Chapter

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 quite long since I wanted to kill someone this badly."

Eric's whole body panicked. His eyes were terror-stricken as he made an attempt to laugh awkwardly.

Rosette had her hands clasped over her mouth. Her body was paralyzed at the sight of the gun.

"Y-you can't s-shoot me." He said, trying to sound calm.

Caelum smirked, "Oh really?"The sound like a crack of a whip boomed across the room, filling it with a sulfurous and metallic smell.

The bullet pierced through his shoulder. Eric screeched in horror, as his chair tumbled backward from the commotion of his injury.

Rosette sat wide-eyed. She felt scared. She felt like a little kid looking at a forbidden act in a dark alley.

Just then the glass sliding doors of the hall, leading to the outdoor lawn slid open, and in came a platoon of police officers along with few black unformed men.

Eric was howling in pain, like a rogue animal. Painting the floor with his blood-soaked fingers.

The cops pointed their guns at everyone present in the room except Caelum.

"THIS LUNATIC WILL KILL ME!! I'M DYING!" Eric screamed pointing a finger at Caelum.

"Chief, what do we do?" One of the policemen in the front row asked.

In walked two ladies. Both of them were devilishly breathtaking. The first one had long black hair tied into a ponytail, her face had a confident aura, gorgeous but firm. She wore a cop's uniform and judging by the badges, she was certainly the highest ranker present there.

The other lady was part black. Her long box braids fell to her waist. She had the charm of a snake. The type that had a warning sign imprinted on it, still the sight that drew people in. she wore an off-shoulder white shirt with a waist corset and skin-tight skirt.

The way, the two of them walked in casually, revealed how they were the chief of the party.

The lady cop waved to the officers, who immediately put down their guns.

She paced to Eric, who was still crawling with pain. She squatted and checked his wound. She looked up at Caelum standing on the other side.

"Seriously?" she questioned, "You fucking shot him?!"

Caelum shrugged, scratching his forehead with the mouth of his gun, "He'll live."

The other women huffed a laugh, "You still have the mafia in your blood, boy."

The cops quickly took a wailing Eric away as some went inside the house to arrest Amy as well.

Caelum clenched his jaw. He didn't want to hear what she said, "I just called Venetia. What are you doing here Soren, weren't you in England?"

Soren scoffed, "So you expected me to watch you spill blood? Do you know how many of them will smell the blood here and come for you?"

"Why do you bother?" he snapped back, "Are you so idle these days?"

"Idle?! Do you think it's easy to manage a whole organization of criminals, especially when you are a woman and black!" she threw her hands up, "But then there's you. You wanted to leave- I let you. But now you-,"

Caelum's face filled with quiet fury, "Stop treating me like a-,"

"Kid?" Soren asked bitterly, "I am not treatin' you like a kid. You might not acknowledge it but the blood that's flowin' in me flows in you too. And that, sweetheart, is the mafia's blood."Her thick British accent cutting through her words, as Caelum's eyebrows pinched together with anger

"You still one of us, and this stunt that you just pulled off is the very proof of it!" her eyes were serpentine and scary.

"Shut up!" he rumbled.

The officer, Venetia, rolled her eyes at them, "At least don't scare her." She nodded towards the horrified girl trembling in her chair.

Caelum's eyes shot down to the seat beside him. He saw Rosette planted to her seat while shivering at the scene displayed to her. He cursed himself and quickly shoved the gun back into his coat. The warm metal humming against his chest.

His hands reached for her but she flinched. Caelum's lips parted in shock.

He had scared her. Scratch that.

He had terrified her.

The lady cop sighed at them,"Give her time." She said softly pressing a hand on his shoulder.

Soren blinked as her mouth hung open. Never had she seen him this pathetic. This soft "You really are in love aren't you?"

"I said SHUT UP!" he yelled back, Rose flinched at his voice again.

She had been observing each one of them, repeating only two words over and over in her head 'Trust him'. Not because she needed to but because she wanted to.

Caelum sighed his anger away as his features gentled, "Can you walk?" he asked softly.

"I don't know." She whispered back.

"Hold on to my shoulders." He said before wrapping his arms around her waist and under her knees, to pick her up.

Rose could feel the gun in his coat pressed against her.

She could hear drums, loud drums. She wondered from where the rhythmic sound came from. But then she realized it was her heart.

He walked towards the door nodding a bye to Venetia, who nodded back.

Soren said as they were about to step out, "You know they're goin' to use the things you love against you?"

"Does that scare you?" he asked back

Soren smiled slightly at those words, "I don't want to have weaknesses."

"Coward." He said, his words were bitter but his voice was sympathetic as if he understood the burden she carried in that cold heart of hers.

"You're brave." She said, "But the brave are often foolish." Soren looked at Venetia who diverged her eyes from her gaze.

Caelum did not look back as he walked out of that shitty place, with Rosette cradled safely in his arms.

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

Rosette stared out of the moving car as Caelum drove in silence. The occasional horns of the cars were the only sounds filling the gloomy environment.

It could've been five minutes or an hour since they drove out. Rosette was finding it harder to breathe with every passing moment. It all seemed like a hazy memory. The kind that could've been a nightmare if it didn't feel this real.

The buildings outside started looking familiar. They were nearly home. She wanted to talk after getting home. She shivered thinking about Eric and the gunshot.

How natural had the gun looked in Caelum's hands. It fit like a small lost puzzle. He had not batted an eye as the golden spark had flown out, embedding itself into Eric's flesh.

Rosette wasn't ready to look at him yet but she needed answers. All of that day's events seemed planned. Libelle's marriage arrangement had brought no shock to his face. Neither had the police swamping in.

"You knew about Libelle'sarrangement?" she asked, her eyes still diverged out of the window.

Caelum's grip on the steering wheel tightened, "Yes." He replied.

Just one word. How could just one word be this heavy?

"You asked me to trust you but by the looks of it, you don't seem to trust me at all." She whispered.

"It wasn't about trust." He said, running his free hand in his hair.

"Really?" she scoffed, "My sister was being sold off, I didn't have the slightest idea of it. You knew but you didn't tell me. Then I see you shoot a gun and something about the mafia that I don't understand... I am amazed at the secrets you keep."

"Some secrets are better left unsaid, Rose." He whispered back.

She looked back at him, "Some secrets should never be kept."

He sighed "Let's talk at home. I really can't do this right now."

"You will explain everything? Tell me what happened today?" she asked.

He clenched his jaw keeping his temper in, "It's not the right time to talk about this."

The car entered the driveway of the house. The car stopped at the porch. Rose was awfully quiet, before she said, "I don't know you. You ask me to trust you but I don't know anything."

"Rose, listen. Knowing about me won't do you any good. Things about me aren't really pretty. Just try to be happy. You have your fair share of problems." He said calmly.

"How can I be happy when I'minsecure? Insecure that I am living in an illusion. Insecure that I barely know the man I'm living with. Whom I'm married to!!" she threw her hands up.

"You know enough Rose!" He said raising his voice, "Help yourself, Rose! Be happy! That's all you need to focus on right now."

She glared at him. How could he even talk about being happy?

Unbuckling her seatbelt she stepped out and paced towards the house.

"Rose!" he called after her but she didn't look back as she walked beneath the night sky, "Fuck!" he slammed his hand on the steering wheel as he got out and briskly chased after her

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Sorry for the late update...

I can't promise to be regular right now as I have loads of work and exams approaching.... but I'll try my best to update in one week.

Soren👇👇👇👇👇

Venetia👇👇👇👇👇