Chapter 92 Rosalie
NINETY-TWO
ROSALIE
Dante slept with me. He sat with me. He didn’t leave me.
And he rarely spoke. To be fair, neither did I.
He even fed me.
But he never hurt me. Scared me? Absolutely. He was incredibly overbearing and possessive. Obsessive? I wasn’t sure. Whatever it was, it wasn’t healthy.
I hadn’t opened my eyes yet for the day, but I felt his body near mine. I couldn’t help but wonder if the horsemen were searching for me. If Anson was. If Klaus was. The ugly thought that maybe no one was kept plaguing me, too. It was a vicious cycle.
“I know you’re awake,” Dante murmured.
I cracked my eyelids open to stare at him.
“I want you to meet my family.”
“I don’t want to meet Everett,” I choked out. It had been a fear I’d been grappling with since I got here.
He reached out and cradled my face. “I would never allow him near you. It is why you’re here with me, and not freely roaming the city. He is looking for you. He does not expect me to have you.”
I licked my lips. “You scare me.”
“Good.” He ran his nose along my jaw, making me shake. “Can I tell you something too?”
“Y-Yes.”
“I love you.” His lips brushed against my ear. “Sister.”
I closed my eyes and breathed out.
“I like that you’re scared. I like that you fear me, but I also hate it.” He continued to whisper into my ear, his hand on my waist. “I want you to love me back. Like our mother loved me.”
I winced at him mentioning her.
“Do you know about her? What I did to her?”
“Please.” I shook as he breathed me in. I knew he killed our mother. “D-Don’t hurt me.”
“I already told you that I would never harm you.” He skimmed his lips down my jaw again. He darted his tongue out and licked the edge of my lips. “I like the way you taste.”
I tried to keep my breathing steady.
He let out a soft laugh. “I’m not as crazy as you think I am.”
“I think you are. I think you’re in denial.”
He laughed again before pulling away, his green eyes bright. “Would you like to know how I killed her? Our mother?” He squeezed my waist. “I’ll tell you. Ask me, sister. Ask me how I did it.”
“H-How did you do it?”
He ran his hand up my torso before he pressed it to my chest.
“I pushed my blade through her heart as I lay with her.”
I shook harder beneath his touch. He cradled my face again.
“Does that scare you, sister?”
“You scare me.”
He pulled away from me, frowning. “I-I don’t know how to be with you. You-You remind me of her.” His frown deepened.
“Why did you kill her?” I choked out.
“Because she was suffering.” A look of sad devastation washed over his face.
“I loved her so much, and she loved me. She protected me the best she could. You look like her. Your lips.” He reached out and traced my lips.
“Full. Just like hers. Your eyes. Your nose. The curve of your jaw. How small and delicate you are. Your hair. Hers was blonde, but I used to twist it around my finger at night while I lay in bed with her, scared of what the next day would bring.”
I breathed out at his soft words.
“My father is not a nice man. He hurt her. Repeatedly. He beat her. Raped her. Let others have their way with her. Sometimes he made me watch. She tried to escape with me. He’d find us and hurt her some more.
She tried to kill herself so many times to escape.
And he’d know. He’d punish her for it. Make me punish her.
She always held me when it was over. Told me she loved me.
That I would be a good man someday.” He wiped quickly at his eyes.
“Y-You loved her?”
“With everything I was,” he answered, his voice shaking.
“I am a monster, Rosalie, but I am merciful. She was suffering. I knew she was. She did not deserve the life she was given. She deserved to be free. So I freed her. She said to me, How hell has blessed me. I was a devil sent to do the work of an angel. I set her free. She smiled as she died. For the first time since I’d known her, she was happy. ”
I cried softly at his story. He reached out and thumbed my tears away.
“When I learned you were mine, I knew I had to protect you. I couldn’t protect her, but I could protect you. I could do for you what I failed to do for her. I am a monster, Rosalie, but I am not the monster who hunts you. I am the one who will protect you.”
I cried harder, so confused by this beautiful man in front of me. My brother. A monster, truly, but was he more? I was conflicted.
“I did not kill Fox,” he continued softly. “I fucking didn’t. I tried to save him. For you. I tried.”
I wept harder. He dragged me against his body, holding me tightly as I cried.
“I would never do anything that harms you, Rosalie. Never. I tried. I tried. I promise you that I did. It wasn’t me who did it. I swear it.”
I clung to him; something in the way he spoke and held me felt like a breakthrough. He was genuine. I didn’t take him as someone who would lie. He was clearly troubled, but I didn’t believe he was lying to me.
“I keep you here because I care. I worry. I don’t want you to suffer,” he continued as he held me.
“You are what’s left of her. I will do everything I can to ensure you’re safe.
I’m sorry if I’m too much, but I don’t know how to be any other way.
I feel like I’ve waited my entire life to find you. She-She wanted me to protect you.”
He pulled away and brushed my hair away from my face. “I have a gift for you.”
He got up, went into the closet, and returned with an envelope. My name was scrawled across the front.
“This is for you from our mother. She wanted you to have it.”
I blinked back my tears as he placed the envelope on the bedside table before he went back to the dresser and lifted the key to the cuffs from it.
He came back, unlocked the cuff, and freed me before backing away.
“Read the letter. Come see me when you’re done. I’ll be outside.”
I didn’t say anything, and neither did he as he left the room.
I sat on the bed, not moving, for a long time. So many thoughts raced through my head. While off his rocker, Dante truly did seem genuine. I prayed he was. If he was telling the truth about Fox… God.
I wiped at the tears on my cheeks as I stared down at the envelope in my hands.
My real mom. A letter. Her words for me.
I was scared to read it, but I was desperate to know her, even if it were only through a few sentences.
I breathed out, tore open the envelope, and pulled out the paper.
My Dearest Rosalie
I fear that I will be gone when you read this. I have spent my life wanting to know you. To hug you. To tell you how much I love you. Every night that I slept, I dreamed of holding you and prayed for your safety.
I love your father so very much, and I love you. I know that he has done his best to give you a good life. He is a good man, even if he is a bit stubborn. Give him grace.
My purpose in writing this to you is to tell you all those things, but it’s also because I have a wish that I hope you can grant me.
Your brother. Dante.
He struggles. He was raised to be a monster, but he has the soul of a troubled angel trapped in Hell. He is a good boy, and I know he will be a good man if his father can be dealt with. I have done my best to instill love into Dante’s heart. If I am gone, you are all he will have left.
Please, save him. Love him. Guide him. He can be reckless, but when he loves, he loves hard. He needs you, and I think you need him, too.
Rosalie, my sweet daughter, I will watch over you and protect you as best I can. And in turn, you will take care of your brother and show him what family truly is.
I know you’ve grown to be a beautiful young woman.
You’re smart like your father. I knew it the moment I looked into your eyes.
You’ll be so talented like he is, too. I hope you both get to make music together.
It would make me so very happy. Sometimes, I envision the four of us in a cute little home with a dog.
Dad and I would sit on the couch while you and Dante acted out plays and sang for us. We’d laugh and know we made it.
In another life, that’s our life. In that life, I hold you and tell you how much I love you and how proud of you I am.
In this life, all I can do is wish.
There is so much I want to say to you, my darling.
Boys. They’re menaces, but you will meet one and love him endlessly.
Even the ones who hurt you will be worth it because they will shape you even further.
Never hate, Rosalie. Love all because maybe it’s what they’re missing in their lives.
Love can change the world. Love with your whole heart and soul. Love as many as you can.
When you’re afraid, remember I’m at your side. When you fall, you will land on your feet, even if it feels like the fall has broken you.
It is with the fall that you learn to fly.
I love you so much, Rosalie. Watch over your brother for me. When he misbehaves, tell him this, “Если ты должен нести грехи других, не забудь, какое сердце принадлежит тебе.”
And if you ever find yourself lost, remember you’re a fighter. You are my daughter, and there is strength in that. Head high, always, my pretty girl. There is nothing in this world that can break you.
I promise.
Love you always,
Mom
I sniffled as the tears streamed down my cheeks. Carefully, I set the letter aside and pulled out the handful of photos in the envelope. A picture of my real mom stared back at me.
She was breathtaking.
Long blonde hair. Vivid green eyes. Long lashes. My build. And her smile… I wept a little harder, knowing that light had been extinguished.
She was standing on the Mayfair campus next to the fountain. Dad was beside her, his arm around her waist, a smile on his face. They were my age.
I looked at the next photo. It was a picture of her and me right after I was born. She looked so exhausted. Tears in her eyes as she held me. Another photo of her kissing my head.
I moved to the following picture of her and Dante.
He was young. He looked so sad. Bruises marred his pale skin.
Neither of them was smiling in the image, but he clung to her skirt as he stared at the camera.
She appeared to be skinnier. Weaker. Tiny bruises peppered her thin arms. The light was gone from her eyes.
I put the photos back into the envelope and drew in a deep breath as I wiped my eyes.
She was right. I was strong. I was born to be strong. I was born into an unimaginable hell. So was Dante, and he needed me. He was my brother. While strange, if my mother believed I could get through to him, then I believed it too. She knew him better than anyone.
I stood, knowing I needed to leave here and that the only way out was through him.
I just had to convince him.