Chapter

"Are you ready yet?" Caelum asked looking at a half-dazed Rosette who sat wearing a black dress.

ROSETTE'S OUTFIT:

At Mr. Carter's funeral, Amy had asked them to come for a family diner. Rosette had been screaming through the small smile on her face for Caelum to say no. But instead, he had accepted the offer with nothing more than a smile.

CAELUM'S OUTFIT:

"Rosette." He called again. She hadn't spoken a word to him after that.

He paced to Rose, who was sitting in front of the mirror, and turned the chair around to face him.

She looked up at him. Her eyes hollow. She had hoped never to step into that house again. Caelum knew that and yet he had agreed to spend a torturous dinner there.

"Why?" she asked, closing her eyes.

"I'm sorry." He replied.

"I don't wanna go. Please let me stay at home." She pleaded, opening her eyes.

He brushed his thumb on her cheek and bent low to meet her eyes, "Can you trust me?" he asked, "I will make sure that today is the end of your past.... But can you trust me?", his dark blue trenching eyes pleading and waiting for an answer.

She bit her lips, she trusted him, but was that okay? She gulped and slowly nodded her head,

"I trust you." She whispered.

He straightened up to his full height and was about to say something, but then his phone rang.

He reached his hand in his pocket and took it out looking at the name, he picked it up without a moment of hesitation.

"Venetia, how's everything going?" he asked., as he started walking to the door. Before stepping out he looked over his shoulder and beckoned Rose to follow.

Rose nodded. 'Venetia, a girl's name' she thought. She had never heard that name in the office, but she kind of remembered the name from somewhere

The way Caelum spoke to her so informally bothered her. Was she just delusional and paranoid? Was it okay to trust him?

She thought as she got up to follow behind him.

...............................

Rosette took a deep breath as she stood in front of the house she had been told to call home even after all the scars it gave her.

Her hands shakily slung into Caelum's.

"I'm right here." He said, "I won't be leaving you alone for even a moment. Okay?"

"Okay." She whispered back. Her lips pressed together in a tight smile as they rang the doorbell.

Within a few impatient seconds, the door opened and Amy, wearing a dark blue satin dress, came into view.

She smiled a serpentine smile at Rosette and traced her eyes down Caelum.

"Hello." She said.

"Hello to you too. Sorry to keep you waiting." Caelum replied.

"Oh no!" she waved her hand in front of her face in denial, "It's been so long since I've seen my daughter and now that I look at her, I think it was very much worth the wait.." she turned around indicating to them to follow her inside, "Tho she has gotten a little round. Eat less, I guess."

She added before laughing at her own joke.

Caelum gave her quite a look and said, "Oh really? I won't know, she's always been perfect to me."

She looked at him realizing how shameless he had found her little, snaky remark.

"Oh no, of course, she is perfect." She said laughing uncomfortably.

Caelum pulled out his hand from her gripped and gripped her waist, pulling her closer to him.

Rosette was nervous. Every corner of this house had ghosts of nightmares and beatings laughing at her. She felt suffocated.

They followed Amy into the big dining hall. Rose stopped abruptly.

"You?" she said.

There was Libelle, sitting, next to Rowan.

Rosette looked at her with a perplexed expression. How long had Belle been there? She thought.

"Rose." Libelle said, getting up from her seat. She wore a red-colored embroidered dress that came down to her knee.

"What are you doing here?" Rose asked coldly.

Belle, who was about to walk to Rose, stopped in her tracks.

"Of course she was invited." Eric said from the table, before coming forward and greeting Caelum with a hand-shake. he wore a pale olive suit with brown shoes.

Caelum squeezed Rosette's waist lightly as if to tell her he was still there. She avoided Eric's eyes as she bowed a greeting to him.

They all sat settled around the dining table with Eric and Amy at one side and on the opposite side sat Caelum, Rosette, Libelle, and Rowan.

The servants brought in quite a few dishes and served the party.

After the servants left Caelum casually asked, "So, what is the occasion of today's gathering?"

"Ahh, so we come to the good stuff now." Amy clapped her hands and her eyes sparkled.

"Wasn't this a small 'dinner' for acknowledging the late Mr. Carter?" Rowan asked, sipping his wine lightly.

Eric scoffed, pointing his fork to the empty main seat, "He's dead anyway."

"He was our father!" Libelle affirmed, dropping her fork and knife to clatter in the china dish.

"Your father." Eric replied, emphasizing the 'your'.

Something was off about the mother-son duo. Rosette could feel it in her bones. Normally, Amy would flare up at this kind of behavior from the sisters, but today she kept her face neutral.

Libelle had lost appetite,

"Let's get this over with," she said, "Why invite us here?"

Amy beamed again, "Oh dear Labella, we have great news for you." She tapped her freshly manicured fingers on the crystal table.

"What news?" Rosette asked, worry lasing her crinkled forehead.

"We found a match for her." Eric added lightly.

"What match?" Rowan snapped.

"Marriage?" Libelle whispered loudly.

Amy's grin only grew wider, "Yes sweetheart, It's the one and only heir of Dalton Indus-,"

"Who said I'd get married?" Libelle thundered quietly.

Amy blinked twice to register what she heard before saying, "Who said you won't, young lady?"

Libelle gritted her teeth and was about to spit flames when Rowan grabbed her hand below the table.

Rosette fumed, "She does not agree with this. There will be no marriage."

Eric huffed a laugh, "Of course there will be."

Libelle aimed her death glare at Amy and Eric,

"I will, under no circumstances, get married to a stranger. So you better shove this 'match' up your asses."

"Language!!" Amy shrieked like an old teacher.

Libelle snickered, "Fuck off." As she got up and made her way to the door.

"I think that would be the perfect ending for this useless dinner," Rowan said getting up and excusing himself to follow after Libelle.

Amy was wide-eyed.

Caelum showed no emotions as he swirled his wine glass and took a sip.

Eric laughed casually digging back into his steak, "The younger one's sure is feisty."

"Why are you doing this?" Rosette asked.

He didn't even look up and said, "For business expansion."

"She is a kid!" she protested.

"Labella will turn 21 next year!" Amy countered, "by that age, I was already pregn-,"

"Libelle! That's her name!" she gritted her teeth.

"Did you forget your place, ungrateful kid!" Amy shrieked, banging her cutlery into the dish.

"Maybe." Rose mocked back. Libelle was supposed to have a bright and sunny future, that's what she had wanted for her little sister. "I will not stand to see Libelle being sold off by selfish people like you!"

Amy stood up abruptly pushing her chair back, "I have endured enough disrespect tonight to last me a lifetime!" she fumed as turned away and briskly walked out of the hall.

Rose was about to ask Caelum to leave when Eric stabbed his steak brutally with his knife and said in a bitter tone, "Didn't you find love in an arrange marriage?"

"We did not have an arrange marriage." Caelum icily cut him off.

Eric scoffed, "Let's drop the lies, Mr. White."

Caelum smirked dangerously, "You knew all the reasons why I married her, and yet you did not stop the hammer from falling right on her foot?"

Eric shrugged.

Rosette had gone still. Trust him, she thought, just trust him

Caelum put down his wine glass and leaned a little on the table speaking in a low tone disgust seamed into his voice, "What about the part where you rapped her for a decade?"

Eric's smile crumbled away. His eyes staggered to Rosette. She had gone inhumanly still.

Eric's face eased up as he mastered another snicker on that pathetic face of his, "Are you pretending to be different? Aren't you doing worse? You take her riding every night, don't you? Does she cry helplessly beneath you, begging for pity?"

Rosette felt dirty. She could feel his dirty gaze at her. She wished she could vanish in thin air and never be found ever again.

Caelum clenched his jaw. Eric lifted his wine glass to his lips when Caelum pushed out his chair, pulling out a gun from his coat, and cocked it at his head.

His eyes had become shrewd dark as he spoke in a voice so dark, so dangerous, "You know it's been a few decades since I wanted to kill someone this badly."

...............................

I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL THE LOVE I AM RECEIVING FROM YOU GUYS.

LOVE YOU LOADS!!!!