It was a couple days later during our usual dinner that my world imploded. I’d spent the day dancing with Amber. Fridays were special to us, because Marchante allowed us to dance more freely than we usually did. No routine, only the usual amount of stretching. Then after that we were free to express ourselves any way we wanted.

I liked Fridays, and I lived for the moment after our training, when Amber and I walked away from the studio with our arms linked and matching bright smiles on our faces.

“Are you coming to lunch tomorrow?” Amber asked happily, and I nodded.

We’d been having lunch together for most of our days, and I enjoyed it. Before she arrived, I hadn’t realized how much I missed having a friend in the proximity, and she had truly become my best friend, my person, the one I could trust with most of my secrets.

Still, the subject of Thorn and the Mansion remained vaguely untouched by us. It seemed like we were walking on hot coals around one another, neither one of us ready to broach the subject, but I wanted to. I desperately wanted Amber to know how trapped I felt and how desperate to get away I was, but I was also afraid of putting her in danger if I told her the truth. After she’d been forced to come live with us, it was the last thing I would’ve done.

“How are you feeling?” I finally managed to ask, and Amber responded with her signature grin.

“I’m feeling good,” she said happily. “The lessons are incredible. I really feel in the zone with Marchante, like I never did with Madame. And I’m happy here.”

“Happy?” I asked dubiously, and our eyes met as we came to a stop in the middle of a long hallway.

“Yes,” she said softly. “I… I told you what my life was like at home. This is like a fairytale come true.”

“But,” I argued right away. “But we never get to leave. We’re stuck here. We’re captives.”

“I’m happy to be a captive if it’s in a place like this,” Amber admitted, and I gave her a doubtful look as she pulled me forward. “Now, come on. Stop dwelling on the past. It’s time to live in the present.”

I said a stiff goodbye to her in front of her room and returned to my own bedroom, where I took a quick shower and prepared for my night with Thorn. Since Pia’s latest stunt, he had made sure to have dinner with me every night and that I fell asleep in his arms, which felt like a haven some nights but a prison on others.

Thorn joined me an hour or so later when I was all dolled up for him just the way he liked. That night, I wore a gold sequined dress that was sleeveless, with a large V-cut at the neck and in the back, and a mermaid shape that flattered my figure. I had already noticed Thorn had a thing for fitted, sequined dresses. There was never a shortage of the latest designer offerings of them in my closet, all custom tailored to my body.

We sat down at dinner while a maid arranged another bouquet of roses in the back of the room. She left silently, and when she did, I looked at Thorn and asked a question that had been on my mind for a couple of days.

“Will you give me one of your… special roses?” I asked softly.

“A forever rose?” he asked, his eyes snapping to mine. “You want one?”

“I would like one,” I admitted. I’d been fascinated by the idea of the flowers, preserved in their beauty for years, spanning their lifetime over a much longer time than they’d been meant to have.

“I told you, Rose,” Thorn muttered. “A forever rose is a promise. Not just from me, but from you, too. I don’t know if you’re ready for that.”

“Ready for what?” I asked, the words cheekily slipping out before I could stop myself or bite my tongue. I looked at Thorn guiltily as he put down his cutlery, staring straight into my eyes as he sighed and looked at me over the table.

“Ready to be mine completely,” he said roughly. “To be my woman. To never question my decisions. To stay with me… whether you want it or not. A forever rose means you’re mine until your last breath, Rose. Are you ready for that?”

I didn’t answer, instead, picked moodily at the crème brûlée on my plate. He didn’t say a word, though I thought I heard him mutter, “I thought so,” under his breath, but the second I looked at him, he seemed deeply troubled by something else.

“There’s something I must tell you,” he finally said, and my eyes followed his nervous gaze.

“What is it?” I asked, letting out a nervous laugh. He didn’t copy it, and I knew at that moment, whatever he would say, I wouldn’t like very much.

“Your friend, Amber,” Thorn finally managed. “She’s… a bit of a wildcard.”

“How so?” I asked.

“I… A guard seems to have taken a liking to her,” Thorn admitted, and I cleared my throat.

“You didn’t let them touch her,” I said in a low voice. “Right? You promised me.”

“I didn’t,” he said vehemently. “But what she does of her own volition is not up to me, Rose. She’s become a liability. She’s using her position. She’s acting like she owns the fucking place.”

“I don’t agree,” I replied coldly. “I think she finally feels at home. And I’m happy she’s comfortable. Are you so intent on making every girl in here miserable?”

At the harsh glare of his eyes, I chastised myself for my cruel words. There was no reason to insult Thorn - at least not yet. He hadn’t told me his plans yet, but something told me I wouldn’t like them one bit.

“We’ll agree to disagree,” Thorn said pointedly, and I glanced at him out of the corner of my eyes, trying to decide whether I should be on the defensive yet again. But I didn’t get a chance to do it. He sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes before continuing to speak.

“Amber’s training will begin next week,” he said, and right away, I reacted.

I pushed my chair away from the table, getting up and crossing my arms in front of my body.

“What the fuck do you mean?” I asked, my voice shaky and unstable.

“Rose.” Thorn’s voice held a warning. “Rose, you need to calm down so we can speak about this as two rational adults.”

“Rational adults?” I laughed, but there was no trace of humor in the bitter sound of it. “You’re trying to turn my best friend into a slave, and I’m not just going to stand around and watch it.”

“You need to let me explain,” Thorn said simply. “Maybe if you weren’t so fucking… stubborn I could actually tell you how I came to this decision.”

“She’s just a girl,” I said desperately. “She’s even younger than me. Barely a few months over eighteen! How is this fair, Thorn? How?”

He stared into my eyes as he reached for his napkin, dabbing the corners of his lips and keeping his gaze focused on me, as if I was a bomb he was waiting to go off. I hated when he treated me this way.

“Amber may seem innocent to you,” he said calmly. “But I have it on good authority she isn’t the person you think she is.”

“On good authority?” I repeated, rolling my eyes. “I’m sure Pia or whoever the hell else does your dirty work fed you all the lies they needed to convince you that was true.”

He got up abruptly, sauntering towards me and wrapping his fingers around my fisted hand.

“You don’t get to talk to me like that,” he growled at me. “I make the decisions. I make the final call. Have you not learned your place yet? Do I need to put you back in your first cell and teach you a lesson?”

I swallowed the tears and the lump in the back of my throat.

“You’ve done enough,” I finally said. “You’ve taken another girl’s innocence. Another woman’s life.”

“I’m not killing her for God’s sake,” he growled at me.

“Might as well,” I hissed back. “She’d be better of dead than like… like me!”

He stared at me, his eyes growing wider and wider, and I returned his stare with my chin held up high.

“You’d rather be dead than be with me,” he said softly. “Is that so, little Rose?”

“Yes,” I lied through clenched teeth. “I’d rather die than be a captive. I want to be free, Thorn! Can’t you see that? I want both of us to be free, Amber and me.”

“I think you’re lying,” he said roughly, his hand letting go of my wrist and glaring down at me. “I think you’re a bad little liar, Harlow Granger.”

I gasped at the mention of my name, a name I had all but forgotten, buried in the past underneath every secret, every shameful whisper of Thorn’s name as he fucked me into the mess he liked me to be.

“I’m not,” I resisted uselessly, but he walked up to me as I stumbled back until I hit a wall. His palms came to rest on either side of my head, and he stared down at me as if he hated me. I hated the look in his eyes, the contempt, the anger, but most of all, the fucking disappointment that was so plainly visible in the way he regarded me.

“Prove it,” he said softly, and his hand found its way between my legs as I gasped for him. “Prove you aren’t a liar, Rose. Prove to me you don’t want this. Walk away from me. Walk away from us.”

I mewled as he touched his fingertips to the wet spot on my panties. It took me months to figure it out, but in that moment, I finally understood I was fucking nothing without Thorn. He’d made me into his plaything, but more so, he’d made me fall in love with him completely; there was no going back. I was doomed.

“Walk away,” he taunted me again. “Come on, Rose. Door’s open.”

I gave a half-hearted attempt to push him away, and he let me, taking a step back from me. I must’ve looked like a mess, mascara running as the first few tears slid down my cheeks, my expensive dress, shoes and hair not hiding that I was just a scared little girl with nowhere to go in the world and not a single place where I belonged.

“Let me go,” I told him, my voice shaking as I stared into his eyes, desperate for him to give me my freedom. “Let me go right now.”

“But that’s not the game we’re playing,” he said coldly. “You have to be the one to walk the fuck out. This is the last chance I’m giving you, Rose. You can even take your friend with you. Just go to that door. You’ll never see me again. But you’ll be free.”

My heart threatened to break in half at his words, and I struggled to move. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t take a single step away from him, towards a brighter and better future. I was stuck. Stuck with the man I hated, stuck with the monster I loved. I hung my head in shame, and Thorn was there to catch my body as it slid to the floor.

As he made love to me that night, he told me over and over again I’d made my choice. That I belonged to him now. That he’d never let go. That he knew I wouldn’t disappoint him.

And once he fell asleep, his breaths low and steady, I dreamed of getting away, knowing the whole time I’d come crawling back for him, begging him to take me back.

Yes, I was in love… and my love was going to eat me whole.