I expected life to go back to normal after my return to the Mansion, but the morning after he fucked me in the playroom, Thorn was still in bed, still holding me, sound asleep with his arms around mine.

I hadn’t ever woken up his arms. It felt special. Different. I could tell he was making an effort, and it made me feel warm. But a second later, I remembered what he’d told me about Carina the previous night.

Had she really been out to get me? Was it possible that she wanted Thorn for herself? I wasn’t sure whether I should believe what he’d told me, but I really had no choice. And if Thorn’s words hadn’t been enough, there was always the memory of her eyes, dark and angry with the world as she stared at me. Such a sharp contrast to the way she looked at Thorn - adoring like she would do anything for him.

Thorn stirred awake next to me, and when he did, he pulled me flush against him.

“Don’t go anywhere,” he muttered against my forehead, and a smile passed my lips briefly. “Want to feel you against me. Don’t fucking move.”

I didn’t. I lay in his arms, feeling as confused as I was suddenly content. It was an odd feeling, but one that filled me with the hope that maybe, things would work out between us in the future.

He held onto me for a while, his eyes still closed as his lips moved to kiss me, leaving a searing trace down every bit of me that they licked, bit, and sucked at.

I giggled and moaned in his arms and he smiled as he opened his eyes for the first time that morning.

I was mesmerized by the sight. Thorn didn’t smile. Smirk, or chuckle - sure, but not smile. Not like this.

Something moved within me as I stared into the eyes of the man I had become so very attached to. A man that I…

“I love you,” I whispered, and he touched his lips to mine, kissing me like I was a missing piece of his soul.

“You’re mine,” he grunted in response and roughly pulled me closer. “Only fucking mine.”

I could almost believe it was going to work out. A foolish thought that was shattered only a few hours later as Carina smashed a plate an inch away from my cheek.

* * *

“You fucking bitch!” she snarled at me, and I stared at her in shock as the plate shattered against the wall.

“Are you fucking crazy?” I cried out while the other girls gathered in a corner, their eyes frightened. “What the fuck are you doing? Calm down, Carina!”

“Never,” she screamed back, and I took a cautious step away from her, astonished by the change in her since I’d last seen her just a couple of days ago. “I’ll never fucking forgive you for taking him away from me!”

I felt strong arms around mine and someone pulled me back. A guard. Another one grabbed Carina’s angry body, her mouth still spewing obscenities at me. They told us to stay apart and the other guard dragged Carina away while Pia entered the room, looking every bit as evil as always. My memory of her in the playroom was quickly forgotten as she strode up to me, smiling wickedly in my face.

“Not so in control now, are you?” she asked in a falsely sweet voice. “You don’t handle yourself quite so well outside of the playroom, Rose. Maybe Thorn was wrong about you after all. What do you think, hmm?”

She took my face in her fingers as the guard held my arms behind my back. I resisted wildly, but it didn’t help matters much. I knew Thorn was in the city, wherever the hell that was, doing some business - what kind, I preferred not to know. I was all alone with her, at Pia’s mercy, and with nobody to help me until my man returned. And I wasn’t too sure whether she respected the boundaries where I was concerned, especially after the previous night.

“Why did you start a fight with Carina?” she asked me sweetly, and I rolled my eyes at her.

“I didn’t do anything,” I told her plainly. “I just came in here to get a book. She went fucking crazy while she was eating lunch and tossed her plate at me.”

I motioned towards the mess on the floor, and then to the girls cowering in the corner. Pia turned to face them, seemingly surprised they were still there.

“What are you all still doing here?” she snarled. “Get the fuck lost!”

The girls ran off and I exhaled loudly, wishing my former friend was still there. The girl I’d never spoken to, but who had tried to help me escape all that time ago. But she was gone without a trace, and Thorn refused to tell me where she disappeared to after she tried to help me. Afraid of his answer, I’d never dared to ask him directly. But I was convinced she wouldn’t have been afraid of Pia like the rest of them.

“You don’t understand why she’s mad at you?” Pia turned her attention back to me. “Do you even have to ask?”

“What?” I managed to get out, staring at her with contempt. “As if I did something wrong?”

“You took her man,” Pia cried out.

“He was never hers, to begin with,” I got out through gritted teeth. “He’s fucking mine. And you two both seem clueless to the fact that he doesn’t want to have jack shit to do with either of you. So you better just give up now, before you’ve embarrassed yourself further.”

The guard gripped me tighter and I wrestled uselessly against his rough touch.

“And if you think you won’t get punished for this,” I went on darkly. “You’re fucking stupid, Pia. As soon as Thorn gets back and realizes what you’ve done to me, you’ll be in deep shit.”

“We’ll see,” she said cockily, smirking at me. “I’ve been at his side for longer, you bitch. You have no idea what we’ve been through together.”

She opened her mouth to go on, but I cut her off, saying, “Actually, don’t waste your breath, because I don’t give a shit. If Thorn wants to tell me that’s fine, but I don’t want to hear another lie from your lips ever again. So just fucking save it for someone that actually gives a damn.”

“My, my,” Pia smirked at me. “Looks like the little bitch does have a spine after all! Maybe I’ll start walking all over you in shorter heels now.”

“Don’t care either way,” I told her darkly. “Because I have the only thing you’ve ever wanted, and you’re never getting it back.”

We stared at each other with obvious contempt flowing freely between us. Of course, Thorn had to choose that moment to walk into the room, the tension growing as the guard loosened his grip of my arms.

“What the fuck’s going on here?” Thorn growled, and I twisted out of the guard’s reach, glaring at him over my shoulder.

Thorn strode right up to the guard first, grabbing his head and slamming him headfirst into the wall. The man groaned and rubbed his forehead as Thorn let go of him, grabbing him by the nape of his neck and growling a warning I didn’t hear into his ear. Next, he approached us, reaching out for me to join him. I cowered under his arm and he held me close as he turned his wrath on Pia.

“Don’t think I won’t punish you again,” he told her angrily. “And if last night wasn’t a good enough lesson, trust me, I have plenty of other things I can throw at you to make you obey me.”

She looked sheepish as he kissed the top of my head tenderly.

“I don’t care who you sleep with, Pia,” Thorn went on. “The guards do as I tell them despite your little fucking bribes. And if you don’t fucking stop, I’m going to tear you apart piece by piece. And I’m going to fucking enjoy you collapsing to a pile of nothing. You got that? I don’t want you to ever so much as say a bad word to my woman. Nod if you understand.”

She didn’t dare look at me, though I could tell she was desperate to do it, her eyes dancing over Thorn’s features. She nodded swiftly, without saying a word.

“Good,” Thorn ground out. “Now move the fuck out of our way.”

She stepped aside, and Thorn led me out through the door and towards the rose garden I’d come to know so well. It was still a place of secrets, of unspoken stories that he would eventually reveal to me. But it was no longer frightening, the thorns and brambles of the bushes not scaring me anymore. Now it seemed more like a place of refuge, perhaps just as Thorn had intended.

He didn’t stop walking once we were standing among the roses. He kept on going until we were at the edge of the cliff, and sat down on the rocks, his feet dangling above the precipice. He reached out to me, and I stared at him with surprise, my heart beating impossibly fast.

“What if I fall?” I whispered fear setting into my bones.

“I’ll catch you,” he said simply, and I took his hand, sitting on the edge with him.

My foot caught on a rock and several pebbles tumbled down into the ocean. The view was incredible, the smell of the sea overwhelming in my nose. It was the freest I had felt since I’d been with him, even compared to my second trip to London. My mind was suddenly clear. There were no thoughts of Amber, no worries about Pia or Carina. There were just the two of us, and I leaned against Thorn as we stared at the water below us.

“I hope you’re prepared for the life ahead of you,” Thorn told me softly. “Things are going to change for you very soon.”

I stared at his chiseled, handsome profile with my heart pounding.

“What do you mean?” I finally dared ask.

“You’ll start traveling with me,” he told me. “Instead of Pia. You’ll be my partner in everything. Parties, social gatherings, charities, every trip I go on, you’ll be with me. Unless it’s impossible, you will always be by my side. Would you like that, Rose?”

“Yes,” I whispered. I was telling him the truth. I desperately wanted him to want me with him at all times, just like I wanted him. “I really would, Master.”

“Good girl,” he muttered absent-mindedly, his fingers stroking my knee as he stared across the sea. “Soon, I will tell you more. Help you understand me, and this place better.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I would love to know anything you can tell me.”

He gave me a gentle smile, stroking a flyaway strand of hair from my face.

“My beautiful girl,” he muttered, and I blushed at the tone of his voice.

He stroked me as if I were a porcelain doll, his motions gentle, his caress oh so sweet. I couldn’t get enough of it.

“Harlow,” he muttered, and I looked into his eyes sharply. He never called me that. “Do you know what tonight is?”

“No,” I said softly, and he gave me a kind smile as he continued to stroke my skin.

“Tonight,” he went on, purposefully stretching the words to make me even more anxious. “Well, tonight is the night you get punished for running away.”

“I…” I started, but he pressed a finger against my lips.

“No arguing, no buts,” he said. “I’ve let you get away with too much, my little rose. If you want to earn your name back, you’re going to have to work for it. Meet me out here tonight at midnight. Are you able to do that?”

“Yes,” I whispered as softly as I could manage.

My eyes were filled with fear as I looked at him.

“Anything,” I went on. “Anything for you.”