I stared at the woman in front of me, finally seeing her for whom she had become in the past few months since I’d taken her, the girl I’d watched dancing in The Nutcracker whom was no longer. In her place was a woman, a beautiful, strong woman, I had managed to shatter into pieces. I’d never hated myself more than watching her in that bathroom, wondering whether I was harming her by taking away the life she’d dreamed of and giving her the one I wanted her to have.

“Ellis,” she finally whispered, and my skin prickled at the thought.

The name had an effect on me I didn’t fucking like. I didn’t like thinking about him. For me, Ellis was a chapter I had closed when I sent a bullet to his chest. I didn’t want him in our lives. I didn’t want his memory to live on, yet I knew there were unanswered questions when it came to him, which I’d given Rose permission to open that Pandora’s box.

“You want to know why I killed him,” I said roughly, and to my surprise, she shook her head right away.

“No,” she said, her voice gentle as her beautiful eyes connected with mine. “I need to know why you chose him to train me. Why not you? Was I not good enough for you?”

I stared at her, trying to understand where she was coming from, because she was dead fucking wrong. Of course she was good enough. She was too good. Too pure, too beautiful and too fucking young for me to be able to touch her. I knew I’d ruin her. I knew I wouldn’t have been able to hold back the second I got my hands on her, and I knew she’d hate me for it. I had chosen a different man, a man I trusted like he were family, to take on the role that I was too scared to accept as my own, and he had let me down in every way possible.

I still wondered whether I’d ever be able to sever the invisible tethers that held my Rose to Ellis and whether she’d eventually get over his death at my hands and come to forgive me. As much as she hated him, I knew she’d developed feelings for the man as well. It was impossible not to with the relationship I’d thrust them in. Now, it was time to come clean.

“I was afraid,” I managed to get out through gritted teeth.

She stared at me incredulously, but I found it hard to meet her gaze.

“Afraid of what?” she asked softly, and I finally risked a look into her beautiful blue eyes. “Afraid of me?”

I clenched my jaw and knew she noticed how hard it was for me to open up about this. I was struggling, finding it difficult to tell her the true reason.

“You were different,” I finally managed to get out. “You’re younger. Sweeter. Inexperienced. Not like the others.”

“But you could have trained me,” she whispered. “You could have been the one to teach me… To show me I like all this stuff. You didn’t have to involve another man.”

My jaw was so stiff it fucking hurt, and I couldn’t look into her eyes.

“Thorn,” she whispered, and my eyes went to hers, because I couldn’t resist their siren call. “Thorn, just tell me the truth. I won’t be angry. I just need to know what happened… why you pushed me away before I even got the chance to make a first impression.”

“I would’ve been too rough,” I responded, my voice raw with emotion. “I would’ve ruined you.”

She crawled closer to me and touched her little fingers to my chin, looking at me, looking into my soul.

“You don’t think he was rough?” she asked, a note of anger hidden under layers of hurt. “You don’t think Ellis ruined me? What you did to him… what he did to me. You don’t think it impacted me?”

I couldn’t find an answer.

“I hate myself for not being the one,” I told her. Once those words were out in the open, it felt like a dam had been broken, and I had to tell her every part of the truth in my heart. “I made a mistake, Rose. One I’ll regret for the rest of my fucking life. And I’m sorry. I’m really fucking sorry.”

A silence lay between us as she contemplated my words.

I didn’t want her forgiveness, I didn’t expect it, either, but I wanted to fix things between us, repairing the cracks in our new relationship. At the same time, I was afraid of being too lenient on her. There was no doubt in my mind about what I wanted. I wanted her on her knees, begging for more - the perfect pretty little submissive to follow my lead. And she would give it to me, whether it was willingly or not.

“I need to go,” I finally said, getting up and refusing to look at her.

I felt her staring after me, those pretty eyes accusing me of everything I was guilty of when it came to her. I was a fucking bastard, yet I didn’t know how else to act. I needed to get away.

“I’ll see you later,” I muttered in her direction, closing the door firmly behind me.

It made me feel like a real fucking coward, especially knowing what I would do the second I got away from her.

I walked into the rec room and turned on the cameras. My eyes focused on my beautiful captive, sitting brokenly on the floor of the bathroom. Her knee was patched up, but her soul wasn’t. I could see the emotion bleeding from every pore of her body.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered to nobody in particular, feeling lower than I ever had before. “I’m sorry I don’t know how to take care of you properly.”

Something took over then, a masculine need to show her I was right. She’d told me she was my whore plenty of times, but now it was time to whore her out. It was only fair, right?

I took my pager out of my pocket and sent an urgent message to a friend, telling him to meet me in the rec room as soon as he could. Minutes later, he sauntered in, his chiseled chest naked and with only a pair of low-slung jeans covering him.

“Problems with your little acquisition?” he asked with a bright smile, smirking at me.

“I need your help,” I said, and he chuckled as if I’d just confirmed every one of his suspicions.

“What do you need me to do?” he asked roughly.

“She’s misbehaved,” I lied. “I need to show her who her true master is, and if I deem it important for her to fuck another man, she better follow the fuck through.”

“I agree,” he said, giving me a brilliant smile. “But are you sure that’s what she needs?”

I stared at him in front of me, noticing the stark differences between us.

He was taller than me, though I wasn’t short by a long shot. He was lean and muscular, almost too thin for my liking. His hair was a little longer, dark like mine, but not peppered with grey strands like my own. And he was cocky, cocky like I remembered being when I was his age and thought I had the world lying at my feet. He would have it knocked out of him eventually, just like I had. But not yet. Right now, I could use him to serve a purpose. I could use him to break my pretty toy completely and bend her to my will.

“You will fuck her,” I growled at him. “And I will watch. She’d better fucking come, or I’ll consider it a job badly done by the both of you.”

“Understood,” he replied, his smile faltering and his expression rough. “Do you want her to see me?”

I stared at him, all six feet, six inches of his glorious body and the way he presented himself like he was God’s fucking gift to the world. At that moment, I knew this was a fucking mistake. I was presenting Rose with the exact same problem we’d just gotten rid off. After Ellis, there was another man to break her, to do my own bidding.

Why was I so afraid of training her to my will?

I didn’t need an answer for it. I already knew the truth. I would’ve broken her. I wouldn’t have gone easy. The second I let go, she would be broken beyond repair, retreating into her shell and never coming out for me again. I’d never see the sparkle in her eyes again, the way her shyness took a step back to show me how much she wanted me. She would only be a little toy for my dick, and I didn’t want that. I wanted a woman by my side, a partner, a companion, but I would never be able to have that if I let myself unleash my full wrath on her. She would never recover.

“She can see you,” I finally replied. “I want her to know it’s not me.”

He nodded then left the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts and the TV screens showing the image of my broken Rose on the bathroom floor.

I knew I was making a mistake, and every good part of me screamed at me to stop in my tracks before I fucked up our relationship even more.But I shut those parts up. I listened to the wretched devil on my shoulder and pushed my girl away.

In order to prepare her for what I would give her, I needed another man, another pair of hands, another mouth, another fucking cock. Only when she’d break for someone else… for as many people as I fucking deemed she needed… only then would Rose be prepared to break for me.