Chapter 31 Rosalie
ROSALIE
“Are you sure you’re OK?” Ryder asked as we got into my hotel room. We’d opted to stay at a hotel here since we’d be here a few nights.
I rubbed my eyes and nodded. “Yeah. I’m fine. I just need to sleep.”
Ryder gave me a sympathetic look before I turned to walk away. Instead of letting me go, he grabbed my hand and gave me a gentle tug back to him.
I stared up into his eyes.
“I have watched you for over half a decade, red,” he whispered.
“I know when you’re hurting. When you’re lying.
When you’re scared. You can sleep if you need to, but eventually you have to deal with all this.
And by all, I mean everything, right down to you, Blondie, and sweetpea.
Seeing him tonight has clearly opened old wounds.
I’m going to ask you again. Are you sure you’re OK? ”
I swallowed hard as I stared up at him. “I-I’m not.”
“Come here.” He dragged me into his arms and held me tightly against him. “It’ll be OK. It might be a range of OK, but it’s still OK.”
I nodded against his hard chest as I clung to him. I felt so alone. I didn’t have Evan, Klaus, or Ani here with me. That’s how it always was. When they weren’t around, I had Ryder.
“You need sleep,” he murmured. “Anson should be back soon.”
“OK,” I said, making to back away, but Ryder lifted me into his arms and smiled down at me.
“What are you doing?” I asked, crinkling my brows as I stared up at him.
“Taking you to bed. It’s been a long day. It’s the least I could do,” he said as he walked us to my bedroom in the suite.
Gently, he sat me on the bed.
“Ryder…?”
“Just…sleep, OK? We’ll talk tomorrow. I’m tired too. Being back here just sort of opened up a lot of old memories, I guess.”
I nodded. I could understand that.
He placed a tender kiss on my forehead before leaving me alone, his head hanging.
I didn’t know what was up with him, but we were both exhausted.
We could figure it out tomorrow. He never took time off.
Even when I wasn’t on tour, he was working, whether with me or with someone else Klaus assigned to him.
Sighing, I got up and went to my bathroom, noting that my shades were drawn, the heavy curtains pulled tightly together.
Quickly, I showered and pulled on a short purple nightgown and went back to my room and frowned. My curtains were open slightly now.
“Ryder?” I called out, going out to the living room area. “Hey, Ry—”
A cry left my lips as I saw him lying on the floor, his eyes closed. I rushed to him and saw he was out cold. Quickly, I checked his pulse, and it beat strongly and steadily. There was a trickle of blood on his cheek from his hairline, with a bruise forming. A lamp lay broken nearby.
“Ryder.” I shook him, my heart pounding hard. “R-Ryder. Please—”
Knowing I needed to get the hell out of there, I stood and turned to run back to my room to get my phone so I could call for help, but I came face to face with a big man dressed in all black, his face completely covered, sunglasses over his eyes.
He reached out for me, and I sprang into action. My knee came up and caught him in the groin. He let out a grunt of pain and doubled over.
I took that opportunity to hit him in the face as hard as I could before shoving him. He hit the floor with a soft groan, giving me enough time to run to the bedroom, where I closed the door and locked it, grabbed my phone, and dialed Anson.
“Hey, baby, I’m headed back in a few minutes—”
“Ani. Ani!” I cried into the phone frantically as I heard footsteps approaching.
“LeeLee? What’s wrong?” His tone immediately changed.
“There’s someone here. Someone is in here! Ryder. Ryder is hurt! Please! Please!”
There was pounding on the door, and I scrambled to the bathroom, where I shut the door and locked it.
“Stay with me,” Anson said breathlessly. “I’m coming, baby.”
“I-I’m in the bathroom. I’ve locked the door,” I choked out, sliding to my ass against the wall as I watched the door. I could hear the loud banging on the bedroom door and knew it was going to come down. Whoever this was didn’t give a shit who heard him.
“H-He’s coming,” I rasped, hearing the door splinter and break before heavy footsteps sounded out. “He-He’s here.”
I could see his shadow beneath the door.
“Ani… I-I love you. T-Tell Evan and Klaus…I love them. Please. Tell them. Tell Ellis. Take care of h-her, please…”
“No. No. You fight, baby,” Anson shouted. “Fight him. Remember what we taught you? Get a weapon. Anything. Everything is a weapon.”
I nodded, and with shaky hands, I grabbed the blow dryer. There wasn’t much else in there to use.
“What do you have, baby? Talk to me,” Anson said as I heard the ding in the car, signaling he’d reached it and would be on his way to me. All I had to do was hold this guy off. Ani would handle him.
“A-A blow dryer,” I choked out. “There’s nothing else.”
“OK. Use it. Choke him if you have to. I’m coming, LeeLee. Fuck,” he rasped.
I cried out as whoever was on the other side of the door tried the handle before realizing it was locked. The pounding started, and I curled into myself.
“Rosalie. You need to get up and prepare to fight,” Anson said thickly. “Get up, baby. You have to do this.”
“I’m scared. I’m scared,” I whimpered, my face flooded with tears. “Ani, please… hurry.”
“I’m hurrying. FUCK! Baby, hang up with me and call downstairs. Tell them you need help. Tell them to call the cops—”
“I-I can’t. I can’t hang up. I need you,” I cried softly. “Ani…”
“Fuck, LeeLee,” he said thickly, a soft sob coming from him as the pounding grew louder and more intense. “Just… fight. I’m coming. I’m coming.”
The door began to splinter, and I struggled to my feet. I placed the phone on speaker and put it on the sink.
Ani was right. I had to fight.
I moved to the other side of the door and got a good grip on the blow dryer, my hands shaking. Anson swore again on the phone. I could hear him trying to hold it together. It was breaking my heart.
A moment later, the door crashed to the floor. The man had obviously been kicking it.
He stepped inside the room, and I let the blow dryer swing. It caught him on the side of the head, sending him stumbling sideways. I hit him again, and he fell against the wall.
I could hear Anson screaming my name on the phone, but I couldn’t answer him.
As quickly as possible, I got the cord around his neck and choked him as hard as I could.
He tried to pull me off him, but I was a damn monkey on his back that wouldn’t relent.
I could hear Ani yelling in the background, louder, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. I was too focused on my task. I kicked the backs of his legs, sending us both to the floor with a loud crash.
I cried out, but held strong as he grunted.
I’d kill him. I didn’t want to be a killer, but I had to protect myself. My family. My daughter needed me. Evan needed me. I promised I wouldn’t leave him, and I meant it.
He got back on his feet, his breathing ragged, and me still holding tight.
He tried to grab me over his shoulder, but I wouldn’t let go.
We spun in the bathroom, Anson’s shouts in the distance, before we crashed into the glass shower.
The glass shattered around us, and I cried out as some of it cut into me.
It only made Anson yell my name louder on the phone.
I thought I was winning and really had a shot at freedom, but the man seemed to gain inhuman strength and got a hold of my arm as we fell into the shower onto all the broken glass.
I cried out as more of the shards bit into me.
With ease, he tugged me straight over his shoulder. I landed with a cry in front of him, my wind knocked out of me from the hard impact.
“Rosalie! LeeLee!” Anson shouted on my phone. “Baby! PLEASE!”
The man pulled something from his pocket, a square of material, it seemed. I squirmed beneath his hold, screaming bloody murder, before he pressed it against my nose and mouth.
I fluttered my lashes as he softly shushed me, his hand firmly over my face so I was forced to breathe in whatever he had on the cloth.
The smell was sweet, but it burned my throat and made me nauseous.
I tried to move my arms and kick my legs, but the ability soon dwindled away, my squirming dying down.
Slowly, the strength left my body until I could no longer move.
Paralyzed.
I was paralyzed.
Limply, I lay on the floor, bleeding, watching as he pulled a syringe from his jacket pocket. With gloved hands, he moved to my arm and found a vein. There was nothing I could do as he inserted the needle and let whatever it was flood my veins.
The warmth intensified as a tear slipped free from my eye.
“FUCK! Don’t you fucking touch her! I swear to god I will find you and kill you—”
The man reached out and grabbed my phone, calmly disconnected the call, effectively ending my conversation with Anson, then threw the phone aside. It skidded across the tiled floor before hitting the wall.
Try as I might, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I let them fall shut as the man lifted me easily into his arms and carried me out of the room.
And that was it.
Everything went black.