6. Rose
ROSE
A week passes and Kon's response stays the same. No sex.
We share a kiss here and there, and he remains somewhat cold but forever the gentleman when we speak or eat together, but it's as if a line has been drawn between us and he refuses to step over it.
There are only so many times I can hint that I want him before it comes across as pathetic and desperate.
When he's not next to me shutting down any form of intimacy, he's busy with some growing war between him and some Italian families, which leaves him exhausted and often asleep as soon as he crawls into bed.
I'm at a dead end.
And… lonely.
It's an unexpected feeling given the situation, but with no intimacy from my husband, I find myself spending my days alone in this vast manor with only Calvin for company—and he's very much my bodyguard before he's my friend.
He stays when I watch movies in the cinema room, lingers in the kitchen when I try to cook, and stands out in the sun while I spend the rest of my time resting at the pool, but it's not company.
It's obligation.
I miss Beatie.
As sisters, we're pretty close.
Or we were before Dad got wrapped up with the Vasiliev brothers, and my life ended.
Everything they put me through squashed my desire to be around anyone while killing my hope at a normal life.
Until now.
I'm alone in a very large house, surrounded by people who only view me as Kon's wife, and I'm getting crushed by a responsibility I can't share on pain of death.
My only other respite is Marissa, the gym coach, who turns up one day after Calvin watches me attempt and struggle to find my pacing in the gym.
She's as close to a friend as I get.
"You're doing great!" Marissa cheers. "Deepen that squat.
I want you to feel the stretch all the way up your thigh.
That's it." Her hands hover around me as I follow her instructions while biting back a curse.
My thighs burn like they're on fire and my stomach aches from how tightly I'm clenching my abs, but her praise does wonders for helping me get deep enough.
"Amazing! Alright, bring it back up for me," Marissa instructs.
I grunt and adjust my grip on the dumbbells while slowly lifting myself back up. As soon as I'm standing straight, I groan dramatically. "Oh my god, my legs are going to fall off."
"We wouldn't want that, would we?" comes not Marissa's voice, but a cold, horribly familiar voice that makes me shiver immediately, despite the sweat clinging to my skin.
Mathew.
He stands in the doorway, flanked by Calvin who flashes me a polite smile. "Rose. Your brother has come to see you."
I tighten my grip on the dumbbell and contemplate my choices.
If I strike him with it over the head, will death be instant?
Would killing him and telling Calvin the truth be enough to save my family from the claws of the other Vasiliev brothers?
Or would my treachery spell my end and Kon would let my family rot because he married a trap?
"Mathew," I gasp, and the dumbbells slip from my fingers, landing on the mat with a thump. "I didn't expect to see you."
"Why not?" His false, sickly smile widens as he pushes past Calvin and strides forward. "Life is good. Business is good." He reaches me and clasps my bare, sweaty shoulders. "Why wouldn't I come and see how my darling sister is doing?"
"It's just a surprise, that's all." I lock eyes with him. "How's the family?"
He doesn't even blink. "Oh you know. Everyone's eagerly waiting to hear from you and everything you've been getting up to." His grip on my shoulders tightens momentarily, then he steps back. "Let's go for a walk! Seems like Konstantin has one hell of a garden here."
After accepting a towel from Marissa, I dry off the sweat from the back of my neck and around my face as we head outside and onto the stone path leading a winding trail through Kon's beautiful and vast garden.
"Little family privacy, if you don't mind?" Mathew scoffs at Calvin as he follows. Calvin's eyes meet mine and I nod slightly, so Calvin falls back and allows distance to form between us as we walk.
"So, Kon's given you a guard dog," Mathew remarks in a low voice. "You better not be getting any ideas."
"It's not like that," I reply while twisting the towel in my hands. "He has concerns after his late wife. Probably doesn't want me to get killed the same way."
Mathew snorts. "He's fucking stupid."
"Don't say that," I snap before I can stop myself. "He's a decent man."
"Decent?" He sends me a cold glance. "Don't tell me you've fallen for his act?
You think I'm bad? That man is a cold-blooded, brutal monster, and you're only alive because he lusts after that used thing between your fucking legs.
Speaking of which…" Mathew glances behind us as we turn a corner that leads past some high hedges and blocks us from Calvin's view.
"I brought this for you. I assume he's fucked you already? "
From under his coat, he hands me a pregnancy test and my heart stalls in my chest.
Dressed in only a skin-tight tank and leggings, there's no way I can sneak this inside without being seen.
"Are you insane?" I snap. "I can't sneak this back inside. What the fuck am I supposed to say when they catch me?!"
“Fuck's sake," Mathew snarls and he grabs my arm, quickening the pace and dragging me down the path and around the next bend. "Take it here."
"What?"
"I fucking said take it here!"
"You are insane. What if someone sees?"
"Then I'll think of something, but you better fucking squat over this stick or I will beat you until you piss yourself, understand?!" The fury flashing in his eyes sends a cold stab through my chest, and I pray Calvin catches up soon.
He doesn't.
With no other choice, I snatch the test from the box and step into the hedge, then squat as I pull down my leggings. Mathew leers at me and smirks.
"I can't go with you watching!"
"Why? Need me to fuck you until you piss yourself again?" he sneers coldly. “Tick-tock, cunt."
Thankfully, all the water I drank during my workout pays off and through some awkward angling to save my trainers, I'm able to relieve myself over the stick and then hand it back to Mathew.
He shakes it like it'll somehow activate it.
"Happy?" I mutter. "Now tell me the truth. How is my family?"
"Alive," is all he says as he focuses on the stick.
"My sister? Is she okay? You swore you wouldn't touch her. You swore!"
Mathew rolls his eyes, then growls as he holds the stick up where the words 'Not Pregnant' gleam from the electronic display. "Are you sure he fucked you?"
"Yes!"
"Well get him to do it again because this? This isn't our fucking deal!"
"I'm trying!"
"Well try harder."
"He doesn't—" I catch myself and lower my voice to a whisper. "He doesn't want to."
"What?" Mathew's face goes blank. "The fuck you mean he doesn't want to?"
"I don't know, okay? I've been trying, and he keeps shutting me down. I'm practically throwing myself at him, and it's not working."
Mathew's eyes narrow and his lips press into a firm, thin line. "Maybe I sent the wrong sister. Of course I'll have to warm Beatie up first, like I warmed you up. How many times do you think I can fuck her before—"
"Don't you dare!" Before I can stop myself, anger surges through me like a pulse and I slam my fist into the side of his jaw. It doesn't do much, but it sparks white-hot rage in Mathew and he flies at me.
He locks one strong hand around my throat while the other grabs my hair and pulls so hard that my head is forced sharply back while he shoves me into the hedge and pins me there against the sharp, prickling branches.
"Listen here you little cunt," he hisses, his face against mine while his lips leave a trail of saliva over my cheek.
"You're here to spread your legs and fuck that asshole until he puts a baby in you, but we tricked him once and we can trick him again, you hear me?
Every day you waste here is a day I might fuck your little sister to death, or maybe I'll take a turn on your fucking mother! "
"No—please, I'm sorry!" I gasp hoarsely as tears spring into my eyes. "I'm sorry!"
"Your father and I have a deal. You don't want to disappoint him by fucking it all up, do you?
Because if you do, not only will I take your family apart one by one, but I will make sure Kon knows that all of this was you and then I will watch as he fucks you up, you little bitch.
Now I don't know why I have to tell you this, but if you can't sleep with him like a normal fucking whore then I don't know what to tell you! "
It's too much.
My throat burns, my eyes throb, my vision blurs and I can barely scrape in a breath.
Part of me craves darkness to take me away from all of this, but Beatie's face floods my thoughts so I nod as desperately as I can.
He releases me and drags me from the hedge just in time.
Calvin rushes around the corner, then slows when he spots me.
"No need to get emotional," Mathew says loudly. "We all love you and you're making us so proud."
I duck my head and nod quickly, fighting to catch my breath while turning my back on Calvin.
"And one more thing," he whispers with just as much hate as before. "If you can't get him to want you, make him jealous. If Kon doesn’t want to sleep with you willingly, then make it seem like a fucking challenge."