck with me. ”
“You’re a pain in the ass,” I said, smiling at him. I brushed his hair away from his eyes. “But I love you endlessly, too.”
“Good. Now I need to get back to work, and you should get in a nap.”
“Fine.” I rested my head on his shoulder. A tiny smirk played across his lips at the move.
“Dante?”
“Yes?”
“It’ll be OK. I promise.”
“I know. Now sleep, or I’ll seriously drug your ass.”
“There’s my grouchy, crazy brother,” I mumbled, closing my eyes.
He let out a soft laugh before going silent.
And that was that.
I woke to shouts and a lot of swearing.
“Are you serious? Cherry has a sex tape?” Cas roared loudly.
I blinked rapidly, confused about what was happening.
“What’s going on?” I called out groggily. I’d fallen asleep on Dante, but he was now pacing the bus as we sat idling in a parking lot. “Ani?”
He looked at me, his face a mask of sadness and fear.
“What’s going on?” I stumbled out of my spot and pushed past Ryder, who was blocking the computer screen.
“What the hell?” I choked out, reading the headline.
Pop Princess Bishop Linked to Lorenzo De Luca in a Raunchy Sex Tape
“Rosalie, you know Lorenzo De Luca?” Bane asked.
“We-We were engaged a few years ago,” I mumbled as I zeroed in on the news.
My stomach twisted as I stared at the article, an image of Enzo staring back at me.
It was his social media picture. The one where he looked so professional and dangerous.
And then a picture of me from a recent shoot.
Below that, a very real screenshot of me naked in Enzo’s arms as he kissed me in our bed.
I remembered that day. Cole had taken the video.
This was my nightmare. I’d been fighting this happening for years, and now here it was. The one thing I prayed wouldn’t come back to haunt me was glaring at me as I stood in the middle of a tour bus.
“H-How d-did this happen?” I choked out. “How did…how did they get this?”
“I don’t know,” Anson said softly. Tightly. “Lorenzo may have released it. Or Cole. Or… he wasn’t careful, and someone stole it.”
My throat burned as I tried to keep the tears at bay.
“Hey, Cherry, relax. Sex tapes happen,” Cas said, brushing it off. “I have a few out there.”
“Man, shut up,” Hex muttered. “Now isn’t the time, man.”
“I’m only trying to help—”
“You’re not. Just… stop, man,” Vic said, glancing at me as tears began to trickle down my cheeks. “Everyone this side of the fucking globe has seen your cock. Even Rosalie.”
“I-Is the whole video out?” I rasped, ignoring Vic’s comment.
“Just a clip,” Trent said, holding out his phone to me.
With shaky hands, I took it and stared down at the screen. In it, Enzo kissed me. Touched me. The sheet was around the important parts, but it was no secret what was going to happen before he moved on top of me.
I winced, bile burning my throat as the screen went blank.
My phone buzzed a moment later with a text message. I blinked rapidly and pulled it out to stare at it.
Unknown: That’s just a taste of what I can release. Give yourself to me, or I’ll release everything.
“Ani?” I looked up at him.
He snatched my phone and stared down at the message.
“What the fuck?” he snarled.
It was then that Dante finally stopped pacing.
“Lorenzo,” Dante’s cool voice called out. “We need to talk, motherfucker.”
Ryder reached out to me as Anson got on the phone again. I let Ryder hold me as I cried softly, not knowing why this was happening to me or what I could even do about it.
“It’s OK, red,” Ryder murmured. “It’s not going to be a big deal.”
“Liar,” I whispered through my tears.
I caught the eye of Trent, who looked at me with sympathy. I clung to Ryder. My phone buzzed again, and Anson handed it back to me as he continued to talk to the detective working my case.
“Evan?” I cried softly as I answered his video call.
“Ro, baby,” he said, his voice strained. “Hey, it’s OK. It’s OK. I’m going to come to you. Klaus and I. He’s packing right now.”
“No. No.” I shook my head. “Don’t. I-I don’t want you leaving Ellis.”
“Ro, you need us—”
“I have you,” I said, wiping my eyes. “I don’t want Ellis alone, and I don’t want her here. Please, protect her. If this person finds out about her—”
“OK, OK. We won’t come.” He sounded pained to say it. “Come home, Rosalie. Forget the tour, baby. Come home to us.”
“Then this person wins,” I said. “They’re trying to ruin me!”
“Fuck them, Ro! OK? Fuck. Them. Come home to me. Let me hold you.”
I cried harder but shook my head. “I-I am not going to back down. I worked hard for this.”
“Rosalie, it’s OK to take a break.” Klaus came onto the screen as he stood next to Evan. “A break isn’t defeat.”
“No. I’ll look like I’m scared.” I inhaled deeply. “I’m not afraid. I-I’m not. I’m finishing this. It’s only a few more shows.”
Klaus swore softly in German. “Hummingbird—”
“Do you trust me?”
“Of course I do,” Klaus said gruffly.
“Then trust me on this. I need to finish it.”
He sighed, clamping his mouth closed. I knew he was pissed, but I couldn’t let whoever this was win. The press would have a field day if I canceled my tour and went into hiding. It was career suicide.
“Ro, we only want what’s best and safe for you. We’re worried,” Evan broke in.
“I know. I’m worried, too, but you know this will screw up my career.”
Evan pursed his lips. “OK. We’ll do it your way, but I swear, Ro, if something happens to you, I will kill someone.”
I swallowed hard at his proclamation.
I had no doubts he would.
“You need to be practicing all the moves we’ve shown you. There isn’t a shortage of men around you to help you with this stuff,” Klaus said. “Every night. Practice. You do it until it’s like wearing a second skin. OK? Can you do that?”
I nodded. “Yes. I can do that.”
“Good, baby. Perfect,” Klaus said.
Anson hung up with the cops and took my phone to the bedroom we shared to talk to Evan and Klaus.
“Did you do it?” Dante demanded, speaking into his phone. I stared at him, seeing how angry he was. His hands shook as he held the phone.
“If I find out you had anything to fucking do with this, then our deal is off, and it’s war. Do you understand me? There will be no place you can run and hide from me.” Dante’s words sent shivers down my spine. “No fucking renegotiation. Nothing. Just death.”
I went to Dante and tried to pull the phone away from him. I didn’t know what I planned to do, but I didn’t want them fighting. Dante promised me he’d never touch Enzo and the guys, but he seemed really intent on doing it in that moment.
“Stop,” Dante snarled at me. “Rosalie. Stop.”
“Let me talk to her.”
I heard Enzo’s voice through the phone, and in that moment, I wanted nothing more than to talk to him and demand to know if he did this to me. To… us. Because his reputation was on the line, too.
And Anson.
God, Anson. He would have to deal with people saying shit about it. It would be humiliating for him.
“Stop. Rosalie. Fucking stop,” Dante shouted as I tried desperately to get the phone from him. “De Luca, I’m sending men to you. You better answer your door when they show up.”
“Let me talk to Rosalie. Dante, please—”
“One hour, or I’ll kill you myself.” Dante disconnected the call and gripped my face. I cried out at his tight hold, his monster coming through.
“I will protect you,” he said fiercely. “Even if it means I’m killing the things you need to let go of. If you don’t have the strength for the task, I will do it for you.”
“Dante, don’t—”
He released me and nodded at someone behind me.
Vic’s hands wrapped around me, and he tugged me away as Dante made another call.
“Everyone is mad. Emotions are high. Just breathe,” Vic’s soft voice rushed out into my ear. “Everyone needs time to make their threats. To get their anger out. Even you. Let it happen so we can move forward.”
I swallowed and turned to stare up at him.
“Cas really does have a lot of sex tapes out there,” he murmured. “And people still like him. They even made a dildo modeled after his dick.”
“I don’t want to be a dildo,” I whispered, my voice shaking.
“Well, I mean, you wouldn’t be…”
“Vic, you’re really not helping.” Ryder grabbed my arm and tugged me away from my band. He led me to the back room to Anson and gave me a pointed look.
“Talk to him,” he said softly as Anson continued his conversation on the phone, but he did glance at me. Ryder nodded to Anson before leaving the room, the door clicking closed behind him.
“Ani?” I called out as he hung up the phone.
“Come here,” he said softly, opening his arms for me.
I fell into them, sobbing into his chest as he held me.
“It’s going to be OK. We’ll get it all sorted. It wasn’t even that bad of a video. No one could see anything.”
“But what if he releases the rest?”
“Then he does, and we work through it,” he said fiercely. “Fuck this guy, LeeLee. I love you. I’m right here at your side. Always.”
I hugged him tighter, my stomach in knots.
“Are you here with me too, baby?” he asked, raking his fingers through my hair.
“Always, Ani.”
“That’s my songbird.” He kissed the top of my head. “Now, it’s a PR nightmare, but let’s use it to our advantage. I have some ideas.”
He wiped my tears, and that was it.
Crying time was over. Now, it was time to figure it all out.
And of course, he already had a plan.
Thank God.